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Scripts Aloud brings drama right into your ears. By using text-to-speech software, theater scripts go from the page into drama, every week. Typically 10-minute scripts are presented in each episode. It's like having a Theater Festival - right on your phone!
Scripts Aloud
DOG STORIES
Written by
Rick Regan
June 24, 2023
RICK’S BACKYARD, AFTERNOON
Rick’s dog, Declan, is wandering around in the garden. He is
a small, brown terrier-mix.
The neighbor’s dog, Buddy, white Jack Russell terrier, barks
at Declan from the other side of the fence. Declan excitedly
goes to the fence to greet Buddy and look at Ann to let Buddy
over.
DECLAN
ARF!
ANN
Buddy! You want to come over, Buddy? You’re a
good dog.
BUDDY
Arf-arf!
ANN
OK. You can come over and play with Dec.
Ann open’s the gate and Buddy runs into the yard, chased by
Declan.
DECLAN
Hey! Hey!
BUDDY
Hey!
DECLAN
Run!
BUDDY
Hey!
DECLAN
Run! Run!
The dogs make a big circle, running around the garden.
Finally Buddy stops in the yard.
DECLAN (CONT’D)
Run!
BUDDY
No.
DECLAN
Run! Run!
BUDDY
No.
DECLAN
OK.
BUDDY
Hey!
DECLAN
Hey-hey!
They stand and pant at each other.
BUDDY
Did you smell that in the corner?
DECLAN
Yeah. Rabbits?
BUDDY
Probably. Maybe a fox.
DECLAN
A fox?! I’ve never seen a fox.
BUDDY
They are a cool customer.
DECLAN
What do you mean?
BUDDY
Incredible senses. Better than yours.
DECLAN
Better than yours?
BUDDY
(dismissive)
No. Not better than mine. They’re fast though.
DECLAN
How fast?
BUDDY
Faster than you.
DECLAN
Faster than you?
BUDDY
(dismissive)
No. Nobody’s faster than me.
DECLAN
Really?
BUDDY
I’m the fastest dog ever. You know that.
DECLAN
But I can catch you.
BUDDY
(laughs)
Sure. Sure you can. No. I let you.
DECLAN
Really?
BUDDY
When I really turn on the speed, I mean really
turn it on, yeah, no.
DECLAN
Oh. Well, I’m fast so you must be really fast.
BUDDY
Like I said, fastest dog.
DECLAN
Did you, uh, run with the kids today?
BUDDY
No, they had to go to work.
DECLAN
Oh. Boss took ‘em?
BUDDY
Yeah, like every morning. But we went on a
boat last weekend. That was pretty cool.
DECLAN
Cool, huh?
BUDDY
Yeah. You’ve been to the ocean, sunshine,
waves, sometimes fish.
DECLAN
Well, yeah, I’ve been to the ocean but that
was all different.
BUDDY
What do you mean? When did you see the ocean?
DECLAN
When I was in the rolleo.
BUDDY
The rolleo? What’s that?
DECLAN
I was a rolleo dog, worked for a rolleo clown.
BUDDY
Doing what?
DECLAN
It was, I don’t know, like another lifetime
ago.
BUDDY
Yeah, but what did you do?
DECLAN
Well, it went like this: they would get all
these people together to watch, and a guy in a
hat would get on a bull.
BUDDY
A hat?
DECLAN
Yeah. A rolleo hat.
BUDDY
Uh-huh.
DECLAN
Yeah, so the guy in the hat would ride the
bull around until the bull would throw him
off.
BUDDY
Throw him off? Why?
DECLAN
Cause they’re dumb.
BUDDY
The bulls?
DECLAN
Them too.
BUDDY
Oh. Hmm. So what did you do?
DECLAN
If the bull threw the man, me and the rolleo
clown, my boss, would run out and chase the
bull back to the pen. Sometimes he ran over
the guy with the hat.
BUDDY
The clown, ran over the guy in the hat?
DECLAN
No, the bull. My boss was in this crazy outfit
that distracted the bull, so he would chase
him instead of running over the guy in the
hat.
BUDDY
What did you do?
DECLAN
Me? What did I do? What didn’t I do? I
protected my boss. I herded the bull. I
protected the guy in the hat.
BUDDY
Wow! Was it scary? Bulls are big.
DECLAN
But they are dumb, see.
BUDDY
Oh.
DECLAN
And finally, I just had enough.
BUDDY
So you left, your boss?
DECLAN
No. I’d had it with the bulls, throwing the
guy in the hat, so I rushed out to the ring
before they opened the gate.
BUDDY
What? Why?
DECLAN
I stood there in front of the gate and I
yelled at the bull.
BUDDY
You what?
DECLAN
They would open the gate and the bull usually
ran out and started to throw the man in the
hat around. I told that bull, ‘Don’t you
fucking move! Don’t take one step, you smelly
cow!’
BUDDY
To the bull?
DECLAN
Yeah. I told him, ‘If you come out of there
and throw the man in the hat, I will chew your
guts out! I will bite you so hard, you wished
they fixed you back in the barn? I will whip
you worse than climbing over barbed wire!’
BUDDY
Wow!
DECLAN
And that bull stood there, trembling in the
stall. I snapped and I snarled and I called
that bull every terrible thing that he
deserved for throwing the man in the hat.
BUDDY
He shouldn’t be doing that.
DECLAN
Damned right. And he didn’t. Not on my patrol.
BUDDY
So what happened? Did they just close the
gate, or what?
DECLAN
Well, the crowd started booing, rightly, at
the bull for throwing around the man in the
hat.
BUDDY
Yeah, shouldn’t do that.
DECLAN
And my boss, the rolleo clown, comes over and
picks me up.
BUDDY
Picked you up?
DECLAN
Yep. For being a good boy, doing a good job,
stopping that smelly bull.
BUDDY
Wow! Good for you.
DECLAN
Yeah, a proud moment.
BUDDY
So what happened? The man in the hat, did he
come and thank you, give you a bone?
DECLAN
No, it wasn’t like that.
BUDDY
Wh-what then?
DECLAN
My boss, he brought me back to our tent. He
gave me a piece of rope to chew on.
BUDDY
That’s nice.
DECLAN
And I can still hear him, he said, “Otto, it’s
time to go.”
BUDDY
What did he mean? Go? Why?
DECLAN
That’s what I wondered, but I thought about it
a lot and realized I am just too tough for the
rolleo.
BUDDY
Too tough?
DECLAN
Yep. Just too tough. The bull’s boss was
steaming mad and my boss said that if he
caught me, he was going to kill me.
BUDDY
On account of scaring his bull?
DECLAN
Yeah. All because I told that bull that he
shouldn’t be throwing around the man in a hat,
even though, to be fair, the man in the hat
was sitting on his back AND poking him with
his spurs.
BUDDY
Yeah, I can see how that’s a judgement call
right there. But you did the right thing,
protect the man in the hat.
DECLAN
That’s right. So that night my boss took me to
the edge of the fence, where the gate was, and
said I had to go, make my way from there.
BUDDY
He kicked you out?!
DECLAN
I was too tough, for the rolleo. What was he
going to do? The bull’s boss was going to kill
me.
BUDDY
So you go.
DECLAN
So I go.
BUDDY
Where’d you go?
DECLAN
Well, across some fields, through some woods.
I found a hobo camp and some of the boys fed
me some. Then I’d ride the rails with them for
a while, heading up here.
BUDDY
Wow! How long did that take?
DECLAN
Well, let me see...
Declan wags his tail, counting up.
DECLAN (CONT’D)
Let see, thirteen, fourteen. Fourteen suns.
BUDDY
Fourteen? Out rough? That’s not easy.
DECLAN
Just a traveling dog.
BUDDY
So how did you get here?
DECLAN
Some people came along and saw me. I thought
they might have some food, but they picked me
up and sent me to prison.
BUDDY
Prison? You were doing hard time?
DECLAN
They’d heard about how tough I am, I think,
and they got scared that I might be too tough
for the town. But, after a while in solitary,
my new boss comes around and sets me free.
Well, as free as a traveling dog can be inside
a fence.
BUDDY
But it’s a nice yard. You chase the rabbits,
the squirrels. Never catch ‘em, but...
DECLAN
Not fast enough, you mean?
BUDDY
Well...
DECLAN
I guess. I’ll just say that I’m glad to have a
clean bed, some chow in the bowl.
BUDDY
Would you still yell at bulls, if you could?
DECLAN
I mean... we’re dogs, right? Can’t undo
instinct.
BUDDY
True that, true that.
DECLAN
How about you? How’d you get here? Born here?
BUDDY
No. I was on a slave plantation, a ways from
here?
DECLAN
A slave plantation?! I’ve never heard of that.
BUDDY
It was sad, you know. Real sad, because it was
kids.
DECLAN
Slave kids?
BUDDY
Yeah. Every morning a big yellow bus would
pull up and send the kids in for a day of hard
labor. Then they would go back on the buses at
night. Who knows where those kids had to curl
up to sleep at night.
DECLAN
Maybe some slave shacks?
BUDDY
Maybe. I never saw where they took them at
night. But sure as shooting, they’d bring all
those kids back every day.
DECLAN
What did they make the kids do?
BUDDY
I think it was some kind of factory, with all
the kids lined up in rows. They would all sit
there in the same direction while the overseer
would yell at them from the front. I never
could make out what they worked on. Then a
bell would go off and they would move all the
slave kids to other parts of the factory. It
was grim.
DECLAN
What was your job? Who was your boss?
BUDDY
This lady, one of the overseers. She had a
workshop with the slaves where they cut up
animals. Frogs, fish, even a chicken.
DECLAN
Uh-oh.
BUDDY
That’s right. I figured she was just getting
me fattened up so she could cut me up for the
slaves. And I decided I’d better take the
first chance I got to get away.
DECLAN
And did you?
BUDDY
You bet. Night time, at the lady’s house.
There was a window open, not much but enough,
with a screen. Well, no screen is going to
stop me so I jumped up, pawed through the
screen and wiggled my way out. I just took
off.
DECLAN
What about the kids, the slaves?
BUDDY
You’re guess is as good as mine. I mean,
probably, the overseers worked them until the
slave couldn’t do it anymore...
DECLAN
And killed ‘em?
BUDDY
I think so. There was a dog-chopper not far
from there so I’m guessing that’s where they
sent a failed slave.
DECLAN
A what? A dog-chopper?
BUDDY
Sure! You can still hear it from here. Thump!
Thump! Thump! Over, other side of the trees.
DECLAN
Is that what that is?
BUDDY
Yep. When a dog is naughty, they put him right
in. Chops ‘em right up.
DECLAN
I’ve never heard of that. Where is it?
BUDDY
You can hear it at night. Over there.
(points with nose)
Other side of those trees. My boss told me all
about it. He said if I was naughty, he would
send me to the dog chopper.
DECLAN
Wow! Did you...?
BUDDY
No! Outside! Always outside.
DECLAN
But...
BUDDY
But I make a joke, play around. He got mad, is
all.
DECLAN
Tricky business.
BUDDY
And I think it’s probably not a big leap to
think if they can chop up dogs in the
chopper...
DECLAN
They can chop up slaves.
BUDDY
Yeah.
DECLAN
Tooth and claw, eh?
BUDDY
Right.
DECLAN
So you ran away. Then what?
BUDDY
I was out...
(shakes tail)
Six nights. Then a patrol picked me up. They
took me to the scary place.
DECLAN
Ugh! I hate the scary place. Poking and
prodding. Shining a light in my eyes, my ears.
BUDDY
And I’m there for a while and my new boss
comes and says, well, he’s the new boss. So I
came back here to herd his boys.
DECLAN
They’re fun. I like playing with them
BUDDY
They like you too. Maybe too much.
DECLAN
What do you mean?
BUDDY
Well, you’re the fresh new dog. If I step out
of line, get too stale, they’ll send me to the
dog chopper.
DECLAN
No! They wouldn’t do that!
BUDDY
Boss told me so.
DECLAN
He’s just pulling your tail.
BUDDY
Maybe, but I’m running around like I’m on
eggshells.
DECLAN
That’s no way to live.
BUDDY
No.
DECLAN
You want to hump?
BUDDY
No.
DECLAN
Let’s hump.
BUDDY
No!
DECLAN
Come on!
BUDDY
No. I’m not humping you.
DECLAN
Run!
BUDDY
No!
DECLAN
Run!
BUDDY
No!
13.
14.
DECLAN
You’re too slow! Run!
BUDDY
What did you say?
DECLAN
You heard me! Run!
Buddy takes off, with Declan chasing. They run around the
yard until they hear Ann shout.
ANN
Buddy! Buddy! Time to go home! Home, buddy,
home.
Buddy runs to the gate and stops, expectantly.
DECLAN
Run!
BUDDY
No! Home!
ANN
(opens gate)
Time to go home!
Buddy goes through the gate, through the doggy door and into
his house to his family.
DECLAN
Hey!
ANN
Come on, Dec! Let’s get some water. You can
have a gulp-em-up.
DECLAN
Arf!
Declan finds the outdoor water bowl and gulps up some water.
ANN
It’s hot, Declan. Drink up.
Declan finds her on the outdoor sofa and snuggles in next to
her.
DECLAN
(panting)
ANN
Good Boy!
END