Valentines And Killer Chili
by Kent R Brown

With a face like a roadmap and eyebrows like two McDonald's arches, Jackie isn't much to look at.

But with her dazzling green fingernails and a beehive hairdo that sits atop her head like a helmet, she sure isn't easy to forget.

And when she jokes and flirts with all the truckers at Big Tom's Pit Stop while serving up her famous killer chili, her laughter makes it easier to face the miles ahead.

One good old boy is a trucker named Jason who spends his lonely nights singing sad country songs while hauling chickens at 70 miles an hour.

Around closing time one Valentine's Day, Jason makes a harmless gesture of friendship by giving Jackie a big box of chocolates.

But on this particular night Jackie is all out of laughs.

"You playin' some damn joke on me?" Jason is confused by Jackie's rejection, but when she begins to cry he unexpectedly holds her tenderly in his arms.

Jackie explains that Big Tom had left her for a younger woman two years ago Valentine's Day.

She invites Jason home to her trailer where, surrounded by pictures of her children and cherished mementos tacked to the walls, Jackie and Jason share the truth about their failed marriages and the choices they never made.

"You'll remember me, won't you Jason?" she asks, then tacks the valentine box on the wall next to the remnants of her life.

Jason will never see Jackie again, but when the road seems to go on forever, he'll always remember the sweet sound of her laughter, her flashing green fingernails, and his valentine on the wall.

Area staging.