Break
			Mark S.P. Turvin

Characters:
Bill
Jack
Susan
Scene: 
A breakroom at Spacedata Corp. in Chandler, AZ. 
Time: 
The modern era.

The lights come up on...Bill sitting at a table, coffee cup with 
the name "Big Bill" in front of him, reading a copy of the Arizona 
Republic. Jack enters with his own coffee cup.

			Jack

Loafer. 

	(He moves to the coffee pot. Bill looks up over his paper)

			Bill

Hey, Jack. No, I'm pulling a double shift today.

			Jack

Christ, this is the third time in two weeks you've done that.

	(He pours his coffee, sits next to Bill)

			Bill

Christmas is coming up. I've gotta get a lotta time under my belt 
if I'm gonna survive the bill collectors in January.

			Jack

I hear ya. I just talked to Smitty about pulling some overtime on 
the Minuteman project.

			Bill

You're gonna cross over?

			Jack

I started with that section when I came here from Motorola. 

			Bill

Whyd'ja move over to Delivery Systems? 

			Jack

Shorter hours. Minuteman was doing two 12 hour shifts, I wanted 8 
hour shifts.

			Bill

You're gonna do a 12 hour shift there on top of your 40 here?

			Jack

Only one a week. It's about what you're doing pulling double 
shifts here every couple 'a days. Money's better there, too.

			Bill

Well, yeah. That's our bread and butter. Saturday or Sunday?

			Jack

Saturday. Wife wants me to go to church on Sunday. Won't let me 
work.

			Bill

Sure. Makes sense.

			Jack

How 'bout them Bears.

			Bill

All the way. Nobody's lookin' better. You going back to Chicago 
for the holidays?

			Jack

Nope. Smitty said I could pull the time on the Minuteman during 
the holidays. 

			Bill

Holy shit, that'd make it double-time.

			Jack

You're telling me? I'll give up watching the Bears and Vikings for 
that kinda money.

			Bill

Shit. You have the right idea. 'course, I'm not too upset. Got 
good seats for that game. My brother has season tickets.

			Jack

Bastard. I'll think about you while I'm breakin' my back on 
Christmas.

			Bill

And making hand over fist dough, my heart bleeds for you.

			Jack

Shoulda talked to...

	(Susan walks in, carrying a mug)

			Susan

Heya, boys. How's things?

			Jack

Heya, Susan.

			Bill

How's it going, Susie?

			Susan

This has gotta be the best Monday in a long time. The Suns won 
last night, the Raiders are on the tube tonight, and we landed the 
contract.

			Bill

You're kidding?

			Jack

The ballistics?

			Susan

You've got it. Jenkins just announced it to our group. We're 
kicking into overdrive to start manufacturing those babies next 
week. You know what that means...Christmas bonuses for everyone.

			Bill

I may not need to work double shifts after all. 

			Jack

I'm surprised Hewlett-Packard didn't outbid us again.

			Susan

We offered more megatonnage for the buck, I guess.

			Bill

Or someone greased a palm.

			Jack

As long as it was for us, I'm not complaining.

			Susan

They haven't released the plans yet, but it looks like we'll be 
loading twice as much into the tops of our birds with this one.

			Jack

Means more work for us in Delivery Systems. 

			Susan

We'll be using the same design as the Minuteman, so the design'll 
be pretty much the same. 

			Bill

Then it'll be your area that'll be doing the most work.

			Jack

Sounds like the only areas that'll be affected are you computer 
geeks in Trajectory and NukeNets.

			Bill

The pencilnecks in Stress and Payload are gonna have their work 
cut out for them, too.

			Susan

Always works out like this. Finally I'm gonna be earning enough to 
go on vacation, and I'm not gonna have time for a vacation 'til 
next Christmas. Jimmy and I'll have to wait for Hawaii again. 

			Bill

You can still take the R.V. out.

			Susan

Are you and the missus gonna join us again?

			Bill

I'll have to talk to her. Now that we're gonna have the money, 
maybe we can go in the spring. Do the Pacific Coast Highway.

			Jack

Did they say when we're gonna get the specs on this thing?

			Susan

Officially, Thursday, but I heard that one of the boys in Design 
has sketched out a diagram and a spec sheet on a napkin in the 
caf. Somebody over in NukeNet has it.

			Jack

	(To Bill)

Why don't you talk to your buddy over there, Jefferies? 

	(Bill nods)

I'm gonna head back and tell Smitty. Were you computer geeks the 
first to find out?

			Susan

Yeah, they tell the important people first. The lower classes find 
out during breaks. See ya' later.

			Jack

Great news. See you guys.

			Bill

See ya' tomorrow.

	(Jack exits)

I'll be damned. We might be able to survive the recession, yet.

			Susan

	(Susan goes behind Bill, rubs his shoulders)

You betcha, Billy. Double shift tonight?

	(Bill nods)

You wanna hit Chicagies tomorrow night after second shift?

			Bill

Watch the Suns lose, maybe?

			Susan

I don't think so.

			Bill

I'd love that.

			Susan

Hang in there, Billy. This maybe a sign that better things're on 
the way. If we pull down the ICBM order, maybe we all could retire 
early and R.V. around the country together. 

			Bill

That'd be great. You and Jimmy and Carol and I truckin' around the 
country. God, that'd be really great, Susie-Q.

			Susan

You gotta believe things'll be better. This project's helping. 
Couple more years of big projects, then we can cruise by on 
repairs and re-orders.

	(Pause)

Gotta head back and chain myself to my terminal. Say hi to Carol 
for me.

			Bill

Sure thing.

			Susan

And Chicagies tomorrow. You best be there.

			Bill

You know I will, s'long as you're buying.

			Susan

Fat chance.

	(Susan exits. Bill folds his paper neatly, then lays his head 
	 on the table using it as a pillow)

			Blackout