Set Piece | Teen Ink

Set Piece

October 22, 2021
By Anonymous

There was the waitress.
She was on the skinny side with chocolate skin and curly charcoal hair. Then there was Grandpa.
Square jaw, white straw hair, aged elephants’ skin.
His voice was like an elephants’, too.
The waitress’ ebony curls bobbed and her umber face wrinkled.
He called her a nasty word.
She opened her mouth, but then closed it again.
She left the table.
She hadn’t even taken our order yet.


The author's comments:

In this set piece I was experimenting with dramatic irony, in which the audience is aware of the true intentions or outcome while the character is not, metaphors, and similes. The depicted scene is a real experience that I had at a young age and only realized the true weight of later on, so I tried to give the piece a childlike tone of innocence, which is highlighted in the vague way the scene is described and in the last sentence of the piece. The audience can realize what is really going on if they analyze the piece, but the character, modeled after a young version of myself, did not realize it at that moment. I was also experimenting with metaphor and similes when describing the characters’ features, like their hair and skin and voice.


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