Used Car for Sale

His only companions are a parakeet that refuses to talk, and Desdemona, a vintage Ford; still bright and shiny under Charlie's careful hand

Charlie refuses to grow old from loneliness. He runs an ad in the town paper offering Desdemona for sale, with the sole purpose of getting people to come out and talk to him

Sunday of each week, when the paper comes out, Charlie gets his visitors. Things take a turn for the worse, however, when Charlie suddenly finds himself confronted by the classified ad clerk of the newspaper, who has come to tell him people have been turning in complaints

He must either sell his car or the paper will cancel his ad. After he leaves Charlie feels a bitter loneliness crashing down around him. His thoughts are interrupted by the appearance of a young girl who has come to inquire about Desdemona

Charlie pulls the tarp off the car, and for the first time someone sees Desdemona just as he does; not as just a car, but as "A fine lady all fit out for a ball." The price for Desdemona is one hundred and fifty. The girl confesses she only has twenty dollars and can make payments of only two dollars a week which she promises to bring out every Sunday

Charlie's eyes twinkle. "That'll take a long time," he muses. The classified ad man returns breathlessly to tell Charlie his editor wants to use the story of his loneliness. He has even offered to let Charlie continue to run the ad free. Charlie smiles. Desdemona has been sold. And it looks as if he's not going to be needing the ad anymore

Produced by the American National Theatre and Academy