Mojo and String (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780822207689)

Mojo. Subtitled A Black Love Story, this affecting and revealing play captures the essence of the black experience in the outspoken confrontation between a man and a woman once married and still deeply committed to each other. Paying a surprise visit to her former husband, Irene, ill with cancer, reveals that she must shortly go back into the hospital but wanted to see Teddy just once more. From their conversation it is evident that a warm bond still exists between the two, and over the course of their visit they rehash their lives together in humorous and sometimes achingly sad detail. (1 man, 1 woman.)

String. The scene is the annual picnic of the neighborhood block association, and some of the most fastidious ladies are incensed by the presence of "old Joe," a raggedy character who subsists on other's castoffs and is an embarrassment to all. They are joined by L. V. Craig, a boastful café operator who delights in taunting Joe and in flashing his bankroll before the others. In the course of the action Joe furtively retrieves a piece of string dropped by one of the ladies-and at the same time L. V. Craig finds his wallet missing. Suspicion immediately falls on Joe, who is ashamed to tell what he has hidden in his pocket. But, when he finally does, no one will believe him. Ultimately the missing wallet is found, but the truth, once known, is still not easily accepted, nor does it overcome the hurt and anguish that unfounded suspicion can engender. (2 men, 3 women, 1 girl.)