Bonnie Jae Dane

Parental Outpatients Bonnie Jae Dane

Parental Outpatients exposes the great divide that exists between today's electronic-laden teens and their bewildered parents. Junior Boy uses his 'large brain' to siphon money from government funds, drive his school principal to a nervous breakdown, and trample the spirits of his hardworking parents. His sister Summer, a self-made graffiti artist, expresses her contempt for the government, misogyny, corporations, and climate change through her well-placed political statements on the exterior walls of the local police station. Their parents Bud and Martha both native Kentuckians faced the hardships of growing up poor, but unlike their off spring, they contributed to the family dinner table by growing vegetables and working in a diner. Looking for a better life, they saved their money and moved to Boston where Martha was scouted by a modeling agency to become the 'Country It Girl'. Her super model fame allowed them to open their own diner and buy a house with all the accoutrements of a comfortable family lifestyle. They dreamed of creating a happy family only to be faced with two beings they hardly recognize as part of their fantasy family unit. Things take on a harrowing aspect when their teens are ordered to perform community service for their misdeeds, Junior at a facility for the criminally insane and Summer teaching graffiti art to the underprivileged. Mayhem ensues when the family is forced to come together in a haphazard but dramatic sort of way. Told in Bonnie Jae Dane's trademark blend of wit and pathos using lyrical prose Parental Outpatients begs to be read with the possibility there might be something useful to all parents in the resolution.