It's WinoTime, Holmes.
[While NATO was terror-bombing Yugoslavia in June 1999, WinoTime was bombing terribly @ The Déchargeurs in Paris. Most of the original Hollywood cast came to France for this fifth anniversary revival. So, when things get particularly sinister, remember, it's just WinoTime, Holmes.]
WinoTime
A Play in Two Acts
by
Mick Collins
o cirque minime o
66, rue Marcelle
93500 Pantin
France
[contact: cirqueminime@club-internet.fr]
Copyright 1993
All Rights Reserved
The central theme of the work is a
relatively new concept--the rise of
an “anthropological” species we call
the authoritarian type of man.
--Max Horkheimer
. . . life was nothing but the next step
on the reckless path of the spirit dis-
honoured; nothing but the automatic
blush of matter roused to sensation
and become receptive for that which
awaked it.
--Thomas Mann
The Magic Mountain
In my time of incarceration I have been
sharing ideas with others, of social mis-
conception, of what society has adopted
as “fact”, of what we are. We are men who
have went out of the path of rightness at a
time when items of life were not appropriate
for our own use. We are not of the origin of
monster, nor are all of us without compassion,
affection and family. This institution lacks
programs to enhance self esteem, rehabilita-
tion and society awareness for those of us
trying to become successful in life.
--Roger Hill
Prisoner, CMF, Vacaville
Cold tonight. . . . Cold outside. Cold, cold,
cold.
--John Steppling
The Dream Coast
WinoTime
Act I
A room at Claire’s Care House, sometime pretty soon now.
Act II
The same room, maybe two weeks later.
WinoTime was first performed from February 25 to March 12,
1994, at The Lost Studio, 130 S. La Brea, Los Angeles. The first
production was directed by the playwright and designed by
Sean Forrester.
THE CAST
Mario . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Joseph Goodrich
Carmine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jeff Daniel Phillips
Ruth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Soumaya Akaaboune
Bill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mickey Swenson
Big John . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Anton Jarvis
Claire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cinda Jackson
Maurice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jay Arlen Jones
Stage Manager/Assistant Director
Sharon Yablon
Music by
Arnold Schoenberg (Opus 43)
Cecil Taylor (Transitions)
Act I
SET: A small room with a convertible couch ULC, table with one chair DR, portable closet DL. There are no windows and one door DR.
AT RISE: The stage is empty as pre-show music (Schoenberg’s Opus 43) ends and for SEVERAL BEATS.
MARIO ENTERS DR wearing a shitty bathrobe, an enema bag draped around his neck, and a small, wet towel over his head. He moves around the stage. He leaves wet towel on table DR and puts enema bag in closet DL.
MARIO
Half and half . . . half and half. . . . A half and
half. . . . Half. . . . Half . . . of it. Half it: the half
and half. Half, you get half, you half a half and
half . . . a half and half . . . You get a half a half
and half. . . . You get a half and half, and half,
you half it, and half a half and half you get,
you keep half, half the half and half--which
half don’t matter. Fifty . . . a hundred, a
hundred an’ a quarter, whatever--half and
half and half and half and half and half and
half and half and half and so on and whatever.
. . . You get a half and half--you keep half and
bring me half, give me half.
He begins to dress from closet DL.
MARIO (cont)
Was five dollars! Five motherfucking dollars!
. . . Borrowed five dollars . . . gave me five
motherfucking dollars. . . . No. They got it up.
They all just got it up. . . . Drunk. . . . Five dollars,
five seconds--five for five. . . . Forty-five stops
all jive!
He is wearing ordinary clothes. He goes ULC and looks at the couch for a LONG MOMENT.
MARIO (cont)
Without a doubt . . . without doubt. . . . Where
you wouldn’t be seen. A place . . . any place you
wouldn’t be seen. Jesus, fuck, what?
He gets down behind the couch and cannot be seen.
LONG PAUSE during which FAINT MUSIC (Cecil Taylor’s Transitions) is heard. He rises from behind couch, comes around and sits on it.
LONG PAUSE
CARMINE ENTERS DR. He is dressed in ordinary clothes.
BEAT.
MARIO
Hey.
CARMINE
What’re you doin’?
MARIO
Nothin’.
CARMINE
Yeah? . . . Looks all right.
MARIO
You wanna get goin’? . . . You wanna sit down?
CARMINE
No. . . . Yeah, ok. . . . You still got that smell, like
before. . . . More, though, huh?
MARIO
Hey, Carmine, why don’t we just-- . . . You know
what it means “half and half”? You know, when
they say “half and half”?
CARMINE
Why, is that what it is?
MARIO
What?
CARMINE
You keep that shit in your room?
MARIO
What?
CARMINE
‘Cause that dairy product’ll go off on you, you
know? Smell like shit in a day . . . less, even.
MARIO
No. You know--
CARMINE
Even in a reefer, shit gets all funky and lumpy,
even cold, you know? . . . But this here is something
else, man. . . . I don’t know. . . . It’s like you got some
bad, old, stanky, . . . refructified . . . I-dunno-what up
in here. I hope you don’t plan to bring no ladies up,
you know what I’m sayin’? Cause--
MARIO
Hey, Carmine, let’s go.
CARMINE
You the boss. It’s just . . . they gotta be pissed off
about it. Bill‘s a freak. . . . Hey, where’s the TV?
What did you do with your TV? Bill take it, or what?
CARMINE EXITS DR.
MARIO HOLDS FOR SEVERAL BEATS THEN EXITS DR.
RUTH COMES FROM BEHIND COUCH. She is wearing a tattered schmatta. One breast is exposed (perhaps), and she covers it as she rummages (forages) around the room. She picks up towel from table and sucks it as she goes.
RUTH
Don’t cry . . . don’t cry out. Don’t make a sound. . . .
Not a sound. . . . Oh, my side is sore. . . . There’s no
air in here. . . . No light, . . . can’t see to breathe. . . .
There’s nothing here, more and more. How can I be
expected to. . . . You can’t expect me . . . to . . . go . . .
on . . . like this. . . . With nothing.
RUTH looks through closet, finds enema bag and sucks it.
RUTH (cont)
No laces. No more paper hangers. . . . Oh god.
Oh my god. . . . Hush, now, I’ll be right back.
Just let me--
SOUNDS HEARD OS.
RUTH (cont)
On, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, . . .
RUTH HURRIES back behind the couch, where she gets down and is not seen.
BEATS.
BILL ENTERS DR. He is older and wears ordinary clothes. He remains in doorway for LONG MOMENT. Then he walks through the room, thoroughly inspecting it with his eyes and his nose, but not touching anything. HE EXITS.
LONG MOMENT.
MARIO ENTERS carrying a BALL OF TWINE AND SEVERAL PAPER-COVERED WIRE HANGERS. He sets them on L of couch and HURRIEDLY EXITS.
BEATS.
RUTH RISES from behind couch. One breast is again exposed (perhaps). She covers it as she comes around and sits on L of couch.
RUTH
Oh, my god, look. Look! Oh my, oh my, oh my.
. . . If he wasn’t so salty.
RUTH EATS some of the PAPER from hangers.
RUTH (cont)
Patient . . . be just a little patient. You know you
mustn’t worry. . . . You will be fine soon enough.
. . . Just fine, in no time. Soon . . . enough.
SOUND HEARD OS.
RUTH TAKES a bunch of TWINE and PAPER hangers. She stuffs the bare hangers between cushions, takes PAPER & TWINE with her and dis-appears behind couch.
BILL ENTERS with a large pail full of cleaning stuff. He takes out a big bottle of colored liquid and sprays everywhere in the room, HIGH & LOW. Finally, he SPRAYS THE COUCH, and then BEHIND IT. He EXITS STILL SPRAYING down the hall.
LONG MOMENT during which a FAINT, HIGH-PITCHED GASPING grows into a HARSH, GROANING & COUGHING, then stops suddenly.
SILENCE.
MARIO ENTERS and quickly crosses to couch, sees his stuff is gone, and just stands there.
BEATS.
CARMINE ENTERS and comes into the room.
CARMINE
Man, why d’you do that? . . . Jesus! Feh! The
fuck is that? . . . Why can’t you just be nice, let
the man talk?
MARIO
He sprayed again.
CARMINE
Man was just trying to make his pitch. You gotta
get up, walk out like that. . . . What is that? It’s
sweet, but nasty.
MARIO
I can’t stand these meetings, these people. . . .
This place . . .
CARMINE
Guy was sketchin’ is all. But hey, you won’t have to
worry about it you keep actin’ like that--you keep
walkin’ out in the middle, in front of ever’body. . . .
Jesus, what’s it take to just sit there and listen and
shut up?
MARIO
I don’t know how you stand it--how can you put
up with it?
CARMINE
You gotta program. You gotta learn how to program.
. . . Me!? This is a laugh for me. . . . This is wino time,
homes. After it’s over I go home. What are you gonna
do they toss you outta here? . . . Where you gonna go?
MARIO
Yeah, right. . . . Why don't you get back there, I’ll catch
up. . . . Took my TV! Motherfuckers!
CARMINE
Thing didn’t even work--didn’t get a decent picture.
You gotta have cable to get a picture ‘round here.
Shit, you never even turned the fucker on! . . . Don’t
worry ‘bout it, it was useless anyway.
CARMINE EXITS.
MARIO
Yeah. . . It was furniture. . . . It was my furniture.
BEATS.
MARIO GOES UR of couch. PAUSES. Goes down behind couch where he is unseen.
LONG MOMENT during which a FAINT MUSIC (Taylor) is heard.
BILL ENTERS with CLEANING MATERIALS including a big MOP. He goes to closet and begins to snoop while cleaning.
MOMENT.
MARIO RISES from behind couch and stands R of couch. He watches BILL for SEVERAL BEATS.
BILL LOOKS BACK AND SEES MARIO. He crosses and takes mop and begins to mop the floor. He continues to mop during the following.
BILL
I had this belt sander--great big one. This was
back in Joplin or St. Joe. This thing was six, seven
inches wide. . . . Put some number three, number
two paper on it, you know, real coarse--like German
toilet paper . . . and you know what the belt was, right?
It was like a CAT tread or on a tank, you know--only
it’d turn real fast, so as you couldn’t figure it was
standing still, . . . like a tank tread, top part moves
and the bottom stays still--or maybe it’s other way
round--but you know--’cause, of course, the difference
was this sander--I think it was a Portman or a Bell or
something--Monkey Wards made ‘em, or that’s where
I got it, anyway--’cause back then, your electrical
appliances, like tools and such, were all special orders,
outta catalogues. You didn’t just walk into a store--not
in Joplin--you didn’t just walk in and pick one up. Used
to have to order ‘em ahead--and pay ahead--you know,
pre-pay--and wait--five, six weeks, two months, maybe
longer sometimes. They didn’t have COD then, as I recall,
so you had to give up your money and just wait. . . .
But that thing’d get turning so as smoke’d be coming
out of it, you’d think--and with that smell like wood
burning--and you could see it like the thing was burning
BILL (cont)
up. . . . But I hooked it on to--I rigged this long, like
broom handle for it--long, like four or five feet a handle. It was tricky to get it steady. That mount was a
sumbitch to figure out so it’d be steady and could
push it like a big ol’ floor broom. . . . And I had some
little rentals, apartments, back then--little duplexes,
two of ‘em--and this little three unit place just outta
town. Real easy to rent back then. Lotta people coming
through town on commercial jobs and some guv’ment
work . . . you know, families and singles--they’d come
out temporary, wind up stayin’ for a year or two. . . .
They didn’t always expect to leave when they did--
that was kinda the way with most of ‘em--so I’d get
a pretty decent deposit--you know, security, cleanin’,
and keys and all--’cause I’d been doin’ it a while, even
then, and I knew the family moved out wouldn’t be
the same people as moved in--there’d be some wear
and tear, ‘specially toward the end. . . . ‘Specially when
I had to come collectin’, and I usually did--toward the
end. I could just see the wear and tear--the abuse the
places were gettin’. . . . So with that sander--like I was
sayin’, it was wide, but it wudn’t that wide, only ‘bout
three, four inches--I could rub off the floor, the walls,
and the ceilings . . . you know, with that handle I rigged,
I could get ever’where in no time. It’d just cut through
the nicotine and every other kinda thing those folks’d
leave behind ‘em. . . . They just about all of ‘em left
owin’ me, you know, something. . . . But I’d figure it in.
And those places didn’t stay empty long. Hell, with that
place cleaned up so quick, I could move somebody in in
a coupla days.
BILL ENDS UC at couch near MARIO.
BILL
Lemme get in behind here.
MARIO
Here, let me do it.
PAUSE.
BILL
It ain’t a pro’lem. Just lemme get back there.
. . . You could gimme a hand movin’ this.
MARIO
Look, it’s my room, I’ll do it. . . . Here--
MARIO MOVES US-side of couch a little.
BILL
You coulda done the whole room you wanted to.
. . . Take it easy there.
MARIO SNATCHES the mop and pushes it perfunctorily a couple times behind couch.
BILL (cont)
Yeah, that oughta do it. Wish I’d known you were so
good at this.
BILL PUTS MOP ASIDE and begins other cleaning.
MARIO
My checks come yet?
BILL
How’s that?
MARIO
My checks . . . ?
BILL
Claire takes care of the mail, I really couldn’t tell
you. . . . That’s a nice sofa, it fold out? . . . You know,
is it one of those that folds out into a bed like?
MARIO
I just use it like that.
BILL
Let’s take a look. . . . Looks like you got something
stuck in here.
BILL PULLS hanger from cushions.
BILL (cont)
What’s this?
MARIO
I don’t know. Go ahead and take ‘em. . . . Hey, thanks
for cleaning up, really, but I just need to be by myself.
. . . I appreciate the help, really, but I wish you would
talk to your wife about my mail. There’s gotta be some
money for me. I can never get to talk to her.
BIG JOHN ENTERS. He is fat and unkempt. He carries rolled up magazines and newspapers under each arm like over-sized dress shields. He suffers from over-medication with “heavy custody downers” (i.e., anti-psychotics, e.g., Haldol, Halcyon, Librium, Logatyl, Thorazine, etc.).
BILL
(to MARIO)
You know the procedure. . . .
BIG JOHN
Yeah, I do. I really do.
BILL (cont)
Send a kite to the office. She’ll respond.
BIG JOHN
Send a kike, that’s it. You wanna get something
done, send a kike.
MARIO
I’ve done that. . . . Shut up, John.
BILL
What is it, John?
BIG JOHN
I gotta talk to Mario. I gotta tell Mario . . .
BILL
(to MARIO)
You gotta take better care of your things. . . .
Take better care of yourself. . . . Respect for
things, real things, that’s where it starts. . . .
BIG JOHN
That’s where it starts.
BILL (cont)
You gotta have respect for things, your things, first.
. . . Then you’ll get respect for yourself--that’d be
self-respect, or what they call these days, self-esteem.
. . . Then you can work on other people . . . gettin’ and
givin’ respect to other people. . . . ‘Cause that’s what
it’s all about, lemme tell ya, it’s all about respect.
BILL PICKS UP his stuff and EXITS.
BIG JOHN
That’s right! You’re right, Bill! Bill’s right on that one.
All right Bill!
MARIO
Shut up, John. What d’ya want?
BIG JOHN
They . . . sent me . . . to . . . I really like your room.
It smells really good too. It was better when we
could watch TV, but without cable, you can only
get but two, maybe only one . . . picture. Not very
good. You remember that picture we--
MARIO
John, shut up. Start over. What d’ya want? What’d
they-who want?
BIG JOHN
I wanna go t’the track. I wanna see . . .
LONG PAUSE
MARIO
What, Maurice and Carmine want me back in
the meeting, right? . . . Say, you done with those
papers? Can I have ‘em?
BIG JOHN
Yeah, Maurice . . . Carmine . . . Yeah. I need some
of ‘em. You can’t have all of them--I’m not done
with all of them yet. . . . Here . . .
BIG JOHN TAKES papers from under his arms and begins precisely to divie them up.
MARIO
Here, never mind. Forget it. Come on.
BIG JOHN HEARS something and is terrified. He drops all his papers.
MARIO
Let’s go, let’s go to the meeting.
MARIO & BIG JOHN EXIT.
LONG MOMENT.
RUTH RISES from behind couch, her breast exposed (perhaps). She crouches over PAPERS and begins to gather them, taking an occasional bite of PAPER.
SEVERAL BEATS.
MAURICE ENTERS. He is a black man wearing shiny clothes. He stands in doorway observing RUTH.
BEATS. MUSIC (Cecil Taylor’s Transitions) comes up.
MAURICE
God damn!
RUTH RISES in slow terror clutching PAPERS. She very slowly goes behind couch and disappears.
MAURICE
God damn!
BEATS.
MAURICE EXITS.
LONG SILENCE.
CLAIRE ENTERS. She is older, wears ordinary clothes and carries several pieces of MAIL. She puts MAIL on table during the following.
CLAIRE
Oh my . . . Oh, like the bowels of a sick old man . . .
like urine soaked hay . . . filth . . . decay . . .
corruption . . . all malignant and . . . How can
he live like this? . . . How can he be allowed to
live like this? . . . The disease . . . the contagion.
BILL ENTERS. He stands in doorway.
CLAIRE (cont)
Can’t you do something about this? Pick up those
papers!
BILL
Oh, I will. Don’t you worry, I will.
BILL PICKS up papers.
BILL (cont)
Did he get his money?
CLAIRE
Of course not. He hasn’t even gotten all our money
yet. I don’t know how he thinks this place continues
to exist for him.
BILL
What’s the mail?
CLAIRE
He really does think he’s one of the privileged.
One of the ones who is owed everything by
everyone else. . . . Well, . . . Oh, it’s just the
same letters from the state and the courts.
Liens and attachments and judgements against--
and third and fourth notices. . . . Really, what
does he expect?
BILL
He’s in for the shock of his life he thinks folks
are goin’ to take care of him. You cain’t just
let the state slide they want somethin’ from
you. They’ll come take what they got comin’.
You can be sure.
CLAIRE
Oh, hurry up! I can’t stand this another minute.
CLAIRE EXITS & BILL FOLLOWS with PAPERS.
BEATS.
RUTH RISES from behind couch and CROSSES to table. She quickly picks up MAIL and returns to disappear behind couch.
BEATS.
MAURICE & CARMINE ENTER closely followed by BIG JOHN & MARIO. (Much of the following dialogue is simultaneous.)
MAURICE
What I’m sayin’ is the man was wrong. He was
fakin’ it. You don’t send somebody a kite, s’all
I’m sayin’.
CARMINE
This guard in county jail used to say that, send
a kite to the duty officer if you want somethin’.
MAURICE
Well, there you go. You shoot somebody a
motherfuckin’ kite, s’what I’m sayin’. He was
just tryin’ to woof ya, know what I’m sayin’?
BIG JOHN
I shot a kike one time. I was on assignment in
Haifa . . .
CARMINE
Hey, shut up, John! . . . (to Mario) Did you get
your money?
MARIO
I didn’t get shit!
BIG JOHN
You guys hear anything, tell me, ‘kay? Cause
if you hear anything, anything at all, you know,
I need to . . . Where’s my magazines, Mario?
Was here--
MAURICE
Kite ain’t gonna get it, Mario, my man, you gotta
get down, know what I’m sayin’? You got to seize
the time and off the slime. You got to bring some
stronger shit in the game.
BIG JOHN
I needed some of those. I hadn’t read all of them--
not nearly all--
MARIO
Shut up, John.
CARMINE
Yeah, both you guys shut up.
MARIO
Bill’s been in here again is all. In here cleanin’
up again.
MAURICE
Oh, it’s more than that. It’s much more than
that, my homeboy.
BIG JOHN
Yes, much more than that--much more than that.
It’s kinda like--sorta like--I understand this--
I kinda understand this, understand this situation,
understand how--
CARMINE
You understand fuck all, John. Just shut up--sit
down somewhere and nod, John.
BIG JOHN
No! You don’t understand, you don’t understand!
This situation is--this situation--
MARIO
Come on, this is bullshit.
BIG JOHN
(Seized by another phantasm)
Did you hear that? Did you hear that?
CARMINE
There’s nothing! . . . Maybe this is some kinda
weird gas . . . makes everybody wack. It’s makin’
me sick--you gotta kick out a wall, get some air
in here!
MARIO
Why don’t you guys go outside, plenty of air out
there.
MAURICE
Long as you gotta file a writ with the madam, tell
her you want your TV back. . . . It took a month
‘fore I started gettin’ my SSI regular from these
folks. And then I know it wasn‘t right what I was
gettin’--I wasn’t gettin’ nowhere near my full issue.
CARMINE
You guys are gettin’ Jim Jones-ed, way I see it.
BIG JOHN
I worked with Jim Jones, at the old Fillmore. It was
the kids. I worked with the kids that had no parents--
takin’ them to school and gettin’ them--
MARIO
I know, John, I know.
MAURICE
There was a fighter Jim Jones--Jim “Kool Aid” Jones--
middleweight--wudn’t no good.
CARMINE
They’re just like every other business charity--
private social service. Suckin’ that public dick.
MAURICE
That’s right! And they tell you you got the
cum-breath. All these motherfuckers.
MARIO
I don’t know about any of this. It’s just I should
be getting mail, should be gettin’ a bunch of mail.
CARMINE
These property managers and doctors and super-
market owners and liquor store owners and drug-
store owners and methadon' clinic owners and
insurance company owners . . . --
MAURICE
Bidness men! All of ‘em! That’s where the mother-
fuckin’ welfare money be going’. Cocksuckers crying
the loudest--
BIG JOHN
It’s interesting the relationship between the mail and
the welfare system. The complex infrastructure--
CARMINE
Infrastructure this in your mouth, John--It’s this
huge slush fund, man. All these bitches just frontin’
different hustles off the same big ol’ slush fund.
MAURICE
I hear that! Betty motherfuckin’ Ford and Hillary
motherfuckin’ Clinton ain’t but Bob Hope and Jerry
motherfuckin’ Lewis.
MARIO
If you guys don’t mind--I need to sort this out..
You guys are a great help, but--
CARMINE
You gotta get outta here, that’s all.
MAURICE
Yeah, Carmine, that’s all. Maybe we come stay at
yo’ place. What d’ya say, Big John?
BIG JOHN
It’s the social engineering aspects--the Zionist
occupation of Palestine is based on the usurpation
of water rights . . .
MAURICE
(re Carmine)
Fuckin’ day tripper.
MARIO
I don’t know why you hang out here.
MAURICE
Same reason he drank that Cisco, that Olde English,
and shot that dog food. Am I right?
CARMINE
You know, you should be one of those radio shrinks,
that kinda insight.
MAURICE
Fuck insight! You handin’ out advice like--man,
why don’t you just radio all that bullshit.
BIG JOHN
The Zionist occupation foreshadows the European
occupation of the planet. The wanton, inhuman,
unspeakable--
MARIO
Shut up, John. You guys--
CARMINE
Way I see it, you’re just this sorry jail house nigger,
left what sense you had on the fifth tier, with all
your “pruno” and “zuu-zuu’s and wham-wham’s”.
Maybe you kicked in jail, but that penitentiary
fucked you up more’n all the dope and lush on
the streets.
MAURICE
You know what I oughta do? I oughta cut your
motherfuckin’ throat. Maybe that’s what I oughta
do.
BIG JOHN
The water and mineral rights for the whole planet
are owned--in perpetuity--by European interests--
Western interests--
MAURICE
You are one sorry-ass’d peepin’-tom motherfucker.
Why don’t you see if the man’ll just gi’ you the key
to the shit-house, you can get up off yo’ knees an’
stop sniffin’ ‘round the cracks in the do’.
MARIO
This is hopeless. . . . (Long strained Silence.) . . . Hey,
what do they mean when they talk about “half and
half”?
CARMINE
What do you mean?
MARIO
You know, a half and half.
BIG JOHN
I spent three months, when I was hospitalized,
calculating my half-life. Fascinating, it would
change from moment to moment, thought to
thought, calculation to . . .
MARIO
No. I know what it means, you know, when you
have a . . . a date, you know, and you ask for a . . .
you know, a half and--
CARMINE
Oh Jesus, you mean like half and half, ‘round the
world, like that. Shit!
MARIO
Yeah, I mean, I know what it means and all--it’s
just, I didn’t want to have a, you know, a misunder-
standing. Like that.
CARMINE
Shit, I thought you were talking ‘bout this funky
smell. Shit, fuckin’ half and half . . .
PAUSE.
MAURICE
Tell the man, go ahead.
PAUSE.
MAURICE (cont)
Go on, man.
BIG JOHN
I know what it means. I know what it means. I do.
MAURICE
Man wants to know what a half and half is,
Carmine. You gonna tell him or what?
CARMINE
Hey, shut the fuck--he said he knows what it is, OK?
MARIO
Yeah, I know what it is--
MAURICE
You said you had a misunderstanding, right? You
didn’t want to have no misunderstanding. You said
that, right?
BIG JOHN
I can tell you what it is, you want to know.
CARMINE
What is the big deal here?
MAURICE
He didn’t want to have a misunderstanding. He
wanted to know about this half and half so he
wouldn’t have no misunderstanding.
MARIO
Let’s just forget it.
MAURICE
Nah. I want to know ‘bout this misunderstanding.
See, I’m curious ‘bout dis here.
BIG JOHN
A blow-job and a fuck. A half and half is a blow-job
and a fuck.
CARMINE
Yeah, that’s right.
MARIO
I knew that. Sure. I don’t know why I asked.
It’s nothing.
CARMINE
Yeah, a blow-job and a fuck is all it is. What’s
the problem? What’s the MISUNDERSTANDING?
MAURICE
Mario’ll tell you ‘bout the misunderstanding, but
first, Carmine, you tell me ‘bout ‘round the world,
baby. What’s ‘round the world?
PAUSE.
CARMINE
What the fuck is this? . . . Mario?
MARIO
I don’t really know.
BIG JOHN
Well, you stopover in places--like, you know, if
you leave from L.A. or New York, maybe you
stop in--
CARMINE
Yeah, yeah, we know . . .
LONG PAUSE.
CARMINE (cont)
Yeah, . . . well . . . around the world is when the
chick . . . works you . . . all over. . . . You know,
she fuck you and you fuck her. . . . She can start
. . . like . . . with her tongue. . . . She can, you know,
run her tongue all, ah, over your face and, ah, . . . up
in your mouth and shit. And then down and, maybe,
bite on your titties awhile, you know, like that. . . .
Then she go on down, start suckin’, suckin’ on yo’ dick,
CARMINE (cont)
but really suckin’ that nasty motherfucker, you know.
Then she’ll get down and suck on your balls. Lick ‘em
all up and suck on ‘em, one at a time, like they
was ice cubes or goddam candy or somethin’. . . .
And, you know, you doin’ the same thing on her.
. . . You know, you playin’ with those big ol’
tittie-bags and shit . . . suckin’ on that pussy
. . . just making the bitch hum--ha-ummmmm.
. . . You know, then she’ll get around on you,
start lickin’ out yer ass-hole, you know, she
just pullin’ yer pud and stickin’ her tongue off
in yer ass-hole. Then after a little of this--after
a couple hours of this--you start fuckin’ her: and
. . . you fuck her . . . in her hair, you know, on her
head . . . ‘tween her titties . . . under her arms . . .
in her double chins . . . any place you can find, you
stick yo’ dick--bitch’s got a glass eye, pop that mother-
fucker out, grab ‘er by the goddam ears, and fuck ‘er
there. . . . Then you go on down and fuck her pussy
‘til she beg you to stop. . . . And when she’s beggin’,
she’s sayin’, “Please, please, baby please. This is SO
motherfuckin’ good, you just gotta stop this right
now or I’m gonna die up in here!” When she’s beggin’
you to stop, you go and take yo’ dick out her pussy
and stick it straight up her ass and you fuck her in
her ass ‘til you get yo’ nuts off. Then you take it out
her ass and make her lick the shit off yo’ dick. . . .
That’s ‘round the world.
Pause.
MAURICE
Man, you a sad, stupid motherfucker. . . . What, you
get over yo’ momma house, and rent you a bunch a
that po’nography, huh? And you sit up in there wit’
yo’ little pee-pee just hard as the back a Jesus head,
and try to learn all you can ‘bout pussy. . . . Man, you
don’t know shit ‘bout pussy--you don’t even know
what color it is. You goddam sure don’t know nothin’
‘bout buyin’ no kinda pussy.
BIG JOHN jumps up off the couch.
BIG JOHN
Did you feel that? Did you feel it move? I swear,
Mario, something moved in here.
MAURICE
Livin’ wit’ yo’ momma at your age.
MARIO
Leave ‘im alone.
MAURICE
Naw, he ain’t shit. . . . Man, if god loved lies he’d
hug yo’ narra ass to death.
MARIO
Come on, leave him alone.
BIG JOHN
There’s something not right here. There’s something
going on, I don’t like this anymore. Mario, . . .
MARIO
Never mind, John, sit over here.
MAURICE
Hey, Mario, I saw your misunderstanding, you know
what I’m sayin’? You know? Huh? You been listenin’
to a lot of fools is why you got this misunderstanding.
. . . (to Carmine) If you ever been with a who’, ‘sides
on yo’ momma VCR, which I doubt, you’d know a who’
will not kiss you--will not, no amount of money. ‘Cause
she ain’t about kissin’--she ain’t about love. And the
difference ‘tween a half and half and a ‘round the world
is ‘round the world you come with the blow-job and you
come with the fuck.
CLAIRE ENTERS and stands inside doorway.
MAURICE (cont)
A half and half, you come, you done, you know what
I’m sayin’? You come in her mouth, that’s the end.
LONG MOMENT as MAURICE is the last to realize CLAIRE is in the room.
CLAIRE
(To Mario) Bill said you wanted to see me.
BIG JOHN
I need to talk to you, really, about my medication.
CLAIRE
Some other time, Mr. Crutcher. I need to talk to
Mr. Margotta, now. . . . Mr. Gibson, Mr. Dunn, would
you excuse us?
BIG JOHN
Really, Mrs. MacCormack, it’s very important. I
need you to talk to my doctor. It’s important,
really important!
CARMINE
Come on, John. Just--come on.
MAURICE
Don’t forget about the TV, man.
MAURICE, CARMINE & BIG JOHN EXIT.
LONG MOMENT.
CLAIRE
You wanted something?
MARIO
No, it’s nothing.
CLAIRE
Bill said--
MARIO
I know. . . . It’s just . . .
CLAIRE
What? Mr. Margotta, what? . . . We don’t have time.
MARIO
It’s just . . . my mail.
CLAIRE
Your mail? . . . Your mail?
BEATS.
MARIO
My mail . . . I’m not getting it.
CLAIRE
How can that be? I put it--
MARIO
And my checks.
CLAIRE
During meetings--regularly--
MARIO
But my checks must be coming.
CLAIRE
Daily, during meetings, I put your mail--
MARIO
It’s been almost two months, I’ve gotta be getting
them.
CLAIRE
Mr. Margotta, Mario, we don’t have time for this now.
I’ve been putting your mail, your horrible mail, on that
table every day at the same time. And I will continue
to do that until it is no longer appropriate.
MARIO
But I haven’t been getting any mail.
CLAIRE
I can’t imagine why. . . . And as for your checks,
I will bank them for you when they come. That is,
if you want me to do that.
MARIO
But I haven’t gotten any mail--any checks.
CLAIRE
We really don’t have time to go into this right now.
MARIO
Have I gotten checks--have you banked any checks
for me?
CLAIRE
There are people waiting to see you downstairs.
I need to know if you want a place here--to keep
a place here.
MARIO
What are you talking about?
CLAIRE
Do you want us to continue to keep a place here for
you while you’re gone--if you have to go.
MARIO
Go where? If I have to go?
CLAIRE
These people want to see you--I need to know if
you want us to take care of your affairs, your mail
and such, if you go.
MARIO
Why would I go? Where?
BILL ENTERS, he is edgy.
CLAIRE
We’ll be right there.
BILL
They’re gettin’ tired a waiting. They’re gettin’
pissed off.
CLAIRE
These men say they have a warrant for you.
MARIO
What for!?
CLAIRE
They didn’t say.
BILL
They’re Marshals, from the Marshal’s Office.
CLAIRE
Does it really matter? You’ll have to come down and
talk to them.
MARIO
Oh, Jesus! Oh fuck!
BILL
You watch yourself, mister!
CLAIRE
We’ll hold a place for you--’til you get back. . . .
Whenever that is. . . . But you have to tell me
that’s what you want.
MARIO
Oh, Jesus fuckin’ Christ.
BILL
I’m not gonna listen to this, and you sure shouldn’t
have to. I just don’t want them comin’ up here.
CLAIRE
You’ll have to go down and talk to them.
MARIO
Are they really gonna take me? Now?
CLAIRE
They said they had a warrant. I don’t know.
BILL
Oh, I think you can plan on bein’ gone for a while.
MARIO
I need a minute. . . . Tell ‘em I’ll be right there.
BILL
I don’t want to tell them anything. You go on and
talk to ‘em.
CLAIRE
(To Bill) Oh, come on! . . . Don’t keep these men
waiting--hurry up.
CLAIRE LEADS BILL OUT.
LONG MOMENT as MARIO stares straight ahead.
MARIO Xs to closet, opens it and stares in.
RUTH RISES from behind couch, her arms are full of TWINE, PAPER & MAIL (all well-gnawed). She stares at MARIO.
MAURICE ENTERS and stands inside doorway.
MAURICE
Mario!
MUSIC (Taylor) begins.
MARIO TURNS into the room.
LONG MOMENT.
MARIO
I’m sorry.
RUTH DUMPS everything on the couch.
MARIO
I haven’t got any money.
BEATS.
RUTH
My baby . . .
MARIO
Did I hurt you? . . . I didn’t want to.
RUTH
My baby . . .
MAURICE
Man, those guys don’t look very happy.
MARIO
I’m sorry.
MAURICE
Go, man!
RUTH
Oh, no!
BEATS.
MARIO EXITS HURRIEDLY.
RUTH
Oh, no!
LONG MOMENT as MAURICE stares at RUTH.
MAURICE GOES to CLOSET and takes shitty bathrobe, goes to RUTH and wraps her in it.
MAURICE
Come on.
MAURICE TRUNDLES RUTH OUT.
RUTH (0S)
My baby.
LONG MOMENT.
BLACKOUT. MUSIC continues.
END ACT I
ACT II
ENTR’ACT MUSIC (Cecil Taylor’s Transitions) FADES.
IN BLACK we hear WHITE NOISE from which drops the occasional disjunct word or phrase to give the impression of a very bad TV signal. CARMINE & MAURICE LIGHT cigarettes bringing the first light to the stage. Then, A GREY GLOW EMANATES FROM TV ON TABLE DR as LIGHTS UP.
AT RISE: The same set as Act I, but with the addition of a small (14”), old TV on table DR.
CARMINE SITS at table watching TV, MAURICE PACES, both are smoking, and BIG JOHN, who is way over-medicated, much more than before, sits on couch ULC, his chin on his chest.
SOUND: A BIG, JUICY FART.
MAURICE
Man, take that shit outside, John--sorry motherfucker.
BEATS.
MAURICE
Man, I think this dummy shit in his pants. . . . I don’t
know what they got ‘im on, but he’s sittin’ in it now.
CARMINE
Hey, shut up. I’m trying to listen to this.
MAURICE
To what? (Ind. TV) To this?
CARMINE
Just shut up, okay? Wait’ll the commercial.
ANOTHER FART.
MAURICE
Yeah? . . . Well, tell shit bag, here.
BIG JOHN
(Shouting)
Excellent! Well done! Well done!
BEATS.
MAURICE
How can you watch that, man? It’s just snow.
CARMINE
Naw, man, the News! The Evening News. . . . This
little egg-roll gets me hot. I’d like her to jack me
off with those little bound feet a hers, huh?
MAURICE
Safe sex.
CARMINE
Come on, the bitch is already pregnant.
MAURICE
Right. You’re a real fuckin’ gentleman, Carmine.
Only a real fuckin’ gentleman could get a bone-on
watchin’ static.
BIG JOHN
(Shouting)
Good job! Good job! All of this . . . Yeah . . . all
of this.
JOHN BEGINS a sort of SEMITIC CANTING (as if calling the faithful to prayer) which begins slightly to resemble “The Ballad of the Green Berets” under the following.
CARMINE TAKES money out of his pocket, holds it up toward Maurice.
CARMINE
Hey, run down and get us some smokes--you’re not
watchin’ this, right? . . . Get us some smokes.
MAURICE
What do I look like--
CARMINE
Don’t ask, you don’t want to know. C’mon, I’ll buy,
you fly. . . . Some smokes.
CARMINE TAKES out more money.
CARMINE (cont)
Here, get yourself a pony. . . . Some tomato puree,
make up some pruno.
MAURICE
Put that shit away. I ain’ goin’ to the sto’ for you,
okay? You want cigarettes, you go.
CARMINE
Okay, fuck you then. . . . Hey, John, shut up, man. . . .
John, come on, wake up, man.
BIG JOHN STOPS canting.
CARMINE (cont)
Oh, Mad John, come on, wake up, you dim mother-
fucker.
MAURICE
Man, let the poop-butt sleep.
CARMINE
Come on, John, wake up.
BIG JOHN
(Shouting)
All this trash! . . . All of it. . . . This trash. . . . (a little
more lucid) What are we going to do with it? . . .
So much garbage. So much waste. . . . I’ll have to take
care of all of this. . . . I’ll have to manage it. All of it
. . . all this waste.
CARMINE
Hey, John, you with me? Yo, John. Go t’the corner, get
me some smokes, ‘kay? . . . My brother, cig-ar-ettes.
Can you handle it?
MAURICE
You are cold.
BIG JOHN
(Struggling with narcosis)
I can’t take care of all this, it’s too much responsibility.
It’s just too much to be done.
CARMINE
Just a pack a cigarettes, John, take you two minutes,
‘kay?
MAURICE
Leave the po’ satchel-ass motherfucker alone. They
got ‘im on queer street.
BIG JOHN
(Losing his struggle)
I don’t know how . . . we can dispose of . . . so much
waste . . . without polluting . . . the ground water. . . .
Who will . . . work the treatment plants . . . change
. . . and clean the filters . . . maintain the chemical
balance. . . . Who will bury the dead . . . so many
dead. If . . . we pollute . . . the ground water . . .
life . . . will . . . become . . . impossible . . . nothing---
will---grow. . . .
BIG JOHN LOSES consciousness, his chin, once more, firmly on his chest.
BEATS.
CARMINE
Okay, shut up, go back to sleep. Jesus Christ!
MAURICE
I don’t see why you can’t just go.
CARMINE
The News’s back on. Check it out.
MAURICE
The fuck would you know. . . . Man, turn that fuckin’
thing off. Sound’s startin’ to get on my dick.
BEATS.
CARMINE
Those raggedy-ass homeless motherfuckers he lets
hang around out front. Stinky fuckin’ tramps . . . I
got no patience with that.
MAURICE
What? . . . With what?
CARMINE
I don't know how he expects folks to patronize his
store, he lets those shit-stinkin’ rummies panhandle
at his front door.
MAURICE
Man, can I turn this shit off?
CARMINE
That one dark fucker--that Indian lookin’ one--know
the one I mean?
MAURICE TURNS off TV.
CARMINE (cont)
I saw that motherfucker steal this bike--this kid’s
bike--little kid. Just went in the store--this rasty
motherfucker kills his Cisco or whatever the fuck
it was--this is about seven, seven-thirty in the
morning--kid’s prolly goin’ to school or somethin’--
and this big cocksucker tosses his bottle against the
wall over here--breaks his fuckin’ bottle against the
wall--snatches that little bike--that kid’s bike--drunk
as a fuckin’ donkey--and starts humpin’ it down the
street. Weavin’ all over and desperate to get away. . . .
And then there he is this mornin’, asks me for a
quarter. . . . Motherfuckers.
MAURICE
What d’you tell ‘im?
CARMINE
I told ‘im he could kiss my wrinkled yella ass.
MAURICE
You did, huh? That why you want this po’ fool
t’buy yo’ cigarettes?
CARMINE
Man, I got nothing for these fuckin’ beggars, these
homeless. I got no sympathy for these pathetic
fuckers.
MAURICE
Yeah, well, they prolly all busted up ‘bout that.
CARMINE
Naw, you know what I’m sayin’. . . . They show me
nothin’--you gotta show me somethin’. . . . Man come
up, sticks a gun in my face, says gimme yo’ mother-
fuckin’ money. All right. But this punk steals a kid’s
bike an’ asks me for a quarter--fuck him in ‘is ass.
BIG JOHN RAISES his head slowly, his mouth agape, uttering a small rattling groan. As his head hits the back of the couch, a long, but very weak FART is heard. MAURICE & CARMINE DON’T NOTICE.
CARMINE (cont)
You gotta go out and get yours, am I right? . . . Go
out and take it, you have to. . . . You get popped,
you gotta do some time, fine. . . . But these sorry
fucks . . . got no hustle, no game, beggin’ for lush,
sleep in the street . . . fuck ‘em, I say.
BEATS.
MAURICE
How’d you get to be so hard, man? . . . Livin’ at home
. . . momma musta beat yo’ ass, huh?
RUTH ENTERS tentatively. She is dressed in small-business chic: Not a McDonalds uniform, but not quite from the Jacqueline Smith K-Mart collection.
CARMINE
Well, what d’we got here? Hey, sweet thang.
MAURICE
Chill, slick. . . . (to Ruth) What’re you doin’ here?
RUTH
Is Mario here?
CARMINE
(to Maurice) You know this lady?
MAURICE
Don’t know where he is--haven’t heard from ‘im.
. . . You look all right.
CARMINE
Hell, yeah . . . look fine.
MAURICE
He hasn’t been back, hasn’t called or nothin’. . . .
Come on in here.
RUTH REMAINS at the doorway.
CARMINE
What’s a matter, come on in--have a seat.
RUTH
I just want to see him--see if he’s back. . . . I gotta
get going.
MAURICE
Yeah, where you gotta go?
RUTH
Work.
CARMINE
All right. I like a woman who works.
RUTH
You think he’ll come back here?
MAURICE
I don’t know.
CARMINE
He ‘spectin’ you to be here? You waitin’ for ‘im?
. . . Shit, I know what I’d do.
RUTH STARTS coming into the room, first toward the couch, the back of the couch.
MAURICE
Where you working?
RUTH
Down on Third--just temporary.
CARMINE
Hey, it’s a job--am I right? . . . Where’d you say
you know Mario from?
RUTH STARES behind the couch.
RUTH
From here.
CARMINE
For real? . . . You used to work here, or something?
MAURICE
This prolly ain’t a good idea.
CARMINE
What?
RUTH
What’s a matter with John?
CARMINE
(laughing)
He’s dead, I’d say, way he smells.
RUTH WALKS into the room more.
CARMINE (cont)
You know John? You a friend of his, too?
MAURICE
(to Ruth) Look, why don’t we get outta here. . . . Take
a walk outside.
Pause.
CARMINE
Well shit, you too. Guess I’m the only one hasn't’
had the pleasure. . . . I’m Carmine--
RUTH
I know.
CARMINE
--glad to--
MAURICE
We gotta get her outta here.
RUTH
I think he’ll be back. . . . I think so.
CARMINE
Why we? This is a friend of Mario’s
RUTH LOOKS into portable closet DL.
RUTH
He’s left all his stuff.
MAURICE
This is bad--I’m gettin’ her outta here.
CARMINE
Maybe she wants to wait for him. . . . (to Ruth) Do
the, ah, people--do Bill and, ah, his old lady know
you’re here?
MAURICE
What d’you think, fool? You think they’d let her up
in here?
RUTH
I just want to wait--see Mario.
CARMINE
Well, I got nothing to do with this. . . . And Big John . . .
(to Maurice) You best jump off in the car with me and
John. . . . Leave this lady alone, let her wait for her
friend. . . . Maybe he’ll be back, what d’we know?
BILL ENTERS. Long moment.
BILL
(to Ruth) Hello. . . . Can I help you?
BEATS.
CARMINE
You don’t know this lady?
MAURICE
This is a friend of mine, Bill, we’re going out for coffee.
. . . She just came up.
CARMINE
A friend of yours . . . ?
BILL
(to Maurice) You know the rules, you been here long
enough.
MAURICE
Yeah, I know. . . . We’ll just get goin’.
BILL
No, I don’t think so.
BILL BEGINS to inspect the room.
BILL
I don’t think so. . . . You all watchin’ this TV? . . .
What’s a matter with John?
CARMINE
He’s just out of it. Too many stumbleros.
BILL
John, let’s go--downstairs.
BILL PAYS no further attention to John.
BILL (cont)
Young lady, I’m afraid you’ll have to wait somewhere
else--outside. . . . (to Maurice & Carmine) The Alpha
people are here, it’s test time again. . . . I hope you
boys been savin’ up.
CARMINE
Damn, shit sneaks up on ya.
BEATS.
RUTH
Will Mario be back?
MAURICE
(to Ruth) Hey, come on.
BILL
Mario?
RUTH
Is he coming back here?
BILL
I don’t know where he is--just kinda disappeared.
Didn’t he?
RUTH
All his stuff’s here. . . . His TV.
BILL
Is that right? . . . Well, I guess--(to Maurice &
Carmine) You heard anything from him? . . . He’s
kinda the mystery man, ain’t he? . . . Well, my
darlin’, you’re gonna have to--Maurice, Carmine,
you best get on downstairs, do your duty, get it
over with. . . . Maurice, . . .
CARMINE EXITS. MAURICE HESITATES.
BILL (cont)
You can meet your friend later on. Go on.
MAURICE EXITS.
BILL (cont)
So, whose friend are you? . . . What makes you
think Mario’s coming back here?
RUTH
He lives here.
BILL
Oh, is that right?
RUTH
He stays here.
BILL
Not recently, he don’t. . . . You a friend of Mario’s? . . .
You family?
SILENCE. Bill stares at Ruth, Ruth stares at couch.
BILL (cont)
You know about his troubles, right? Why he left
. . . had to leave? . . . Not s’posed to be any women
up here, . . . any guests in this room. . . . Rules. . . .
You know that?
RUTH
I know that.
BILL
You been here before, huh? . . . You been in this
room, before, huh? . . . I know you have, it’s all
right to say so.
RUTH
No, huh uh.
BILL
You sure? It’s all right.
RUTH
Huh uh.
BILL
You sure know a lot about this place, this room, for
not havin’ been here.
LONG MOMENT.
BILL
Come on, you can’t stay here.
BILL TRIES to take hold of RUTH, but she breaks away.
RUTH
John’s dead.
BILL
People been sayin’ that for years. Let ‘im sleep. . . .
Come on, let’s get you goin’ outta here.
BILL TAKES hold of RUTH and tries to show her out.
CLAIRE ENTERS. Long moment.
CLAIRE
Who’s she?
BEATS.
CLAIRE
Bill?
BILL
I don’t know, I mean, her name. . . . A friend of
Maurice’s, he said. They have a date or something.
CLAIRE
Young lady?
BILL
She was just leavin’.
CLAIRE
A friend of Maurice? Is that so?
RUTH
John peed his pants.
BILL
That’s not all he done.
CLAIRE
Why isn’t John down testing? . . . Maurice is
downstairs.
RUTH
No.
BILL
(to Ruth) Come on.
RUTH
No. No. Mario.
CLAIRE
Mario?
BILL
What’s the matter with you?
CLAIRE
Let her go, Bill. . . . What about Mario?
RUTH
He’s not asleep. You can’t sleep on that couch. It’s
full of metal. And awful dust--metal dust. And all
the chemicals in the air stays in the cloth and padding,
in the cushions, which is all broken and rotted out.
Nobody can sleep on that. That’s not a place for
sleeping. Not at all. . . . Even Mario couldn’t. Mario
never slept on there.
CLAIRE
Bill, what are you talking about? . . . (to Ruth) You’re
his wife, aren’t you? . . . You’re the wife had Mario
arrested, aren’t you? . . . The ex-wife? . . . (to Bill)
Why are you lying to me? . . . (to Ruth) You’re the
one with the child support.
BILL
Maurice said,--
RUTH
No, no, I need to see him. I need to see him right away.
BILL
She and Maurice are--
CLAIRE
(to Bill) You’re a fool, lying to me. (to Ruth) You’re a
little late, sweetie. It’s just a little too late for Mario--
for you to see him. . . . They took him away some time
ago, you know? You know about all that, don’t you? . . .
It was because of you they took him away, wasn’t it?
He owed you money or something like that, wasn’t
that it?
RUTH
No, no, I just need to talk to him. I’ll wait for him.
BILL
I really kinda doubt that. If I were you, I’d let the
courts handle this. The state’ll take care of ya. I hate
to see a young mother--
RUTH
It’s not me--I didn’t do that.
CLAIRE
Shut up, Bill. . . . (to Ruth) I don’t think Mario’ll be
comin’ back here. . . . Or for everybody’s sake I hope
he won’t. Now you best get along. . . . Bill, show the
young lady outside. . . . And be nice--both of you.
BILL TAKES RUTH out. She resists.
RUTH (Exiting)
But I need to tell him . . .
LONG MOMENT during which CLAIRE carefully CROSSES to couch and checks out JOHN without touching him.
CLAIRE
Oh god, you’re filthy. . . . Pity they don’t make medicine
that would bathe you and dress you and feed you--
make you eat. . . . This really isn’t such a help, you
know. You really weren’t that much trouble. Not really.
. . . You never lost control of yourself like this before.
When you were on the sensible dosages, the sensible
medicine, when you could just be quiet for a while, stop
CLAIRE (cont)
your stories. . . . But look, now. What you’ve done. . . .
You’ve got sicker and sicker because you said you’re
medicine wasn’t strong enough. . . . Now, . . . What? . . .
What can we do now? . . . I’m not going to stand here
and wait for you to wake up, to go downstairs, to make
your test. What good would a test be now? They’d never
say your medicine’s too strong. They’d just figure out
some way to give you more and more and stronger and
stronger. Looks like you spilled your test anyway, in
your lap. . . . You’re all wet, John, all dirty and all wet.
. . . I can’t take care of you anymore, anyway. I’m
going to need some help with you, John. . . . A little
help. . . . More help. . . . I did the best I could, really. . . .
I’m sorry we didn’t take better care of you.
CLAIRE EXITS.
LONG MOMENT.
MARIO ENTERS STEALTHILY. He carries a big shopping bag.
MARIO
John, . . . How’s it goin’? . . . Gettin’ in a little down-
time?
After making sure no one can see him, MARIO puts bag into closet DL. He checks out contents of closet.
MARIO (cont)
Everything is . . . everything. So did you miss me?
. . . Big John, did you miss me, huh?
MARIO MOVES around the room.
MARIO (cont)
You oughta be downstairs. Don’t wanna miss your
test. . . . Yeah, . . . it’s no fun since they stopped taking
blood. Remember that tall skinny Black dude they had,
Blacula, could not find a vein, but tear up your arm tryin’
. . . . You don’t look so good . . . don’t smell so good . . . as
usual. . . . Well, I got my TV back, how ‘bout that? . . .
What happened, Bill start fuckin’ Claire again? (Notices
MARIO (cont)
ashtray) What, all this second-hand smoke get to ya? . . .
I guess this is the lounge now, huh? . . . Boy, it’s the
shits, you gotta sneak back into your own place, you
know? It’s somethin’ about this place, I don’t know.
I never feel I’m gonna be here long. Soon as I get here
I start thinking ‘bout findin’ another place to stay. . . .
You ever feel that way? You know, always waitin’ for
the axe to drop . . . the next person you meet . . . that
comes in the room . . . the next word outta his mouth
. . . that’s gonna be it. That’s your notice. Get the fuck
out, never come back. . . . You know, always on the
defensive. Workin’ your ass off to keep that smile on
their faces. . . . I don’t know if I’m s’posed to be here
or not.
MARIO ENDS up at the back of couch.
MARIO (cont)
I don’t s’pose if there was anything back here it’d bother
you right now. . . . God, I fucked that up. . . . How could
you fuck somethin’ like that up? . . . I guess this couch
just ain’t no good. Not now. . . . Not anymore. . . . You
really startin’ to stink, Big John.
CARMINE ENTERS.
CARMINE
What the fuck!? . . . What’re you doin’?
MARIO
We gotta get some help for John.
CARMINE
Yeah.
MARIO
We need some help with him.
CARMINE
When’d you get back? . . . Where were ya? . . . Damn.
MARIO
What happened to him?
CARMINE
How’d you get in here? . . . I don’t know, he just sorta--
MARIO
You guys start smokin’ in here? . . . When . . .?
CARMINE
How’d you get past ever’body?
MARIO
Came in at the tree.
CARMINE
No shit. . . . You ain’t seen Bill or what’s-’er-name?
MARIO
No, huh uh.
CARMINE
We got your TV back, see?
MARIO
Yeah, thanks. . . . What’s goin’ on with them?
CARMINE
Oh, I don’t know. . . . I mean, they don't tell me nothin’,
you know.
MARIO
You got anything goin’?
CARMINE
No, you know. . . . Things have gotten kinda tight . . .
since you left, you know.
MARIO
What d’ya mean, tight?
CARMINE
No, you know . . . just a lot tighter is all. . . . You know,
just with their attitude. Like that.
MARIO
You got the TV back, right. . . . And you’re smokin’ in
here. . . . Is that what you mean by tighter?
CARMINE
Naw, it’s just a kinda general thing.
MARIO
Uh huh.
CARMINE
Yeah, you know, the atmosphere is just a lot tighter
is all.
MARIO
Uh huh. . . . You gonna do something ‘bout Big John?
CARMINE
Hey, what can I do? . . . Anyway . . . I gotta get goin’
. . . home.
MAURICE ENTERS talking.
MAURICE
(cont from OS)
. . . I don't mind her watchin’ me--tell her--it’s just
hard pissin’ through a hard-on. Tell her. (Sees the
others) Damn. . . . Place is gettin’ spooky. (to Mario)
Where’d you come from, man? . . . You get that early
kick-out?
MARIO
(to Carmine) You got a extra cigarette?
CARMINE GIVES cigarette to MARIO.
CARMINE
Here y’go. I gotta stop and get some more anyway.
CARMINE LIGHTS Mario's cigarette.
MAURICE
Hey, lemme have shorts on that, Mario. Aw’ight? . . .
Damn, . . . look at you, man. . . . Where’d they have
you, man? . . . They shoot you out to camp?
MARIO
No.
MAURICE
You were in the Main Jail the whole time? Mother-
fucker! What, up in nine’y-fi’-hunnerd?
CARMINE
The man just rolled out, man, he don't wanna be talkin’
‘bout this shit. Am I right?
MARIO
You guys heard anything?
CARMINE MAURICE
Heard anything, like Naw, ain’t heard nothing,
what? homes.
MARIO
Nothin’ ‘bout my money or my mail?
MAURICE
Aw, you know, man . . .
CARMINE
They don’t tell us shit.
MAURICE
Hey, word up, man. Your little sugar was by here to
see ya. . . . Yeah, no bullshit.
MARIO
Who?
MAURICE
You remember. . . . Little Miss Understanding. You
remember. . . . Just today, man.
CARMINE
Who was that?
MAURICE
That child is dazed and confused, man.
MARIO
She was up here? I this room?
CARMINE
That who that was?
MAURICE
Yeah, was not cool, man.
CARMINE
Aw, she was sweet as monkey meat, boy.
MARIO
What’d she want?
CARMINE
(ind. Maurice) This dog was tryin’ to front her off as
his bitch.
MAURICE
Hard to tell with her, know what I’m sayin’? She was
babblin’ like a motherfuckin’ brook. Sketchin’.
MARIO
Where’d she go? . . . Where is she?
MAURICE
I don’t know, man.
CARMINE
Bill was all over her, man--like he hadn’t seen pussy
since disco.
MARIO
Oh, fuck!
MAURICE
(to Carmine) Man, shut up, fool.
MARIO
She’s gone?
CARMINE
Yeah. . . . You should too. . . . Take your TV, man.
MAURICE
She aw’ight--Bill just busted her up in here is all.
CARMINE
Thing don’t work worth a shit anyway.
MARIO
I fucked that all up.
MAURICE
Naw, ‘s aw’ight.
CARMINE
You just got no future here, man, know what I’m
sayin’?
MAURICE
(to Carmine) Shut up, man.
MARIO
I didn’t even know her. Just one day, you know--
MAURICE
Hey, it don’ matter, man. Not no more.
CARMINE
I’m tellin’ you, Mario . . .
MARIO
Her name is Ruth.
MAURICE
Yeah, I know.
CARMINE
Now they know you had her up here, they don’t need
no other reason.
MARIO
You know, she just said, “That’s it, my baby” . . .
my baby . . . and I went off.
MAURICE
Don’t worry ‘bout it.
MARIO
But, my baby, . . . I don’t know.
CARMINE
Look, these people were glad you’re gone--they
gonna be pissed you’re back.
MAURICE
Look, man, it’s all ‘bout gettin’ off . . . you’re just
tryin’ t’get off, right?
MARIO
Yeah, but it’s more’n that.
MAURICE
Naw, it ain’t. You can try to make it more; she can too;
but it ain’t.
CARMINE
(to Mario) He’s exactly right, man. It’s all ‘bout gettin’
off--gettin’ yours. . . . All this shit!
MARIO
But when she said that, I lost it. . . . I smacked her--
smacked her real good.
CARMINE
You hit her?!
MAURICE
She had to a been a little light up top goin’ in.
CARMINE
Man, you hit her?!
MAURICE
One punch didn’t fuck ‘er up like that. . . . One punch
from Larry Holmes couldn't a fucked her up like that.
CARMINE
(to Mario) Can’t believe you, man.
MAURICE
Look, this is all dead. . . . She gone, she cool.
MARIO
I thought she was dead, I killed her.
CARMINE
Jesus, man! . . .
CLAIRE ENTERS to just inside doorway. All but CARMINE see her.
CARMINE (cont)
Good blow-job, though, huh?
CARMINE NOTICES CLAIRE and Xs away.
CLAIRE
Well . . .
Silence.
CLAIRE
Well . . . (to Mario) How are you?
Silence.
CLAIRE
Uh huh. Well, I’m glad . . . I caught all of you together.
I’m going to need your help.
Silence.
CLAIRE
I’ll need you to help me get John back to his room. . . .
To help me carry him. . . . You can do that, can’t you?
Long Silence.
MARIO
Where’s Bill?
Silence.
CLAIRE
I don’t know where he might be.
Silence.
MARIO
Bill leave?
Beats.
CLAIRE
Friend of yours came by, a young lady. Came up here
to see you. . . . Just came right up here to your room.
MARIO
Uh huh.
CLAIRE
Do you know who I mean? Which friend, I mean? Your
friends both seemed to know her. At first I thought
she might be your wife, your ex-wife. She seemed
to know so much about you and all. And then Maurice
was saying she was his friend. Why, I don’t know. . . .
But she was quite sure you would be back. She was
quite sure, and then here you are. So . . . now . . . let’s
see to John, shall we?
NO ONE MOVES.
CARMINE
I promised my Mom I’d pick her up some smokes from
the store. I told her . . . I gotta get right home, you guys.
So, . . . hey, call me, Mario, when you’re settled--you
know, when you get settled. . . . Later, y’all.
CARMINE EXITS
CLAIRE
Oh lord. . . . Well, . . .
MAURICE
You don’t gotta move Big John. It ain’t gonna hurt
‘im to stay there.
MARIO
I don’t mind if John stays there a while.
CLAIRE
(Short derisive laugh) Oh, you don’t, do you? Well . . .
MAURICE
(to Mario) You don’t have to take any shit off these
folks.
MARIO
Uh huh.
MAURICE
Your checks comin’ in like e’rybody else’s.
CLAIRE
(to Maurice) Have you become Mr. Margotta’s adviser
on all matters now. . . . I think you need to double
check all your information.
MAURICE
Just, . . . the man hadn’t done nothin’ wrong for you
all t’be roustin’ him like this. . . . Jackin’ ‘im ‘cause a
some little strawberry wanderin’ up in here.
CLAIRE
If you continue, Mr. Dunn, you’ll only embarrass yourself,
or worse, jeopardize your own place here. Why don't you
leave off and just help us get John back to his room ‘til
we can have him looked after.
MARIO
Leave John alone.
MAURICE
Don’t you ever worry, ma’am, that you might just
threaten someone into doin’ you some terrible harm?
CLAIRE
My, what are you suggesting here? Are you saying
that you might harm me. Or Mario, here. Is that what
you’re saying? . . . You’re making this uglier and uglier.
MARIO
(to Maurice) Don’t fuck up your good-time, man. Just
go ahead on, let me talk to her. It’s cool.
MAURICE
You say! But I’m tellin’ ya, I know these people, man.
They jes’ lookin’ to get yo’ gate money and blow you
off. . . . (Exiting) You ‘n’ me, homes.
MAURICE EXITS. Long moment.
MARIO
So what’s the haps. You been bankin’ my checks or
what?
CLAIRE
It’s a real shame about Maurice. He seems to be
drifting back--
MARIO
Hey, fuck Maurice. What about my money?
CLAIRE
You just don’t appreciate what’s done for you. . . . You
must think you’re the governor’s son. You think all this
is a gift or some such thing. . . . You know, it’s very hard
to work for someone who doesn’t appreciate anything
you do for him. Who shows no respect for your wishes.
For your home, into which you’ve invited him to stay.
Who won’t abide by your simple requests, by the rules
you ask him to observe.
MARIO
My money? Where’s my money?
CLAIRE
(Pause) You really think this is all about you and your
money. Your little welfare checks. . . . Those checks
don’t amount to enough to--they don’t even cover your
house bill.
MARIO
That’s bullshit.
CLAIRE
I’m not even going to try--you can’t stay here. . . .
You can’t continue to live in our house. . . . I don’t
know where you’re going, but you can’t stay here.
. . . I want you to get your things together--
MARIO
Please. . . . Ma’am, please . . . don’t--
CLAIRE
I don’t have time for this. . . . Look at poor John. . . .
Take your belongings--get yours belongings together--
don’t forget your TV--I’m going to get some help with
John--find Bill and get him up here. . . . When I come
back I want you ready to go.
MARIO
But I can’t--
CLAIRE
I want you out! Do you understand? Out of here.
You’ve got a few pieces of mail I’ve got together in
the office. I’ll have it for you when I return. . . . Now,
empty that closet and get a move on.
CLAIRE EXITS.
LONG MOMENT during which MARIO stands stone still.
MARIO GOES to portable closet DL. He pushes closet DR to block entrance. He takes shopping bag from closet.
MARIO SETS shopping bag on table and sits in chair.
MOMENT.
MARIO then turns on TV.
BEATS.
WHITE NOISE returns.
BEATS.
TV begins to glow.
MARIO REACHES into shopping bag and takes out LARGE BOTTLE OF GENERIC VODKA. He stares at it for LONG MOMENT.
MARIO OPENS Vodka and takes LONG DRINK from bottle.
LIGHTS CHANGE--REAL WEIRD.
BEATS.
HE TAKES ANOTHER LONG DRINK.
BEATS.
RUTH RISES from behind couch. She wears her ACT I SCHMATA and has her breast again exposed (perhaps), and she is fondling it. She stares at MARIO for a LONG MOMENT.
RUTH
Come to me . . . bend to me . . . Remember that?
You told me . . . Brigadoon, remember? . . . The
heather on the hill? . . . Can’t we two go walking
together, out beyond the valley of trees . . . Out
where there’s a hillside of heather, curtsying gently
in the breeze. . . . Remember all the reprises in the
bar scene? Made you cry while you were singing?
MARIO CONTINUES to drink through this.
RUTH (cont)
Dunna ya know, Tommy, that you’re all I’m livin’ for.
So how can ya go, Tommy, when I need ya more and
more. . . . And MacConicky Square. . . . The fabric
salesman? And Mr. Lundy at the end says, “When
you’re in love anything’s possible.” Remember you
told me that? . . . Fly me to the moon and let me play
among the stars. Let me see what life is like on Jupiter
and Mars. . . . Oh, it’s only a paper moon, hangin’ over a
cardboard tree, but it wouldn’t be make-believe, if you
believe in me. . . . I’ve got you under my skin. I’ve got
you deep in the heart of me. So deep in my heart that
you are a part of me. . . .
MARIO REACHES into the shopping bag and takes out a LARGE AUTOMATIC HANDGUN. He fondles it, takes another drink, and cocks it during the following.
RUTH MOVES from behind the couch to US of MARIO
RUTH (cont)
All the shows. . . . All the lovely show tunes. . . .
Don’t throw bouquets at me, don’t . . . ah, don’t laugh
at my jokes too much, ah . . . People will say we’re
in love. . . . My little girl, soft and warm as peaches
and cream is she. My little girl gets hungry every
night and she comes home to me. . . . Remember
Bill Bigelow? The soliloquy? I’ll go out and make
it or steal it or take it or die. . . . And his little girl
is graduating from school and he’s dead and looking
on, remember?
MARIO STANDS and walks to JOHN.
MARIO
Is it true what you said, John? Is it true . . . that half
a life is better than none? Huh?
MARIO FIRES a shot into BIG JOHN’S body. JOHN JUMPS slightly and falls off the couch onto the floor.
RUTH CLIMBS onto the couch and hovers over JOHN’S body as MARIO RETURNS to chair at table. He continues to watch TV and drink.
RUTH
(over John) Baby love, my baby love, I miss you,
miss kissin’ you. . . .
RUTH BREAKS from BIG JOHN.
During the following, RUTH Xs to MARIO, climbs onto the table and hovers over the TV and MARIO.
RUTH (cont)
. . . It’s just like heaven, being here with you.
You’re like an angel, too good to be true.
But after all I love you, I do.
Angel baby, my angel baby.
When you are near me my heart skips a beat.
I can hardly stand on my own two feet.
But after all I love you I do.
Angel baby, my angel baby.
MUSIC (Cecil Taylor’s Transitions) RISES.
LIGHTS FADE LEAVING ONLY THE GLOW OF THE TV ON MARIO’S FACE.
RUTH TURNS OFF THE TV.
CURTAIN
WinoTime
A Play in Two Acts
by
Mick Collins
o cirque minime o
66, rue Marcelle
93500 Pantin
France
[contact: cirqueminime@club-internet.fr]
Copyright 1993
All Rights Reserved
The central theme of the work is a
relatively new concept--the rise of
an “anthropological” species we call
the authoritarian type of man.
--Max Horkheimer
. . . life was nothing but the next step
on the reckless path of the spirit dis-
honoured; nothing but the automatic
blush of matter roused to sensation
and become receptive for that which
awaked it.
--Thomas Mann
The Magic Mountain
In my time of incarceration I have been
sharing ideas with others, of social mis-
conception, of what society has adopted
as “fact”, of what we are. We are men who
have went out of the path of rightness at a
time when items of life were not appropriate
for our own use. We are not of the origin of
monster, nor are all of us without compassion,
affection and family. This institution lacks
programs to enhance self esteem, rehabilita-
tion and society awareness for those of us
trying to become successful in life.
--Roger Hill
Prisoner, CMF, Vacaville
Cold tonight. . . . Cold outside. Cold, cold,
cold.
--John Steppling
The Dream Coast
WinoTime
Act I
A room at Claire’s Care House, sometime pretty soon now.
Act II
The same room, maybe two weeks later.
WinoTime was first performed from February 25 to March 12,
1994, at The Lost Studio, 130 S. La Brea, Los Angeles. The first
production was directed by the playwright and designed by
Sean Forrester.
THE CAST
Mario . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Joseph Goodrich
Carmine . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jeff Daniel Phillips
Ruth . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Soumaya Akaaboune
Bill . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Mickey Swenson
Big John . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Anton Jarvis
Claire . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Cinda Jackson
Maurice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Jay Arlen Jones
Stage Manager/Assistant Director
Sharon Yablon
Music by
Arnold Schoenberg (Opus 43)
Cecil Taylor (Transitions)
Act I
SET: A small room with a convertible couch ULC, table with one chair DR, portable closet DL. There are no windows and one door DR.
AT RISE: The stage is empty as pre-show music (Schoenberg’s Opus 43) ends and for SEVERAL BEATS.
MARIO ENTERS DR wearing a shitty bathrobe, an enema bag draped around his neck, and a small, wet towel over his head. He moves around the stage. He leaves wet towel on table DR and puts enema bag in closet DL.
MARIO
Half and half . . . half and half. . . . A half and
half. . . . Half. . . . Half . . . of it. Half it: the half
and half. Half, you get half, you half a half and
half . . . a half and half . . . You get a half a half
and half. . . . You get a half and half, and half,
you half it, and half a half and half you get,
you keep half, half the half and half--which
half don’t matter. Fifty . . . a hundred, a
hundred an’ a quarter, whatever--half and
half and half and half and half and half and
half and half and half and so on and whatever.
. . . You get a half and half--you keep half and
bring me half, give me half.
He begins to dress from closet DL.
MARIO (cont)
Was five dollars! Five motherfucking dollars!
. . . Borrowed five dollars . . . gave me five
motherfucking dollars. . . . No. They got it up.
They all just got it up. . . . Drunk. . . . Five dollars,
five seconds--five for five. . . . Forty-five stops
all jive!
He is wearing ordinary clothes. He goes ULC and looks at the couch for a LONG MOMENT.
MARIO (cont)
Without a doubt . . . without doubt. . . . Where
you wouldn’t be seen. A place . . . any place you
wouldn’t be seen. Jesus, fuck, what?
He gets down behind the couch and cannot be seen.
LONG PAUSE during which FAINT MUSIC (Cecil Taylor’s Transitions) is heard. He rises from behind couch, comes around and sits on it.
LONG PAUSE
CARMINE ENTERS DR. He is dressed in ordinary clothes.
BEAT.
MARIO
Hey.
CARMINE
What’re you doin’?
MARIO
Nothin’.
CARMINE
Yeah? . . . Looks all right.
MARIO
You wanna get goin’? . . . You wanna sit down?
CARMINE
No. . . . Yeah, ok. . . . You still got that smell, like
before. . . . More, though, huh?
MARIO
Hey, Carmine, why don’t we just-- . . . You know
what it means “half and half”? You know, when
they say “half and half”?
CARMINE
Why, is that what it is?
MARIO
What?
CARMINE
You keep that shit in your room?
MARIO
What?
CARMINE
‘Cause that dairy product’ll go off on you, you
know? Smell like shit in a day . . . less, even.
MARIO
No. You know--
CARMINE
Even in a reefer, shit gets all funky and lumpy,
even cold, you know? . . . But this here is something
else, man. . . . I don’t know. . . . It’s like you got some
bad, old, stanky, . . . refructified . . . I-dunno-what up
in here. I hope you don’t plan to bring no ladies up,
you know what I’m sayin’? Cause--
MARIO
Hey, Carmine, let’s go.
CARMINE
You the boss. It’s just . . . they gotta be pissed off
about it. Bill‘s a freak. . . . Hey, where’s the TV?
What did you do with your TV? Bill take it, or what?
CARMINE EXITS DR.
MARIO HOLDS FOR SEVERAL BEATS THEN EXITS DR.
RUTH COMES FROM BEHIND COUCH. She is wearing a tattered schmatta. One breast is exposed (perhaps), and she covers it as she rummages (forages) around the room. She picks up towel from table and sucks it as she goes.
RUTH
Don’t cry . . . don’t cry out. Don’t make a sound. . . .
Not a sound. . . . Oh, my side is sore. . . . There’s no
air in here. . . . No light, . . . can’t see to breathe. . . .
There’s nothing here, more and more. How can I be
expected to. . . . You can’t expect me . . . to . . . go . . .
on . . . like this. . . . With nothing.
RUTH looks through closet, finds enema bag and sucks it.
RUTH (cont)
No laces. No more paper hangers. . . . Oh god.
Oh my god. . . . Hush, now, I’ll be right back.
Just let me--
SOUNDS HEARD OS.
RUTH (cont)
On, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, . . .
RUTH HURRIES back behind the couch, where she gets down and is not seen.
BEATS.
BILL ENTERS DR. He is older and wears ordinary clothes. He remains in doorway for LONG MOMENT. Then he walks through the room, thoroughly inspecting it with his eyes and his nose, but not touching anything. HE EXITS.
LONG MOMENT.
MARIO ENTERS carrying a BALL OF TWINE AND SEVERAL PAPER-COVERED WIRE HANGERS. He sets them on L of couch and HURRIEDLY EXITS.
BEATS.
RUTH RISES from behind couch. One breast is again exposed (perhaps). She covers it as she comes around and sits on L of couch.
RUTH
Oh, my god, look. Look! Oh my, oh my, oh my.
. . . If he wasn’t so salty.
RUTH EATS some of the PAPER from hangers.
RUTH (cont)
Patient . . . be just a little patient. You know you
mustn’t worry. . . . You will be fine soon enough.
. . . Just fine, in no time. Soon . . . enough.
SOUND HEARD OS.
RUTH TAKES a bunch of TWINE and PAPER hangers. She stuffs the bare hangers between cushions, takes PAPER & TWINE with her and dis-appears behind couch.
BILL ENTERS with a large pail full of cleaning stuff. He takes out a big bottle of colored liquid and sprays everywhere in the room, HIGH & LOW. Finally, he SPRAYS THE COUCH, and then BEHIND IT. He EXITS STILL SPRAYING down the hall.
LONG MOMENT during which a FAINT, HIGH-PITCHED GASPING grows into a HARSH, GROANING & COUGHING, then stops suddenly.
SILENCE.
MARIO ENTERS and quickly crosses to couch, sees his stuff is gone, and just stands there.
BEATS.
CARMINE ENTERS and comes into the room.
CARMINE
Man, why d’you do that? . . . Jesus! Feh! The
fuck is that? . . . Why can’t you just be nice, let
the man talk?
MARIO
He sprayed again.
CARMINE
Man was just trying to make his pitch. You gotta
get up, walk out like that. . . . What is that? It’s
sweet, but nasty.
MARIO
I can’t stand these meetings, these people. . . .
This place . . .
CARMINE
Guy was sketchin’ is all. But hey, you won’t have to
worry about it you keep actin’ like that--you keep
walkin’ out in the middle, in front of ever’body. . . .
Jesus, what’s it take to just sit there and listen and
shut up?
MARIO
I don’t know how you stand it--how can you put
up with it?
CARMINE
You gotta program. You gotta learn how to program.
. . . Me!? This is a laugh for me. . . . This is wino time,
homes. After it’s over I go home. What are you gonna
do they toss you outta here? . . . Where you gonna go?
MARIO
Yeah, right. . . . Why don't you get back there, I’ll catch
up. . . . Took my TV! Motherfuckers!
CARMINE
Thing didn’t even work--didn’t get a decent picture.
You gotta have cable to get a picture ‘round here.
Shit, you never even turned the fucker on! . . . Don’t
worry ‘bout it, it was useless anyway.
CARMINE EXITS.
MARIO
Yeah. . . It was furniture. . . . It was my furniture.
BEATS.
MARIO GOES UR of couch. PAUSES. Goes down behind couch where he is unseen.
LONG MOMENT during which a FAINT MUSIC (Taylor) is heard.
BILL ENTERS with CLEANING MATERIALS including a big MOP. He goes to closet and begins to snoop while cleaning.
MOMENT.
MARIO RISES from behind couch and stands R of couch. He watches BILL for SEVERAL BEATS.
BILL LOOKS BACK AND SEES MARIO. He crosses and takes mop and begins to mop the floor. He continues to mop during the following.
BILL
I had this belt sander--great big one. This was
back in Joplin or St. Joe. This thing was six, seven
inches wide. . . . Put some number three, number
two paper on it, you know, real coarse--like German
toilet paper . . . and you know what the belt was, right?
It was like a CAT tread or on a tank, you know--only
it’d turn real fast, so as you couldn’t figure it was
standing still, . . . like a tank tread, top part moves
and the bottom stays still--or maybe it’s other way
round--but you know--’cause, of course, the difference
was this sander--I think it was a Portman or a Bell or
something--Monkey Wards made ‘em, or that’s where
I got it, anyway--’cause back then, your electrical
appliances, like tools and such, were all special orders,
outta catalogues. You didn’t just walk into a store--not
in Joplin--you didn’t just walk in and pick one up. Used
to have to order ‘em ahead--and pay ahead--you know,
pre-pay--and wait--five, six weeks, two months, maybe
longer sometimes. They didn’t have COD then, as I recall,
so you had to give up your money and just wait. . . .
But that thing’d get turning so as smoke’d be coming
out of it, you’d think--and with that smell like wood
burning--and you could see it like the thing was burning
BILL (cont)
up. . . . But I hooked it on to--I rigged this long, like
broom handle for it--long, like four or five feet a handle. It was tricky to get it steady. That mount was a
sumbitch to figure out so it’d be steady and could
push it like a big ol’ floor broom. . . . And I had some
little rentals, apartments, back then--little duplexes,
two of ‘em--and this little three unit place just outta
town. Real easy to rent back then. Lotta people coming
through town on commercial jobs and some guv’ment
work . . . you know, families and singles--they’d come
out temporary, wind up stayin’ for a year or two. . . .
They didn’t always expect to leave when they did--
that was kinda the way with most of ‘em--so I’d get
a pretty decent deposit--you know, security, cleanin’,
and keys and all--’cause I’d been doin’ it a while, even
then, and I knew the family moved out wouldn’t be
the same people as moved in--there’d be some wear
and tear, ‘specially toward the end. . . . ‘Specially when
I had to come collectin’, and I usually did--toward the
end. I could just see the wear and tear--the abuse the
places were gettin’. . . . So with that sander--like I was
sayin’, it was wide, but it wudn’t that wide, only ‘bout
three, four inches--I could rub off the floor, the walls,
and the ceilings . . . you know, with that handle I rigged,
I could get ever’where in no time. It’d just cut through
the nicotine and every other kinda thing those folks’d
leave behind ‘em. . . . They just about all of ‘em left
owin’ me, you know, something. . . . But I’d figure it in.
And those places didn’t stay empty long. Hell, with that
place cleaned up so quick, I could move somebody in in
a coupla days.
BILL ENDS UC at couch near MARIO.
BILL
Lemme get in behind here.
MARIO
Here, let me do it.
PAUSE.
BILL
It ain’t a pro’lem. Just lemme get back there.
. . . You could gimme a hand movin’ this.
MARIO
Look, it’s my room, I’ll do it. . . . Here--
MARIO MOVES US-side of couch a little.
BILL
You coulda done the whole room you wanted to.
. . . Take it easy there.
MARIO SNATCHES the mop and pushes it perfunctorily a couple times behind couch.
BILL (cont)
Yeah, that oughta do it. Wish I’d known you were so
good at this.
BILL PUTS MOP ASIDE and begins other cleaning.
MARIO
My checks come yet?
BILL
How’s that?
MARIO
My checks . . . ?
BILL
Claire takes care of the mail, I really couldn’t tell
you. . . . That’s a nice sofa, it fold out? . . . You know,
is it one of those that folds out into a bed like?
MARIO
I just use it like that.
BILL
Let’s take a look. . . . Looks like you got something
stuck in here.
BILL PULLS hanger from cushions.
BILL (cont)
What’s this?
MARIO
I don’t know. Go ahead and take ‘em. . . . Hey, thanks
for cleaning up, really, but I just need to be by myself.
. . . I appreciate the help, really, but I wish you would
talk to your wife about my mail. There’s gotta be some
money for me. I can never get to talk to her.
BIG JOHN ENTERS. He is fat and unkempt. He carries rolled up magazines and newspapers under each arm like over-sized dress shields. He suffers from over-medication with “heavy custody downers” (i.e., anti-psychotics, e.g., Haldol, Halcyon, Librium, Logatyl, Thorazine, etc.).
BILL
(to MARIO)
You know the procedure. . . .
BIG JOHN
Yeah, I do. I really do.
BILL (cont)
Send a kite to the office. She’ll respond.
BIG JOHN
Send a kike, that’s it. You wanna get something
done, send a kike.
MARIO
I’ve done that. . . . Shut up, John.
BILL
What is it, John?
BIG JOHN
I gotta talk to Mario. I gotta tell Mario . . .
BILL
(to MARIO)
You gotta take better care of your things. . . .
Take better care of yourself. . . . Respect for
things, real things, that’s where it starts. . . .
BIG JOHN
That’s where it starts.
BILL (cont)
You gotta have respect for things, your things, first.
. . . Then you’ll get respect for yourself--that’d be
self-respect, or what they call these days, self-esteem.
. . . Then you can work on other people . . . gettin’ and
givin’ respect to other people. . . . ‘Cause that’s what
it’s all about, lemme tell ya, it’s all about respect.
BILL PICKS UP his stuff and EXITS.
BIG JOHN
That’s right! You’re right, Bill! Bill’s right on that one.
All right Bill!
MARIO
Shut up, John. What d’ya want?
BIG JOHN
They . . . sent me . . . to . . . I really like your room.
It smells really good too. It was better when we
could watch TV, but without cable, you can only
get but two, maybe only one . . . picture. Not very
good. You remember that picture we--
MARIO
John, shut up. Start over. What d’ya want? What’d
they-who want?
BIG JOHN
I wanna go t’the track. I wanna see . . .
LONG PAUSE
MARIO
What, Maurice and Carmine want me back in
the meeting, right? . . . Say, you done with those
papers? Can I have ‘em?
BIG JOHN
Yeah, Maurice . . . Carmine . . . Yeah. I need some
of ‘em. You can’t have all of them--I’m not done
with all of them yet. . . . Here . . .
BIG JOHN TAKES papers from under his arms and begins precisely to divie them up.
MARIO
Here, never mind. Forget it. Come on.
BIG JOHN HEARS something and is terrified. He drops all his papers.
MARIO
Let’s go, let’s go to the meeting.
MARIO & BIG JOHN EXIT.
LONG MOMENT.
RUTH RISES from behind couch, her breast exposed (perhaps). She crouches over PAPERS and begins to gather them, taking an occasional bite of PAPER.
SEVERAL BEATS.
MAURICE ENTERS. He is a black man wearing shiny clothes. He stands in doorway observing RUTH.
BEATS. MUSIC (Cecil Taylor’s Transitions) comes up.
MAURICE
God damn!
RUTH RISES in slow terror clutching PAPERS. She very slowly goes behind couch and disappears.
MAURICE
God damn!
BEATS.
MAURICE EXITS.
LONG SILENCE.
CLAIRE ENTERS. She is older, wears ordinary clothes and carries several pieces of MAIL. She puts MAIL on table during the following.
CLAIRE
Oh my . . . Oh, like the bowels of a sick old man . . .
like urine soaked hay . . . filth . . . decay . . .
corruption . . . all malignant and . . . How can
he live like this? . . . How can he be allowed to
live like this? . . . The disease . . . the contagion.
BILL ENTERS. He stands in doorway.
CLAIRE (cont)
Can’t you do something about this? Pick up those
papers!
BILL
Oh, I will. Don’t you worry, I will.
BILL PICKS up papers.
BILL (cont)
Did he get his money?
CLAIRE
Of course not. He hasn’t even gotten all our money
yet. I don’t know how he thinks this place continues
to exist for him.
BILL
What’s the mail?
CLAIRE
He really does think he’s one of the privileged.
One of the ones who is owed everything by
everyone else. . . . Well, . . . Oh, it’s just the
same letters from the state and the courts.
Liens and attachments and judgements against--
and third and fourth notices. . . . Really, what
does he expect?
BILL
He’s in for the shock of his life he thinks folks
are goin’ to take care of him. You cain’t just
let the state slide they want somethin’ from
you. They’ll come take what they got comin’.
You can be sure.
CLAIRE
Oh, hurry up! I can’t stand this another minute.
CLAIRE EXITS & BILL FOLLOWS with PAPERS.
BEATS.
RUTH RISES from behind couch and CROSSES to table. She quickly picks up MAIL and returns to disappear behind couch.
BEATS.
MAURICE & CARMINE ENTER closely followed by BIG JOHN & MARIO. (Much of the following dialogue is simultaneous.)
MAURICE
What I’m sayin’ is the man was wrong. He was
fakin’ it. You don’t send somebody a kite, s’all
I’m sayin’.
CARMINE
This guard in county jail used to say that, send
a kite to the duty officer if you want somethin’.
MAURICE
Well, there you go. You shoot somebody a
motherfuckin’ kite, s’what I’m sayin’. He was
just tryin’ to woof ya, know what I’m sayin’?
BIG JOHN
I shot a kike one time. I was on assignment in
Haifa . . .
CARMINE
Hey, shut up, John! . . . (to Mario) Did you get
your money?
MARIO
I didn’t get shit!
BIG JOHN
You guys hear anything, tell me, ‘kay? Cause
if you hear anything, anything at all, you know,
I need to . . . Where’s my magazines, Mario?
Was here--
MAURICE
Kite ain’t gonna get it, Mario, my man, you gotta
get down, know what I’m sayin’? You got to seize
the time and off the slime. You got to bring some
stronger shit in the game.
BIG JOHN
I needed some of those. I hadn’t read all of them--
not nearly all--
MARIO
Shut up, John.
CARMINE
Yeah, both you guys shut up.
MARIO
Bill’s been in here again is all. In here cleanin’
up again.
MAURICE
Oh, it’s more than that. It’s much more than
that, my homeboy.
BIG JOHN
Yes, much more than that--much more than that.
It’s kinda like--sorta like--I understand this--
I kinda understand this, understand this situation,
understand how--
CARMINE
You understand fuck all, John. Just shut up--sit
down somewhere and nod, John.
BIG JOHN
No! You don’t understand, you don’t understand!
This situation is--this situation--
MARIO
Come on, this is bullshit.
BIG JOHN
(Seized by another phantasm)
Did you hear that? Did you hear that?
CARMINE
There’s nothing! . . . Maybe this is some kinda
weird gas . . . makes everybody wack. It’s makin’
me sick--you gotta kick out a wall, get some air
in here!
MARIO
Why don’t you guys go outside, plenty of air out
there.
MAURICE
Long as you gotta file a writ with the madam, tell
her you want your TV back. . . . It took a month
‘fore I started gettin’ my SSI regular from these
folks. And then I know it wasn‘t right what I was
gettin’--I wasn’t gettin’ nowhere near my full issue.
CARMINE
You guys are gettin’ Jim Jones-ed, way I see it.
BIG JOHN
I worked with Jim Jones, at the old Fillmore. It was
the kids. I worked with the kids that had no parents--
takin’ them to school and gettin’ them--
MARIO
I know, John, I know.
MAURICE
There was a fighter Jim Jones--Jim “Kool Aid” Jones--
middleweight--wudn’t no good.
CARMINE
They’re just like every other business charity--
private social service. Suckin’ that public dick.
MAURICE
That’s right! And they tell you you got the
cum-breath. All these motherfuckers.
MARIO
I don’t know about any of this. It’s just I should
be getting mail, should be gettin’ a bunch of mail.
CARMINE
These property managers and doctors and super-
market owners and liquor store owners and drug-
store owners and methadon' clinic owners and
insurance company owners . . . --
MAURICE
Bidness men! All of ‘em! That’s where the mother-
fuckin’ welfare money be going’. Cocksuckers crying
the loudest--
BIG JOHN
It’s interesting the relationship between the mail and
the welfare system. The complex infrastructure--
CARMINE
Infrastructure this in your mouth, John--It’s this
huge slush fund, man. All these bitches just frontin’
different hustles off the same big ol’ slush fund.
MAURICE
I hear that! Betty motherfuckin’ Ford and Hillary
motherfuckin’ Clinton ain’t but Bob Hope and Jerry
motherfuckin’ Lewis.
MARIO
If you guys don’t mind--I need to sort this out..
You guys are a great help, but--
CARMINE
You gotta get outta here, that’s all.
MAURICE
Yeah, Carmine, that’s all. Maybe we come stay at
yo’ place. What d’ya say, Big John?
BIG JOHN
It’s the social engineering aspects--the Zionist
occupation of Palestine is based on the usurpation
of water rights . . .
MAURICE
(re Carmine)
Fuckin’ day tripper.
MARIO
I don’t know why you hang out here.
MAURICE
Same reason he drank that Cisco, that Olde English,
and shot that dog food. Am I right?
CARMINE
You know, you should be one of those radio shrinks,
that kinda insight.
MAURICE
Fuck insight! You handin’ out advice like--man,
why don’t you just radio all that bullshit.
BIG JOHN
The Zionist occupation foreshadows the European
occupation of the planet. The wanton, inhuman,
unspeakable--
MARIO
Shut up, John. You guys--
CARMINE
Way I see it, you’re just this sorry jail house nigger,
left what sense you had on the fifth tier, with all
your “pruno” and “zuu-zuu’s and wham-wham’s”.
Maybe you kicked in jail, but that penitentiary
fucked you up more’n all the dope and lush on
the streets.
MAURICE
You know what I oughta do? I oughta cut your
motherfuckin’ throat. Maybe that’s what I oughta
do.
BIG JOHN
The water and mineral rights for the whole planet
are owned--in perpetuity--by European interests--
Western interests--
MAURICE
You are one sorry-ass’d peepin’-tom motherfucker.
Why don’t you see if the man’ll just gi’ you the key
to the shit-house, you can get up off yo’ knees an’
stop sniffin’ ‘round the cracks in the do’.
MARIO
This is hopeless. . . . (Long strained Silence.) . . . Hey,
what do they mean when they talk about “half and
half”?
CARMINE
What do you mean?
MARIO
You know, a half and half.
BIG JOHN
I spent three months, when I was hospitalized,
calculating my half-life. Fascinating, it would
change from moment to moment, thought to
thought, calculation to . . .
MARIO
No. I know what it means, you know, when you
have a . . . a date, you know, and you ask for a . . .
you know, a half and--
CARMINE
Oh Jesus, you mean like half and half, ‘round the
world, like that. Shit!
MARIO
Yeah, I mean, I know what it means and all--it’s
just, I didn’t want to have a, you know, a misunder-
standing. Like that.
CARMINE
Shit, I thought you were talking ‘bout this funky
smell. Shit, fuckin’ half and half . . .
PAUSE.
MAURICE
Tell the man, go ahead.
PAUSE.
MAURICE (cont)
Go on, man.
BIG JOHN
I know what it means. I know what it means. I do.
MAURICE
Man wants to know what a half and half is,
Carmine. You gonna tell him or what?
CARMINE
Hey, shut the fuck--he said he knows what it is, OK?
MARIO
Yeah, I know what it is--
MAURICE
You said you had a misunderstanding, right? You
didn’t want to have no misunderstanding. You said
that, right?
BIG JOHN
I can tell you what it is, you want to know.
CARMINE
What is the big deal here?
MAURICE
He didn’t want to have a misunderstanding. He
wanted to know about this half and half so he
wouldn’t have no misunderstanding.
MARIO
Let’s just forget it.
MAURICE
Nah. I want to know ‘bout this misunderstanding.
See, I’m curious ‘bout dis here.
BIG JOHN
A blow-job and a fuck. A half and half is a blow-job
and a fuck.
CARMINE
Yeah, that’s right.
MARIO
I knew that. Sure. I don’t know why I asked.
It’s nothing.
CARMINE
Yeah, a blow-job and a fuck is all it is. What’s
the problem? What’s the MISUNDERSTANDING?
MAURICE
Mario’ll tell you ‘bout the misunderstanding, but
first, Carmine, you tell me ‘bout ‘round the world,
baby. What’s ‘round the world?
PAUSE.
CARMINE
What the fuck is this? . . . Mario?
MARIO
I don’t really know.
BIG JOHN
Well, you stopover in places--like, you know, if
you leave from L.A. or New York, maybe you
stop in--
CARMINE
Yeah, yeah, we know . . .
LONG PAUSE.
CARMINE (cont)
Yeah, . . . well . . . around the world is when the
chick . . . works you . . . all over. . . . You know,
she fuck you and you fuck her. . . . She can start
. . . like . . . with her tongue. . . . She can, you know,
run her tongue all, ah, over your face and, ah, . . . up
in your mouth and shit. And then down and, maybe,
bite on your titties awhile, you know, like that. . . .
Then she go on down, start suckin’, suckin’ on yo’ dick,
CARMINE (cont)
but really suckin’ that nasty motherfucker, you know.
Then she’ll get down and suck on your balls. Lick ‘em
all up and suck on ‘em, one at a time, like they
was ice cubes or goddam candy or somethin’. . . .
And, you know, you doin’ the same thing on her.
. . . You know, you playin’ with those big ol’
tittie-bags and shit . . . suckin’ on that pussy
. . . just making the bitch hum--ha-ummmmm.
. . . You know, then she’ll get around on you,
start lickin’ out yer ass-hole, you know, she
just pullin’ yer pud and stickin’ her tongue off
in yer ass-hole. Then after a little of this--after
a couple hours of this--you start fuckin’ her: and
. . . you fuck her . . . in her hair, you know, on her
head . . . ‘tween her titties . . . under her arms . . .
in her double chins . . . any place you can find, you
stick yo’ dick--bitch’s got a glass eye, pop that mother-
fucker out, grab ‘er by the goddam ears, and fuck ‘er
there. . . . Then you go on down and fuck her pussy
‘til she beg you to stop. . . . And when she’s beggin’,
she’s sayin’, “Please, please, baby please. This is SO
motherfuckin’ good, you just gotta stop this right
now or I’m gonna die up in here!” When she’s beggin’
you to stop, you go and take yo’ dick out her pussy
and stick it straight up her ass and you fuck her in
her ass ‘til you get yo’ nuts off. Then you take it out
her ass and make her lick the shit off yo’ dick. . . .
That’s ‘round the world.
Pause.
MAURICE
Man, you a sad, stupid motherfucker. . . . What, you
get over yo’ momma house, and rent you a bunch a
that po’nography, huh? And you sit up in there wit’
yo’ little pee-pee just hard as the back a Jesus head,
and try to learn all you can ‘bout pussy. . . . Man, you
don’t know shit ‘bout pussy--you don’t even know
what color it is. You goddam sure don’t know nothin’
‘bout buyin’ no kinda pussy.
BIG JOHN jumps up off the couch.
BIG JOHN
Did you feel that? Did you feel it move? I swear,
Mario, something moved in here.
MAURICE
Livin’ wit’ yo’ momma at your age.
MARIO
Leave ‘im alone.
MAURICE
Naw, he ain’t shit. . . . Man, if god loved lies he’d
hug yo’ narra ass to death.
MARIO
Come on, leave him alone.
BIG JOHN
There’s something not right here. There’s something
going on, I don’t like this anymore. Mario, . . .
MARIO
Never mind, John, sit over here.
MAURICE
Hey, Mario, I saw your misunderstanding, you know
what I’m sayin’? You know? Huh? You been listenin’
to a lot of fools is why you got this misunderstanding.
. . . (to Carmine) If you ever been with a who’, ‘sides
on yo’ momma VCR, which I doubt, you’d know a who’
will not kiss you--will not, no amount of money. ‘Cause
she ain’t about kissin’--she ain’t about love. And the
difference ‘tween a half and half and a ‘round the world
is ‘round the world you come with the blow-job and you
come with the fuck.
CLAIRE ENTERS and stands inside doorway.
MAURICE (cont)
A half and half, you come, you done, you know what
I’m sayin’? You come in her mouth, that’s the end.
LONG MOMENT as MAURICE is the last to realize CLAIRE is in the room.
CLAIRE
(To Mario) Bill said you wanted to see me.
BIG JOHN
I need to talk to you, really, about my medication.
CLAIRE
Some other time, Mr. Crutcher. I need to talk to
Mr. Margotta, now. . . . Mr. Gibson, Mr. Dunn, would
you excuse us?
BIG JOHN
Really, Mrs. MacCormack, it’s very important. I
need you to talk to my doctor. It’s important,
really important!
CARMINE
Come on, John. Just--come on.
MAURICE
Don’t forget about the TV, man.
MAURICE, CARMINE & BIG JOHN EXIT.
LONG MOMENT.
CLAIRE
You wanted something?
MARIO
No, it’s nothing.
CLAIRE
Bill said--
MARIO
I know. . . . It’s just . . .
CLAIRE
What? Mr. Margotta, what? . . . We don’t have time.
MARIO
It’s just . . . my mail.
CLAIRE
Your mail? . . . Your mail?
BEATS.
MARIO
My mail . . . I’m not getting it.
CLAIRE
How can that be? I put it--
MARIO
And my checks.
CLAIRE
During meetings--regularly--
MARIO
But my checks must be coming.
CLAIRE
Daily, during meetings, I put your mail--
MARIO
It’s been almost two months, I’ve gotta be getting
them.
CLAIRE
Mr. Margotta, Mario, we don’t have time for this now.
I’ve been putting your mail, your horrible mail, on that
table every day at the same time. And I will continue
to do that until it is no longer appropriate.
MARIO
But I haven’t been getting any mail.
CLAIRE
I can’t imagine why. . . . And as for your checks,
I will bank them for you when they come. That is,
if you want me to do that.
MARIO
But I haven’t gotten any mail--any checks.
CLAIRE
We really don’t have time to go into this right now.
MARIO
Have I gotten checks--have you banked any checks
for me?
CLAIRE
There are people waiting to see you downstairs.
I need to know if you want a place here--to keep
a place here.
MARIO
What are you talking about?
CLAIRE
Do you want us to continue to keep a place here for
you while you’re gone--if you have to go.
MARIO
Go where? If I have to go?
CLAIRE
These people want to see you--I need to know if
you want us to take care of your affairs, your mail
and such, if you go.
MARIO
Why would I go? Where?
BILL ENTERS, he is edgy.
CLAIRE
We’ll be right there.
BILL
They’re gettin’ tired a waiting. They’re gettin’
pissed off.
CLAIRE
These men say they have a warrant for you.
MARIO
What for!?
CLAIRE
They didn’t say.
BILL
They’re Marshals, from the Marshal’s Office.
CLAIRE
Does it really matter? You’ll have to come down and
talk to them.
MARIO
Oh, Jesus! Oh fuck!
BILL
You watch yourself, mister!
CLAIRE
We’ll hold a place for you--’til you get back. . . .
Whenever that is. . . . But you have to tell me
that’s what you want.
MARIO
Oh, Jesus fuckin’ Christ.
BILL
I’m not gonna listen to this, and you sure shouldn’t
have to. I just don’t want them comin’ up here.
CLAIRE
You’ll have to go down and talk to them.
MARIO
Are they really gonna take me? Now?
CLAIRE
They said they had a warrant. I don’t know.
BILL
Oh, I think you can plan on bein’ gone for a while.
MARIO
I need a minute. . . . Tell ‘em I’ll be right there.
BILL
I don’t want to tell them anything. You go on and
talk to ‘em.
CLAIRE
(To Bill) Oh, come on! . . . Don’t keep these men
waiting--hurry up.
CLAIRE LEADS BILL OUT.
LONG MOMENT as MARIO stares straight ahead.
MARIO Xs to closet, opens it and stares in.
RUTH RISES from behind couch, her arms are full of TWINE, PAPER & MAIL (all well-gnawed). She stares at MARIO.
MAURICE ENTERS and stands inside doorway.
MAURICE
Mario!
MUSIC (Taylor) begins.
MARIO TURNS into the room.
LONG MOMENT.
MARIO
I’m sorry.
RUTH DUMPS everything on the couch.
MARIO
I haven’t got any money.
BEATS.
RUTH
My baby . . .
MARIO
Did I hurt you? . . . I didn’t want to.
RUTH
My baby . . .
MAURICE
Man, those guys don’t look very happy.
MARIO
I’m sorry.
MAURICE
Go, man!
RUTH
Oh, no!
BEATS.
MARIO EXITS HURRIEDLY.
RUTH
Oh, no!
LONG MOMENT as MAURICE stares at RUTH.
MAURICE GOES to CLOSET and takes shitty bathrobe, goes to RUTH and wraps her in it.
MAURICE
Come on.
MAURICE TRUNDLES RUTH OUT.
RUTH (0S)
My baby.
LONG MOMENT.
BLACKOUT. MUSIC continues.
END ACT I
ACT II
ENTR’ACT MUSIC (Cecil Taylor’s Transitions) FADES.
IN BLACK we hear WHITE NOISE from which drops the occasional disjunct word or phrase to give the impression of a very bad TV signal. CARMINE & MAURICE LIGHT cigarettes bringing the first light to the stage. Then, A GREY GLOW EMANATES FROM TV ON TABLE DR as LIGHTS UP.
AT RISE: The same set as Act I, but with the addition of a small (14”), old TV on table DR.
CARMINE SITS at table watching TV, MAURICE PACES, both are smoking, and BIG JOHN, who is way over-medicated, much more than before, sits on couch ULC, his chin on his chest.
SOUND: A BIG, JUICY FART.
MAURICE
Man, take that shit outside, John--sorry motherfucker.
BEATS.
MAURICE
Man, I think this dummy shit in his pants. . . . I don’t
know what they got ‘im on, but he’s sittin’ in it now.
CARMINE
Hey, shut up. I’m trying to listen to this.
MAURICE
To what? (Ind. TV) To this?
CARMINE
Just shut up, okay? Wait’ll the commercial.
ANOTHER FART.
MAURICE
Yeah? . . . Well, tell shit bag, here.
BIG JOHN
(Shouting)
Excellent! Well done! Well done!
BEATS.
MAURICE
How can you watch that, man? It’s just snow.
CARMINE
Naw, man, the News! The Evening News. . . . This
little egg-roll gets me hot. I’d like her to jack me
off with those little bound feet a hers, huh?
MAURICE
Safe sex.
CARMINE
Come on, the bitch is already pregnant.
MAURICE
Right. You’re a real fuckin’ gentleman, Carmine.
Only a real fuckin’ gentleman could get a bone-on
watchin’ static.
BIG JOHN
(Shouting)
Good job! Good job! All of this . . . Yeah . . . all
of this.
JOHN BEGINS a sort of SEMITIC CANTING (as if calling the faithful to prayer) which begins slightly to resemble “The Ballad of the Green Berets” under the following.
CARMINE TAKES money out of his pocket, holds it up toward Maurice.
CARMINE
Hey, run down and get us some smokes--you’re not
watchin’ this, right? . . . Get us some smokes.
MAURICE
What do I look like--
CARMINE
Don’t ask, you don’t want to know. C’mon, I’ll buy,
you fly. . . . Some smokes.
CARMINE TAKES out more money.
CARMINE (cont)
Here, get yourself a pony. . . . Some tomato puree,
make up some pruno.
MAURICE
Put that shit away. I ain’ goin’ to the sto’ for you,
okay? You want cigarettes, you go.
CARMINE
Okay, fuck you then. . . . Hey, John, shut up, man. . . .
John, come on, wake up, man.
BIG JOHN STOPS canting.
CARMINE (cont)
Oh, Mad John, come on, wake up, you dim mother-
fucker.
MAURICE
Man, let the poop-butt sleep.
CARMINE
Come on, John, wake up.
BIG JOHN
(Shouting)
All this trash! . . . All of it. . . . This trash. . . . (a little
more lucid) What are we going to do with it? . . .
So much garbage. So much waste. . . . I’ll have to take
care of all of this. . . . I’ll have to manage it. All of it
. . . all this waste.
CARMINE
Hey, John, you with me? Yo, John. Go t’the corner, get
me some smokes, ‘kay? . . . My brother, cig-ar-ettes.
Can you handle it?
MAURICE
You are cold.
BIG JOHN
(Struggling with narcosis)
I can’t take care of all this, it’s too much responsibility.
It’s just too much to be done.
CARMINE
Just a pack a cigarettes, John, take you two minutes,
‘kay?
MAURICE
Leave the po’ satchel-ass motherfucker alone. They
got ‘im on queer street.
BIG JOHN
(Losing his struggle)
I don’t know how . . . we can dispose of . . . so much
waste . . . without polluting . . . the ground water. . . .
Who will . . . work the treatment plants . . . change
. . . and clean the filters . . . maintain the chemical
balance. . . . Who will bury the dead . . . so many
dead. If . . . we pollute . . . the ground water . . .
life . . . will . . . become . . . impossible . . . nothing---
will---grow. . . .
BIG JOHN LOSES consciousness, his chin, once more, firmly on his chest.
BEATS.
CARMINE
Okay, shut up, go back to sleep. Jesus Christ!
MAURICE
I don’t see why you can’t just go.
CARMINE
The News’s back on. Check it out.
MAURICE
The fuck would you know. . . . Man, turn that fuckin’
thing off. Sound’s startin’ to get on my dick.
BEATS.
CARMINE
Those raggedy-ass homeless motherfuckers he lets
hang around out front. Stinky fuckin’ tramps . . . I
got no patience with that.
MAURICE
What? . . . With what?
CARMINE
I don't know how he expects folks to patronize his
store, he lets those shit-stinkin’ rummies panhandle
at his front door.
MAURICE
Man, can I turn this shit off?
CARMINE
That one dark fucker--that Indian lookin’ one--know
the one I mean?
MAURICE TURNS off TV.
CARMINE (cont)
I saw that motherfucker steal this bike--this kid’s
bike--little kid. Just went in the store--this rasty
motherfucker kills his Cisco or whatever the fuck
it was--this is about seven, seven-thirty in the
morning--kid’s prolly goin’ to school or somethin’--
and this big cocksucker tosses his bottle against the
wall over here--breaks his fuckin’ bottle against the
wall--snatches that little bike--that kid’s bike--drunk
as a fuckin’ donkey--and starts humpin’ it down the
street. Weavin’ all over and desperate to get away. . . .
And then there he is this mornin’, asks me for a
quarter. . . . Motherfuckers.
MAURICE
What d’you tell ‘im?
CARMINE
I told ‘im he could kiss my wrinkled yella ass.
MAURICE
You did, huh? That why you want this po’ fool
t’buy yo’ cigarettes?
CARMINE
Man, I got nothing for these fuckin’ beggars, these
homeless. I got no sympathy for these pathetic
fuckers.
MAURICE
Yeah, well, they prolly all busted up ‘bout that.
CARMINE
Naw, you know what I’m sayin’. . . . They show me
nothin’--you gotta show me somethin’. . . . Man come
up, sticks a gun in my face, says gimme yo’ mother-
fuckin’ money. All right. But this punk steals a kid’s
bike an’ asks me for a quarter--fuck him in ‘is ass.
BIG JOHN RAISES his head slowly, his mouth agape, uttering a small rattling groan. As his head hits the back of the couch, a long, but very weak FART is heard. MAURICE & CARMINE DON’T NOTICE.
CARMINE (cont)
You gotta go out and get yours, am I right? . . . Go
out and take it, you have to. . . . You get popped,
you gotta do some time, fine. . . . But these sorry
fucks . . . got no hustle, no game, beggin’ for lush,
sleep in the street . . . fuck ‘em, I say.
BEATS.
MAURICE
How’d you get to be so hard, man? . . . Livin’ at home
. . . momma musta beat yo’ ass, huh?
RUTH ENTERS tentatively. She is dressed in small-business chic: Not a McDonalds uniform, but not quite from the Jacqueline Smith K-Mart collection.
CARMINE
Well, what d’we got here? Hey, sweet thang.
MAURICE
Chill, slick. . . . (to Ruth) What’re you doin’ here?
RUTH
Is Mario here?
CARMINE
(to Maurice) You know this lady?
MAURICE
Don’t know where he is--haven’t heard from ‘im.
. . . You look all right.
CARMINE
Hell, yeah . . . look fine.
MAURICE
He hasn’t been back, hasn’t called or nothin’. . . .
Come on in here.
RUTH REMAINS at the doorway.
CARMINE
What’s a matter, come on in--have a seat.
RUTH
I just want to see him--see if he’s back. . . . I gotta
get going.
MAURICE
Yeah, where you gotta go?
RUTH
Work.
CARMINE
All right. I like a woman who works.
RUTH
You think he’ll come back here?
MAURICE
I don’t know.
CARMINE
He ‘spectin’ you to be here? You waitin’ for ‘im?
. . . Shit, I know what I’d do.
RUTH STARTS coming into the room, first toward the couch, the back of the couch.
MAURICE
Where you working?
RUTH
Down on Third--just temporary.
CARMINE
Hey, it’s a job--am I right? . . . Where’d you say
you know Mario from?
RUTH STARES behind the couch.
RUTH
From here.
CARMINE
For real? . . . You used to work here, or something?
MAURICE
This prolly ain’t a good idea.
CARMINE
What?
RUTH
What’s a matter with John?
CARMINE
(laughing)
He’s dead, I’d say, way he smells.
RUTH WALKS into the room more.
CARMINE (cont)
You know John? You a friend of his, too?
MAURICE
(to Ruth) Look, why don’t we get outta here. . . . Take
a walk outside.
Pause.
CARMINE
Well shit, you too. Guess I’m the only one hasn't’
had the pleasure. . . . I’m Carmine--
RUTH
I know.
CARMINE
--glad to--
MAURICE
We gotta get her outta here.
RUTH
I think he’ll be back. . . . I think so.
CARMINE
Why we? This is a friend of Mario’s
RUTH LOOKS into portable closet DL.
RUTH
He’s left all his stuff.
MAURICE
This is bad--I’m gettin’ her outta here.
CARMINE
Maybe she wants to wait for him. . . . (to Ruth) Do
the, ah, people--do Bill and, ah, his old lady know
you’re here?
MAURICE
What d’you think, fool? You think they’d let her up
in here?
RUTH
I just want to wait--see Mario.
CARMINE
Well, I got nothing to do with this. . . . And Big John . . .
(to Maurice) You best jump off in the car with me and
John. . . . Leave this lady alone, let her wait for her
friend. . . . Maybe he’ll be back, what d’we know?
BILL ENTERS. Long moment.
BILL
(to Ruth) Hello. . . . Can I help you?
BEATS.
CARMINE
You don’t know this lady?
MAURICE
This is a friend of mine, Bill, we’re going out for coffee.
. . . She just came up.
CARMINE
A friend of yours . . . ?
BILL
(to Maurice) You know the rules, you been here long
enough.
MAURICE
Yeah, I know. . . . We’ll just get goin’.
BILL
No, I don’t think so.
BILL BEGINS to inspect the room.
BILL
I don’t think so. . . . You all watchin’ this TV? . . .
What’s a matter with John?
CARMINE
He’s just out of it. Too many stumbleros.
BILL
John, let’s go--downstairs.
BILL PAYS no further attention to John.
BILL (cont)
Young lady, I’m afraid you’ll have to wait somewhere
else--outside. . . . (to Maurice & Carmine) The Alpha
people are here, it’s test time again. . . . I hope you
boys been savin’ up.
CARMINE
Damn, shit sneaks up on ya.
BEATS.
RUTH
Will Mario be back?
MAURICE
(to Ruth) Hey, come on.
BILL
Mario?
RUTH
Is he coming back here?
BILL
I don’t know where he is--just kinda disappeared.
Didn’t he?
RUTH
All his stuff’s here. . . . His TV.
BILL
Is that right? . . . Well, I guess--(to Maurice &
Carmine) You heard anything from him? . . . He’s
kinda the mystery man, ain’t he? . . . Well, my
darlin’, you’re gonna have to--Maurice, Carmine,
you best get on downstairs, do your duty, get it
over with. . . . Maurice, . . .
CARMINE EXITS. MAURICE HESITATES.
BILL (cont)
You can meet your friend later on. Go on.
MAURICE EXITS.
BILL (cont)
So, whose friend are you? . . . What makes you
think Mario’s coming back here?
RUTH
He lives here.
BILL
Oh, is that right?
RUTH
He stays here.
BILL
Not recently, he don’t. . . . You a friend of Mario’s? . . .
You family?
SILENCE. Bill stares at Ruth, Ruth stares at couch.
BILL (cont)
You know about his troubles, right? Why he left
. . . had to leave? . . . Not s’posed to be any women
up here, . . . any guests in this room. . . . Rules. . . .
You know that?
RUTH
I know that.
BILL
You been here before, huh? . . . You been in this
room, before, huh? . . . I know you have, it’s all
right to say so.
RUTH
No, huh uh.
BILL
You sure? It’s all right.
RUTH
Huh uh.
BILL
You sure know a lot about this place, this room, for
not havin’ been here.
LONG MOMENT.
BILL
Come on, you can’t stay here.
BILL TRIES to take hold of RUTH, but she breaks away.
RUTH
John’s dead.
BILL
People been sayin’ that for years. Let ‘im sleep. . . .
Come on, let’s get you goin’ outta here.
BILL TAKES hold of RUTH and tries to show her out.
CLAIRE ENTERS. Long moment.
CLAIRE
Who’s she?
BEATS.
CLAIRE
Bill?
BILL
I don’t know, I mean, her name. . . . A friend of
Maurice’s, he said. They have a date or something.
CLAIRE
Young lady?
BILL
She was just leavin’.
CLAIRE
A friend of Maurice? Is that so?
RUTH
John peed his pants.
BILL
That’s not all he done.
CLAIRE
Why isn’t John down testing? . . . Maurice is
downstairs.
RUTH
No.
BILL
(to Ruth) Come on.
RUTH
No. No. Mario.
CLAIRE
Mario?
BILL
What’s the matter with you?
CLAIRE
Let her go, Bill. . . . What about Mario?
RUTH
He’s not asleep. You can’t sleep on that couch. It’s
full of metal. And awful dust--metal dust. And all
the chemicals in the air stays in the cloth and padding,
in the cushions, which is all broken and rotted out.
Nobody can sleep on that. That’s not a place for
sleeping. Not at all. . . . Even Mario couldn’t. Mario
never slept on there.
CLAIRE
Bill, what are you talking about? . . . (to Ruth) You’re
his wife, aren’t you? . . . You’re the wife had Mario
arrested, aren’t you? . . . The ex-wife? . . . (to Bill)
Why are you lying to me? . . . (to Ruth) You’re the
one with the child support.
BILL
Maurice said,--
RUTH
No, no, I need to see him. I need to see him right away.
BILL
She and Maurice are--
CLAIRE
(to Bill) You’re a fool, lying to me. (to Ruth) You’re a
little late, sweetie. It’s just a little too late for Mario--
for you to see him. . . . They took him away some time
ago, you know? You know about all that, don’t you? . . .
It was because of you they took him away, wasn’t it?
He owed you money or something like that, wasn’t
that it?
RUTH
No, no, I just need to talk to him. I’ll wait for him.
BILL
I really kinda doubt that. If I were you, I’d let the
courts handle this. The state’ll take care of ya. I hate
to see a young mother--
RUTH
It’s not me--I didn’t do that.
CLAIRE
Shut up, Bill. . . . (to Ruth) I don’t think Mario’ll be
comin’ back here. . . . Or for everybody’s sake I hope
he won’t. Now you best get along. . . . Bill, show the
young lady outside. . . . And be nice--both of you.
BILL TAKES RUTH out. She resists.
RUTH (Exiting)
But I need to tell him . . .
LONG MOMENT during which CLAIRE carefully CROSSES to couch and checks out JOHN without touching him.
CLAIRE
Oh god, you’re filthy. . . . Pity they don’t make medicine
that would bathe you and dress you and feed you--
make you eat. . . . This really isn’t such a help, you
know. You really weren’t that much trouble. Not really.
. . . You never lost control of yourself like this before.
When you were on the sensible dosages, the sensible
medicine, when you could just be quiet for a while, stop
CLAIRE (cont)
your stories. . . . But look, now. What you’ve done. . . .
You’ve got sicker and sicker because you said you’re
medicine wasn’t strong enough. . . . Now, . . . What? . . .
What can we do now? . . . I’m not going to stand here
and wait for you to wake up, to go downstairs, to make
your test. What good would a test be now? They’d never
say your medicine’s too strong. They’d just figure out
some way to give you more and more and stronger and
stronger. Looks like you spilled your test anyway, in
your lap. . . . You’re all wet, John, all dirty and all wet.
. . . I can’t take care of you anymore, anyway. I’m
going to need some help with you, John. . . . A little
help. . . . More help. . . . I did the best I could, really. . . .
I’m sorry we didn’t take better care of you.
CLAIRE EXITS.
LONG MOMENT.
MARIO ENTERS STEALTHILY. He carries a big shopping bag.
MARIO
John, . . . How’s it goin’? . . . Gettin’ in a little down-
time?
After making sure no one can see him, MARIO puts bag into closet DL. He checks out contents of closet.
MARIO (cont)
Everything is . . . everything. So did you miss me?
. . . Big John, did you miss me, huh?
MARIO MOVES around the room.
MARIO (cont)
You oughta be downstairs. Don’t wanna miss your
test. . . . Yeah, . . . it’s no fun since they stopped taking
blood. Remember that tall skinny Black dude they had,
Blacula, could not find a vein, but tear up your arm tryin’
. . . . You don’t look so good . . . don’t smell so good . . . as
usual. . . . Well, I got my TV back, how ‘bout that? . . .
What happened, Bill start fuckin’ Claire again? (Notices
MARIO (cont)
ashtray) What, all this second-hand smoke get to ya? . . .
I guess this is the lounge now, huh? . . . Boy, it’s the
shits, you gotta sneak back into your own place, you
know? It’s somethin’ about this place, I don’t know.
I never feel I’m gonna be here long. Soon as I get here
I start thinking ‘bout findin’ another place to stay. . . .
You ever feel that way? You know, always waitin’ for
the axe to drop . . . the next person you meet . . . that
comes in the room . . . the next word outta his mouth
. . . that’s gonna be it. That’s your notice. Get the fuck
out, never come back. . . . You know, always on the
defensive. Workin’ your ass off to keep that smile on
their faces. . . . I don’t know if I’m s’posed to be here
or not.
MARIO ENDS up at the back of couch.
MARIO (cont)
I don’t s’pose if there was anything back here it’d bother
you right now. . . . God, I fucked that up. . . . How could
you fuck somethin’ like that up? . . . I guess this couch
just ain’t no good. Not now. . . . Not anymore. . . . You
really startin’ to stink, Big John.
CARMINE ENTERS.
CARMINE
What the fuck!? . . . What’re you doin’?
MARIO
We gotta get some help for John.
CARMINE
Yeah.
MARIO
We need some help with him.
CARMINE
When’d you get back? . . . Where were ya? . . . Damn.
MARIO
What happened to him?
CARMINE
How’d you get in here? . . . I don’t know, he just sorta--
MARIO
You guys start smokin’ in here? . . . When . . .?
CARMINE
How’d you get past ever’body?
MARIO
Came in at the tree.
CARMINE
No shit. . . . You ain’t seen Bill or what’s-’er-name?
MARIO
No, huh uh.
CARMINE
We got your TV back, see?
MARIO
Yeah, thanks. . . . What’s goin’ on with them?
CARMINE
Oh, I don’t know. . . . I mean, they don't tell me nothin’,
you know.
MARIO
You got anything goin’?
CARMINE
No, you know. . . . Things have gotten kinda tight . . .
since you left, you know.
MARIO
What d’ya mean, tight?
CARMINE
No, you know . . . just a lot tighter is all. . . . You know,
just with their attitude. Like that.
MARIO
You got the TV back, right. . . . And you’re smokin’ in
here. . . . Is that what you mean by tighter?
CARMINE
Naw, it’s just a kinda general thing.
MARIO
Uh huh.
CARMINE
Yeah, you know, the atmosphere is just a lot tighter
is all.
MARIO
Uh huh. . . . You gonna do something ‘bout Big John?
CARMINE
Hey, what can I do? . . . Anyway . . . I gotta get goin’
. . . home.
MAURICE ENTERS talking.
MAURICE
(cont from OS)
. . . I don't mind her watchin’ me--tell her--it’s just
hard pissin’ through a hard-on. Tell her. (Sees the
others) Damn. . . . Place is gettin’ spooky. (to Mario)
Where’d you come from, man? . . . You get that early
kick-out?
MARIO
(to Carmine) You got a extra cigarette?
CARMINE GIVES cigarette to MARIO.
CARMINE
Here y’go. I gotta stop and get some more anyway.
CARMINE LIGHTS Mario's cigarette.
MAURICE
Hey, lemme have shorts on that, Mario. Aw’ight? . . .
Damn, . . . look at you, man. . . . Where’d they have
you, man? . . . They shoot you out to camp?
MARIO
No.
MAURICE
You were in the Main Jail the whole time? Mother-
fucker! What, up in nine’y-fi’-hunnerd?
CARMINE
The man just rolled out, man, he don't wanna be talkin’
‘bout this shit. Am I right?
MARIO
You guys heard anything?
CARMINE MAURICE
Heard anything, like Naw, ain’t heard nothing,
what? homes.
MARIO
Nothin’ ‘bout my money or my mail?
MAURICE
Aw, you know, man . . .
CARMINE
They don’t tell us shit.
MAURICE
Hey, word up, man. Your little sugar was by here to
see ya. . . . Yeah, no bullshit.
MARIO
Who?
MAURICE
You remember. . . . Little Miss Understanding. You
remember. . . . Just today, man.
CARMINE
Who was that?
MAURICE
That child is dazed and confused, man.
MARIO
She was up here? I this room?
CARMINE
That who that was?
MAURICE
Yeah, was not cool, man.
CARMINE
Aw, she was sweet as monkey meat, boy.
MARIO
What’d she want?
CARMINE
(ind. Maurice) This dog was tryin’ to front her off as
his bitch.
MAURICE
Hard to tell with her, know what I’m sayin’? She was
babblin’ like a motherfuckin’ brook. Sketchin’.
MARIO
Where’d she go? . . . Where is she?
MAURICE
I don’t know, man.
CARMINE
Bill was all over her, man--like he hadn’t seen pussy
since disco.
MARIO
Oh, fuck!
MAURICE
(to Carmine) Man, shut up, fool.
MARIO
She’s gone?
CARMINE
Yeah. . . . You should too. . . . Take your TV, man.
MAURICE
She aw’ight--Bill just busted her up in here is all.
CARMINE
Thing don’t work worth a shit anyway.
MARIO
I fucked that all up.
MAURICE
Naw, ‘s aw’ight.
CARMINE
You just got no future here, man, know what I’m
sayin’?
MAURICE
(to Carmine) Shut up, man.
MARIO
I didn’t even know her. Just one day, you know--
MAURICE
Hey, it don’ matter, man. Not no more.
CARMINE
I’m tellin’ you, Mario . . .
MARIO
Her name is Ruth.
MAURICE
Yeah, I know.
CARMINE
Now they know you had her up here, they don’t need
no other reason.
MARIO
You know, she just said, “That’s it, my baby” . . .
my baby . . . and I went off.
MAURICE
Don’t worry ‘bout it.
MARIO
But, my baby, . . . I don’t know.
CARMINE
Look, these people were glad you’re gone--they
gonna be pissed you’re back.
MAURICE
Look, man, it’s all ‘bout gettin’ off . . . you’re just
tryin’ t’get off, right?
MARIO
Yeah, but it’s more’n that.
MAURICE
Naw, it ain’t. You can try to make it more; she can too;
but it ain’t.
CARMINE
(to Mario) He’s exactly right, man. It’s all ‘bout gettin’
off--gettin’ yours. . . . All this shit!
MARIO
But when she said that, I lost it. . . . I smacked her--
smacked her real good.
CARMINE
You hit her?!
MAURICE
She had to a been a little light up top goin’ in.
CARMINE
Man, you hit her?!
MAURICE
One punch didn’t fuck ‘er up like that. . . . One punch
from Larry Holmes couldn't a fucked her up like that.
CARMINE
(to Mario) Can’t believe you, man.
MAURICE
Look, this is all dead. . . . She gone, she cool.
MARIO
I thought she was dead, I killed her.
CARMINE
Jesus, man! . . .
CLAIRE ENTERS to just inside doorway. All but CARMINE see her.
CARMINE (cont)
Good blow-job, though, huh?
CARMINE NOTICES CLAIRE and Xs away.
CLAIRE
Well . . .
Silence.
CLAIRE
Well . . . (to Mario) How are you?
Silence.
CLAIRE
Uh huh. Well, I’m glad . . . I caught all of you together.
I’m going to need your help.
Silence.
CLAIRE
I’ll need you to help me get John back to his room. . . .
To help me carry him. . . . You can do that, can’t you?
Long Silence.
MARIO
Where’s Bill?
Silence.
CLAIRE
I don’t know where he might be.
Silence.
MARIO
Bill leave?
Beats.
CLAIRE
Friend of yours came by, a young lady. Came up here
to see you. . . . Just came right up here to your room.
MARIO
Uh huh.
CLAIRE
Do you know who I mean? Which friend, I mean? Your
friends both seemed to know her. At first I thought
she might be your wife, your ex-wife. She seemed
to know so much about you and all. And then Maurice
was saying she was his friend. Why, I don’t know. . . .
But she was quite sure you would be back. She was
quite sure, and then here you are. So . . . now . . . let’s
see to John, shall we?
NO ONE MOVES.
CARMINE
I promised my Mom I’d pick her up some smokes from
the store. I told her . . . I gotta get right home, you guys.
So, . . . hey, call me, Mario, when you’re settled--you
know, when you get settled. . . . Later, y’all.
CARMINE EXITS
CLAIRE
Oh lord. . . . Well, . . .
MAURICE
You don’t gotta move Big John. It ain’t gonna hurt
‘im to stay there.
MARIO
I don’t mind if John stays there a while.
CLAIRE
(Short derisive laugh) Oh, you don’t, do you? Well . . .
MAURICE
(to Mario) You don’t have to take any shit off these
folks.
MARIO
Uh huh.
MAURICE
Your checks comin’ in like e’rybody else’s.
CLAIRE
(to Maurice) Have you become Mr. Margotta’s adviser
on all matters now. . . . I think you need to double
check all your information.
MAURICE
Just, . . . the man hadn’t done nothin’ wrong for you
all t’be roustin’ him like this. . . . Jackin’ ‘im ‘cause a
some little strawberry wanderin’ up in here.
CLAIRE
If you continue, Mr. Dunn, you’ll only embarrass yourself,
or worse, jeopardize your own place here. Why don't you
leave off and just help us get John back to his room ‘til
we can have him looked after.
MARIO
Leave John alone.
MAURICE
Don’t you ever worry, ma’am, that you might just
threaten someone into doin’ you some terrible harm?
CLAIRE
My, what are you suggesting here? Are you saying
that you might harm me. Or Mario, here. Is that what
you’re saying? . . . You’re making this uglier and uglier.
MARIO
(to Maurice) Don’t fuck up your good-time, man. Just
go ahead on, let me talk to her. It’s cool.
MAURICE
You say! But I’m tellin’ ya, I know these people, man.
They jes’ lookin’ to get yo’ gate money and blow you
off. . . . (Exiting) You ‘n’ me, homes.
MAURICE EXITS. Long moment.
MARIO
So what’s the haps. You been bankin’ my checks or
what?
CLAIRE
It’s a real shame about Maurice. He seems to be
drifting back--
MARIO
Hey, fuck Maurice. What about my money?
CLAIRE
You just don’t appreciate what’s done for you. . . . You
must think you’re the governor’s son. You think all this
is a gift or some such thing. . . . You know, it’s very hard
to work for someone who doesn’t appreciate anything
you do for him. Who shows no respect for your wishes.
For your home, into which you’ve invited him to stay.
Who won’t abide by your simple requests, by the rules
you ask him to observe.
MARIO
My money? Where’s my money?
CLAIRE
(Pause) You really think this is all about you and your
money. Your little welfare checks. . . . Those checks
don’t amount to enough to--they don’t even cover your
house bill.
MARIO
That’s bullshit.
CLAIRE
I’m not even going to try--you can’t stay here. . . .
You can’t continue to live in our house. . . . I don’t
know where you’re going, but you can’t stay here.
. . . I want you to get your things together--
MARIO
Please. . . . Ma’am, please . . . don’t--
CLAIRE
I don’t have time for this. . . . Look at poor John. . . .
Take your belongings--get yours belongings together--
don’t forget your TV--I’m going to get some help with
John--find Bill and get him up here. . . . When I come
back I want you ready to go.
MARIO
But I can’t--
CLAIRE
I want you out! Do you understand? Out of here.
You’ve got a few pieces of mail I’ve got together in
the office. I’ll have it for you when I return. . . . Now,
empty that closet and get a move on.
CLAIRE EXITS.
LONG MOMENT during which MARIO stands stone still.
MARIO GOES to portable closet DL. He pushes closet DR to block entrance. He takes shopping bag from closet.
MARIO SETS shopping bag on table and sits in chair.
MOMENT.
MARIO then turns on TV.
BEATS.
WHITE NOISE returns.
BEATS.
TV begins to glow.
MARIO REACHES into shopping bag and takes out LARGE BOTTLE OF GENERIC VODKA. He stares at it for LONG MOMENT.
MARIO OPENS Vodka and takes LONG DRINK from bottle.
LIGHTS CHANGE--REAL WEIRD.
BEATS.
HE TAKES ANOTHER LONG DRINK.
BEATS.
RUTH RISES from behind couch. She wears her ACT I SCHMATA and has her breast again exposed (perhaps), and she is fondling it. She stares at MARIO for a LONG MOMENT.
RUTH
Come to me . . . bend to me . . . Remember that?
You told me . . . Brigadoon, remember? . . . The
heather on the hill? . . . Can’t we two go walking
together, out beyond the valley of trees . . . Out
where there’s a hillside of heather, curtsying gently
in the breeze. . . . Remember all the reprises in the
bar scene? Made you cry while you were singing?
MARIO CONTINUES to drink through this.
RUTH (cont)
Dunna ya know, Tommy, that you’re all I’m livin’ for.
So how can ya go, Tommy, when I need ya more and
more. . . . And MacConicky Square. . . . The fabric
salesman? And Mr. Lundy at the end says, “When
you’re in love anything’s possible.” Remember you
told me that? . . . Fly me to the moon and let me play
among the stars. Let me see what life is like on Jupiter
and Mars. . . . Oh, it’s only a paper moon, hangin’ over a
cardboard tree, but it wouldn’t be make-believe, if you
believe in me. . . . I’ve got you under my skin. I’ve got
you deep in the heart of me. So deep in my heart that
you are a part of me. . . .
MARIO REACHES into the shopping bag and takes out a LARGE AUTOMATIC HANDGUN. He fondles it, takes another drink, and cocks it during the following.
RUTH MOVES from behind the couch to US of MARIO
RUTH (cont)
All the shows. . . . All the lovely show tunes. . . .
Don’t throw bouquets at me, don’t . . . ah, don’t laugh
at my jokes too much, ah . . . People will say we’re
in love. . . . My little girl, soft and warm as peaches
and cream is she. My little girl gets hungry every
night and she comes home to me. . . . Remember
Bill Bigelow? The soliloquy? I’ll go out and make
it or steal it or take it or die. . . . And his little girl
is graduating from school and he’s dead and looking
on, remember?
MARIO STANDS and walks to JOHN.
MARIO
Is it true what you said, John? Is it true . . . that half
a life is better than none? Huh?
MARIO FIRES a shot into BIG JOHN’S body. JOHN JUMPS slightly and falls off the couch onto the floor.
RUTH CLIMBS onto the couch and hovers over JOHN’S body as MARIO RETURNS to chair at table. He continues to watch TV and drink.
RUTH
(over John) Baby love, my baby love, I miss you,
miss kissin’ you. . . .
RUTH BREAKS from BIG JOHN.
During the following, RUTH Xs to MARIO, climbs onto the table and hovers over the TV and MARIO.
RUTH (cont)
. . . It’s just like heaven, being here with you.
You’re like an angel, too good to be true.
But after all I love you, I do.
Angel baby, my angel baby.
When you are near me my heart skips a beat.
I can hardly stand on my own two feet.
But after all I love you I do.
Angel baby, my angel baby.
MUSIC (Cecil Taylor’s Transitions) RISES.
LIGHTS FADE LEAVING ONLY THE GLOW OF THE TV ON MARIO’S FACE.
RUTH TURNS OFF THE TV.
CURTAIN
Labels: Theatre
posted by CirqueMinime/Paris at 1:17 AM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home