Plays and Screenplays - Excerpts    

Jody Thomas Doesn't Want To Die [The sound of the outside latch is heard. The door slowly swings open, as MIKE steps in. He is a large man in his late thirties, with heavyset features, slicked brown hair, and a long handlebar mustache. When he clears the doorway, JODY kicks him in the legs, tripping him on to the floor. In one movement, he slams the door shut and pounces on , knees in his back, gun at his neck.] MIKE: [groaning] For crissakes! [JODY frisks him in a series of rough blows. Then he places his knee between MIKE's legs and brings it up hard. MIKE moans again and rolls over holding his groin. JODY tears at his clothes, then rolls him on to his back and puts the gun to his head.] JODY: Move! [He forces MIKE to crawl along the floor to the cell door. As JODY backs off to a safe distance, MIKE turns around and sits up against the bars.] MIKE: You shit! You trying to end my sex life? JODY: Why'd you come, Mike, why they let you come? [MIKE pulls himself to his feet.] MIKE: Because I pushed them around, I said: That's my boy...he'll tell me what's happening. JODY: Cut the crap, Mike! What'd they get you to do? MIKE: Hey, twinkieboy, this is Hootchman...nobody gets me to do anything I don't want to do... JODY: [shouting] I'M ASKING YOU! MIKE: [shouting] I'M TELLING YOU...[he smiles] I'm telling you...no setup, you dig? I told them they needed me...they're scared, up there, don't know what to do. They want to get it first hand, from the Hootchman's mouth. JODY: [loudly] They know what to do... I'm busting out, I'm on fire, man! MIKE: [smoothly] Hey, easy baby...this is me remember? JODY: I showed them I don't give a shit no more, I mean what I say. MIKE: Did you really ice that dude in the green box? JODY: Yeah...[pointing to the chamber] Want to see? MIKE: Nah...I don't need to see...bad karma! You wanta smoke? Oh yeah, you're a healthy boy, now, you quit. [He takes out a cigarette, lights it, looks around.] Hey...how you doing, Father? [The CHAPLAIN nods and raises his hand.] MIKE: He okay? JODY: [coldly] What do you want, Mike? [MIKE begins to walk along the bars without looking at him. JODY parallels him at a distance.] MIKE: So how you going to do it...bust it? JODY: What do you want, Mike? MIKE: [harshly] Will you stop hanging on me like a fucking dog! I'm trying to do you some good here! [JODY stops moving. MIKE turns, looks at him and smiles.] Look, man, there's no way, no way in hell they're going to let you dance out of here. They got you tattooed and stewed and they're going to have you for lunch. There ain't no way they're going to let you turn them around not with all the other guys waiting in the skids to climb out after you. JODY: You're blowing their smoke, man! MIKE: You're all fucked up, dude! [smiling] Hey...twinkieboy, Jodyboy...haven't I always given it to you straight? Haven't I always had my arm around you from the day you walked into this joint? Haven't I...me, your Hootchman? JODY: [wavering] Yeah...! MIKE: So why you treating me like a pussy? JODY: I don't know...why you telling me all this? MIKE: [yelling] I'M TRYING TO HELP YOU! JODY: [yelling] DO WHAT? GO BACK IN THERE? [He begins to walk rapidly, up and down the small corridor, accenting his speech in short, jerky movements as he speaks half to himself and half out loud. MIKE watches him intently, following every movement with his eyes.] They killed me already, Hootch, I'm dead...I sat in the seat and I took a deep breath. I'm living now, I'm on fire, I'm busting out. MIKE: Jodyboy...Jodyboy...you're scamming yourself. Didn't I always tell you, you were the biggest sucker in the world? What's the difference...if they didn't get you in there, they're going to get you...out there. That's what it's all about...they own it! JODY: [shaking his head violently] No, no, man...I'm at the wheel, now. They know I'm over the line. They tried to send their heat in, I blew them away. They tried to stall me, I wasted that cop. They know! I got my stache, my card, my chips...him! MIKE: Hooee...you're smoking some bad shit, man! [He grinds the cigarette out with his fingers.] They don't give a fuck about him...they only care about you! You got them bending over, on their knees. They can't take that...they can't have that, no way. They got this whole thing rigged...all those people out there reading newspapers, looking at tv...that's the public, man, the voters. [mockingly] They want yoouu! And these honchos are going to give yoouu to them...one way or the other...and him too, if that's what they got to do...they don't give a shit. It's political, man...they rigged it this way and they ain't going to let you cheat them out of the payoff. JODY: [waving his hands and smiling] Nah...you're missing it, Hootch, you're missing it. I'm buying, they're selling...don't you get it? That's a priest...he's the Warden's man...if they were going to cut me, they would have done it a long time ago. Nah...they're dealing! [his excitement grows] I stopped them, I turned it around...and they're giving me a ticket. Hey, I'm getting a helicopter and lots of bread...I'm flying out of here, man, I'm beating this rap right out of the country...I'm going all the way. [He stops to take a breath, then turns to MIKE almost gleefully.] JODY: You want to come with me? [MIKE stiffens.] How about it, Hootch? The two of us...you're like me, what've you got to lose? You're down to your last appeal, it ain't going nowhere...and you ain't going to get a chance like this...not after me! What do say, Hootch...it's boogie time, right? [Caught off guard, MIKE shrugs his shoulders.] MIKE: Nah...it's a sucker's bet! JODY: What are you saying? It's a one in a million winner, it's the lottery, man!  ©2005 Arthur Meiselman

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Firedance (The light has become gray and shadowed. STEPHEN is sitting on the edge of the kitchen table. ARLENE is standing at the doorway. She takes off her hat, glares at him, waits for a moment.) ARLENE: And? STEPHEN:  And what? ARLENE: And I expect an answer. STEPHEN: I'm a bad boy. ARLENE: Don't be cute, don't be cute. It's no time to be cute. I ask a question, I expect an answer. STEPHEN: Don't be Mama to me. ARLENE: What? How dare you, how dare you say that. (She moves to him and hits him with her hat) You evil, hurting person... STEPHEN: (He pushes her off with his hand, and begins to walk away) I just didn't want to go to a funeral today. I didn't feel like crying. (ARLENE grabs him by the arm, spins him around, and slaps him hard across the face. He snares her band and squeezes it hard. She begins to cry.) STEPHEN: I can't remember the last time you ever did that, but I know it'll never happen again. (He stands, holding her hand up high) ARLENE: Are you such a stranger? Don't you feel anything? STEPHEN: (drops her hand) Lenie... I feel, I feel for you, and... ARLENE: What about Mama? STEPHEN: Mama's dead! ARLENE: You are a stranger... nobody knows you anymore. Nobody knows anybody... (ANITA rushes in followed by SAM) ANITA: There you are! SAM: (In a low voice) What happened to you? STEPHEN: I couldn't make it. SAM:  Why? What happened to you? STEPHEN: I didn't want to be there, all right? (SAM moves to slap him, ARLENE catches his arm) ARLENE: I did that already. It doesn't make any difference. STEPHEN: Why don't you try spitting! SAM:  All you had to do was show up. All you had to do was show your respect, some token of what she meant to you. Or, didn't she mean anything to you? Huh? Huh? You wiped her off your list, you did that a long time ago. Nothing she could do for you anymore, right? Couldn't get anything out of the family anymore, right? Just let it go, pass it right by. You're shit, kiddo... ARLENE: Sam! SAM:  I'm gonna tell you something. You cut her down, and the old man, all of us, Just as sure as if you took a bomb and blew it up in our faces. She said that to me once...you'll all forget about me. But she meant you... she knew about you, (he pounds the table) What the hell happened to you. Why couldn't you do it right for once, huh? You owed it, she deserved it, It would have hurt you? It would have interrupted your schedule? What the hell did you show up for any way? ANITA: He's right, Stevie, you know it. SAM:  He knows, he knows. ARLENE: Nobody knows anything, nobody knows anybody... STEPHEN:  Are you both finished? Are you through? SAM:  Don't start in with your goddamn dramatics! STEPHEN: This is why. ANITA: This is why... what? STEPHEN: (angrily) This is why I didn't go today... because I couldn't stand to see you... with the lousy guilt pouring out of your eyes... crawling all over each other in self-pity. ANITA: Sure, sure. STEPHEN: So self righteous! You'd have loved to have me there. Someone to pass it on to: "I'm good... he made her suffer!". SAM:  Will you listen to the bullshit? He's great with the bullshit. ANITA: (with a hard smile) What's the matter, Stevie, you have a weak stomach, or a weak conscience? SAM:  You never went to see her once, not once! No letters, no cards, nothing! We never heard from you. That's okay. Who needs you! But Mama... ARLENE: (still talking to herself) What's the difference? She couldn't read, she didn't recognize anybody. ANITA: It's the gesture that counts. A simple gesture! STEPHEN: For whom? You or her? Who gets the gesture? (He starts to walk away, SAM makes a move toward him, ANITA in between) ANITA: Calm down, Sam. ARLENE: Calm down, Sam. ANITA: There wasn't anything special to do, Stephen, Just some concern, some interest. Just show how you... STEPHEN: A show! That's all! So you can look yourself in the mirror and say: "It's okay, we did the right thing, we're good kids." So I could help you convince yourself that your heart is in the right place, that you really care. Mother above country, no regrets, no hard feelings, rest in peace! ANITA: Is it too much to ask? STEPHEN: You don't hear a word I say! SAM:  I hear you, schmuck... what did you call him... all-American -beach-bum. I hear you loud and clear. STEPHEN: Roger, Chief! ARLENE: Shhhh, don't fight. SAM:  I heard you loud and clear when you bummed the old man for I50 bucks. STEPHEN: Never let go, do you? ANITA: Some things are hard to forget! SAM:  All you do...  STEPHEN: You should talk! SAM:  I AM TALKING TO YOU! STEPHEN: WELL I'M NOT LISTENING TO YOU! SAM:  YOU BETTER LISTEN TO ME OR I'LL SHOVE THE WORDS DOWN YOUR THROAT! ARLENE: (suddenly screaming) WILL YOU STOP IT... stop it! (She begins to tremble, her voice again in a monotone) I can't hear myself think, I can't hear myself. (STEPHEN moves around the table, pats ARLENE on the shoulder. There is a tense pause. ANNA begins to move toward the kitchen.). STEPHEN: When are you going to get the message, big brother, that I don't sit on the other end of your telephone anymore? I came here because... I wanted to come. And I'll leave because I want to leave. And I didn't go this afternoon to that breast-beating ritual because I think they're disgusting... you know what I mean? SAM:  Anything that makes you feel for someone else is disgusting to you. STEPHEN: (laughing) Round and round and round... it's like some fucking scooter-car race. ANITA: I'm really disappointed in you. STEPHEN: Well I don't give a shit. ANITA: What the hell kind of language is that? STEPHEN:  What's the matter, you got a weak stomach? ARLENE: Shhhh, Shhhh. ANITA: Very funny. SAM:  Do you see him... Mr. all-American... last year's brother, last year's son? ANNA:  I see him. SAM:  Did you hear him? Did you hear what he has to say? ANNA: (quietly) Yes. (STEPHEN turns to ANNA. She shakes her head.) ANITA: Those are funny words for him... brother, son. SAM:  It's not funny, nothing's funny. STEPHEN: (sharply) You're funny, brother Sam, you are funny! You think we're still kids...running around the back yard throwing snowballs at each other. You think we still have to account to somebody in there: be nice to your brother, don't treat your sister that way. SAM:  What are you talking about? STEPHEN: I'm saying... (Throws his hands up in the air) I don't know what the hell I'm saying. ANNA: (reaching for STEPHEN) Come on, let's go for a walk. SAM:  (pushes her out of the way) Wait a minute. So... what's your point? Spit it out? STEPHEN: You're still back there Sammy. You're living 25 years ago. We all grew up, and we were dumped... right out of childhood, right into this. ANITA: You're getting dramatic again, Stevie-boy. ARLENE: Shhhh, no fighting. SAM: I'm waiting to hear it. STEPHEN: (faces him squarely) DON'T YOU KNOW? DON'T YOU SEE IT? You want to go back and crawl into Mama's lap again. But you can't, Sammy, BECAUSE HER LAP IS SIX FEET UNDER! (SAM lunges across the table at STEPHEN and grabs him by the throat, ANITA screams. ARLENE starts moaning and rocking in her chair. STEPHEN knocks SAM to the floor, jumps on top of him and raises his fist to hit him. ANNA lunges , grabs his fist, holds it, then presses it to her cheek,. They stay for a moment in a tense, eerie tableau.) (ARLENE stops rocking, looks at them.) ARLENE: (softly) Why don't we have something to eat! (The lights fade out.)  ©2005 Arthur Meiselman

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