Scene One. Lights up on a middle-aged man in a booth at the Galaxy Diner. He’s reading the paper.
SEAN
Dammit. Like I haven’t felt bad enough? Pete! Ya see this? Our old friend just made a return engagement! By Popular Demand! Damn, I’m one sick bastard. Terrible.
(Reads.)
And if anyone has any information they should call… Right. If ya don’t like livin.
(He laughs and puts the paper down.)
Not good, Sean. Not good. Jokin bout this. Gettin to me. Too much. Three meals at this shithole, then home to my shithole. Sorry Pete! The Galaxy’s not a shithole. Shithole’s a term of endearment. Really. The Galaxy’s a fine establishment!
(To himself.)
Used to be somethin, right Pete? The old days? Damn. Rollin in at four in the morning; walkin in; toasted; after the gig—those were the days, right? The boys. The girls. We had some cool ones, right? We gotta good crowd, right? Damn. Shit. Gotta stop this shit. Makin myself crazy. Daydreaming. Every fuckin day. Same booth. Same toasted corn muffin with a little butter. Same coffee regular. Same bullshit. I can’t live here anymore! Gotta get outa this neighborhood! Too many memories. I hate livin here! It’s too— too… clean. Not for me. Clean is not for me. I should be livin in a dirty little room with paint peelin offa the walls and the ashtrays are full and there’s roaches when I open the kitchen cabinets; swarmin all over the boxes of crackers and cookies and cans of soup. I kill ‘em with with my shoe. Yeah. Gotta remember to get down to the bodega and pick up a couple motels; can of Raid. Spray that shit. Kill every living thing.
(A beat.)
Every living thing…
Living in a little universe of their own… seein what they see, takin up that space that only they can take up. I’m takin up my space in the universe; seein it through my eyes; feelin it through my nervous system; my heart; my soul; thoughts and feelings are mine and mine alone. I can tell you about ‘em, but no matter what I say, you can never feel what I feel; you can never know what I know. Maybe we strike a chord in each other? A deep one, a g-minor seventh with an augmented fifth or somethin, and it resonates and maybe you say “Yeah! That’s it! I feel that too!” But that’s as close as you’re gonna get. We’re all alone in our little universe.
(Sean pays his check and leaves. Lights out on him.)
Scene Two. Up on a storefront in Hell’s Kitchen. Two men sipping coffee. Lorenzo is in his sixties. Ray is in his late thirties. Ray is reading the paper.
RAY
Surprise. Surprise. You see this?
(Ray hands Lorenzo the paper.)
LORENZO
What?
RAY
You know where they’re buildin that co-op?
LORENZO
Where?
RAY
Eleventh Avenue. By the tracks.
LORENZO
Yeah.
RAY
Couple workmen found that kid.
LORENZO
What kid?
RAY
The freak. Remember? We buried him near the tracks.
LORENZO
No.
RAY
Come on. You did quite a job on the little motherfucker.
LORENZO
When was…?
RAY
Fifteen-twenty years ago. Remember? We were dealin. He called you a wop.
LORENZO
Don’t ring a bell.
RAY
He kept starin at you and you lost it.
LORENZO
Oh! Oh! Oh! Yeah. Hate when they stare. Makes me feel very bad about myself.
RAY
Well, he finally turned up.
(Lorenzo peruses the article. A beat.)
LORENZO
Don’t worry about it. They don’t even know who the fuck he is.
RAY
They got DNA and dental records and computers. They can figure it out.
LORENZO
They ain’t gonna figure out shit, cause there’s nothin to figure.
RAY
(Reading.)
Love this “his eyes were gouged out, gangland style.”
LORENZO
They can’t prove we did it.
RAY
You did that. Not me.
LORENZO
He’s a skeleton by now. Couple bones. They’re just gonna put him in Potter’s Field and be done with it. Drink your coffee. No one gives a shit about this guy.
RAY
You’re the best. You don’t worry about nothin.
LORENZO
I got my worries. Don’t worry.
RAY
I know. I can see it on ya.
LORENZO
Oh yeah?
RAY
Ya been lookin tired.
LORENZO
Haven’t been sleepin well.
RAY
I knew somethin was up. When ya been workin together long as we have, ya get to know, ya know, your friends, their moods.
LORENZO
Really? We’re friends? When did this happen?
RAY
Come on, Larry! We’ve been workin together—
LORENZO
Workin together does not constitute a friend.
RAY
Oh. So now I’m not your friend?
LORENZO
I didn’t say that.
RAY
Paper piss you off?
LORENZO
No.
RAY
Well, you’re not yourself.
LORENZO
So, who am I?
RAY
Huh?
LORENZO
You say I’m not myself, so if I’m not myself, who am I?
RAY
Stop it. You’re scarin me now.
LORENZO
That’s always been your problem.
RAY
What?
LORENZO
You scare too easy.
RAY
Fuck you!
LORENZO
Everybody knows it Ray. Ya like to bully the little guy, but when it comes to—
(Stops. Short pause.)
I didn’t mean that.
RAY
I know ya did.
LORENZO
I’m sorry, Ray. I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings. You’re a good man. A great partner. I don’t know what I woulda done without ya all these years.
(Short pause.)
I gotta bad temper and I say things I don’t mean sometimes.
RAY
Uh-huh.
LORENZO
Do things I don’t wanna do sometimes. Well, things’re gonna be different from here on in. Time you knew.
RAY
What’s gonna be different?
LORENZO
I’m… uh… makin some changes. Personal in nature.
RAY
Yeah?
LORENZO
Yeah.
(Short pause.)
RAY
What kinda changes?
LORENZO
I’ve decided that I’m… uh…
(Pause.)
I’m gonna be…
RAY
What?
LORENZO
…try to be— uhhhmmm…
RAY
Yeah?
(Short pause.)
LORENZO
S’not easy for me…
RAY
I can see that.
LORENZO
Wanna change things. Ya know, I made some choices along the way, some good, some bad, and now I wanna be…
RAY
What?
(Short pause. Lorenzo exhales.)
LORENZO
Kind.
RAY
What?
LORENZO
Kind. I’m gonna be kind.
(Silence.)
RAY
You?
LORENZO
Yeah, me! I’m gonna be a kind person. Somethin wrong with that?
RAY
No.
LORENZO
Fuck. It’s ingrained in me.
RAY
What is?
LORENZO
Nothin.
RAY
(Pause. A joke.)
Well, can ya loan me fifty bucks, oh kind soul?
(Ray laughs.)
LORENZO
Sure. Ya need fifty bucks?
RAY
No.
LORENZO
Coz I’ll give it to ya. Ya need a hundred? I’ll give ya a hundred. Coz that’s the new me.
RAY
You can't be kind. You're an outlaw. A criminal. Criminals can’t be kind.
LORENZO
Pretty Boy Floyd used to buy poor people turkeys on Thanksgiving.
RAY
That’s a myth.
LORENZO
No, it ain’t.
RAY
It is! Besides, kindness ain’t your style. You're mean. That's what makes you so good at what you do. You're ruthless.
LORENZO
Those days—
RAY
Remember that—
LORENZO
—are behind me.
RAY
—fat Jew bastard who ran the fuckin… what was it?
LORENZO
The topless place on forty-third.
RAY
Yeah. —was skimmin and fuckin alla girls. We come in, he’s on toppa one of ‘em, sees us, shits himself, you grab a video, say—
RAY & LORENZO
—this looks interesting, Anal Adventure—
LORENZO
Yeah…
RAY
—and then ya jammed yer gun right up his fat ass—
LORENZO
Ray! Please!
RAY
—and bam!
(Laughing.)
What a mess!
LORENZO
My piece stunk so bad. Hadda throw it out.
(They laugh.)
RAY
And you don’t lose your sense of humor either. That’s very important in our line of work.
(A beat.)
I think ya killed the girl too.
LORENZO
I don’t remember.
RAY
Don’t fuck with Lorenzo Salvatore! It is this kinda class and individuality that makes you, you. You don't care about your fellow man. Or woman for that matter. In fact, I'd say you even enjoy inflicting pain on them.
LORENZO
I have to admit, I do get a…
(Short pause.)
…thrill from it. Yeah.
RAY
And let’s face it, pain is a language they all understand, and you speak it good. They could be beggin and pleadin for mercy. They could be shittin themselves, tears, nothin from you. If anything, you get meaner.
LORENZO
It’s tough to look at that shit. Makes me nuts.
RAY
That’s what makes you great!
(A beat.)
LORENZO
I wonder why that is?
RAY
Why what is?
LORENZO
Why I’m such a sick fuck?
RAY
Larry.
LORENZO
Why the sight of human misery makes me even harder? Why I don’t feel any compassion? Nothin. I just get meaner and meaner. One day, I’m gonna drown in it like Yul Brynner did.
RAY
Who?
LORENZO
Yul Brynner. In the Ten Commandments. The more the people hurt, the meaner Brynner got. Until God hadda drown him and his whole fuckin army. What does that tell ya?
RAY
Don’t mess with the Jews?
LORENZO
What it tells ya is that ya can drown in your own meanness. And I don’t want that to happen to me. I'm turnin over a new leaf.
RAY
What does that mean? Turnin over a new leaf?
LORENZO
Makin a new start.
RAY
Yeah, I know that, but what do leaves have to do with it?
LORENZO
Like in a book. A leaf is like a page in a book. I’m turning the page.
RAY
Hhhh…
LORENZO
I’m turning the page of my life. Beginning a new chapter. A blank page. Nothin on it. Not yet.
RAY
I never knew that. A leaf is a page in a book. That’s so true. Never knew that.
LORENZO
Now ya do.
(He takes out fifty dollars.)
Take it.
RAY
You're kiddin.
LORENZO
No. I know you need it. Take the fifty.
RAY
I don't really need it. I was just kiddin with you.
LORENZO
Take it.
RAY
I don't need the fifty.
LORENZO
This is not about you or what you need. It’s about me giving it to you. Understand?
RAY
Yeah. It’s just I don’t need—
LORENZO
All the more reason to give it to you. Enjoy it. Buy a new shirt for God’s sake.
RAY
What’s wrong with my shirt?
(Lorenzo stuffs the fifty in Ray’s pocket.)
No! No! Why’re you doin this?
LORENZO
I just told you—
RAY
I won’t let you do this! What the fuck is kind? You’ve never been kind in your whole life!
LORENZO
I know.
RAY
(Grabbing the newspaper.)
You gouged that poor kid’s eyes out!
LORENZO
That was no kid.
RAY
He was screamin in pain! You knew right off you hadda kill him! You didn’t hafta gouge—
LORENZO
I know!
RAY
You set fire—
LORENZO
Don’t bring back—
RAY
—to that bodega—
LORENZO
—bad memories!
RAY
—when they were late with the money—
LORENZO
Three months!
RAY
—and you ended up killin that whole family! Three little kids layin in their beds! Terrible.
LORENZO
Don’t remind—
RAY
And you laughed! Remember? Hard too. You laughed hard!
LORENZO
I regret it, Ray. I regret the fire, the laughing, everything. I regret almost everything I’ve ever done.
(Long pause.)
I’m all alone, Ray. All alone in this world.
RAY
No you’re not.
LORENZO
I am, Ray. I got no one. No one loves me. I don’t think anybody even likes me.
RAY
I like you.
LORENZO
No ya don’t. Nobody does.
RAY
I do.
LORENZO
(A challenge.)
Why? Why do you like me?
RAY
I don’t know. I just do.
LORENZO
No. You gotta have a reason. I’ve been a good friend. I’ve done something for you. I’m there for you. Somethin.
(Pause.)
RAY
You’re strong.
LORENZO
I am strong, but that’s not enough. I can’t go on this way; bein an enemy to everyone; everyone scared of me. I can’t even have a normal conversation! They’re all too busy tremblin! It’s killin me, Ray. When I die, no one will mourn me. No one will be sad that I’m gone. No one will miss me. In fact, most people who’ve come in contact with me will be glad I’m dead.
(Short pause.)
My soul is black. I’m not a person, Ray. I’m a monster.
RAY
You’re not a monster! Jesus!
LORENZO
I am. There’s no light inside of me, just darkness. Everything’s money and guns and… that’s my world, my little universe; guns and money and drugs and prostitutes… it’s fucked-up, Ray. Fucked-up.
RAY
Oh, Larry, what happened to you?
LORENZO
This is a very ugly world we live in, Ray. I don’t know that I can live in it anymore.
RAY
You’re wrong, Larry. This is the best world there is! It really is! It’s exciting!
LORENZO
It’s violent. It hurts people. It hurts me.
RAY
True. That’s the downside, but besides that, we live well. We do whatever the fuck we want! We don’t punch a clock. What could be worse than punchin a clock?
LORENZO
Punchin a person.
RAY
A scumbag, Larry. Scumbags deserve to be punched and kicked and killed. Believe me. We wouldn’t be doin it if it was wrong.
LORENZO
Can I tell ya a secret?
RAY
Sure.
LORENZO
I see their faces.
RAY
Who’s faces?
LORENZO
All the people I killed. They come in my dreams.
RAY
Yeah?
LORENZO
Yeah. And they say “What did I ever do to you? Why did you kill me? And then they start chantin. “Why? Why?” over and over again. And I tell‘em I hadda. But they keep goin “why?’ Louder and louder. And they start closin in on me, real slow, and I can’t breathe. Gettin closer and closer until they’re right on toppa me.
RAY
Wadda they do? Pound ya?
LORENZO
No. They just keep chantin. Except for one.
RAY
Who?
LORENZO
The kid without the eyeballs.
RAY
The one who’s eyes you —
LORENZO
Yeah.
(A beat.)
He just stands there. He don’t move. He don’t do nothin. He just bleeds and bleeds from the sockets.
RAY
Damn.
LORENZO
And now he’s back.
(A beat.)
I gotta go. Gotta get away from— I gotta—
RAY
Larry, I— You gonna be okay?
LORENZO
Yeah. I’m fine. Don’t worry about me, Ray. Spend the money. Have a good time.
(Lorenzo gets up.)
RAY
Where ya goin? Larry, I thought we—
LORENZO
Calm down, Ray. I’m just gonna set some things straight. If I don’t do it now, I ain’t never gonna do it.
(Lorenzo leaves as the lights fade on Ray. End of scene.)
.