The Red Letter Plays
Page 10
Im new. New in town.
First Lady
Im sad.
Monster
Yr beautiful.
(Rest)
Beautiful like the ocean only the ocean is moving and you are. Still.
(Rest)
I always wanted to meet a woman like that.
First Lady
My husband doesnt want me.
Monster
Cant be true. Someone as beautiful as you.
First Lady
Monster
First Lady
Gosh. Yr arm. Thats some birthmark.
Monster
Its a scar. From a long time ago.
First Lady
Does it hurt?
Monster
It did. Not no more.
(Rest)
Thats the trick with things that hurt. Outlast them, they stop hurting. Sooner or later.
First Lady
You think?
Monster
Thats been my experience.
First Lady
Monster
First Lady
Monster
First Lady
May I kiss you?
She kisses him. They kiss.
SCENE 9
Hesters home. Late at night. The room is dark.
She comes in through the back door.
Shes wearing her bloody apron, having just finished another abortion. She throws her tools into the wash bucket and, going over to the altar-like place, lights a candle. The candle illuminates the room and she sees someone sitting there: Butcher, also in his bloody apron.
Hester
Butcher. Well. Its late.
Butcher
You should lock your door. Theres another convict on the loose.
Hester
Most people think its bad luck coming here.
(Rest)
Yll have bad luck now.
Butcher
I got bad luck already.
Hester
Butcher
Hester
I must be way behind in my meat bill. I know yr a man who likes his customers to pay their bills on time.
Butcher
Hester—
Hester
Freedom comes first. I pay the Freeodom Fund on time, or they add on extra. They miscalculated recently. It really set me back. But ha! I came into some more money earlier today. Another wonderful gift from a very good friend. I guess you heard about it and are here looking for whats owed you but Im going to the Fund again tomorrow and pay on my sons freedom. Its not enough to spring him but this time for sure itll get us the picnic lunch. For sure this time. Ive checked and rechecked the figures. This time for sure we’ll be eating together by the end of the week. Me and Boy. After 30 years. You gotta understand, my meat bills—
Butcher
Zero. You dont owe.
Hester
Oh.
(Rest)
Butcher
Canary give you the money?
Hester
Yes. Another gold coin. Just a little while ago. She really wants to help out.
Butcher
Thats good of her.
Hester
Shes a good friend.
Hester
Butcher
Butcher
Sit. Sit with me.
She sits. Theyre both sitting there in their bloody aprons.
Butcher
It was nice seeing you the other day.
Hester
Scribe wrote me a good letter. Thanks for getting him on his feet.
Hester
Butcher
Hester
He makes the nicest looking letters. Even when hes sloshed. Such pretty shapes, straight bold lines and gentle curls. Makes me wish I could read. And write too.
Butcher
You should learn.
Hester
Well.
Butcher
Its not that hard. I could teach you.
(Rest)
If you learned writing you could write yr son yrself, save money on Scribe and spend less time working.
(Rest)
And I’d be happy to teach you. Itd be my pleasure.
Hester
Butcher
Hester
You got a daughter locked up too, dontcha?
Butcher
Shes a bad seed.
Hester
Its hard to be good when surrounded by so many bad people.
Butcher
My kid, Lulu. Rotten to the core she is. Always was. From day one, that Lulu. She was always into something bad.
(Rest)
[Prostitution, racketeering, moneylaundering, cyber fraud, intellectual embezzlement, highway robbery, dialing for dollars, doing a buffalo after midnight, printing her own money, cheating at cheating, jaywalking, selling herself without a license, selling her children without a permit, unlawful reproduction, having more than one spouse, claiming to have multiple parents, claiming to have multiple orgasms, claiming to have injuries she didnt have, claiming to have been places she never was, making love at gunpoint, indecent exposure, hanging upside down in a public place, walking in the rain without a flashlight, walking home from work without a pink slip, taking up more than one seat of the public conveyance, not saluting the authorities, having no known address, skipping school, skipping her monthly, smoking in the girls room, drugging of all stripes and varieties, taking and dispensing narcotics without a permit, smiling in the off season, hunting on private land, lying on private grass, trespassing, eating from the table of authority, fornicating with the Other, overdue shit at the LendingSpot, general physical underdevelopment, looking up too much, looking into the eyes of her arresting authority, taking a crap in the office of said arresting authority, playing with herself on the governments nickel, aiding and abetting a whole host of things, admitting to participating in a boondoggle, running red lights, general dismemberment, congregating without a permit, speaking her mind without a permit, not wearing drawers, leaving her lights on, playing loud music, fighting the power, passing the buck, not paying the electric, obscene phone calls, ringing and running, conversations with children who were not her own thus implanting strange notions in the minds of minors, conversations with adults which bordered on the ridiculous, fornicating with the same sex, fornicating with young men under the age of 15 and old men over the age of her old mans age, saying she was married when she wasnt, having no sense of direction, grand larceny, petty theft, hotwiring, image manipulation, leading unsuspecting men and women into cyberspace and leaving them there lost and without a roadmap, riding without a helmet, fraternizing with known felons, copulating with said known felons with the intent to reproduce, espionage, high treason, mutiny at sea, operating a dumptruck without a license, having improper identification, slave trading, horse stealing, murder in the first degree, not knowing what time it is, talking too much, laughing out of turn, murder in the second degree, standing on one leg in a 2-legged zone, jumping the turnstile, jumping the turnstilee, burning down the house, murder in the nth degree, failing to perform lifesaving procedures in a situation that warranted it, aiding and abetting a forest fire, failing to predict a series of natural disasters, perjury, not pulling her weight, not wearing her teeth, fingering the Commander, selling state secrets, not believing in The Afterlife, defaming the name of the State, passing as a persona non grata, defacing animates and intimates alike, persuading, dumping pollutants, not doing her bit, having neither gimmick nor schtick, mugging i.e. pulling faces, mugging i.e. sticking up—you get the gist—having bad timing, possessing a firearm, not eating her vegetables, being a bad apple, falling too far from the tree, possessing a concealed freakish attribute, harboring the convicted, fencing the stolen, giving false testimony, raising the dead, envisioning the future, remembering the past, speeding—huh.
(Rest)
(Rest)
Hester
Impressive.]
Butcher
&n
bsp; Shes not eligible for the Freedom Fund Program.
Hester
I wouldnt think she would be.
(Rest)
My Boys an angel who had a little bad luck.
Butcher
Thats life.
Hester
Butcher
Butcher
Butcherings the only thing I ever wanted to do. I feel like Im right in the middle of the great chain of being. Passing life from one group to another. Sure I kill them but I make sure it never hurts. Ive spent all my life perfecting the painless slaughter. Lemmie show you.
With his sheathed knife in hand he comes to her, standing behind her, putting the knife near her throat, instructing her.
Butcher
Yr slaughtering a pig. Smart animal. Also very bloody. You put him between yr legs with his back toward you. Lift up his head and quick! Slice quick. They cry out but its only reflex. Ive read all the anatomy books. This kind of cut is completely painless.
(Rest)
You try.
They switch places. Hester gives it a try.
Hester
Like this?
Butcher
Faster and dont bear down so hard. The knife is sharp. You dont want him feeling a thing. Like the cold wind crossed his throat, thats all.
Hester
Like this?
Butcher
Thats it. Once more.
Hester
Ha!
Butcher
Good Job!
Hester
Thank you.
Butcher
Hester
Hester
Butcher
Would you like to see my gold coin?
Ive brought you a present.
Hester
Butcher
Hester
Butcher
Before I give it to the Fund lemmie show you.
Its not much. Just meat. But its a good cut.
She holds up her coin. He shows a neatly tied package.
Hester
Pretty aint it?
Hester
Butcher
Hester
Butcher
It was you who left the meat the other day.
Ive wanted you. For a long time.
He gives her the package of meat.
Hester
That was real nice. The meat. It cooked up good.
Butcher
Yr lovely.
Hester
Oh, Im a regular princess, with my branded A—
Butcher
I always figured you wanted to be alone—
Hester
—that weeps and stinks.
Butcher
—but I figured I would try.
Hester
Dont make fun of me. “Yr lovely.” Sure. Me and my bloody bloody apron.
Butcher
(Rest)
Theres no shame in a bloody apron.
Hester
Butcher
He takes her hand. She nervously takes it away.
Butcher
Whenever I see you yr always sitting or standing with yr left shoulder pulled back. Yr A is as plain as day but you dont want no one seeing it. You shouldnt be ashamed.
Hester
I dont like people staring.
Butcher
Why do they brand you aborters? They dont brand us butchers.
Hester
The brand comes with the job is all I know. “And the brand must be visible at all times.” Thats the law. Everyone knows what I do—but then, my A is also like a shingle and a license, so nobody in needll ever get suckered by a charlatan.
(Rest)
What we do is bad. And good. And bad and good and good and bad. Theres no easy way to look at it.
(Rest)
Go to prison or take this job. That was my choice. Choose A or choose B. I chose A.
Butcher
You got a chance to get him out this way.
Hester
Thats the way I see it.
Butcher
And you provide a service. You chose right.
Hester
Thank you.
Butcher
You should put that coin in a safe place.
Hester
Good thinking.
She looks around quickly and decides to put the coin in her shoe.
Butcher
You must be excited about yr reunion picnic.
Hester
And a little nervous.
Butcher
Its a wonder yll even recognize him, what with the time thats passed and the ways hes changed.
Hester
I’ll know my Boy.
Butcher
By his looks?
Hester
Better than that.
(Rest)
When they comed to take him away, just before they took him, I bit him. Hard. Right on the arm just here. I bit hard. Deep into his skin. His blood in my mouth. He screamed but then he was screaming anyway. After theyd tooked him away I went and bit myself. Just as hard and in the same place exactly. See the mark I got? My Boys got one too. Identical.
She shows him her bite mark scar, on the inside of her left forearm, the remains of a horrid wound.
Butcher
Hes a grown man now.
Hester
He’ll always have my mark.
(Rest)
You think my A is ugly.
Butcher
No.
Hester
But you could never love it.
Butcher
Loving anything is hard.
Hester
Butcher
He takes her hand again.
This time she doesnt pull away.
Hester
It would be nice. But you cant spend the night.
(Rest)
Too many people would see you leaving in the morning. You may not care but I care.
Butcher
K.
They sit there holding hands.
The backdoor bell rings.
Butcher
Yr bell.
Hester
(Rest)
Let it ring.
The bell rings again, this time more insistently.
Hester makes no move to get up and answer it.
SCENE 10
Hesters house. The next morning. Dawns early light.
Monster rummaging around Hesters front room looking for things to steal. He finds the meat, smells it and gobbles at it.
Offstage Hester begins singing.
She sings a version of “Working Womans Song” to herself as she enters the room.
Monster hears her and hides himself.
Hester
I love what we do when we do it we do it
I fall in his arms and he puts me through it.
I take his love with no complaining
He takes my love, even when its raining . . .
Monster grabs her.
Monster
Gimmie all yr money and all yr food or I’ll kill you.
Hester
I dont got much.
Monster
Yve got hiding places. Ha! A gun!
He spies a rusty shotgun above the mantel.
Takes it down.
Monster
Its old. Does it work?
Hester
Sometimes. Its very rusty.
Monster
Forget it.
He tosses the gun down.
Monster
Wheres yr money at?
Hester
Monster
Monster
Dont give it up and I’ll kill you.
Hester goes to a drawer, pulls it out, reaches behind it, withdraws money, hands it to him.
As he takes the money from her he sees her scar.
He takes a good long look, then plays it off.
Hester
Monster
Hester
Thats all.
Monster
Hester
Thats all. On my life thats all.
Monster
Monster
Hester
Yr staring at me.
Monster
No Im not.
Hester
I gave you all my money.
Monster
Good.
(Rest)
I said I woulda killed you and I woulda. Just so you know.
Hester
Monster
Monster hurries out the front door.
Hester stands as if rooted to the spot.
Then, breathing a sigh of relief, she hurries to the window to make sure he is on his way.
She then takes off her shoe and takes out the gold coin, holding it triumphantly up to the light.
SCENE 11
The Hunters come in deep in conversation.
Second Hunter
I dont mind losing the bet. Not at all dont get me wrong.
Third Hunter
Thats why he bet you.
Second Hunter
Exactly. I knew I would lose.
First Hunter
I dont get it.
Third Hunter
Reverse psychology.
Second Hunter
Exactly.
First Hunter
Reverse psychology on who, on me?
Second Hunter
On the convict.
Third Hunter
Very smart.
First Hunter
I dont get it.
Third Hunter
Hal was psyching out that convict.
First Hunter
“Monster!”
Third Hunter
We shouldnt get on a first name basis with him.
First Hunter
Why not? “Monster!” Im not scared to say his name. And we’ll get real close to him soon enough—