Characters
Paul Silvers; 31 years old & deformed
Pablo Delgado; 31 years old & dangerously handsome
The two men stand in the center of a shabby studio apartment. One barred window with sunlight pouring in onto Paul's deformity.
PAUL: Drop it.
PABLO: Never.
PAUL: Drop it, or I’ll tell the lawyer you’re sleeping with his wife.
PABLO: He already knows it!
PAUL: Does he know you’ve also seduced his daughter?
PABLO: And his cleaning lady and his shoeshine boy!
PAUL: You agreed to drop it. You promised.
PABLO: That was before I knew the truth about you, before Alice told me that you’re a…
PAUL: She lied. She always lies. I’m not a cop.
PABLO: She didn’t say you were a cop. She said you were a prosecutor. Narcotics Unit.
PAUL: C’mon Pablo. You can’t believe that. Why would I be trying to get you to drop acid with me if I worked for The Feds.
PABLO: Because that’s the way The Feds get people to talk. They drug ‘em. I have nothing to say to you, Sir. Get out of my house.
PAUL: Pablo, it’s me. You’re telling me you don’t even recognize me. It’s Paul Silvers, your old college roommate from Northern Illinois University. I served in Iraq. This accident? My face was blown off in one of those damned suicide attacks, and the surgeon gave me this botched job. Fuckers. My wife left me. All I’ve got now are the hallucinogens. Drop it with me.
PABLO: Paul Silvers…? But in college you organized the Students Against National Government. You called yourself a Neo-Tribalist back then. You attended your classes in the nude. What the fuck happened to you? No, you’re not the Paul Silvers I knew in college. That guy never would have served in a war that was a lost cause to begin with!
Paul drops his pants to show Pablo proof of his identity. An unusual birthmark.
Pablo does “drop it;” he drops his jaw, that is.
1 comment:
Very nice, Rebecca. You give the scene perfectly, taking into account the realist's perspective. The fun of the piece has to do with Paul's motivation, which you leave up in the air. It's to renew an old acquaintance, but he seems to have a thirst for some excitement. Is he trying to upset Pablo? Maybe. Does he need Pablo for something? Maybe. Again, nicely done.
Frederic Kolman
Post a Comment