Life In The Flesh (4)
ZEV waits and looks around. Sounds of the city are heard more clearly now: sirens, buses, trains, horns. ZEV finally gets up. He sits at GRISHA’S desk. He tries to open some desk drawers, but they’re all locked. He leans back in the chair. ZEV (Imitating GRISHA: ) Usin’ your stuff, kid. ZEV gets up and prowls around the room. He goes to the door and listens. He tries the door, but it’s locked. He tries again but it doesn’t open. GRISHA (off-stage) You piece of shit, get up. Get up!
ZEV backs away from the door and the door suddenly opens. ABE, bloody, is thrown into the room, followed by GRISHA who is holding some rope, and then ARON who closes the door and stands next to it. ABE Zev, why you here? ZEV Poppa! GRISHA (GRISHA stands between ZEV and ABE.) Makin’ deals – all kinds of deals, right, Zevo? Open the door, Aron. (ARON opens the door. To ZEV: ) Get out of here. ZEV What -- ? GRISHA Outta here now. ZEV What are you doin’ to him? GRISHA grabs ZEV and begins to drag him out the door but ZEV fights back. ABE runs to them but ARON grabs ABE and holds him back. ABE (To ARON: ) Traitor! Traitor! ZEV puts up a good fight but GRISHA is too big and too strong. GRISHA Fifty-fifty? (GRISHA throws ZEV out the door.) Hold him, Zoyen, hold the little fucker. (Turns to ARON.) Okay, okay, let him go. (ARON releases ABE who runs to GRISHA furiously. But GRISHA quickly punches ABE who falls to the floor. To ARON: ) Pull him up. (ARON goes to ABE and pulls him to his feet. GRISHA throws the rope to ARON.) Tie his feet. Fifty-fifty, you hear that, Aron? ARON (Tying ABE’S feet.) No. GRISHA Abe, nothing personal, but you’re in the way. ABE Shoot me? Like a dog? And you, Aron, after so much time, such a man? ARON Shut up, Abie, shut up, just shut up. ZEV (off-stage) God damn it, lemme go!
ARON finishes tying ABE. GRISHA (To ARON: ) Okay, now. (ARON goes off-stage and returns with two rifles.) Abe – Abe, I told you: with you or without you. ABE You kill me, you think that way you’ll get my son? GRISHA Yeah. ZEV (off-stage) Let go of me, you big stupid pig! ABE You get what, his body? Like you got my body? You get nothin’ – you get a shell. You sucked everything out, Grisha. GRISHA You’re whinin’, Abie, like a woman. You ain’t you any more and that’s a pity, that’s a real knife in my heart. Talk to him, Zoyen’s got him out there. Tell him, Abie, tell Zev he can save his poppa’s hide. ‘Cause first it’ll be you and then it’ll be him. Right, Aron? ARON That’s it. GRISHA With you or without you, Abie. ABE You can’t own him like you play and play with me – he’s an American! He’s legal legal! He has no accent! GRISHA Dumb Vlad. Zoyen? Now! (GRISHA takes the second rifle from ARON and holds ABE up by his hair.) Stupid maggot ABE You will never get him, he owns this country and he’s old smart even in a young body. Don’t. Don’t. My death will free him, Grisha! From me and from you. Beware what you do, Grisha, beware! GRISHA You smell like vomit. No wonder she left you, you’re so stupid. Zoyen! Zoyen! Ready, Aron?
ARON and GRISHA raise their rifles. GRISHA looks toward the door and then ZEV comes bursting through and GRISHA swiftly crosses to him and punches him in the stomach. ZEV falls. GRISHA Ready. Aim. ABE Oh, God, if You are there – release me – release me -- (ABE swoons and faints.) ZEV Poppa! GRISHA Fire!
ARON and GRISHA fire at ABE who is collapsing to the floor.
ZEV Poppa! Poppa! (ZEV pulls himself to his feet and rushes toward ABE who is lying immobile on the floor.)
GRISHA exits. ARON crosses slowly to ABE.
ZEV Poppa, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, Poppa! Poppa! Talk to me. Poppa! Oh, God, what have I done? I’m so stupid, forgive me – I’m sorry -- I’m sorry – I’m sorry --
BLACKOUT
End of ACT I
Act II i This scene is a continuation of Act 1, scene xix: GRISHA’S OFFICE. ZEV is kneeling over the fallen ABE. ARON is walking toward them. ZEV I love you, Poppa. Poppa? ARON There’s no blood, Zevi. Listen to his heart, put your ear near his heart and listen. ZEV I -- I hear it -- it’s beating! It’s beating. ARON Yeah. Let’s get him out of here. Come on. Carry his legs so when he opens his eyes, he’ll see you first. Let’s go, Zev, now, Zevi, now.
As they exit carrying ABE, David Byrne’s "Miss America," from the CD FEELINGS, fades up.
ii In GRISHA’S bedroom, center stage, Section B, ROSALIE is sitting on the bed nervously waiting for him to enter. She wears a new dress she made and an outlandish hat with a wide brim and feathers. Getting up from the bed, ROSALIE goes to the "window" and closes the "curtains." The room falls dark. She turns on a lamp near the bed, takes a scarf from her bad and drapes it over the lamp creating a softer, more attractive light. GRISHA enters and turns up the music from the boom box. He is still wearing his black shirt and black tie from his previous scene and begins to dance for her. He kicks off his shoes, removes his tie, and unbuttons his shirt. He pulls her off the bed and into him so hard and so fast she gasps and laughs hysterically. They dance. ROSALIE Oh, you man, what a dancer! Professional almost. Hollywood.
ROSALIE takes off his shirt as they continue to dance. ROSALIE So manly – so good – oh – GRISHA Unzip me. (She does.) Take off my pants. (She does.) You didn’t talk to the kid, did you? ROSALIE Yes. Yes. GRISHA No. You did nothing. You want me to do everything. ROSALIE No. Yes. Did you talk to your businessman manufacturer about my beautiful clothes? Did you tell him about my line of woman’s business clothes called, "Rosalie’s New York Woman"? GRISHA Take off your dress. (She starts to removed her hat.) Leave it. Just the dress. (She takes off her dress as they continue to dance.) I’m going to beat you. I’m going to beat you with my cock until you’re black and blue. And then you’ll beg me and I’ll beat you more. Tell me you want it. ROSALIE I want it. And then I’ll bite you, I’ll bite your thing until it’s hard like steel and you’ll scream I’ll bite your nipples and you’ll faint. GRISHA I’ll smack you – I’ll smack you naked on my knees – your round tush I’ll smack you until you beg me to beat you more and more. ROSALIE When I’m finished with you, you won’t move you’ll be so pins and needles. And I’ll be next to you all naked and covered with you and we’ll be so kutzla, our skins will tingle vodka and our tongues will flap like little dingles and I’ll never tell you nothing. GRISHA Zev told me nothing, and I want to know why, bitch. You made me do all the work. I warned you.
ROSALIE And I warned you, cock man. Of course he talked, Grisha-brisha-lisha-fisha, you’re fucking with me. I told him to talk, help his father, he talked. GRISHA No. (He smacks her and she falls onto the bed.) He thought he was smart, you didn’t do your job. You get nothing, bitch. ROSALIE So what did you do, hop head? GRISHA I brought in Abe. ROSALIE You piece of garbage, you told me you would talk to your businessman who sells fancy clothes to the big department stores, but did you? No. Will you? Yes. Yes, you will. Come here so I can garbage you. And what, Mr. Big Businessman, what did you do to Abe? GRISHA I garbaged him like I’m gonna garbage you. ROSALIE But you touch Jakie and I take a gun and I shoot you and I shoot you and I shoot you in all your man’s places until your pieces of flesh are all over the walls on the ceilings on the windows. Tell me not Jakie, or I’ll put on my clothes and leave you high and purple with a hot thing and nowhere to go. Say not Jakie and then I’ll beat you, little boy. GRISHA Just because I’m fabulous, all right, not Jakie. But you made me do Abe and Zev and now I’m going to beat you. ROSALIE You make me an appointment, I will make a lot of money with my fabulous clothes in America or – or Grisha with your big Pisha, I will have to beat you very long and very hard until you cry, ’Please, please, Rosalie, no, please, stop, stop beating me.’ GRISHA You didn’t get Zevo, I told you I wanted Zevo, and because of you I had to do Abo.
ROSALIE You lie, you lie, you’re garbage, you’re playing with me, come here, take off your pants, take off your skin, come here and I’m going to eat all your life. Come here, you big, beautiful piece of garbage. He takes off his underpants and she opens her legs. GRISHA When I’m finished with you – ROSALIE -- you’ll be dead! Turn off that light. (He does. The stage is dark.) Don’t do that, no, no – oh – oh, yes, yes! GRISHA Shut up, bitch! This is me, feel me? I’m me, feel me? Say yes or I’ll kill you. Feel me, I’m here, feel me, now!! ROSALIE No – no – yes! Oh, oh – you garbage – you garbage – you are garbage – harder – harder – harder, garbage!
Sirens and horns up. End of scene ii.
iii ESTER’S large white canopy bed rolls on-stage to Section C, downstage left, with ABE lying in it. ZEV carries on a chair and sits next to the bed. ESTER enters with a new wet cloth. Zev stands and removes a wet cloth from ABE’S forehead, gives it to ESTER and takes the new one from her and places it on ABE’S forehead. ARON enters and stands in the background. ESTER Depends on what it did to his system. ARON You mean his mind. ESTER Fear and terror: that’s energy: extreme high energy. Hit every part of him and sound waves are physical. Overload. Which led to blackout. ZEV He’s so white. (Takes off ABE’S shoes.) ESTER If you want to leave them on, that’s okay, it can be washed – it’s machine made, it’s not really hand made. ZEV (Continues to takes off ABE’S shoes.) Thanks. Thanks, Ester.
ESTER takes each shoe from ZEV and puts them neatly at the foot of the bed. ZEV He still looks petrified.
ZEV and ESTER stand next to ABE on one side of the bed and ARON stands on the other side. ARON Abe? Abe? You’re real strong, Abe. Come on, you old Russian wolf. ESTER He should sleep, shshshsh, come on. She pushes ARON off-stage and they both exit. ZEV stands over his father, looking down. In Section A, downstage right, GRISHA’S bedroom, ROSALIE turns on the lamp. She is alone in the bed and puts on her bra and panties and slips into her shoes. She gets out of bed and opens the "curtains" which lets in the harsh morning light. She switches off the lamp and puts her scarf back into her purse. From her purse she takes a make-up case and goes downstage and stares front into a "mirror" on the "dresser." ZEV Okay, Poppa, okay.
ZEV exits left and then enters up center and walks down to the "bathroom" where he opens the "door" and continues until he is down center stage. He looks at his face in the "mirror" and turns on the "faucet" and we hear the water. He washes his face, then wipes away the "water" on his face and stares at himself in the "mirror." Then he clasps his hands, looks up, and closes his eyes. In Section A, down right, ROSALIE studies the red bruises on her body and, from her make-up case, she takes pancake make-up and begins covering her red marks with flesh colored make-up. ABE sits up. He holds his hands out in front of him. ABE Flesh.
From Section A, ROSALIE, looking into the mirror, says: ROSALIE Flesh. ZEV (He opens his eyes.) Nothing. Nothing.
BLACKOUT.
iv GRISHA’S office with GRISHA sitting behind his desk, writing numbers, crossing them out, re-writing. ARON enters. GRISHA crumples the paper and tosses it into a wastepaper basket. ARON sits. ARON Yeah, he’s okay, he’ll be okay. Now what, boss? GRISHA Gettin’ the feelin’ – could be off, mind you – but I’m gettin’ the feelin’ that you’re bein’ a little too easy here. Huh? Not splittin’ your bets, are you, Aron? ARON No way. GRISHA Always liked you, Aron, you nod – you talk – and somethin’s hidden, playin’ your threads – waitin’ – waitin’ – right? Wonder when you’ll make the move, Aron -- doin’ it now? ARON Nope. GRISHA Money? Power? What? ARON On his back -- from St. Petersburg to Valdivostok. Trains, broken down trucks, walkin’ dirt roads – our fathers dead, our mothers broken, no money, you been there, Grisha, you know. In the rain he took me -- Abe was sixteen, I was seven -- in the snow, breakin’ off pieces of bread. To Hong Kong. To New York. GRISHA Yeah, yeah, that was then. ARON Just remindin’ you of that we’re dealin’ with blood. Work us. Don’t fuck us. GRISHA I don’t like warnings – this a warning? ARON (He stands.) Just a hello. Just a clarification. Just in case you may have forgot. You been good to us, Grisha, we been clean with you, lot of years, lot of deals, never seen you do this to one of us, Grisha, how come? Gettin’ desperate, why? Losin’ somethin’, what you losin’? Talk to me – you know I really learn and with you I been learnin’. GRISHA Remember Tony Bam-bam-cola? ARON Yeah, so? GRISHA Enemies everywhere. You and Abe go back far. ARON And Zev. GRISHA Smart kid. Young though. Got a future. But stupid. ARON You want to teach him a lesson. GRISHA As a friend. Help his mother, too. ARON Stepmother. GRISHA He speaks Chinese. ARON He grew up speaking Cantonese -- that’s Hong Kong -- not Mainland -- not Mandarin. GRISHA Whatever-- whatever -- he could translate. I’ll offer a meeting in neutral territory -- the suite in Atlantic City – they’ll be impressed – the world’s fantasy of America: lots of money, lots of smoke, chandeliers in huge rooms, the Boardwalk, and everybody at orgasm. I’ll bring in some girls.
ARON Not the way they do business. They’ll want cash guarantees, not pussy. GRISHA They’re young guys – they’re illegals – they’ll love it. You’re what -- 33? ARON Right. GRISHA You work out. ARON Yeah. GRISHA You’re reluctant. ARON No. GRISHA You’re reluctant. That’s dangerous. Tony Bam-bam-cola has a nephew named Tony Junior. ARON I know. GRISHA Tony Junior says the night we visited his uncle, Tony Senior had a suitcase with a hundred thousand dollars. ARON They think we have the money. GRISHA I don’t have it. ARON I have it. GRISHA I know. Keep it. ARON If I give you Zev. GRISHA I’ll tell Tony Junior that his man, Mad Julie Cappriccio -- you know that pig-fucker? ARON Yeah. GRISHA That he’s got it. Spending big money in Atlantic City. ARON He’ll check. GRISHA Good. ARON You been giving Mad Julie money. GRISHA Insurance. You never know. ARON You been watching me a long time. GRISHA Part of business. ARON I’ll talk to him. GRISHA Do more than talk, Aronovsky. Give me the boy, he’s good for us, keep the money. Yeah? Think about it. I’m done. (GRISHA’S telephone buzzes and he snatches it up.) Yeah? Send him in. (He hangs up.) Aron, there’s one boss – one President – one at the top. Here, you’re lookin’ at him. Don’t go slippery on me, Aron, you and me know you got too much involved. Here’s your home – don’t need government cards that register you in computers. Here, it’s just you and me. So: You want to hear this? ARON No. Just talkin’ with you now to say we need to be fair, that’s all. GRISHA Fair? His or mine? ARON For all of us, Grisha, from each position. I’ll go check on Abe. (He exits through a side door.) ZEV enters and circles around to the front of GRISHA’S desk. He stares at him until GRISHA looks up. ZEV It’s not like you shootin’ with blanks – you afraid? Hey, you afraid? GRISHA I’m a conservationist. I let him live. ZEV It was all for me, huh? GRISHA Smart boy. ZEV So I’d negotiate with the Chinese on your deal. GRISHA Translate. ZEV Negotiate -- translate -- there’s not much difference. GRISHA (He stands.) You’re a businessman, you do strategies. But I hope not too many strategies, Zevi Biryuk. ZEV (ZEV walks to behind GRISHA’S desk and pulls out his chair. He sits in it and GRISHA, amused, goes around to the other side of the desk.) Sitting here, you know it’s like you got to be real sharp. Lots of decisions to make from here. (ZEV picks up the pen and scribbles something.) GRISHA Uh-huh. You like that? ZEV Ah -- all I can think of is blood, Grisha. GRISHA And power. ZEV Get you high? Power? GRISHA I’ll ease off on your father. ZEV What else? GRISHA Money -- say $10,000. ZEV Just to broker in Guangdonhua? GRISHA You got Asian blood -- they’ll like you. Twelve thousand. Half right now. Half when we make the deal. ZEV And then my father leaves. GRISHA Leaves what? ZEV Leaves you, promise that. You can keep Rosalie, she’ll be okay. Twenty. And my father leaves clean and forever. GRISHA Abe doesn’t know anything else. ZEV But I do. Twenty-five. GRISHA So it’s him and the money, huh? Okay. Tell me: what’s your final number, Mister Businessman? ZEV How high can I go? GRISHA You’re a young guy, you got brains, you got balls, you got that spicy gleam in your eyes, I like that. What do you want for Christmas, I’ll bring you a Christmas you never saw. ZEV I’m Jewish. I don’t worship a person. GRISHA Ha! Funny, we never talked after all these years, I didn’t know you. I like you, Zev. Hey, what’s your real number? ZEV How high can you go? GRISHA Aron told me you got a new job and you’re out there selling. What’re you selling? How much you making, Zevi? ZEV It’s legit. GRISHA Says who? ZEV They pay the United States Internal Revenue Service, that’s who says who.
GRISHA It’s only a government. ZEV I’m a citizen, I got my papers. So does Rosalie, so you better be careful. And Jakie, too -- well, he’s the real born-in-America original. GRISHA And Abe? Where’s poor little Abie in all this? ZEV Fifty thousand. GRISHA Half up front when we agree -- balance when the deal is done. ZEV How do I know when that’ll be? GRISHA You’ll have to trust me. ZEV Grisha, I didn’t trust you then, I don’t trust you now. GRISHA Then? When was ‘then?’ ZEV Always. Growin’ up. Hearin’ about you. Watchin’ my father twistin’ inside for years and years. I owe him, he’s my father, how could you do that? GRISHA You own you. ZEV I didn’t say ‘own,’ I said ‘owe,’ I ‘owe’ him, I owe my father, didn’t you ever have a father? GRISHA The State was my father, I’d fuck the state as quick as -- ZEV You’d fuck with me.
GRISHA
Copyright © 1999 Fred Jay Gordon |