ACT 2-SCENE 8
( Colin and Deanne stare at each other for a long moment)
COLIN
Deanne. One thing ..one side of a person… doesn’t preclude the other.
DEANNE
Right there.
COLIN
What?
DEANNE
That should have been the “tell”, right there.
COLIN
What are you talkin’ about?
DEANNE
The words. Your thing about words. The way you suddenly use some sophisticated word in an otherwise unimaginative arsenal.
COLIN
What are you talking about? It was my talk that brought us together.
DEANNE
It wasn’t the language you spoke, you filthy creep.
COLIN
No more name-calling.
DEANNE
It was the unspeakable that drew me to you. It was that brand on your forehead! Like the one on mine. BROKEN! All those guys..All that getting it wrong. I waited and I tried to watch, and then I tried again. But I guess I still had one more scumbag to go.
COLIN
Stop it. Shut up.
DEANNE
One more desperate, sick predator to go..before…
COLIN
Before what?
DEANNE
Before I could FINALLY learn that the smell of the familiar is a stink!
COLIN
Shut your filthy mouth, God damnit.! That other thing has nothing to do with us.
DEANNE
What other thing? It’s all the same! You’re all the same! You’re a shameful, twisted thief!
COLIN
Don’t call me those things! Christ, that mouth!
DEANNE
I want you to leave.
COLIN
You don’t know how this thing works on me! Always pushing and prodding like he did!
DEANNE
I don’t deserve this any more!
COLIN
DESERVING has nothing the fuck to do with it!
DEANNE
This wasn’t right from the first sick minute.What you’d think you were gonna steal from me? Im an empty house! I was cleaned out long before you ever showed up!
COLIN
Maybe it’s impossible for us! But I tried with you! I saw a chance with you. There’s still something left in you! I could see it! I wanted some too.
DEANNE
There’s nothing here for you, you bastard. Leave me alone!
COLIN
Just like that? Take those shots from that weapon you call your mouth, and leave you alone! That’s how it works? Not where I come from.(Menacingly shoves her backwards)
DEANNE
( Pushes him back) GET THE HELL OUT OF MY HOUSE!
COLIN
SHUT-UP. (Grabs her by the neck and shoves her up against a wall)
DEANNE
Please…don’t.
COLIN
That’s exactly what I said too. (Drags her violently to the door) You know, if I removed the door handle from the inside of your door right here? If you couldn’t turn it from the inside? You couldn’t get out! Right? You see that? (She is struggling against him ,but his rage is unleashed) (In a choke hold, with her kicking, he drags her to the stove) And this stove that you haven’t touched since the day you moved in here? Well, those burners get real hot… that’s why they call them “burners”…and if I wanted to make you do
something you didn’t wanna do, that stove would make you obey me. Don’t you think Deanne?
DEANNE
(Still trying to fight him off) It was terrible yes! It was terrible for me too, but…
COLIN
(He throws her to the floor, grabs her hair and her body from behind, forces her head up to face the clock on the wall) And when’s the last time you really thought about how your clock works? You don’t like to think about that Deanne do you..Tick….tock…tick…tock. Do you know about the cruelty of clocks? How they play tricks on you when you’re suffering? They won’t budge! Those hands will not move! They’ll lock on to one second…the worst second of your life..and keep it there like an endless fall to hell. Do you remember that about clocks? Is that why you don’t like to think about them?
DEANNE
But when it stopped…( She breaks free of his grasp. He is on his knees. She turns to face him)
COLIN
What stopped?
DEANNE
What they did. It was finally over. We were kids…It stopped a long time ago. Hurting people keeps it alive in you! You have a choice! (Almost tenderly, she holds his face in her hands)
COLIN
The hell I do! I live it every fucking minute. I’VE TRIED! (He frantically tries to crawl away)
DEANNE
( She goes after him, tackles him and turns him over) I thought hating everything was trying! Till you. We have the choice to end it! Let it go!!!
COLIN
THIS IS WHAT I AM ! He won’t leave me the fuck alone! (he flips her over on her back and mounts her violently) You see your bed over there? Are you familiar with the sound of those bedsprings? The laboring, tired, old, cranky bed springs that strain and get mad at you every time you lie on them? And they really hate you when you fuck on them. I love that sound. I love making them mad. Cause I didn’t hear those bedsprings. HE made me get on the cold floor in the closet instead , cause it was quieter…It was so hard and I begged him for blankets…but he said we didn’t need no blankets cause I WAS SOFT ENOUGH!!!! (He begins to unzip his pants..he is going to rape her)
( FRANKIE BURSTS INTO THE ROOM. HE IS HOLDING A GUN. HIS HAND SHAKES VIOLENTLY AS HE TRIES TO KEEP IT POINTED AT COLIN)
FRANKIE
I knew to come back. I was always comin’ back, Dee. DEANNE?
DEANNE
Frankie, no!
COLIN
C’mon shaky. Put little brother down right now and I’m gone.
FRANKIE
Oh Jesus…
COLIN
You gonna use that phone and call the cops, Deanne?
DEANNE FRANKIE
No cops! No cops!
FRANKIE
What should I do, Dee?
COLIN
(To Frankie) You gonna tell her who introduced us tough-guy?
DEANNE
No more Frank! Put the gun down! I want him out of here!
(Deanne and Colin stare at each other for a moment)
(Frankie slowly lowers the gun. Colin stands…He and Deanne’s eyes lock for a moment. Colin reaches to touch her and she moves away. Colin then slowly exits)
(Silence) (Deanne begins to cry)
FRANKIE
(Still standing with the gun) What are you doing?
DEANNE
Nothing.
FRANKIE
Who the hell’s gonna miss him? ( He is strung out. He stands there while Deanne cries a moment more.)(Nervously fidgeting with the gun in his hand) Jesus, look at the tremelo in my hand.
DEANNE
(Slowly coming back to the present)You’re gonna have to get rid of that, Frankie.
FRANKIE
(Shakes his head in disgust) Carmel said she was going home to get me some valium…like I’m ever gonna see any of it.
DEANNE
Leave it with me.
FRANKIE
(Shaking in need of drugs) No. Christ, why don’t you have any Xanax or Valium or somethin’ DEANNE!
DEANNE
(Extends her hand to reach for the gun)
FRANKIE
I gotta get somethin’ in my system, Dee. (Hesitatingly, slowly places the gun in her hands) I’m gonna go into cardiac thromboside if I don’t score something very very soon, like now.
DEANNE
Go ahead. Go to the park.
FRANKIE
Want me to turn the television on?
DEANNE
Uh-huh.
FRANKIE
Want me to come back, watch you sleep tonight?
DEANNE
No.
FRANKIE
Okay. I’ll be back in a flash, Dee.
Tags: 22 caliber mouth, broadway, Broadway music, broadway script, Dynamic Theatre, Lauren Robert, musical, Musical theatre, off broadway, stage play, Theatre Workshop