Setting: 2 jail cells at Rahway State Prison late at night
ACT 1
Charles: Jack? Hey Jack, you up?
(silence for about 7 seconds)
C: Psst! Wake up, man. I gotta know the time!
Jack: (sleepily) Shit! Shut up, man – blow away! Get us some sleep!
C: Fuck! Can’t! Keep havin to scratch an itch that ain’t there.
J: Well jack off or do yoga or try that white screen Doctor Al told us about- jus don’t bother me no more, kay?
C: Oh man, whatya wanna sleep for anyhow? How can you do that man? At a time like this!
(silence for about 15 seconds)
Man, what time you got?
J: 4 past 2, kay?! Now fuck off!
C: Shit Jack! After 2 ! Man…fuckinshit…less than 5 hours left! Shit, man, I can’t believe it- this is really happin! Fuck, Jack, we gonna die, brother! We gonna git it for sure and we can’t walk!
J: Just shut up, motherfucker!
C: What’s with you, dude? Ain’t you scared? Ain’t you thinkin about your woman? Give up on that? The ol lady? The streets?
J: (slowly) Jus wanna sleep…
C: Why?
J: Cause then I don’t have to deal with all the insanity in this place! The world! Deal with you, (sarcastically), brother!
C: But you gotta deal with your dreams, right?
J: Yeah, but at least I’m gettin some head there
C: Well, that don’t sound like the last dream you told me about.
J: Which one was that?
C: You know, the one about that field with those red kind of birds shootin at you with their eyes, and you be runnin with your tongue out, spit everywhere, fallin into some fuckin ditch, with those men comin and they grap you and bury you up to your chin in the dirt and then those birds come back and find you with those eyes…you said that dream was your karma or something , for goin into that bar in Paterson that night you wasted that dude”.
J: Yeah, well, I guess I passed that one by…look Charles man, I jus don’t wanna rap to you now or nobody – got nothing to say
C: Well how bout you jus talk with your axe? Play us something, man…oh that’s right, the man took it today, cleanin out everything on us…you willed it to the brother in the kitchen, right? He’ll make it talk jus like you, man- don’t worry…(after a pause) look, yeah, sorry bout the axe, man, maybe we jus chill here and tell each other what we’d do if we could get outta this shit…(dreaming) I’d go out first thing cop me some weed first then wine…then get me some real food! Yeah, a real supper- chicken, yeah, no- Chinatown! yeah- shrimp, fried rice, some ribs…14 from fuckin column A, 44 from B…
J: (extremely agitated) Man…!!!
C: Yeah, Jack, I know I be trippin, but well shit I jus gotta rap. Gotta stop thinkin bout what’s gonna come down. Like that song ‘Dance to keep from cryin’. Shit, don’t ya head be strange? Nothin! No hair…(rubs his shaven head) fuckin skin! Wow, they sure be serious mothafuckers do their gig right down to the fuckin last meal, Jack! Oh shit (stamps his foot)! Shit (beats his fist into a pillow)! I…shit (starts sobbing now)! Christ, man, what’re we gonna do we gotta do something I’m gonna kill myself save ‘em the trouble, and the Knicks, the fuckin Knicks! No more Knicks! What’s it gonna be without …
J: Silent and quick, man…
C: Say whaaa?
J: And hot, man…
C: Burn…
J: (excitedly)That’s right, man…a flash of white and red stars and then nothin…and it don’t matter cause it’s all gone before it’s over and then you jus drift and watch those bastards unstrap your body, wipe off their fuckin sweaty hands on their socks and walk away…then, my man, you can go to fuckin Chinatown or MacDonalds and eat your ass off and even split without payin…and since you first up you get a jump on me- (his voice turning hateful) maybe check you out after a make a few stops first.
C: (laughing crazily and nervously at the same time) Yeah, the woman, right?
J: (shakes his head “no”, emphatically)
ACT 2
(30000 precious moments pass on into nothingness)
Charles: Hey Jack?
Jack: (threatening) No more!
C: (pleading) But man, we can’t quit now… got some things I gotta rap down you don’t havta say a fuckin thing brotha, come on, please…let me-
J: (angry) I ain’t no fuckin priest, Charles!
C: But you my dude, brotha!
J: No mas baby…that was another reality- dig?
C: (still pleading) But we still alive, they ain’t come for us yet, we can still be bad…(drifting) maybe I’m jus gonna pray, or…crash…
(7-10 seconds of silence) What time you got now, Jack?
J: (sarcastically) My mutherfuckin watch stopped, okay? blew away, dig?
C: Oh man…please tell me one more time I won’t ask you no more I gotta know, shit, I gotta know what to do…
J: (ironically) Time only speaks lies when time talks.
C: What?
J: Nothin…
C: Well, anyway, I can’t even get hard.
J: (dreaming) Maybe I’ll just fly around after it happens. Check it all out from a different perspective. (laughing) Yeah, check it out this time with wings, man. Like a dream…birds…yeah (still laughing), always dream about birds even when I was a fuckin kid, thought it maybe meant something but never asked the fuckin shrink.
C: (engrossed with his dick) (speaks somberly as if in prayer) Come on, man, get hard for me one more time, one more once…
J: (still tripping) Flyin round the water, the beach, over stones and buildings, sittin on telephone wires, hangin out the zoos, pickin up bags and bags of the best shit, man, and jus flyin away, flyin away…I’m gonna jus fly away…
C: (still masturbating) Once more once, man, come on…
J: (expressively) Birdin it, man!
C: (hotly) Once!
J: (louder) Flyin forever!
C: (almost screaming) Come on now you fucker!
J: (nearly in ecstasy, almost shouting) In the dark!
C: (with agony) Shit!
J: What?
C: Can’t get off, man…it getting to be light out…
J: (sardonically) In the dark.
C: (excitedly with pain) No man, it’s day, fuckin Jack…(now in terror) it’s here!
J: (soothing and pensively) No, Charles…it’s nighttime again round the other side and we jus be all
mixed up is all- it’s all runnin in reverse-the whole world’s gone fuckin crazy this time and with us sittin here…
C: We jus in time…
J: (with passion) Yeah, right, the man can fuck himself cause I ain’t bein his goddamn do no more- I found the dark with my new fuckin wings!
C: But ain’t it too late, Jack?
J: Not when you INSIDE- finally INSIDE time!
C: What you mean, man?
J: At night with wings time don’t touch you…
C: Huh?
J: (a realization) It’s OUTSIDE!
C: (hopeful)Then we ain’t gonna burn, Jack?
J: (calmly) No, man…we jus gonna step INSIDE and be insulated!
C: How we do that?
J: By holdin your breath when the lights go out..
C: Then what happens?
J: You jus fly away, baby…
C: (getting it) You walk...
J: With your new wings, man…
C: And feathers…
J: Nocturnal, my man…
C: I’m comin back…I know it man...
J: I’m dead already, Charles. (laughing) Shit! They burnin a dead man and they’ll never know it!
C: Don’t worry man,
J: What to worry?
C: I’ll never tell nobody!
J: Yeah, well…nobody'd ever get it anyhow!
June, 1979
Bisbee