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By Misti Date: 2002 Mar 29 Comment on this Work [[2002.03.29.04.17.2714]] |
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SCENE 23 INT.-Marie's apartment. Night. Cameron, Frances, Marie and two young women are seated around the table in the dining area, which is adjacent to the small, open kitchen. The two women are named Themis and Sangelina. Themis is 22. She has short bleached blonde hair and blue eyes. She's wearing a short dress and black combat boots. Sangelina is 27. She's short and curvaceous. Has long blonde hair and green eyes. A joint is being passed around. Everyone is making random, predictable comments about the stellar quality of the grass. A mellow mood commences. Marie: Now that we've lost at least some of our inhibitions, let's introduce ourselves and start readin' some poetry. I'll start. My name is Marie Brubeck. I've lived here all my life. Not in this apartment but in this town. Got married out of high school. I wasn't pregnant. I've never been pregnant, thank god. I recently filed for divorce. If you want to see what my soon to be ex-husband looks like you can go out on the balcony. I've got a pair of binoculars you can use. He's usually out on his balcony at this time of night, drinking a beer and looking in the general direction of my balcony. I burned all my pictures of him. I'm big on burning bridges. Frances: You don't seem to miss him. Marie: You're so perceptive! Okay, girl. You're up. Tell us all about it. Frances: Okay. Gosh, I guess I'll start with my name. That's easy enough. Um, my name is Frances Russo. Cameron: And you're beautiful. Frances: That's meaningless. And don't interrupt me again, please. Cameron: Oops. So sorry. Frances: I didn't graduate high school. I got my GED. I met this guy- the guy I'm with now- and I started wiggling my ass for a living. But I quit doing that last week. Vito's opening his club next month. And so I'm just hangin' out 'til it opens. I'm gonna be a cocktail waitress. Themis: What are you doin' here? Frances: I don't know. I don't really have any friends. I thought this might be the perfect opportunity to work on my people skills. Cameron: People skills. Those are hard skills to perfect. But trust me- you're doin' just fine. Frances: Am I really? Cameron: Oh, yeah. Definitely. Okay, I'll stop droolin' and tell you ladies about the miracle that is Cameron Endicott in fifty words or less. I like to party. I enjoy playin' bass guitar in my band. We're Teddy Bear Roosevelt. We sound somewhat similar to Smashing Pumpkins but without all the smooth production. We're more like raw...thrashing pumpkins. With a little bit of Cream on top. Themis: What a disgusting image. Frances: I think he's referring to Eric Clapton's old band. Cream? From the '60s? "Sunshine of Your Love"? Cameron: Very good. You got it. Not many people our age have heard of Cream. Themis: Oh. Cool. Teddy Bear Roosevelt, that's cute. Do you play a lot of gigs? Cameron: Not really. We just jam a lot. We've written a shitload of songs. But we all have cog in the rusty wheel jobs. I'm a stocker at Wally World. Themis: I applied there. But I failed the drug test. Cameron: Oh, dude. You shoulda had someone pee for you. Marie: Tell us about yourself, Themis. I love your name. Themis: Thanks. I was named after that stupid goddess. Cameron: That was also the name of the boutique Jim Morrison bought for his girl Pam on La Cienega in Los Angeles. Themis: Yeah, I saw the movie and read Densmore's book. Anyway, basically I hate my life and hold everyone I know responsible. But this is really good weed. Who's your dealer? Cameron: I'll hook ya up with his beeper number later. Sangelina: I'm Sangelina. I moved here with my boyfriend about a year ago. We move around a lot. We moved here from Dallas. We moved to Dallas from Denver. And we moved to Denver from Portland, where we both grew up. Tao is a plumber. I work at a Christian childcare center. Themis: You're a Christian? Sangelina: No, but I pretend to be for the sake of my job. Marie: You've got great hair. Do you take vitamins? Sangelina: I just started. I love how they turn my pee sunshine yellow. Frances: We've said the word "pee" twice in the past five minutes. Isn't that more than a bit odd? Marie: No. What's Portland like? I've always been fascinated with Oregon. Sangelina: It's very rainy and provincial. Marie: Ah. Okay. Anyone want to read a poem? Cameron: I have a poem I'd like to share. Cameron opens his black spiral notebook. Cameron: I call it You'll Never See Me Crumble. You'll never see me crumble. You would like to see me crumble like a month old Chips Ahoy. I know you would. Too damn bad. It ain't gonna happen. You'll never see me outside your window on a Saturday night playing a ukulele or a banjo or an accordion, singing about your eyes your hair your lips and how much they move me to rhyme. Fuck that noise. And you won't see me on your crappy secondhand TV, tellin' Bob Barker how much I adore you before I give that wheel a spin. Don't open your mailbox on Valenwhine's Day expecting a tear or a blood splatter with my DNA. If you see me at the park on the Fourth of July you'll probably see me sweat and you'll probably see sparks shooting off in my eyes. But you will never see me crumble. So pick another fortune. Sangelina: You wrote that yourself? Cameron: Nah, I plagiarized Robert Frost. Yeah, I wrote it. Sangelina: Wow. You really have a way with words. That's so harsh, though. Marie: I love the Bob Barker line. Frances: Me, too. I've always wanted to be the next contestant on the "Price is Right." I love that little yodeling dude. Cameron: I've always preferred Plinko, personally. Yeah, well. Love is harsh. I'd settle for good old-fashioned lust any day of the week. Themis: Lust is infinitely superior. Sangelina: That sucks. That isn't romantic! Themis: When I was a little girl I wanted to be Snow White. And then I grew up. |