Goldberg Street (4 page)

G:
one . . . ?

F:
One parent living.

G:
How do we know that?

F:
I'm . . . I think that I read it. I'm not, what I meant to say: It seems . . . what strikes me in the boy is, of c . . . is the mythic

G:
The Good Die

F:
. . . excuse me: Maj . . . the maj . . . the
majesty
of it. Its strength come (
Pause
.) From repetition. It is a tale that we know. The psych, the psycho . . . the unconscious aspect of one parent dead, a man on one leg who
overcomes
his . . . whose internal strength who . . . when the
governor
came He said the Good Die Young. He cried. (
Pause.
) You felt
here
was a good man. You felt everyone who read the piece was better for it. Oneself most of all. One wished one knew him. We would have slighted him, of course. We would have cut him. (
Pause
.) Maybe not.

G:
We would have cut him on the street.

F:
Well. That doesn't . . . no. That doesn't alter the power of the tale. Here is another one: the woman trying to escape, A southern Clime. A dictator. Her Father's Fortune confiscated. She, herself, in fear. For her life. Flees. The documents, the gold itself, inside a sealed trunk. The trunk in safety, inaccessible except to her. But it can be located. Her
life can be saved. The man who aids her escape will reap her love and share her fortune.

Who would not support her?

And so he does so. You know the rest.

Two Conversations

Two Conversations, Two Scenes,
and
Yes But So What
were first presented at The Ensemble Studio Theatre in New York as part of the Marathon 1983 Festival of One-Act Plays on May 6, 1983, with the following cast directed by Curt Dempster:

After dinner conversation
.
A
and
B,
two women.
C
and
D,
two men
.

One

C
(
Hands
D
a note
): Read it.

D:
“I can't come today be . . . ”

A:
Who is this?

C:
That's our house . . .

D:
It's the house cleaner . . .

C:
Read it.

D:
“I can't come today because something has happened to me.” Is this the . . . ?

C:
Yes.

D:
Last week . . . ?

C:
Yes.

D:
He . . . he came, he came, didn't . . .

C:
He came to leave the note.

D:
I'd . . . do you mind if I tell . . .

A:
You two have the same . . . ?

C:
We gave him to them. He . . .

D:
He was a wonderful . . .

C:
You've seen him here.

A:
No. I don't . . .

B:
What does he look like?

D:
Thirty-five. Small, thin, balding . . .

C:
This man does such fantastic work . . .

B:
What hap . . . ?

C:
Apparently
. . . well, tell them about . . .

D:
I got a phone call. (
Pause
.) I was at the office, I was between . . . this was, when . . . ?

C:
Last . . .

D:
Last
Monday.
He'd been at my house Sat . . .

C:
He . . . yes. Yes. Saturday.

D:
Monday I get a call. “I have to confess something. I have something important to talk . . . ”

A:
Had you talked be . . .

D:
We'd never been, no. No. He'd never . . . “How are
you?”
The
weather
. . . so on.
So:

C:
. . . this happened to him, too, four years ago. When he . . .

D:
When he first came to . . .

A:
. . . where did he . . . ?

D:
Up . . .

C:
. . . when he . . .

D:
Upstate.

C:
When he, yes. When he first started with . . . I had to call his father. He came in . . .

A:
This . . .

D:
Yes.

A:
This is four
years
ago . . .

D:
Yes.

C:
. . . He came in one day. I came in. (
Pause
.) He was sitting on the floor. His
shirt
was off. He was just sitting there. He'd been there all day. And he saw nothing unusu . . .

D:
That's the
thing..
.that's the
thing..
.that's the
point . . .
that's what I always say. As . . . wait. As
crazy
. . . as
unhappy
as we think we are, the line between psychotic and neurotic is not a thin line. (
Pause
.) It's not a thin divider at all. It's like. I think it's like . . . It's like the difference between . . . (
Pause.
) It's, um, it's like the difference between competence and talent. (
Pause
.)

A:
What do you think causes . . .

D:
. . . between . . .

A:
What do you think causes it?

D:
Psy . . . ? I . . . I don't know.
Genetic . . .
Um. (
Pause.
) Diet . . .

C:
An imbalance of some kind . . .

D:
Yes. An imbalance. Yes. That isn't pred . . .

B:
He worked for both of you . . . ?

D:
That isn't predicated . . .

C:
Yes . . .

D:
On some mistaken
notion.
Do you know what I mean?

C:
That's much
deeper . . .

A:
People living in their own dream don't know that they're in a dream. (
Pause
.)

C:
Absolutely.

D:
Um. Now:
an example: If you were
unhappy,
you could
say
so. You'd say, “God, I hate myself.” Or . . .

A:
Mm hmm . . .

D:
“God, I'm fat . . . ”

A:
Mm hmm . . .

D:
He
doesn't
know
that. He is in a
dream.

A:
He'd been committed before?

D:
Yes.

C:
When he first worked for us.

B:
Um hm.

C:
Tell them last week.

D:
Last week: last
Monday,
he called me at work. “I have to talk to you.” Did you see . . . what
was
that . . . ?

C:
Some
German
picture . . .

D:
Some
German
thing. Where the same thing happened . . .

C:
. . . I don't know the name of it . . .

D:
He'd stolen two decks of cards. (
Pause.
) He called me. But I couldn't talk. “I have to talk to you. I have to confess. I've taken your cards.”

C:
. . . he asked
me . . .

D:
Yes . . .

C:
I said, “Don't call. You see . . . You're putting him in an . . . ”

D:
It was a cry for
help.

A:
Certainly.

C:
“ . . . in an embarrassing . . . ”

D:
I mean the
cards
were worth, what? Two dollars . . .

C:
In an embarrassing position. Yes. It was a . . .

D:
Well, that's what I
told
him. That was the . . .

A:
. . . the only way he had . . .

D:
Yes.

C:
I told him to for . . .

D:
He told him to forget it. Then he called
me.
Then
Jim
called. I told him . . .

C:
Wait. Tell them about the a . . .

D:
Oh yes. He says “Did you . . . ?”

C:
. . . that
German
film . . .

D:
“Did you see the . . . ” um . . . um . . . “No, why . . . ?” “Because your
ace
is missing.” (
Pause.
)

A:
That was in some film?

D:
Yes. It signified . . . I don't know . . .

C:
“You're in danger,” he says.

D:
“Jim . . . Jim . . . ”

C:
I said it was just his way of at . . .

D:
Of attracting attention.
Certainly . . .

B:
Wait. (
Pause
.) He took
playing
cards? (Pause.)

D:
Yes. (
Pause
.)

B:
Why? (
Pause
.) Why, do you think? (
Pause.
)

D:
I don't know.

B:
Because
of the movie. (
Pause
.)

A:
What do you mean?

B:
So he could take the ace and say he had a, you know . . . (
Pause.
)

D:
A reason to call
up.

B:
Yes. (
Pause
.)

D:
Hm. Well. You may be right.

C:
When this happened before he was in for six months. When he came
out . . .

D:
He did such a marvelous job . . .

C:
This house was
spotless.
There was nothing you would not
eat
off of. Seriously . . .

D:
He treated it as an art.

C:
He
did.
Yes. That's exactly how he treated it.

D:
He treated it as an art, he was
inventive . . .

C:
. . . yes.

D:
. . . he was . . .

C:
. . . he . . .

D:
. . . he was
dependable
. . .

C:
When he got out he
came
to me and asked me would I try him again. Which of course I
did . . .

A:
And he was fine?

C:
Yes.

A:
Mm.

C:
Fade out, fade in . . .

D:
Four years later.

C:
Mm.

D:
So: when he
called
I said:

C:
He said to call
me.

D:
I couldn't talk to him . . .

C:
Waal, it couldn't have helped in any case. (
Pause.
) He . . .

A:
He didn't want to
confess . . .
He

D:
He wanted to be helped. Yes.

C:
He . . . he
came
to me. He said, “I need a rest.” I said, “Jim. You don't need a rest. You need serious help.” (
Pause
.)

B:
I'm sure that he felt incredibly lonely or he would never have done what he did. (
Pause
.) I know I would feel very lonely if that happened to
me.
(
Pause.
)

C:
Well.
(
Pause
.) He asked me to call his father . . .

D:
The fellow, all his friends, he picks them up at four
A.M
. on the streets . . .

C:
. . . and so I
did,
and he . . .

D:
. . . this is the interesting part:

C:
He says, “He's no good. He never was any good. He's a bum. He always . . . ”

D:
This, this is his father talking . . .

C:
“And he always was. He never should have come down to New
York.
Since he
got
there he . . . ”

D:
Mmm . . . ?

C:
“He's done
nothing?
” I said. “Sir. Your son has a thriving
business.
On the
contrary:
he's . . . I've seen his
accounts.
He's
organized.
(
Pause
.) He's
meticulous
. . . he does his job
superlatively . . .
(
Pause.
) He's
reliable . . .
he's
not
a bum. He's
ill.
(
Pause
.) He's
ill.
He needs
help.
(
Pause.
)

A:
Did the father come down?

C:
No.
We took him to . . .

D:
We took him to Bellevue. (
Pause.
)

A:
Will they take good care of him there?

D:
Yes. I think they will. Yes.

C:
Yes. They will. (
Pause.
)

A:
Do you think that's treatable?

C:
Yes. I think that it is. Yes. And I don't, I'll tell you something, I don't think it's in the
mind,
either . . .

B:
What?

C:
Schizophrenia.

A:
Schiz . . .

C:
No. I think it's cau . . .

A:
It isn't in the
mind
. . . ?

C:
I'm saying that it's
cause . . .
I think the
cause
is not. (
Pause.
) That the true
cause
of it is not
trauma . . .
or
. . .
Infantile
trauma
or . . . say what I'm saying . . .

D:
That the cause is something simple.
Diet
or genetic . . .

C:
Yes.

D:
Genetic pre . . .

A:
Predisposition.

D:
Yes.