Читать книгу Conversations of the Politically Incorrect - Dimitri Ternezis - Страница 4

Early Morning. Light. The rain has stopped.

As Andy wakes, the chill of the night having worked through his body; the cold concrete having become one with his back; he scrutinises the new surroundings and thinks he sees a person inside the plastic.

ANDY: (standing alert) Hey what are you doing?

TERRY: (a dishevelled person steps out of the tent) Ah so you’re the one who was making all the racket last night. Just waking up. Did you get any sleep?

ANDY: Yes I did. I slept leaning on the pillar just over there (pointing).

TERRY: Oh over there? That’s where Frank died last week. He tried to find material for his tent but didn’t make it. Oh well, what can you do? When you gotta go – you gotta go (nervous laugh).

ANDY: Someone died there? Horrible! Did you know him well?

TERRY: No just a few months. Seemed nice enough. So what’s your story? Why are you in this rat hole?

ANDY: Well I lost my job, my family and my life - all within a three-month period.

TERRY: (smiling) Hmm sounds good. How did you manage all that?

ANDY: (proud) Well I used to be a futures trader. You know what that is right? Anyway I was making big money, was really good at my job, married to a gorgeous woman and had a kid who adored me. One day my boss asked me to take more risk to help our bottom of line. “There’s a good bonus in it for you” he’d said. So I did as I was told. More risk more return – you may have heard of that. Unfortunately for me the market tanked, the losses piled up and they were all booked against my account. I was blamed for the firms’ downturn - sacked - and my life spiralled in the wrong direction - fast. To be honest I am still confused about what exactly happened.

TERRY: Sounds like you’re a gambler to me.

ANDY: No - not a gambler – just in the business of taking risk.

TERRY: That’s what I said! A gambler. There’s heaps of them here. You’ll fit right in.

ANDY: (frustrated) Forget it! I don’t expect you to understand. So why are you here?

TERRY: (shrugging, nonchalant). Well, my father was a wealthy man but the poor sod died without putting a will together. My brother and sister took everything and left me with nothing. So I got mad and took to them with the axe.

ANDY: (shocked) With the axe? Did you kill them?

TERRY: No. But the police were called. I served six months in an asylum and by the time I was released there was nothing of the thirty houses left for me. So here I am! (Nervous laugh)

ANDY: Amazing. So why don’t you fight for what’s yours and get your share?

TERRY: Get my share? With what? Firstly, I‘m now in the books for having a ‘mental condition’ and secondly, to fight them in court you need bullets - you know - money - to hire the crooked lawyers in the hope they might get you something back. Which they usually don’t! So here I am. (nervous laugh)

ANDY: Wow, you really are stuck.

TERRY: Not as stuck as others. Still breathing. Still good. (nervous laugh)

(silence)

ANDY: (taking some time to fathom what he is hearing. Feeling his life no longer has meaning or direction, blaming fate for bringing him to this nightmare; contemplating what other way out he could find.)

TERRY: (snappily) Anyway I gotta go. I gotta start work. I don't want to go hungry tonight.

ANDY: (clutching his stomach) I’m hungry now. And I don’t see how to control it.

TERRY: You don't control it. We eat when there’s food. Simple. No luxuries here.

ANDY: Actually what do you mean ‘you have to go to work’?

TERRY: I have a spot in the city on the concrete. Office workers are the best givers.

ANDY: Sorry I don't understand. Do you mean begging?

TERRY: Call it what you want but you’ll go hungry without a job or a plan. How have you survived since your mishap?

ANDY: (embarrassed) I’ve been taking food from bins.

TERRY: Ah we all start there! Don't worry! You’ll progress. Anyway gotta go! (serious) Also don’t touch anybody’s things while I’m gone or you’ll have trouble.

(and with that Terry is off as if he has a schedule to keep)

TERRY: (calling back as he’s leaving) Gotta get there early you know! They have to believe I’ve been there all night. In the open and cold. Sympathy has kept me alive so far and will keep me alive again today.