Читать книгу Where the Blood Mixes - Kevin Loring - Страница 9

Enter young native woman wearing a simple white dress.

The sound of wind blowing across hollow pipes.

A song, a soft and distant lullaby.

Underwater light pours down, diffused by the river’s surface. Projected onto the woman is a pictograph, revealed in the shimmering light. She radiates a ghostly aura.

CHRISTINE

I was born in the heart.

I was born in the deepest part.

In the middle of it all, I was born.

In the place where the rhythm beats,

Deep inside my mother,

Where the rivers meet,

My father dreamt me there.

Where blood mixes with blood and the sturgeon waits,

And the wind sings the songs of the dead.

The lights come up and CHRISTINE is gone. FLOYD is in the bar.

The wind blows. The salmon swim away. GEORGE and the bar are blown into the space by the wind. The wind fades away. A guitar plays.

GEORGE

(cleaning the table) Hey, Floyd!

FLOYD

Huh?

GEORGE

Go home if you want to sleep.

You were moaning.

FLOYD

Oh?

GEORGE

Uh-huh.

FLOYD

I was dreaming …

A pull-tab machine is illuminated up-centre. Its blue and red lights make it sparkle like a giant fishing lure. FLOYD goes over to the pull-tab dispenser, buys a handful of pull-tabs, returns to his table and proceeds to pull them open.

FLOYD

Hey, were you singing?

GEORGE

Well, since my baby left me,

Du-duh!

I found a new place to dwell!

Du-duh!

The only hole I’d never leave

The Lytton Hotel

Da-doop-ee-doobie

Da-doop-ee-doobie-Du duh!!!

Beat.

FLOYD

Jeezus Christ.

GEORGE

Any luck there?

FLOYD

No. (pulls one open)

Nope. No luck here. (another)

Nothing.

Three beavers would be nice, eh. Five hundred bucks.

FLOYD pulls open his last pull-tab.

Hey—three fish. I got three fish.

GEORGE

Two bucks.

FLOYD hands over his pull-tab to GEORGE.

FLOYD

Three fish—two bucks, then.

GEORGE

You can put it towards your tab.

Beat.

FLOYD

Oh … Okay.

How much is my tab?

GEORGE

About three beavers …

MOOCH enters.

FLOYD

I don’t remember it being that much.

MOOCH

Hey there, partner.

GEORGE

I added it up.

MOOCH

How’s it going?

FLOYD

When?

GEORGE

Just now, I added it up.

FLOYD

Sneaky bugger adds up my tab while I’m not looking.

MOOCH sits and stares at FLOYD.

FLOYD notices that MOOCH looks beat-up.

FLOYD

What the hell happened to your face?

MOOCH

I forgot to put the toilet seat down.

GEORGE

What?

MOOCH

June’s miserable, worse than usual, I can’t do nothing right.

FLOYD

You never could.

MOOCH

Anyways, I forgot to put the toilet seat down and … well … she went pee in the middle of the night …

FLOYD

So.

MOOCH

I guess she fell in.

GEORGE

What?

MOOCH

Yeah. She fell right in the bowl. Her cheeks touched water and everything.

Anyways, she falls in the toilet and she just loses it.

She’s screaming and hollering, kicking the walls.

FLOYD

No shit.

MOOCH

When I woke up she was right on top of me.

Woke me up and lumped me out!

Damn near knocked my tooth out too.

GEORGE

Holy shit, Mooch.

FLOYD

Did you hit her back?

MOOCH

I wouldn’t do that.

GEORGE

You couldn’t do that. June’s twice the man you are. You’re lucky to be alive.

MOOCH

Ahhhhh … she’s just a little crabby is all.

FLOYD

Seems like she’s always a little crabby these days.

GEORGE

Ever since she quit …

MOOCH

Naaaaw, that’s not it … It used to be you had to watch your ass when she got her moon time, eh, but once that was done, she’d be just like an angel.

GEORGE

(snickers) Angel of Death maybe …

MOOCH

For a couple of days, anyways … But now … now she’s got that … moon-a-pause.

GEORGE

Moon-a-pause?

MOOCH

There’s no telling what she’ll do.

Get a jug.

FLOYD

You gonna chip in?

MOOCH reaches into his pockets and pulls out a handful of change.

FLOYD

How much is that?

MOOCH

Twenty bucks, looks like.

FLOYD

How did you get that?

GEORGE

Raid June’s change jar again?

MOOCH

No!

FLOYD

The one she puts money in, instead of buying smokes.

MOOCH

She gave it to me.

FLOYD

You ripped her off!

MOOCH

No!

GEORGE

No wonder she’s so miserable all the time. She was trying to save up for something nice and you go and drink it away on her. One day you might find yourself out on your ass.

MOOCH

You gonna lecture me all goddamn night?

FLOYD

How much he got?

GEORGE

About ten bucks, looks like.

MOOCH

Told you. Now c’mon, let’s chip in and get a jug. We can get more that way.

FLOYD

I got a drink.

MOOCH

Oh …

MOOCH watches for FLOYD to drink his beer.

FLOYD

You just gonna sit there and watch me?

MOOCH

I’m waiting for you. Hurry up, eh.

FLOYD

Get your own jug!

MOOCH

If we chip in, it’s better. C’mon!

FLOYD tries to take a drink. MOOCH stares at him the whole time.

FLOYD

Oh, for Christ sakes!

MOOCH

George, get us a jug.

MOOCH collects his change from the table.

MOOCH

I’ll keep this for the next one.

FLOYD

I thought you said you would pitch in.

MOOCH

I’ll pitch in for the next one. You get this one.

FLOYD mutters to himself under his breath.

MOOCH

You know, I might look licked, but you really look like shit.

FLOYD

And what the hell are you, a goddamn underwear model?

MOOCH

No, I’m serious; you’re more miserable-looking than usual.

George, don’t you think he looks more miserable than usual.

GEORGE

Let’s look. Oh yeah.

MOOCH

Are you on your moon time too? ’Cause you know, men get their moon time too, eh. It’s whatcha call it … whore-moan-all, ain’t that right, George?

GEORGE

Oh yeah. Me, I get my period and everything. Bleed right out my arsehole.

FLOYD

Bullshit—that’s your piles bleeding!

GEORGE

I get rank too; stink like a bull elk in full rut.

MOOCH

Like right now?

GEORGE

Worse.

MOOCH

Nice!

GEORGE

We gonna go hunting this year, Floyd?

FLOYD

Hunting? With you? You might blow my goddamn head off.

GEORGE

C’mon, me and Mooch went last year. Mooch got that little two-point, isn’t that right, Mooch.

FLOYD

You went hunting with this crazy Shum’ma?

MOOCH

Him? Oh yeah. We hunted.

FLOYD grunts.

MOOCH

We went up the lake there just road hunting, eh. We’re going around the far end there and I tell him, “STOP! Right there! Right there!”

MOOCH points to an imaginary deer.

MOOCH

He hits the brakes, my goddamn head almost went through the windshield.

He indicates antlers with his hands.

MOOCH

Two-point buck right on the road at Dead Lake, there. So we jump out, I lean up on the truck, eh. Crazy Shum’ma jumps right in front of me. BOOM!

I almost took his goddamn head off.

FLOYD

That’s why I don’t want to hunt with you. You get that buck fever.

GEORGE

Ah bullshit.

FLOYD

You get so worked up you forget yourself. Your heart thumps in your chest, you can’t hear nothing, your asshole puckers up, your pecker gets hard and your eyeballs pop right out of your head; all because of that an-drenaline, eh, rushing through your veins, and all you can think about is shooting that buck. And then next thing you know—

MOOCH

Somebody’s goddamn head is blown off.

FLOYD

(reinforcing) Somebody’s goddamn head is blown off.

GEORGE

I guess that’s a no, eh?

MOOCH

You’re one to talk. You almost blew my head off that one time.

FLOYD

When?

MOOCH

That one time up High Mountain there …

FLOYD

That wasn’t buck fever … you ducked.

MOOCH

Hey, remember that time we were out road hunting and drinking all day, you picked a fight with … what’s his name … he’s dead now … anyways, you got licked, remember?

FLOYD

No.

MOOCH

C’mon, you remember.

FLOYD

I’m supposed remember some time I got licked by some dead guy while I was drunk, sometime in the long-ago past. What the hell kind of a question is that?

MOOCH

You know! That time we were on a bender and you passed out on the table there, all bloodied up.

GEORGE brings the pitcher over.

GEORGE

Oh, well that narrows it down.

MOOCH

Remember?

FLOYD

No.

MOOCH

Well I guess not. You were passed out on the bar.

FLOYD

Jeez-us Mooch, what’s your point?

MOOCH

Who took care of you? Who?

FLOYD

Ah Christ, here we go.

MOOCH

I did. You know why? Because we’re partners! I drug you outside so George could clean up the mess you made. In-it, George?! I even put you in a safe place so no one would roll you.

FLOYD

Where?

MOOCH

Anything for my buddies …

FLOYD

Where did you put me?

MOOCH

I was looking out for you.

FLOYD

Oh, you were looking out for me?

MOOCH

Uh-huh.

FLOYD

While you were looking out for me, where did you put me?

MOOCH

Out back, between them garbage bins out back there.

FLOYD

You put me in between some fucking garbage bins?

MOOCH

Yeah, they’re covered over so you wouldn’t get wet if it rained.

FLOYD

Asshole. Gimme that jug—you don’t get nothing!

MOOCH

What did I do?

GEORGE

Just settle down.

MOOCH

What did I do?

GEORGE

Don’t provoke him, Mooch. He looks like he’s having a bad day.

FLOYD

Why don’t you two mind your own goddamn business for once! A guy can’t even have a drink without everybody climbing up his ass.

GEORGE

Alright, alright.

FLOYD

I’m sick and tired of it. Sick and tired of you … you … bumming off me. For once, just once, I’d like you to buy me a beer, without me even having to ask.

MOOCH

What for?

FLOYD

Just because.

MOOCH

I’m chipping in—

FLOYD

Sure, you’re chipping in with June’s money. And when I order another one you’ll say, “Oh, I’ll get the next one.” Maybe. That woman works hard to look after you and all you do is steal from her. No wonder she’s always lumping you out.

MOOCH

That’s none of your goddamn business.

FLOYD

Oh, is that right, eh. None of my goddamn business … See? You don’t like it, do you. Don’t like it when someone looks at you, sees your shit and tells you it stinks. Do you?

MOOCH

I’s just being friendly.

FLOYD

Friendly?! You’re not my goddamn friend, you’re my goddamn Mooch!

MOOCH

Yeah, I’m your Mooch! We’re partners.

FLOYD

Well then, partner, how about you buy ME a beer.

Pause.

MOOCH

I’ll chip in for the next one.

FLOYD

(howls) Hah! That’s what I thought.

FLOYD goes back to his drink while MOOCH sits and sulks. Trying to change the subject, GEORGE indicates a newspaper article he’s been reading.

GEORGE

Hey, did you hear this thing about people getting compensated?

Pause.

MOOCH

Prune juice works good.

GEORGE

No. People are getting compensated. I guess the government and the church are finally going to compensate people for what happened at those Residential Schools.

FLOYD

Yeah, yeah … it depends on how bad it was, eh. Most people are getting about fifteen grand. If it was real bad, you get lots more.

MOOCH

Goddamn Shum’mas.

GEORGE

Hey, I’m a Shum’ma.

MOOCH

So?

GEORGE

I never did nothing to you. Don’t blame me for what happened.

MOOCH

Are you the church?

GEORGE

No.

MOOCH

Are you the government?

GEORGE

No.

MOOCH

Then shut up. I don’t blame you. You’re a good Shum’ma.

FLOYD

You know why I blame the Shum’mas? Because the Shum’mas run everything! The Indians, the fishing, the country, the whole world! And every year the whole world gets worse.

GEORGE

Oh, piss off. Don’t blame me.

FLOYD

The whole world goes to shit and the Shum’ma says, “Don’t blame me!”

GEORGE

Hey, I’m in the same hole as you. I just pour the beers.

FLOYD

Uh-huh. You might pour our beers, and this jackass might take you hunting, but you’re still in charge of us here. In-it, Mooch?

GEORGE

Ah bullshit. I ain’t in charge of nothing.

FLOYD

Yeah, bullshit is right.

GEORGE

And what are you doing, Floyd? Sittin’ here all day saving the world one beer at a time!

FLOYD

If the Shum’mas let the Indians run the Indians in the first place, we wouldn’t be having this conversation.