montepío - the musical

Act 2, Scene 4, "The Games We Played"

ACT 2: Eden
Scene 4: Serpent in the Grass

(DIEGO is sharing a bottle of rum with the ghosts of JOMORRA and SALAMÓN. The latter is blackened with soot, half of his old agony mask consumed by the flames. Smoke lingers in the burnt-out coffee fields.)

JOMORRA: DO YOU REMEMBER
         WHEN WE WERE YOUNGER,
         WHEN WE WERE MORE INNOCENT
         AND THERE WERE LESS SHADES OF GREY?
         DO YOU REMEMBER
         THE GAMES THAT WE PLAYED?

DIEGO: IT WAS A GOOD OLD GAME
OF "CAT AND MOUSE"
WHERE CAT CHASED MOUSE
AND MOUSE CHASED CAT–

JOMORRA: EXCEPT I WASN'T A MOUSE–
I WAS A RAT!

SALAMÓN: AND I PLAYED "I SPY
WITH MY LITTLE EYE"
AND I LOVED EVERY MINUTE
AND I LIVED EVERY LIE.

JOMORRA &
SALAMÓN: BUT NOBODY TOLD US
THAT SOMEDAY WE'D DIE.

DIEGO: IT'S SO GOOD TO REMEMBER
         WHEN WE WERE YOUNGER,
         WHEN WE WERE INNOCENT
         AND THERE WERE LESS SHADES OF GREY.
         IT'S GOOD TO REMEMBER
         THE GAMES THAT WE PLAYED.

JOMORRA: WE PLAYED "TAG" WITH BULLETS–

SALAMÓN: "TUG-OF-WAR" WITH BARBED WIRE–

DIEGO: WE PLAYED "HOP-SCOTCH" ON LAND MINES–

SALAMÓN: AND I PLAYED WITH FIRE.

ALL: I ALWAYS LIKED
THOSE OLD GAMES MUCH BETTER
WHERE NO ONE WAS THE WINNER
AT THE END OF THE DAY.
THEY WERE THE KIND
YOU COULD PLAY FOREVER.
THEY WEREN'T HARD ON YOUR LIVER
LIKE THESE NEW ONES TODAY.

IMACULATA: (offstage) Diego? Who are you talking to?

(DIEGO hands the bottle of rum to JOMORRA who, not wanting to be caught with it either, passes it on to SALAMÓN. IMACULATA enters, oblivious to the ghosts, places her hand against DIEGO's forehead, checking its temperature. She smells the rum on him.)

IMACULATA: You've been drinking again.

(DIEGO turns away.)

IMACULATA: You're sick, Diego. You're not healthy. What am I supposed to think? You're spending more and more time drinking by yourself like this, talking to people who aren't there. We can't go on living like this.

DIEGO: Living... What do you know about living? You've been dead longer than any of us.

IMACULATA: What are you saying?

DIEGO: Salamón killed you a long time ago. I was there, in the coffee. I watched you die. Don't you remember?

IMACULATA: Salamón's dead. We had a big state funeral for him. You gave a speech, remember?

DIEGO: What games did you play with him?

IMACULATA: What games did I play with who? What are you talking about?

DIEGO: With the Señor. Did you play "House?" "Patty-Cake?" Or was he more of a "Spin the Bottle" man?

IMACULATA: Diego!

DIEGO: You never figured it out, did you. You were just another chiquitita to him! Another cheap, disposable wh*re!

(IMACULATA slaps him. He looks up at her, sobering and coming, at last, to his senses. She slaps him again.)

DIEGO: Imaculata...

IMACULATA: Save it for your drinking buddies!

DIEGO: Your father...

IMACULATA: What about my father?

DIEGO: He's dead. He and Salamón...

IMACULATA: Get out! Please, Diego, just get out...

(SALAMÓN passes the bottle of rum back to DIEGO and wheels him offstage. IMACULATA begins to weep. Her father's ghost moves to her, wraps her in his embrace.)

♩♫ ♬  MUSIC ♬ ♫♩

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