Characters:
MARLENE DAVIS is a waitress at Chance’s Diner. She doesn’t mind the job, but wishes she had something more in her life. She gets the most enjoyment out of talking with the customers, though she is often harassed by the men she serves because of her good looks.
VINCE FISEBIN is a blind man who lives off of street donations. He is a long time customer of Chance’s Diner, and since has become good friends with Marlene because she walks him home every evening. Despite his disability, Vince enjoys life, but enjoys it more if he’s making a joke.
WALTER MISPLAT is another frequent customer of Chance’s Diner. Not poor, but not rich; not attractive, but not the most ugly man. Walter is the epitome of uninteresting. He thinks his problems are more important than other people’s, while still trying to appear as if he doesn’t. It comes from a desire to be cared about, rather than pure vanity, because he has spent most his life being the unappreciated nobody.
RADIO BROADCASTER
Time:
1935 – late evening.
Setting:
Chance’s Diner – a “greasy spoon” with just enough class to be popular.
[Two men, VINCE and WALTER sit at the counter. VINCE sits closest to the cash register, and WALTER sits next to him. VINCE is dressed in clothes that may once have been good business attire, but now are rags. He also wears dark sunglasses with thick, black rims, and has a cane he hangs from the counter. WALTER is well dressed – just enough to look important. He wears a brown, beaten up fedora and a business suit with patched elbows, obviously not in the best condition. WALTER has a plate before him, but all that remains are the scraps of what he ordered. A radio plays jazz in the background, loud enough to be heard, but not loud enough to be a distraction.]
WALTER: I heard she spits in people’s food.
VINCE: I’m just glad she doesn’t spit in mine.
WALTER: And how do you know she doesn’t? Not like you could see her doing it.
VINCE: She only spits in your food, and besides, you’ve got bigger problems with her than saliva on eggs.
WALTER: Yeah? Who you been talking to?
VINCE: Marlene told me you asked her to a movie. If she hadn’t told me herself, I don’t think I would have believed it! Handsome, well-dressed Walter getting the no from a girl like Marlene. Of all people, Walter!
WALTER: Shut up, you dummy.
VINCE: From what I hear, if I hadn’t been born blind, looking at you sure would’ve done it to me.
WALTER: I said shut up.
VINCE: Marlene told me so much, too.
WALTER: [Turns to VINCE with more concern than he would like] Like what? What did she say?
VINCE: We was walking home one night, and she told me, “Vince, you keep this a secret, you tell no one, but I’ll tell you,” and she told me.
WALTER: You better tell me, you-- [dummy.]
VINCE: Calm down! I’ll tell you. [leans close to WALTER] She told me you like you’re coffee black. Can you believe that! No crème, no sugar. You’re a real man, that’s what you are.
WALTER: [grabbing VINCE’s coat sleeve, as if to start a fight] I oughta toss you out of here. [lets go of VINCE and holds his head in his hands] You’re just a blind deadbeat. What do you know?
VINCE: I’m not a deadbeat. I’ve got a room.
WALTER: You still sit on the street corner begging for money.
VINCE: I make more than you do.
WALTER: Shut up.. Where is Marlene, anyway? Eddie’s going to thrash her if he sees she ain’t working.
VINCE: Maybe she went out for a smoke.
WALTER: She smokes?
VINCE: [with sarcasm] Yeah, I seen her out back smoking all the time — you’re asking the blind guy if he’s seen her smoking!
WALTER: [ignoring VINCE] It’s not like Marlene to up and leave. [Leans over the counter towards the cash register] Someone could rob the place.
VINCE: [hits WALTER on the back with his cane] Why you think she sits me here every night? She ain’t stupid and neither am I.
WALTER: For a blind guy, you see pretty good.
VINCE: For a guy who talks so much, you got a ugly voice. Why don’t you go somewhere else before you make me deaf, too?
WALTER: Why don’t you shut up? What about my ears, and my brain, and my life?
VINCE: Oh, I’m so sorry, Walter, I didn’t realize you had one of those. What do you do with that, anyway? Gamble all your money away? Or are you a boozer?
WALTER: Marlene needs to come back and get you out of her before I kill you.
VINCE: What time is it?
WALTER: Time for Marlene to get you out of my sight. [pause] Fifteen ‘til eleven.
VINCE: [slides off of stool and stands with cane] I think I might just get out of here on my own. I’ll have to give that girl my own thrashing.
WALTER: [turning towards VINCE as he leaves] You sure you want to walk by yourself?
VINCE: Unless you’re going to get up off your bump and hold my hand, that’s exactly what I plan to do.
WALTER: [stuttering] Well, I’d love to help but, well, maybe Marlene will be back soon, you know? You should wait for her. [getting up and walking towards VINCE, trying to lead him back] Just sit back down and she’ll show up.
VINCE: Get your hands off me, Walter. I can walk two blocks without getting killed.
WALTER: [sitting back at counter, whispers to self] Stubborn bum.
VINCE: Don’t you steal from that register or I’ll knock your teeth out myself. [VINCE exits]
[WALTER pushes his scraps of food around with a fork, mindlessly humming to the jazz music. Not seconds later, MARLENE enters. She is wearing a waitress uniform with an apron. WALTER doesn’t notice it’s covered with blood. She bundles up her apron and quickly hides it behind the counter. Her hair is disheveled and she looks like she has been running.]
WALTER: You alright? You look frazzled.
MARLENE: Yeah, yeah, I’m fine. Where’s Vince? I need to take him home. I’m late. Where is he?
WALTER: Vince just left.
MARLENE: You let him leave! [running towards door]
WALTER: [calling after MARLENE] Well you weren’t [here]…!
[MARLENE exits. After a pause, a car crash is heard. MARLENE, off stage, screams. WALTER runs to the door, and looks out. MARLENE comes back inside, and sits down on one of the stools. Her eyes are wide and she is shaking. WALTER sits down next to her, and motions to put his arm around her, but instead drops his arms to his side and sighs.]
MARLENE: He’s dead, Walter. Vince is dead.
[MARLENE and WALTER start speaking at the same time.]
WALTER: Oh my God. I killed him.
MARLENE: The car killed him.
WALTER: Stubborn bum wouldn’t wait.
MARLENE: Went right over his body and rolled—
WALTER: If he just would have—
MARLENE: —over him and crushed his head.
WALTER: —waited then it wouldn’t have been—
MARLENE: He was everywhere he was all over the road he was—
WALTER: —killed.
[MARLENE and WALTER are silent, now thinking to themselves what they were previously saying aloud. MARLENE continues to run her fingers through her hair, and WALTER takes his hat off, then starts to hit the counter with it out of frustration.]
MARLENE: Dang it, why’d you let him leave! Now he’s dead, he’s… [starts crying]
WALTER: I had to think of myself, Marlene, I couldn’t just leave, and I told him to wait for you but—
MARLENE: Think of yourself! Walter, You don’t have a self to think about! Not now you don’t. How could you let him leave like that? I can’t believe the one who can actually see is the one who’s too stupid to SEE what the right thing to do is!
WALTER: Yeah, I’m stupid, huh? And where were you! He wouldn’t have left on his own if you had been here in the first place.
MARLENE: You don’t know nuthin, Walter, so shut up.
WALTER: [in mock voice] You don’t know nuthin, you don’t know nuthin! Well I know one thing: if it’s my fault, it’s your fault. [takes a deep breath, and hesitates to put his arm around MARLENE again] But crying and fighting like this isn’t going to bring Vince back, and he wouldn’t like it, either. Come on, just you stop crying. [continue to say supportive things, though MARLENE ignores him]
[The jazz music on the radio suddenly stops.]
RADIO BROADCASTER: We have an important bulletin.
MARLENE: [while WALTER is still talking] Sh! Shush! Shut up! [runs over to the radio and turns it louder]
RADIO BROADCASTER: Dick Gulley, a landlord at 34 Down Street, was found dead in his home. It is suspected that his tenant, Marlene Da— [Davis either witnessed the murder or knows more about it. If you know anything about the parties involved, please contact…]
[MARLENE turns the radio down. She stays hunched over it, and turns it up again when the broadcast is over and has returned to jazz.]
WALTER: You’ve got something to tell me, Marlene?
MARLENE: [with arms wrapped around herself and head shaking “no”] Shut up, Walter. You don’t know nuthin’.
WALTER: And what were you doing when Vince needed you, huh?
MARLENE: [biting her lip, starting slowly] He asked me to a talkie, like you did. Dick, that is. I told him no. He didn’t take it as good as you though. Good ol’ Dick came at me, and he… [starts crying] he hit me. I’m not gunna take that from no man I told him, and so I slapped him back. Then he wouldn’t stop shouting. He kept shouting…
WALTER: But he didn’t shout to death.
MARLENE: Shut up! I’ll tell you … just shut up. He was—He kept shouting and wouldn’t be quiet. I told him to get quiet but he kept talking and talking, so I hit him with the first thing I grabbed. I think … I think it was knife.
WALTER: You don’t hit people with knives.
MARLENE: Fine! So I stabbed him with it. And I stabbed him again, too! [crying quietly to herself, then looking to WALTER and speaking with malicious tone] And what was your excuse?
WALTER: I don’t mean to belittle him, but you’ve got bigger problems than a blind guy getting—
MARLENE: You shut up about Vince! He was my only friend. He listened to me better than any other man could and he wasn’t always staring at me. Not that he could stare at anything, but I’d rather have a blind guy than someone like you. And now… Now he’s all spread out on the road, like an animal. [lays head on the counter and continues to cry]
WALTER: You’ve got some luck, babe.
MARLENE: Don’t you call me that.
[More from a lack of knowing what to say, than because of the predicament, WALTER hits the counter with his hat again. The only noises are MARLENE crying, WALTER’s hat tapping the counter, and the jazz on the radio.]
WALTER: [leaning over MARLENE] You want know why I didn’t go with him?
MARLENE: I don’t care. [turns away from WALTER]
WALTER: [quick, with nervous undertones] I’m going to tell you. I was waiting for you. I thought if I left with him I wouldn’t see you. I was waiting for—
MARLENE: [sits up and looks at WALTER, shaking with anger and grief] Not right now, Walter. Don’t even talk to me, you coward. [lays head back down]
WALTER: [as if MARLENE hadn’t said anything] I was going to ask you if — [shaking his head] Not that it matters now. You’re right, not now. [slams fist into counter] Not never, that’s what you should say. Never, Walter. Never, never, never. [sighs] What’d you go home for, anyway?
MARLENE: You’ve just got to talk, don’t you? You have to hear your voice going and going. Can’t you be quiet? Maybe I’ll hit you with a knife, too.
WALTER: I don’t want to hear my own voice. [carefully, quietly] I want to hear yours. Or, at least [finally decides to put his hand on MARLENE’s shoulder – she flinches] I don’t want to hear you cry.
MARLENE: [sitting up a little] You’ve got some nerve trying to be romantic at a time like this. [pushes off WALTER’s hand]
WALTER: [going back to his old, angry self] You’ve got some nerve to hit a guy with a knife.
MARLENE: Shut up about that. [stops herself from shaking, wipes her eyes with the edge of her dress, and takes a deep breath] Today is Vince’s birthday. I bought him something, but I left it at home, so I was going to get it while the dinner was empty … Dick came in. I thought I could go home and get it … have it for when I … [collapses back on counter and starts crying again]
WALTER: Just you stop thinking about that. Don’t think about it.
MARLENE: I could see where his head broke in two.
WALTER: Stop it — what’d you get him?
MARLENE: Don’t talk to me about it. Don’t talk to me about him, or Dick, or nobody. Just you shut up.
WALTER: I want to know what you got him.
MARLENE: [through sobs] New pair of glasses … always saying that … maybe if he got a new pair … see something other than darkness.
WALTER: Vince is [realize mistake, moves to strike the counter again, but stops himself] Vince was just the kind of person to ask for something like that.
[The jazz is interrupted by the RADIO BROADCASTER again. MARLENE turns it up, and both listen intently.]
RADIO BROADCASTER: We have important news regarding the murder of Dick Gulley. The police have confirmed that Marlene Davis is the prime suspect. She works at Chance’s Diner on the corner of Seventh and Chance. If you have any information regarding… [her whereabouts, please contact…]
[MARLENE turns the radio down until it clicks off.]
WALTER: You should get out of here. They’ll come looking for you.
MARLENE: [stands up to leave] Maybe I’ll go meet Vince in front of a car.
WALTER: [grabs MARLENE’s arm] No, you’re not doing that. Knock that stuff out of your skull. [suddenly lets go of MARLENE, stares at floor, stammering] No one would look for you … I’ve got a spare room … Maybe you could?
MARLENE: [laughs, shaking head] After all I’ve done to you and all that’s happened, you still find a way to ask me to your house.
WALTER: What you’ve done to me? [carefully considers what he’s about to say] The only thing you've done to me is drive me crazy, Marlene. Please come over? If the police – [MARLENE cuts him off.]
MARLENE: [Pushing hair back, trying to make herself look normal] Not true. I spit in your food, you know.
[Lights drop out.]
