Speed-the-Plow (6 page)

K
AREN
: Uh huh.

G
OULD
: . . . and tell him that I'll be ten minutes late. K
AREN
: Of course . . .

G
OULD
: . . . and tell him he owes me five hundred bucks.

TWO

Gould's apartment. Night
. G
OULD
and
K
AREN.
K
AREN
is
reading from the book.

K
AREN
: He puts his hand on the child's chest, and he says “heal,” as if he felt he had the power to heal him, he calls on God. . . it's in here. . . something to the effect that if
ever
in his life he had the power, any power, that now is the time. . . list. . . (
She reads
:) “. . . in that lonely place, the low place, the tramp, under the bridge, he finds him. Faced with his troubles, and pours out his heart.” We hear the rain, and we see, in his misery, it is forgotten, wet, cold . . . and the problems which assaulted him:
they do not disappear,
but they are forgotten. He says: years later: it did not occur to him ‘til then that this was happiness. That the thing which he lacked, he says, was
courage.
What does the Tramp say? “All fears are one fear. Just the fear of death. And we accept it, then we are at peace.” And so, you see, and so all of the
events
. . . the
stone
, the
instrument
, the
child
which he met,
led
him there.

G
OULD
: They led him.

K
AREN
: . . . in his . . . yes, you see—I know that you see—and that's, that's to me, that's the perfection of the story, when I
read
it. . . I almost, I wanted to sit, I saw, I almost couldn't come to you, the
weight
of it . . . (
Pause.
) You know what I mean. He says that the radiation . . .
all
of it, the planes, the televisions, clocks, all of it
is to the one end.
To
change
us—to, to
bring about a change
—all radiation has been sent by God. To change us. Constantly.

G
OULD
: To change us.

K
AREN
: Yes.

G
OULD
: How?

K
AREN
: To this new thing. And that we needn't feel frightened. That it comes from God. And I felt empowered. (
Pause.
) Empowered. (
Pause.
)

G
OULD
: Empowered . . .

K
AREN
: You've felt that, I hope you've felt that, when something made sense, you'd heard it for the longest time and finally you, you know what it means. So . . . so . . . it's not
courage
, it's
greater
than courage. Perhaps it
is
courage. You've felt like that.

G
OULD
: I have.

K
AREN
: Yes.

G
OULD
: Felt like . . .

K
AREN
: Like they say in
stories
: where, where one thing changes you.

G
OULD
: . . . have I felt like that? I don't know.

K
AREN
: . . . and that it puts you at Peace. And I'll tell you: like books you find at an Inn, or in a bookshop, when,
you know, when you go in, that you'll
find
something there, something. Old, or, or scraps of
paper
. . . have you had this . . .? In a pocket, or, or even on the ground, a phrase. . . something that
changes
you. And you were drawn to it.
Just
like the man. Beneath the bridge. “What was it that you feared?” he says
"Embrace
it . . .” Well! (
Pause.
) And like my coming here. Why? A temporary job. But I thought, who can say I knew, but I thought I knew, I thought: I would find something. (
Pause.
) Too much. It all came at once. So much. May I have another drink? (G
OULD
pours drink.
) Do you know, and he says, the
radiation,
in all things: not just in bombs, in microwaves, in
power
, in
air
travel. . . and the
purpose
of this radiation . . . well, I've
said
it. . .

G
OULD
: Thank you.

KAREN
: No, I thank
you.
Do you know what he's talking about? Fear. A life lived in fear, and he says, It Says In The Book, it doesn't have to
be
so
_;
that those things we have
seen . . . you
know, and you think “I, am I the only one on the whole planet who knows how
bad
it is . . . that it's
coming
. . . that it's sure to come.” What . . . don't you see? What can I do . . .? And you
can't
join a convent, or “cut off your hair,” or, or, or, you see, this is our pain, I think, we
can't
embrace Jesus.
He,
you see, and he says, “I know. And you don't have to be afraid.” And I realized: I haven't
breathed.
How long? In
years.
From, I don't know. From terror, perhaps ever. And you say, how can you say it? Is our life so bad? No. No. But that it's ending. That our life is ending. Yes. It's true. And he says that, that these are the Dark Ages. (
Pause.
) They aren't to come, the Dark Ages—they are now. We're living them. (
Reads
:) “In the waning days. . . in the last days” . . . “Yes,” he says,
it's
true,
and you needn't deny it . . . and I felt such
fear,
because, of course, he's right. Then he says: “do not be afraid.” The story. . . when you, when you read it, the story itself. Down below the bridge, I'll tell you: written with such love . . . (
Pause.
)
Such
love . . . (
Pause.
) God. A thing to be thankful for. Such love.

G
OULD
: You've done a fantastic job.

K
AREN
: I have?

G
OULD
: Yes.

K
AREN
: I have? Doing what?

G
OULD
: On the book. (
Pause.
)

K
AREN
: I. . .?

G
OULD
: In your report on the book. It means something, it means a lot, I want to tell you, if you want to “do” something out here. A
freshness,
you said a
naïveté,
but call it a “freshness,” and a capacity to get involved . . . I think that it's fantastic. And, you know, you dream about making a connection,- but I feel I've
done
it.

K
AREN
: You've made a connection . . .

G
OULD
: Yes. And you reached out to
me.

K
AREN
: I did . . .

G
OULD
: You shared this thing with me.

K
AREN
: . . . the book . . .

G
OULD
: You did it. Someone does something . . .
totally
. . .

K
AREN
: . . . yes . . .

G
OULD
: And you say “yes” . . .
“That's
. . . that's what I've been missing.”

K
AREN
: . . . you're saying . . .

G
OULD
: That's what I've been missing. I'm saying, you come
alive,
and you see everyone's been holding their
breath
in this town, twenty years, forever,
I
don't know . . . and then . . .

K
AREN
: Yes . . .

G
OULD
: So rare, someone shows, shows some
enthusiasm
. . . it becomes, it becomes
simple.
You know what I mean . . .

K
AREN
: Yes. I do.

G
OULD
: N'I want to thank you. (
Pause.
)

K
AREN
: Um . . . it's nothing.

G
OULD (
simultaneously with “nothing"
): It's something. No. Let, let, let, let me
help
you. That's what I want to do.

K
AREN
(
Pause
): I'm confused.

G
OULD
: I'm saying I
thank
you
_;
I want to do something for you.

K
AREN
: No, no . . .

G
OULD
: And, whatever, I'm saying, if I can, that you would like to do, in, in the
Studio,
if you would like to do it, if I can help you with it, then I would like to help you.

K
AREN
: Yes.
Thank
you. (
Pause.
) I absolutely do. You
know
what I want to do.

Gould: I. . .?

K
AREN
: I want to work on the film.

G
OULD
: Alright. If we can. The
Prison
film . . .

K
AREN
: No. On this.
This
film. The Radiation film and I don't care. I don't care in what capacity, well, why
should
I, ‘cause I don't have any skills . . .
that's
presumptious, of
course
, in any way I could. But I'd just like, it would be so important to me, to
be
there. To help. (
Pause.
) If you could just help me with that. And, seriously, I'll get coffee, I don't care, but if you could do that for me, I would be . . . (
Pause.
)

G
OULD
: Hmmm.

K
AREN
: I've put you on the spot.

G
OULD
: No. Yes, a little.

K
AREN
: I'm serious. I'd do
anything
. . .

G
OULD
(
Pause
): Look . . . (
Pause.
) This was a “courtesy read.”

K
AREN
: I know that, but. . .

G
OULD
: As I told you, the chances were, were astronomically slim that it would . . .

K
AREN
: Of course, but you said, you, you wanted to
investigate
. . .

G
OULD
: . . . yes . . .

K
AREN
: . . . “because once in a while” . . .

G
OULD
: . . . yes.

K
AREN
: And once in a while one finds a pearl. . .

G
OULD
: Yes . . .

K
AREN
: And
this
book . . . I'm
telling
you, when you
read
it . . .

G
OULD
: Karen, it's about the End of the World.

K
AREN
: That's what I'm
saying.
That's why it . . .

G
OULD
: It's about the End of the World.

K
AREN
: Uh huh, uh huh. (
Pause.
) This book . . . (
Pause.
) This book . . . (
Pause.
) But you said someone's job was to read the manuscripts. (
Pause.
)

G
OULD
: Someone reads the manuscripts. Yes.

K
AREN
: . . . that come in . . .

G
OULD
: . . . yes. (
Pause.
) We have readers.

K
AREN
: Now: why do the readers read them?

G
OULD (
simultaneously with “read"
): I get it. I get it. Yes. As I said. Yes. Once in a while, in a great while, yes, that . . .

K
AREN
: Why not this? I'm telling you . . .

G
OULD
: Look: I'm going to pay you the compliment of being frank. (
Pause.
) I'm going to talk to you. (
Pause.
)
Power
, people who are given a slight power, tend to think, they think that they're the only one that has these ideas, pure ideas, whatever, no matter. And, listen to me. Listen. I'm going to tell you. This book. Your book. On The End of the World which has meant so much to you, as I see that it has: Won't Make A Good Movie. Okay? I could tell you many things to influence you. But why? I have to respect your enthusiasm. And I
do
respect it. But this book, you want us to make, won't Get The Asses In The Seats. Sounds crass? Whatever the thing just may be. My job: my
job, my new job . . . is not even to “make” it is to “suggest,” to “push,” to champion . . . good work, I hope . . . choosing
from
Those Things Which the Public Will Come In To See. If they don't come to see it, what's the point? You understand? (
Pause.
) This is what I do. You said a certain kind of courage to embrace a fact? (
Pause.
) This is the fact here.

K
AREN
: Why do you . . . (
Pause.
) Your job is to make movies people will come see.

G
OULD
: That's right.

K
AREN
: Why do you think they won't come see this one? (
Pause.
) Are you ever wrong? Do you see what I'm asking? Just because you think it is “too good”. . . I. . . I. . . I think they would come see it. (
Pause.
)
I
would. It's about. . . it's about what we feel. (
Pause.
)

G
OULD
: It is?

K
AREN
: Yes.

G
OULD
: Which is . . .

K
AREN
: Everyone is frightened.

G
OULD
: Everyone is frightened.

K
AREN
: Everything is breaking down.

G
OULD
: It is?

K
AREN
: Yes.

G
OULD
: It is?

K
AREN
: Yes. It's over . . .

G
OULD
: It. . .

K
AREN
: I believe it is.