Writers (2 page)

GELLHORN

I mean you and your borracho buddies. What'll the owner of
the Dodgers say when his star pitcher comes back to Brooklyn in
pieces?

HEMINGWAY

Won't
happen, woman.
It's
these sneaking phony
mothergrabbers
who'll
lose the balls they wish
they'd
had in the first
place.

GELLHORN

You
always say
you're
for the
rebels.

HEMINGWAY

It's
Batista
I'm
against, not the rebels
I'm
for.

GELLHORN
disappears
for
a
moment,
then
reappears
on
the
porch holding
a
large flashlight,
which
she
shines
into
the
blackness.

GELLHORN

I guess
you've
scared them
away,
Ernest, you and your
popgun.

HEMINGWAY

I
was
shooting
the
tails
off
lizards
at
twenty
yards
up
in
Michigan when I was eight years old while you were at Miss
Prisspussy's
School in St. Louis learning which fork to use
first.

GELLHORN

(turns off the
flashlight)

I
hadn't
yet been born when those lizards lost their tails.
Don't
they grow back,
anyway?

HEMINGWAY

Put
that torch on
again.

GELLHORN

I'm
going back to bed.
Don't
wound the dogs or shoot the tails
off
any of the cats.

GELLHORN
re-enters the house.
HEM
INGWAY
stands alone on the porch, still
pointing the shotgun into the night.
Finally
he
picks
it
up
and
goes
inside.
The
porch light
goes
off.
A
few
moments
later,
the door opens again, very
slowly,
and
HEM
INGWAY
silently re-takes his
position with
his
weapon.
There
is
a
rustling
sound; some person or animal is moving in
the darkness.
HEMINGWAY
raises his
shotgun and fires one barrel, then the
second. After the ringing sound of the firings
ends, there is complete silence.
HEMINGWAY
turns and goes back into the
house.

TWO MEN
appear, one on either side of the porch. They move toward one
another and meet just below the place
where
HEMINGWAY
had been standing.
Both have revolvers in their hands. Slowly
they slink away from the house and
disappear into the
darkness.

***

SCENE
THREE

Inside the Floridita, a bar in
Havana.
HEMINGWAY
is seated on a stool in
a corner, a daiquiri on the bar in front
of him.
Seated
on
stools
near
Hemingway
are CASEY and HIGBE and MANUEL, a
Cuban.
CASEY
and
HIGBE
are
drinking
daiquiris. On the bar in front of
MANUEL is a small glass of
rum.

CASEY

But why would they come after you,
Ernest?

HIGBE

Yeah,
especially if
you're
backin'
'em.

HEMINGWAY

They
killed
one
of
my
dogs.
It's
Cuba
for
the
Cubans.
We
Americanos
aren't
long for this
place.

HIGBE

You're
too famous to
kill.

HEMINGWAY

But not too famous to die.
There's
a
difference.

CASEY

What do you think, Manuel?
Would
they kill
Ernesto?

MANUEL

Sí, if they think it is in the interest to advance the
revolution.

HIGBE

They
wouldn't
shoot an American ballplayer, though, would
they?

HEMINGWAY

A
Yankee,
maybe, but not a
Dodger.
All of them laugh. The four men
drink.

MANUEL

Señor Hugh, who is the best hitter you have ever
faced?

HIGBE

Yeah,
Hughie,
who?

CASEY

Ducky Medwick, no doubt about it.
Up,
down, in, out,
don't
mat
ter.
Ducky swings, bang,
it's
a double up against the
wall.

HEMINGWAY

My wife's
from St. Louis,
too.

HIGBE

She a Cardinal
fan?

HEMINGWAY

She likes the color red. She even thought she was one
once.

CASEY

What, a
Cardinal?

HEMINGWAY

No,
a
Red.

(He
stands.)

Manuel and I have to be
goin',
boys.
We've
got some ordnance
to unload in
Matanzas.

HIGBE

When
I
was
in
the
army,
my
CO
said
I
wasn't
too
good
takin'
orders.

CASEY

Okay,
Ernesto, will we be
seein'
you
later?

HEMINGWAY

Come
out
to
the
house
tomorrow
night.
I'll
have
something
to show
you.

HEMINGWAY
and
MANUEL
exit
the Floridita.

HIGBE

Do you really think them rebels would kill Ernest,
Hughie?

CASEY

How
do I
know,
Hig? I
can't
even figure a way to get Ducky Medwick out.

HIGBE

You ain't
alone.

(They tap their glasses and
drink.)

***

SCENE FOUR

The next night.
HEMINGWAY,
HIG
BE,
CASEY
and
MANUEL
are all
seated
on
the
porch
of
Ernest
and
Martha's
house. They are drinking. A shotgun
is stood on end against
Hemingway's
chair.

HEMINGWAY

The
way
it
works
is
someone
trips
over
the
wire,
the
lights
come
on and the explosive planted closest to where the wire was tripped
is set
off.

CASEY

What if
it's
an animal? Or a friend
don't
know the
wire's
there?

HEMINGWAY

There's
always collateral damage in a
war,
Case.

GELLHORN
comes out of the house
onto the porch.

CASEY
and
HIGBE

Evenin',
Missus
Hemingway.

GELLHORN

Mister
Casey,
my husband tells me you have trouble pitching
to Ducky
Medwick.

CASEY

Yes,
ma'am.
He pretty much owns
me.

GELLHORN

I'm
from St.
Louis.

CASEY

Yes,
ma'am,
we
know.
A great baseball
town.

GELLHORN

I've had the opportunity to study Mr. Medwick's batting method. It seems to me that he has a hard time laying off an inside pitch just above the hands, especially when he's deep in the count.

HIGBE

Shoot, Case, she might could have somethin'
there.

CASEY

I'll keep that in mind, Missus H. I appreciate the
advice.

GELLHORN

Ernest, you and your posse please remember to pick up the
body parts
before
you
call
it
a
night.
I
don't
want
to
have
to
clean
up
after you in the morning. Buenos noches,
gentlemen.

GELLHORN
goes
inside.

CASEY
and
HIGBE

Good night,
ma'am.

CASEY

She's
all right,
Ernest.

HIGBE

You
done
good
marryin'
her,
I
think,
Ernesto.
Inside
above
the hands.
That's
what
Mr.
Rickey would call a keen
observation.

HEMINGWAY

I'm
beginning
to
think
you
fellows
have
had
far
too
little
experience with women.

CASEY
starts to speak but
HEMING
WAY
raises his
hand.

HEMINGWAY
(
cont'd
)

Shh. I heard
something.

(He stands and picks up the
shotgun.)

You
think it horrible that lust and
rage

Should dance attendance upon my old
age;

They were not such a plague when I was
young;

What else have I to spur me into
song?

CASEY

Hell,
Ern,
you
ain't
but
forty-two.
That
ain't
old.

HEMINGWAY
sits down again,
holding the shotgun across his
lap.

HEMINGWAY

Mr.
Yeats
understood his own words, gentlemen. Age is a state
of mind.

HIGBE

Yeah,
when my arm goes dead
I'm
goin'
back to the state of
Arkansas and stay put. Just enjoy the peace and
quiet.

HEMINGWAY

I envy you, Higbe, truly I do.
For
many of us, a peaceful
denouement is not in the
cards.

There is a loud
CLICK
,
followed by a
few seconds of silence, then a small
explosion. A man shouts and then there is the
sound of
running.

CASEY

I think maybe you scored,
Ernest.

HEMINGWAY

Manuel, take a
look.

MANUEL
leaves the porch and
disappears into the darkness. There are
thirty seconds of silence.

MANUEL

(from the
darkness)

Hay nada, Ernesto. He run
away.

HEMINGWAY

It's
okay.
The bastards know we mean business
now.

GELLHORN
comes back out onto
the porch.

GELLHORN

I'm
afraid to
ask.

HIGBE

Scared off whoever it
was.

MANUEL
comes back and stands at
the front of the porch
steps.

MANUEL

It
worked well,
Ernesto.

HEMINGWAY

Yes,
Manuel, it did. But they'll be back
tomorrow.

GELLHORN

I
won't.

GELLHORN
turns and goes back
into the house.

CASEY

I'm
beginning to see what you mean about women,
Ern.

HEMINGWAY
stands and leans
the shotgun against the
chair.

HEMINGWAY

Case, what would you say to our sparring a few
rounds?

CASEY

Sure, but
let's
have a drink
first.

(They all go into the
house.)

***

SCENE FIVE

HEMINGWAY
stands alone on
the porch. It is just before dawn. The light
advances incrementally as he
speaks.

HEMINGWAY

I know
you're
out there, all of you, waiting for me to make a wrong move.
Well,
keep waiting you sons of whores, you
won't
get
the drop on me.
You don't
have the guts of the New
York
critics.
At least we know their names.
My
consolation is that those names
will pass from memory faster than a summer squall peters out on
Lake
Tanganyika.

You
think
you're
not
alone
in
your
enterprise,
but
you
are,
we
all are. Morning,
however,
is not the time to stab at being
profound.
No
matter what or how well we write or play baseball the light
of the world puts every one of us to shame.
We
humans are all
assassins,
anyway,
and only the very best among us save our bravest
act for
last.
As
God
is
my
witness,
He
witnesses
also
for
Martha
and Manuel
and
Case
and
Hig,
and
I
am
here
this
beautiful
fucking new day to testify that only God can get Ducky Medwick
out.