Free Carmen by Walter Dean Myers

Scene 1
    It is summer of the present time in Spanish Harlem. We hear the opening music as people go about their daily lives. To stage right, flags from the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Cuba, and Mexico fly from a lamppost near a bench in a small square.
    At center stage, stairs lead to a well-worn factory building bearing a sign reading DELGADO’S WIGS. Next to the factory, stage left, is a walk-up apartment house. Next to that is a restaurant, Gallina’s.
    A brown-skinned woman is sitting in one of the apartment-house windows. Two men are playing dominoes on an overturned box, a street vendor is selling multicolored ices, and several young men are simply standing around, almost as if they are part of the scenery, when they aren’t eyeing some pretty women in short skirts and tight pants.
    GERALDO, the owner of Gallina’s, steps outside. Two neighborhood women, ELENA and MARIA, have been chatting out front.
    GERALDO
    Hey, chicas, I’m looking for a young man to help out around my shop. He’s got to be honest. No thieves!
    ELENA
    (to MARIA)
    He wants somebody to mind the store while he goes looking for young girls!
    GERALDO
    I don’t look for young girls. I just put myself where they can find me!
    MARIA
    Geraldo, you don’t need a young man; you need an old dog. That way you can be the boss and the dog can eat the terrible food you make.
    GERALDO
    Be serious, woman. A businessman on the way up needs an assistant. Somebody with energy, not like these boys around here.
    ELENA
    If you paid them a decent wage, they would have energy. You rob people without a gun, diablo viejo!
    GERALDO
    So what’s better, a little money or no money? You tell me that. If I pay one dollar an hour, it’s better than no dollars an hour. I’m a poor man trying to feed the good people in this neighborhood.
    MARIA
    In the restaurant, you’re a poor man, Geraldo. But you do all right with the poker games in the back room.
    SEVERAL OF THE RESIDENTS
    ALL RIGHT!
    GERALDO laughs.
    ELENA
    What’s the boy got to do?
    GERALDO
    (suddenly serious)
    He has to make enchiladas, corn dogs, hot dogs, chicken wings, and whatever else I say. And it all has to be gourmet.
    ELENA
    Geraldo, you are loco. Totally crazy.
    ANGEL, a young man who’s been hanging out nearby, sidles up to them.
    ANGEL
    (opening his jacket to reveal a row of watches)
    Hey, anybody want to buy a good watch? Cheap, man. Twenty-four-karat gold, real diamonds. Fifteen dollars.
    GERALDO
    I already have two watches. Both are five minutes fast.
    ANGEL
    These are five minutes slow, papi. That’s a sign. You can’t pass up one of these.
    JUAN, an older man, has been sitting on a bench nearby.
    JUAN
    What do you need two watches for? Around here nobody is in a hurry. If you got nothing to do, you only need one watch.
    JIMENEZ and CARLOS, the domino players, both stand up at once.
    JIMENEZ
    You can’t take a move back! Once your finger comes off the piece, you can’t take it back!
    CARLOS
    I didn’t take my finger off the piece. I had my finger on it, and you moved it to see what I was doing!
    JIMENEZ
    We’re playing for fifty cents! You can’t cover up your moves. You think I just fell off the cart and I’m going to let you cover up your moves?
    ELENA
    (to JIMENEZ)
    He can’t hear you. You have to holler into his good ear.
    JIMENEZ
    I said you can’t be covering up your moves!
    Suddenly, sirens and flashing lights signal the arrival of the police. No one seems alarmed, though they know enough to stay in place. CARLOS takes something from his pocket and tosses it into a nearby trash can.
    A team of street-duty POLICE OFFICERS, including OFFICERS SHEA and LANE, assembles quickly from either side of the stage. ZUNIGA, the police sergeant, directs his men around the stage, all facing the rear. Then, satisfied that the men are in place, he approaches the door of the apartment building next to Delgado’s and knocks boldly as the other officers aim their guns menacingly. TÍA SOFIA, a