Free Five Television Plays (David Mamet) by David Mamet Page B

its history? ( Pause. )
    A LBERT: I like the way you talk.
    (C LORIS shrugs. )
    I like it a lot. You impress me. Would you like to come home with me?
    C LORIS: I live here. And besides I hardly know you.
    A LBERT: Oh. ( Pause. ) It's been a very rough day.
    C LORIS: That doesn't necessarily mean that I should go to bed with you.
    A LBERT: No , you're right. I got stood up.
    C LORIS: I'm sorry.
    A LBERT: I like the way you look.
    C LORIS: I'm glad. ( Pause. )
    (A LBERT sings the sad song of “The Myth of Free Love and the Myth and Reality of Promiscuity.” C LOKIS joins him. At the end of the song there is a
    long pause. The two look at each other. D IETER, a wizened man in a somewhat military-looking fatigue costume approaches. He is in his sixties. )
    D IETER: Guten abend.
    C LORIS: N'abend.
    A LBERT: N'abend.
    ( Pause. )
    D IETER: Someone srew a boomerang at me.
    C LORIS: They're starting.
    D IETER: Zis is terrible. Terrible.
    C LORIS: I know it.
    D IETER: Somesing must be done.
    C LORIS: The question is but what. ( To A LBERT: ) This is Dieter Gross.
    A LBERT: Albert Litko.
    D IETER: Enchanted.
    C LORIS: He got locked inside.
    D IETER: He didn't.
    A LBERT: Yes, I did.
    D IETER: That is too bad.
    C LORIS: Dieter used to work on the U-505 submarine.
    A LBERT: Yes? What, as a janitor?
    D IETER: No , I vas radioman and forvard damage control. ( Pause. )
    A LBERT: When did you work on it?
    D IETER: Sirty-nine srough forty-sree.
    A LBERT: Oh.
    D IETER: I vent home on leave, I get sick, I am separated from ze ship.
    A LBERT: Oh.
    D IETER: I rejoin ze ship in 1959 as Janitor at her present moorings in Chicago. In 1964 I am retired, and now I just hang out.
    (A LBERT nods. )
    C LORIS: Show him your medal, Dieter.
    D IETER: Nooo .
    C LORIS: Go on.
    (D IETER grudgingly and ceremoniously takes a felt pouch from his clothing, and removes a medal from it, which he shows to A LBERT. )
    A LBERT: What . . . what is it for?
    D IETER: Oh, nosing special. Ze North-Atlantic. Forty-one. Nosing Special.
    C LORIS: It's the Iron Cross.
    D IETER: I von it on dat ship. ( Points toward submarine. Pause. )
    A LBERT: And now you just hang out here?
    D IETER: Ya. I like it here. You like it here?
    A LBERT: Well, uh, yes.
    D IETER: I like it here. It has some assmosphere, ya?
    A LBERT: Yes.
    D IETER: It has some . . . weight. Zis building is a Monument to Science.
    A LBERT: Yes.
    D IETER: Zis building is a Monument to Orderly Understanding, and a Stark Affront to all ze ravages of Time.
    C LORIS: You think so, Dieter?
    D IETER: Ya, I sink so, else I vould not live here. (I live here out of choice) . . .
    A LBERT: . . . uh-huh . . .
    D IETER: . . . to be close to ze ship I love . . . of course . . . and out of respect for ze larger principles on which ziz building stands.
    (D IETER sings the song of his attempts to find “A Reasonable Life.” He sings of his youth in Germany, of the Depression, of the Nazis, of his life in the navy, of the end of the war. At the end of his song he turns to A LBERT. )
    So, you are locked in here, eh?
    A LBERT: Yes, I . . . I'm on my way out.
    D IETER: Hmmm. You know Szoreau? Szoreau is in jail, Emerson comes to visit him. Emerson says “Szoreau, vat are you doing in a Museum?, “ Szoreau says, “Ralph, what are you doing not in a Museum.” Ziz is how I feel.
    A LBERT: But I have to get home.
    (D IETER nods. The air is rent by the screams of the P OTAWATAMIES. The camera peeks over the second level balcony to reveal the P OTAWATAMIES, paunchy types in Glaneagles raincoats, herding the M INERS with spears. )
    C LORIS ( shouting ): Pierre, you sonofabitch, you leave those men alone.
    T IMMY ( shouting up ): We're alright, Honey.
    (T IMMY gets whacked on the head with a spear. )
    C LORIS ( sotto voce ): FUCKING CREEPS. ( To A LBERT: ) Come on, we gotta do something.
    D IETER: I go for help to ze landsmenschen.
    C LORIS: Good luck.
    (D IETER goes for help. )
    C LORIS ( shouting ): Dammit, Pierre, you leave those guys