Free Writers by Barry Gifford Page A

hurry.
    HEMINGWAY
    Cutthecrap,Case.Hig,getusoutoftheclinchesandkeepthe furniture out of our way.
    GELLHORN
    Pardon my asking, Mr. Casey, but aren’t you intraining?
    CASEY
    You know, ma’am, IalwayspitchbetterwhenIhaveafewthenight before. It alwaysgivesmeaguiltyfeelingoutthere,andIbeardown a little harder.
    HIGBE
    That’s right. Our general manager, Mr. MacPhail, once asked Case with a month to go in the season if he could hold out and Case told him, Larry, if there’s enough whiskey left, I can make it.
    HEMINGWAY and CASEY beginboxing. GELLHORN leaves the room.Thetwo men hit each other hard andoften. HIGBE scurries around in a futileattempt to preserve lamps, chairs andother stationaryitems.
    Later. HEMINGWAY and CASEY , exhausted, drop into armchairs. HIGBE unties their gloves and pulls themoff.
    HEMINGWAY
    How many times you go down, Case?
    CASEY
    I don’t know. Six or seven, Iguess.
    HEMINGWAY
    You count the knockdowns,Hig?
    HIGBE
    Yeah, six, seven maybe if it weren’t for him landin’ on thesettee.
    HEMINGWAY
    Never for more than a second or two. You knocked me down twice, Case. You’re a tough fella.
    HIGBE
    I’ll say he’s tough, Ernest. One day last September the Cardinals was poundin’ Hughie pretty good and Durocher stomps out to the mound to get him. Had me warmin’ up. I’m ready to go, about to leave the bullpen, but I see Case and Leo jawin’ for a while, then Leo walks back to the dugout. I never saw so many batters hit the dirt as after that. Case musta hit eight or nine.
    CASEY
    Ten.
    HIGBE
    They beat us nine to one. Back at the hotel, I asked Case whyLeo left him in. Tell Hem what you told me,Hughie.
    CASEY
    It looked like the game was lost anyway, so I asked Leo to leaveme inandIwouldteachthoseCardinalhittersalesson they’d never forget. Told Durocher I’d put stitchmarks on their sides andbacks so they wouldn’t dare dig in against me again. But my fastball ain’t nothin’ compared to Kirby’s. His heater sounds like a freighttrain comin’ in.
    HEMINGWAY
    Iheardasoundlikethatonce. It wasonthefrontinthe war. When I woke up, two Italian soldiers were dead and a third wasscreaming. I picked him up and carried him back to a medical tentwhile theJerrieskeptfiringtheirmachineguns.Igothitintheankle and then the knee, but I managed to crawl the last ten yards tothe tent. When I got there the third soldier was dead and mykneecap wasblownoff.Thedoctorsfishedoutahundredormorepieces of shrapnel from my leg. Three months later, I limped out ofthe hospital with a metal kneecap. Couldn’t walk without a canefor almost a year.
    HIGBE
    Me’n Caseputafewboysinthehospital,usuallyfrom throwin’ the spitter, which ain’t easy to control, but even we can’t competewith a machine gun.
    CASEY
    You win, Ernesto. Let’s drink toit.
    HEMINGWAY rises with difficulty,goes overtothe bar, opensanewbottle,putsout three clean glasses, andpours.
    HEMINGWAY
    Fire when ready, gentlemen.
    ***
    SCENETWO
    Midnight at the Finca Vigía. HEMINGWAY stands on the front porch of the house wearing only a pair of khaki shorts and sandals. He is holding a shotgun, which he points into the darkness.
    HEMINGWAY
    Comeon,youcowards!ComeintothelightwhereIcanknockyou on your asses. I’ve shot and killed leopards in less light by justthe glint off the cinder in theireyes.
    GELLHORN comes out onto theporch wearing a nightgown andslippers.
    GELLHORN
    What is it, Ernest? Who are you going toshoot?
    HEMINGWAY
    Thieves in the night, Martha. Gutless creeps who callthemselves rebels to justify stealing from people who’ve worked goddamnhard to get what theyhave.
    GELLHORN
    I didn’t hearanything.
    HEMINGWAY
    They don’t have the nerve of jackals. You can’t hear ’em or see ’em untilyoufeeltheirhandsinyourpockets.Someterrorists,these boys. Afraid of the tripwires.
    GELLHORN
    What tripwires?
    HEMINGWAY
    Shhh. I haven’t