Songs For An All-Night Vigil: Feast Of Edie

A Stage Play by Alexis_McLeod

This is actually a radio play that is another addition to the anthology program.

SONGS FOR AN ALL NIGHT VIGIL: FEAST OF EDIE

1.MUSIC: PROGRAM THEME-UP ESTABLISH.

CONTINUE UNDER

NARRATOR: When evening shadows congeal to for

midnight gloom, when traffic

lights blink yellow and red, when the

lonesome moaning of trains echoes off

the silent clouds of the night sky,

when restless thoughts breed

terrifying dreams, and when bright

bedroom lights and reason still can’t chase away the terror of the eerie, unaccountable reverberate of creaks and groans, there are and will always be, (PAUSE)

SONGS FOR AN ALL NIGHT

VIGIL. (PAUSE)

Tonight, a tale, a narrative to

accompany you while you keep

vigil over your very mortal soul!

Don’t fall asleep! For the thief in

the night comes when watchful eyes

are closed. And, make no mistake,

he will not stop until he’s stolen the

morning’s light. And leaves you to

the forsaken, never-ending night! (PAUSE)

Christians believe that God created humanity. And shortly after we fell from grace and were driven to the lands east of Eden. But in our next tale, “Feast of Edie,” we find that not all things were created in the garden. And not all was created by God.

Feast of Edie

LIST OF CHARACTERS

Edie Hollerzonen: female, medium to heavy southern accent, mid-twenties

Dr. David Korzic: male, light southern accent, forties

Jerry Rhodes: male, medium southern accent, forties

Jessica Boethmen: female, medium southern accent, early thirties

Dr. Cecil Franks: male, forties, light southern accent

Det. Jameson: male, medium southern accent, thirties

Roberto Menedez: male, Latino, fifties

Lieutenant: male, fifties, light southern accent

SCENE ONE

1. MUSICAL INTRO: GENTLE THEME CONTINUE UNDER

Edie VO: I always believed in the power of prayer, and I always imagined Heaven to be a good and happy place. A place without Mama, that’s for certain. I never was one to question what the Lord had given me. (PAUSE) I was raised to fear God and love Jesus. And I became a Christian when I was 12 years old. At 12, Christ was my only friend. You see, by the age of 8, I was already 150lbs. Each year, I grew heavier and heavier. My fat became the moat that separated me from everything and everyone. At 16, I happily left school. Papa had long ago left Mama and me. And when Mama had hurt her back and couldn’t work anymore, her only friend was the bottle. The social security checks kept the utilities paid and enough food in the refrigerator. And what I could make, I did by babysitting for the neighborhood mothers. The children were too young to be as mean as their older brothers and sisters. (PAUSE) When I came of age, I weighed just at 600lbs. And I could no longer ride the city bus. I tried typing papers from home, but that never brought in enough money. So, the social worker put me on disability. Just like with Mama, they made the doctors see me. They tried so many different things; none of them worked. I think I even gained weight. Then, the social security people said I had to go to counseling sessions every week. (PAUSE) That’s when my life changed (PAUSE) forever.

1.MUSIC: GENTLE THEME CONTINUE UNDER

Edie VO: Every week, they sent that special bus to pick me up at home. (PAUSE) They drove me to the fancy part of town. And there, in 1980, the year of the town’s bicentennial, I met Dr. David Korzic. (PAUSE) I was surprised to see coloreds in the waiting room of his fancy office. Turned out that they were there to see the OTHER doctors who shared that space. (PAUSE) He was so handsome! He looked like the type of doctor you see on the soap operas�"except he was a REAL doctor. (PAUSE) I had a secret crush on him. Somehow, he guessed. He told me that it was natural for patients to sometimes fall for their psychiatrist. But that we must do our best to keep the relationship purely professional. (PAUSE) In some ways, he reminded me a lot of Mama. He said that if it weren’t for the coloreds and the illegals flooding the system, there would be more health care for the people who could most benefit from it. He would sometimes make me laugh so hard. Like when we did role play. I was me and he played a piece of food. And he gave me hope. He said someday, there would be a special drug for people like me. And it would make the pounds melt away without any effort.

After 2 years, I actually lost 50 lbs. I was so excited. Soon I would be able to ride in a bus�"with other people sitting around me! Maybe one day, I thought, I could ride the train. Maybe even ride in a regular car. Things were going soo well. And then it happened. (PAUSE) One of his other patients, a questionable woman named Annie Shultz said that Dr. Korzic had touched her privates during their sessions. The lying, little pervert!! I knew Dr. Korzic would do NOTHING of the sort. I know because in OUR sessions, no such talk ever came up. He was a perfect gentleman. And I knew he’d have nothing to do with that kind woman. She tried to sue him. The suit went on for over a year and it was all the talk all over town. He won, but the papers said that he’d been left bankrupt because the medical insurance would not cover his legal fees. Steadily, the waiting room emptied of other the patients. He said I was one of the only two patients he had left. (PAUSE) Once, he told me that his wife made him very unhappy. She was unfaithful to him. Imagine a woman being unfaithful to a man like Dr. Korzic! Well, things went from bad to worse when she told him she wanted a divorce! (PAUSE) Sometimes he would breakdown and cry during our sessions. I would then cross the room, the bridge between doctor and patient, and put my arm around his shoulder. I couldn’t stand for very long, but I held him for as long as I could. From that day, everything changed.

One night, after Mama had passed out and I had gone to bed, the telephone rang-

Korzic (phone): Edie, I’ve got to see you!! Pack a bag! I’ll come to pick you up!

1.MUSIC [DRAMATIC SCENE CHANGE]

SCENE TWO: KORZIC’S HOME �"NIGHT

(Edie and Korzic)

Edie VO: I almost didn’t know him when he finally pulled up to the house in a blue pick-up truck. He said the truck wasn’t his, and he told me to lie in the bed while he put my bags in the cab with him. He covered me with a thick, stitched black cloth that looked like a camping tent and closed the gate at my feet. It was dark and I was ever-so uncomfortable. He turned corners so sharp, and the bumps and ruts hurt my back. Though I trusted Dr. Korzic completely, I was glad when the journey ended. [PAUSE]

I would never have guessed that Dr. Korzic lived in such squalor. He drove me out to the country, the 5 acres of land that he’d bought just before the malpractice suit. The house he’d planned to share with Helen, his wife, was incomplete and in shambles. Rotting building materials littered the front lawn. And in the back, just beyond the end of the gravel driveway, was a swimming pool full of leaves, debris, and dirty water. He sounded so ashamed when he told me that the builders had left the property without replacing the septic tank. And so, often, especially when it rained, the overflow would seep into the swimming pool creating a cauldron of filth, a stenchful sludge.

But that was nothing compared to what awaited me inside.

Korzic: Oh Edie! They came here to gloat and there they were touching and kissing! She was demanding money and, and--I don’t know what came over me. I just-just shot them! (moans) Oh, God! What am I going to do? They’ll take me away, for certain! What will become of me, what will I-

(He continues in background)

Edie VO: From somewhere inside, I drew upon a sudden calm. It broke my heart to see him so upset. And then, an idea came to me.

Edie: Dr. Korzic, Dr.Korzic! Listen, first we need to get rid of the evidence. You take care of the truck, (extended beat) and I’ll take care of these.

Korzic: Edie, how?!

Edie: Well if there are no bodies, then there’s no murder, right?

Korzic: But the circumstantial-

Edie: No bodies! Dr. Korzic, they could have driven back north or driven to Mexico. Now, please get me your best knives, and leave me to these two. I won’t let them execute you. I won’t!!

Edie VO: That was the first time. I swear never in my life had I ever done such a thing. But I loved him and there was no way I was gonna’ lose him to the hangman, no sir. [PAUSE]

When he got back, I told him what I’d done. At first, he was horrified. But then as we burnt his wife’s clothes, he reached over and kissed me!! Imagine that! He kissed the lips that had sucked the marrow from his wife’s bones. The same lips that had eaten everything but her privates. [PAUSE]

1.MUSIC: MUSICAL INTERLUDE

I called Mama from David’s phone and told her that Dr. Korzic had the special bus drive me to a live-in clinic in Jackson. But she was so drunk, I don’t think she’ll even remember having answered the telephone. (PAUSE) I stayed at the house with Dr. Korz�"well, I should say, he told me to call him David. Oh, my heart! He’d go to his new job at Waverly Senior Home for old lunatics without families. And at the end of the day, he’d come home to me. At last, I felt what it must be like to have a man of my own! (PAUSE) Peter Frandle, Helen’s lover, took so much longer to eat than did Helen. David was soo good though. He’d bought all kinds of fancy knives and cookery. He told me to take a nap. And when I awoke, he’d set up a candlelight dinner, just the two of us. It was so romantic. I wished that he’d kiss me again, but I didn’t mind. We were together and that’s all that mattered. And soon, the smell from the pool didn’t even bother me anymore. I’ll always remember those days with fondness.

1.MUSIC: INCONGRUENTLY CALM SCENE CHANGE

SCENE THREE: KORZIC’S HOME

(Korzic and Edie)

(fade into conversation)

Korzic: --this is what I mean, Edie.

1. SOUND: RUSTLES NEWSPAPER

This country is full of the wrong kinds of people! (PAUSE) Are you sure you don’t mind staying here with me, Edie?

Edie: Mind?! David, of course I don’t mind. I already called Mama. No one else knows or even cares where I am. I’ve got all my clothes---(embarrassingly suggestive, almost pitiful) maybe more clothes than I need. (Silence, no response from Korzic, she clears her throat to cover her embarrassment) So, (brightly) here I am, as long as you need me.

Korzic: Edie. You know if only this nation had more women like you. You positively set the standard, Edie.

Edie: (modestly) Oh, David, please.

Korzic: No, I mean it Edie! We’ve got all of these coloreds, illegals, homosexuals, and communists. And they keep multiplying Edie! This nation doesn’t need to fear the Soviets. Why the threat is right here under our noses!

Edie: Yes, David, of course.

Kozic: I think it’s time for a country that has good, old, solid values. People like you and me.

Edie: Well, definitely people like you. You’re so intelligent and strong and --well, I think the rest of the world just hasn’t caught up to you yet, David.

Korzic: (on a rant) Yes, Edie. It’s time for a new kind of man. Not Aryan, no sir, an all-American. A man without fear. A magnificent brute---stronger, smarter, beyond Nietzsche’s superman, Edie. A man who’s evolved beyond the one fate that all men share. (PAUSE) A man, immortal.

Edie: Well, if there ever could be such a thing, I believe you would have a hand in creating it. With your absolute brilliance and all�"

Korzic: (ignoring her) I’ve never told this to anyone, Edie. It’s only you I can trust.

Edie: Oh, David.

Korzic: As a young man I suffered an injury that would have killed any other man. In fact, Edie�"I believe I did die. (Edie gasps) I saw a tunnel and a light, but I-I heard a voice, Edie. And it said, “Death is not for you.” It didn’t say that it wasn’t my time, or some such. But the voice said, “Death is not for you.”

Edie: What do you think it means, David?

Korzic: (harshly) It means just that, you fool! (softer) I am not meant to die, you see! I am �"am meant to beget ‘the new man.’ The man whose greatness won’t let him share the same fate as commoners, slackards, beggars, coloreds, and thieves. I am the progenitor, and I must clear the way of all those unworthy drains on this great land. I am the kettle in which is held the primordial soup for the next phase of man’s evolution.

Edie: What do you mean ‘soup?’ I don’t understand.

Korzic: Primordial Soup! (PAUSE) Ah, my ignorant bundle, ‘primordial soup’ is that from which all life sprang. (PAUSE) Life, Edie was not called into existence by some god of Jews, coloreds, and other fools. No Edie, chance brought together the molecules that would be the basis upon which organelles were formed and from them cells and organisms and from organisms, tissues, upward the chain. And at its completion, The Man of the Occident. (PAUSE) Yes, Edie. And all that, that marvelous chain started with an intense burst of energy to start the reaction. Energy such as one would find in a bolt of lightning. (beat, ranting) You see, Edie, I alone hold the key--- and all I need is a source of energy to bring about the evolution of The New Man.

Edie VO: I’d never done well in math, science, or biology, but I knew that in order for any man to bring about a “new life” or however he put it, he needs a woman. Surely, he would come upon me like a storm, like a burst of lightning. In his own, super intelligent way, he was telling me that he loved me. Finally, he loved me as I loved him. And he wanted me, me to have his children. (PAUSE) From that day forward, I swore to myself that I would do anything to help him make his dreams come true! I would do anything to make him see that I was indeed worthy of bringing his children into the world. (PAUSE) Anything!

1.MUSIC: SCENE CHANGE MUSIC

SCENE FOUR: KORZIC’S HOME

(Edie, Korzic, and Jerry Rhodes)

Korzic: Edie! Edie! Come to me, Edie! I need you!

Edie: (approaching from other room) Here I am, David. Here I--(PAUSE, screams)

Korzic: Edie! Edie! Let me explain! (she’s still screaming)

Edie: Oh, Christ! What have you done?!

Korzic: Edie! Take hold of yourself!

Edie: Another one, David?! Another one?!

Korzic: (sternly) Let me explain, Edie! Stop howling like some unearthly creature and let me explain. (gently) There, there.

I hadn’t told you. A huckster by the name of Jerry Rhodes has been blackmailing me for some time now. (PAUSE) He came to Waverly today. I �"I haven’t been able to pay him, you see. He knows about something I did before- before you and I were as close as we are now. (PAUSE) I didn’t have you to guide me back then, Edie. I was confused and scared and angry at the world�"and he knew Edie! Don’t you see! He would have told the police and they would have taken me away from you. (PAUSE) Forever.

Edie: (still dismayed) Oh, David---

Korzic: Edie, look! See he isn’t dead at all. I merely (PAUSE) etherized him, you might say. (PAUSE) I had to get him here to the house. He followed me in his car to the fishing pond. (PAUSE) I told him that I’d buried some money under a tree, trying to literally hide assets from the lawyers. I don’t know what came over me. (PAUSE) All I could think of is how he wanted to take me away from you.

Edie: (tenderly) Oh, David. I won’t let anyone take you from me.

1.SOUND: GROGGY MAN WAKING UP

Oh Lord! He’s waking up! What are we gonna’ do?

Korzic: Jerry! Jerry!

Rhodes: Oh. Korzic! What the hell?!

Korzic: Jerry! (deliberate, for Edie’s sake) Do you promise to stop blackmailing me so that Edie and I can stay together forever.

Rhodes: Blackmailing? I don’t know what you’re talking about? Oh My God, my head!

Korzic: Don’t lie, Rhodes! I’ve told her everything.

Rhodes: Oh, what?! Like she’s your accomplice!

F**k you, Korzic! I’m gonna’ see to it that they fry you. (PAUSE) And this lard a*s! What’s your name, honey? You wanna’ sizzle like your f*****g boyfriend here? Huh? Look, undo these (makes strenuous effort) and I’ll make sure they only give you life�"ah! Ha! There! Ain’t a pair of handcuffs made that I can’t escape from!!

Edie: David! Darling, he’s got a----

1.SOUND: GUNSHOT

Edie: (screams in shock then silence)

Korzic: Well, I had to shoot him, didn’t I Edie? Didn’t I? He would have broken us up. (PAUSE, then cheaply sentimental) Darling?

Edie VO: My heart leapt! (PAUSE) Didn’t I just swear to myself to do anything? (PAUSE)

2.SOUND: VISCOUS SAWING AND TEARING

We made quick work of Mr. Jerry Rhodes, yes, indeed. Again, David was so good. What I couldn’t finish at one sitting, we left to marinade in one of David’s exotic sauces. He said he learned to cook while he was in France. So cosmopolitan! (PAUSE) Such wonderful days those were. To my mind we grew to be so close�"almost as man and wife. His kisses and caresses were in the way that he looked at me (PAUSE) sometimes. Months went by and little by little, we made improvements to his house. He bought Venetian blinds and a lovely towel holder for the kitchen. He’d taken the door of basement bathroom off its hinges. I fit so well through it that I suspected I’d lost a pound or two. I began to knit baby sweaters. But I hid them from David. I always did my best not to anger him or make him feel rushed into anything. A sensitive man like David needed an old-fashioned woman, a woman of subtlety. Unlike his wife, who was a power-hungry strumpet. She pushed him to kill her. A gentle, kind man like David only kills when he’s forced to. (PAUSE) This, I STILL believe.

1.MUSIC: INTERLUDE

Korzic: Goddamit, Edie! I will not stand for slovenliness! Is it really too much for me to ask that you keep yourself clean!

Edie: But David, I do. I mean I try to bathe as often�"

Korzic: Well, it’s not enough. Your breasts stink of rancid cheese and your perfume or whatever you call that god-awful stench, does not “cover” your odor. You’re sickening.

Edie: (cries)

Korzic: Oh, do stop blubbering. I can’t believe it’s possible, but you actually stink more when you cry.

Edie: Oh David---

Korzic: (mockingly) Oh David, Oh David, Oh David�"can you manage no other words from that gapping gob atop your five chins. (Goes on indistinguishable)

Edie VO: He was not a cruel man. I knew he didn’t mean what he said when he was in those moods. Because I knew what caused them. He was restless to fulfill his dream, his destiny. (PAUSE) I was almost glad when he’d brought home the others.

1.MUSIC: SCENE CHANGE MUSIC

SCENE FIVE: KORZIC’S HOME

(Edie, Korzic, and Jessica Boethmen)

Korzic: (calling, breathless) Edie! Edie! Edie, come here! I need you!

Edie VO: He couldn’t help it! His life’s hardships have taken their toll. (PAUSE) Even though he’d passed the sheriff’s polygraph test on the disappearance of his wife, he suspected that the police had sent the mafia after him. One by one, he was catching the operatives sent they out after him. (PAUSE) He was merely defending himself. And he was such a masterful chef! Soon enough it felt normal; never ordinary, but normal.

Korzic: (eating) I tell you, Edie. I feel stronger and more powerful with each meal, and--

[fade out rest of conversation]

Edie VO: Most importantly, he was happy. I did so love to see him happy.

[fade into conversation]

Korzic: --hope you’re hungry! This is a new recipe. Tell me if you like it. (PAUSE) Now remember it is an acquired taste.

Edie VO: The “operatives” he brought home were either derelicts or prostitutes, people no one would miss. David claimed that was why the spies chose such lots. “After all,” he would say (Korzic and Edie say line simultaneously) “Who would ever suspect a drunkard or a w***e?”

Edie VO: Those were the very best of times. We never wanted for food. And David was content. His bad moods evaporated, and he opened up to me as never before. One night, as we sat on the veranda, I couldn’t help my curiosity.

Edie: David?

Korzic: (flatly) What?

Edie: (meekly) Oh, never mind.

Korzic: Good. (Silence)

Edie: Oh, David, I just have to ask.

Korzic: (restrained irritation) Have to ask? Ask what, Edie?

Edie: Well, Jerry Rhodes (PAUSE) I- You don’t have to say, if you don’t want to�"

Korzic: For God’s sake, come out with it woman. (suddenly playful) You want to know for what reason Mr. Rhodes was blackmailing me? (PAUSE) Am I right?

Edie: Yes, David.

Korzic: (exaggerated sigh) Edie. (PAUSE) I was a different man before I knew you. Back then, with that b***h of a wife and the lawsuit�"(chuckles) my dear, I knew not up from down nor left from right.

Edie: Oh David, I understand.

Korzic: (sharply) You understand nothing, Edie. (softer) I was a trapped, wild animal. Rich Mankelstein, Annie Schulz’s lawyer, had eaten me alive in court.

(PAUSE) Surely you must believe that that Shultz woman made up everything. I’d never lain a hand on her. But she was a filthy, lying w***e who sought to not only draw from me every last dime, but to ruin me in the deal.

(chuckles villainously) Those were dark, dark days, my dear. Everything alive was my enemy and, unlike now, I could not control myself. I made even the innocent suffer. One of Mankelstein’s secretaries had a young daughter and was in the middle of a divorce. (almost apologetically, cries for himself, mawkishly) I-I wasn’t myself, Edie. I lashed out at everything and everyone.

1.MUSIC: SINISTER MUSIC FADE IN

I was merciful with the child. The girl’s father was a suspicious character with a questionable past and well (PAUSE) I just wanted it to stop, I needed Mankelstein distracted from me. Oh, Edie, those days were so difficult for me!

Edie: My poor David.

Korzic: Rhodes saw the girl and I together on the day she died. (PAUSE) He told me he’d not go to the police, if I’d keep up my payments. He knew Helen and that Jew lawyer of hers were bleeding me dry. Well, two weeks before the next payment, Jacob Maycomb got religion and it all fell apart.

Edie: Jacob Maycomb? (PAUSE) You don’t mean the mayor’s son?!

Korzic: No, his father. (PAUSE) The man’s an incurable necrophiliac. Used to be a patient of mine. Don’t look so surprised, Edie! I’ve seen many of this backwater’s so-called moral leaders for maladies that would shock even the most hardened sex criminals. There are more of them out there than your mind could comprehend.

Edie: How does--

Korzic: How does the mayor figure in? (sardonic chuckle) You see, Dr. Cecil Franks, the M.E. has a vast heroin addiction. Being unable to write his own prescriptions, I lent my help. Between the prescription pad and the stock at Waverly, I’ve kept that man in enough morphine to subdue a third of Cuba. Edie, it’s his money that kept on the utilities at this place. The mayor paid for his time alone with the M.E.’s latest delivery and those funds paid for Dr. Frank’s habit. (PAUSE) Doesn’t that trouble you, my dear? Your Dr. Korzic is nothing more than a drug dealer? A common pusher?

Edie: You did what those uncaring women forced you to do! (Indignant) Why if Helen and that Annie Shultz would have done right by you, all would have been well. None of this is your fault.

Korzic: (laughing outright) Oh, Edie. You are indeed a pearl. An absolute pearl. (deceitfully wistful) Sometimes I think that I should have married you instead.

Edie: (gasps)

Korzic: (ignoring her response) Well, I’m quite tired and I’ve got an early morning. Sleep well, my dear.

Edie VO: Why, oh why couldn’t things have just stayed as they were?! He wanted to marry me. Imagine, I thought, I could be the next Mrs. David Korzic! How happy I was! Wouldn’t Mama be surprised that I had actually married a doctor.

I understood that we would never be man and wife, legally in the eyes of man. But in our hearts, before God himself, we were already Dr. and Mrs. David Korzic. The secrets we shared would tie us together for all time. (extended pause, deflated) And then, one night, David had come home later than usual. He had called and told me not to worry. He had been kept late at Waverly because a patient had just committed suicide and he had to talk to the police. I was ever-so-jealous of his time. But I understood. His doctor’s duties always came before my little feelings. He was always so dedicated. (ruefully) I couldn’t sleep�"waiting for him. My heart leapt when I heard his car pull onto the gravel. He was safe, and he was at home! (PAUSE) I always had good hearing. Mama said it was the only thing I inherited from her. How I wish to God that it, like everything else Mama ever gave me, was too lame or too little.

14. SOUND:MAN AND WOMAN’S DRUNKEN LAUGHTER

Korzic: (merry) Oh, ha, ha, ha�"Look who’s joined us, Jessica!

Edie, what are you doing up?! Why it’s three in the morn�"

Edie: (bracing herself to keep calm) Who is this, David?

Korzic: (tipsy) Of course! I’m sorry. Edie, this is Jessica Boethmen, a nurse at Waverly. And Jessica, this is my�"my housekeeper, Edie Hollerzonen.

Jessica: (a little more tipsy) Housekeeper?! Oh, you’ve got to be kidding! (he’s laughing with Jessica) I’ll bet you’re about, what four maybe five hundred pounds?! How can she clean the blessed house when she can’t even keep herself clean?! (guffaw) Whew! You can smell the fat! (guffaw continues)

Korzic: (laughing) You see, Edie?! Baby, I tell her the same thing! (he’s roaring with laughter) Don’t I, Edie? Tell her, Edie! Don’t I?

Edie: (meek, humiliated) Yes, David. Of course, you do.

1.SOUND: IN BACKGROUND KORZIC AND JESSICA LAUGHING AND KNOCKING THINGS OVER

Edie VO: My heart was so broken. I felt the tears on my face. That-that trollop had made him drunk and confused his mind. She kept kissing him and playing with his hair.

Jessica: (drunken meanness) Why don’t you go clean something? Something over there! (guffaw along with Korzic) Common’, baby. I wanna’ show you somethin’.

Edie VO: A feeling took hold of me as I watched her take his hand and lead him back onto the veranda. (PAUSE) She was taking him away from me!! (PAUSE) I don’t know how it got into my hand---everything was a blur (PAUSE) I pulled the trigger and�"

16.SOUND: GUNSHOT, SILENCE, THEN JESSICA SCREAMING

Jessica: (screaming) You shot him! You crazy fat b***h! You shot him! (PAUSE) He’s bleeding too fast! I can’t stop the bleeding! I’ve got to drive him to the hospital. (PAUSE) I’ve got to take him right now, do you hear me, right now---

1.SOUND: GUNSHOT BLAST

(gasps, choking out words) You crazy b***h!

Edie VO: I hadn’t meant to shoot him. She moved and �"and it was a blur and�"(PAUSE). But I wasn’t going to let her take him from me! He’s MY husband and she was trying to take him from me!! (PAUSE) She was right. He WAS bleeding too fast. There was no recognition in his eyes as he stared at me. (PAUSE) For ten minutes, I could not move. I was barely even aware of the steadily growing puddle of urine at my feet. My hands shook and my stomach churned. (PAUSE) Words could never completely tell the pain, the love, the sorrow. I had killed the one thing on earth that meant anything to me. Never would I feel his hands touch me as any husband would his wife. A crack of thunder and the sound of hail on the roof roused me from my shock. (PAUSE) A fever seized hold of me, and I realized that I COULD finally feel him, have him inside of me! My husband and I could finally be at one.

I caught my breath as I removed his blood-soaked clothes. And there before me�"finally I beheld him in his nakedness. And--and I’m not ashamed to say that I took the privilege that any wife would take of her husband. But he had lost too much blood. In any case though, I was determined that my husband would be inside of me.

18.MUSIC: DRAMATIC MUSIC FADE IN

Edie VO: I began to feel full, but I still ate, I ate until I was too full to shed any more tears. Then I dragged the w***e out of the house. I had no tools with which to bury her. But I would not have her befouling our home! (PAUSE) And then it occurred to me. (PAUSE) The swimming pool had just enough water. The septic tank had overflowed, and I thought that she certainly couldn’t make it any more foul smelling than it already was. The rain beat upon me mercilessly. I’d made my way to the edge of the pool and tried to push her forward. [Music ends, then silence]

It was the last thing I remembered. (PAUSE) My heart had given out. From the edge of the dilapidated pool, I watched my body tumble headfirst into the sludge while Jessica’s body still lay there, at the edge, face up to the falling rain. (PAUSE) I watched myself there for days on end. I saw sloughs of fat and skin float to the surface, making more buoyant the flesh that had imprisoned me all my life. The process was made swift by the hot and rainy weather we’d had. All the while I sat, thinking that I had failed to bring David, my love, a son. (PAUSE)

After some months, a lost poacher had come upon the property and nearly fainted at the sight (and no doubt the smell) of the slurry and filth and my rapidly decomposing body. And he had brought in the law to investigate; but not before, by some miracle, the town suffered one the worst electrical storms in its entire history. It was then that I KNEW that I had indeed fulfilled David’s dream. I had, from the joining of our flesh, provided the stew from which his son, “The New Man” would arise! The man that my David said, “Would subdue the under-evolved monkeys that have for too long have peopled this earth!” And for having accomplished such, I will never be sorry, not for a thousand searing eternities in this place.

1.MUSIC: SCENE CHANGE MUSIC

SCENE FIVE: MEDICAL EXAMINER’S MORGUE

(Dr. Cecil Franks, Detective Jameson, Roberto, and Lieutenant)

[fade into conversation]

Det. Jameson: ---yeah, fella! (chuckle) It took 25 goddamn rounds of twelve gauge slugs to bring the b*****d down!

Dr. Cecil Franks: You don’t say.

2.SOUND: BODY BAG UNZIPPING

Oh, Christ!! What the Hell?!

Det. Jameson: It aint’ pretty, doc. That’s for sure.

Dr. Franks: (stunned) W-what is it?!

Det. Jameson: Well, that what I hoped you could tell us. I mean, it looks like a man, alright. But�"those teeth and the skin. It looks like 20 people put together in one man. Doc, I’ve never seen anything like it in my life.

Dr. Franks: Well, Detective Jameson, sir, that makes two of us.

1.SOUND: JANGLE OF SURGICAL TOOLS

It’s definitely part man, part�"part--(sighs) Ohh, no. (aside, absently) No,no,no,no�"

Det. Jameson: What is it, doc?! If you know something�"

Dr. Franks: No, I’m just stunned that’s all. (PAUSE) Whatever it is, thank God it’s dead.

Det. Jameson: Yeah, well. It’s too late for all those dead girls, Lord rest their souls. (PAUSE) (cheerful) But like you said, it’s dead now. We can go back to the regular murderers and over-doses. (rueful chuckle)

Dr. Franks: Yeah. (absent, half-chuckle) Back to normal. (clears throat) Well, Detective, it is time for me to get down to business; so if you don’t mind---

Det. Jameson: Sure thing, doc. I’ve had enough for today. (PAUSE) The sooner I can file a report and bury this monster, the better. So, I can expect your work-up tomorrow morning?

Dr. Franks: Yes, Detective, I don’t foresee any problems. Go home. Get some sleep. I’ll be done soon enough.

Jameson: Good. Good deal. And, ah, save the drinkie for later, eh?

1.MUSIC: MUSICAL INTERLUDE

Dr. Franks: (slightly drunk, clears his throat in exaggeration, clicks on tape recorder) July 21^st. I am Dr. Cecil Franks and (PAUSE) and this is-is

is pure bull, that’s for sure!

2.SOUND: CLICKS OFF RECORDER, ZIPS UP BODY BAG, TALKS OFF GLOVES, WALKS TO OUTER ROOM, OPENS DESK DRAWER, AND POURS A DRINK. HE TAKES A LONG PULL AND SUCKS HIS TEETH, SNIFFS, THEN

The b*****d did it. (half-chuckle) I can’t f*****g believe he really did it.

1. SOUND: DOOR SWINGS OPEN, JANITOR’S MOP BUCKET WITH SQUEEKY WHEEL ROLLS IN

Dr. Franks: (startled) Jesus, Roberto!! Can’t you knock?!

Roberto: Oh! I’m sorry, Dr. Franks! It is so dark in here, I thought�"

Dr. Franks: Never mind. Don’t worry about it.

Roberto: Sorry, Dr. Franks. It is just that this is my day to mop the floor in here. (PAUSE) May I please turn on the lights?

Dr. Franks: (exaggerated by drunkenness) Yeah, yeah. Turn ‘em on (aside) I couldn’t give a rat’s a*s.

Roberto: Thank you, Dr. Franks.

Dr. Franks: Paco! Here, stop mopping, here.

1.SOUND: KICKS OUT EXTRA CHAIR

Sit down. (more firmly) Sit down! (PAUSE) That’s right, yeah. Have a drink with me.

Roberto: (unsure) Umm, Dr. Franks---

Dr. Franks: (firm, irritable) HAVE- A- DRINK, I said. (suddenly friendly) Not too good to have a drink with me, are you? (PAUSE) There! (chuckles) Good Man! That’s my coffee mug over there. (PAUSE) Yeah, use that. It’s clean, haven’t drunk from it all week.

1.SOUND: POURS FROM BOTTLE INTO COFFEE CUP

Dr. Frank: (friendly) They caught ‘The Drainpipe Killer’ today. Shot him dead.

Roberto: (slups, then coughs) Oh! This is a good thing. A very good thing, yes?

Dr. Franks: Yes, indeed. I got him there in the back room. (PAUSE) Wanna’ see him? No, no. (patronizingly) You don’t wanna’ see him, do ya’ Paco? (PAUSE) You’re not that dumb, are ya’? (more to himself) You don’t want that thing in your dreams. It’s a monster, I tell you. Damn thing's a head taller than the tallest man I’ve ever seen. Can barely fit in the body bag. Ugly as hell too, God Almighty. But it had got his yellow hair. Got his grey eyes too. Here he’s been gone for a year, but�"

Roberto: I don’t know what all this means, Dr. Franks.

Dr. Franks: flash of irritation) Of course you wouldn’t know! (aside, absently) Nobody knows. Except for me. (PAUSE)

I knew David Korzic from all the way back in med school. His daddy was wealthy, well at least wealthier than mine. The man was always odd. I never knew him personally, but I had heard all the stories. For years, I had not heard anything about him, except that he’d become a psychiatrist and had done his residency somewhere in Boston. So, I was astonished when he set up his practice here in this backwater. He looked every bit his age, especially with that pretty, young wife on his arm. For a while, he did quite well for himself. Oh, but the son of a b***h was always crazy. Oh, he went on and on about the coloreds, the Jews, the f*****s, the Communists, and the spics�"(PAUSE) Oh, I didn’t mean any offense, Paco. (PAUSE) Here have some more.

Roberto: (starts to protest) I-I----

Dr. Franks: Don’t worry about it! The goddamn floor can wait!

Roberto: I apologize, Dr Franks.

Dr. Franks: Look, you’re just taking an early lunch, right? (without waiting for an answer, almost to himself) He used to talk about creating some superman or some Nietzsche bullshit. Like a goddamn Nazi, he was. (Sniffs, takes a gulp) Looks like he did it, Paco. That thing in there looks like a chimera�"even the goddamn nostrils don’t match, but it’s him alright, down to the star birthmark behind his left ear. That crazy, Frankenstein b*****d really did it (fading out softly) I can’t believe he did it. (repeats almost in a stupor)

Roberto: Dr. Franks, (PAUSE) I must go now. Thank you for---

Dr. Franks: (mean drunk) Then go, Paco!! Goddamit!! Get out of my sight! (aside) Stupid Spic.

1.SOUND: MOP BUCKET ROLLS OUT OF ROOM THEN DOOR CLOSES

(grumbling) Don’t know what I was thinking. Tryin’ to have an intelligent conversation with a goddam w*****k. Stupid Puerto Rican b*****d!! No good illegal-- Call immigration�"

2.SOUND: HE STARTS TO STAND UP AND KNOCKS OVER CHAIR

(enraged) Jesus Christ!! (clears throat) Okay, okay, I got to get that report for Jameson, the dumb b*****d! (drunken rant) How I even got to this goddamn backwater, I’ll never know. (PAUSE) Okay.

1.SOUND: JANGLES SURGICAL TOOLS

Oh, here we are. (PAUSE) It’s the tools that make the man! (laughs drunkenly at his own joke)

2.SOUND: UNZIPPING BODY BAG

Look at you there, you ugly b*****d. (laugh) “Korzic’s Superman Legacy!!” Well, he may have made you, (PAUSE) but you die just like all the rest of us. (PAUSE) Christ!! The bullet holes, t-they were there I saw them, they were there�"Lord God! You can’t be alive!!

1. SOUND: GROWLING AND SHRIEKING. TOOLS FALL TO FLOOR. SOUNDS OF STRUGGLE

Let go!! Paco! (screaming) Help!!

2.MUSIC: SCENE CHANGE MUSIC

SCENE SIX: MEDICAL EXAMINER’S MORGUE

Roberto: (fade in) --and when I came in later to mop the floor, I saw him there. I-I didn’t know what to do. I-I, (PAUSE) and the bag!! The bag on the table�"it. It was empty.

Det. Jameson: It’s okay, Roberto. Go on over to that officer and he’ll take your statement. Do you understand?

Roberto: Yes, yes. (walks away muttering) Empty. The bag was empty.

LT: (steps up to Jameson) I thought you said your men brought that thing down yesterday?!!

Det. Jameson: Sir, w-we did! (PAUSE) It was dead. I swear it. Dead, I tell ya’!

Lt: Well, Jameson, we’ve got Dr. Franks here at our feet with half his head bitten off. And he damn sure didn’t do it to himself, now did he?!! (PAUSE) Are you telling me that this monster, this thing, is immortal? (mockingly) That somehow, it just raaaised itself from the dead?!! Don’t be a fool, Jameson! You had our ‘Drainpipe Killer’ and you let him walk away! And when the murders start again, Jameson�"and I assure you, they will. All of it is on your head!! [stomps away]

Det. Jameson: (shaking head, muttering) But-but it was dead (PAUSE) dead.

THE END

1.MUSIC: CLOSING THEME