Outlaw Song

By Ryan Stevens

With thanks to Marissa Gastelle, Liz Houck, Trevor Ritland, Kyle Ritland, Abigail Lee McNeely, Brooke Smith, Esther Richey, Sarah Barker, and William Quant.

2016 [email protected] Ryan Stevens Cast of Characters El Soso: Male. Luchador. Billie Baxter: Female. Outlaw.

Roberta Weiss: Female. Federal agent. Engol Pepper: Female. Weiss’ deputy. Jasper Sandoval: Male. Weiss’ deputy.

Luke Weiss: Male. Roberta’s husband. Sheriff June Adgett: Female. Town’s sheriff. Judge Mack: Female actor, male character. Judge, Civil War Vet, missing one arm. Old. Can be doubled.

Artemis Packard: Female. Outlaw. Wears an eyepatch. Same actor as Engol.

Eck Lingk: Male. Outlaw. Same actor as Jasper. Officer O’Connor: Female. Rookie officer.

La Vacia: Female. Luchadora. Same actor as Roberta. Ned Cleary: Male or Female. Lowlife. Can be doubled.

Derek Unger: Male. Mobster. Same actor as Luke. Mallory Deacon: Female. Mobster. Same actor as O’Connor.

Sheean: Nonbinary individual. Federal agent. Can be doubled. Cast of Characters (cont’d) Singer: Female. Singer #2: A second singer. Can be doubled.

Bartender: Silent part. Can be doubled.

Scene

A lonesome town on the Mexico-Texas border, the late 1950’s. NOTE For the musical portions of this play, live music is very much preferred over canned tracks. Even a lone piano will do. The character of NED can be played by a woman, changing the name to NELL CLEARY and pronouns to female. It’s a subtly different play that way, but it’s worth a thought during the casting process.

’Outlaw Song’ was originally workshopped at The LAB Theatre in Columbia SC in January of 2016. The production was Stage Managed by Brooke Smith. The working cast was as follows: El Soso...... Jon Whit McClinton Roberta Weiss/ La Vacia...... Jasmine James Billie Baxter...... Grace Ann Roberts Eck/Jasper...... Russell Sanders Artemis/Engol...... Jamie Boller Sheriff June Adgett...... Jordan Youmans *Ned Cleary...... Michael Castro Luke Weiss/Derek Unger...... Freddie Powers O’Connor/Judge Mack/Deacon/Sheean...... Sara Hilton Singer...... Abigail Lee McNeely ’Outlaw Song’ was first fully staged at the LAB Theatre in Columbia, SC, in February of 2017. The production stage manager was Kira Neighbors. Costume design was by Lauren Nix. Sound design was by Charlotte Zuraw. Lighting design was by Megan Branham. Set design was by Jon Whit McClinton and fight choreography was by William Quant, Jr. The cast was as follows:

El Soso...... William Quant, Jr. Roberta Weiss/ La Vacia...... Carrie Chalfant Billie Baxter...... Abigail Lee McNeely Eck/Jasper...... Sam Traquina Artemis/Engol...... Rachael Bates Sheriff June Adgett...... Anna Percuoco *Ned Cleary...... David Neil Edwards Luke Weiss/Derek Unger...... Lochlan Angle O’Connor/Judge/Deacon/Sheean...... Susanna McElveen Singer...... Lane Christopher

If this play is ever done with an all-straight/white/physically typical cast, so help me God. In terms of staging, unreality is great and wearing the generations-removed-Brecht of it all is encouraged, but if only one prop is real instead of representational, let it be the luchador masks. The songs listed here are the preference of the playwright, but liberties can of course be taken with what songs are 2. sung. Regardless, be sure to procure proper copyright approval for any and all music you use in the show. EL SOSO’s monologue before his match in II.6 was improvised nightly by William Quant, the first actor to play the character. The version in this script is an amalgamation of these monologues, and the actor playing EL SOSO is invited to embellish further and contribute to the character’s oral history. 3.

ACT I Scene 1 As the house fills, the SINGER is tucked away in a corner on stage, crooning songs from the Tom Waits canon. ’Big Black Mariah,’ ’Come On Up To The House,’ ’Way Down In The Hole,’ and ’Anywhere I Lay My Head’ are the playwright’s top suggestions. When the show proper begins, let the SINGER finish her current song as house lights slowly come down, so she exists in a pool of light before disappearing.

Spotlight, on EL SOSO, a luchador, standing center-stage in a flamboyant outfit and authentic mask. EL SOSO You have waited, my friends, long enough. El Soso has heard you. You wanted to see the fight. And we supplied you. You wanted to see what we have, and we have obliged. Is there a one among you, now, who can say he knows how our night will go?

Is there one among you who thinks my craft, the sacred lucha libre, the most fearsome of art, is fixed, like a statue over a cathedral? I would defy that person to predict where we will go.

You will see my fight. You will see that promise fulfilled, yes. And you will see the story of Roberta Weiss, the hero cop of the West...

ROBERTA WEISS appears Down Stage Right, brandishing a badge and reaching for a revolver. EL SOSO And you will also see Billie Baxter... BILLIE BAXTER appears Up Stage Left, suspended in a quick-draw pose. 4.

EL SOSO ...The outlaw heir apparent. A ballet of violence, by those who love the law, those who fear the law, and those who walk through it like steam. Watch now! All the pieces are on the board, or will be shortly. We’re here, now, and never again. Remember that. Lights down on ROBERTA and BILLIE. EL SOSO This journey is for you.

He exits. Scene 2 An abandoned building. ROBERTA runs in, gun drawn, followed by her deputies, ENGOL PEPPER and JASPER SANDOVAL, and SHERIFF JUNE ADGETT and OFFICER O’CONNOR, who smacks some chewing gum.

ROBERTA Billie Baxter, come out with your...ah, hell. SHERIFF ADGETT This is hopeless.

JASPER No sign of her. ENGOL Curious.

JASPER Now, how in the hell... ROBERTA Hmm...

O’CONNOR Coulda sworn I saw her duck this way. SHERIFF ADGETT She can’t be caught, she’s too quick -- she’s a salamander -- even if we caught her by the arm she’d probably pop it off and slip away -- ENGOL (to SHERIFF) Is that true? That’s fascinating. 5.

JASPER (to ENGOL) What? ENGOL (to JASPER) It’s not impossible. JASPER It is incredibly impossible!

O’CONNOR Coulda sworn. ROBERTA whistles. ROBERTA Okay, that’s enough. Here’s what we do now ENGOL Have you examined her? Can you be certain? JASPER (sotto) ¡No manches! ROBERTA Focus up. Jasper, go down on the street. See if anyone knows where she went. Engol, back to the station. Write this up. Fastidious, now. No detail unrecorded. ENGOL Yes ma’am. JASPER Yes ma’am. ENGOL and JASPER exit. ROBERTA Officer O’Connor. O’CONNOR Yes’m. ROBERTA You did good keeping an eye out for her. Sometimes they slip away. Resume your beat unless the Sheriff has something else. SHERIFF ADGETT No, no, that’s fine. 6.

ROBERTA nods at O’CONNOR, who exits. ROBERTA June.

SHERIFF ADGETT I can’t believe this, my own town...and me can’t wrangle this one measly crook. Let that idiot slip through our fingers...

ROBERTA Hey now, none of that. We’re all just scrabblin’ at the wind here, you didn’t notice. You can’t catch Billie if you’re busy beating yourself down. We’re gonna go home for now. We’re gonna learn from this. We gotta treat our enemies with respect. We don’t vilify them. Don’t go turning them into bogeymen. Gotta stay honest about what they can and can’t do. Like detaching a limb. We’ll accept their victories like good sports, and we say good game, and we plan for the next round. If we underestimate Billie, there’s no way we’ll ever catch her.

SHERIFF ADGETT Right. Right. Thank you kindly. ROBERTA We’ll figure this thing out. Getting bent out of shape helps no one. You just gotta handle situations as they are. Now come on. Good sport. Scene 3 A Safehouse. NED CLEARY, a lowlife, enters.

NED Coast’s clear, gang! ECK and ARTEMIS enter, hauling big bags of loot.

ARTEMIS Come on, Eck, get that in here. ECK I’m gettin, I’m gettin...

ARTEMIS Get faster. 7.

ECK It’s got. NED Afternoon, Eck! (more spooked) Artemis. ECK (puzzled) Yeah, hey.

ARTEMIS (smallest acknowledgement) Cleary. NED Where’s, ah, where’s Billie? ECK Who? NED Billie? ECK Don’t reckon I know anyone by that name. You know a Billie, Artemis?

ARTEMIS Oh, surely not, Eck. BILLIE BAXTER enters. BILLIE Shit, how soon we forget. ECK ARTEMIS There she is! Billie, you bitch, ain’t you a sight for sore eye.

NED (too formal) Good evening Miss Baxter! BILLIE Evenin’ Ned. NED Hold-up go well? 8.

BILLIE (indicating bags of loot) Naw, Ned, it was an ignominious failure. ECK What, ain’t we done good? ARTEMIS I’ve got half a mind to unionize, worker treatment like this.

BILLIE Look a’ these two, Cleary -- I get them rich and they wanna dig at me! Where’s the gratitude, where’s that down-home hospitality? ARTEMIS makes a lewd gesture.

ARTEMIS Got your hospitality right here, babe! BILLIE Don’t write a check you can’t cash, Art! (to NED) Cleary. There’s a match Sunday, El Soso’s goin’ toe-to-toe with Yellow Demon -- get the three of us some tickets -- BILLIE fishes money out to give to NED.

BILLIE -- And some fresh faces. NED Yes ma’am! Thank you ma’am! (turning to go, turning back) You shoot anyone this time, Billie? BILLIE A lady never tells, Ned.

NED (awestruck) Wow. NED exits.

BILLIE There goes the only boy in the country that worships dust. ARTEMIS Eh, let ’im go tell it. No such thing as bad press. 9.

BILLIE Drink to that. They exit. Scene 4

Home of ROBERTA WEISS. ROBERTA is going over BILLIE’s file. LUKE enters with two cups of tea, and sits one next to ROBERTA. LUKE How’s our friend Billie doing? ROBERTA Oh, pretty good, all things considered. Real American success story. ROBERTA and LUKE simultaneously sip their tea.

ROBERTA This a new kind? LUKE I’m trying stuff.

ROBERTA Hmm. I like it. LUKE S’ a little earthy. But thanks. (small pause) So, one to ten, how worried should I be. ROBERTA Billie Baxter...six. LUKE Six?! Tumors Thompson was only a five and he was built like a gravestone. ROBERTA Tumors Thompson was built like a gravestone and I put him in a cell without a scratch, so don’t worry about it. Lime Garrick was an eight. And I put her in iron too. LUKE Think you’ll ever run out of these criminals? 10.

ROBERTA ’These criminals’ -- they handle themselves, if you leave them alone long enough. They get confident, they get sloppy, and that’s -- if we couldn’t grab them before, we sure can then. (indicating tea) I see what you mean about earthy. LUKE Yeah. It needs a sweetness, raspberry maybe.

ROBERTA Pomegranate. LUKE (interested) Ooh. (small pause) Need to talk the case out? ROBERTA Nah, it’s pretty much just a manhunt. Man-hunts I can do. Someone has to, good thing I’m good at it. This is a country full of brilliant people, gifted people, people with natural talent for whatever they apply themselves to; it’s just that sometimes they apply themselves to the wrong thing...and not as many apply themselves to the right thing. I’ve set up to do the right thing -- now I just apply myself every day.

LUKE You make me want to enlist. ROBERTA Oh, don’t do that.

They kiss. LUKE Think you’ll need to publish a challenge in the paper to call Billie out, like with Sandhills Stuart?

ROBERTA No, this is hardly -- Stuart was -- that was different. I was young. I was fresh out of the academy, and -- there are many -- there are a lot of differences between that case and this. It’s really not even a comparison, it -- it --

LUKE Oh, jeez, sweetie, I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to -- ROBERTA No, no, it’s ok. 11.

LUKE Of course this isn’t Stuart. Sandhills Stuart was a mad dog, this Billie Baxter’s just some trigger happy thrill chaser, dancing in the dust, right? Not any kind of hardened psycho. Right?

ROBERTA (a pause) I’m sure she’s not. I hope she’s not. (a pause) I don’t know her much, Luke. I mean, I think I do. I get the impression of her -- (indicating the files) I think I can see how she fills out a room. How she’d sit at that table, angle her head, rest her feet in her boots. (to herself?) I don’t want to shoot this one.

LUKE Roberta, babe. ROBERTA I think about that almost every time. Please God, not another one. Let there be another way... What kind of officer would I be, I didn’t have a logic for what I’ve done. (a pause) Stuart sure seemed to have his mind made up. But I do wonder. I wonder about all seven of them. Sandhills Stuart. Stephanie "The Icepick" Hughes. Ox and Boone Wilson. Enoch Wilbur. Avery Pike. Claire Watkins. Even if I couldn’t help them by the time we collided, there must’ve been some time when someone could have. It’s just a shame. Whenever things get to where they got, it’s tough to grapple with. And so, I want to say yes to your question. But I’m not in a position to evaluate. All I know is, you get into a situation like that, you have to do some cruel math...I wouldn’t call myself humble in those moments. I wouldn’t call myself proud either. So let’s pray Billie Baxter keeps us both breathing.

LUKE She’s nothing you haven’t seen before. She’s cocky... LUKE picks up a paper and inspects it.

LUKE ...and lewd. There’s no malice or hate to anything she’s doing. She’s like a kid firing a pop-gun and running around on a stick horse. 12.

ROBERTA Means I’m ruining the fun, huh? LUKE (light) S’part of the oath you swear, right? ROBERTA First verse. ROBERTA finishes her tea and gives her mug to LUKE and goes back to the papers. LUKE So, think she’ll come quiet, or go out in a big spectacle?

ROBERTA Lemme focus on finding her actual face first, and then we can... ROBERTA has a sudden synaptic connection and scrambles for a few specific papers. ROBERTA "Spectacle." Oh, Luke, we’re gonna get her. We’re gonna get her before either of us have time to worry any more.

Scene 5 A saloon. ECK, ARTEMIS, and NED play cards. ECK and ARTEMIS are in vague disguises. THE SINGER sings through the scene change.

Song ’Mack The Knife.’ SINGER See the shark with teeth like razors All can read his open face All Macheath has is a knife, but Not in such an obvious place See the shark, how red his fins are, As he slashes at his prey Mack the Knife wears white kid gloves which Will not give the man away On a beautiful blue Sunday, See a corpse stretched in the Strand See a man dodge round the corner, Mackie’s friends will understand. 13.

ARTEMIS Call that a hand, Cleary? NED I didn’t pick the cards!

ECK Can’t hide behind that forever. ARTEMIS Just watch him.

NED It’s not my fault! I just drawed ’em! ARTEMIS You drew em.

NED I drew em! ARTEMIS Yeah, yeah. I’m gettin’ another beer, wash down all your bull. ARTEMIS exits. NED She always gonna be so mean to me?

ECK Yer still wonderin’. NED Well -- I just -- I’m just feelin’ a little -- a mite bit -- uh, uh, uh, a mite bit, you know... ECK "She always so mean." Hehe. Gravity kiss you a lot as a babe?

NED Do what now? ECK Your damn fool mammy drop ya a bunch?

NED I just can’t fathom... ROBERTA enters. 14.

ROBERTA I miss the music already?

NED (gasping) Um -- y -- yes -- ... ECK ’Fraid so, miss.

ROBERTA What a shame. What a shame. Ah well. ROBERTA has a seat at a near table. NED stares at her, though she appears not to notice. ECK elbows her in the ribs. ECK (sotto) Quit lookin’ so spooked!

NED (sotto) But that’s -- ROBERTA I don’t think we’ve been acquainted. I’m Roberta Weiss. New in town. You fine gentlemen are... ECK Sol. -- Silverstein.

NED (panicked) Ned Cleary. ROBERTA Charmed. I’m meeting so many people. Just had a chat with the sheriff. Y’all know Sheriff Adgett? ECK Haven’t had the pleasure. Don’t know many folks.

ROBERTA You just passin’ through? ECK -- Yes. Yes, that’s right, I’m just passing through.

ROBERTA Well I’m glad you wasted no time chumming it with a few locals. Aren’t they so kind? 15.

ECK The kindest. ROBERTA Even Ned here. Ol’ Ned’s known to associate with wanted felons, like members of Billie Baxter’s gang -- have you heard of her? Rough customer -- but she’s still kind enough to talk to a stranger. Really shows the -- what do you call it -- duality of man. NED Yeah, I -- uh, I try. ROBERTA That’s apparent. ARTEMIS re-enters with a glass of beer. ROBERTA And who might this be, Sol? ECK ARTEMIS My wife. I’m his sister.

ROBERTA (a pause) Okay, then. You’re from out of town too, ma’am? ARTEMIS Yeah. Just passing through. ROBERTA Aren’t we all. I was just telling your...relation, here about these nasty customers we’ve got in this town. Billie Baxter, Eck Lingk, Artemis Packard. Vicious, ruthless, cold-blooded murderers. I hear that Eck fellow even eats people. ECK Do you now?

ROBERTA I do. Of course, it’s probably all a load of bunk. These small towns and their rumors, who can suss any truth out of it? But that ain’t my job anyhow. I’m just here to arrest folks.

ARTEMIS All by yourself? 16.

ROBERTA Well I’ve got the Sheriff too.

ARTEMIS She ain’t much. ROBERTA Oh, you’ve met the Sheriff? I’m sure she was neighborly. I confess I’m a big June Adgett fan. She makes me want to put down stakes and live here for good. ARTEMIS I didn’t get that impression from her. ROBERTA So you don’t think you’ll be staying? ECK Nah. We’re more constant motion types. Gotta keep moving. Like sharks.

ROBERTA If you stop moving, you die. Huh. Where you headed? ARTEMIS Wherever we end up.

ROBERTA Ah-ha. Very good. Who knows, maybe that’s the right call...for all our sakes...getting out of town while you can.

ARTEMIS Sorry? ROBERTA What with outlaws running wild and all. Things are probably gonna get hairy.

ARTEMIS No place for a family, huh? ROBERTA If I were a citizen I’d give it an awful lot of thought.

ECK Something anyone oughta mull over. Just out of -- whatsit -- self-preservation. NED Do y’all got any leads on those bandits? (a pause) Just -- just wondering. 17.

ROBERTA Well. Not anything I can disclose, no, but don’t worry Ned. Those bad influence friends of yours shouldn’t trouble you much longer. (looking at ECK and ARTEMIS) We’re gonna take this nice and slow. Nothing sloppy. We’ll scoop em all, or nothing at all. ARTEMIS Big talk. Ain’t you at least a little nervous?

ROBERTA (shrugging) Like I said... ROBERTA makes to turn to the door. Very quickly, ARTEMIS reaches for her gun, ECK tries to stop her, and ROBERTA whirls around, gun drawn, pointed straight at ARTEMIS. NED lets a squeal of fear escape him. ROBERTA smirks, laughs warmly, and puts her gun away.

ROBERTA I can handle myself. ROBERTA nods and exits.

Scene 6 An Interrogation Room. SHERIFF ADGETT and EL SOSO. EL SOSO is cuffed at the table.

EL SOSO You cannot keep me held here. I have a match! I must wrestle! I must engage! I must fulfill my purpose! SHERIFF ADGETT Buddy, I got a purpose too, and it’s called justice. And you’re obstructing it. EL SOSO "Justice?" Pah. Justice is nothing. Justice has no shape. Justice is shiny stones that only look pretty to you. You say I obstruct justice? I say you obstruct destiny.

SHERIFF ADGETT There ain’t no destiny but the one the Lord plans for us -- 18.

EL SOSO Then it seems your Lord has planned for you to fail. SHERIFF ADGETT Why you little --

SHERIFF pulls her gun, drops it. ROBERTA, ENGOL and JASPER enter. ROBERTA Okay, okay --

EL SOSO Trying to kill El Soso? JASPER Jesus Christ, June!

SHERIFF ADGETT I just wanted to spook him! ROBERTA (keeping it light) Consider us all spooked. SHERIFF ADGETT He’s not being respectful! ENGOL That does happen in our line of work. ROBERTA Engol, Jasper, take Sheriff Adgett for a walk, keep a cooler head.

EL SOSO I am dishonored by this outrage! JASPER Wait your turn.

EL SOSO I am El Soso! JASPER Yes, we’ve heard.

SHERIFF ADGETT I’m really sorry. ROBERTA Walk it off, June. 19.

JUNE, ENGOL, and JASPER exit. ROBERTA So. So. Let’s talk. EL SOSO I cannot be kept here! I must fight! Pescado Roho will not wait! ROBERTA Big match today?

EL SOSO Every match deserves my utmost strength. Defend only against giants and you’ll be eaten by ants. ROBERTA So not really? EL SOSO Title fight on Sunday. ROBERTA Sunday, ’s that right? EL SOSO They will come from all over to see me do battle. Just as, tonight, though the world may not watch, I will battle for my name and glory all the same. It would be worse to lose when no one sees it; my failure would be imagined, embellished to mythic size. Officer. It is tiring to be the champ. ROBERTA You’re telling me. Everyone you meet’s got their eyes on your head. EL SOSO Would that I could sleep with open eyes.

ROBERTA Hell, I wish I didn’t sleep period. Wastes a third of the day. I like you, El Soso. And I respect your work. God knows I couldn’t do it. But then again I doubt you’d be much in a firefight, all things bein’ equal.

EL SOSO Let’s hope we never find out, eh. ROBERTA Yes. Actually, you can help with that. See, I know you’ve got a lot of fans. Including one Billie Baxter. 20.

EL SOSO I...I have no control over who -- ROBERTA Yeah, yeah, ok. But you know she’s there. You’ve got to, guy like you, in love with the rush, with being witnessed, you’ve gotta know the witnesses. I’m not asking much. I’m just asking you point her out...she likes a disguise. And to be honest, I’ve never really felt like we’ve gotten to chat. Properly, you know.

EL SOSO (a pause) And what if El Soso should refuse. ROBERTA Well. Then El Soso will probably have to concede to Pescado Rojo today. Which, while not a loss, has still got to sting, I’m guessing. And there’s the public drunkenness charge. And all the coffee you drank here, you’ll have to pay for both of those. EL SOSO You pick up a man in the throes of celebration...you make him sleep off his libations in a cell. The dishonor of that alone...And then you hold a man from doing what he loves. ROBERTA You’ve gotta do what you’ve gotta do. I’ve got my thing too. You know that hunger you get, I’m assuming you feel this, stop me if you don’t. That feeling right before you go out to bust someone? Maybe, in your terms, a wrestler you’ve heard of, maybe you’ve even seen them wrestle? And you’re sure you can take them. You’re positive. But then, right before it goes down, that little tickle, that sudden wonder, ’can I really do this?’ (a pause) You know that? EL SOSO I chase that feeling everywhere I go. ROBERTA Yeah. It’s such a tease. It’s tantalizing, it’s promising something better than any food you’ve ever had, better than the best sleep in the world.

EL SOSO rises from the table. EL SOSO (agitated) I feel it now. I need to go. I need to answer it now! 21.

ROBERTA (calm) Me too, El Soso. Me too. They size each other up.

EL SOSO (measured) I...will...cooperate. I will allow you to meet and face Billie Baxter. But I have my honor. Whatever comes of this, it is not my concern. That is on your hands.

ROBERTA Noted and received. Thank you. EL SOSO Don’t get ahead of yourself.

ROBERTA undoes EL SOSO’s cuffs. ROBERTA Good luck tonight. Hope you don’t need it.

EL SOSO No one was ever too lucky, Señora Weiss. ROBERTA nods and exits. Scene 7

Void. The SINGER and NED appear behind EL SOSO. NED And now, for a bit of an interlude.

SINGER Bear with us, we know this may seem unorthdox. EL SOSO To explain some inner workings of my sacred art.

SINGER Wrestling Theatrics 101 -- NED -- Cross-listed with Anthropology 273 --

EL SOSO Lucha Libre stock characters and types. 22.

NED Now, most wrestlers tend to fall in one of two camps Faces and heels. EL SOSO The faces are the heroes, the arbiters of truth, justice, and the wrestling way. En espanol, we call them tecnicos. The heels, however, are the villains. Cruel, wily, willing to cut off their own nose to smear their enemy’s face with blood. They have no honor, only a thirst for victory that parches their heart and dims their soul. Rudos.

NED Now, El Soso here, for our purposes, represents a consummate Face. Which could explain his passion against Heels. SINGER So now you’ve got your two extremes. EL SOSO The Face Good. The Heel Bad, very bad. SINGER It’s a reductive binary, sure, but -- EL SOSO -- The truest things in life are simplest! (a pause) Well, I think so.

SINGER But herein is where things get tricky. NED Suppose I’m a Face. NED strikes a luchador pose. NED ’Golden Pond!’ ...or something. EL SOSO Señor Golden Pond here could have a wondrous rise, noble victory after honorable victory, an idol of all, a pillar, a bastion of the community...

NED But bastions maybe don’t always sell so well. SINGER So what’s Golden Pond to do? 23.

NED, SINGER, EL SOSO FACE-HEEL TURN! NED becomes more villainous. NED "One bad day, one bad day’s all it takes! I forsake the life of the hero! Now I’m Cold Water, and I will drown you!" So now I’m a Heel. EL SOSO And Golden Pond’s fall to Cold Water will be witnessed, and feared, and revered by all. For how many religions hinge on the falling of a star? SINGER Okay. Let’s keep this secular, hm?

EL SOSO El Soso makes no promises. NED So that’s the Face-Heel Turn. Tragic, but electrifying. But, suppose a wrestler started as a heel. EL SOSO produces another mask and puts it on over his mask. EL SOSO For this hypothetical, call me La Plaga. NED So La Plaga starts as a Heel. EL SOSO I am La Plaga! I will infect your body and stop your lungs! NED And he does this shtick for awhile. Scum and villainy, villainy and scum...

SINGER Until... EL SOSO I’ve had it! I’ve had enough scum, and also my fill of villainy. I want order! I want honor! I want to be fulfilled! I want to be a Face! NED, SINGER, EL SOSO HEEL-FACE TURN! 24.

SINGER This one, however, is a touch trickier. NED (Cold Water again) Not so fast, La Plaga. You can’t be a Face!

EL SOSO Cold Water? NED No, Golden Pond. And speaking on behalf of the other Faces, we don’t want you. We voted. It was unanimous. We want to hurt you way more than we wanna help you. EL SOSO Wh- wh- what?

NED That’s just how it goes, man. EL SOSO My redemption -- shot! My honor -- forever eludes me!

NED This is heart-wrenching, but common turn of events is called the -- NED, SINGER, EL SOSO HEEL-FACE DOOR SLAM! EL SOSO And it is truer to life than much anything else in wrestling.

SINGER This concludes tonight’s lecture. NED Keep all this in mind as we go forward. This will be on the final. NED and SINGER exit. Scene 8 A wrestling match.

EL SOSO stands center stage. Around him, EL SOSO’s elaborate entrance occurs. A signature piece of music plays as EL SOSO preens. 25.

BILLIE, ECK and ARTEMIS sit in the audience, in disguises. ECK Look at ’im! Bout to knock that Yellow Demon senseless.

ARTEMIS I don’t understand why they don’t punch more. BILLIE Y’know, under the masks, these ain’t wild animals. There’s an art to it. It’s not about beating your enemy, it’s about getting them to submit. They don’t pummel each other, they hold ’em. You want your enemy to not have any options left but surrender; you can’t get a corpse to admit you’re the stronger one. That takes a living touch.

ARTEMIS It’s just not efficient, is all I’m saying. Fun, though. EL SOSO Silence! Patrons! Hear me! Who comes to see the battle?

ARTEMIS, ECK, and BILLIE cheer. EL SOSO Thank you! I will repay your investment in kind! With libations of blood and sweat, dripping salted goblets full for you all!

ECK (rising) Makin’ me thirsty. BILLIE Grab a round for all of us. (to ARTEMIS) Go with ’im, he always drops something. ARTEMIS Aye-aye. Though I hate to miss all the grandstanding... BILLIE Hey! It’s part of the mystique. You gotta get warmed up, y’know, excited. Teased a little.

ARTEMIS You are such a sucker for pageantry. BILLIE (playful) You know me. 26.

ECK and ARTEMIS exit. EL SOSO But before...ah...before the great reckoning against the Yellow Demon, I hear word...I hear word of a lowly little scarab seeking to scrape its way to a higher rock. Show yourself! Show yourself and chance it with El Soso! SHERIFF ADGETT enters, disguised, dressed as a luchador.

SHERIFF ADGETT It is I, the Gilded Scarab. I’m here to lucha against you. EL SOSO You speak with disrespect. You come in the trappings of a great warrior, but carry yourself with no higher code. You offend us all with your presence. SHERIFF ADGETT ...Um...so? So what about that? EL SOSO ...So...you will fall to me this day! El Soso will not let some pretender, some charlatan, draped in the image of a luchador, pursuing their own purpose, have their way with him... SHERIFF ADGETT (whisper) What the hell are you doing? EL SOSO (whisper) Playing my part! (projecting) Now! All of you, yes, all of you, let me see, let me look at my loving audience, for it is you who will give me strength to flatten this little pest...

EL SOSO scans the crowd. BILLIE may get restless. SHERIFF ADGETT Uh, see anyone who might be a better match for me, Soso?

EL SOSO El Soso. SHERIFF ADGETT Whatever. Come on! Stop dithering and -- follow through -- on your purpose! These people want a match, after all. 27.

EL SOSO Ah! Yes! They do. And I am sure the natural order will prevail. (pointing to BILLIE) See, there, a regular attendee who could grapple with you and crush your beady skull. BILLIE (sotto) Ah, Christ.

SHERIFF ADGETT takes her mask off and pulls out a pistol, aiming it at BILLIE. SHERIFF ADGETT Billie Baxter, you’re under --

BILLIE quick-draws and shoots SHERIFF ADGETT in the side. She falls to one knee and cradles the wound while BILLIE tries to run to an exit. ROBERTA enters, gun drawn, and cuts her off. BILLIE backs up and dives behind a post in the ring, gun pointed at ROBERTA. SHERIFF ADGETT also trains her gun on BILLIE.

ROBERTA You can’t leave yet, Bill, title fight’s just about to start. EL SOSO Forgive me, Señora Baxter. BILLIE I ain’t even want to look at you right now, man. ROBERTA You okay, June? SHERIFF ADGETT (gritting her teeth) I -- I’ll live.

EL SOSO They threatened my art. My honor dictated I fight, no matter the -- BILLIE Shut up! This is past you now. Get out of here before I shoot my idol on the same day I gotta kill another cop. 28.

EL SOSO exits. ROBERTA Never meet your heroes, Billie. BILLIE Guarantee Mickey Mantle never pulled this crap. ROBERTA You a baseball fan?

BILLIE Nah. Too team-oriented. There’s no incentive for anyone to stand out. ROBERTA Yeah, I wouldn’t peg you for one.

BILLIE I’m interested in what you would peg me for. ROBERTA Drop your gun and we can play a game of slapjack.

BILLIE How about you drop yours and we just be pen-pals. ROBERTA Oh, Billie, dear. You can still send letters in prison.

BILLIE Can’t in the grave, though. SHERIFF ADGETT (pulling hammer back) No, you can’t. BILLIE (to SHERIFF ADGETT) Whu? Oh! Damn, Sheriff -- look, I gotta be honest, I completely forgot you were there. SHERIFF ADGETT Funny, I can’t wait to forget you. BILLIE (to ROBERTA) I thought we were having a conversation? ROBERTA Is this just a conversation to you? 29.

BILLIE It doesn’t have to be. ROBERTA No it does not. Now, fun as this is, we’ve disrupted these nice people’s wrestling match...And, seeing as I got my gun on you, and you got your gun on me, and Sheriff Adgett’s got her gun on you too, well...I’ll respect your intelligence. BILLIE pulls out a second gun and points it at the SHERIFF.

BILLIE And if I don’t respect yours? If I manage to plug you both in a breath? ROBERTA We can spend the rest of our mortal lives asking ’what if,’ or we can shoot you. And in case you’re wondering about where the cavalry is... ENGOL enters, gun drawn.

ENGOL We’re sittin’ on both of em, Roberta. Got ’em trussed up like holiday pheasant. ROBERTA Don’t go turnin’ out to be stupid and lettin’ me down, Billie. Drop the gun. Have some decency. BILLIE You forget who we are? (long pause) Don’t tell me you don’t want to. ROBERTA Please don’t tell me you do. Everyone freezes. Finally, BILLIE drops her guns. BILLIE Yeah, you’re right. This is no place for it. We’ll get our time in the sun.

ROBERTA moves to restrain BILLIE, handcuffing her. ROBERTA Thank you. 30.

BILLIE Oh, yeah, no problem. ROBERTA Engol, take her. Gentle, now.

ENGOL Yes ma’am. BILLIE You heard her, gentle.

ENGOL leads BILLIE off. ROBERTA moves to help SHERIFF ADGETT. ROBERTA You sure you’re alright, Sheriff?

SHERIFF ADGETT Eh, yeah, just a graze. Thanks for the cover, good to know we still got friends, times like this. ROBERTA ’Times like this?’ Sheriff, things must be bad for you, you don’t know how to win. The ’times like this’ just got arrested. Led out in cuffs. Pure and clean. ’Times like this,’ are good times indeed. ROBERTA offers to shake SHERIFF ADGETT’s hand. SHERIFF ADGETT shakes. ROBERTA looks at her hand, sees blood, and groans in alarm before realizing the blood came from SHERIFF ADGETT. They exit.

Scene 9 A Courthouse. JUDGE MACK, BILLIE, SHERIFF ADGETT and ROBERTA enter. BILLIE sits, restrained, on one side, with ROBERTA and SHERIFF ADGETT on the other. JUDGE MACK stands behind a podium upstage. SHERIFF ADGETT Billie Baxter is slime, morally degenerate slime, a plague of the Biblical manner! She tried to kill me, with malice and forethought -- JUDGE MACK Sheriff? 31.

SHERIFF ADGETT Sorry? JUDGE MACK Kindly have a seat. You’ve made your case. Repeatedly. Now then --

BILLIE Overruled! JUDGE MACK You can’t do that! BILLIE Oh, hell, it’s not illegal, is it? JUDGE MACK I think we’ve heard all we need to -- ROBERTA Wait, Your Honor -- I think we need to offer Billie a chance for final arguments.

JUDGE MACK Must we, ma’am? ROBERTA Yes, sir. I collared Billie Baxter, and we all know my account of events. I know my view on it, but there should still be a chance for her to plead her case. SHERIFF ADGETT Roberta -- JUDGE MACK This is preposterous. She’s declined to lift a finger in her defense thus far, what makes you think -- BILLIE I would like to, actually.

JUDGE MACK (incredulous) For the love of Dixie -- Really? BILLIE Yes, Your Honor. Ladies and gents on the jury, I’d like to thank Roberta Weiss for making sure I got my day in court...and for making sure I got to say my piece Kiss my grits. The defense rests. 32.

ROBERTA Your Honor -- JUDGE MACK bangs his gavel. JUDGE MACK Wilma Baxter, for the crimes of murder, robbery, dueling, contempt of court, and conspiracy, I hereby sentence you to death by hanging. Sheriff, remove her from this courtroom. JUDGE MACK exits. SHERIFF ADGETT moves to take BILLIE off-stage. SHERIFF ADGETT You finally got what you deserved. Happy now? BILLIE Ecstatic. (to ROBERTA) You gonna write me, Bobbie? Don’t be afraid to write. I also take flowers. Sunflowers! With all the petals bit off! SHERIFF ADGETT and BILLIE exit. ROBERTA rises and regards BILLIE as she exits and the scene transitions. Scene 10

In scene transition, the SINGER sings ’St. James Infirmary.’ SINGER It was down by old Joe’s barroom, On the corner of the square They were serving drinks as usual, And the usual crowd was there On my left stood Big Joe McKennedy, and his eyes were bloodshot red And he turned his face to the people, These were the very words he said

I went down to St. James infirmary, I saw my baby there She was stretched out on a long white table, So cool, so sweet, so sweet, so fair

Let her go, let her go, God bless her Wherever she may be She may search this whole wide world over Never find another love like me 33.

ROBERTA’s home. ROBERTA remains onstage and LUKE enters, holding some glasses of champagne. The mood is light. They’re celebrating.

LUKE Roberta! You in there? ROBERTA (joyful) Luke, I still have to work in the morning. How much champagne did you buy? LUKE Enough to float us back to Washington, if we only had a canoe.

They kiss. LUKE "My Wife, the Hero Cop." ROBERTA Oh, boy. LUKE That makes me the Hero Husband of the West. The model for all husbands!

ROBERTA I can’t wait to go back North and be nothing special again. LUKE Well then you and I are gonna have problems --

LUKE ROBERTA Because you’re oh so "Because you’re oh so special, and I know it. special, and I know it." You’re dependable, Luke, I’ll give you that.

LUKE I am the Hero Husband of the West.

ROBERTA Mm, yes. That’s a title our kids’ll be proud to hear. LUKE (a pause) Kids? 34.

ROBERTA (a pause) Yes. Maybe? LUKE Maybe? ROBERTA I was thinking...Why not? LUKE Of course! Sounds fun. The next adventure -- for the Hero Cop and her Hero Husband. ROBERTA I can’t believe I married someone who’s enjoying this --

She finishes her glass. ROBERTA You said there was more? LUKE Yes. ROBERTA Well let’s get into it while I can still drink. They kiss again and exit amorously.

Scene 11 Early early morning. ENGOL, JASPER, and a restrained BILLIE sit just outside the city jail.

JASPER Car oughta be comin’ round here anytime, Baxter, look alive. BILLIE While I still can? (a pause) Any chance this thing could be public? You know, families on picnic blankets? JASPER You’re dyin’ quiet like everyone else, Baxter. Sorry.

BILLIE You know Jasper, I’m starting to think there’s some friction betwixt you and I. 35.

JASPER You could call it that. They wait in silence. ENGOL What do we do? JASPER What?

ENGOL After, I mean. JASPER Well personally I’ll be crawling my ass back in bed.

ENGOL That’s it? Nothing done otherwise. JASPER Well Engol, as I own a watch, ain’t much else I want to do at this hour. You’re acting like this is new.

ENGOL Is it not? JASPER We’ve given at least half a dozen other crooks to the hangman before! I’ll have dates in my datebook I can show you when the sun’s up. ENGOL But this is different. Me, you, and Her. The total alignment of probabilities is worth noting, I think.

JASPER It’s worth nothing. ENGOL Yes! It is worth noting.

JASPER No, I said -- Look, Engol, I’m glad that the pursuit of justice still has its novelty for you, but I’m of the persuasion that just wants to get the thing done. (a pause) Let’s just pass her off. Do the same damn thing with her cronies tomorrow -- ENGOL Not Eck. 36.

JASPER Do what? ENGOL He ain’t gonna hang. They found him guilty of conspiring, but not actual murder. No lives taken, he keeps his.

BILLIE Atta boy Eck. JASPER Buncha softies. He didn’t kill no one, but I guarantee you he was there when this one and that one-eyed girl did the killing. (to BILLIE) Huh? Am I right or am I right?

BILLIE Nah, Eck was never much for killing. Just ate the bodies was all. ENGOL Really?

JASPER Oh, good God. Engol, keep picking at things you ain’t got no business pickin’ at, someone’s liable to answer you. Now quit feedin’ the animal.

ENGOL I can’t help it. I’m fascinated. She’s like a deep pool, I can’t not look down into the water...it keeps going on and on and on down.

JASPER Quit it! The sound of a car pulling up. A man enters in a coat and hat, obscuring his face.

SINGER enters off to the side. She stops to watch what’s about to happen. JASPER Deliverance. You here to pick up the prisoner? The man nods. JASPER You wanna...bring the car closer? Be practical? 37.

The man grabs JASPER’s neck, swiftly snapping it, killing him. ENGOL pulls her gun and points it at the man, who takes off his hat and reveals himself as EL SOSO.

EL SOSO Stand down, Agent Engol. El Soso will make this quick. ENGOL Weakest of cowards, shut your mouth.

EL SOSO You wounded me when you took my honor away. I cannot ignore my blight. ENGOL Stand back. When I shoot you, I want to see the blood pattern on your mask. BILLIE You know, Engol, you could just run. I wouldn’t tell. Would you, El Soso?

ENGOL Stop talking. EL SOSO El Soso will never speak of this night.

ENGOL Lace your fingers behind your head. BILLIE Engol --

ENGOL Shh. That’s right -- slowly. Slowly now. BILLIE Hey, Engol -- BILLIE loops her cuffs around ENGOL’s neck. ENGOL’s arm jerks up and her gun goes off as the two women struggle. Just as she does so, EL SOSO falls to his knees. ENGOL Billie -- you -- are -- under -- arrest -- 38.

BILLIE strangles ENGOL who’s finally still. BILLIE pants, wipes her forehead, covers ENGOL’s face with her (BILLIE’s) hat.

EL SOSO gives BILLIE her guns. EL SOSO Are you satisfied now, Señora? Is the matter absolved? BILLIE Consider us square. Now help me out of these, I gotta look appropriate for my best pals. They exit. THE SINGER moves forward.

Song ’Where Did You Sleep Last Night’ by Leadbelly. SINGER My girl, my girl, don’t lie to me Tell me where did you sleep last night In the pines, in the pines Where the sun don’t ever shine I would shiver the whole night through

My girl, my girl, where will you go I’m going where the cold wind blows In the pines, in the pines Where the sun don’t ever shine I would shiver the whole night through

Her husband, was a hard working man Just about a mile from here His head was found in a driving wheel But his body never was found

My girl, my girl, don’t lie to me Tell me where did you sleep last night Lights and scene transition as she sings. 39.

Scene 12 Sheriff’s Station. SHERIFF ADGETT and ROBERTA sit in candlelight. ROBERTA ...I wonder what her last meal was. Do you know? SHERIFF ADGETT No, I -- I’m sure I could find it out tomorrow.

ROBERTA Would you? It always fascinates me. The food you choose to be your final meal. Do you go with an old favorite? Something comforting from your childhood? Or, something exorbitant and decadent, a real firework.

SHERIFF ADGETT I’d probably just go for a steak and beer. But hey, I’m easy. BILLIE enters, two guns drawn. ROBERTA stands and draws her own gun, but SHERIFF ADGETT is just caught in fear. BILLIE Good to hear you admit it, June.

SHERIFF ADGETT Wh -- wh -- wha -- what -- BILLIE You wanna take some time? Sit a few rounds out, collect your thoughts?

ROBERTA How’d you get here, Billie. BILLIE Well, Bobbie, in delicate terms...I escaped. SHERIFF ADGETT And came here? You -- You just couldn’t get enough of being arrested -- y-you wanted to do it again?

BILLIE (to SHERIFF ADGETT) The pro’s are talking, d’ya mind. (to ROBERTA) What can I say...I felt some pull. Felt like the thing to do at the time. 40.

ROBERTA Where are Lingk and Packard? BILLIE Oh, I knew I forgot something. I haven’t gotten to them. Broke out and followed my nose straight here.

SHERIFF ADGETT If you think you can get -- BILLIE I think you’re the one needs to get, Sheriff. See yourself out, won’t you? SHERIFF ADGETT I will do no such --

BILLIE Do it or I’ll drop you. Okay? You know I can drop you before you draw yours, and even if Bobbie gets me before I can get her, that don’t make you any less dead, now, does it? SHERIFF ADGETT I -- I -- I... ROBERTA Do what she says, June. SHERIFF ADGETT But -- ROBERTA I’ll be fine. Go on. Sleep it off. We’ll laugh about this in the morning, like some crazy dream.

BILLIE Sleep well, Princess. Mind the bedbugs and all. SHERIFF ADGETT (to ROBERTA) I’m sorry -- I’m sorry... SHERIFF ADGETT edges her way to the door and exits. BILLIE There. Now you and I can talk. ROBERTA What do you want to talk about? 41.

BILLIE Oh, shucks, I’m -- you know, it’s funny -- I’m feeling a little rude for intruding now, so why don’t you lead. ROBERTA What happened to my partners? BILLIE (a pause) You don’t deliberate much at all, do you? (a pause) You should be proud. Running was never an option for ’em. ROBERTA You have to realize you’re not giving me a lot of leeway as to how this is gonna go.

BILLIE I can’t imagine I’ve got that many options myself. ROBERTA Well that’s just where we are then. (a pause) Say...before this goes where it’s going -- mind telling me something? About yourself. Those wrestling matches -- with the masks and all...why are you so into those? BILLIE I don’t know -- I just like them. I respect the art. The athleticism...and there’s just a real sense of pathos, you know? A guy named The Saint fights a guy called Blue Demon...hard not to feel like a higher plane’s at play. ROBERTA So you like the narrative. BILLIE Yeah. ROBERTA Okay. I get that. BILLIE It’s good, right? ROBERTA Beats reading The Hardy Boys. BILLIE You don’t like The Hardy Boys? 42.

ROBERTA Can’t say I do. BILLIE Oh, God, me neither.

ROBERTA They’re just so -- BILLIE Dull, murky, grimy --

ROBERTA Yes! Thank you! BILLIE Thank you! It’s so great to know I’m not crazy here...

ROBERTA My brother used to eat those things up... BILLIE You have a brother?

ROBERTA You’re surprised. BILLIE Guess I didn’t think about you having a family.

ROBERTA I have a brother. And a gun. BILLIE Yeah, that, I could see.

ROBERTA How about you? BILLIE Two guns. ROBERTA No, family. BILLIE Wondering who’s gonna be there when I go in the ground? ROBERTA I guess it wouldn’t make it easier. 43.

BILLIE Hope that wasn’t your angle when you told me about your brother. ROBERTA Oh, no, no, no. I didn’t mean it to be. You give your best -- I’ll do the same. I promise you. BILLIE You ever think about just...not? Just walking away?

ROBERTA You know, it’s got its upsides...but nah. I don’t think either of us thinks that’s a viable option. BILLIE And why not?

ROBERTA I’ve got my job. You’ve got your reputation. And we both would have that wondering...that sneaking suspicion, you know...scrabbling in the back of our heads, in the quiet moments in the middle of the night, asking, ’who would have won? What would have happened?’ That kind of unresolved worrying -- it can drive you mad. Probably best we go ahead and answer it. BILLIE God. There. That right there. That’s the sort of -- that’s why I’ll miss you when one of us is gone. (a pause) Now isn’t that a strange thought? ROBERTA I’ll miss you too, Billie. (a pause) Do you want to go through with this? You could turn yourself in. That works too. BILLIE (sincere) You really think that can happen? ROBERTA (breaking terrible news) No...just thought I should offer anyway.

BILLIE Mighty kind of you. But see, I promised you we’d get our hour in the sun. 44.

ROBERTA It’s dark out, if you didn’t notice. BILLIE And yet I feel awful warm.

BILLIE blows out the candle. Blackout. BILLIE Ready whenever you are...

ROBERTA Oh. After you. I can’t possibly pull first. (a pause; then, firm, not pleading) I have a husband.

BILLIE This is just between us. He never has to know me. ROBERTA You promise?

BILLIE I solemnly swear. (a pause) Now, I get that you’ve got the job, and everything... ROBERTA Mm-hm? BILLIE What makes you so unshakable, huh? ROBERTA (a pause) I have no honest idea. Just a compulsion -- something in the back of my throat. Won’t let me not. BILLIE Guess I get that. ROBERTA I figured you would. BILLIE You saying you’ve got me figured out? ROBERTA You’re gonna make me say it? 45.

BILLIE Mm. (a pause) Hello, Bobbie!

BILLIE fires. There’s a brief flash. ROBERTA fires back. BILLIE fires again. There’s a moment of silence; stillness. Blackout continues.

SINGER strikes a single match and is illuminated. She slowly makes her way to the candle, and lights it. Lights come up the slightest amount. The SINGER is dressed in black. Music begins, low. She sings as the light creeps in. Song ’Pretty Little Head’ by Eliza Rickman.

SINGER Hook, line and sinker sink it down to the bottom Butterfly float, flicker, soar to the top Kill for the thrill, cut it, stick it where you got him Circle rolling under, running red to the stop Boy, where’s your mother? Fall down dead Dirty mind, dirty mouth, pretty little head I wish you were here, I wish you’d make my bed Dirty mind, dirty mouth, pretty little head

Lights come up to show ROBERTA, dead, on her back, hat over her face. Lights go back down. And music fades away. SINGER Intermission. 46.

INTERMISSION After house lights come up, and some time passes, the SINGER enters.

SINGER Excuse me. Um. Powers That Be felt a song was warranted about now. However, as I am, and I’m sure many of us are, in a bit of a state of nausea, I’ll be employing a co-worker.

SINGER #2 enters and sings one song during intermission. It should be more musically involved, with as many instruments and possibly backing vocals from other willing cast members as are available, without upstaging the singer. It could be a classic standard, like "A Very Good Year," or something more contemporary and angry, like "Frances Farmer Will Have Her Revenge On Seattle." Everyone finishes and the intermission continues. 47.

ACT II Scene 1

The saloon. A SINGER stands in an elegant gown Up Left. ARTEMIS, ECK, NED, and BILLIE all sit around a table, playing cards and drinking.

BILLIE is now dressed in all black. A mustachioed BARTENDER pours them drinks. Everyone carouses and moves about freely, silently, except BILLIE.

BILLIE’s eyes wander, aimless. The only things she seems to be able to see are the SINGER, the door, and her glass.

Song ’West Coast’ by Lana Del Rey. SINGER (singing) Down on the West Coast they got a sayin’ "If you’re not drinkin’ then you’re not playin’." But you’ve got the music, you’ve got the music in you, don’t you? Down on the West Coast I get this feeling, like It all could happen that’s why I’m leaving You for the moment, you for the moment, Boy Blue, yeah, you Your flyin’ high at the show, I’m feeling hot to the touch You say you’ll miss me the most, I say I’ll miss you so much But something keeps me really quiet, I’m alive, I’m a-lush Your love, your love, my love I can see my baby swingin’ His Parliament’s on fire and his hands are up On the balcony and I’m singing Ooh, baby, ooh, baby, I’m in love

I can see my sweet boy swayin’ He’s crazy y Cubano como yo, my love On the balcony and I’m saying Move baby, move baby, I’m in love...

Down on the West Coast, they got their icons Their silver starlets, their Queens of Saigons And you’ve got the music, you’ve got the music in you, Don’t you? 48.

Down on the West Coast, they love their movies Their golden gods, and rock and roll groupies And you’ve got the music, you’ve got the music in you, Don’t you? You push it hard, I pull away, I’m feeling hotter than fire I guess that no one ever really made me feel that much higher Te deseo, cariño, boy, it’s you I desire Your love, your love, my love

I can see my baby swingin’ His Parliament’s on fire and his hands are up On the balcony and I’m singing Ooh, baby, ooh, baby, I’m in love..."

Lights pool around BILLIE, her eyes on the door, waiting, impatient. Nothing happens. Scene 2

A train station. LUKE and SHERIFF ADGETT enter. LUKE I appreciate the courtesy, Sheriff, but there’s nothing left to say. SHERIFF ADGETT Oh, Mr. Weiss -- LUKE Luke, please. SHERIFF ADGETT Mr. Weiss -- I -- well, I can’t in good conscience let you leave just yet --

LUKE I’ve bought my ticket, I’m sending for my things once I get back to D.C. -- it’s done -- SHERIFF ADGETT I can’t let you leave without telling you how thankful I was to meet you and Roberta while I could -- and just, to apologize again -- LUKE Sheriff, you don’t have to say these things -- I understand what happened. Very clearly, and that’s the problem, I think. Some illusion would be nice about now. So I’m going home. I’m leaving this to the professionals. It’s not my job. 49.

SHERIFF ADGETT (a pause) If there was anything I could have done -- anything -- Mr. Weiss --

LUKE Please just call me Luke. SHERIFF ADGETT Sorry. Luke. Back in D.C., what’s waiting for you?

LUKE Well, first there’ll be the service. A lot to do there... Then...who knows. Some peace and quiet, I hope. SHERIFF ADGETT You certainly deserve it.

LUKE Let’s hope I get it anyway. Sheriff, I have a train to catch, if you’ll please -- SHERIFF ADGETT She was just such a kind person! All the stories of her fightin’ spirit and all them folks she put down -- and she was so kind! I only knew her for a little while, but I count myself lucky I knew her then. She was a real good one, Mr. Weiss!

LUKE Just Luke! Please! God! Weiss -- Weiss is...Weiss was her name. SHERIFF ADGETT (a pause) I’ll send word when we catch her -- would you like that? LUKE What? No! Sheriff -- I don’t want to think about Billie Baxter...I don’t want to be involved...I just want to be gone. Scene 3 A back alley. NED, ECK, and ARTEMIS enter.

NED C’mon, c’mon, lemme see her! We ain’t all gone out palling around in damn weeks! 50.

ARTEMIS Buzz off, Cleary. She wanted you, she’d send for you. NED Aw, come on you guys, it’s me! It’s Neddy... We’re pals, ain’t we?

ECK Sure, sure, we’re pals, Neddy. ARTEMIS We just aren’t any kind of business partners. ECK and ARTEMIS start to exit up stage in a secret door. NED Well where are y’all going? ECK Nowhere. To do nothing. With nobody. ECK and ARTEMIS exit. NED looks around, then finally works up the courage to knock on the door. NED Hey, uh...hey! Billie! Billie, it’s me, it’s Ned! Ned Cleary, your old pal, your old buddy...we ain’t talked in a while! I was just wondering, you know, you want anything? You ain’t sent me on a run in a long time...I know you ain’t need to hide much anymores, but I’m still here for ya! I still got arms...got legs, all lookin’ for something to do, Billie!

ECK re-enters. ECK The hell you doing?

NED Just, uh, just making my presence known. ECK Don’t do that. You wanna be the person blew Billie Baxter’s cover? Got her killed?

NED So she is in there! ECK No she ain’t, now go shout that everywhere. 51.

DEREK UNGER and MALLORY DEACON enter, guns drawn. They’re the portrait of big city gangsters; pinstripes, suspenders and trilby hats.

DEREK Billie Baxter! We’re a-callin’ you out. DEACON Come out here and meet yer makers!

ECK Now look what you gone and did. ECK pulls a knife, but NED gets in between them.

NED I can fix it! (to DEREK) Billie Baxter ain’t here, strangers. She’s gone into hiding --

DEREK Hiding? DEACON Bull-loney.

DEREK Way I hear it, Bill-Bax is the Queen of the Castle in this half-horse town. I know she’s in there. DEACON Now go get her, or go get the coroner ya mook. ECK Look, folks, I don’t know who you think you are --

DEACON We know who you are, though, Eckford Lingk. What, you think we’re some kinda schmucks? Gonna talk to Billie’s #2 and not know nothin’? Only thing I ain’t know is where Imma bury you, sparky.

DEREK And where’s the cyclops-lookin’ doof, huh, she walk off a cliff or something? NED You know who we are? 52.

DEREK I know him. DEACON (to NED) You must be, what, the saloon’s piss-boy?

ECK You look like a man powerfully determined to die. DEREK And you look like milk for makin’ swiss cheese. BILLIE emerges. BILLIE What’s all this?

ECK Get back inside, I’ll handle these carpetbaggin’ -- BILLIE What’s your name, strangers?

DEREK And so she appears! How kind of you to join us. My name’s Derek Unger. DEACON And I’m Mallory Deacon. BILLIE Reckon those names matters here? DEACON There’s an old axiom, says Measure a man’s worth by the strength of his enemies. BILLIE Dime con quién andas, y te diré quién eres.

DEREK Do what? BILLIE (sighs) ’Tell me who you hang with, and I’ll tell you who you are.’ So what’s your aim here? DEREK Huh. I thought we’d been quite transparent. We aim to duel the famous Billie Baxter. We aim to outdraw you. And we aim to -- 53.

BILLIE quick draws a single gun and shoots DEREK and DEACON both dead. BILLIE Your aim’s shit.

NED Jesus! That was amazing, Billie! BILLIE Ned?

NED Yes sir! I mean, uh -- BILLIE Drag Mr. Umbert and Mrs.Deering here somewhere shady and get some hogs on ’em. Make them do something of worth. And then... NED Yeah Billie?

BILLIE (turning to exit again) Don’t come here again. Lay low, maybe forever. Thanks. BILLIE and ECK exit, leaving NED and the bodies.

Scene 4 Police Station. SHERIFF ADGETT stumbles around, drinking.

SHERIFF ADGETT Oh, Lord, oh dear Lord Jesus help me...there ain’t no room for justice in this world anymore. I can’t keep hold of this town anymore. They’ve outrun me...the criminals -- that Baxter and her kin. They do as they please. And no one bats any eye. No one raises a hand of help in the name of justice...I try to, I do, oh, God, I try...I think about trying. I wake up every day, and I say, "June! Today you will arrest Billie Baxter! Or you will shoot her in the head! Or you will threaten to! Or you will...do something of worth...or you will at least get out of bed and get dressed and eat something..."and since I say that last bit, I get to not call myself a total failure, most days at least. But, all the same...I have failed you, oh God. I have failed the people of this town...and what’s worse, no one seems to notice. Crime -- without Roberta, with Billie sittin’ pretty like the Whore of Babylon -- it’s gone down, if anything. They’ve got a queen, they’re in some hierarchy..they’re too 54. clean. Used to be, they were sloppy, squabblin’, shootin’ each other dead for poker chips. It was madness...but nothing gold can stay, I guess. I’ve been replaced. By nothing. I’m worth less than a tumbleweed, oh God...I feel like a corncob doll that the little kids played with in my day. Undress me and all you get’s -- a cob. Picked clean, ain’t worth a hill of dust...just need someone to toss me to the hogs or in the compost heap. Please God, oh God, dear Lord, and all your angels, if You can hear me, lift me from this squalor...

AGENT SHEEAN enters. SHEEAN Angels don’t care. SHERIFF ADGETT Whuzza? Who’s there? SHEEAN You wired Washington for back-up. That’s me. You do know that, right? Regarding the angels.

SHERIFF ADGETT I’m not sure how you mean. SHEEAN You’ve read the Bible?

SHERIFF ADGETT I’ve -- read many, many scriptures. SHEEAN But you haven’t expounded on them. Do try God made man with free will. With the choice to love God, or to not love God. The angels were afforded no such ability. Angels, Biblically, they’re nasty. Wheels of fire, six-winged beasts with many eyes. Sound soothing, does it? The endpoint is this Humans have the free will to choose whom they love. Angels don’t. They love God and only God. They follow orders because of it. But humans are beyond their pay grade. So readjust, Sheriff. Readjust. SHERIFF ADGETT That’s...some philosophy, there.

SHEEAN I understand you’ve got a few outlaws disturbing the peace. SHERIFF ADGETT Yeah, uh, Billie B -- 55.

SHEEAN Wilma Magnolia Baxter. Eckford Bradley Lingk. Artemis Julietta Packard. Yes. I’ve read their files. SHERIFF ADGETT "Magnolia?" SHEEAN You may acquit yourself, Sheriff. This is no longer your problem.

SHERIFF ADGETT But...I’m the Sheriff. I’m supposed to protect this town. And its people. SHEEAN I’m not here for your people. I’m here for three specific people. You care for yours. I’ll care for mine. Seems fair. Now if you’ll excuse me. I have work to do. SHEEAN exits. SHERIFF ADGETT Wait -- wait! Don’t you need a place for the night?...Hello? Scene 5 The saloon. The SINGER stands in her usual spot. EL SOSO is sitting and has an empty bottle. BILLIE enters. The SINGER steps down and crosses off. BILLIE No singing?

SINGER Just finished, I’m sorry. BILLIE Why are you sorry, I’m the one missed it.

The SINGER exits. BILLIE sits near EL SOSO. BILLIE Soso.

EL SOSO Señora. 56.

BILLIE You’re drinking tonight? EL SOSO As are you.

BILLIE You got matches coming up. EL SOSO And thus, I drink.

BILLIE Mm. EL SOSO I did not think I’d see you again on peaceful terms. Surely you have matches of your own on the horizon, Señora. BILLIE Mine ain’t on a schedule. EL SOSO But they are coming. BILLIE They know where to find me. EL SOSO They will... hunger is popular around one who has plenty, Señora Baxter. BILLIE I know a wolf from his howl, I know a coyote from his whine.

A pause. EL SOSO You remember that old fighter, Alejandro Dios?

BILLIE The Great Star himself, yeah. EL SOSO Alejandro Dios was the champion for all my amateur life. He ruled the world.He slew challengers by the hundreds. For years and years...when I finally faced him, he was quite advanced in age. I often wonder, were he in his prime, would I have still triumphed? But it does no good. What happened was -- 57.

BILLIE What happened was, you kicked his ass. EL SOSO And when I pinned him, the referee clasped my hand. The bell sounded and the earth cracked open with applause. I looked at Alejandro Dios lying there, on his back, his mouth agape. The ring was slick with our sweat, and my legs were so weak I could barely lift myself...my left eye was swollen shut...I saw him. Like a fallen beast. He was crying.

BILLIE ...Makes sense, I guess. Losing. EL SOSO He cried, and cried, and crawled to me, right there, and grabbed my flimsy ankle, nearly pulled me down, but I stood and I heard him say, hardly a whisper, hardly a rattle, ’Thank you.’ He was free, Señora. BILLIE Awful sentimental, El Soso.

EL SOSO Do you not think you’ll thank the one who frees you? BILLIE You think you will?

EL SOSO I know only I will probably cry. BILLIE Over a belt? Over a mask? That’s nothing to cry about.

EL SOSO Is my life. BILLIE Ehh.

EL SOSO Señora Baxter, Your freedom...will be harder to watch. Harder to see, to -- to catch. If it ever occurs. I do not think...I don’t believe you’ll ever die, Guerrero.

BILLIE Shut your Goddamn mouth. 58.

Scene 6 A Wrestling Match. BILLIE, ECK and ARTEMIS sit in the audience. BILLIE The hell time is it? ARTEMIS Bout a quarter past. BILLIE Should be startin’ soon. ECK (a pause; then, shouting) Hey! When’s this starting? ARTEMIS Pipe down, Eck!

ARTEMIS You want me to go backstage? BILLIE Nah, nah, let’s just -- what? It’ll start when it starts. Besides, where else we got to be.

ARTEMIS That’s true. Still want to play cards after this? Swindle Buck Wilbur out of more milk money? BILLIE Mm. Ok. ARTEMIS I mean, we ain’t gotta if you don’t want.

BILLIE I said we would, didn’t I? ARTEMIS Right, right -- okay.

BILLIE Ok then. ECK Boss, you, uh, you sure you don’t need anything? I can --

EL SOSO’s elaborate entrance again. EL SOSO enters and moves center stage. 59.

BILLIE Shh. EL SOSO Tell me! Who is your prince?! Who is your Apollo?! WHO IS YOUR PAPI?! What is my name?!

Audience response, no doubt. EL SOSO Now you all know El Soso’s history. But I will tell you again to remind you...because I can. You see, El Soso, almost four years ago to the day, defeated The Great Star for his world heavyweight championship. Great Star was champion for seven years, for seven masterful years. Within those seven years, at the tail end of that, as much as El Soso admired The Great Star, as much as he idolized him, El Soso noticed things. He was not running as fast. His slams were not as hard, his holds were not as tight, his suplexes not as sharp...and so when El Soso finally faced the man...El Soso was mad. He was mad as hell. How? How could this happen? How could the man El Soso reverred as a demigod become so mortal? Become so human? Become so like me? A pause. EL SOSO comes back to the moment. EL SOSO The night before our big match, in a tag team I fought beside The Great Star...and El Soso noticed, he should not be mad. Great Star had not lost anything at all! The Great Star had not come down to my level...El Soso had simply risen to his! And Soso is now more Myth than Man! El Soso had climbed into Elysium on his own! Greater than Achilles! Greater than Hector! Than Lu Bu! Than Guan Yu! Than Hercules! And so when I defeated The Great Star, I inherited his house, his home, this ring which is now El Soso’s! I am the King of the Ring! If you ever need a place to cry, to cheer, to condemn, to glorify, you can come here...come on up! To El Soso’s house!! Where we will give you the greatest show you have ever seen, and why? Because I can! EL SOSO’s music surges as he hypes up the crowd.

EL SOSO Dames y caballeros! I am El Soso! The gladiator of this ring! El técnico of the hour! And as always, your papi! And tonight -- tonight, my friends...I face someone new. Someone unseen. I face one called La Vacia! And thus -- 60.

LA VACIA enters the ring, with her own elaborate entrance, a very ominous affair. EL SOSO I will speak, and delay, no more. A bell rings. LA VACIA and EL SOSO start to wrestle. EL SOSO’s style is showy, elaborate holds and grandiose gestures. LA VACIA is lithe, quick, and blunt in her movements, opting for more crude and practical strikes and holds. ECK He’s wrestlin’ a lady?

ARTEMIS They’ve gotta be different weight classes, right? She’s a hungry one, I’ll give her that. BILLIE Quiet, you two, I’m trying to watch this. EL SOSO puts LA VACIA in a hold but she breaks it. ARTEMIS Come on! Get her! ECK Kick her ass!

BILLIE Sshh. Come on, Soso. Come on. ARTEMIS Slippery.

BILLIE Come on. EL SOSO manages to pin LA VACIA. A bell rings. He rises in triumph.

EL SOSO El Soso is victorious! ECK Hot damn! Whupped her ass! 61.

BILLIE Huh. Nice. (a pause) I’m going for a walk -- I think I need a little air.

ARTEMIS Yes ma’am. Let’s go. ECK Where you wanna go? BILLIE No, no, you two stick around and save the seats. Make sure I’m not followed.

ARTEMIS Oh. Okay. If you’re sure. BILLIE (sotto) Nada. Absolutamente nada.

BILLIE exits. LA VACIA Uno mas.

EL SOSO What? LA VACIA Uno mas. Una Lucha de Apuesta. Máscara contra máscara. ECK What are they saying? ARTEMIS I don’t know. EL SOSO La bruta wishes for another bout! Shall El Soso indulge her?

ECK They’re fighting again? ARTEMIS Seems so.

EL SOSO For my honor. I shall wrestle with La Vacia again! And when I win, I will take her mask! Mascara contra mascara! 62.

ECK Whuzzat mean? ARTEMIS ’Mask versus Mask.’ Bettin’ match.

ECK He pinned her in no time though. ARTEMIS Yeah, it’s suicide. Worse, it’s boring. Come on.

ARTEMIS and ECK move toward an exit, but SHEEAN enters and heads them off, holding them at gunpoint. They back up, hands up. SHEEAN gestures for their guns. They pull them out and slide them to SHEEAN. Simultaneously, EL SOSO and LA VACIA grapple again. LA VACIA is now cruel, almost surgical in her technique. She chops at EL SOSO’s neck, tries to break his arm, etc. SHEEAN moves to arrest ARTEMIS, who tries a surprise attack, but gets dropped.

SHEEAN Moron. ECK Excuse you!

ECK bites into SHEEAN’s shoulder. SHEEAN fires into ECK’s stomach and he falls. ARTEMIS, wounded, tries to attack SHEEAN again. The two battle in the aisles, in and out of the light. SHEEAN knocks ARTEMIS down and aims ECK’s gun at her. ARTEMIS You better shoot me in my good eye or I’ll crawl my way out a’ hell and kill you slow you fuck --

SHEEAN shoots her in the head, twice, shoots ECK’s body in the head, and exits. 63.

LA VACIA sweeps EL SOSO’s legs out from under him and he drops onto his stomach. She climbs onto his back and wrestles his mask off.

EL SOSO Stop! Stop! The match is not over! You cannot unmask me! LA VACIA Cállate.

EL SOSO These are not the rules! You must beat me first! Then my mask I remove myself. LA VACIA El tiempo lo dirá.

EL SOSO Stop! Please! Misericordia! LA VACIA This is my mercy.

LA VACIA unmasks EL SOSO. He gasps, hyperventilates; he is facing the audience. He is visible to the entire stage. A bell dings.

EL SOSO You broke the rules. You’re disqualified! LA VACIA You wanted to win. I wanted you to lose your mask. EL SOSO You have killed El Soso...you have taken me...you have stolen me...

LA VACIA exits as light collects, pools, around EL SOSO. He is crumpled and spent. The light fades on his exposed face. Scene 7

An abandoned building. BILLIE hides behind a box, holding a gun to the SINGER’s head. Voices come from offstage. 64.

BILLIE Agh! Come on, you desk jockies. Come on. Come on. SHERIFF ADGETT (off) Baxter, we are coming in there and we’re bringing you down!

BILLIE (shouting) Do it then, Adgett! Get this pretty young thing’s brains splattered all over those dimestore shoes of yours!

The SINGER whimpers. BILLIE Shut up, you.

SHERIFF ADGETT Release that singer and turn yourself in, Baxter! This ain’t nothing but a dog and pony show! BILLIE You in such a hurry, come on in, like I’ve got anywhere to be! SINGER Please -- BILLIE Hey, shut up, you want to die? SINGER No! Please! I -- I have a -- BILLIE Do not tell me a word about yourself, you are not a human to me. Now sit down. SINGER (a pause) What...what do you think is going to happen?

BILLIE Are you stupid? We’re all gonna die. (a pause) Most of us anyway.

SINGER You’re going to shoot me. BILLIE Yeah. ...Probably. 65.

(a pause) I mean...I gotta. Nothin’ personal. SINGER I’m sorry, but it feels very personal.

BILLIE Well that’s just your perspective. I had to have some kind of cover, you know. Can’t just give it to ’em. Who knows, I might make it out of this alive.

SINGER You might? BILLIE Are you gonna make a big thing out of this?

SINGER Well how’d you like it if you were being held hostage! If you’d been told outright you were about to die? BILLIE I’d probably respond with a joke! Damn it all. (a pause) You’re the only insurance I got right now. You’re no good to me dead. So get comfortable. BILLIE releases the SINGER but keeps her gun trained on her.

SINGER How long do you think...? BILLIE Is that all you care about? SINGER Right now. BILLIE Hmm. They sit in the dusty air for a long silent moment. BILLIE You’re that scared. SINGER Yes. 66.

BILLIE Well you don’t have to make me feel like such an ass.

SINGER I’m -- I’m sorry. (a pause) I just -- I don’t want to die here. In the dust. I’m a...I’m just a singer, all I do is sing, it’s all I can do -- I’m supposed to grow old, give up my job when my voice fades...I’m supposed to die in my bed. On my back. Maybe with my family, maybe alone...but I’m supposed to die quiet. I know that, I -- I’ve lived a quiet life, I don’t want to die so loud...I just want it to be easy. I just want it to be peaceful, don’t you understand...?

BILLIE (stone) Who do you think you’re talking to? SINGER I just -- I just meant --

BILLIE Why do you think I care what you meant? I’m Billie Baxter -- I’m the angel of death in this dust, I killed Roberta Weiss, I killed Derek Unger, I’m a cold murderer an I walk around this town with my head held high, and you think -- you think your little weepy story’s gonna save you? Haven’t you heard who I am...? I’m -- I’m insulted. How could you think that of me -- we’re not even of the same species. I’m the stuff of history now...you’re a singer...

BILLIE lunges on the SINGER and presses a gun to her forehead. BILLIE Say please one more time, I’ll blow your head off. Whimper one more time, I’ll blow your head off. Try to appeal to what you’d call my humanity, and I will blow your head off. BILLIE backs off. The SINGER tries to steady herself. BILLIE Look, don’t -- don’t shake like that. SINGER I’m sorry. BILLIE Don’t -- ...ok. Just try not to shake. Do what you can. (a pause) You supposed to be singing tonight? 67.

SINGER I...was. BILLIE Mmm. (a pause) Suppose you should get a swan song. SINGER What?

BILLIE Sing. One last song...please. SINGER I -- I can’t --

BILLIE I insist. The song of a lifetime. Cap your career. The SINGER steadies herself, tries to quiet her nerves, clears her throat. She sings.

Song ’No Oath, No Spell’ by Murder By Death. SINGER (singing) An old crow spoke to me, Must have lain limp, down the street. Said we’re both tied to our own trees, Cut me loose, cut me loose. BILLIE (sotto) I know this one. SINGER (singing) Saw the deer before it saw me, It didn’t change anything. His glassy eyes showed me what’s to come, Cut me loose, spare me from this. Little beast, are you as me? Left some teeth in your enemies 68.

SINGER BILLIE (singing) (singing) We won’t be broken, We won’t be broken, There’s no curse we haven’t There’s no curse we haven’t spoken spoken There is no oath, there is There is no oath, there is no spell no spell To deliver us, to make us To deliver us, to make us well. well.

BILLIE Old woman, tell me why did you lie... So long in your hospital bed With the spark gone from your eyes? We both know, there’s nowhere to go, Let’s cast off, you & I... SINGER & BILLIE Oh, grief, are you as me? Left some teeth buried in your enemies We won’t be broken There’s no curse we haven’t spoken There is no oath, there is no spell To deliver us, so help

Cut me loose, I wish you well No oath, no spell... No prayer & no hell but the one we made. Let’s cast off, turn tail.

BILLIE and the SINGER regard each other in stunned silence. The magic of the moment dissipates. BILLIE ....Get out of here.

SINGER ...What? BILLIE Through the back. Sneak around a block or two before you pop out if you don’t mind. The SINGER rushes off through the rear door. BILLIE watches her go, sits behind the box, takes out a bottle from a brown paper bag and sighs. NED enters from rear. 69.

BILLIE (whirling around, pointing a gun) ¿Quién es? NED Ned! It’s Ned! Chrissakes, Billie. BILLIE Tengo el humor de perros. Having the Alamo Militia on your ass will do that.

NED So what’s the plan? BILLIE You bring what I asked?

NED Yes ma’am. NED pulls out a box of cigarettes. She opens it, lights one, relaxes.

BILLIE Mm. That’s the plan. NED What? C’mon, Billie, you’re a sittin’ duck in here.

BILLIE They ain’t gonna bust in, they’re too yellow. Now scram before you get yourself killed. NED I’m just tryin’ to help -- BILLIE I know, Ned, I -- I know that. But here ain’t the place. You’re worth more out there.

NED Billie, I ain’t worth nothin’ out there. I ain’t no one out there. BILLIE Yeah, well, that’s something, innit. (a pause) You know what, fine. Stay. Ain’t nothing gonna happen. Ain’t nothing happened in so long...makes me wonder if the world’s even spinning. 70.

NED Come on, you’ll get this. You’re Billie Baxter! You’re the fastest gun in the nation! You’re untouchable! Ever since you shot --

BILLIE God’s sake, Cleary, who gives a damn about what I am? This used to be a life. Used to be fun. Just a gal and her two best pals -- workin’ toward something. I don’t know what...I doubt we got there.

NED I’m -- I’m awful sorry about what happened -- BILLIE Yeah, who the hell isn’t? Sheean. What kind of justice is that...? Animals got more a code than that. (shouting) Eh, Sheean? You out there? You lickin’ your chops right now? SHEEAN (off) Come out with your hands up in the next two minutes or we are going to pave you flat. BILLIE (shouting) I’ll set an egg timer. (sotto) Mercy. NED You sure I can’t --

BILLIE Yes, Ned. Yes. I’m sure. NED backs away. Light starts to collect around BILLIE as she balls her fists against her eyes and stifles an exhausted scream. ROBERTA appears, dressed just as she was when she died. BILLIE Did it have to end?

ROBERTA Do you want to go through with this, or not? You could turn yourself in. 71.

BILLIE What, I gotta say it out loud? ROBERTA Just a compulsion, something in the back of my throat. Won’t let me not.

BILLIE God, that’s so like you. So noble and alabaster...I’ll give Sheean that none of your sunshine and smiles.

ROBERTA Say...before this goes where it’s going -- mind telling me something? About yourself. BILLIE Oh, good God... (shouting) Come at me, you filthy pigs! Try it, see what you get! ROBERTA Mind telling me something?

BILLIE Git. ROBERTA About yourself.

BILLIE I’m about to die, leave me alone. ROBERTA I have a husband.

BILLIE I know! I know, I know, I...I never could find him...shame. Wanted to meet him. Wanted to see if he saw the right things in you. I promise I wouldn’t have killed him.

ROBERTA You promise? BILLIE Yes!

ROBERTA How about you? BILLIE (breaking down) Vales verga. Get out of here! Don’t you have worms to feed? You didn’t draw quick enough -- this is what happens. Your 72. ass dies. If you’d just been faster -- just outdrawn me -- you wouldn’t be there, I wouldn’t be here, so don’t complain to me about this! ROBERTA You know, it’s got it’s upsides... BILLIE I bet it does! I bet it does. Well I’m glad it worked out for you! Everything’s so boring now. Everything’s so dry...No one else plays fair...no one else has any kind of conduct...no one else is even interesting enough...I killed my first man out of necessity. In a mine. It wasn’t elegant, it wasn’t special...it wasn’t the first time someone died down there. La muerte se mueve rápido, my foster mom used to say. I tried to avoid being so barbarous with it. I wanted it to mean something. Wanted it to be special...that’s why I didn’t kill the Sheriff at that match, you know? You wonder about that? There it is. I was saving it. ROBERTA It’s dark out, if you didn’t notice.

BILLIE Come on, please! Let’s have something here. Since you...it ain’t been the same. It hasn’t felt all too weighty. I didn’t even know you that long, but for Christ’s sake...I dropped some city rats the other day for no crime besides wanting a piece of me...what a waste. I didn’t see dust when they hit the ground. Didn’t feel a thing. Just a little hungry, maybe. (a pause) Don’t suppose you got anything to say? (a pause) No? Come on, we had that night...what did you say, what did you say...you don’t like the Hardy Boys! Remember? Uh, uh, "You have to realize you’re not giving me a lot of leeway as to how this is gonna go." God, you sounded so hard...I really thought that night was it for me. I really did...I felt so nervous. All the butterflies... did you feel it? I’m hoping you felt it...huh? Huh? Say something! I didn’t even know you for that long...God damn it, why did you have to go and understand me? (a pause) Say something!

NED enters, gun drawn, silent. BILLIE Nothing. Absolutely... 73.

NED shoots BILLIE in the back. ROBERTA disappears. All lighting tricks drop away; the room is illuminated, dull, bland. BILLIE drops her gun, stumbles forward.

BILLIE ¿Quién es?...¿Quién es? BILLIE falls. NED lifts her head, checks her pulse.

NED Oh God, oh...Oh Jeez...that hurts doesn’t it? Ah hell. I meant to...it don’t matter what I meant. I, uh. I just...I didn’t want them getting to you...I didn’t think you’d want that either.

BILLIE tries to say something. She’s confused. NED I know, I know...Of all the...it’s not what you were... it’s not -- I’m not...but ain’t I better than them? Least I know you...and -- and who knows? I’ll tell ’em -- I’ll tell people it was wild. It was a firefight, it was big and loud and glorious and, and, and, and people will be so...impressed. It’ll be worthy of you, Billie... real fitting! It’ll be real fitting! Don’t that sound good? Didn’t I do good? Kinda? Hey -- remember the Lehman Train? That was a wild one...way you told it it sounded like a wild one. You, Eck, and Artemis, galloping full tilt down ’at hill, stole that gold right under those fat cats’ noses... never knew the weather till they was drownin’, you said. You said it in spanish, but I forgot the spanish for it... I musta asked you to tell me that one, what... how many times? BILLIE has died. NED catches a scream in his throat. NED B -- Billie...? SHERIFF ADGETT (off) That’s time! We’re coming in, Billie! SHERIFF ADGETT enters as NED runs for the opposite exit, and shoots him. He falls. 74.

SHEEAN enters. SHEEAN (furious) What was that, Sheriff?

SHERIFF ADGETT I -- I -- ...I didn’t want her to get away. SHEEAN It was rash. That could have been your death.

SHERIFF ADGETT Yeah, I...I guess so. SHEEAN examines BILLIE.

SHERIFF ADGETT She’s already -- they must have had some kind of...fallin’ out. (a pause) Huh.

SHEEAN Gun. SHERIFF ADGETT What?

SHEEAN Your gun. SHEEAN takes SHERIFF’s gun and fires it at BILLIE’s body, then turns and fires several times into NED, and hands the gun back to the SHERIFF. SHEEAN (a pause) What? SHERIFF ADGETT Nothing. I just -- well -- I thought there’d be... (a pause) It’s nothing.

SHERIFF and SHEEAN exit as lights transition into the next scene. 75.

Scene 8 Void. The SINGER appears. Other cast members, shaded, appear on the periphery and join the melody of the song. EL SOSO stands center stage, still unmasked, now in civilian clothes. He holds his mask in one hand. Song ’Skeleton Key’ by Dessa.

SINGER (singing) I haven’t met a locked door yet That I couldn’t beat On a chain around my neck I keep my skeleton key Don’t waste your worry on me I always find what I need I come and go as I please I got my skeleton key

By now it’s just a simple trick Not much to see, You hear the tumblers catch and click Then turn the key But I’ve found work and welcome Everywhere I’ve been Cause everyone’s got someplace They wanna be let in EL SOSO Todo se ha cumplido. It is finished now. And we think it is for the best. For surely it may as well. LA VACIA This struggle has been nothing but typical. It is why we watch anything We want to feel for more than one. We hunger for feeling. We socialize, and familiarize, and gorge ourselves on feeling...just feeling. EL SOSO I was a Warrior Poet. I lived hoping to show the world what I could do, with enough will, and strength. I wanted to shake the earth. Like a titan. Rising from under the mountain, to taste air again. BILLIE enters. 76.

BILLIE I was an Outlaw. When I was a girl, I’d look across the plains and imagine running, imagine riding, imagine flying, across it all. Making the land my own. I dreamed of standing a thousand feet tall and crossing the desert in a step. I woke up once and realized that would be too fast. LA VACIA removes her mask and is ROBERTA again.

ROBERTA I was the body of the law. I held in my hand the means to end a world, to blink my eyes and squeeze two fingers and shrink this world person by person. I held that fire and kept it close, and toed the line. That’s right.

SHEEAN enters, as do the actors who played ENGOL/ARTEMIS and JASPER/ECK. SHEEAN Rain hits your windowpane and you feel the shudder across your skin, like a ripple over the sea. The things just outside... ENGOL/ARTEMIS We were stars...

JASPER/ECK ...Shooting across the sky... ENGOL/ARTEMIS ...Bright as heaven. BILLIE I’ve seen herds of cattle the size of armies. I’ve felt the thunder of a train under me. I’ve seen nights so clear and open you could swear the sky never stopped. I saw these things and they were real. ROBERTA I’ve stared in the eyes of men who did not see me back. I have seen humanity all but wiped away in a stranger’s smile. And I’ve felt the warmth of a child’s hands as they squeeze your finger tip. I would have met everyone in the world if I could, and seen all their eyes, and known them, just a little. EL SOSO I was a man of honor. 77.

ROBERTA I was a woman of hope. BILLIE I was a child of life.

SINGER (singing) Don’t waste your worry on me I always find what I need I come and go as I please I got my skeleton key Don’t you go waste all your worry on me Cause I’ll make my way with my skeleton key All but BILLIE, the SINGER, and ROBERTA exit. SINGER continues singing. BILLIE and ROBERTA slowly walk away from each other. They stop.

Sunset. They look back.