Come & Take It v4.3
by Annie R. Such
Annie R. Such 257 Malcolm X Blvd. Apt. 4 Brooklyn, NY 11233 (214) 680-2084 [email protected] CHARACTER NAME BRIEF DESCRIPTION AGE GENDER Austin Quick to anger, but tender when 30s M needed. A lion licking his wounds Jefferson A notorious nothing, thrust into an 20s M inconceivable situation. COME AND TAKE IT
Setting: Come and Take it, Texas.
At Rise: Two men stand sweating in the middle of a prairie, clad in Rancher gear. The heat is unbearable, though they’ve both grown up in it. They’re participating in a standoff, but an unusual kind.
JEFFERSON You okay?
AUSTIN Yeah.
JEFFERSON You sure?
AUSTIN Yeah, I’m sure, Jeff-- What you got there?
JEFFERSON The 357.
AUSTIN I told you to grab the Colt.
JEFFERSON You said I could use any gun--
AUSTIN Not the peacemaker, that thing’s an antique!
JEFFERSON Do you want it? You can use it.
AUSTIN No, no, don’t matter--
JEFFERSON I’ll switch with yeah--
AUSTIN I said, don’t matter. Did I stutter? 2.
JEFFERSON No.
AUSTIN Let’s just get this done.
They stand quietly.
AUSTIN Well?
JEFFERSON Hold on, you impatient bastard, I’m thinking.
AUSTIN Thinking, hmm.
Austin pulls out a pack of Marlboro Reds. One cigarette left. He packs and lights it.
JEFFERSON Nice. Real nice. That hasn’t started enough problems--
AUSTIN Well, I’m just biding my time. I’m gonna be here til Thursday, apparently / with you dragging your feet--
JEFFERSON This is a lot of pressure, okay. You’re asking a lot of me here.
AUSTIN Don’t chicken out.
JEFFERSON I’m not. I’m just trying--
AUSTIN Get your shit together--
JEFFERSON I’ve got it together--
AUSTIN Good. Cause you said you’d do this for us. 3.
JEFFERSON I know.
AUSTIN And the Baileys ain’t pussies, are we?
JEFFERSON You callin’ me a pussy?
AUSTIN Only if you’re acting like a pussy.
JEFFERSON I’m not.
AUSTIN Okay, then. You got the story straight?
JEFFERSON We were out shootin’ gophers and your shot ricocheted off the fence post, and--
AUSTIN Good, good. Just don’t forget to shoot the--
JEFFERSON I got it.
AUSTIN Okay.
They stand their ground again. Austin’s fingers itch. He reaches back for his holster.
AUSTIN One, Two--
JEFFERSON Time out.
AUSTIN What the hell? Time out! Ain’t no time outs here. Come on.
JEFFERSON I just-- I need to get my bearings-- 4.
AUSTIN Hurry it up, then!
JEFFERSON I am!
AUSTIN Do it, pussy!
JEFFERSON Stop bullying, me Austin!
AUSTIN We made a deal.
JEFFERSON I know.
AUSTIN Then why are you stallin’?
JEFFERSON This isn’t a game, Austin.
AUSTIN Didn’t say it was.
JEFFERSON It was different when we talked about it, okay? Thought you were pullin’ my leg-- It’s gonna take me a second--
AUSTIN Shit man, I knew I shoulda asked that idjit boy down the road to do this. Kid loves them shiny things.
JEFFERSON The Meyer’s kid? With the slow eye and no neck? He would’ve blown his own face off.
AUSTIN ‘Least he would’ve fired.
JEFFERSON Okay, okay. 5.
AUSTIN Now, I wanna keep this in the family. Don’t make me regret it--
JEFFERSON Okay.
Jefferson pulls out his gun and points it at Austin like a mobster. Austin laughs.
AUSTIN What-- What the hell is that?
JEFFERSON What?
AUSTIN That’s how you hold your gun?
JEFFERSON Yeah.
AUSTIN For cryin’ out loud, who do you think you are, Al Capone?
JEFFERSON No.
AUSTIN How the hell you gonna shoot anyone like that? Huh? How you gonna shoot anyone / like that?
JEFFERSON I don’t / know.
AUSTIN Is that how they taught you to shoot at that fancy / college--
JEFFERSON No guns allowed on / campus.
AUSTIN C’mon shit-for-brains, I know I didn’t teach you how to hold a / gun like that-- 6.
JEFFERSON Dad shot like this--
AUSTIN Why do you think I taught you how to shoot? Dad shot at coyotes and ended up hittin’ cattle. You wanna hit / cattle?
JEFFERSON He was drunk--
AUSTIN So, what’s your excuse, dumbshit?
JEFFERSON You always made fun of the way I shot--
AUSTIN That ain’t how a Ranger holds his gun. I’m gonna show you--
JEFFERSON I got it, Austin--
AUSTIN No! We gonna do this, we gonna do this right, okay?!
(beat) Just let me show you. Humor me. Now face me off straight. Yeah, just like that. Loosen up. Don’t lock your knees, you’re gonna blow back ten feet, bend ‘em. Good, now when you take it out, keep your arm bent, and at your waist. You’re a bit taller than me / so it should strike through fine.
JEFFERSON Austin--
AUSTIN What, Jeff?
JEFFERSON I don’t want to run the ranch.
AUSTIN We all got stuff we don’t want to do, Jeff.
JEFFERSON Why... why can’t you just take care of it? 7.
AUSTIN ‘Cause I don’t have the strength no more, nor the will, I’m spent--
JEFFERSON No, I mean, why can’t you...
AUSTIN You want my ever lovin’, ever lastin’ soul in hell, Jeff?
JEFFERSON No.
AUSTIN Cause if you do, tell me now, and I’ll call up Billy Myer’s kid.
JEFFERSON No.
AUSTIN I’ll prolly get a better shot with him anyway.
JEFFERSON But, I don’t know how to run this place. Dad taught you all that stuff.
AUSTIN That’s what you’re on about? Well, who’s fault is that? You coulda gotten up with him at four in the mornin’, fed some bucks and cattle. You coulda learned. You just didn’t want to. Did you think I’d be around forever?
JEFFERSON No, but I thought you’d at least have your own kid to teach. I’m not good at this stuff.
AUSTIN Look, I know you had big plans with that degree of yours, but it ain’t happening. It can’t. Sometimes the road peters out.
JEFFERSON There’s gotta be another way.
AUSTIN There ain’t. Quit bitchin’.
JEFFERSON I’m not, but.. I always left the gate open, I always forgot to lighten the feed-- 8.
AUSTIN You’ll pick it up as you go along, Jeff--
JEFFERSON The new calves drowned--
AUSTIN You were a goddamn toddler, you can’t blame yourself for that. Dad was just tryin to teach you a lesson--
JEFFERSON Yeah, that I can’t do anything!
AUSTIN Quit roughin’ yourself up--
JEFFERSON I’ll run this place into the ground!
AUSTIN No, you won’t. You got Bailey Blood. And Bailey’s got three things they’re good at: tempers, cattle, and shootin’ shit... when they’re sober. You gotta at least have one of ‘em.
JEFFERSON I can’t take care of the ranch and Momma. It’s too much
AUSTIN I did it the last five years. You don’t hear me caterwallin’. You owe us this. You know you do. You fucked up already, my friend. You slipped out the back door, you spent our money on your education, and now you’re gonna make it right. You hear me, boy?
JEFFERSON Get out of my face!
AUSTIN What’re you gonna do about it, boy?
JEFFERSON I’m not doing this. I’m not doing this with you, Austin.
AUSTIN You better’n that? 9.
JEFFERSON Yes.
AUSTIN You better’n this?
JEFFERSON Yes.
AUSTIN You better’n me?
JEFFERSON I’m not gonna fight you.
AUSTEN Is that right, boy?
JEFFERSON Stop it.
AUSTIN Itchin’ for a beatin’, boy?
JEFFERSON You’re just like dad.
AUSTIN I’d kill myself before I had a fuck-head like you for a son. Its bad enough I’m saddled with you as a sibling.
JEFFERSON Shut up, Austin.
AUSTIN That’s right, get angry, boy!
JEFFERSON Stop calling me that!
AUSTIN What, boy?
JEFFERSON Shut up. 10.
AUSTIN Boy?
JEFFERSON Shut up!
AUSTIN “Come over here, boy, I’m gonna whoop you upside the head. You left the gate open again, boy? Austin, where’s my belt? Gonna whip some smarts into this boy, here.”
JEFFERSON I swear to God, Austin--
AUSTIN “Austin, my beatin’ hand’s got the carpel tunnel today. Do me a favor and kick your brother’s ass for me.”
JEFFERSON You are such a fucker.
AUSTIN “Woooeeee! We got ourselves some brother baitin’ tonight! Woo! Woo! Don’t be a pussy Jefferson. Punch your brother. Punch your brother, damn it. I didn’t raise no fuckin’ sissy. Hit ‘em. Hit ‘em! Austin, your sister don’t want to fight you! We should’a called you Janine instead of Jefferson. Come on, pussy, hit ‘em. Hit ‘em! Hit ‘em!”
Jefferson pulls out his gun. He points it right at Austin’s face. The moment becomes real.
JEFFERSON You like this? Huh? Do yeah?!
AUSTIN That all you got in you, boy?
JEFFERSON I got more than you think, shithead.
AUSTIN Show me.
JEFFERSON That what you want? 11.
AUSTIN Yeah.
JEFFERSON That really what you want?
AUSTIN Damn it. Am I always gonna have to whip you into shape? Grow a fuckin’ pair.
JEFFERSON I have! I have! I got out! Don’t hate me ‘cause I got out. Don’t hate me. Don’t hate me.
AUSTIN God damn it. Do it! Do it, you son’ a bitch.
Austin grabs the gun and pulls the barrel to his chest. Do it now, Jefferson. Do it. Do it!
JEFFERSON No!
Suddenly, Austin begins to cough. He spasms, trying to regain composure, Jefferson throws himself back, unsure of what to do, scared like a toddler.
JEFFERSON Austin?
Austin slows his breathing down, and coughs up some blood.
AUSTIN Aw, shit.
Austin wipes the blood on his trousers. He tries to stand, wheezing strongly.
JEFFERSON Let’s sit you down.
AUSTIN No.
JEFFERSON I want you comfortable. 12.
AUSTIN I don’t wanna sit down.
Austin stands for a second, then collapses. He sits on the ground indian style. He grabs his pack of cigarettes, takes one out and lights it.
JEFFERSON C’mon, Mom’ll wake up soon. Let’s forget it, okay? Let’s go back in--
AUSTIN No. Let’s go.
JEFFERSON We’ll forget all about this idea. We’ll be laughing by supper--
AUSTIN She can’t see me like this--
JEFFERSON We’ll get through it fine, Austin.
AUSTIN She can’t see me like this, Jeff. She’s sharp. She’ll figure it out.
JEFFERSON Come on. Come on, get up. We’ll get shit faced / and wax-poetic--
AUSTIN Jeff... The reason I whooped you so hard, was so he wouldn’t hit you harder...
JEFFERSON Dad?
AUSTIN We got his blood, whether we wanted it or not.
JEFFERSON You don’t have to--
AUSTIN I took the first beatings so he’d ware-out by the second-- And when we’d fight... I knew no matter how much I hurt you, it’d be better than what I got. A hand twice the size of my face and the strength of a god damn bull. I was trying, in my own fucked up way, to protect you. You’re my brother, damn it. 13.
JEFFERSON Austin...
AUSTIN Come on, Jeff. It’s time.
JEFFERSON Don’t make me--
AUSTIN Jeff... please... if ever you did anything in your life, if ever you wanted to prove me wrong, if ever you loved me like a brother should, if ever you wanted to wear the Bailey pride on your chest, you’d do this. You’d do this for me.
JEFFERSON God damn it.
Jefferson suppresses a sob. He stands at the ready. Austin whistles the theme from “The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly”. Jefferson can’t help but smile.
JEFFERSON You’re one sick son’a bitch.
Austin takes out his catheter and throws it at Jefferson’s feet along with six bottles of pills from his pocket. He puts a cigarette in his mouth and lights.
AUSTIN Remember I went out fightin’... and burn the medical bills.
Jefferson stands on guard, Austin sits on guard. They simultaneously reach for their guns and draw, but Jefferson’s quicker.
Blackout.