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Scripts Aloud brings drama right into your ears. By using text-to-speech software, theater scripts go from the page into drama, every week. Typically 10-minute scripts are presented in each episode. It's like having a Theater Festival - right on your phone!
INT. OFFICE - DAY
Inside office building in downtown Cincinnati. The office is an old-time Sam Spade-type, with a window looking down on the city street from a few stories up and a frosted glass window and nameplate on the interior door. Another door leads to an interior office. There is a large framed picture of the Cincinnati skyline on a wall.
George enters, agitated. He is a man in his late forties. Tall and lean, with an athletic build, perhaps he had been an amateur boxer. He is in office professional/casual. The desk has a computer but no phone.
George looks around, listens for Bill, his partner in the other room.
GEORGE
Bill, you back there?
BILL
(in interior office)
Yeah. Came in a little while ago. You alright?
GEORGE
Oh yeah. Picked up a sandwich from the cart on the corner.
BILL
Tuna fish?
GEORGE
Tomato and cheese. Did you eat?
George takes a pistol out of his pocket and quietly slips it into a desk drawer. He looks around to be sure he has not been noticed.
BILL
Brought peanut butter on rye.
GEORGE
Toasted?
BILL
No. That would have been good though.
GEORGE
Yeah. Well. Next time.
George sits down, looks at the drawer and flips on his computer. Distracted, he gets up and looks out the window.
BILL
(enters)
You OK, George?
GEORGE
Yeah, yeah. I guess, you know, it’s getting close to the end of the year. And, I don’t know... another one down, right?
Bill sits, relaxed, in the chair opposite George’s desk.
BILL
Yeah, another one down. Next year will be fifteen years. You realize that? We’ve been doing this for fifteen years.
GEORGE
Hmmm... has it been that long? A good run.
BILL
You say that like... you’re done. Are we done?
GEORGE
I don’t know, Bill. I guess I’ve been thinking that maybe we should... re-evaluate.
BILL
OK. Tell me straight. What’s on your mind.
GEORGE
I’m not sure it’s enough for me anymore. You know?
BILL
What? What do you mean, not enough?
GEORGE
We’ve been doing this a long time. We’ve done a lot of good. You’ve done a ton of good. But I wonder if we’ve reached a limit of what we can do. I mean, by ourselves. Maybe we need a new approach.
BILL
George, when you and I started this thing, with just ten-thousand dollars, there were blind orphans all over the country, in desperate need. We help them. Their lives are better because of what we do, here at the foundation. You know that.
GEORGE
Right, yeah. Of course.
BILL
We give away over a million dollars a year. A million dollars! That helps a lot of people. Orphans, George, blind orphans. To think that we started with ten-thousand dollars. And now it’s worth, what, ten-million? It’s amazing.
GEORGE
But there just aren’t that many blind orphans around anymore. You know, better than me. We have to, you have to, dedicate most of your time just trying to track down blind orphans. With better nutrition, better medical care, better foster systems... there just aren’t that many blind orphans anymore. So, I wonder, if the Blind Orphan Foundation should re-focus. Maybe I should re-focus.
BILL
Re-focus?
GEORGE
Or close down. Those are the two options.
BILL
But what are we going to do? What are you going to do? Wait, do you already have something lined up?
GEORGE
No, no. It’s nothing like that. I just was thinking that after all this time, almost fifteen years, it’s a good moment to reflect on where we’ve been, and where we’re going.
BILL
You are making me nervous, George.
GEORGE
Listen, don’t worry about it. Don’t fret. Just, I don’t know, just think about it. And we can talk about it some more.
BILL
Maybe you’re right. Maybe it is time to get a little perspective. I’ll think about it.
GEORGE
Yeah, do that. For me. We’ll talk.
BILL
OK. You know what, I’m going to take the rest of the day off. Get some perspective.
Bill gets up, walks around the desk and pats George on the shoulder. Bill goes into his office, grabs a jacket and heads towards the door.
GEORGE
Yeah. Maybe I’ll do the same thing. Knock off early.
BILL
(at the door)
One thing, Carol called. She has some year-end stuff she wants to go over. I told her you’d be here this afternoon. But you don’t need me for that, right?
GEORGE
OK. Yeah, no. Go home. Enjoy the day. I’ll wait around until Carol comes by. I’ll call her.
BILL
Right. OK. See ya in the morning.
GEORGE
Right.
Bill exits.
George looks at the door, until he is sure that Bill is really gone, then he goes to the desk. He opens the drawer and pulls out the gun. He examines it, turning it over in his hands. He ejects the clip out of the handle, then racks the slide, ejecting a spent-bullet from the chamber. He takes the other bullets out of the clip so the gun is empty. He puts the gun back in the drawer. He opens a different drawer and puts the bullets in there.
He hears steps approaching so he closes the drawers quickly.
CAROL
(enters, smiling, saucy!)
Hello, George. How are you?
GEORGE
Always a pleasure, Carol. How have you been?
CAROL
Oh, I’m fine, fine and dandy.
GEORGE
Good to hear.
CAROL
It’s that time of year, George.
GEORGE
I’m aware of that.
CAROL
Do you have what I want?
GEORGE
Not yet. But I’m working on it.
CAROL
Don’t be coy, George. I know you have more than enough in the safe, in the back.
GEORGE
Do you? You know that?
CAROL
You’re not a dum-dum. I know you’re work. I know that you buy low and sell high. You wouldn’t wait until the last moment to get one hundred gold coins. At Christmas? Oh no, not this George. You probably bought a thousand, gold coins, in the dip last spring. Didn’t you?
GEORGE
And if I did?
CAROL
If you did, then it is no trouble at all to hand me my share. Just like last year, and the year before. And we’ll keep the Ferris wheel spinning for another year. Won’t we, George?
GEORGE
I’m going to break it up.
CAROL
What, the foundation?
GEORGE
Yeah. I just told Bill. Told him to think about it.
CAROL
What are you saying? You have a fantastic thing going here. I’ve been your bookkeeper for the last seven years and watched you take this nickels-and-dimes charity to great heights. Do you even know what the current value is? Do you?
GEORGE
Well, I’m sure you will tell me.
CAROL
You crossed over seven-hundred million this year. Do you realize that?
GEORGE
It’s just a shell game, Carol. I want to get out.
CAROL
Seven-hundred million dollars, under management. Tax free! So just give me my take and I’ll see you next year. It’s not that hard.
GEORGE
I don’t want to play this game anymore, Carol. I told you, I’m going to break it up. Before the end of the year. And no more coins for you.
CAROL
Oh, George, don’t be like that. You’re just feelin’ the blues, end of the year stuff. The dark afternoons, it can get a gal down. Well cheer up, George. It will be Christmas soon and you know what that means, parties, presents... and year-end bonuses. You remember? Ten-thousand for Bill. And... a million for you?
GEORGE
You keep a lid on that! I don’t want to upset Bill any more than I have to. Once we break this thing up, he’ll be none the wiser.
CAROL
That you’ve been bilking him for the last five years? Does he even know what it is that you do in here? The currency swaps, IPO bets, futures contracts on corporate bonds, crypto-startups? Any of it?
GEORGE
He still thinks we give money to blind orphans.
CAROL
And you do, George. You do. Over a million a year, like clockwork. And take in more than that from eye doctors as a tax-shelter. It’s a good deal for them, and a great deal for you, ‘cause the tax man doesn’t even know what he’s missing.
GEORGE
I’m tired of pretending. I’m tired of sending money to the politicians. Covering for the doctors. It’s just a shell game.
CAROL
It’s called lobbying, George. But you know that.
GEORGE
Carol, I sit in this office, my office, in downtown Cincinnati, and you know what I wonder?
CAROL
If you’ll ever find true love? If you’ll ever have a woman to keep you warm at night? Is that it, George? Lonely at the holidays?
GEORGE
Enough! Enough. No, I sit here and look at the boats going by, the barges going up and down. And I think about Mark Twain writing about the river, Jim Brosnan on baseball and Howard Hendrix. Writers, they hammer out stories, ideas and legends. And me? I move numbers around. What good is that?
CAROL
Well you just keep moving those smelly ol’ numbers around and everything will be just fine.
GEORGE
I told you, I’m breaking this thing up.
CAROL
You can’t just move seven-hundred million dollars around and think nobody will notice.
GEORGE
The only one who would notice is you, Carol.
CAROL
Now don’t get any funny ideas, George. You’re a good fella’, don’t spoil it. And just a reminder, in case you get any funny ideas about putting a teaspoon of arsenic in my coffee, I have note in my safe-deposit box, on top of my life insurance policy. It says, if anything happens to me, go looking for George.
GEORGE
Oh, trying to put the arm on me? Well, we’ll see about that.
CAROL
A gal has to look out, for danger!
GEORGE
You’re the dangerous one, not me. And if I looked close, real close, at those books, I’d find some unusual expenses, wouldn’t I?
CAROL
I just keep the ship sailing, you know that.
GEORGE
But I do look. Closely. Every year. You think I just take your bookkeeping and hand it over to the accountant, without looking at it? Oh no. I check every penny. And you know what I see?
CAROL
Tell me, George. Tell me, did you found out your secretary has been a bad girl?
GEORGE
More than that. I know you’ve been skimming cash out of the till for years.
CAROL
Do you want to bend me over the desk and spank the naughty woman, is that it, George?
GEORGE
I’d like to slap you around, yeah. I’d like to smack you, so you know your place. You come in here, swanning around, hissing like a snake. And you’ve been robbing this foundation since the day you walked in the door.
CAROL
Like I said, I keep the ship sailing. If there happens to be a little grease under my fingernails, well that’s alright, as long as I get my one hundred gold coins every year. Remember, George, you don’t pay me a salary. I don’t even work here.
GEORGE
You’ve got your greasy fingerprints on everything in this place. You think I don’t know that?!
CAROL
Get a hold of yourself! Right now, you are going to stand up, walk in there and bring me my gold!
GEORGE
It’s not as simple as that, Carol. You’ve got to deliver the goods first. You have the work?
CAROL
Of course it’s all done, but it’s all digital now. Nobody prints that stuff out anymore.
GEORGE
Well I do. Here’s the deal, you get the gold when I get the documents, on paper. Balance Sheet, Income Statement, Trial Balance, Journal of transaction. You bring the goods and I’ll give you the gold. But this is the last time. I’m closing up this shop by the end of the year.
CAROL
Don’t tell me. You’ve got a cozy snug on a tropical island. Hmmm.... Maybe someplace, with sunny beaches, sunny native women and... friendly banks? Is that it? Got a one-way to Tahiti on Pan-Am?
GEORGE
The less you know, the better. I want to move on with my life.
CAROL
And maybe you can find local-girl who doesn’t mind playing the naughty secretary. I can send her my skirt and my dirty stockings. She can pretend to be the real thing. Fun-in-the-sun, George.
GEORGE
That’s enough. Get out. Come back when you have it all arranged. I’ll have enough coins for you by then. But after that, our deal is finished.
CAROL
You’re right, George. Maybe it is time for a fresh start, Tabula rasa. Maybe it’s time for me to kick off my heels, take off the pearls and sit in a shaded cabaña with my own Raoul-the-poolboy. Sounds nice, doesn’t it?
GEORGE
I don’t care if you live under a volcano, drinking tequila for breakfast, just wrap this thing up.
CAROL
Is that all you imagine for me, George? You see me sweating in a faded sarong by a dirty swimming pool, head clouded with gin at day-break? Maybe Mexico, or Nevada. Roadside motel. A pool with a view of the highway, blazing sun and roaring trucks. Cheap and dirty, is that it?
GEORGE
The time for fun and games is over. I’ve got to move seven-hundred million dollars and then the game is done.
CAROL
And you disappear like a ghost? I’ll be gone too, vanish into thin air. You’ll leave Bill holding the bag.
GEORGE
Bill will be fine. I’ll make sure of that.
CAROL
And me? Enough to go around, isn’t there?
GEORGE
I’ll take care of you too. Enough to go around. But I’ve got to do this thing right. I have to get the wheels turning with the attorney by the end of the week.
CAROL
Oh, it was a kick, wasn’t it? We had some fun, had some times. Do you remember our trip to Geneva?
GEORGE
Mmm-hmmm.
CAROL
It could be like that again. We could get a place at Lake Como, or Biarritz, on the coast. I’m just afraid the salt air might make the zipper on my skirt catch. I’d need a steady hand.
GEORGE
Go home. Get to work. Come back tomorrow with the printouts. Then that’s it. Now go.
CAROL
I’ll come back tomorrow, five-sharp, and I’ll bring a bottle of Champagne, for a toast.
GEORGE
Just bring the reports.
CAROL
As you wish, master.
Carol gets up to leave, she swivels and dishes, showing off for George. She turns at the door and blows him a kiss.
CAROL
Good night, George. Sweet dreams.
GEORGE
Goodbye, Carol.
Carol exits. George starts working on his computer. Looks at his watch. He picks up his phone and dials.
GEORGE
(into phone)
Hey, Frank. This is George. You still in the office?
(listens)
Yeah, hey, I want to place an order, but it’s unusual. I can email you the details if you are in.
(listens)
OK. Well, I want to make an order for gold. And I want to take delivery. Right. Not just paper swaps. Physical, gold bars. Can you do that?
(listens)
Right. OK. I’ll send you the details. I want to get moving by the end of the week. OK. Keep an eye out. Bye.
(hangs up)
George goes back to his computer.
INT. - NEXT MORNING
Bill enters, with a cup of coffee.
BILL
(muttering)
They always forget the damned creamer.
Bill sets the coffee on George’s desk. He comes around and opens one of the drawers. He sees the bullets. He closes the drawer and opens the middle drawer, where George has packets of powdered creamer. Bill takes a couple of packets. Then he opens the drawer with the gun. Stunned, he picks up the gun. He looks at it then gets a couple of bullets out of the other drawer. He puts the bullets in his pocket and slips the automatic pistol into his belt at the small of his back. He closes everything, picks up the coffee and goes into the other office.
Soon George enters.
GEORGE
(carrying a cup of coffee)
Bill, you in?
BILL
(from the other office)
Yeah. Good morning.
George sits down, puts the coffee on the desk. He gets a packet of creamer out of the drawer. Then, cautiously, he opens the drawer, sees the gun missing. He looks at the other door. He checks for bullets. Some are missing. He sits back in the chair, then turns on the computer. He looks at his phone.
GEORGE
(to Bill in interior office)
I picked up a coffee on the way in. They always forget the damned creamer.
BILL
(from office)
I know, right. Me too.
GEORGE
You get some?
BILL
Yeah, thanks.
GEORGE
Did you give some thought... you know..
BILL
Yeah. Let me finish this thing and we can talk.
GEORGE
Right.
George gets up, walks to the window, looking down at the city below. He looks at his watch, sips the coffee.
BILL
(entering)
So you want to change things up, huh?
Bill sits in the chair opposite the desk. George sits behind the desk.
GEORGE
Yeah, you know, I was thinking, hey, I put in my time, for the orphans. I want to get on with my life. I want to see some of the world, get out of Cinci for a while. You ever feel like that?
BILL
Sure, sure, George. We all feel like that. But is there anything I should know? Something you want to tell me?
GEORGE
Well, OK, yeah. There is.
BILL
Go ahead.
GEORGE
Alright, look, you know how yesterday you said the foundation was up to ten million dollars?
BILL
Yeah. That’s right.
GEORGE
OK, well, I talked to Carol and she says we topped one-hundred million, what with some investment I made for the firm.
BILL
A HUNDRED MILLION?! Jesus, George!
GEORGE
Yeah, well, I got a couple of good breaks. Things went my way.
BILL
A hundred? And that’s in the foundation?
GEORGE
Yeah.
BILL
But just think what we could do! What we could achieve!
GEORGE
Yeah, but, here’s the thing, I don’t want to do that. That’s your thing. I want you to do it. Do whatever you think, whatever you want.
BILL
But, George, think about it.
GEORGE
I have thought about it, a lot. And my heart’s not in it anymore.
BILL
After all this time.
GEORGE
Look, here’s the thing. To make a clean break, it should be a new foundation, a good place for you, and the money. And the Blind Orphan Foundation donates one hundred million dollars to the new thing. And you do whatever you want.
BILL
But why not keep it in the BOF? Just keep going?
GEORGE
Well, that’s the thing. To generate that kind of return, so fast, is going to raise some flags, with the government. I haven’t done anything wrong, nothing illegal. I just bet aggressively, and won. If we set up a new thing that’s just you, then you don’t get dragged into anything if the IRS comes sniffing. You get me?
BILL
IRS? This is a non-profit.
GEORGE
Right, but we made a lot of money. That get’s their attention. Look, I didn’t kill anybody. I’m not on the run. From anybody but myself. I’ve got to find a way, you know, find a path where I can get some sleep at night. I look in the mirror and I still see the scared kid who is lost and lonely. I need to get out of this shell game of shadows and innuendo, this merry-go-round I can never find my way off of, find some firm ground.
BILL
Do you know what you are going to do?
GEORGE
Not specifically. But listen, I am talking to the attorney, Oscar. He can get things set up fast, on your go-ahead. And I want to have things clear by the end of the year. New organization, new office, new mission. Start the year off clean. What do you think?
BILL
It doesn’t matter what I think, does it? You’ll do whatever you damned well please.
GEORGE
Bill, look at me. I want out of this. I don’t want to come to this office anymore. I don’t care about orphans. I don’t care about the poor. And I’m tired of pretending I care, that I’m somebody I’m not. Can you understand?
BILL
Is this about me? Is that it?
GEORGE
Does it affect you? Yes. Is it about you? No.
BILL
You sure about that?
GEORGE
This is about me wanting to go from where I am, to where I want to go.
BILL
Oh, and where’s that, huh?
GEORGE
Where’s what?
BILL
Where do you want to go?
GEORGE
Bill, look. Fifteen years ago, I was twenty-three years old, a kid. I didn’t know anything. And now, I’m staring down forty. And I’m still in the same place, the same office, same job. I’m still in the same apartment. I don’t have any friends. I don’t have any relationships. I poured every heartbeat I had into this place, so I could step-aside and hand the stick off, to you, to anybody.
BILL
And you blame me for that? I gave you this job. You didn’t have to take it.
GEORGE
And I don’t have to stay either.
BILL
Are you threatening me?
GEORGE
No, Bill, no. It’s not like that. I want it to be clean. For you, and for Linda. You guys have a good life. It should be that way, for her anyway. When we were growing up I knew she was the one with the good heart. And I realized that I didn’t have a good heart, not like her. But then I didn’t have to because she was good enough, loving enough, for everybody. I couldn’t do that. But I made a lot of money and now I want her to be secure. And, yeah, you’re along for the ride. Ya’ lucky chump.
BILL
You leave Linda out of this.
GEORGE
She’s still my sister. I want to make sure she’s OK, too.
BILL
I don’t like what you are doing here. You’re pulling all the strings, like I’m just a puppet. But you listen to me, this is my place. I made this, not you. I made this thing that helps people, orphans. You don’t get to tell me to go or stop, if the light is red or green, do this, not that. You hear me?
GEORGE
I heard you the first time. The first time you made that speech. Fifteen years ago. And I believed you. And I kicked-in my five-K, just like you, half. But you were the boss.
BILL
That’s right and I still am the boss.
GEORGE
Bill, you haven’t been the boss from day-one. It didn’t take long to realize that you couldn’t be the boss, didn’t want to be the boss. In fifteen years, we never hired anybody. Never expanded the mission, the vision. That’s because you don’t have any vision. You can’t see what’s right in front of you. The blind orphan is you.
BILL
Oh, and you’re going to show me? Well I don’t like it. I poured my heart into this. I’m not giving it up just because you want to go camping.
GEORGE
I’m not going camping. Listen, I’ll set up a new thing. You can name it whatever you want, do whatever you want. And I’ll transfer the money. You can have it all.
BILL
What are you going to live on?
GEORGE
I’ve done OK. I’ve saved.
BILL
And I’m supposed to believe that? That you haven’t been skimming cash off the top, taking money away from the orphans?
GEORGE
For the orphans, Jesus. See, you don’t even know what we do here.
BILL
Don’t know what we do here? George, don’t be a sap. We help orphans. Or is there something else you’re not telling me?
GEORGE
It doesn’t matter. Just take the money. Do whatever you want. OK? That’s it.
BILL
That’s it? After fifteen years. That’s it?
GEORGE
Gimmee a name. What do you want to call it?
BILL
What, it?
GEORGE
The new organization. What do you want it to be named? I have a call-in to Oscar to get it started, January-one. What do you want it to be?
BILL
The Blind Orphan Foundation. It already is.
GEORGE
No, see, that’s the thing. The Blind Orphan Foundation is going away. December thirty-one. Poof! Gone. The name. The money. Everything, gone.
BILL
End of December? But that’s crazy!
GEORGE
How about this, A Helping Hand? You can be the hand that lifts people up, orphans or otherwise. Or this, The Cincinnati Fund, simple, elegant. Doesn’t box you in. Do whatever you want with a hundred-million bucks.
BILL
The Cincinnati Fund? Sounds like it sells tickets to Reds games.
GEORGE
Yeah, maybe it’s already taken. Gimme something.
BILL
I gotta take a walk. Clear my head. Think up a name, he says.
Bill gets his jacket and goes to the door.
GEORGE
Maybe something with art. You could hire Linda. Do it together. She knows about art. Support artists, and stuff.
BILL
Oh, crackers...
(exits)
George gets up, looks out the window. He sees Bill down at the street level, walking toward the river-walk.
George goes into Bill’s office, searching for the gun. He does not find it.
GEORGE
(back at his desk)
(into the phone)
Hey, Frank. Good morning. How are you?
(listens)
Yeah, OK, so how are we with the gold?
(listens)
Look, here’s what I’m going to do, I’m going to put five-hundred million in the account. Spend every dollar on gold; bricks, bars or coins. Whatever you can get. But the money’s got to be gone by Friday. You get me?
(listens)
You let me know when it’s done. OK? Alright. Thanks.
(hangs up)
George gets up, looks around in Bill’s office but doesn’t find the gun. He looks out the window.
BILL
(muttering)
I need some air.
(exits)
INT. - OFFICE - LATE AFTERNOON
George is back at his desk. By email he is arranging for physical pickup of the gold in New York with a special precious-metals service.
Carol enters, with folders full of reports.
CAROL
George, I’m back!
She swivels in and sits down, putting the reports on the desk.
GEORGE
Is this everything? Let me see.
She yanks the reports back.
CAROL
You know why I’m here.
GEORGE
To deliver my reports.
CAROL
And...
GEORGE
Your payment. I’ve got it.
George reaches into his desk and pulls out a plastic box for holding rolls of coins. It is a box for ten rolls of ten coins.
CAROL
Very nice. I like these boxes. Clever.
GEORGE
This is the last year. But I need a favor.
CAROL
Oh! Need a helping hand, George?
GEORGE
(leans in to whisper)
Listen, Bill is in there. And I need you to follow my lead. You play it straight, got it?
CAROL
(whispers, taps her nose with her finger tip)
Right-oh, boss!
GEORGE
OK. Good.
(to Bill)
Hey, Bill! Can you come in here? Carol is back with the end of the year stuff.
BILL
(from office)
Sure. Gimme a sec.
Bill stands in the door, realizes that he needs a chair so he brings one from his office. George sees the gun in the back of Bill’s pants. Bill sits.
GEORGE
Bill, you know Carol.
BILL
Sure. How are you? Say, what’s in the box?
Carol looks at George. George nods.
CAROL
It’s my pay for the year.
BILL
In a box?
CAROL
It is a system that I worked out a long time ago. I get paid once, at the end of the year, in gold coins.
BILL
Gold coins? But there’s gotta be thirty, forty coins in that box.
CAROL
One-hundred.
BILL
A hundred gold coins? What the hell?! George, what are you doing, giving her that?
GEORGE
Simmer down, Bill. It’s like this, she’s not on the payroll, so no taxes, no insurance, no liability. She gets paid once a year, so I buy them when the price is low.
BILL
But why are you paying her so much?
CAROL
I keep the ship sailing, Bill. I do the bills, collections, prep the taxes, cook the food and wash the bottles. Here’s my job in a nut-shell.
(she taps the reports)
GEORGE
She’s good, and talent is expensive. I call it a bargain. So should you. And, let’s face it, you’re going to need her for the next show.
BILL
But I don’t understand. Where is all this money coming from? What’s going on?
GEORGE
I told you. I made a few investments, took a few risks. Some of ‘em paid off.
CAROL
Big!
GEORGE
That’s enough.
BILL
What are you hiding? What the hell’s going on?
GEORGE
Relax. Just take it easy. In two weeks, you’ll have your own show, with a hundred-million to play with. Do whatever you want.
CAROL
You are giving him a hundred?
GEORGE
Yeah. Transferring all the money into a new fund. Bill here is going out on his own, to do good in the world. Maybe you can help him.
CAROL
Oh, no! I’m sticking with you. Where you go, I go. I want to ride on the train with the real money.
BILL
What real money?
GEORGE
You are going to have a hundred-million dollars, Bill. Leave it at that.
BILL
What’s the real money?
CAROL
George...
GEORGE
Can it.
BILL
Damn it! I demand to know what’s going on here! What are you two hiding?
GEORGE
Settle down, Bill. No need to get agitated. We’ll handle this like adults, like professionals.
BILL
Like adults?! Dammit, George!
Bill jumps up. He whips out the pistol and points it at George.
GEORGE
Bill! Wait!
BILL
You are going to tell me, right now! What the hell is going on?
GEORGE
I played it straight with you. I’m telling you the truth. I am going to put one-hundred million dollars into a new account. You will have full control. Do whatever you want. Now, put the gun down.
CAROL
Where did you get a gun?
Bill swivels to point the gun at Carol.
BILL
Now it’s your turn. Tell me the truth. What’s going on?
CAROL
Please don’t point that at me. I’ll tell you the truth, just don’t point that at me.
BILL
You’ll do what I tell you. Now spill it!
CAROL
It’s like he said. There is a hundred-million dollars and he’s going to move it to a new organization. I have everything ready to go.
BILL
But what else? What else?! What am I missing? If you don’t tell me, I swear I will blow your brains out right here!
CAROL
I don’t know! I don’t know! George!
GEORGE
Put the gun down, Bill! Put it down. She’s here to help. She’s not cheating you.
BILL
How much money is there, really?
CAROL
George!
GEORGE
Bill! Put the gun down!
BILL
I’m going to kill her! I swear to god, you better answer me! HOW MUCH?!
CAROL
Seven-hundred!
BILL
(stunned)
What? Seven-hundred? Million?
GEORGE
Yes, Bill. Seven-hundred million dollars. Now put the gun down.
Bill slumps in the chair, gun in his lap.
BILL
Oh my god! How is that possible?
CAROL
Oh, he’s good. He’s really good.
GEORGE
Shut up!
BILL
And you were going to give me one-hundred?
GEORGE
I am. I will. You deserve it.
BILL
And you deserve the rest? I don’t think so.
GEORGE
Don’t give me that. You’d have blown through the original ten-grand in three months if I hadn’t taken control from the start. I grew that ten-thousand into a hundred-thousand. Then a million, then a hundred-million. Now it’s seven. And you get one.
BILL
And you think you can walk away with the rest? Without me?
CAROL
Bill, think of it. He’s giving you a hundred-million dollars. Even you can’t spend that fast enough to put yourself back in the poorhouse. He’s doing you a hell of a favor. You should thank him!
BILL
Thank him? For stabbing me in the back? And you knew about it, all of it? Recording every penny in your reports?
CAROL
That you, apparently, don’t read. Because if you did, you’d see, here, on line-one, CASH ON-HAND, seven-hundred million dollars.
(she jabs at a report)
But maybe you never learned to read. You bum. You are so lucky and you don’t even know it. This guy has been carrying you the whole time. Don’t you see that?
BILL
Shut up!
CAROL
Don’t talk to me like that! I don’t work for you. At the end of the month this whole thing is going to go up like smoke, out the window, leaving nothing but a bad smell - and a stack of cash for you. So you shut your mouth. I’m done here.
Carol pops up, picks up her box and moves to leave.
BILL
(points the gun at her)
Stay right there! You are not going anywhere. Put the box back on the desk. That’s for orphans!
CAROL
Hey, pal, if you’ve got a gun, you better know how to pull the trigger. And if you say one more word to me, I’m going to take that thing away from you and slap you with it, jam it down your throat! You got me?
(glances at George, nods)
Goodbye, suckers!
(exits)
Bill is so mad he is shaking in rage. He growls and turns back to George.
BILL
You’re making a monkey out of me!
GEORGE
She’s tough. I don’t blame her.
BILL
I blame you, George. And I want the money. All of it!
(points gun at George)
GEORGE
The wheels are already turning, Bill.
BILL
Well, un-turn them!
GEORGE
No!
BILL
(threatens with gun)
I want all of it!
GEORGE
You are lucky to get a nickel! Sure, point my own gun at me. Go ahead. Pull the trigger. Then see what happens. You won’t get the money, any of it. You don’t know where it is. Hell, Carol doesn’t know where it is. Nobody but me. So go ahead, shoot me. And throw it all away.
BILL
You tell me, now. Where’s the money?
GEORGE
It doesn’t work like that. It’s not stacked up in some vault.
BILL
Then where is it?
GEORGE
It’s just a shell game. It doesn’t really exist. There is no pile of money. It’s just numbers.
BILL
So there is money? Or there isn’t? Which is it? What the hell are you saying?!
GEORGE
Yes. But it is scattered across a dozen accounts, around the world. Panama, Switzerland, Vietnam, Johannesburg, Tel Aviv, accounts inside accounts, safe deposit boxes with special codes, authorizations with phony names, aliases for everything. The whole system is a kaleidoscope of changing colors. And you don’t think I’d give you the keys to the castle, do you?
BILL
What are you going to do with the money?
Bill walks around the desk and puts the gun to George’s head.
BILL
Tell me!! Tell me!
GEORGE
Ok! Ok! A truck is going to pick up an order for gold bars in New York.
BILL
Then what?
GEORGE
I’ll take it to Montreal and stash it there, selling it back when I want to.
BILL
Bring the gold to me.
GEORGE
No. I gambled. I won. That’s it. It’s mine.
BILL
I’m going to shoot you right here. Right now.
GEORGE
Don’t do that. If nobody comes to pick up the delivery, the guys in the truck split it, and it’s gone.
BILL
But why are you doing this? Why now?
GEORGE
Because I have to get out. I have this one shot to make the fortune, the big fortune, and I’m not going to let it go. You understand, Bill? Come on, sit down.
Bill goes back to the chair, slumps down. He puts the gun on the desk.
George picks up the gun, puts the gun back in his desk.
BILL
George?
GEORGE
Yeah?
BILL
Why do you have a gun in your desk? Are you going to shoot me?
GEORGE
No. I picked it up.
BILL
When?
GEORGE
Yesterday. I was getting gas. A guy runs up, says it’s a stick-up. I punched him in the mouth. That flattened him. I got the gun out of his hand and told him he better hoof-it or I would turn his face into hamburger pulp.
BILL
Christ!
GEORGE
He takes off. I pick up the gun and I fired once, to scare him. But I might have hit him. And they have cameras everywhere. They will track me down. I didn’t want it in the car. But why did you take it?
BILL
I figured out that you were screwing me.
GEORGE
I’m not screwing you, Bill. I’m going to give you a hundred-million dollars. It’s done already, waiting for you, when you come up with a name. It’s already there. Just say the word.
BILL
I figured that you were sliding the spare change into your pocket. Over and above the million that we give to the orphans, I figured you were taking more than your share. I figured that you-knew that I-knew, and were getting ready to bump me. That’s why.
GEORGE
Nobody’s getting bumped.
BILL
I’m getting bumped.
GEORGE
No, you’re not.
BILL
You don’t understand, George. This is my whole life. I wake up in the morning and I know I have some purpose, that we’re making a difference.
GEORGE
And you still can.
BILL
You don’t know. I’m at the end of the rope. I’m so far under water I’ll never get to breathe again.
GEORGE
What? You need money?
BILL
It’s not the money. It’s me, more dead than alive. I can barely put my shoes on. You know that feeling? All you want to do is lie in bed, not even move. That feeling?
GEORGE
No, never happened to me.
BILL
Of course not. But you know why I travel?
GEORGE
To find blind orphans.
BILL
Heh! Blind orphans. Yeah, for them. But for me too. To get away. To give Linda some relief.
GEORGE
Linda?
BILL
She’s sick of me too, George. She’s sick of finding me in some corner of the house, not wanting to move, or say anything. She wants me to straighten up and fly right. So I go out of town. Oklahoma City. Cheyenne. Sault Sainte Marie.
GEORGE
In the U-P?
BILL
There’s a nice little hotel by the bridge, over the Saint Mary. It’s quiet there, but god it’s cold.
GEORGE
Is there an orphanage there?
BILL
Used to be. It was run by the nuns. But no, I go because there’s a place next door. It’s got a Hamn’s Beer sign in the window. Neon. You know the type?
GEORGE
Yeah. Old time-y.
BILL
Yeah. Well, I sit in the room, not moving, not saying anything. I don’t read. I don’t write. And then, when it gets dark, I walk down to Reggie’s Tavern. Pool table in the back, darts. I get a pitcher of beer and talk to the locals, the barflies, the hobos and old river-hags who want to turn one more trick before the end of the night. And you know what?
GEORGE
Eh, what?
BILL
Whether it’s Topeka or Needles, Binghamton or the coast of Maine. There’s always a place like that. And it is always full of those folks, people like me. On the outside of life, looking in.
GEORGE
You’re not on the outside.
BILL
No, see. You have it figured out. Take ten-grand and turn it into ten-million. I could never do that, in a million years. You are on the inside. You know how it works.
GEORGE
How what works?
BILL
All of it. Life! Money, power, ambition. You grab the reins and jump on the horse. But...
GEORGE
You think that I have it all figured out? Bill, it’s not like that.
BILL
But a lot of people never get there. It’s two-thirty in the morning and I see my reflection at the bottom of the glass and I don’t know what town I’m in or where I’m going to sleep. And if Linda knew, if she found out, that would be over too.
GEORGE
She probably knows. You know, women.
BILL
Right. Women.
GEORGE
You have to get some help, Bill.
BILL
I have help, you and Linda. If it wasn’t for you two, I’d be freezing in Sault Saint Marie, under the bridge. And now you want to take it all away from me?
GEORGE
I’m not taking anything away from you. I’m giving you something, a chance, a new start.
BILL
When I woke up in a truck-stop motel in Ontario, California, I thought, what am I doing with my life? But then I thought, wait, it’s almost over. I already spent my life, and I just wasted it.
GEORGE
Just think of all the orphans you helped.
BILL
You trying to convince me?
GEORGE
Of what?
BILL
That it was worth it.
GEORGE
Isn’t it?
BILL
Without you, I’m just some washed up nobody, staring out the window at the river. You know I can’t do anything. That’s why I come here, to the office, to get away from myself. If I am alone, then that’s it.
GEORGE
Don’t say it like that. You can do whatever you want.
BILL
That’s not how depression works. I don’t want to do anything.
GEORGE
Then let the money work for you. You don’t have to do anything. Just let it soak. Give away the million-a-year and you’ll live to be a hundred. And you can join a softball team or a bowling league. Just do something with other people.
BILL
I’d rather be dead.
GEORGE
Don’t say that.
BILL
Gimme the gun.
GEORGE
What?! No.
BILL
Give it to me. I only need one round. Take care of this here, now.
GEORGE
No, Bill. I’m going to take the gun away. I’m not going to let you do that.
BILL
I’m going to punch you in the mouth.
GEORGE
You take a swing at me and you’ll wake up staring at the ceiling, in the hospital.
BILL
Ha! That’s good! Like old times, eh, George?
GEORGE
Heh. Yeah. I guess.
BILL
So what do we do here? Huh?
GEORGE
Same as I said. You get a hundred million. I get five hundred in gold and I go to Canada. I’ve got a truck, on the side it says, George’s Screw and Bolt. I get a few tons of nails, screws and stuff, cover up the gold, nobody is going to rob a bolt and screw truck.
BILL
What if I needed some nails?
GEORGE
I could check my inventory, maybe I sell a few boxes on the side. We’ll see. Ha!
BILL
That’s good. That’s rich. I like it.
GEORGE
Thanks.
BILL
OK. We’ll do that. But I’m no good with names. You think of something and just tell me what you call it.
GEORGE
OK.
BILL
But, George...
GEORGE
Yeah?
BILL
What about the other hundred million?
GEORGE
I’m going to donate it, to charity.
BILL
Which one?
GEORGE
Yours, in one year, if you are still here.
BILL
Thanks, George. But you know what, you should give it to somebody who does real good. Not like me. Give it to the Sisters, the ones that really run the orphanages. Give it to some place that really makes a difference.
GEORGE
OK. I can do that. But what are you going to do, Bill?
BILL
Do what I’ve always done, sit by the window and watch the river go by. And give away a million dollars a year.
GEORGE
OK. If that’s what you want.
BILL
Until something better comes along.
GEORGE
Alright. I’ve got to get moving. See ya’ round.
George gets up and goes to the door.
BILL
See ya’ in the funny papers, kid.
George gives a salute/wave and exits.
Bill reaches for the cold cup of coffee, sips and waits. Then he walks around the desk, takes out the gun and one of the bullets. He exits into the other office.
END