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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!
U-Bahn '89
by
Rick Regan
Characters:
KARL-HEINZ
TAWNY
GREGOR
KIKI
FRIEDERIKE
Rick Regan
Raleigh, NC
Raleigh.rickregan@gmail.com
919-218-8834SCENE 1
INT. - EVENING - KARL-HEINZ’S APARTMENT - WEST BERLIN, SUMMER
The Apartment is on the third floor of a 19th Century
building, with a small patio overlooking the street and
the tramline below. In trendy Kreuzberg, the Wall can be
seen from the patio, and over into East Germany. There
are several rooms and a hallway to the door out to the
corridor.
Karl-Heinz is tall, slim and elegant. He is German, in
his late twenties. His English is flawless, in an
American style. Tawny is a Berliner, also late twenties.
She speaks with the bluntness typical of Berliners.
KARL-HEINZ enters with a cocktail glass. He goes to the doors
and opens them out to the patio. He steps out looks around
and comes back in.
KARL-HEINZ
(to TAWNY, offstage)
Did you take your pills today?
TAWNY
(no answer)
Karl-Heinz sits in a sleek, modern chair and closes his eyes.
TAWNY
(enters)
What was that, dear?
KARL-HEINZ
(eyes pop open)
Oh! You are alive!
TAWNY
Yes, I’m alive. Of course, I’m alive. I can’t say as
much for you. Is that your third?
KARL-HEINZ
Certainly not! It’s only half-seven. Gregor should be
here soon. Sit down. Tell me about your day, before
they arrive.
TAWNY
Ummm... Well, you know. Searching for the ghosts.
Feeling for the spirit in the wind. You know?KARL-HEINZ
Right. Right. Um-hmm. Yes.
(sips)
And, umm, did you find it?
TAWNY
What?
KARL-HEINZ
The, you know, wind, and such.
TAWNY
It was such a beautiful day, you know. I went over by
the Zoo. The light was magnificent.
KARL-HEINZ
On the U-2?
TAWNY
No, the One, and I walked.
KARL-HEINZ
Is that far?
TAWNY
Only a few hundred meters.
KARL-HEINZ
North?
TAWNY
Yes. North. Of course. Don’t you care about what I
saw?
KARL-HEINZ
Well, geography first, my liebchen. What did you see?
TAWNY
There were snow birds today. Did you notice that?
KARL-HEINZ
No. Birds?
TAWNY
Oh, so many geese, flying in a V. You know, a V?
KARL-HEINZ
Yes, more aerodynamic, I think. More efficient.
TAWNY
Perhaps, but they were so free. No boundaries for
them. No Blue Lines, Red Lines. No Walls. So free.KARL-HEINZ
They are birds. They are wild animals.
TAWNY
Well it’s not like they are bears. They are just
flying away, not mauling people.
KARL-HEINZ
No?
TAWNY
Are even listening? I don’t think you’ve heard a word
I’ve said.
KARL-HEINZ
Perhaps not. Listen, Gregor is coming.
TAWNY
Is he bringing that witch? Are they still together?
KARL-HEINZ
I don’t know. Don’t call her that. She’s an artist.
TAWNY
No, I’m an artist. She’s a witch, a foul-smelling,
vagabond.
KARL-HEINZ
She’s at the Art School. In residence, I understood.
TAWNY
She smells like she lives under a bridge. I hope she
doesn’t come into the apartment.
KARL-HEINZ
Maybe keep her by the window?
TAWNY
Can you spill some vodka on her? Maybe that would
help.
KARL-HEINZ
I don’t understand what she does.
TAWNY
Nobody does, not even her.
BRRRZZZZZ! The doorbell rings. Karl goes to answer it.
GREGOR and KIKI come in. Gregor looks like a copy of KarlHeinz, same age, same sleek style. Kiki is a person under a
burlap sack that covers her entirely, with no eye- or mouthholes.KARL-HEINZ
Gregor! Come in. Good to see you.
GREGOR
Karl-Heinz! Fancy meeting you here.
KARL-HEINZ
What? It’s my apartment.
GREGOR
Do you have any drinks?
KARL-HEINZ
Bien sûr. Kiki, is that you in there? Fancy a drink?
KIKI
(nods)
KARL-HEINZ
Right. Is that ‘yes’? Right. Come in, come in.
GREGOR
Got any Champ’ers, old boy?
KARL-HEINZ
Just Sekt. Best that I could get. How about opening
it for me? In the fridge.
GREGOR
Straight away!
(exits to kitchen)
KARL-HEINZ
Say, Kiki, is there something I can get you?
KIKI
(from inside sack)
You have Drambuie?
KARL-HEINZ
Err.. Drambuie? Uh, no. Drambuie, who drinks
Drambuie?
KIKI
Cognac then.
KARL-HEINZ
Right. Come in.
KIKI comes in. Tawney is visibly disgusted. Kiki stands next
to the chair where Tawny is sitting.TAWNY
(reluctantly)
Hello, Kiki.
KIKI
Tawn.
KARL-HEINZ
(to Gregor in the kitchen)
Gregor, pull a Cognac for Kiki, will you?
TAWNY
How’s the teaching going?
KIKI
It’s awful. The students think of nothing but death.
They have internalized their existential futility.
Everything is useless, pointless.
TAWNY
That’s sad.
KIKI
The young people of this country are already a wasted
generation.
TAWNY
Hmmm. That’s very sad. But not any sadder than you.
What’s with the sack, Keek?
KIKI
I am experimenting with my own decay. This gives me
the freedom to explore.
TAWNY
Gawd! Decay?! Uh, is that why you smell so bad? Is it
a skin condition?
KIKI
I move about the city, without hindrance, without a
concern for fashion.
TAWNY
What? Are you naked under that thing? Christ, take a
shower, Keek!
KIKI
I have forgotten what a bra feels like. I am so free.
I have not shaved in a year. Or cut my hair.
TAWNY
Oh doctor, I need a drink!
Tawny goes to the kitchen.Gregor emerges with drinks. He offers a drink to Kiki, but
she has to lift up the hem from the floor to take the drink.
We see that she is naked, with no shoes underneath. He goes
to Karl, by the window.
GREGOR
Beautiful night. I love this apartment.
KARL-HEINZ
Thanks. We like it. Damned Tram noise though.
GREGOR
Could be worse. We overlook Sachsenhausen, the Berlin
Camp.
KARL-HEINZ
Sachsenhausen? The Camp? That’s north. Is that
Henningsdorf, S-85?
GREGOR
S-1, Oranienburg. About an hour.
KARL-HEINZ
What can you see?
GREGOR
It’s still horrible. People come all the time. They
pray at the gates. It’s all locked, of course. Do you
think we will ever be free of our crimes?
KARL-HEINZ
Our crimes? Yours, mine? I don’t see why not. I
didn’t shove them into the gas chambers. Did you?
GREGOR
No, of course not.
KARL-HEINZ
But the State? Kultur? I don’t know. Beethoven.
Bismarck. Goethe. And then the Devil.
GREGOR
What are you working on? I haven’t seen you since the
spring. Still at the State Office of Geography?
KARL-HEINZ
Yes. Still there. We are mapping where the gas lines
cross the water lines, in Mainz.
GREGOR
In Mainz?! That’s clear across the country! How do
you map Mainz from Berlin?KARL-HEINZ
It’s all maps. I just look at maps all day.
GREGOR
Do you like it?
KARL-HEINZ
Yes.
GREGOR
Good. Good for you.
KARL-HEINZ
And what has been keeping you busy? Hmm? Did you get
your sorting machine working?
GREGOR
No. The professor at Technical University told me to
drop it as a thesis topic. Can you believe that?
KARL-HEINZ
What does he want you to work on instead?
GREGOR
He wants help working out the kinks in a bottlefilling machine. He wants to sell the design to a
brewing company.
KARL-HEINZ
Is it far along? Can you help him?
GREGOR
(frustrated)
The whole bloody thing is pneumatic. Leaks
everywhere. It’s never going to work. But he doesn’t
believe in Computer Control. Can you believe that?
It’s almost the Nineties!
KARL-HEINZ
Yes. Right. We’re going digital. I don’t know if it’s
better or worse. The kraftwerks of the mapmakers gets
tossed out for a full 8-bit resolution, with sixteen
colors. Say, what’s Kiki working on? Why the sack?
GREGOR
Damned if I know. She explains it and it never makes
any sense.
KARL-HEINZ
Does she sleep in that?
GREGOR
Thankfully, no. She doesn’t sleep in anything.
Doesn’t wash, doesn’t shave.KARL-HEINZ
Like a sheep.
GREGOR
In-heat!
KARL-HEINZ
Ha!
GREGOR
Heh!
KARL-HEINZ
Look here, old boy, fetch me a beer, will you. I want
to hear about Kiki’s kinky summer.
GREGOR
Best of luck with that.
(exits to kitchen)
KARL-HEINZ
Kiki! Kiki, darling. Come tell me about your project.
What’s with the cover up?
KIKI
(sipping cognac under burlap)
Karl-Heinz, my love. How good to see you.
KARL-HEINZ
How can you see anything with that over your face?
KIKI
It is a trick of darkness and light. Like a one-way
mirror, you know? I can see you perfectly well but I
am hidden from you.
KARL-HEINZ
Quite so. What’s it all about?
KIKI
I am teaching, you know.
KARL-HEINZ
At the arts college, right?
KIKI
Yes, I am on-loan from University Paris.
KARL-HEINZ
On-loan? Like a statue?
KIKI
Yes, something like that. Artist-in-residence.KARL-HEINZ
But you live with Gregor, don’t you?
KIKI
Yes.
KARL-HEINZ
Oh.
KIKI
Anyway, the students are ground down, into the dust,
by the state machinery. This West-East pressure has
them crushed into paralysis. I am exploring decay,
what it means to decay in-place. It is an act of
defiance against the State insistence on homogenous
existence.
KARL-HEINZ
What does that mean?
KIKI
We are just placeholders in the game of statecraft.
We exist only to exist, in place. If we were gone, or
they were gone, the political tide would shift.
KARL-HEINZ
What are you saying?
KIKI
If everyone leaves West Berlin, then is there still a
reason to protect West Berlin? If the German people
leave East Berlin, or East Germany, then is there any
reason to be at war? I think the answer is ‘no’, but
I am not sure. So I protest by being here but also
decaying like a tree.
KARL-HEINZ
A tree?
KIKI
No one goes to war, or fights over a tree.
KARL-HEINZ
Certainly they do.
KIKI
But not over political philosophy, battling
Communism.
KARL-HEINZ
I think Karl Marx had something to say about the,
what is it, the Paradox of the Commons? We all
pasture our sheep in common until somebody puts up a
fence, isn’t that it?KIKI
It’s not about sheep.
KARL-HEINZ
No?
KIKI
No.
KARL-HEINZ
Well then, what is it?
KIKI
If a place has trees but no people, we call that a
forest. If a place has people, but no trees, we call
that a city. But what if the people in the city were
to turn into trees? Hmmm? What then?
KARL-HEINZ
I have no idea. Turn into trees? Hmm.
BRRZZZZ!! Door bell buzzes.
KARL-HEINZ
Ah-ha! Saved by the bell!
(exits to the door)
Say, it’s Friederike! Where is Heinrich? Is he
coming?
FRIEDERIKE is a compact German woman, about Tawny’s age, late
20’s. She is fabulously beautiful, in a conventional German
1980’s way, with high cheeks, shiny blonde hair, perfect
teeth and bowtie lips, highlighted with black/brown lipstick.
FRIEDERIKE
No. Can I have a drink? My head is pounding.
(entering)
Hello, Tawny. Good to see you. Oh, Keek. You’re here.
Did you wash this week? It doesn’t look like.
Gregor enters with glasses, bottles of beer and a sparkling
German wine.
GREGOR
Here you go, beautiful.
FRIEDERIKE
You are a pet, Greg-y.
She guzzles the glass of sparkling wine and urges him to
refill. He does.
GREGOR
Long day at the salt mines?FRIEDERIKE
That’s better. Yes, nose to the grindstone. Can you
tell?
(she pushes her face forward)
GREGOR
I’m not a doctor but I’ll take a look.
FRIEDERIKE
Ha! Give us some more champagne!
GREGOR
As much as you like! It’s Karl-Heinz’s. Spend his
money.
TAWNY
Freddy, dearest, where did you come from? I didn’t
know you were around?
FRIEDERIKE
Heinrich wanted to come. Sends his regrets. Says he
may swing by later. He was beavering away at his
electrical thingy and I thought you might just have
some of this yummy bubbly.
TAWNY
Of course. Did you have a shoot today?
FRIEDERIKE
Just prep. They do winter clothes in summer and
bikinis in January. It’s awful. I’ve been sweating
under the lights like a wooly brown bear. OH GOD! Do
I smell? Tawn, am I awful?
TAWNY
(sniffs)
Not any more than usual.
FRIEDERIKE
Chanel 5 works magic.
TAWNY
You smell like an old woman. Like the widows who have
coffee sitting under the dome of the glass house at
the Botanical Museum. But your hair is better.
FRIEDERIKE
Thanks. Keek! What the hell are you still doing with
that thing? Take it off.
KIKI
It is my process, Freddy. You know that.FRIEDERIKE
No, I don’t. You’ve spent the whole spring and summer
in that thing. It reeks! Can’t you at least wash it?
The police will have to arrest you and have you
fumigated. This is not Paris, you know.
KIKI
In Germany, you say that the French stink. In Paris
they say that the Berliners have no manners.
FRIEDERIKE
We don’t have time for manners, Keek. Look out that
window. If you can make anything out... There’s a
wall out there, and beyond the wall are men with
machine guns. They’ve been there for forty years,
waiting to kill us all. And you want manners? Ffffttt!
KARL-HEINZ
No, no, Friederike, you have it all wrong. Kiki was
just telling me that she turning into a tree, and we
all should too.
FRIEDERIKE
If I have to wear one of those things, you can go to
hell. Gawd, you’re not even wearing shoes!
KIKI
I have to feel the Earth.
FRIEDERIKE
In here? What is this, linoleum?
KARL-HEINZ
Vinyl, actually. We had it done last summer. Wall to
wall.
FRIEDERIKE
Kiki, the only thing you’ll feel on this floor is
sticky spilled beer.
KIKI
Freddy, you are the enemy, you know.
FRIEDERIKE
Am I?
KIKI
Yes.
FRIEDERIKE
How?KIKI
You are the body that makes the image, that promotes
a product, that is advertised and commoditized, sold
to the market at the highest price, to be consumed as
a luxury good by the bourgeois. They are wage slaves
in an economy that compresses them, their lives, into
a tight box of choices, tells them what is good and
what is better. You wear Chanel 5?
FRIEDERIKE
Yes.
KIKI
So original.
FRIEDERIKE
I like it.
KIKI
You like it because they told you it is a luxury
product. They flatter you and say that only the ones
in-the-know, the cognoscenti and the connoisseur,
would appreciate all the expensive qualities of such
perfume. But you could rub on a banana peel and smell
better.
FRIEDERIKE
It smells like you rubbed in banana peels, rotten
ones.
KIKI
I am exploring the boundaries of decay. It is a
protest against the patriarchy and the whole system
that commoditizes the body of a woman. The shape, the
form, the hair, the face. All of it. By denying the
content of image, we all witness where and how the
systemic degradation happens, by seeing it nothappen.
FRIEDERIKE
You’re nuts.
KARL-HEINZ
Wait, so by seeing something not-happen, you expose
what does happen. Is that it? Like developing a filmnegative.
KIKI
How clever you are, Karl. Do you have any of that
Cognac left?
KARL-HEINZ
Give me your glass. I’ll get you some.Kiki raises her burlap up to hand the glass out to Karl,
exposing her body to the group.
TAWNY
KEEK! For God’s sake! Put that away.
FRIEDERIKE
Christ, Kiki! Where is your dignity?
KIKI
You see, you are ashamed of the body.
FRIEDERIKE
I’m not ashamed of the body. I use mine every day.
But I keep myself clean. Not like that.
GREGOR
(to Karl-Heinz)
It’s the smell that’ll kill ‘ya.
FRIEDERIKE
So what have you learned after months and months of
this bumping around in a sack? Hmmm? Anything?
KIKI
I find the starting point and the end to be the same.
I can write and speak out about young people, or the
government or politics. I can give speeches at
conferences about nihilism or existential dread among
the coming generation but it doesn’t do any good. The
papers pile up and the words fade into echoes. But
when I walk naked in the street, or at work, or at a
cozy cocktail party, people react. Things change.
Sometimes some people learn that there is a different
way to be. And they can be as free as I am.
TAWNY
Do you think that will stop the bullets when they
come? Will the men in the grey uniforms with bayonets
stop and think of their future when they see you?
Will they pray for the children and their wives back
home in Stalingrad?
FRIEDERIKE
They will thank God they are not yoked to an unwashed
woman in a sack.
TAWNY
No, tell me. What is going to change by walking naked
in the street, only covered in a sack? The Wall is
never coming down. We live like hostages here, hoping
that our captor does not kill us in our beds.But some day they will, they will kill us, like a cat
playing with a mouse, until she is bored and rips the
plaything apart for fun.
KARL-HEINZ
Tawny, we have freedom here. We can speak freely.
They cannot. We can be honest and say the truth. They
cannot.
TAWNY
Then face the truth. If they cut off the highway and
the railway, we are trapped in a well. Will the
Americans rescue us? It’s not the nineteen-fifties.
Their President Reagan talks tough, but the Soviets
are expanding all over the world. Nicaragua, Angola,
Vietnam, Afghanistan. War everywhere, expand
everywhere. And for what? To divert attention from
starving Berlin. That is the end-game. Check-Mate!
KIKI
No, I disagree. The goal is not territory or conquest
by guns. It is the Wall in our heads. It is the
suppression we do ourselves, so we are not caught
out, on the street, with a protest sign - that puts a
target on our backs. If I say the wrong thing then
the secret men in the closets note it in their files.
Is it just the Stasi who does these things? You think
the Police of Berlin don’t have a file on the naked
woman walking around in a sack? Or the Paris Police?
Or the FBI? They all have to keep track of who is
carrying the banner and the flame of individual
privacy and freedom. But even here in luxurious West
Berlin, we keep our voice down. Keep yourselves
clean. Wear the correct fashion, even if it is a
clown suit. Eh, Freddy? Or did you pick that
yourself?
FRIEDERIKE
Oh, gawd, enough with this clap-trap. Gregor, tell me
what is happening. What is the good and exciting
thing that gets you out of bed and on your feet in
the morning, eh?
KARL-HEINZ
(to Gregor, sotto voce)
Probably the smell, eh?
GREGOR
Friederike, you know that I can’t resist you. I wake
up every morning, excited!, thinking about you!
FRIEDERIKE
You just have to pee.GREGOR
That, and the thought of you in a yellow bikini. I
look up at the sky and I send my wish to the clouds,
that I may, one day, have a sailboat on the Med,
leaving the dock at Palermo with two weeks of
supplies and you in your yellow bikini. That blazing,
bright yellow, and the hot sun on our faces as we set
our sails for blue-water. We can skin-dive for
oysters and lobster, drinking chilled Champagne
Bollinger out of clam shells.
FRIEDERIKE
How pleasant an idea for you. I was in Palermo in
January. That is when we shoot the swimwear. It was
freezing. And I was on a boat with Champagne and
oysters, but the oysters were a week old and the fizz
was flat. I came home and was sick for a week. My
skin was green.
GREGOR
Then the loveliest mermaid you must have been.
FRIEDERIKE
Gregor, why do you say these things to me when your
woman is right here, such as she is?
GREGOR
Freddy, dearest, she feeds my body and my soul, but
you fire my imagination!
FRIEDERIKE
You and all the blokes at the football stadium. It is
all for show. Tits-and-teeth. Right Tawny?
TAWNY
If you say so.
FRIEDERIKE
Tawn, how is your art coming, by the way?
TAWNY
I was at the Zoo today.
FRIEDERIKE
It was a beautiful day.
TAWNY
Yes.
FRIEDERIKE
What did you see? Lions?TAWNY
Clouds and flowers mostly. And the light. One of the
best days I can remember.
FRIEDERIKE
We only get a few days a year like this, wouldn’t you
say?
TAWNY
Yes, so trying to capture it all is slippery. I have
to soak in-it, remember. Then go to my studio, try to
represent what I felt.
FRIEDERIKE
Why not take a picture?
TAWNY
Because a picture captures what is really there, but
does not capture the feeling, the spirit of the
place. That is what I have to bring alive on the
canvas.
FRIEDERIKE
Right.
TAWNY
Yes.
KIKI
And do you find the voice of the spirit in the
colors, or the shapes? I’ve only been able to make
sense of my drawings with pencil.
TAWNY
For me the color must serve the shape but shapes are
about feelings, so the representation is not as
direct as a pencil drawing. I do not have the tension
and traction in my work that you do, Keek.
KIKI
It’s only me, and Yoko.
FRIEDERIKE
You and Yoko? Ha!
KIKI
She works in New York. But that is a flabby
challenge. Here we are, as you rightly say, in the
crosshairs of men with guns. And politicians with
grease in their pockets. Do you know a policeman
groped me on the street?
TAWNY
No!KIKI
Yes.
FRIEDERIKE
How rude. Did you report him?
KIKI
To who? The Police?
GREGOR
Freddy, dearest, we are out of Champagne.
FRIEDERIKE
Then we should go. Let’s take the U-55 to Brandenburg
Gate. I want to get a picture of Tawny and me at the
Wall.
TAWNY
I haven’t eaten today. I’m famished.
GREGOR
Where can we go that will let Kiki in?
FRIEDERIKE
Leave her here.
TAWNY
Not in my apartment! Let’s go. Decide on the way.
KARL-HEINZ
Yes, let’s go. But Tawny?
TAWNY
Yes?
KARL-HEINZ
Did you take your pills?
TAWNY
Yes, dear. Safe for another day.
KARL-HEINZ
Good. Then let’s go.
GREGOR
Right! Away we go! To the U-Bahn!
All exit.
END OF SCENESCENE 2
INT. - EVENING - KARL-HEINZ’S APARTMENT - NOVEMBER 11, 1989,
WEST BERLIN, GERMANY
Karl-Heinz comes in with a clear cocktail. He goes to the
window and looks out at the people streaming by. The Wall has
been opened, late Thursday night. Now it is Saturday evening.
KARL-HEINZ
Gregor should be here soon.
TAWNY
(offstage)
Do you have a drink, dear?
KARL-HEINZ
Yes.
Tawny comes in. She is stylishly dressed for a night out.
They sit in sleek chairs and chat.
TAWNY
What is Gregor doing now?
KARL-HEINZ
I don’t know. That’s why I wanted to get some people
together tonight.
TAWNY
Right.
KARL-HEINZ
To discuss what is happening in the nation, in the
world.
TAWNY
You’re not going to be a bore, are you dear? Don’t
talk politics all night. Please?
KARL-HEINZ
But the world is changing around us. Look out the
window. It’s chaos.
TAWNY
It’s so exciting!
BRRRZZZZ! Doorbell rings.
KARL-HEINZ
That will be Gregor. Will you get that?TAWNY
Sure.
Tawny goes to the door and Gregor and Kiki come in. Kiki is
still wearing the burlap sack.
GREGOR
Tawny! Great to see you. Give us a kiss!
They air-kiss.
TAWNY
Right, come on in.
KIKI
Tawny, how are you?
TAWNY
Kiki? Did you wash?
KIKI
Yes, Tawny. For you, I washed.
TAWNY
Then let me get you a drink. Greg-y, what can I get
you?
GREGOR
Well I think we all better start drinking vodka,
don’t you?
TAWNY
What?
GREGOR
We’re being overrun by the East so we’d better learn
how to drink Polish vodka.
TAWNY
OK. Keek? To drink?
KIKI
You have a decent red wine?
TAWNY
Spätburgunder.
KIKI
(resigned)
Of course. Yes, thank you.KARL-HEINZ
We are such chauvinists in this country, Kiki. We
drink German beer, German wine, drive German cars.
You know.
KIKI
I miss my old Citroën. It’s all VW Beetles here.
KARL-HEINZ
I didn’t take you to be a driver, Keek. Perhaps if I
didn’t know you better I’d guess you were on a rallycar team out of Paris.
KIKI
You know the Paris-Dakar Rally came through my town,
Toulouse, one year. It was very exciting! I was
sixteen and just learning to drive. Then one day
these powerful cars came zooming through the city. It
was wonderful. I bothered my father for weeks to
teach me to drive. I wanted to be like the racers but
my father purchased an old Citroën for me. With only
two-cylinders, I could never go very fast or get in
much trouble. But that was the start of me driving
all over France.
KARL-HEINZ
Did your boyfriends have their own cars too? Did you
race them?
KIKI
Karl-Heinz, you are teasing me.
KARL-HEINZ
What? Am I?
KIKI
You know that I did not have any true male
companionship until I met Gregor.
KARL-HEINZ
Really?
KIKI
There were boys, of course, and girls. But those were
just the awkward steps of the baby foal, learning to
walk, in a world of race horses.
KARL-HEINZ
Was it?
Tawny brings in drinks. Kiki lifts her sack and we see that
she is filly dressed, with blue jeans and a sweater. She
takes the red wine.KIKI
No, I had a few trial-runs with boys at L’Ecole BeauxArts in Toulouse but my heart did not know the deep
longing and painful suffering of desire until I met
my Gregor. My body aches for him every day, as
silently as the sun comes up.
KARL-HEINZ
As the cock crows?
GREGOR
Something like that.
KARL-HEINZ
Gregor, it’s good to see you. How have you been?
GREGOR
How have any of us been? Look at this, outside.
People pouring in. Where with they sleep? Where will
they eat?
KIKI
This tips over the balance of everything.
KARL-HEINZ
What do you mean?
KIKI
If the border is open then the East will become as
empty as a desert. It will just be police and Stasi
watching each other. The East will be a prison with
no prisoners.
KARL-HEINZ
You don’t think they will all leave, do you? Like
Gregor said, where will we put them?
KIKI
You don’t have to put them anywhere. They will put
themselves where they want.
KARL-HEINZ
That’s all fine and good for an artist to say but the
government has to house and feed the people. And they
had free houses in the East. Will they expect free
houses here?
KIKI
West Berlin becomes meaningless now.
TAWNY
What? What do you mean, Keek?GREGOR
Kiki, don’t be a bore, dear.
KIKI
It is a city that only exists to be in opposition to
the enemy. When the enemy goes away there is nothing
to push against. It is pointless.
TAWNY
West Berlin is one of the most dynamic and important
cities in the world. Just because the East opens the
gate doesn’t mean that the West stops existing.
KIKI
No. You are wrong. Without the other side, West
Berlin becomes just another mid-sized European city,
and a long way from the cultural flow and interchange
of the Mediterranean. That’s where the commerce of
ideas really matter. This is nothing.
KARL-HEINZ
Nothing?! Look outside! There are border guards
laying down their guns and walking across the border.
It is astonishing.
KIKI
This whole thing is nothing but a puppet show. It is
two brothers squabbling over the space on a blanket,
like drawing a line down the middle of a bedroom. I
assure you, the rest of the world does not care.
BRRRRZZZZ!! Door bell rings. Friederike lets herself in.
FRIEDERIKE
(waving a bottle of
champagne)
Hello all! Can you open this for me Greg-y? Tawn.
Keek.
TAWNY
Freddy! Can you believe it? It’s amazing!
FRIEDERIKE
It’s a damned nuisance!
KARL-HEINZ
What? Why?
FRIEDERIKE
People everywhere. Traffic is a mess. I was going to
a production meeting today and I couldn’t get across
town. Then, the producer called me and bumped me off
the project.TAWNY
Just because you were late?
FRIEDERIKE
That’s what he said, but he’s lying. What he
suggested is that they already have a wave of new
girls from the East. It’s less than 24 hours!
TAWNY
New models? From the East?
FRIEDERIKE
Yes! Younger. Thinner. And cheaper. They’ll do
anything for some ready-cash.
KIKI
I feel bad for them really. They don’t know anything
and they are zooming decades into the future. Can you
imagine it, coming from a place with blackouts and
rationed food, into the dazzling lights of the West,
only to realize that you have no money. Their best,
and only, currency is their bodies, their sex. To get
a foothold in the world, who of us would not do the
same thing?
FRIEDERIKE
Well, I wouldn’t.
KIKI
Of course you would. That is what you have been doing
since you left school. Don’t be a hypocrite, Freddy.
FRIEDERIKE
Oh, shut up, Keek. I see you are still dragging that
sack around. Are you still unwashed, for your art?
KIKI
Ah, well, my art has become pointless also. I am
irrelevant. If the East-West tension is erased, then
my artistic expression has no potency.
TAWNY
But what will you do?
KIKI
I must reframe my own internal compass to the new,
true North Star. The Third.
KARL-HEINZ
The what? The third what?KIKI
I see that my position, in between the binary
opposites, East and West, is as a grain of sand in
the friction of the struggle. Now the ideas of
opposition are obsolete. And the people. They are the
third element.
FRIEDERIKE
Oh forget it! I’m sorry I asked. Gregor, pour me some
champagne, dearest.
GREGOR
As you wish, my shimmering vision of golden delight!
(exits to kitchen)
Friederike follows him into the kitchen. They are alone for
the moment.
FRIEDERIKE
Greg-y, I had an idea. Maybe you can help.
GREGOR
S'ciàvo! I am your slave.
FRIEDERIKE
Are you still whittling away at your graduate degree?
GREGOR
No. I am looking at some new opportunities.
FRIEDERIKE
At a bank?
GREGOR
Yes. How did you know?
FRIEDERIKE
This is a small town, Greg-y.
GREGOR
You have your ways, eh? What can I do for you?
FRIEDERIKE
With all of these new girls flooding the market, I
have to make some changes.
GREGOR
Go on.
FRIEDERIKE
I want you to introduce me to some people. Rich
people.GREGOR
Men or women?
FRIEDERIKE
Men.
GREGOR
I see. Single? Or does it matter?
FRIEDERIKE
Not to me.
GREGOR
Introductions are not free, Freddy.
FRIEDERIKE
Oh? What do you want?
GREGOR
You know what I want.
FRIEDERIKE
What you all want. Men are all alike.
GREGOR
Yes, but some are rich. And they trust me.
FRIEDERIKE
They’d better.
GREGOR
(smiling)
This could be a fruitful trade, Freddy.
FRIEDERIKE
I’m not for sale.
GREGOR
Not sale. Trade. You get what you want, and I...
FRIEDERIKE
Is that the only way?
GREGOR
It’s the only thing I want. I want you. I want your
body. I want my hands on your hips. I want your
smile, in the sunlight.
FRIEDERIKE
It is November. There is no sun here.
GREGOR
You could be my light at the dawn.FRIEDERIKE
You would cheat on Kiki?
GREGOR
It’s not cheating. I have never loved her. I’m
getting ready to break it off, send her packing.
FRIEDERIKE
But she is a great artist. You are a fool.
GREGOR
She is not an artist. She’s a spy for the French.
FRIEDERIKE
What?!
GREGOR
It doesn’t matter now, with the wall down. She does
reports about who is coming and going into the French
sector. I’m tired of her and her phony art nonsense.
FRIEDERIKE
So what can you do for me?
GREGOR
I have a list of clients. I can make some inquiries.
FRIEDERIKE
I would appreciate that.
GREGOR
But I want payment, in advance.
FRIEDERIKE
You’re not serious, Greg-y.
GREGOR
Turn around. Bend over.
FRIEDERIKE
No!
GREGOR
Do you want my help? Hmm? This is the price.
FRIEDERIKE
For god’s sake, not here!
GREGOR
No. Now! Take off your clothes.
FRIEDERIKE
We’re in Tawny’s kitchen! No!GREGOR
You know what I want. In Berlin we say what we want.
If you don’t want it, just say, I don’t want it.
FRIEDERIKE
Listen to me, book a hotel in the City for Wednesday
afternoon. Tell me where, and I’ll be there.
GREGOR
Monday morning. Nine o’clock. The Adlon, across from
the Brandenburg gate. We will sip coffee and then I
will take full pound of your flesh.
FRIEDERIKE
At least pour me some Champagne.
Gregor pours them both glasses of Champagne.
GREGOR
See you Monday.
FRIEDERIKE
You are disgusting.
Friederike goes back to the group in the main room.
TAWNY
(at the window)
Freddy! Come look! They are setting up a concert. I
heard that David Hasselhoff is coming!
FRIEDERIKE
David? I met him, you know, on a shoot. Nice guy.
Handsy, but other than that.
TAWNY
Freddy, you are so beautiful. They can’t resist it.
Everyone wants to touch you.
FRIEDERIKE
Yes, it’s terrible.
TAWNY
Oh, please! You are famous around the world.
FRIEDERIKE
And now they will drop me for a herd of those coweyed girls from the East, half-price.
TAWNY
You should hire them! Start your own magazine.FRIEDERIKE
I don’t have the qualifications for that. I left
school to start modeling. I have no head for
business.
TAWNY
But surely, production... styling... something.
FRIEDERIKE
But now there are a hundred girls for every opening.
I am thinking of leaving Berlin.
TAWNY
What about Heinrich? I thought you were going to get
married.
FRIEDERIKE
Married? To Heinrich? He’s already left. Didn’t I
tell you? He took a job with Siemens Electric, in
Rotterdam!
TAWNY
Ewww! Rotterdam?! Oh no.
FRIEDERIKE
Yes. He left the apartment Saturday, a week ago. He
says he’ll come back but he won’t. He’ll find a plump
and pleasant Dutch girl, who will feed him mashed
potatoes and sausages.
TAWNY
And waffles!
FRIEDERIKE
And waffles!
(both laugh)
TAWNY
So do you have a plan?
FRIEDERIKE
The oldest plan. I am going to find a rich husband.
TAWNY
In Berlin?
FRIEDERIKE
Or Zurich, or Paris. New York. It doesn’t matter to
me.
TAWNY
Oh, Freddy dear, don’t leave me here, all alone.FRIEDERIKE
You are not alone. You have Karl-Heinz. He’s a good
man.
TAWNY
I am afraid he is going to get tired of me. I’m so
dreadful, the droopy, sad girl. I wouldn’t want me as
a wife.
FRIEDERIKE
Tawn, have you been sick again? Let me look at you.
Hmm. Your eyes are dark. What’s happening?
TAWNY
It is anemia. I get so tired.
FRIEDERIKE
I’m so sorry sweetie. Here I am, gassing on about me.
Come here.
(they hug)
TAWNY
Oh, Freddy, don’t go. I couldn’t bear to be alone
without you.
FRIEDERIKE
Tawny, you are smart. You are beautiful. And you are
a wonderful artist. And now you have a half a million
new East Berliners to meet.
TAWNY
Nobody says I am a wonderful artist, like Kiki.
Karl’s mother wanted to be an artist, but he said she
did not really have any talent. I am afraid that is
what I will become.
FRIEDERIKE
Turn into his mother? Not the worst thing. He will
always love you.
TAWNY
But Kiki has all of the theory and concepts of art. I
just put blotches of paint onto the paper.
FRIEDERIKE
Kiki is not an artist.
TAWNY
Yes, she is. She’s amazing.
FRIEDERIKE
She is a French spy.TAWNY
What?
FRIEDERIKE
Gregor just told me. Something about watching the
French sector.
TAWNY
That doesn’t make any sense. A spy?
FRIEDERIKE
Does anything with her make any sense?
TAWNY
(loudly)
Keek? Kiki. Are you really a French spy?
KIKI
Yes.
TAWNY
But what about your art?
KIKI
My art is make-believe. I make people believe that I
make art, and they tell me their stories.
GREGOR
And she writes them down and sends them to the French
government.
KIKI
Yes. That’s right.
KARL-HEINZ
Have you done a report on us? On me?
KIKI
The French intelligence agency is not interested in
you, Karl-Heinz. You are a government clerk. They
want information on East Germans and on West
Berliners who want to collaborate with the East. Not
you.
KARL-HEINZ
Oh, well. Thank heavens. I’m going for another beer.
Anyone?
TAWNY
Schnapps, dear?
KARL-HEINZ
Certainly. Coming right up. Gregor, come. Tell me
what you are doing.They exit to the kitchen.
GREGOR
Karl, you won’t believe it. I’m finally going to ride
Freddy like the village whore.
KARL-HEINZ
What! No, I don’t believe you.
GREGOR
Yes. How many times do you think I can savage her
before she is disgusted and throws me out? Six, seven
times? Let’s make a bet.
KARL-HEINZ
Let’s not. Don’t speak of Freddy that way. She’s my
friend.
GREGOR
Things are moving fast, Karl. And the quick ones
seize the opportunity.
KARL-HEINZ
What does that mean?
GREGOR
Freddy needs to find a rich husband and I have a
client list of debauched, rich, degenerates from
around the world, who would love to have the great
Friederike by their side, on the yacht, at the
casino. The whole thing.
KARL-HEINZ
So what’s your part in all this?
GREGOR
For the introductions to such an exclusive list, I
want my pound of flesh.
KARL-HEINZ
You’re terrible. Just help the poor girl out. No need
to pimp her.
GREGOR
The quick seize the opportunity, old boy. When will I
have this chance again?
KARL-HEINZ
I hope never.
GREGOR
Well, times are moving.KARL-HEINZ
Say, I heard you left University. Had it with that
crank professor of yours?
GREGOR
Oh, he was very helpful! He made me see that I don’t
want to be an academic, stuck at a university.
KARL-HEINZ
Is that right? What now?
GREGOR
An opportunity came open at Credit Suisse, here in
Berlin.
KARL-HEINZ
Credit Suisse? Here?
GREGOR
I grew up in Zurich.
KARL-HEINZ
So you know people at the bank?
GREGOR
My father.
KARL-HEINZ
Oh, I see. Yes. Wie der Vater...
GREGOR
Like the son.
KARL-HEINZ
Better opportunity, making money instead of making
machines.
GREGOR
Yes. And now the East will be open. The dynamic
consequences are enormous.
KARL-HEINZ
What does that mean?
GREGOR
In the East, they will need financing for cars,
buildings, roads, all of it. And the quick...
KARL-HEINZ
Seize the opportunity. Yes. But this is just
starting.GREGOR
Soon the East will fall and Germany will re-unite.
The opportunities will be limitless.
KARL-HEINZ
Re-unite? You’re crazy. That’s never going to happen.
GREGOR
The really smart fellows in Zurich, in London and
Bonn, say that it is just a matter of time. We have
to plan now. It will happen faster than you imagine.
KARL-HEINZ
Gregor, seriously, have you been taking the cocaine
again? I’m worried about you. I think you are ill.
GREGOR
I am not ill. But what about Tawny? She doesn’t look
right.
KARL-HEINZ
It is a problem with her blood. She is anemic and
then there is too much blood. In the morning she has
a terrible cough. She says it is allergies but now it
is November. I am afraid she may die.
GREGOR
God in Heaven!
KARL-HEINZ
But she goes to the doctors and they do more tests,
round and round. I don’t see an end to it. Well,
except for, the end.
GREGOR
I’m sorry, Karl-Heinz. Will she make it through to
Christmas?
KARL-HEINZ
I don’t know. Maybe.
GREGOR
Well, take her the plum-schnapps and that will set
her right up.
KARL-HEINZ
I wish that were true.
GREGOR
Come on.
Karl-Heinz and Gregor return to the main room.Kiki, Friederike and Tawny are all looking out the patio
doors at the crowd below.
TAWNY
Karl-Heinz! Come look, it’s Hasselhoff!
KIKI
He’s on a crane over the wall. The TV people are
there.
FRIEDERIKE
He’s going to sing! It’s the Hoff!
Canned music is heard through the loudspeakers outside.
David Hasselhoff can be heard singing his hit, Lookin’ for
Freedom.
ALL
(singing along)
I've been looking for free-dom
I've been looking so long
I've been looking for free-dom
Still the search goes on
I've been looking for free-dom
since I left my home town
I've been looking for free-dom
Still it can't be found!
END OF SCENESCENE 3
INT. - MAY 1990 - AN EARLY SATURDAY AFTERNOON - KARL-HEINZ’S
APARTMENT
Karl-Heinz opens the door and comes in. He is followed by
Kiki and Gregor. Kiki is not in the burlap sack. She is
wearing a floral dress and carrying a purse. The men are in
dark suits.
KARL-HEINZ
Come in. Sit down. Let me get you something to drink.
GREGOR
God, yes. That was awful.
KIKI
No, Karl. Come, sit down. Let me. I insist. I can
make some coffee.
GREGOR
Whiskey for me, - if you don’t mind, old boy.
KARL-HEINZ
No. That’s fine. Whatever you want. Just coffee for
me, thanks Keek.
Kiki goes into the kitchen to fetch drinks.
GREGOR
Oh, Karl, this is dreadful. I’m sorry, old boy,
truly. She was a wonderful woman.
KARL-HEINZ
Yes.
GREGOR
And the service was nice. Was that her mother?
KARL-HEINZ
Yes.
They sit in silence for a while. Karl gets up and opens the
patio doors. The day is bright and clear, if cool.
Frederike opens the door and comes in without buzzing. She is
modestly dressed in a silk top and matte-silver skirt with a
jacket. She is holding a vase of flowers. She brings them in
and puts them on a table.
Frederike goes to Karl-Heinz. He stands up and they hug.FRIEDERIKE
I’m so sorry about Tawny, Karl. I’m so sorry. It’s so
sad.
KARL-HEINZ
(sitting back down)
Yes. Thank you, Freddy. Sit down. Kiki is getting
drinks.
FRIEDERIKE
Keek? Do you have any soda?
KIKI
(in the kitchen)
Freddy, come, give me a hand.
Friederike gets up and goes into the kitchen.
GREGOR
Well this is damned awkward, seeing Freddy like this.
KARL-HEINZ
Is it?
GREGOR
The last time I saw her was the weekend when the Wall
came down. I took her to a hotel and shagged all
afternoon.
KARL-HEINZ
Oh right. Something about introductions. Did that
work?
GREGOR
I should say not.
KARL-HEINZ
Why? What happened?
GREGOR
Things were moving so quickly, I couldn’t get anyone
interested in dallying with a model. I looked a right
bloody fool trying to pawn her off on the client
list. I dropped the whole thing and went all-in on
real estate.
KARL-HEINZ
Did you?
GREGOR
Did I tell you I bought an apartment building?
Practically giving them away.KARL-HEINZ
Whole buildings?
GREGOR
Yes. I left the bank with a handful of names and we
started putting deals together. At the moment I have
my hand in half a dozen buildings.
KARL-HEINZ
How does that work? You didn’t have any money?
GREGOR
I don’t have to. There is plenty of money that is
looking for quick profits. These properties in East
Berlin are going to be worth a fortune.
KARL-HEINZ
Don’t they need a lot of work?
GREGOR
Oh, we’ll tear the buildings down. Once the capital
is moved back to Berlin, these locations are going to
be printing money.
KARL-HEINZ
Move the capital?
GREGOR
Yes. Talks are already in the works.
KARL-HEINZ
But I was going to move to Bonn, for my job, now that
Tawny is gone.
GREGOR
Don’t. The government will come here.
KARL-HEINZ
That’s unbelievable. But I suppose you are right.
Friederike and Kiki enter with coffee and other drinks. They
all sit and sip coffee, etc.
GREGOR
Thanks, Keek.
FRIEDERIKE
Karl, I’m so glad to see you but I miss Tawny. She
was so lovely. You know that.
KARL-HEINZ
Yes. Thank you.Tawny, her ghost, appears at the patio doors, blown in by the
spring breeze. She walks around the room, then sits on the
floor, leaning against a wall, listening to the conversation.
GREGOR
So, what happened? We haven’t seen you since The Hoff
concert. Then we hear that she’s gone?
KIKI
She was sick, right?
KARL-HEINZ
Yes.
FRIEDERIKE
What was it?
KARL-HEINZ
It was a bone cancer. The doctors here never
diagnosed it properly.
FRIEDERIKE
How can that be?
KARL-HEINZ
I don’t know. But I had to travel for work, Dresden,
Leipzig, along the Czech border, the Polish border.
When I got back, at the end of January, she couldn’t
move her legs anymore. She had been in bed for four
days, nearly in a coma.
KIKI
Oh god! How awful.
KARL-HEINZ
I called and they took her to hospital. That’s when
they realized what was wrong. It was too far gone.
FRIEDERIKE
And that was it?
KARL-HEINZ
No. They talked of an experimental treatment in
Bologna, at the University hospital, with IonRadiation. So they sent her there.
GREGOR
Did you go?
KARL-HEINZ
Of course.
GREGOR
Yes, yes. Of course. I’m sorry.KARL-HEINZ
No, it’s alright. She never came back here though.
She got through the treatment and was able to walk
again. It was a miracle. We spent most of March in
Italy. But then she got sick again.
KIKI
Oh no.
KARL-HEINZ
And we came back but she couldn’t stay here. We
stayed at the hospital. They couldn’t do anything for
her anymore. The ions wore off, I guess.
FRIEDERIKE
How did she hold up, through it all?
KARL-HEINZ
Well, you knew her. She was brave. She was funny. She
wanted to paint but her hands were no longer steady
enough to hold the brush.
FRIEDERIKE
Poor dear.
KARL-HEINZ
I am still amazed by her. She was facing death, quite
soon, and she still smiled at me. She said she wanted
to make love to me, but all I could do was hold her
hand. And then, after all of that, she was gone.
KIKI
(crying softly)
Oh, I miss her so! I feel so sad.
FRIEDERIKE
The service today was lovely, Karl. She would have
liked that.
KARL-HEINZ
I should have brought her home, let her be here at
the end. That is what she wanted. But I listened to
the doctors and nurses who said she shouldn’t be
moved, that it would kill her. Now I see, it didn’t
matter. She was going to die. I regret that I did not
bring her home. I wish I had been stronger.
GREGOR
Don’t blame yourself. There is no good end.
KARL-HEINZ
I feel like I am coming out of a long tunnel. And now
I see friends again. How are you? How are you, Kiki?
Freddy? Thanks for coming.KIKI
I wouldn’t miss it, Karl.
KARL-HEINZ
What are you doing these days? I don’t recognize you
without the sack. Was it ever art?
KIKI
Oh yes. That was an experimental work. I am back to
art now. I have to re-frame my attention but it is a
wonderful challenge. So many opportunities.
KARL-HEINZ
What do you mean?
KIKI
Well, on unification, the French occupation ended and
the intelligence service stopped paying me. So I went
to Paris to have it out with my contact. That went
nowhere, but I ran into a old friend who runs a
publishing house. We had coffee at a bistro in the
9th. I told her my story and she asked me to write a
book. She wants me to describe the philosophy of the
life in the East and what they think of France. So
I’m researching and writing away.
FRIEDERIKE
Good for you, Keek. That’s marvelous.
KIKI
And what about you, Freddy? Did you get on with the
great Frenchman?
FRIEDERIKE
The ambassador you so kindly introduced me to? Yes,
we got on famously. But we went to Monaco for a
weekend and the whole damned thing collapsed. The
East surrenders, unification and now an election. But
the ambassador had been unified out of a job!
KIKI
(laughs)
Oh dear!
FRIEDERIKE
(laughs)
Yes, well, there you are.
KIKI
What did you do?
FRIEDERIKE
You won’t believe it...KIKI
It’s you, of course we will. What happened?
FRIEDERIKE
So the Formula One race was coming up in Monaco. And
I knew one of the girls on the modelling team for
Ferrari. Next thing I know, I’m squeezing into red,
leather hip-huggers and a Marlboro half-tee-shirt.
KIKI
Oh my god! How exciting!
FRIEDERIKE
I was just one of the mules they use for setups and
lighting. But one of the photographers recognized me,
it’s a small world, and featured me in a solo shoot.
That got the attention of racing team director,
Adolpho.
GREGOR
Uh-oh. I know where this is going...
FRIEDERIKE
Then there was an emergency with the ‘stage mom’,
that’s what we call the production manager for the
models. She keeps the wagon train moving. But she had
to leave suddenly, and Adolpho asked me if I could
handle it. Of course I said, yes. I’ve been on
hundreds of these sets, though not F1, so I peeled of
the red leather and cracked the whip on those girls.
GREGOR
I wish I’d seen that.
FRIEDERIKE
They said we had the best organized event of the year
so far. The Marlboro people really liked me so off I
went. I’ve just come from Silverstone.
KARL-HEINZ
Oh, right. That’s next week, in England.
FRIEDERIKE
Yes, and I really can’t stay long but I couldn’t miss
the service for Tawny. I really loved her.
KARL-HEINZ
Me too.
FRIEDERIKE
And if there is anything I can do, please call me.
KARL-HEINZ
All right. Thank you, Freddy.FRIEDERIKE
And Greg-y. I have a few words for you too.
GREGOR
Have you?
FRIEDERIKE
You were beastly to me, and no friend at all. You
were worse than a friend.
GREGOR
I’m sorry.
FRIEDERIKE
No, I want to thank you.
GREGOR
Oh?
FRIEDERIKE
Yes. When I was here before, with you, I thought I
was just a model. But you challenged me to think
about what I wanted and to take action to get it. I
was stuck in the idea that the world moved for-me,
the beautiful model, but you showed me that we have
to move, to act, to reach out and grab what we want,
even if we miss.
GREGOR
I’m glad to hear that.
FRIEDERIKE
But you were beastly to me and I will never forgive
you. But I am grateful at the same time. Nevertheless
you took advantage of me when I needed help. And that
is no friend.
GREGOR
No. I’m sorry.
FRIEDERIKE
I have to go now, Karl. I’m so sorry. Goodbye.
Frederike gets up, hugs Karl and she exits.
GREGOR
Well how about that?
KIKI
You should have treated her better, Gregor.GREGOR
Perhaps, but she got what she wanted. If it were not
me, her friend, it would have been somebody else,
maybe somebody not-so-nice as me. Then what?
KIKI
You should have treated me better too, Gregor.
GREGOR
Perhaps, but you got what you wanted as well. You
have your work. You have the apartment.
KIKI
And you have your little Polish dumpling in your
house in the East. Bully for you. Do you beat her as
well?
GREGOR
No, just you, dear. I give you what you want. You
know that. And I like waking up next to Elsa. She is
lovely and warm, not like you.
KIKI
Why are you cruel to me, Gregor?
GREGOR
I told you, I give you what you want. If you didn’t
like it you would leave. But there you are, every
Sunday, waiting for me to beat you. You think I like
it? It’s boring and hard work. I get nothing out of
it. I am your-slave, not the other way around. You
know that.
KIKI
If you didn’t like it you would leave.
GREGOR
But I did leave.
KIKI
But you come back, to beat me.
GREGOR
I come back to check on the apartment, check on you.
But you are there, overheated and expecting me to
whip you. So I do. Because you want me to. Then I go
back to a normal life with Elsa.
KIKI
I am sorry that I am such a burden for you. Perhaps I
should go back to Paris.
GREGOR
If that’s what you want.KIKI
Perhaps.
GREGOR
Will you be there tomorrow?
KIKI
(long pause)
I will wait for you.
GREGOR
Yes, we will see. I should go.
Gregor stands up. Karl-Heinz stands up. They shake hands,
hug.
KARL-HEINZ
Thanks for coming, Gregor.
GREGOR
Let’s get together for a drink soon.
KARL-HEINZ
Yes.
GREGOR
Goodbye Karl.
Gregor exits.
KARL-HEINZ
Does he really beat you?
KIKI
Yes.
KARL-HEINZ
Why?
KIKI
Because I want him to.
KARL-HEINZ
I don’t’ understand.
KIKI
Neither do I.
KARL-HEINZ
So why do it?KIKI
I thought it was the way to get him to come back. But
now I just stay and work in the apartment and he
keeps a house in Hellersdorf with his Polish
dumpling.
KARL-HEINZ
Have you met her?
KIKI
Do I need to? She would be like all the rest, all the
others. There is always another with Gregor.
KARL-HEINZ
What happened with Freddy and him?
KIKI
She told me, you know. She said they had coffee at
this big hotel and he had a million questions. He
asked her to put together a business plan for her
life. She didn’t have any of the answers, hadn’t
thought about it at all. So he led her through the
outline of how to be strategic in her life, focus on
her goals.
KARL-HEINZ
I see. Yes, he’s quite good at that.
KIKI
Yes. But then he took her up to a room, to have sex
with her. She had agreed and was prepared to do it.
He got scared.
KARL-HEINZ
Gregor?
KIKI
Can you imagine it though, sex with Freddy, the Great
Friederike, famous around the world. Swim suit model,
Victoria’s Secret. She says, tits and teeth, but my
god she’s gorgeous. I would be afraid to have sex
with her. Wouldn’t you?
KARL-HEINZ
Yes, I suppose so. But it wouldn’t feel right at all.
I miss Tawny.
KIKI
Me too.
KARL-HEINZ
So what happened?KIKI
She said she was there, in lingerie, make-up and
heels, standing at the ready. He couldn’t get it up.
She said she tried, gave him a helping hand, but
nothing. He said, she was a disappointment in-person.
He said, he had thought she was pretty, but that he
was wrong. He said, she was just a slut.
KARL-HEINZ
Damn him!
KIKI
She was humiliated. She told me she left and hasn’t
been back to Berlin, until now.
KARL-HEINZ
I guess it worked out OK for her though. Did he say
anything about it.
KIKI
He said he didn’t really want to have sex with her,
that it wouldn’t be helpful. She needed to be
humiliated.
KARL-HEINZ
What?
KIKI
To get her to move forward, take action. He said he
wanted to help her, but she didn’t need a helping
hand. She had to learn to help herself. And I guess
she did.
KARL-HEINZ
Yes.
KIKI
I should go.
KARL-HEINZ
Alright.
KIKI
I hate to leave you alone.
KARL-HEINZ
I’m not alone. Tawny is still here, with me. In here.
(taps his chest)
KIKI
Yes. OK. Goodbye, Karl-Heinz.
KARL-HEINZ
Goodbye, Kiki. Take good care of yourself.KIKI
You too.
They stand and hug. Kiki leaves.
KARL-HEINZ
(alone)
So that’s it, I guess. I miss you, Tawn.
Karl-Heinz sits on the sofa alone.
Tawny’s ghost gets up and sits on the couch with him. She
puts her head on his shoulder.
END