A Swim in the Laughing Soup
HUNGRY (mumbling)
Nomm. No room.
NOJO (to audience)
He’s right. I’ve never been able to fit my damned imagination inside any of their shelters or clinics or hospitals. Even now that it’s been squeezed by the Conquistador, it’s still too swollen to be contained by any building.
(GENE AUTRY escapes MAGS, drops phone in fire. ?NGEL picks up the nylon bag; HE is impatient to leave.)
NOJO (speaking with an accent)
He begged for what? Joey-oe?
(ALL stop and stare, trying to figure out who has just spoken.)
NOJO (speaking with an accent)
You said he begged.
(Speaking in his normal voice; he is scared.)
It’s the Conquistador… hijacking my voice. Shit damn, I’ve never been two people at the same time before.
(GENE AUTRY maneuvers the shopping cart between himself and NOJO.)
NOJO (speaking with accent)
What did he beg for?
(Pulls down his hood.)
MAGS
Whiskey, booze, the demon. You know, the eighty proof miracle. Actually, I believe he called it laughing soup.
GENE AUTRY
Joey would’ve said that. Said it all the time, yeah, gimme a cup of the laughing soup. What Joe said. Only he’s dead.
MAGS
That what you need, Nojo?
(Offers the bottle.)
Everyone here has had a chance to deal but you.
NOJO (speaking with an accent)
Sure.
GENE AUTRY
But you can’t. It’s no good Nojo. Nothing lasts.
MAGS
I know all about you, busy twisting the world into a fucking poem. I see things as they are, I don’t need metaphors. But you, you’ve been playing inside your own head so long that life has passed you by. Getting tired of the games, Nojo? Magic wearing a little thin?
NOJO (speaking with an accent)
It’s a fucking curse.
HUNGRY (mumbling)
Nmmm. Uhh, go home.
MAGS
You think anything could happen. But get a load on and boom. You’re living in the real world with everyone else. The people who make choices and live with them. The people who have names.
NOJO (speaking with an accent)
Boom.
(Laughs.)
MAGS
Nojo disappears.
NOJO (speaking with an accent.)
Bye.
(Waves hand.)
GENE AUTRY
No-no-no. Don’t you understand? Joe’s dead. Nothing lasts.
