Scene 1
Location: Late night at a derelict wharfside building exterior facing the entry door. Signage on the building’s side declares “Apex Import & Export, Ltd.” We know it is “wharfside” as the stage apron thrusts cletes and two pilings festooned with moorage ropes, obviously part of a pier, into the audience’s line of sight. Two wharfside lamps emphasize both the pilings and the building’s signage.
Sounds: footsteps approach the door, the door reluctantly opens at the command of an unseen hand. Footsteps enter the office behind the door.
Location: The office interior. [This is accomplished by total blackout; the building’s exterior walls and door frame are quickly retracted either into the upper or side extremes of the stage, out of sight; the interior is revealed when stage lights return.] The interior does justice to its exterior. A row of a half dozen desks littered with disarrayed in/out boxes, telephones, adding machines and other obviously neglected office paraphernalia are lined-up in front of walls decorated with bulletin boards, calendars, coat racks, file cabinets, and bookshelves littered with what could pass for the detritus of a failed second-hand book shop. Two or three office chairs adorn the open floor space. The office is otherwise empty except for…
Two men facing the audience. One is tall, well-muscled, neatly dressed in a business suit but dark and threatening, one hand inside the breast of his suit coat. The other man is laughably shorter than the large man, thin, equally well dressed, holding a briefcase by his side in one hand. His other hand draped by his side nervously wiggles fingers…
And one man, his back to the audience [he is the one who opened and entered through the door]. He is casually dressed as if returning from eighteen holes of golf, of average but athletic build. The audience cannot help but see a revolver jammed between his belt and his backbone. He also has a briefcase in one hand by his side.
The smaller of the two men speaks to the larger
“Well, this must be our man, Colin. Some kind of balls after the runaround he tried to give us.”
Colin speaks to the smaller man
“Must be. Can’t fault a man for trying to strike a better deal, Innes.”
Innes to Colin:
“Ah, but our boss and his boss already set the terms.”
Colin to Innes:
“Yeah. That smells of a man looking to strike out on his own.”
Innes to the third man:
“How about that Conor? You looking to go independent?”
Conor nervously to both Colin and Innes with a shrug of his shoulders:
“Look guys…”
Innes interrupts:
“No, you look, Conor, we got word you might be looking to be clever and do your boss out of his side of the deal…”
Conor, interrupting, to Colin and Innes:
“But that’s bullshit.”
Innes continues:
“No matter. That’s what Colin and I think we heard and that’s not good for either organization.”
Colin interrupts Innes:
“But that makes it sweet for Innes and me, Conor, see, we can do your boss out of his side and let it be known you looked to take both sides of the deal for yourself.”
Innes again to Conor:
“So Colin and I here, we tried to stop you but you got away with his buy-in.”
Conor to Innes and Colin:
“Hold on here gents…”
Colin to Conor:
“So if you and your Paddy satchel never show up, why no one’s the wiser, and we…
Colin starts to pull his hand from his suit coat just as the office lights begin to flicker violently, and in a moment of extended darkness two shots ring out.
Stage fades to black.
Scene 2
Location: Wharfside, obviously not in front of Apex Imports & Exports. One wharfside lamp illuminates the building side which declares “McDuff Marine Supply.”
Setting: In front of the building is the [cutaway] interior of a car. Conor is in the car. He tosses his revolver into the glove box and two briefcases into the rear seat. [The image of an automobile is enhanced if Conor first has to open the car door and seat himself.]
Conor, agitated, to himself:
“Dumb damned Jocks. I knew they were going to cross everyone. No choice but to act first. Now what the hell am I going to do with both goods? Jocks won’t believe their men stink. My boss is already spooked. Who can I trust? Oh! [Pause] Shit! Shit, shit, shit! The slimy little bastard was still moaning. [Pause] What if he… Damn! Damn, damn, damn!
Stage abruptly goes black.
Scene 3
Location/setting: As stage lights come up from black we are again at Apex Imports & Exports’ office interior. Office lights, for continuation of some electrical failure, only half light the office interior.
Conor. pistol in hand, has his back to the audience. Before him only the body of Colin is visible.
Conor to no one:
“He’s gone! The slimy little bastard’s gone! Shit! Shit, shit, shit! He can’t have gone far…
Innes steps from the shadow to stand behind Conor. He has an automatic pistol in his hand, pointed at Conor.
Innes to Conor:
“The slimy little bastard didn’t go far. The slimy little bastard is right behind you.
Sound: of an automatic pistol’s slide chambering a shell and cocking the hammer.
Blackout
—
© spwilcenski 5/9/2025
Exposed by spwilcenwrites “Behind the Fiction Wall – May 12, 2025
Ramblings 