SANTOS & SANTOS A play in three acts By Octavio Solis Octavio Solis 1327 20^th Avenue San Francisco, CA 94122 octaviosolis@mac.com SANTOS & SANTOS A play in three acts By Octavio Solis Cast of Characters TOMAS (Tommy) MIKE (Miguel, Michael, Mikey) } The Santos Brothers Attorney from El Paso FERNIE (Fernando, Negro) VICKY (Victoria) Fernie’s wife NENA (Magdalena) Mike’s wife DON MIGUEL Family Patriarch, a ghost CAMACHO (C) Biker associate of the family PAMELA Secretary for Santos & Santos JUDGE BENTON Federal District Court Judge Of San Antonio GONZALEZ US Attorney CASPER T. WILLIS Professional Hitman and birder PEGGY TOMLINSON His wife and partner FELECIA LEE TOMLINSON her daughter The play takes place in various cities in the Southwest, including El Paso, Beaumont, Dallas, San Antonio, and Las Vegas. The staging is nonrealistic. Bracketed dialogue indicates spoken subtext. Action is continuous. The action takes place during the heady mid-80s. SANTOS & SANTOS A play in three acts By Octavio Solis Act 1 (A darkened room. A long polished conference table. TOMAS enters.) TOMAS Mi padre. Don Miguel Santos Carrillo. From the town of Concordia in the State of Sinaloa, Mexico. Known for its finely crafted furniture. A craft he smuggled across hundreds of miles to El Paso. Santos Furniture Emporium. (An old man appears, polishing the table with a rag.) DON MIGUEL The grain of the wood pulses toward the north. TOMAS His old tattoo of a heart torn at the valves glistens on his sweaty arm. DON MIGUEL Mijo… Coming back. My home. In this man, all the needs of earth. DON MIGUEL Use only one thing, from this moment on and forever till the stars cave in and the rivers dry and the land refuses any seed. Use only this and nothing else, mijo. TOMAS ¿Que, papa? DON MIGUEL Lemon pledge. (MIKE and FERNIE crash through the darkness and thrust TOMAS on the table as DON MIGUEL fades.) MIKE Grab his legs! Grab him! FERNIE I got him! Awright! MIKE Listen up, we’re going to say this once and then life as you know it gonna change forever, understand? You never be the same! FERNIE Holy Holy Holy! MIKE You take the name of our father our blood our god in vain, you rain shit on us in the way of lies slander and insult, you turn your face against the name of Santos- - FERNIE (pulling out a huge blade) We gut you like a pig and pull out your heart! MIKE Like a smoking coal, carnal! FERNIE In the name of our people , born of the whore of Cortes, la Malinche who betrayed her own Raza, this’ll cut you right where you believe! MIKE (as he takes out a bottle) This is the blood a your brothers, distilled by the gods a time! FERNIE Open your mouth and let family in, bro! (The force the contents down his throat.) MIKE Now die motherfucker! You’re not a man now, you’re Santos! DIE! FERNIE You’re dead to this world, carnal! MIKE Born again in ours! BAPTIZED IN THE BLOOD OF LA RAZA! FERNIE AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE! (They release him and break out laughing. TOMAS gags.) TOMAS Jesus Christ! Your scared the hell out of me, man! You coulda cut me! FERNIE (showing the retractable blade) Relajate, hombre. It’s a toy knife. MIKE Welcome to the firm, Tommy. FERNIE Check it out! Santos & Santos! TOMAS What was that you made me drink? FERNIE The worm. MIKE Mescal was his idea. TOMAS Ugghhh! I’m gonna be sick. FERNIE Hey, Tomas, a Santos ain’t a Santos till he chomp on the worm. One of the bylaws, man, in the charter of our firm, I shit you not! TOMAS Damn, you vatos never change. You been keeping your edge. MIKE Just for you, bro. YOU the biggest priority in this firm. FERNIE That’s right, carnal, we gonna show you the works! TOMAS [And they do. Papa, every inch of the premises, proud and corporate, clean and professional and dripping with efficiency] MIKE My office. FERNIE My pinchi office. MIKE Yours over here. FERNIE Conference room. MIKE John. FERNIE Copier, toner on that shelf. MIKE Fax machine. (PAM enters, file in hand.) PAM Sign, Mike. FERNIE Orale! Pam! Tomas, his is the lady I was telling you about. TOMAS Hi, My name’s Tommy. I’m the new blood here. PAM Don’t go spilling it on me, junior. FERNIE Listen up. Pamela types 80 words a minute, knows Wordperfect 6-1, does filework something fierce. Great voice on the phone, great public manner, great fucking legs. She’s really good. PAM Your brother’s a slime. TOMAS I know. FERNIE She used to work the tables in Vegas. Card shooter from the Sands. TOMAS So why’d you wanna come work for these losers? PAM I needed to get away from that shit for awhile. FERNIE She’s a pro, Tommy. You’ll like her. TOMAS Those 80 words a minute are gonna double once I get started. Time and a half gonna be your middle name. PAM I think it’s time we talked raise, Mike. (PAM goes.) FERNIE I’m gonna bone that babe! MIKE Let’s hit the road! TOMAS Is this your Lexus? FERNIE Hop in! TOMAS [and to the town of my birth, the sun city, pass of the north] MIKE Your pueblo, bro! FERNIE El Chuco! TOMAS Things haven’t changed a bit! MIKE These are your people! FERNIE Your lowrider babes! TOMAS Man, I been missing this bad! MIKE They been missin’ you! TOMAS HEY! HAVE YOU BEEN INJURED AT WORK OR IN AN AOUTO ACCIDENT? WERE YOU HURT IN AN ON-THE-JOB MISHAP? YOU’RE ENTITLED TO COMPENSATION! NO RECOVERY NO FEE! CALL NOW! FERNIE GOOD CREDIT, BAD CREDIT, NO CREDIT! SE HABLA ESPANOL! MIKE Gird your loins for the Big Time! TOMAS El Paso County Courthouse! FERNIE Now we do business! TOMAS Let’s boogie. (MIKE and FERNIE split off to separate areas.) MIKE On behalf of my client I am requesting that the charges be reduced to a single charge of fiduciary irresponsibility considering the reparations which my client has already initiated to the plaintiff. FERNIE As these diagrams indicate, the bullet’s point of entry was in the upper abdomen, but the exit wound was above the left nipple which deems it impossible for my client to have fired the alleged shots. TOMAS [Santos y Santos. Los Carnales de Criminal Defense. Hustling for the raza, taking a stand for the community.] FERNIE These depositions contradict the witness’ prior testimony, which not only proves that the City Attorney is not above using perjured testimony but also clears Sr. Garza of any wrongdoing in the case. MIKE At what time was this warrant obtained? Did you not present this warrant 6 hours after the search and seizure of Mr. Saucedo’s property? Did the magistrate know the search was being illegally conducted? TOMAS [This was it. The vision that drew me back. No more Thomas B. Santos esq., the prodigal son in Son Diego, at the District Attorney’s desk, prosecuting my race according to an alien penal code. Now it was Tomas Santos, the People’s Defender, the new blood.] MIKE/FERNIE We believe our clients are guilty of no crime but the crime of Mexican descent, and that, your honor, ain’t no crime at all. TOMAS God, I love watching you guys in action. MIKE I gotta meeting. (He goes.) FERNIE Here. Potential clients. Meet Pam at the Law Library. 11 sharp. (FERNIE goes as PAM enters.) PAM Glad you could make it. You look up those cases, I’ll take these. Hurry, you gotta be back at the court by one for Mike’s wife. TOMAS Nena? (PAM goes as NENA enters.) NENA Hey, pretty boy! Good to see your ass! Everyone was asking about you at Papa Santos’ funeral. Toma, my man forgot these depos in the pinchi day care. Make sure he gets them. TOMAS You look fabulous! NENA I know. (NENA goes as FERNIE and MIKE return.) MIKE Two o’clock. We gotta date, fellas. In the car. TOMAS [And drive, past the same storefronts, the same car lots, the same squalor, to El Paso Evergreen Cemetery.] (They halt. TOMAS slowly comes to his knees as his brothers regard him.) [Santo, santo, santo, padre todopodrido, dead, buried, boxed in Concordia wood, put to rest on American soil, next to my mother, two slabs who begot me, two slabs inscribed with names, dates, recriminations. How do you ask the dead for peace?] FERNIE Mike, let’s call it a day and head back to the office. MIKE We’re there, bro. (They are. Conference table.) TOMAS I felt him, Mike. I asked him to forgive me all my sins against my people, and I felt his mercy. This is what the courts are missing. That’s why none of us really believes we can get a fair trial. But if we could just apply the truth of the people to the people, then, vatos, we got it made! MIKE Oh fuck. Are you talking about doing Pro Bono work? (CAMACHO comes in, carrying a gym bag.) CAMACHO Yo. Mike. MIKE Come on in, C. Tomas, you remember Camacho, don’t you? TOMAS Camacho. I thought you were dead. CAMACHO Hey. FERNIE C helps us with deliveries, courier shit. He bends over backwards, this guy. CAMACHO Naw. FERNIE He does. The only one left from the old days. Brass knuckles and pop guns, right, ese? CAMACHO Damn. TOMAS Are you still a man of few words, C? CAMACHO Naw. MIKE Oye, we just got the news. Este chignon is joining our firm. CAMACHO Great. Party. TOMAS What you got in the gym bag, C? CAMACHO In here? FERNIE In there? TOMAS What’s in the bag, C? CAMACHO Nothin’. FERNIE Nada, Bro. TOMAS I asked you to quit this shit for me. You told me you would. FERNIE It’s not that easy, Tommy. TOMAS I locked up and extradited to Mexico hundreds of men, some of them hardly men at all, for dealing in this kinda shit. It sickens me. I can’t deal with it anymore. MIKE Okay. C, open it. (CAMACHO places the gym bag on the table, gingerly unwrapping a small bundle.) CAMACHO Sweet bread. Mrs. Herrera. Shot got a boy, only 16. Busted for drunk driving. Gave the cop attitude. Was gonna go from Juvee to jail. Only Mike and Fernie cut a deal, sent him home sober. Old lady got no money, but she makes her own bread. TOMAS Okay. So I was wrong. Sorry, C. MIKE This is your homecoming, Tommy. We don’t want to mess it up. FERNIE What’s the deal anyway? A little coke, a little weed, among friends, this is America, for crying out loud. TOMAS [That’s right, Papa. Crying out loud. America crying out loud in my head, bouncing off the prison walls, se habla español, se habla tattoo, at the top of their lungs, crying for vindication, they want something pure, just, good, sweet, like sweet bread, the Modern Mexican is not a Mexican at all, he’s an American, for crying out loud.] (PAM comes in with the same painting as before.) PAM Here you go, new boy. TOMAS What’s this? FERNIE Your present! Straight from Vegas! Flight babe almost broke it on the way. Ten, carnal, with all our bitchen love. MIKE May you win many judgments. (A velvet painting of Zapata on his white horse.) TOMAS Nice. I guess. FERNIE It’s supposed to be Zapata, man, but don’t you think he looks more like me? TOMAS He sure don’t look like Zapata. FERNIE Calmantes montes, bro. You’re missing the horse, ese. Zapata’s famous horse. (FERNIE smears a wet finger on the horse. Tastes it.) Party. TOMAS Cocaine? PAM No, baking soda. CAMACHO Cool. FERNIE This artist pal in Taos ships it round the world like this! He used to get high with Dennis Hopper. Ride this pony, cabrones!. TOMAS I thought you said- - FERNIE It’s just a bag gift, ese! ¡Andale! Nomas una linea. MIKE We gotta be straight for the LULAC presentation, Negro. FERNIE You are such pussies! MIKE Pam. Go through the book and find a shop that’ll fit this man with an Armani by seven o’clock this evening. PAM Right away. (She goes.) Ouch! You see the ass on that babe? Aww, I’m gonna bone her, you watch! She’s been fighting me off too long. Time I boned her. MIKE Case you haven’t heard, Fernie fucks all the secretaries. TOMAS What does Vicky think of this? FERNIE You watch. I’ll bone her, I swear to you, the chick is mine! CAMACHO Cut it out, Fernie. Pasiguate. FERNIE Hey, C, you just keep an eye on Vicky and everything’ll be cool. MIKE Enough of this. Party’s waitin’. TOMAS Mike, I have to tell you guys about this idea- - FERNIE Just a fucking minute! We got Toltec cocainatl here bearing the seal of the Santos Family for our new partner. Is this gesture going to be ignored and thereby dissed? MIKE Tomas? TOMAS (Slowly approaching the line) [A thin white scar on the table, my father’s table, his memory, the sentence of all my suspects, powdered like sweet bread, symbols in search of symbols on the fine grain of the wood facing north, where all good things are, the best homes, the best clothes, the best laws, the best jails, the best kind of death, plunging downward, downward, falling toward heaven, oh what the hell, just once, just for them, my brothers, my family, mi raza.] (TOMAS snorts up the line.) TOMAS Let’s go buy me a Lexus! FERNIE Damn straight! CAMACHO Fuckin’ A! MIKE You are blood! (They begin undressing him as PAM comes on carrying a new Suit. JUDGE BENTON enters as they dress TOMAS, orating at the banquet.) JUDGE These boys, these boys, these incorrigible boys. Proud first generation American scions of an immigrant cabinet maker, an importer of furniture, the brothers of the Law Firm of Santos & Santos blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blood stewing on my tongue for lying for Miguel and Fernando stinkos, two of the most invidious, corrupt, treacherous, racketeering by god the finest attorneys in this state’s legal fandangos. In a few short years they have made their firm among the most honored blah blah blah blah blasphemy that’s what this is but for politics’ sake the show must go on but whoa whoa doggie, this boy, this new one, I know from san diego, good son, good skin, good eyes, indeed a santo to behold, but my tribute diarrhears its ugly head again again again I say these turks have won many admirable and deserving judgments at the highest level of the Texas court, and even in my docket, they have a spectacular reputation for success blah blah blah black eyes black hair this Thomas has a whoreson look to him, abandonment, a look which judges me, by what right, no right, i’m a good man, i love my wife and daughter, i stand by the immutable laws of this land, i'm a populist, i voted for lbj, i'm an intellectual, i voted for Nixon, but this young man has a mission but but but it’s in the community that they have distinguished themselves, providing scholarships to high school students blah blah blah blah blandly how he looks at me, like all Mexicans look, with dull opaque eyes into my heart, where a fear is beshat and a deep anathema, sing the national anathema, jose can you see, from the halls of Montezuma, we will fight and be free free free free law clinics at the community college, substantial in-kind services to needy groups blah blah blah set an example for all people in the Sun City blah blah blah blah blah latino constituents blah blah blah blast this golden litigator who cannot transcend the political reality which is to suck up to this mob for the cameras which is to testify on behalf of these scalawags which is to sit upon my bench till the president appoints me to the supremes, where I will shimmy to the constitution shakedown, political reality is neither political nor real, but this santos runt, this beautiful boy, he pierces my soul with a message deep dark and bla- blah blah blah My great privilege to present this plaque to Miguel and Fernando Santos, Attorneys at Law, on behalf of the El Paso LULAC Council. For exemplary service to the community. (Applause. MIKE and FERNIE receive the plaque. TOMAS, now in his suit, watches with interest.) MIKE Thank you, sir. I count that tribute our greatest victory. FERNIE Hustle, Mike. Chimichanga’s getting cold MIKE Let me announce that our law firm is presenting a charitable contribution to the LULAC Council in the amount of $20,000.00 (Applause. MIKE gives the check to the JUDGE, who receives it with a smile.) JUDGE Then by God, LET’S EAT. (MUSIC. Lights change. On another area, TOMAS stands in the parking lot. FERNIE dashes over to him.) FERNIE Que paso, bro. My wife here yet? TOMAS I’ve seen three Beemers, none hers. Where’s Nena? FERNIE Bathroom. She’s not feeling good. Alomejor es un pinchi flu. TOMAS Negro, what the hell is Benton doing here? You guys are supposed to be mortal enemies. FERNIE Times are changing, bro. The word is this overfed country club judge is heading for the Big Court. TOMAS No way. Benton? Supreme Court? He’s too far to the right for it. FERNIE Not anymore. He’s sending his valentines to all minority PACs in the state. He wants to shine in the Congressional Record. What the fuck, it’s putting us in the Bar Journal. Yo, here they come. Listen. Tomorrow we’re all going to Vegas to celebrate your recruitment, and I’m gonna bring Pam along. If Vicky asks, we’re just us three going, okay? (CAMACHO and VICKY enter.) Hey, buttheads, you’re too late. It’s over. Food’s cold. CAMACHO Sorry, Fern. FERNIE No problem, it’s only a dinner in my fucking honor. VICKY Don’t yell at me, Negro. It’s been a bad day. FERNIE Whoa. Pardon me, Princess. What’s the excuse this time? VICKY I was on the phone. FERNIE Who with, one of your boyfriends? VICKY No, one of your girlfriends, Fernando. She called because she wants to know how serious we are about each other. FERNIE You’re out of your mind. VICKY I told her we made vows before God and the priest and everybody, but they’re negotiable. Everything’s negotiable, baby. CAMACHO Sorry, Fernie. FERNIE I can’t believe you listen to those pendejas. You poison yourself with their shit. VICKY Makes you think, though, don’t it? FERNIE Great attitude. Great. Here. Say hello to my brother. TOMAS How you doing, Vicky? VICKY Tommy. How was your flight down? TOMAS A little bumpy. You still in charge of the furniture store? VICKY My ball and chain. Sorry I’m all… TOMAS I understand. CAMACHO Sorry, Fernie. FERNIE (as NENA enters, looking a bit queasy) Will you quit saying you’re sorry, goddammit. This is a happy occasion. Here comes Nena! NENA! Hey, cuñada, nauseous from the nachos? NENA ¡Oye, oye, oye! Mira este. I’m fine. Something in the food just took a detour. FERNIE They don’t put enough chile in it. Bland motherfucking shit. CAMACHO Hi, Nena. NENA Macho Camacho. Glad you made it, Vicky. We wondered about you. VICKY I don’t like schmoozing. Looks like I missed it, anyway. NENA Pero ahora sigue el pisto. You get to drink with those old pelados who look down your blouse. Take my advice, just smile, nod, ask them about their wives every now and then y diles to vote Democrat. Ven con nosotros adentro. FERNIE Hey, before I forget, ladies, we’re off to Las Vegas tomorrow morning, Mike bought the tickets, we gonna hang for a couple. NENA ¿Otra vez? TOMAS I just found out myself. VICKYT Can I come? FERNIE He only got three tickets. It’s a brother thing. We’re gonna show this guy a good time . C here’ll take care of you. VICKY Yeah. The sprayhead. FERNIE Hey! Watch your mouth!-- TOMAS YA! (Silence.) You know where our father comes from? Concordia. Concord. Agreement. Getting along, let’s get along, let’s have some beer and let’s agree. NENA Let ‘em go, Vicky. It’ll be good to get the testosterone out of the house. Nomas dile a Miguel to bring back something nice for the girls. Some dolls and shit. FERNIE C’mon. (to VICKY) You learn some respect. (NENA and FERNIE go.) CAMACHO You want me to bring you a plate? VICKY No, listen, why don’t you go and help yourself? I’m not so hungry. Go on. (CAMACHO goes. VICKY opens her purse and produces a vial. She sniffs a tiny spoonful.) Fucking Negro. Like I don’t know what he’s up to. Like I’m some idiot. You want a hit? TOMAS I’ll pass. VICKY Who’s he taking with him? TOMAS Nobody. VICKY Fine, don’t tell me. God forbid I should make you rat on your brothers. I got my ways of dealing with him. TOMAS Are you going to stay out here? (VICKY nods and turns away.) VICKY [linger TOMAS we linger VICKY longing TOMAS to want her back VICKY my back to him I feel TOMAS I feel I hurt I misgive VICKY misgive the memory gone so cold] TOMAS Vicky, about the past— VICKY I got no past. All I got is Santos Furniture Emporium and (showing him the vial) this. TOMAS You don’t remember us? VICKY TOMAS [no recall no goodbye something [purely her even now] kissed something bland halfhearted something halfsaid an older brother’s comfort his fire his ring his wife] VICKY Why’d you come back, Tommy? Now, out of the clear blue… TOMAS I couldn’t bear San Diego. The cases I kept getting. Luna, Franco, Ramirez, Pedrazo, they just kept coming at me like flyweight boxers. Swollen Indian faces fulla guilt. VICKY [We’re all guilty, concordia to discordia, our faces, riven wide, eyes full of whatever happens happens] (The JUDGE enters and watches, unseen by them.) TOMAS The day Dad passed away, I was cross-examining an old guy, an illegal. He was crying because his son had died in a chase for both of them at the border. They’d come across at night and when La Migra chased them, the son ran off a cliff, all the way down, plunging like the peso, to the lad of his salvation. The old guy blamed himself...I couldn’t help thinking of Papa, dying without me at his side. VICKY Well, he’s gone and you’re here. What do you think you can accomplish now? TOMAS Something inside, Vicky, there’s a seed of something...right. VICKY What is it? TOMAS It’s wild. I can’t even say. JUDGE Try. TOMAS Who’s there? (He comes forward.) JUDGE Try to say. VICKY Let’s go inside, Tommy. JUDGE I’d like to have a word with you, son. VICKY We’re not interested. JUDGE Please stay. TOMAS Go on, Vicky. Save me a plate. (VICKY goes. TOMAS and the JUDGE regard each other.) JUDGE I am William Louis Benton. TOMAS I know who you are, sir. Why aren’t you inside eating? JUDGE I don’t like Mexican. It corrupts my digestion. Tomas Santos, you have something to tell me. TOMAS Do I? JUDGE I felt the cataclysm in you, during my speech. Tell it to me, son. TOMAS Nothing to tell. (The JUDGE turns his gaze out toward the horizon.) JUDGE That’s Ciudad Juarez over there, isn’t it? That country puts the fear of God in me. They have a whole different concept of the Law. I went there once, to La Mariscal. A dingy little street lined up with painted prostitutes. TOMAS I know it. JUDGE I met the only whore I ever knew that night. Paloma. A pretty young thing, blessed with what I call the eyes of mercy. I saw her on several occasions until one day I looked into her and I saw a fire burst through her eyes. She told me we were conceiving my child. A boy. That’s when I stopped going to La Mariscal. TOMAS What’s that got to do with me? JUDGE Nothing, maybe. But you and me are of one heart. I know your terror. Your vision. TOMAS You do? JUDGE I’ve felt it, like in Paloma. Tell me your cataclysm. TOMAS I’m not sure... JUDGE I believe in you. TOMAS Don’t get me wrong. I love my people. JUDGE By god, I love them too TOMAS It is not our fault JUDGE no way TOMAS It’s a cycle We've bread ourselves to live JUDGE Vicious cycle TOMAS American cycle: birth, arrest, arraignment, hearing, conviction, death JUDGE Lubricated by tears and pace picante sauce TOMAS the bill of rights stays on the right JUDGE and the constitution ain’t bilingual TOMAS We’re bastards of the Law, your honor, illegitimate three-headed freaks of nature JUDGE jails and jokes are full of you TOMAS but on his arm, my father had a tattoo emblazoned like a sign JUDGE that's right, boy, a sign TOMAS that's what we need, a sign, a symbol, we respond to symbols, they invigorate us, they purge and guide us, they give us hope and meaning JUDGE this country was built on abstractions, on concepts you and me can’t see, touch, taste, fuck, or light candles to TOMAS we need a symbol for justice, not this nameless lady with the blind and scales JUDGE Impeach her, by god TOMAS give her a name, paint her in bright red and green, give her terra cotta skin, and put a brilliant corona around her JUDGE a whole six-pack of coronas TOMAS Tear the blind off so we can see her gleaming eyes JUDGE one blue one brown and make the book she holds a bowl of cornmeal TOMAS Because corn is universal and you can’t eat a fucking book JUDGE A new vision of justice TOMAS LA VIRGEN DE JUSTICIA JUDGE Appointed by the people for a drug-free America TOMAS our sierra madre oriental JUDGE lactating blood for the masses TOMAS La leche de human blindness JUDGE boundless to all races TOMAS ROPA PARA TODA LA FAMILIA JUDGE MOLE WITH YOUR METHADONE TOMAS DUTY-FREE GOODS JUDGE FREE-TRADE AGREEMENTS TOMAS AND ALL THE REHAB PROGRAMS, THE CITIZEN PATROLS, THE INTERDICTION AND STIFF SENTENCING, THE DEATH PENALTIES WILL BE OBSOLETE JUDGE DRUG-TURF CRIME WILL VANISH ACROSS THE COUNTRY TOMAS AND THE RACE OF MONTEZUMA WILL AT LAST ACHIEVE FULL CITIZENSHIP JUDGE YES YES YESSSSSS TOMAS DON’T GET ME WRONG I LOVE MY PEOPLE JUDGE IT SHOWS IN EVERY FIBER OF YOUR BEING (Pause. They catch their breath.) JUDGE Come work for me. TOMAS I’m with Santos & Santos. JUDGE You can’t mean what you say and still be with your brothers. Not the way they live. TOMAS My brothers are good. JUDGE You’re the only good son, Tomas. Those two are working cheek-by-jowl with known traffickers, horse-tradin’ them back to the streets where they can spread their gospel. You want your symbol defiled like that? (He starts to leave.) Paloma is my symbol. And you, boy, you have her eyes. (He goes.) TOMAS [He knows my cataclysm, Papa.] (Inside the firm. PAM enters with a sheaf of papers.) PAM These are for your Federal Income Tax form, these are Bar membership, and these are for your health insurance. Press down hard. There are four copies. (TOMAS takes them. MIKE and FERNIE, already dressed for Vegas, ferret through the documents.) Sign these depositions, Mike. They’re proofed, copied, and ready to go. MIKE Thanks, Pam. PAM You got a call from the Natural Gas Company re that pipeline agreement. And Mrs. Herrera is sending over some more bread. Fernando, the DA’s been calling for you all morning. FERNIE Oh, yeah. Frank. We had a golf date. PAM The Vegas tickets. You’re on American 662 at 2:35. First class. FERNIE Hey, Pamela, you wanna come with? PAM Sorry. Got loads to do here. MIKE Did you have a good time last night, carnal? TOMAS Great. FERNIE What a blowout, man. Really took off once we lost those fat city council fucks. (laughs) PAM Was that the mayor who kept coming on to me? MIKE He was drunk out of his skull. Tommy, Vicky said you and Benton had a talk last night. TOMAS We shot the shit. MIKE What did you have to say to each other? TOMAS Academic stuff, mainly. They guy was required reading at Stanford. (CAMACHO enters, with the gym bag.) MIKE Watch yourself around him. He doesn’t appreciate the work we do. FERNIE He’s a fucking racist! MIKE Before his immaculate conversion, he was for tightening up the border between here and Baja Tejas. He wanted radar balloons and armed surveillance of the rio. CAMACHO ¿El juez? MIKE Yeah. Got the bread? CAMACHO Right here. MIKE Then let’s go roll the bones. (They start to go.) TOMAS Hermanos. (They stop.) I want us to be honest with each other. FERNIE What are you talking about? TOMAS Are we still dealing? If we are, I wanna know. FERNIE Negro, shut the fuck up. C? CAMACHO opens the gym bag and carefully extracts a stack of bills and a small bag of coke.) CAMACHO Sweet bread. FERNIE Mother of God! CAMACHO Plane landed last night. Presidio. Totally legit. Stashed in the horse trailer for pick-up tomorrow. MIKE And the bread? CAMACHO Very fresh. FERNIE Fuckin’ A! PAM Winner’s circle, boys. Two and a half mil. FERNIE 600 pounds. Wall to wall unprocessed Colombian purity! MIKE You see, Tomas, these wops from Vegas want some shit but they think they’re too good to mess with the cartels and vice versa.-- PAM They’re all cut from the same cloth— MIKE So we negotiate the deal from them. The Colombians ship the goods, the wise guys bring the cash, and no one has to face no-one but us. We make the link-up. FERNIE Shit, we’re the only ones fluent in both languages. TOMAS I don’t get it. How in the world did we get mixed up in this shit? You guys are icons. You don’t need this. MIKE This is how the world works, brother. It’s what we do for the good of our bloods and our business. Sure it sucks, but it makes our charity work fly, it’s enabled the education of our brothers and sisters, and reinforced our image as positive role models. FERNIE We can rise on this crop, ese, if the profits are used right. Imagine what harm this could do in the hands of real criminals. PAM Most of it gets intercepted by the DEA down the pipeline, anyway. MIKE Tomas, this has given us power. Power to help our community. To give them the kind of justice they deserve. CAMACHO Sweet bread, Tomas. FERNIE Fuck this! C’mon, celebrate! Pam, you and me, Vegas! PAM You never give up, do you? FERNIE I got a big suite reserved with a round bed. PAM Take no for an answer, Fernie. FERNIE I’m your type, girl. Puro indio. I be yo’ bullfighter. PAM You might not believe this, but I got better things to do than hang with you in a city I have no heart for. FERNIE What’s the matter? Don’t you like boys? PAM As a matter of fact, no. I don’t. Have a nice trip. (She goes. MIKE and CAMACHO laugh.) FERNIE Did you hear that? Oh my god! I got a dyke working here! I brought an actual dyke! CAMACHO Serves your ass right, Fernie. MIKE Sign those papers, Tommy, and let’s move. FERNIE I don’t believe it! She’s got a body like that and she’s a lesbian! This is terrible! Fire her ass, Mikey! MIKE Uh-uh. She stays. FERNIE But she’s a lesbian, man. You heard her! MIKE I’m not losing the only top-shelf secretary we ever had. CAMACHO I think that shit’s illegal anyway. FERNIE All right, keep her. But I say I’m still gonna bone her first chance she gives me. Dyke or no dyke. MIKE That’s another thing. You are not harassing her while she sits behind that desk. I don’t give a shit how hard up you are, you don’t say anything, do anything, whatever, that will jeopardize her position in this firm. You try your shit on her, and I’ll go to Vicky. FERNIE Just a goddamn minute!-- MIKE I’m not finished, Fernando. Now, I don’t like to butt in on your personal life, it’s your business and I respect that, but his fucking shit that you’re pulling is driving everyone crazy. It’s affecting the family and that’s no good, man. Go bone whoever you want and hurt your wife in the heart, fine, but keep your paws off my secretary. ¿Me entiendes? FERNIE My wife is my business. MIKE And Pamela is my business. Dejala en paz. Tommy, mark off Monday next week. You’re meeting with the legal staff at EP Savings. (He passes some documents to FERNIE.) Here, give these to Pam to send off. They were due yesterday. FERNIE Fuck her. MIKE What’s your problem, Fernie? This is an attitude I detect, then you better let me know. I won’t put up with your bullshit. TOMAS (Bullshit, pounding in my head, buy into, baby, live in the real, know what is known, deal with, Papa, this table, this firm, this town all boned bought and paid for.) (PAM enters.) PAM Mike, wives are here. NENA Okay, babosos, this is a raid! The chicks are here to bust up your boy’s club. VICKY ¡Mira nomas! Suitcases! Plane tickets! NENA Oye, no-one leaves this pueblo without the viejas’ permission! VICKY Think we’re gonna let you guys leave without sayin’ goodbye? NENA Fuck that shit. It’s the money I want. Orale, gimme that skin. ¡La cartera! MIKE (handing over his wallet) We weren’t going to forget your ladies. VICKY (to FERNIE) What are you so quiet about? NENA Honey, is this all you have in here? Get with the program. It’s White Flower Day at Macy’s, man! (FERNIE kisses VICKY fiercely.) VICKY Damn, Negro. FERNIE I love my wife. I don’t give a shit. I love my wife. VICKY (kissing him back) I love you too, babe. NENA ¿Que paso? Did Fernie lose the house playing poker? MIKE Nah. It’s a long story. Leave it. NENA ¿Y porque tiene la cara larga este guey? MIKE He’s bummed about our sweet bread. NENA ¡Chale, Tomas! This ain’t no pussy California. This is El Chuco. Here en El Paso, you get by any way you can. Even when you got the pinchi morning sickness. MIKE What? NENA You might as well know, Viejo, I’m pregnant. FERNIE ¡Puta madre! TOMAS A baby? VICKY That’s great! MIKE How far? NENA Six weeks. (He approaches her and sinks to his knees before her.) MIKE Six weeks. Hijo mano. Little brown shitkicker must be at least the size of my thumbnail by now. PAM Maybe this time it’ll be a boy, Mike. FERNIE We’ll be laying odds on that in Vegas. NENA Ten cuidado...porque sabes muy bien que te adoro. MIKE Administrative fiat. You are coming to Vegas. NENA I can’t. Who’s going to take care of the girls? VICKY I don’t mind watching them, Nena. TOMAS And you might as well use my ticket. FERNIE No way! TOMAS C’mon. She’s going o have a baby. Besides, man, you’re gonna be late for the plane. Here. Mi regalo para ti, cunada. NENA I didn’t mean to bitch on you like that. You’re good. MIKE Brother, you make us shine. NENA ¡Pues a Las Fuckin’ Vegas! (She rushes out with MIKE, FERNIE, and PAM amid a chorus of congratulations.) VICKY (to TOMAS) It looks like it’s just you and me. CAMACHO An’ me. VICKY Yeah. (VICKY goes. CAMACHO starts after her.) TOMAS C. CAMACHO Yo. TOMAS You sure the trailer’s secure at... CAMACHO Gila Stables. Yeah, tight as a bud. (As CAMACHO goes, the JUDGE in his robes strolls on.) JUDGE [Cataclysms, boy. Catechisms. TOMAS La sangre crying crying legal or loyal, swelling in my head the old man crying for his son falling over falling into America JUDGE Our symbol for a browner justice pimped on La Mariscal the law shoved up her constitution. TOMAS Burning, my fucking race burning me, your honor, I’m burning JUDGE Hot plate! Hot plate! No touch! No touch! TOMAS I feel the breach in me JUDGE The pang of your convictions, 20 to life, 30 to life, life everlasting TOMAS No puedo no puedo JUDGE You’re the good son sanctify the sign stop the bleeding make it real pick up the phone TOMAS Don’t get me wrong I love my people JUDGE Sure you do.] (TOMAS picks up the phone. FERNIE’s anguished cry from off. Crossfade to the casino. FERNIE charges in, his cry leading him in.) FERNIE (rolling a paid of dice) YYYYYYAAAHHHHHHH! Awright awright awright! How much! Okay! Go double! Right there! Put it there! Here we go! (MIKE comes in with NENA on his arm.) MIKE C’mon, Fernie. That table don’t like you. FERNIE You kidding? It loves me! It wants to suck my dick! I’m making some money here! NENA You better be. Esos son mis chips you’re betting with, Negro. FERNIE I dedicate this holly roll to the fortunes of the next Santos kid! May he be a son and may he wear steel-toe boots! (He rolls.) MIKE Snake-eyes! FERNIE FUCK! NENA I know! Vamonos al jacuzzi and let’s order martinis. FERNIE No jacuzzi. I don’t want her barfin’ in there. One more. (PEGGY enters.) PEGGY Michael! MIKE Peggy, how’s it going? Haven’t seen you in a coon’s age. FERNIE Yo, Peg. PEGGY Furnace, how you doin’, boy NENA You know this woman? MIKE Hell, we’ve known Peg for years! PEGGY He was my lawyer. You got me a suspended sentence on that weapons charge! MIKE Peg, this is my wife. Magdalena. PEGGY Mucho gusto. ¿Como esta? NENA Fine. How the hell are you? PEGGY Well, guess what, Mike, I’m married now! Willis is my new name, and we’re spending our honeymoon in our old stompin’ ground and now all of a sudden BOOM here ya’re too! MIKE You’re a sight! FERNIE Yeah, you look great, babe! NENA Vamos, Miguel. (WILLIS and FELECIA enter.) WILLIS Darlin’. PEGGY Oh! Lemme introduce my husband and my girl. This is Casper. WILLIS Casper T. Willis. Howdy. (WILLIS frisks MIKE. Tears the buttons from his cuff.) PEGGY He don’t like his voice on tape. MIKE Miguel Santos. PEGGY And this is the flower of my life, Felicia Lee. FELICIA Y’all got any pot? PEGGY Keep a civil tongue in your head, young lady. You don’t know who these people are. FERNIE Watch it, little girl. We’re lawyers. MIKE What’s with the buttons? WILLIS If truth be told, Mr. Santos, I’ve just come out of Leavenworth. FERNIE Maximum security. What were you in for? WILLIS Thisnthat. Braggin’, mainly. PEGGY A wire took years off my baby’s life, but he is still a experienced handler of people. FELICIA Who looks older, me or her? PEGGY Shush, you. NENA I want to go to the Jacuzzi, Miguel. WILLIS I’m not cheap, sir, but I’m reliable. PEGGY And conventional! We live in Texas, too! Beaumont! You know what they say, if you can scratch your balls, you can make the calls...to Beaumont! (Laughs.) NENA Miguel... MIKE Mr. Willis. Pleasure meeting you. WILLIS Anytime. My card. (WILLIS gives his card and the buttons as they leave.) NENA ¿Quien es esa mujer? ¿De donde la conoces? MIKE Why, you don’t like her? FERNIE Peg’s cool. She was parole officer till she started falling for her cons. Her old man, though, you see his eyes? Like a set of bulletholes. NENA Andale, quiero ponerme ese swimsuit while it still fits. Be right up. I’ll get the martinis. (MIKE and NENA leave. FERNIE produces another stack of chips. FELECIA appears.) FELECIA So do you? FERNIE Do I what? FELECIA You know. Pot. FERNIE Yeah. I got some. Up in my room. FELECIA I can’t go to your room. FERNIE Oh, I didn’t know you were a minor. FELECIA I’m older than I look. I’m almost eighteen. FERNIE Then what are we waiting for? FELECIA I don’t know you that well yet. FERNIE My friends call me Fernie. Some people call me Negro but I’ll cut anyone outside the family who calls me that. FELECIA My name begins with an F too. FERNIE Felicia Lee Willis. FELECIA Tomlinson. Casper’s just my stepdaddy. FERNIE He’s big guy, huh? FELECIA Oh, he’s terrific. He’s like what, you know, when you think of the Texas Rangers, you think of him. Big. Bold. Frontier. FERNIE Uh-hu. Big badass motherfucking white sheriff-type of asshole. FELECIA That’s not very nice. FERNIE Neither is your father. FELECIA What floor you on? (WILLIS comes in.) WILLIS Lesha doll. Didn’t I ask you to accompany your mother to the cashier booth? FELECIA Yeah, but-- WILLIS No buts about it. I told you and you defied me, girl. FERNIE I’ll send it to your room. WILLIS You’ll send nothing of the kind, Mr. Santos. I’d appreciate your keepin’ your hands off my girl from now on. FERNIE I didn’t touch her. FELECIA We were only talking-- WILLIS I don’t know about Nevada, but in my perimeter, there’s a statutory age-limit to what a man can stick his pecker to. FERNIE Well, in my mind, Casper-- WILLIS It’s not your mind I’m concerned about, mister. FERNIE WHY IS EVERYBODY TELLIN’ ME WHO TO FUCK! FELECIA Please, honey, he wasn’t trying anything--! FERNIE (producing his blade from underneath his coat) AWRIGHT COWBOY! LET’S TALK! FELECIA Oh lord! No! Stop this! Momma! Somebody! Help! WILLIS Sonny, put thy knife away. FERNIE Wanna dance? C’mon, I’ll cut a little rug in your two-step, Casper! WILLIS Don’t make me do this. I just done my time. FERNIE Your ass is grass, Hopalong! You fuckin’ with the stereotype now! (MIKE and NENA enter. PEGGY comes from the other side.) PEGGY What the heck’s going on here? FELECIA Momma, make them stop this! Somebody’s gonna get hurt. NENA Fernando! ¡Ya calmate! Aqui no hay para que te pelees. PEGGY Casper, back off. Both of you. MIKE Put it away, Negro. FERNIE You got no idea who you fuckin’ with, asshole! I go back to the Aztecs. I got the blood in my veins, goddammit, I got the face, the features, and I got the disposition of my dyin’ race all over me. I’m a spic, man. Beans and tortillas. Through and through. WILLIS Honorable ancestry, I’m told. FERNIE Damn right. WILLIS Goodnight, folks. (The WILLISES leave.) NENA ¿Estas loco o que? Es un ex-con and you with a toy knife! FERNIE Well, I’m horny! MIKE You’re real slick. FERNIE Sorry, bro. The girl came up, man, I don’t know. MIKE Fernie, C called. The Feds nailed our horse trailer. FERNIE No way! NENA The whole shipment. FERNIE But how did they... MIKE They were tipped off. Someone shit on us, Fernie. FERNIE Was there anything tying us to the shit? MIKE I don’t think so. FERNIE Who the fuck told? NENA Somebody from the inside, I bet. MIKE I can’t think about that right now. We’re packing for home. I gotta let Tommy know. Negro, I suggest before this night is over, you call your wife. (A phone rings in the darkness. VICKY and TOMAS enter her house. She regards the phone.) VICKY There he goes. Checking up on me. TOMAS How do you know it’s him? VICKY By the way it rings. Shrill and whiny. TOMAS Maybe you should answer. (The phone stops ringing.) VICKY Coors or Corona? TOMAS Coors. (as Vicky goes off) [Victoria. As I’ve always known her. Victoria mi novia mi nova my ex. Just as we lost lands, wars, lives, dignity, I lost Victoria. Not Vicky as Fernie wants his wife to be, but Victoria.] VICKY (returning with two beers) I hope you’ll let me chip in half for the movie.-- TOMAS My treat, Vick. I don’t often get to spend time with Lila and Rose. Hey, this sofa look familiar? VICKY It should. It’s from the store. Like everything else I got. All our houses look the same inside. Your Dad’s way of living on. TOMAS (raising his beer) To the flower of the Santos Family. VICKY You’re a trip. (They drink. VICKY takes our her vial of coke.) TOMAS (as she takes a bump) [Pollen on the flower, a pinky-nailful of moondust, and my brothers are with us] VICKY What I said earlier about not remembering I remember It took a little effort but you Know those were crazy times we Were so caught up in this I don’t know this truly I don’t know like at the levee that night drinking beer and playing tapes and making out while the wetbacks wade across the river and then you say something like TOMAS Victoria any one of them could have been us VICKY And it cracks me up ‘cause it’s true and I lean on the horn by mistake and all of a sudden everything freezes the water the reeds the gravel the moonlight the wets all become one big eye aimed right at us, you see I do remember ‘cause right after that you said TOMAS This night is a part of us VICKY what did we know man one night does not a life make, sure we’re practically related now, only not the way we hey hey hey Tomas don’t I mean hey I I I I I want to ask you has Fernie said anything about us having kids ‘cause uh uh we’re not we’re not we’re not I’m staying on the pill till he starts acting like a married man, for all we know there might already be some Fernie Jrs running around oh yeah I’ve seen his nacho-cheese-flavored condoms it’s a drag D R A G DRAG try and run the business by yourself, it wears me out, I get no support, Nena’s too busy with her kids and Mike and Negro are always limmigrating TOMAS Litigating VICKY yea which as you know all by myself me I have to do it I need a break from it see this My little pick-me-up-and-throw-me-across-the-room you see what good is memory it only makes you want to forget. Am I rambling? TOMAS No. VICKY You’re not saying much. You’re keeping something from me. What? TOMAS Vick, those people we saw crossing the river: they’re our moms and dads and they drank dirty water for us. They died for us. We’re the dross of dreams, Victoria, the dreams of good people who try who still wish who still believe that all this is still theirs. We owe them our honesty our courage our love VICKY What is it, Tomas? TOMAS I I still feel the same for you only more so. (They resist and impulse to kiss.) TOMAS [All night we sit up and talk VICKY Inventing histories between us TOMAS Possibilities in the past and present VICKY Talking TOMAS on a sofa you made Papa, pulsing toward the north, my Mexican descent, thinking of my brothers, but Vicky says--] VICKY Stay as long as you want. They need you, they’ll ask for you. (The office. MIKE, FERNIE, CAMACHO and PAM.) MIKE Where is he? CAMACHO Looked everywhere. FERNIE Did you try his place again? CAMACHO Nothing. MIKE Pam? PAM I called all his buddies. No sign of him. MIKE Shit. He missed that appointment with the Savings bunch. PAM I’ll reschedule. FERNIE What the fuck’s happened, C? CAMACHO Just the seizure. No-one busted. FERNIE Maybe one of them narked. CAMACHO I know those vatos. No way. MIKE Was there anything tying us to the shit? CAMACHO Not a thing. MIKE You sure? CAMACHO Sure. FERNIE You sure? CAMACHO I’m sure. PAM The Bureau thinks they have something. MIKE How do you know? PAM It made CNN, Mike. Everyone knows. FERNIE Shit. MIKE What is this “something?” PAM They didn’t say. FERNIE They’re bluffing. CAMACHO There wasn’t a hair in the place, Mike. MIKE Nothing? CAMACHO Absolutely nothing. PAM You got a lot of calls on the machine. MIKE You got the tape? PAM Right here. (MIKE smashes it.) FERNIE We’re in deep shit. MIKE You spent the weekend away and you didn’t come in until tomorrow. PAM Right. MIKE C, go to Vicky’s and get her ass over here. FERNIE I’ll call her. MIKE No more phone calls. (To CAMACHO)Go. (CAMACHO goes. He steps into VICKY’S living room and finds them sleeping fully clothed on the sofa.) CAMACHO Vicky! Hey! -- (seeing them and turning away.) Oh shit. Sorry, man. VICKY C! Dammit, don’t you know how to knock! CAMACHO The door was open. VICKY Well, come in since you’re in. CAMACHO Mike wants to see you right away at the office. VICKY The office? I thought he was in Vegas! CAMACHO They had to come back. VICKY What’s going on? CAMACHO Just hurry. We got some problems. VICKY C, what happened? CAMACHO Vicky, c’mon. VICKY What the hell happened? CAMACHO The feds. I can’t say anymore. VICKY The Feds? CAMACHO I can’t say anymore. (As VICKY goes off to get her purse, MIKE, FERNIE, and PAM feed documents into a paper shredder.) PAM You want these in there too? MIKE I’m talking no chances. PAM This is the Land Grant Commission file. MIKE Put it in. FERNIE Man, this bites. MIKE Do me a favor, Pam, bring the other files for me. (She goes.) Fernando, I think I know who narked on us. FERNIE Who? MIKE Think about it. We go to Vegas, he stays behind, no-one to supervise him, no-one to know. FERNIE Aw...man. Son of a bitch. CAMACHO (as PAM returns with the files) Hey, Tomas. (TOMAS keeps still.) Mike and Fernie. Worried about you. Tried to call you all night. Nena’s girls, ese, they thought something happened to you. TOMAS I guess I should see them. CAMACHO You should see Mike first. (VICKY enters.) VICKY Camacho, I want you to know Tommy and me were only-- CAMACHO You don’t gotta explain nothing. I’m just the fuckin’ sprayhead. (They cross into the office.) PAM Well, look who’s here. MIKE We’ve been trying to reach you for hours. VICKY The answering machine was off. And I overslept. FERNIE I’ll bet. MIKE ¿Y tu? CAMACHO I found him passed out in his car. FERNIE You’re kidding. TOMAS I..uh..pulled a bender. PAM Buncha sound sleepers in this burg. VICKY C said something about Feds. MIKE Well, have you heard? We’ve been shat upon. VICKY What? FERNIE Somebody tipped off the fuckin’ cops and blew our load. ¡Pero cuando lo agarre, le voy a mochar los pinchi huevos! PAM Would somebody translate that for me, please? VICKY He said whoever did this is gonna get his balls cut off. PAM Assuming his person has balls. MIKE That’s what we’re gonna find out. Vicky, I want you to go to my home and stay with the girls till we call. Pam, close the office down and get someone to change the locks on the door. The rest of you guys meet me at the City Dump at 10:30 tonight. I have to make a few calls. Vamonos, cabrones. (PAM, FERNIE, and CAMACHO go. MIKE turns to TOMAS.) Tommy, you better show. We know who did this. (MIKE goes.) VICKY Is this your handiwork? TOMAS I had to do it. VICKY Is this what you mean by the dross of dreams? An anonymous tip? Tommy, that’s our cash cow! TOMAS Well, I just slaughtered it. VICKY Jesus Christ, you turned your brothers in to the cops! TOMAS Look, it’s just their stash. VICKY God, you really messed things up. I don’t believe you. TOMAS Vicky, listen, here’s where we remake the past. We can make ourselves new. You remember, like last night when we-- VICKY Last night meant nothing. All we did was sleep, that’s all. Remember. You’re my husband’s brother. This is your family. Do you have any idea what this is leading to? TOMAS Yeah. City dump. Lights change. A pair of piercing headlights. VICKY and the scenery vanish. TOMAS remains. Music plays: ZZ TOP’s “Tush”. Cries off. FERNIE pushed CAMACHO on, tied with bungie cord. MIKE follows with a can of gasoline.) FERNIE (dancing wildly around C) YYYAOOW, MAAAANN! BAATTLLE STAAATIOONS! WE GONNA PARTY TONIGHT! CAMACHO Fernie...ese... FERNIE Shut your ass, motherfucker! You ain’t been called on yet! TOMAS Mike, what’s going on? MIKE Yo, C. How ya doin’ man? CAMACHO Lookit... MIKE I know how you feel, bro. It’s a bad scene for sure. (MIKE douses him with gasoline.) TOMAS What are you doing, Mikey? This is C, man. MIKE I know, Tommy. That’s what really hurts. FERNIE (reeling him around like a roped steer) SUMBITCH! YOU RATTED ON THE WRONG PEOPLE, ESE! CAMACHO What you talkin’ about? I didn’t rat! TOMAS You got the wrong guy. Camacho would never do a thing like that. CAMACHO Never. Never. I love you guys. MIKE C, you’re a Judas, man. A fuckin’ Judas. FERNIE After all we did. CAMACHO I didn’t do shit, Mike. That’s the truth. TOMAS I believe him. MIKE We’ll see about that. FERNIE (Poised with a match) Awright. Why’d you fink? CAMACHO I didn’t. (FERNIE flicks a lit match at CAMACHO.) NO, MAN! TOMAS Hey, c’mon! the guy didn’t do it. Fernie, stop it! FERNIE You gonna burn motherfucker! Now, how much you get for ratting? CAMACHO Nothing! (FERNIE flicks another match.) C’mon, Fernie! Jesus Christ, man! TOMAS You’re gonna kill him. Let him go! MIKE Tommy, you’re a man with a heart. That’s why I asked you to come. FERNIE Are you fucking my wife, C? Are you balling her when I’m gone! CAMACHO NO WAY! I wouldn’t-- (FERNIE flicks another match.) Damn, ese! Watch it! TOMAS That’s enough! Let him go. CAMACHO Tell him, Tomas. Tell him I didn’t do none a that shit. Tell him! FERNIE Shut your fucking ass! I’m talking to you. If you’re not fucking my wife, if you’re not snitching on us, then who is? CAMACHO I dunno! TOMAS It was me. I did it! I’m the one who made the call. FERNIE Nice try, bro. MIKE We know who’s responsible. TOMAS I’m the one who snitched. C had nothing to do with it. FERNIE Don’t be covering for this sack of shit, Tommy! TOMAS I’m telling you the truth! Let him go! MIKE I’ve known this vato longer than anyone, Tomas. My father brought him in as a brother. But this brother is the only one who knew the horse trailer was at Gila Stables! CAMACHO Please! Mike! (WILLIS strolls on, carrying a small hand-held propane torch.) WILLIS Evenin’ boys. Cold moon comin’ out. FERNIE What are you doing here? MIKE I called him. TOMAS Who is this guy? WILLIS Casper T. Willis. You must be the kid. (He gives him a cursory frisk with his free hand, snapping a few buttons off.) FERNIE What the fuck are you doing here? WILLIS (lighting the torch) I heard we were lightin’ a bonfire. MIKE He’s going to take care of things. CAMACHO Hey, don’t come near me with that! WILLIS And you must be the bonfire. CAMACHO Stay back! Tomas! TOMAS Get rid of him! This is between the family! WILLIS I sure hope you’re paid up on your fire insurance. CAMACHO No no...you keep away....Tomas, this guy....no NO! (CAMACHO staggers off. WILLIS follows calmly behind.) FERNIE HEY! TOMAS Miguel, you better stop that fuck! MIKE Stay where you are! (The agonized cries of CAMACHO being immolated.) FERNIE MOTHER OF GOD. OH JESUS! MIKE FERNIE GET BACK HERE! GET BACK HERE! ETC. CAMACHO! THAT’S OUR BRO! (TOMAS is spellbound with horror.) MIKE Let’s go, Tomas! (The office. TOMAS and MIKE are still. FERNIE paces anxiously. A long silence.) FERNIE Unbelievable. MIKE Sit down. FERNIE This is evil. Burning a man alive. Mi camarada. Camachito. MIKE Sit down. FERNIE The matches were wet. We were only gonna scare the guy MIKE Sit down, Negro. TOMAS Where did you find the goon? Since when did we start doing business with that element? MIKE That element is our business. TOMAS Oh, just another day at the office, huh? MIKE Don’t start on me. Camacho was my bud. His blood rain in my veins. (PAM comes in and gives MIKE a paper.) What’s this? PAM I’m sorry, Mike. I’m leaving. MIKE Bad timing, girl. FERNIE C’mon, esa, you gotta stick it out. TOMAS Let her go if she wants to. PAM I’m not going to jail for anyone. MIKE Go with my blessing, Pam. Just leave the number of your next of kin with us, okay? (PAM tears the resignation. NENA and VICKY enter. VICKY sits in a state of shock as NENA opens the gym bag.) NENA Que paso, cabrones. (No reply) I know. Puta suerte. Vicky and me, when Mike told us, we cried all night. We’re gonna miss Camachito. I hope he really likes Burma. TOMAS What are you talking about? NENA I looked in the books last night y encontre un $25,000 deficit. I went up to his apartmento esta mañana to ask him about it and found this. Receipt from the sale of his bike. Here’s the receipt from his plane ticket he bought. Also I found me a big old stash of coke y una bolsa he musta forgot with $5,000 at least. He musta knew the heat was coming down y se arranco a la carrera. TOMAS Your framed him. NENA Looks to me like we’re victims of embezzlement, honey. MIKE Son of a bitch better not spend it all on whores. FERNIE Nena, you tricky fucking devil woman. TOMAS The guy is dead and you framed him. NENA Cuñado, I got two girls at home. My two pieces of American pie. You see what I’m saying? PAM Mike. (WILLIS enters. He opens a handkerchief over an ashtray and a cascade of teeth dribble into it.) WILLIS My calling card. MIKE What the fuck. NENA Those are teeth. WILLIS He’ll be difficult to identify without ’em. TOMAS (as FERNIE rushes out in revulsion) Jesus. MIKE This is going too far. WILLIS I’m doing you a favor. He won’t be around if and when a grand jury convenes over this bust. (as he goes from person to person, plucking buttons off.) You know, the Bay Breasted Warbler is a lil’ thing about this big, dark-looking with a chestnut throat, upper breast. It as a pretty lil’ call which goes like “tees teesi teesi”. The Cape May Warbler, though, comes in yellow and sounds higher and thinner like “seet seet seet seet”. My favorite is the common yellowthroat which has a black mask like the Lone Ranger and a bright rapid chant that goes “witchy-witchy-witchy witch. Witchy- witchy-witchy witch.” I love birds, you see. I go to all parts to find them. But one bird I do not like is the pigeon. It has no grace, it has no beauty, it has no song but the song of betrayal. PAM (as WILLIS approaches her) Don’t even thing about it. WILLIS (turning to MIKE) Cash is what we discussed. NENA Here it is. The 20 grand Camacho’s blowin’ in Burma. WILLIS Count it. NENA I have WILLIS Again. NENA I have. WILLIS Mr. Santos, you have some pig-headed women on your team. That’s good. Hasta luego. (WILLIS leaves with the gym bag.) NENA Asshole. PAM I second that. TOMAS What ungodly jam are we in now, Mike? MIKE It’s over. TOMAS We gotta get rid of those teeth. (MIKE dumps them into TOMAS’s pocket. FERNIE returns.) FERNIE Is he gone? MIKE Yeah, freak. FERNIE I’ll kill him next time, Mike. I swear it. NENA Won’t be no next time. PAM Mike, I think after all this crap, you owe us a pizza. MIKE Best idea yet. I’m starved. Let’s go. NENA Fernie’s treat! FERNIE No way! Your turn! I paid for the gasoline! (They exit. VICKY and TOMAS remain. Silence.) TOMAS They...killed him. VICKY They? TOMAS He was....sss..set...on fire.... VICKY Tommy...don’t you dare... TOMAS I...have his...teeth... VICKY (lunging at him with her fists.) DON’T YOU DARE CRY, YOU CICKEN SHIT! YOU FUCK! YOU GOT NO RIGHT TO CRY! YOU COULD HAVE SAVED HIM! YOU COULD HAVE SAID SOMETHING! TOMAS I did! I told them! VICKY (falling to her knees in sobs) YOU LET HIM DIE! FUCK YOU, TOMMY! FUCK YOU! YOU BURNED HIM! TOMAS [I did it for us, for our people’s sake, I saw Camacho flare like a sun, Papa, like an emanation of EL Corazón, I saw him blazing with justice AND IT WAS GLORIOUS!] (Tableau. Screaming sirens. Blackout. End of ACT 1.) SANTOS & SANTOS ACT 2. (TOMAS enters amid smoke and darkness, searching. CAMACHO emerges from the shadows.) TOMAS [CAMACHO! CAMACHO!.... C? C, is that you? CAMACHO Vato. What brings you to this dump? TOMAS I came to bury you, man. CAMACHO Not a chance, ese. Ain’t nothin’ left to bury. TOMAS Shit. I’m really sorry, C. CAMACHO Don’t cry. The Santos brothers are men of honor. What’s up? TOMAS Mike got busted at the Pizza Parlor. He’s to be formally charged. Fernie got so worked up, he copped a feel from Pam. She stuck him with a ballpoint. CAMACHO I warned that dude. TOMAS C, I don’t get it. I don’t understand what killed you, my brothers’ law or the law of the land. CAMACHO (revealing a tape measurer) What’s the point? They both kill. TOMAS What’s that for? (From off, the voice of DON MIGUEL.) DON MIGUEL Camacho! CAMACHO Aqui! (DON MIGUEL appears.) TOMAS Papa. DON MIGUEL ¿Listo? Los dimensions got to be perfect. (CAMACHO measures out an oblong space on the floor.) It’s gonna be special piece. Me and this lumber venimos de Concordia. TOMAS Mi padre, mi padre, mi patria. DON MIGUEL I miss the old town. I was a chavo of 17 when I left. Nothing to it but a plaza, a church, and some open pavilions filled with woodwork. But it was home to me. TOMAS Forgive us our chicanismo, our only begotten sin. DON MIGUEL All my life I have wanted to go back. But no: my family is here, my work, and my life. A measure of grace awaits me. TOMAS Grant us amnestia my padre. CAMACHO Don Miguel, I finished the measurements. DON MIGUE ¿Ya? Then let’s go work on it. (showing TOMAS his tattoo) Misericordia, Tomas. (They recede into the thick smoke as the sound of hammers pounding echoes inside TOMAS.) TOMAS ¡Misericordia mis hermanos my padre mi padre mi padre!] (Flash bulbs explode all around him and intense white light comes on his face. TOMAS addresses “the Press”.) This family’s honor is unimpeachable! My brother has done nothing wrong! (He goes. In the foreground the WILLIS family watch TV as the others rush around. Garish camera lighting and flashbulbs.) PEGGY Honey, lookit this! Michael’s all over the Ten o’clock! WILLIS Yeah, I see him. MIKE No comment. Please relay all questions to my attorney. No sir. No comment.-- FERNIE As my brother’s attorney, I’ll move the charges be dismissed on the grounds of unlawful arrest and insufficient evidence.-- GONZALES John Gonzalez from the US Attorney’s office. We’ve charged Mr. Santos with racketeering, illegal gambling, conspiracy to possess and distribute illegal narcotics, and failure to renew his Texas Drivers License-- NENA I don’t like the look of that Gonzalez man. He’s got a mean face. GONZALEZ Members of the Press, Miguel Santos has been arraigned. FELECIA Pappy, what’s arraign? WILLIS Water comes from the sky. FELECIA You think you’re funny. JUDGE That’s right. I have just received the news that Michael Santos will be tried in my court in San Antonio.-- TOMAS What? Benton? Judge Benton is trying my own brother?! GONZALEZ Today we invoked the Kingpin Statute against MR. Santos.-- FERNIE Hey! Dirty pool! JUDGE Continuing criminal enterprise. Mandatory life sentence with no parole.-- MIKIE Non comment. No comment. Excuse me. Excuse me. No comment.-- WILLIS Ladies, Christmas comes a little early this year. (He gives FELECIA a pretty necklace.) FELECIA Pappy! Are they diamonds? WILLIS Yep. And this is for you, darlin’ (He gives PEGGY a pearl-handled revolver.) PEGGY Damn, Casper, this is Christmas. GONZALEZ Our investigation has revealed sinister connections with the Colombian cartels and powerful underworld elements in Las Vegasw.- VICKY The only Colombian connection Mike has is with coffee.-- TOMAS I am personally mobilizing the family resources for Mike’s bail. He’s not spending another night in jail. GONZALEZ I’ve persuaded the local magistrate to set bond at 5 million. VICKY 5 million! It’s outrageous! GONZALEZ We’ve moved the opening trial date to April 6.-- FERNIE You can’t do that! BB King’s playing the Sands that night, man!-- NENA I have begun a three-day fast in protest of my husband’s arrest. MIKE No comment. No comment. I’m not saying a word. No comment.-- PEGGY That Juarez dirt trash has no business with Mikey. FELECIA Pappy, can I have some cocaine? WILLIS Babydoll, you know I don’t like you doing that stuff before bedtime.—- FERNIE It’s clear to me that the US Attorney’s office has had extensive carnal knowledge of the bench Judge Benton is sitting on.-- JUDGE I deeply resent any aspersions cast upon the integrity of this court. Mr. Santos’ comments are not only out of line with the ABA’s code of ethics, but show clear contempt for the rules of this judiciary.-- PEGGY (firing at the judge) Pphhrr! Say hi to Jesus, Judge! NENA They got the wrong guy. That’s what I have to say. PEGGY (firing at NENA) Pphhrr! You too, Tia Maria! GONZALEZ We’re looking for Jesus Camacho, a bandido Motorcycle Club member and a Santos associate who disappeared recently-- MIKE No comment. I have no comment. No comment.-- FELECIA They’re gonna nail ‘im, huh, Pappy? WILLIS Hell, they haven’t even found the charred body yet. PEGGY What charred body, Casper? TOMAS My brother will be absolved before God. I have faith in both our family and in the American Legal System.-- (The JUDGE strips off his robe revealing a tennis outfit. He produces a tennis racket. FERNIE stands holding a brief as if at a hearing.) FERNIE I move that bond for my client be reduced to 500,000. JUDGE (swinging his racket with each replay) Motion denied. FERNIE I moved for a continuance until further-- JUDGE/GONZALEZ Motion denied. FERNIE I move for a change of venue on the grounds of -- JUDGE/GONZALEZ/TOMAS Motion denied. FERNIE I move that the judge recuse himself on the basis of prejudicial evidence! NENA/JUDGE/GONZALEZ/TOMAS/VICKY Motion denied! FERNIE SHIT! (Everyone clears except for the WILLISES.) FELECIA Can you put this on for me, Pappy? WILLIS ‘Course, honey. PEGGY Why don’t you put on some clothes while you’re at it? You’re a lady, not a call girl. FELECIA Are you bein’ spiteful just ‘cause I got a chain and you didn’t? PEGGY I got a gun, Felecia Lee. Don’t make me use it. (PEGGY leaves.) FELECIA Whoo-ee. Who peed in her popcorn? WILLIS C’mon. Time for bed, eiderduck. FELECIA Will you come and tuck me in, Pappy? WILLIS Honey, it’s my life’s abidin’ pleasure. (They go. Lights up on two chairs and a table. MIKE, looking weary and unfocused, and FERNIE.) FERNIE Fuckin’ redneck judge, he hates your guts. MIKE What do they have? FERNIE The horse trailer. C bought it in your name. MIKE Fuck. Nena? FERNIE Startin’ to show. She’s a rock. Tommy’s okay, too. I got him digging through the US Attorney’s files for the evidentiary hearing. MIKE He’s good. FERNIE Tommy? MIKE US Attorney. FERNIE Fuckin’ sellout if you ask me. He puts on a nice suit, gets a job with the government and thinks he’s white as rice. How are you doing? MIKE Like shit. I haven’t slept a wink since I got it. Next time you come back, make sure you bring Tommy. FERNIE What for? MIKE I want to see him. (They Law Office. With TOMAS.) TOMAS But what for? FERNIE He said he wants to see you. TOMAS Look, can’t you tell him that I’m already doing what I can? I’m doing my best, Fernie, I really am. FERNIE He wouldn’t ask for you if it weren’t important. TOMAS I hate jails. I don’t like coming near them. FERNIE If you’re gonna be a criminal lawyer you better get used to it. Mira, Tomas, I’m not gonna argue with you. Mikey said he wants you to come with next time, me entiendes? So you come with. (FERNIE exits as VICKY enters.) VICKY He’s your brother. You haven’t laid eyes on him since the arrest. TOMAS I can’t go into jails. Those faces in there. Staring back at me. Giving me those looks. VICKY You’ve got to get over that, Tommy. The past is the past. TOMAS How can you say that? You were closer to Camacho than anyone. VICKY I know. That’s what got him killed. From now on, Tommy, we have to know better. We’ve got to be cutthroats or we’re dead. TOMAS I’m not double-crossing anyone. VICKY Then why did you rat? TOMAS I had to do something. I saw what the family was becoming. You said I was a Santos, but I don’t know what that means anymore. VICKY Nobody’s blaming you, Tommy. The damage was done way before your came. (She kisses him.) I lied when I told you that night didn’t mean anything. You made my house more bearable by staying in it. TOMAS Your hands are shaking. VICKY Fernie said we shouldn’t have any drugs in the house while the investigation is going on. Easy for him to say. TOMAS I could...score something for you. VICKY Don’t mess up again. You’re still the cream of the family. (They kiss again as MIKE bellows from his table.) MIKE TOMMY! TOMMY! TOMMY! TOMMY! TOMMY! TOMMY! (VICKY breaks away and goes. TOMAS turns toward MIKE.) TOMAS You got sucrose eyes, Mike. MIKE I don’t sleep. If I sleep, I dream. I see smoke and fire. School desks around me. Burning. Camacho and my girls are charred black. TOMAS We’re going to get you out. Soon as we raise bail. Quit worrying and get some rest, carnal. MIKE Why did you protect him? He was the one who narked, wasn’t he? TOMAS He was a friend. MIKE I know. I know. Camachito. What do I do now? TOMAS Plead guilty. MIKE This is my fucking defense? TOMAS They’ve rejected every motion Negro’s made, denied us access to the evidence and witnesses, and this judge wants you to do major time. Now, we can knock off a few years by pleading guilty on the lesser charges. You won’t look unrepentant, you won’t perjure yourself. You’ll get ten, but you’ll do seven, maybe six with good behavior. Hell, with the overcrowding nowadays, you may get out in four. The thing is you’re gonna do time. MIKE How many of us have you fed this line to? TOMAS Some other judge might give you a shot, but Benton won’t recuse himself. MIKE What if we get someone to recuse his ass for him? TOMAS I don’t follow you. MIKE What if he goes down before trial? TOMAS Goes down? MIKE I’ll do anything to get out, Tommy. TOMAS I don’t even want to hear this. You’re not proposing what I think you are. We go by our procedure, we trust the legal process. MIKE We lost faith in that a long time ago, brother. TOMAS Don’t talk about this, Mike. It’s perverse. I won’t have any part of it. MIKE Bueno. TOMAS Is this why you wanted to see me? MIKE I just wondered how far you would go for us. (MIKE teeters off.) TOMAS [Servicio, the will to do service, servicio del corazón, Papa, to do, to do in, to do in vain, to act for the heart...the heart...] (A dark street. The JUDGE steps out in an overcoat.) JUDGE You come alone? TOMAS Yes. JUDGE I think often of our talk. Your vision impressed me. TOMAS What is it you want? JUDGE I come to you a divided man. My involvement in the case of The People vs. Michael Santos distresses me. A part of me urges me toward my duty and a part urges me toward you. We share the burden now. TOMAS My brother is no burden. JUDGE It’s more than just him, Tomas. That evening in the parking lot, you returned something to me. Something I tried to beat back my whole life. Paloma’s boy. My son, who lives in the faces of those in my court. I love you deeply troubled people, I long for you as passionately as you long for justice. TOMAS Then recuse yourself. JUDGE No. I’m going to try Michael Santos under the sign of El Broken Heart just as you would. TOMAS I want nothing to do with you! You used me! You used me to get to my brothers! You don’t love us! You want to hang us! You made me turn them in! JUDGE I knew it was you. Only the good son. TOMAS You used me so you could try him in that kennel you call court! JUDGE I may be trying him, but by god, you’ve already judged him. In your heart, he’s guilty. A dealer, a crook, a liar, a thief, a traitor, possibly even a killer. But the sin you damn him for is being Mexican. Right, Tommy? We’re a pair, you and me; I loathe your kind ‘cause I love them, and you love them to bury your loathing. TOMAS You’re a sick old man, you can’t see into my soul, my soul is mine, this garbage is my garbage! Keep away from me! JUDGE We’re going to try him by your symbol before a jury of his peers, twelve three-headed versions of you, twelve manifest destinies, and YOU Tomas, my boy my son YOU will be the star witness the informant the good son with the vision here here-- (taking off his coat and rolling back his sleeve) the whole enchilada the grandest proof see see here on my arm I have the Sign too! The gringo has a miracle! (He reveals the heart tattooed on his forearm.) We shall convict him with one corazón beating between us, bu-bum bu-bum bu-bum, El Corazon Americano! (The JUDGE goes. NENA appears.) TOMAS [Peace now. Paz. El Paso. Everything agrees. Everything fails but family. My brother. My heart. Blood woos me to blood and it agrees.] NENA Tommy. TOMAS We’re going to blow the Judge’s brains out. NENA This is due process? I thought only in Colombia they did this. TOMAS Mike wants it. NENA Estamos bien fregados. Bueno pues, when do we bail him out? TOMAS We’re not going for bail. NENA ¿Que que? What do you mean we’re not going for the bail? TOMAS We need the money for the contract. NENA No. No way. No. No, Tomas. Eso no. TOMAS Nena, escuchame-- NENA No! I want Miguel out! I want him out! TOMAS Will you listen to me! Benton’s sending him up whether we get bail or not. I know how you feel, but his is how he wants it. The Judge is a vindictive old crow with a heart full of nails and he has to go. NENA You don’t even know him and already you’re planning to kill him. TOMAS I know him, Nena. Better than I know myself. You have the cash from the Colombian deal? NENA Negro lo tiene. 2 million and a half. TOMAS We don’t tell him anything. This is between you, me, Mike... y una persona mas. (They go. WILLIS in camouflage jacket, peering through binoculars. FELECIA creeps in quietly behind him.) FELECIA Pappy... WILLIS Shhh...Slowly...over there...among the reeds...a tricolored heron...very rare for these parts... FELECIA Where? WILLIS Oh, never mind. You scared it off. What’s up, darlin’? FELECIA Momma said to bring you this. (She gives him a note. He reads it.) WILLIS Well, this is interestin’. FELECIA What’s it say? WILLIS I can’t tell you, Lesha doll. You might be wired. FELECIA You can trust me, Pappy. WILLIS Sure I can, but in your lamblike innocence, you might be picking up everything I say. FELECIA Well, then go ahead if you think I’m bugged. (She stands with her hands raised. WILLIS pauses, then frisks her. He picks all the buttons from her clothes.) Satisfied? WILLIS Your mamma’s not gonna like this one bit. FELECIA She doesn’t have to know, does she? (He slips his hands underneath her clothes and kisses her. They go. FERNIE and PAM in the office with briefs, laptops, etc., as the JUDGE and GONZALEZ enter.) JUDGE What’s wrong, Gomez? Come up against some snags? GONZALEZ No sir. The Defense is in a tailspin. But I need to grant a couple of slimeballs clemency in exchange for their testimony. JUDGE Real dirtbags? GONZALEZ Career scum. JUDGE Permission granted. But bump ‘em outa my state, you understand? Send them to Arkansas. GONZALEZ I’ve also empaneled a Special Grand Jury and I need your sayso to broaden their powers some. JUDGE Meaning? GONZALEZ Wiretap. JUDGE By all mean, Ramirez. GONZALEZ Could you possibly make this ruling retroactive? JUDGE You’re bugging them already? GONZALEZ (producing a recorder) Discreet surveillance. We don’t want to violate attorney-client confidentiality. JUDGE That’s not the way we do things around here. Procedure is respected. GONZALEZ Well, I thought— JUDGE I’m aware of the fact that you’re using me to get your plum assignments. Just use me sparingly. GONZALEZ I’m on your team, sir. (GONZALEZ offers the tape player to the JUDGE, who turns it on. In the office, PAM and FERNIE.) FERNIE Awright. They’re due any minute. Let’s get out those files. PAM Got them. FERNIE Press packets. PAM Check. FERNIE Judge’s profile. PAM Check. FERNIE Trial itinerary. PAM Check. FERNIE Tictacs. PAM Check. FERNIE Gimme some. I got the breath of a truck. GONZALEZ That’s Fernie. The woman works there. FERNIE Okay, Pam, lemme ask you somethin’: how come you’re sticking your honky neck out for us like this? PAM Didn’t you hear what Mike said? Next of kin. FERNIE Awright, fuck what Mike said. Far as I’m concerned, walk out now, you walk out free, no trouble. PAM Are you serious? (He nods. She thinks about it.) No can do, Fernie. I’m like Camacho. You guys are all the family I got left. I’m beginning to feel what you’re fighting for. FERNIE Coraje. Anger. PAM I’m talking about something else. Something deeper. FERNIE That’s the thing about you, Pam. You may be a gringa lesbo with an attitude, but you got huevos. PAM I hear you do too. GONZALEZ This is where it gets interesting. (TOMAS, VICKY and NENA enter.) NENA This better be good, calling a meeting at 10 o’clock at night. TOMAS Fernando, we need to talk about the Arm and Hammer cut. FERNIE Not now. Take a seat. Doin’ okay, babe? VICKY Ran out of gas. You wouldn’t have a gallon around, would you? FERNIE Don’t be so wise, Vicky. VICKY Don’t you ever run out of gas? FERNIE Only thing I run out of is patience. NENA Can we get this going? I left the girls at home by themselves. VICKY Hi, Tommy. Why such a stranger lately? (PAM passes out folders for everyone.) FERNIE We been hashing this out all week and here’s the deal. I drafted a statement for every member of the family to say whenever the stupid press gets in our face. Everybody from the local paper to El Fronterizo to fucking 20/20. PAM We have to watch our backs from now on. The IRS is auditing our books. Files have been confiscated. Bank accounts. Another thing: the phones may be bugged. We can’t talk about this or anything related with dear old Ma Bell. Children included. TOMAS You really want us to say this to the press about him? FERNIE We’re mounting a united front against these assholes. TOMAS Fernie, you’re saying he’s framed Mike for being Mexican. FERNIE He sent a guy up for ten for possessing two lousy joints. Another got seven for having crack pipe. And here’s one got twenty to life for a few lousy marijuana plants in his backyard. Know what they got in common? Marquez, Martinez, Huerta. Sons of Moctezuma. JUDGE Who’s he talking about? GONZALEZ You. FERNIE I’ve researched this racist, and vatos, it’s ugly. Benton has buddies in the Congress, the White House, the Bohemian Grove and the Trilateral Commission. He’s just a little moco in the bigger conspiracy! I’m talking ongoing colonial imperialism for our pinchi souls, man! Drugs are the 21^st Century Conquistadores! Mikey is a victim of the International Narcotics Trade! A huge motherfucking enterprise that can’t be done without The CIA The FBI The DEA The INS. And even the Holy Church, which has realized that the opiate of the masses is OPIUM. This underground network fans out to the Texas Bar Association, the ACLU, IBM, and the Men’s Wearhouse! Everybody is trying to bone us, chavos, like they bone us every time, ‘cause let’s face it, they’re afraid of us, man, we represent an empire! VICKY Don’t you think you’re being a little paranoid, Negro? FERNIE ¡La neta! We gotta get Mike out. That means bail. (FERNIE removes his jewelry and puts it on the table.) TOMAS What the hell is this? FERNIE Everybody. Ante up. All your fucking jewelry on the table. Ahora mismo. Prob’ly enough gold on us to buy a racehorse. VICKY You’ve got to be kidding. FERNIE Uh-uh. Balls to the wall. You too, Pam. PAM Hey, I’m not family. TOMAS Hold it! You’re not gonna raise the cash this way. FERNIE (grabbing VICKY’s car keys and slamming then on the table) Right. Then we put the car up too. VICKY That’s my car! FERNIE It’s out of gas, anyway, right? PAM Why don’t you put up your car? FERNIE Yo, I got an image to uphold. Who’s gonna trust a lawyer in a late model piece of shit? VICKY Depends. Is he in it or under it? TOMAS What about the money from the deal? FERNIE What deal? TOMAS The baking soda deal. There was over 2 mil. Where’s that money? FERNIE We don’t got that money. It’s gone. TOMAS What do you mean, it’s gone? FERNIE Forget it. It’s gone, it’s spent. VICKY You mean, gambled. FERNIE I mean, it’s gone. End of discussion. TOMAS Dammit, Negro, are you saying you blew that money on the tables? FERNIE Lookit. We do the best we can. Vicky and me got this nest-egg, IRAs of 150-160 grand. We’ll put it up on our end, okay? VICKY Those are the savings for our baby. FERNIE What baby? I mean, let’s not kid ourselves, Vicky. NENA Excuse me one fuckin’ minute. What am I here, a smurf? FERNIE No, course not, Nena, you got as much-- NENA I feel like most of these decisions been made by you already. Now, I got great respect for you, cuñado, but his business is-- FERNIE Yes, Nena, I see your point—- NENA I don’t fuckin’ think so. My point is I left my two children in an empty house to sit here and listen to your bullshit and I’m getting way pissed off. Negro, a mi no me vas a maderiar. First of all, Tommy’s right, this statement es pura mierda. It will hurt Miguel, bad. Do not fuck with the Judge. And don’t think I’m gonna give up my jewelrey and my car for some stupid bail, either! You may not have kids, compa, but I do, and I ain’t giving up not a damn thing. Why don’t you try DROPPING THE PINCHI DICE FOR A SECOND AND DOING YOUR JOB! By the way, muñeca, I know you’re only doing your job and Mikey really appreciates you, but you don’t tell me or my girls how to use my phone. I’m not your secretary. FERNIE PAM Hey, you watch how you talk to her! Lady, you don’t pay my salary, remember that! NENA VICKY I’ll talk to her any fucking way I please! Hey! Hey! C’mon! (TOMAS slams his fist down. Everyone falls silent.) TOMAS This is not the Santos family. This is a fucking JOKE. Who can blame the Feds for circling over us? Nena, go see to your girls. Negro, do us a favor, get off Benton’s case and get on my brother’s. Everyone stands by the tribe. ¿Estan de acuerdo? (NENA goes.) VICKY I’ll catch a ride with her since I no longer have a car. Oh. Here’s something else for your defense fund. (VICKY puts her wedding ring in the pile and goes.) If you knew how badly we needed that money. (TOMAS leaves. FERNIE and PAM remain still.) JUDGE (snapping the recorder shut) Those high-talking Santos bastards, goddamn wetback crud, where do they get off calling me racist! I been on that docket longer than Jesus Christ, an’ no-one’s been as fair! I’ve redrawn district lines all over this state to make voting blocs equal! I’ve made appointments! Black, Women, Jews, Spanish! Racist! By god! GONZALEZ When this investigation is through, we’ll have something on everyone, including Tomas. JUDGE No. I don’t want him touched. The others are yours for the taking, but Tommy Santos you leave alone. You understand? GONZALEZ If that’s the way you really want it-- JUDGE That’s the way I want it. (They go. FERNIE and PAM finally stir.) PAM Not so good, huh? FERNIE My own brother. PAM These are tense times, Fern. FERNIE Fuck. PAM Don’t worry. FERNIE I worry. PAM You’re still the man. FERNIE Fuck. PAM Going home? FERNIE To what? PAM Vicky. FERNIE Shit. I don’t know what’s come over her. I usta touch her and burn my hand on her hood. But the last time I had her in bed, I saw the damage of indifference in her face and it sent chills down my ass. PAM Then lemme buy you a drink. FERNIE Uh-uh. I ain’t goin’ in no dyke bar. PAM Fernie, I ain’t no dyke. FERNIE Wait a minute. Wait a minute. You’re a dyke. You said-- PAM I said I didn’t care for little boys. FERNIE Whoa! I don’t believe it! You psyched me! You actually psyched me! You are not a dyke! PAM Are we going for that drink or what? (Crossfade to MIKE and NENA.) NENA Oye, Viejo. Sleeping any better? MIKE The tears...have grown over my eyes... NENA Miguel-- MIKE My girls’ names...I can’t remember their names... NENA Tomas took money from the scholarship fund for this desmadre. Is this how you want things to be? MIKE Things are, Nena. You grow up, you marry, you raise kids, you light a match, you burn a man. NENA The other day, waiting for the elevator in the courthouse, Gonzalez came up to me. (GONZALEZ enters and stands by her.) GONZALEZ Sra. Santos. NENA Don’t talk to me. I don’t got my lawyer. GONZALEZ I just want to say that I tried to turn down the assignment when it was presented to me. This shouldn’t happen between Latinos. NENA Senor, I come from La Colonia, the poorest barrio in Juarez. The streets ain’t paved, there’s no luz, no gas, no running water. When I got married, I got me a big fuckin’ car and a house and two wonderful girls. The local chicks look down their nose at me, but I could give a shit. I take a bath in real porcelain, my floors got real marble, my girls speak perfect English. I’m a pinchi American now. No fuckin’ lawyer’s taking that away from me. GONZALEZ This one’s going down. I’m going up. (GONZALEZ leaves. NENA turns to MIKE.) NENA It’s going to be a boy. We’re having a son. (NENA turns. PEGGY and TOMAS are waiting. TOMAS carries a small bag.) PEGGY I need to see your purse. NENA What for? PEGGY Procedures. (NENA gives her the purse. PEGGY searches it.) NENA It sure is hot. PEGGY Sure is. NENA Do you have any, like, iced tea? PEGGY Uh-uh. (tossing the purse back.) We don’t got crumpets neither. (WILLIS enters.) WILLIS Ma’am. (to PEGGY) Handbag? (PEGGY nods.) Folks, I’m not one for small talk. Can we cut to the main artery? NENA Senor, my husband would like you to do for him a job. WILLIS You want the Honorable William L. Benton whacked. That it? NENA Humanely if possible. WILLIS He’s Federal, you know. NENA My husband wants it done. WILLIS Sure he does. NENA He said you would do him any favor. WILLIS That’s what I said. PEGGY A favor is one thing, missy: this is something else. This is a judge. My honey just spent ten years in the pen. You want to send him to the chair too? NENA I was talking to Mr. Willis. PEGGY Well you’re talking to me now. I watch out for my man, you see. I’m not like some people who let their good men stew in prison. You take your offer elsewhere. NENA We can pay. PEGGY Don’t do it, Casper. WILLIS Kid, what’s your opinion on the matter? TOMAS I’m with her. I don’t think you should do it either. NENA Shut your mouth, Tommy. WILLIS Why not? TOMAS It’s too hard. You’d never get close enough to do it, and if you did, you wouldn’t get away with it. You’d blow it for all of us. WILLIS You don’t know much about me, do you? TOMAS I know you did time, which means you were stupid enough to get caught somewhere along the line. Once you fuck up, you fuck up again, and then again, until it becomes part of your P.O. This job can’t be done unless it’s done right. You may have been the man for a poor defenseless fuck like Camacho, but you’re not the gun for this job. WILLIS Maybe nobody is. TOMAS Then I’ll do it myself. I’ll whip up the meanest combination dish and force-feed it to him till he croaks of Montezuma’s Revenge. (WILLIS gets up and crosses to TOMAS. Glares at him.) WILLIS Consider him whacked. TOMAS Commission. WILLIS Hundred grand. Up front. TOMAS (tossing him a bag of cash) Ten up front. The rest after. WILLIS (tossing the bag to PEGGY) I don’t work that way. TOMAS Make this an exception. (WILLIS considers this as PEGGY counts the cash.) WILLIS I choose the date, location, and method. TOMAS Just keep us apprized. WILLIS I want a guarantee of secrecy. TOMAS Granted. WILLIS I’ll need his address, color and make of car, recent photos of him and family members. TOMAS No problem. WILLIS A schedule of his daily and weekly routine, caseload, lunch breaks, appointments, and so forth. TOMAS You’ll have it next week. WILLIS No backing out after today. TOMAS It goes both ways. WILLIS And I deal with one person only and only one. TOMAS You deal with me. PEGGY It’s all here. 10 thou. WILLIS Mrs. Santos, you can tell your husband to ease his soul. NENA He goes to trial April 6. (Everyone leaves but TOMAS.) TOMAS [Pay money and someone dies. Respect. Power. I am the FBI, CIA, all the governments, their armed forces, Wall Street, the Mob, the High Court, and the Holy Ghost of the Mother Church. I am power. Money is justice. Good money is death.] (TOMAS goes. VICKY packs an open suitcase. NENA stands over her.) VICKY Make it fast, Nena. I’m busy. NENA Where are you going? VICKY Mexico. What is it? NENA (holding out VICKY’S ring) You left this at the office. VICKY I don’t want it. NENA Here. VICKY No keep it. NENA It’s yours, Victoria. VICKY [Mine whats mine whats the point theres no future no mañana everything comes hasta mañana as if mañana could make everything right] NENA He’s an asshole, but he’s your husband. VICKY [No mañana no baby no baby room no hope so what? Hope is a chain hope is our sickness our hell] NENA You made your vows to him. VICKY I said no! Listen to me, Nena! I’ve had it with Santos & Santos! I’m sick of the store, the furniture, the house, I’m through with this shit. NENA You got to see past this, see your way through to the things that make life good. VICKY What? BMWs? Wide-screen TVs? Designer shoes? NENA What’s wrong with that? Back where I come from, we didn’t even have shoes. Now I got thirty pairs. VICKY So do I, Nena. They just don’t mean as much to me. NENA They would, if you had children.-- VICKY I knew you were going to say that. NENA It’s the truth. Once my babies came, everything changed. I gegan to care for the quality of things, to want the best for-- VICKY Don’t lecture me about your kids. I know what you’re bringing them up to be. Good for you, Nena, just make sure they don’t find out their mommy’s Juarez trash. NENA ¿Y tu? ¿Que eres tu? A born stuck-up bitch with only a birthright to be proud of. American chick. Big Deal. You’re not whiter than I am. You just act like it. Too good for the things that dazzle us. Go to Mexico, see how they treat you there. You think I got it bad here, there you’re worse than a pinchi gringa. Lookit you now. Lookit you. VICKY What happened to me? I was something. I was like PROMISED this great life. I thought I could ride high on the Santos name. I thought oh god I was something NENA Ay, mijita. Better get your ass clean right away and hold on to this. (placing the ring in her hand) Our kids deserve a chance to fuck up their lives, too, don’t they? (NENA goes. TOMAS has been watching as she stand over her open suitcase.) VICKY [Hope is our only possible hell] TOMAS Hi. VICKY I must have left ten messages on your machine. TOMAS Sorry. I was out of town. Vicky, I need some money. VICKY Why ask me? Negro’s the one with the cash. TOMAS The furniture store’s in your name. You could go to the bank and borrow against the store. I need at least 90,000. VICKY ¿Para que? Are you in trouble? (No response.) That’s your father’s store. His soul is in it. TOMAS You don’t have to tell me that. VICKY What’s happening to you? Why are you keeping yourself from me? TOMAS Vicky, don’t ask me any questions. Just I need the money. VICKY Look at us, Tommy. A couple of scarecrows with all our needs coming out at the seams. Is this what we wanted to be? TOMAS Your phone’s ringing. (FERNIE, naked, draped in a bedsheet. Music.) FERNIE Yo, Vick. VICKY Where are you calling me from? FERNIE The office. I’m gonna be home late. Don’t wait up for me. VICKY What’s that I hear in the background? FERNIE Fax machine. It’s acting up. Love you. Gotta go. VICKY Fernando, I got Tommy over here right now and he wants me to-- FERNIE Great. Why don’t you two rent a movie? I gotta go. (FERNIE begins a long slow march off.) FERNIE Get your ass ready. Your body’s about to know Raza. It’s about to drink gold. You gonna plumb the depth of my race and suck the long dick of history. Fuse yourself to the glories of Aztlan. The million gods of invasion are gonna swarm on you and turn your flesh to fire! And remember, tonight, baby, your name is Victoria! (He goes.) VICKY How much do you need? TOMAS 90 K. VICKY Are we gonna see any of it back? (TOMAS looks away.) What do I care? It’s not my business. I’ll get it. But don’t leave me alone tonight, Tommy. This night the thing I need most is you. TOMAS You’re my brother’s wife, remember? (VICKY slams the suitcase shut and stands apart as WILLIS, MIKE, PEGGY, FELECIA, GONZALEZ, and the JUDGE enter. MIKE stands with a deck of bingo cards. During the following sequence, PEGGY and FELECIA provide props for the JUDGE as WILLIS observes the action with stopwatch and binoculars. The JUDGE walks to the designated areas to indicate movement within time and space.) WILLIS This is the Day of Whack. TOMAS Phase one. PEGGY The Judge wakes at 6:00 every morning. JUDGE But today, a vivid dream stirs me at 5:57. TOMAS The exact time I open my eyes. PEGGY He gets up, fetches the paper from the slot in his door. FELECIA He showers, dresses, makes breakfast for him and his biddy. JUDGE I read my daily passage from the Book of Psalms. TOMAS I read mine from the Judges. WILLIS And he goes to his car. He uses an automatic garage door opener. JUDGE I drive in silence, the faint remembrance of the dream filtering through my mind. TOMAS As he drives south, I drive north to Vicky’s house for the money. MIKE In the jail, Camacho and me wager for our souls in a game of Loteria. GONZALEZ I prepare the opening statement for the trial. TOMAS Phase two. PEGGY He goes down Broadway and arrives at the parking garage downtown at 7:45. FELECIA And he ain’t wearing no bulletproof vest. JUDGE On this day a comely young creature is bending over the open hood of her car. The security officers are helping her out. VICKY I bring the money in my suitcase and we count it. PEGGY He parks in his assigned space and goes through an underway to the Federal Courthouse. FELECIA While the cop is with me, Pappy slips inside and goes to his car. WILLIS I quietly break in and take the batteries from the garage door opener. Then I replace it, lock the car, and stroll away. MIKE LA CORONA. PEGGY His first case is at 8:00. He comes five minutes early every day, barring weekends and holidays. WILLIS He sees both misdemeanor and felony cases all morning long. JUDGE There is a faint ringing in my ears during some hearings. TOMAS It’s the breach. I hear it again getting louder. GONZALEZ I am going to win this case. MIKE EL CATRIN. TOMAS Phase three. FELECIA At 9:32 I fly out to Midland where I check into a Best Western. WILLIS (as PEGGY enters with a rifle and ammo) And I prepare the hardware Peg bought me three weeks before. PEGGY This here’s a Mauser 98 Bolt-action Rifle. Mostly used for deer, this baby has a sweet-as-pie adjustable trigger. It’s real light, real smooth, and real strong. It’s chambered for the 7mmm Magnum cartridge, and I bought me the 100 grain hollow-point. I also picked out a top-of-the-line Leupold 10x Silver scope. With these crosshairs you can shoot the head off a sparrow at 300 yards. WILLIS Peg, you know I would never do that. Birds are sacred. PEGGY You know what name I bought it under? Ida B. Lyon. WILLIS Damn, I dunno which I like better: my guns or my women. (NENA comes on to take the suitcase from VICKY.) TOMAS Phase four. When we are done counting, Nena comes over and takes the load. NENA Me pongo mis sunglasses and catch me a plane to Midland. MIKE EL PAJARO. GONZALEZ I am going to bring down Santos & Santos. FELECIA I lie in bed in my panties eatin’ fajita-pitas and watchin’ HBO. PEGGY At 11:30 he breaks for lunch to Joseph’s Deli, usually in the company of other jurists or big-time city politicos. JUDGE I take a chance on the combination Mexican plate. WILLIS He has two cocktails with lunch and tips like a woman. PEGGY He goes back at 1:00 and resumes his hearing and the like, until 3:00, which is when he’s done for the day. JUDGE This dream is nagging me on the way to my car. It has bedeviled my whole day. TOMAS Phase Five. Vicky closes the store early and joins me at her house. MIKE LA MANO. GONZALEZ The only way now is up. I’m going to score. WILLIS He drives back Alamo Heights way to the Country Club, where he’s a standing member, and suits out for a game of tennis. PEGGY He plays hard with any one of a small circle of geezers with overdeveloped calves. Judge definitely likes to win. JUDGE But this day I lose when a face from the dream seizes me for a flash and makes me miss the ball. My insides are burning. TOMAS Phase six. FELECIA At 4:00 I get a call. Then a knock at 4:05. NENA (with the suitcase) Where’s your father? FELECIA Out. NENA I’m supposed to leave this with you? FELECIA That’s my understanding. NENA The key’s inside. FELECIA How’m I supposed to open it? NENA You’re not. (NENA drops the suitcase. FELECIA takes it.) PEGGY I get a call shortly thereafter. TOMAS Phase Seven. WILLIS At 5:30 he showers and phones his wife from the lobby. PEGGY By 5:50 he’s headed home. Takes a left out of the driveway, goes right, then right again, then left, then straight, then left. TOMAS In the evening with all the lights in the house out, we sit in front of a TV neither of us have the nerve to turn on. MIKE EL DIABLITO. WILLIS He pulls into his garage at 6:00 on the nose. A creature of meticulous habit. JUDGE The garage won’t open. Push the pad again and wait. TOMAS We wait. PEGGY The second he pushes the garage door opener, I’m packing our stuff into the car. FELECIA I’m over Ft. Worth on Southwest Fl. 401. WILLIS I’m on the roof of the Victory Arms Apartment Complex aiming the Model 98 Mauser rifle with the high power telescopic sight across eight clean manicured suburban lawns. JUDGE The garage won’t open. Then in a great fit of gas, it occurs to me. The entire dream. WILLIS He gets out of his car. An abstract look on his face that I really hate to mess up. PEGGY/FELECIA He walks to his front door. GONZALEZ Then I hear it on the news. MIKE/NENA/VICKY EL CORAZON. TOMAS Now. JUDGE The dream. The middle of this narrow street, cobbled with greasy stones that shine like exposed ulcers in the green light of the streetlamp. Overhead the night opens its mouth to me with a sound like steam. Old crumbling buildings with the shutters drawn. No one out. One doorway has a sheet draped over it. I peer inside. There, on a stinking mattress, lit by a candle, Paloma. Her knees drawn up to her chin, her black hair falling over her face. She’s young all over again. With a look, she draws me to her and we are in each others’ arms, kissing and groping under worn sheets. I am aware only of her muffled cries, but when I finally come, I feel something like a single burning heartbeat shoot through my spine, shoot, shoot right through, and it comes out the small of my back and I am suspended in air. Then I look up beside me, and standing over me, I see him. I see him with the eyes of judgment pressing into me. TOMAS What time is it? VICKY I don’t know. TOMAS Don’t turn the light on. VICKY What’s happened? FELECIA The phone rings. TOMAS Final phase. Yes. WILLIS To-weee. To-weee. TOMAS Is it done? WILLIS I rang his bell. Once for you. (WILLIS fires his rifle. A tremendous crack. The JUDGE falls to the floor with a cry.) And once for me. (He fires again. The JUDGE groans and is still.) It was a pleasure to serve you. MIKE La muerte. (Everyone goes, but VICKY, TOMAS, and the JUDGE.) VICKY Who was it? TOMAS Judge Benton is dead. VICKY Is this...what I paid for? (He starts to take his clothes off.) TOMAS These are the wages of brotherhood. VICKY Tommy....have you....murdered this man? TOMAS (moving toward her half-undressed) These are the wounds that bind us. VICKY TOMMY! TOMAS Our blood is now blood of the house. VICKY WHAT DID YOU MAKE ME DO! DEAR GOD IN HEAVEN! TOMAS (taking her in his arms) Now we are fully made. Familia, Santos. (BLACK OUT. She cries in the darkness. End of Act 2.) SANTOS & SANTOS Act 3. (GONZALEZ at the press conference. Flashing bulbs of cameras.) GONZALEZ This is a grievous day. The brutal slaying of this fair-minded man who devoted his life to the Texas Court, cut down like a dog in his own front yard, is a crime which deepens our shame. But mark my words: from this shame I draw fire. I will not rest until the person or persons responsible for this outrage are apprehended, tried, and convicted. (He steps glumly out of the light, pauses, then unleashes a grito of jubilation.) AAAAAAAAAAA-HOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO-AAAAAAAAAAAA! (NENA, more visible pregnant, enters.) NENA What are you so happy about? GONZALEZ If you had anything to do with this killing, lady, God bless you. Your family has just clinched my fame! NENA What are you talking about? The Judge is dead. GONZALEZ Between us, senora, I hated the man. Crusty old fart was a bully, a bigot, and he never remembered my name. But now, without lifting a finger, I’ve moved from a routine narcotics probe to the crime of the decade. That’s what I call upward mobility! NENA You talk like you’re the one who shot the Judge. GONZALEZ (producing a set of tapes) Not me, senora, but as Benton’s grieving avenger, I should warn you: one word of murder in these Santos sessions, and I’m gonna try you, dry you, and fry you till you’re black as beans. God, I love this country! (He goes. NENA turns to the table where MIKE, haggard and weak, waits.) NENA To hell with him and his stupid tapes. The new judge has a lenient face. Tommy ain’t been seen much. Vicky’s the last one he talked to. Que bueno que hicieron postpone el trial. Fernie needs the time. Viejo, remember that whole mess of cash from Santos Furniture we used? We couldn’t pay it back. The bank took over the business. After thirty years in this dumb town. When Fernando found out about it, he hit the roof. And then the pendejo hit his wife. (FERNIE drags VICKY in, her face swollen and bleeding.) FERNIE What the fuck were you thinking? That store’s been in our family for years! VICKY Let me go! FERNIE We entrusted you with that business. My old man signed it over to you. How could you do this? What did you do with the money? VICKY I gave it away to charity, just like you big boys. FERNIE Don’t fuck with me Vicky! I’ll knock you teeth across the room! VICKY All right! All right! Let me go. FERNIE Orale. Level with me. Where’s the money? VICKY In the judge. FERNIE Say what? VICKY Half went through his heart. The other half through his spinal column. NENA She told him everything, but it didn’t do her no good. (FERNIE drags her out as she screams for help.) He beat the hell out of her, Viejo. The thing was she was pregnant, and she lost the baby. Your brother he killed his own kid. Lastima. That woman used to be the pride of the Lower Valley. Otherwise, things are back to normal. I bought the girls some new clothes for school and the baby’s almost done. (MIKE nods slowly and rises.) MIKE Nena, all these months in this shithole have made me see things clearly. You know what we need to do as a raza? We need to learn to ski. That’s right. And play a lotta polo! We gotta drink bottled water and eat bland foods. Fuck, we gotta learn to speak English. NENA We do. MIKE Yeah, but not as good as the Muppets. We gotta think different, we gotta think mini-series! I see it so clearly. Jail is just the thing we Mexicans need! (MIGUEL charges off. NENA crosses herself as VICKY enters shaking with rage. FERNIE enters separately.) FERNIE Vicky. I know what’s what. VICKY What are you talking about? FERNIE That kid wasn’t mine. We haven’t slept together in months. VICKY What do you want, a prize? FERNIE Whose was it? VICKY Get off my case, Negro. You never told me about your little flings! FERNIE Whose kid was it! VICKY First you tell me who you’ve been seeing on the side. FERNIE Are you listening to that talk again? Who’s been feeding you this line? (PAM emerges from the other side.) PAM Me. FERNIE You told her? PAM What was I supposed to do? She looked at me with those swollen eyes and asked for the truth. I told her the truth. VICKY Everything. FERNIE Orale, Vicky, this ain’t so bad. We’ll see a counselor. VICKY You see a counselor. I’m seeing a lawyer. PAM Man who does that to his wife, I want no part of. FERNIE Shut up! You’re fired! PAM (throwing her balled up resignation in his face) Too late! I’m gone! Write your own memos, counselor. (Pam goes. TOMAS enters and watches.) VICKY Get out of my house. FERNIE Orale, Vicky-- VICKY GET OUT OF MY HOUSE! (FERNIE goes. VICKY sits and holds herself steady.) TOMAS [mi carnal. the aztec god of bullshit. four hundred years of degenerate blood. his own kid on the altar. offered up to America. the miscarriage of justice.] VICKY About time you showed up. Where have you been hiding? You missed the show. TOMAS There were some things I had to clear up. VICKY Do you know about my miscarriage? TOMAS Yes, I was— god, what did he do to you? VICKY Don’t, Tommy. Please don’t look at me like that. It doesn’t help. TOMAS Shithead. VICKY Quit it, Tommy. I’m over it. TOMAS How could he do this to you! VICKY I’m leaving him. TOMAS Where are you going? VICKY Away from here. I don’t have to live in a house of someone else’s effects. I want my own furniture. As far as I’m concerned, this is the year one and you are all gone. TOMAS You can’t leave now, Vick. VICKY Just watch me. TOMAS What about the family? VICKY You’re the family now. You’ve taken the Santos name to new lows. TOMAS What about us? We started something. You walk out on me and everything blacks out. VICKY At one point...in the kitchen...I was curled up against the trash compactor as Negro kecked the shit out of me...and I started to black out. My body started to fill with this thick liquid and a calm that I have never felt before swept me out of my pain. With all my being I invited death. I wanted to close my eyes and die. I wanted not to be this woman, this hurt not to hurt, and my blood not to bleed on the linoleum. But then this scream rose from my womb and tore through my lungs. (in the faintest whisper) tommy Negro just looked at me. Couldn’t do nothing else but look. TOMAS You leave him to me. I’ll fix him. VICKY I wouldn’t blame Fernie too much. It wasn’t his baby. It was yours. (The JUDGE enters.) TOMAS Mine? JUDGE Your son. Flesh of your flesh. VICKY You got death on you like a frost, Tommy. JUDGE Corpus delicti. VICKY So long. I don’t want any of your glorious Santos fucks coming near me ever again. (She goes.) TOMAS [My son. JUDGE Conceived on the day of my slaughter. TOMAS No. It couldn’t be mine. I wouldn’t let my baby...I would have taken care--. JUDGE Denial. Trait of a nation with its roots in treason. Michael screws his community, you screw him, he screws the biker, and you screw the whole kitnkaboodle. Cycles of betrayal. TOMAS Right after the shooting, I went across the border to J-town. La Mariscal. I drowned myself in whores and tequila in celebration of your death. On my last night, they brought in the dregs. A withered stalked of an old whore, with painted eyes and the yellow teeth of a monkey. Dressed in the tattered bathrobe of an old john. She told me her name in this cigarette voice as she slipped her bones over my leg. That’s when I knew. This was your symbol, the one you cherished. Your Paloma. JUDGE My symbol never ages. She just moves on to the next one. From my arm... (showing him his forearm, where the tattoo has disappeared) ...to yours. (TOMAS rolls back his sleeve, discovering the tattoo of the bleeding heart on his arm. The JUDGE goes.) TOMAS Branded on my forever the sign of Mexican descent the heart taken from its vault sense severed from sense la vida worth a few centavos forever on me now. (WILLIS enters, gazing at the ski. The sound of surf.) WILLIS I like coming to the beach. There’s a great variety of sea birds along the Gulf coast. Gulls, terns, bitterns, sandpipers. They know where the feeding is...Where you get the tattoo, kid? TOMAS In Juarez. Do you have it? WILLIS (producing a small paper bag) Indeed I do. You ever pop one of these? TOMAS No. WILLIS Basic handgun. Won’t go off unless you fire it. You sure this ain’t a job for me? TOMAS (taking the gun our of the bag) No. This is an affair I take care of myself. WILLIS (as he hands him the ammo) I’m entitled to know who you’re whackin’, kid. TOMAS (loading the gun) It’s a family matter. WILLIS You ever done one, Tomboy? It’s a high. Very few vocations confront you with the Great Void, if you see my meaning. For a second, you’re right on the cusp of a great tension between the powers of life and death. You can almost see the bare tissue stretchin’ in the air before you, like a muscle. And then bam, it’s over. TOMAS I know what it’s like. WILLIS You only think you do. TOMAS (aiming the gun squarely at him.) Okay, wiseass, tell us about dying. Or don’t you know what this end of the gun is like? WILLIS Hey now. (TOMAS produces from his packets CAMACHO’s teeth.) TOMAS Open wide. AAAAAAHHH! (WILLIS opens wide. TOMAS crams the teeth in his mouth. WILLIS gurgles.) Remember these? They’re Camacho’s. The teeth of a man with no cause to die. (WILLIS gags and spits them out.) TOMAS You may pull the trigger, Casper, but I will it. I live it down. That’s the power a cheap gun-for-hire like you will never understand. I assume responsibility. I assume the guilt. There’s power in that. WILLIS I reckon there is. (TOMAS turns away. The hammering sound.) TOMAS Hear it? The breach. I got the doom beating on me like a drum. Bu-bum bu-bum bu-bum. WILLIS Bottle it up, boy. You don’t want to vent that. I suggest you get yourself a hobby. Like rare coins, or fossils. Or birds. (TOMAS goes. WILLIS dusts himself off and turns to PEGGY and FELECIA reveling over the open suitcase overflowing with dollar bills.) FELECIA WOOOOOeeee! Money money money money money! PEGGY It sure is pretty, Casper. WILLIS Reap and ye shall sow, saith the lord. FELECIA Does this mean we can get cable? WILLIS Sure does, baby. (to PEGGY) What’d you do with the rifle? PEGGY It’s gatherin’ fish shit in Lake Ray Hubbard. FELECIA Can I have my cut in hundred dollar bill denominations, Pappy? WILLIS Not just yet. We’re stashin’ it away for the time bein’. Peg, you put this in our shed. I’m drivin’ to Lubbock and El Paso to invest the rest. Send a check to the Audubon Society while you’re at it. FELECIA Bye, Pappy. Give me a kissy-hug. (He drops a handful of bills down her shorts and goes.) Lookit what he gave me! Five hundred smackers! PEGGY Give it here. FELECIA Uh-u! These are mine. PEGGY Felecia Lee, you’re not spendin’ any of it till things settle down. Now, you let me put that-- FELECIA NO! I’m goin’ to Neiman’s and buyin’ me a new dress and some new flats with this. PEGGY You’re doin’ no such a thing. Give it! FELECIA What, and let you blow it on another bad hairdo? No way Jose. PEGGY Four your information, that’s part of our vacation fund. We’re going on a Caribbean cruise. FELECIA I don’t want to go on no cruise. PEGGY Who said you were? You’re going to school, missy, and learning you some manners. Casper and me are going by ourselves. FELECIA Fat chance. Pappy’s not going anywhere without me. PEGGY What makes you say that? FELECIA He’s just not, least of all on some boring old boat with you. PEGGY You have got a liberal mouth on you, girl. FELECIA He loves me in a deep and everlastin’ way. PEGGY Pipe dreams. FELECIA Ain’t no pipe dream he’s pokin’ me with, Momma. PEGGY Come again? FELECIA You might as well know. We’re in love. PEGGY What the hell are you saying? FELECIA We’re lovers. Been so for six months now. PEGGY You’re lying. FELECIA We done it every time you been out. He even told me, the best part about being with you was being with me. We’re lovers. You got no choice in the matter. PEGGY I reckon I don’t. (Pause. Then PEGGY calmly rises and goes to the phone.) Hello, FBI, please. FELECIA What are you doing! PEGGY An extension will do, thank you. FELECIA (rushing up and snatching the phone from her) Stop it! Hang up! PEGGY I want to report-- FELECIA Momma! No! No! Hang up! Hang it! PEGGY Hold on. There seems to be some interference... (They fight for the phone. PEGGY finally slaps FELECIA down. She retrieves the receiver as FELECIA cries.) Now. Let’s have us a little talk about this judge. (GONZALEZ marches in as PEGGY drags FELECIA off. He stands with the tape recorder. The following sequence represents taped telephone exchanges involving TOMAS, VICKY, NENA, FERNIE, and WILLIS. They speak in rapid agitated tones.) VICKY Answer the phone, dammit. Answer the phone. Answer it. NENA Diga. VICKY Nena! NENA What? VICKY You alone? NENA Yeah. VICKY Nena, the Feds know. NENA Fuck. VICKY You gotta split to Mexico, man. Go. NENA I’ll deal with it. VICKY Go! Get your kids and your ass to J-town, NOW! NENA I’m not going. I’m not going back to Mexico. I’m not a Mexican! VICKY Nena! TOMAS Vicky! VICKY What! TOMAS I just got the word that-- VICKY I know already! I know! TOMAS Deny everything! Deny it! VICKY What are you gonna do! TOMAS Later! Call nena! VICKY I did already! TOMAS Call Fernie. FERNIE Vicky! VICKY That’s him on the other line! TOMAS Bye! VICKY Fernie, it’s me. FERNIE Malas noticias, Vick. VICKY I know, I know. FERNIE Shit meets fan. Fan turns. Shit flies. End of story. VICKY What are we gonna do? FERNIE Honey, your problem. I didn’t have squat to do with this. VICKY Then clear off the line. Nena! NENA No. I’m not going anywhere. VICKY There isn’t time to argue, Nena! NENA Someone’s on the other line. TOMAS Nena! NENA Olvidalo, Tomas. I’m staying right here with Michael. TOMAS Hold on, I got another call. WILLIS We’re in trouble, kid. TOMAS Your wife is a rat, Casper. Where are you? WILLIS Not staying. I recommend the open road. TOMAS I don’t know you. WILLIS I don’t know you. TOMAS Get off the line! Nena! GONZALEZ Hello, Tommy. (A pause. TOMAS is distressed at this new voice.) Hello. (TOMAS slowly backs away.) NENA Tomas, answer the phone. FERNIE De volada, bro. Answer. NENA I know you’re there, Tomas. VICKY Answer, dammit. Answer the phone. (All disperse except NENA who turns on a vacuum cleaner and VICKY who goes to MIKE, CAMACHO standing by him. They sit still a moment. The vac goes off.) VICKY (NENA looks down at the vac in It was awful, Mike. Bewilderment. She was cleaning ‘cause the (She flips the switch to make Maid had quit a week before. it come on again, to no avail.) That’s when they came for her. There were cops everywhere, all (She turns around to see Gonzalez walking in.) Over the house, but it was GONZALEZ who came in to serve her. (GONZALEZ produces a document which he hands to her.) That Willis woman fingered (NENA scans the document in her along with Tommy. Silence.) VICKY GONZALEZ All he said was… I thought you should know. I come from La Colonia too. and touched her elbow, when she cut loose. (With a cry, she raises the stem of the vacuum cleaner over her head and swings it at him, striking him hard. She struggles to get away, but he chases after her, grabbing her by the legs. She collapses, kicking and swinging her fists at him.) But then something happened. (NENA hunches over in great pain as GONZALEZ holds her down.) VICKY It took hours, a shitload of doctors, and a rosario at Nena’s house, but it came through fine. The baby came through fine. MIKE This is our ascension! (standing) To be born at the precious moment of his mother’s arrest! The child is vindication! (going to NENA and GONZALEZ who are still on the floor) WATCH THIS BABY! THIS BABY MUST BE NURSED ON PURE HOMOGENOUS MILK! NO CHILE, NO PAN DULCE, NOT A SINGLE PINTO BEAN! IF HE IS TO BE A TRUE AMERICAN HE MUST LIVE, HE MUST CATCH THE DISCO FEVER, HE MUST SET HIS BROS AFIRE! (He reaches in his pocket and produces a match.) I’ll light a vela for him. (He charges off.) VICKY Yeah. Nena’s okay, too. (TOMAS enters carrying the painting of Zapata, as VICKY, NENA and GONZALEZ recede.) TOMAS [tomas santos, revised bilingual edition. first generation. born in el piso del norte. ex-tex-mex (Placing it on the table, he scrapes off the cocaine with a letter opener and rubs it against his gums. DON MIGUEL appears.) DON MIGUEL Tomas Tomas Tomas. Finally my youngest leaves for his American life. TOMAS Papa, I don’t know what to do. Everything leads to death. DON MIGUEL I finished just in time for you to see. This one I made special just for me. See how Concordia erupts from the wood? TOMAS Tenemos nada. This world is nothing. People are as thin as lies. DON MIGUEL Before you go, hazme un favor, mijo. The only thing I ask of you. TOMAS Anything. DON MIGUEL Promise to betray me. When the time comes, promise to turn against your father. It is what anyone who wants to succeed in this land must do. I did it to mis padres and your children will do it to you. But in the end, remember this. You are the first law. TOMAS The first law. DON MIGUEL Mira, my finest piece. I’ll be buried in it like a king. FERNIE (off) TOMMY! YO! DON MIGUEL (as he fades) Dios te bendiga, hijo mio.] (FERNIE enters.) FERNIE Where the hell you been, man? Everybody’s been lookin’ for you. TOMAS I know. FERNIE What are you doin’ here? TOMAS Look, Negro. The whole place dusted for prints and they missed Zapata. FERNIE C’mon, bro. Let me get you out of here. TOMAS Did they get the others? FERNIE All except you. TOMAS Even ol’ Casper? FERNIE Hell yeah. He was easy. (WILLIS staggers in, shirtless and in shorts, carrying a gym bag and a loaded gun.) He was goin’ 90 on Interstate 10 in his T-bird with a shitload of cash and cocaine. Vato estaba todo paranoid. WILLIS How could I not be paranoid? My own women betrayed me. They revealed me to the Law and brought ruin on my head. FERNIE He was so coked up that when his muffler started backfiring, he thought the Feds had put a tracer on him. WILLIS They bugged my car! I had no choice but to pull over in the middle of the desert and get out my gun and stand over my T. I said Kyrie Eleison over the shiny red hood and Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! I sent the ol’ girl on like a lame horse. FERNIE He ruined a perfect good car. WILLIS I wiped a dusty tear, reloaded my gun and then my nose, and started walking east on I-One-Oh. TOMAS What a maniac. FERNIE He’s waving a gun in hundred degree heat in the middle of Bumfuck, Texas, trying to flag down passing cars, when who comes along? WILLIS The posse! FERNIE El Highway patrol. Soon four cars are circled around this gringo lunatic with a gun and a gym bag full of cash. TOMAS So what did they do? WILLIS (putting the gun under his chin) Don’t come any closer! I’ll put a blowhole through my head! No-one’s taking me alive! FERNIE Fool started ranting all sortsa shit. WILLIS On behalf of my avian brothers, I bequeath my body to the open air where the birds may pick my bones clean! I shall be part and parcel of the fowls above! Kreee! Kreee! TOMAS I don’t believe it. FERNIE Bull all of five minutes later--. WILLIS (throwing his hands up) Aw, forget this. It’s just too damn hot. Any y’all gotta Big Red? TOMAS Did he confess? FERNIE Oh yeah. WILLIS Hey now, I never touched the judge, but I confess unto God, I’m the Grassy Knoll. I popped Jack Kennedy. I popped Marilyn too. And JR Ewing too! Pit-a-zee! Pit-a-zee! (He exits.) FERNIE You’re the only one left. You been bad, ese. The community is like major disappointed in you. TOMAS I bet they are. FERNIE What the hell are you doing here? TOMAS I’m mourning the death of my child. FERNIE Say what? TOMAS The breach has rattled its little bones to mush. And I come to mourn. (They gaze at each other. Crossfade to GONZALEZ in full light. Press conference.) GONZALEZ In the spiraling events since the tragic slaying of Judge Benton, our office -in conjunction with the FBI- has spent millions on dollars and thousands of man-hours conducting its most thorough probe in history. I’m announcing today the arrest of several suspects allegedly involved in the assassination. These include: (formally parading his suspects) Casper Thomas Willis, professional hitman (WILLIS trots by waving his handcuffs to the cameras.) His wife Peggy Tomlinson (PEGGY rushes past with her face hidden.) Her daughter who is a minor. (FELECIA, distraught and weeping, goes by.) Michael Santos who is in custody and awaiting trial on drug racketeering charges. MIKE ¡Mexicanos! ¡Pochos! Hear what I say! Give up your Virgen, go Scientology and listen to the Beach Boys! Dye your hair blond and sin no more! ¡DISNEYLANDIA! GONZALEZ His wife Magdalena Ruiz Santos (NENA is quickly conveyed in a wheelchair.) Pamela Hanson, who works for the Law Office of Santon & Santos (PAM strides by like a model wearing sunglasses.) And Tomas Santos, considered by our office to be the mastermind. (TOMAS crosses by, betraying no expression.) He is also charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of his brother Fernando, who was found dead in their law office. We’re questioning other possible accomplices to the assassination. (VICKY appears.) VICKY No. GONZALEZ Let me rephrase the question: Did you help kill the judge? VICKY I’ll rephrase my answer: Fuck no. GONZALEZ Tommy asked you for the money. VICKY He didn’t tell me what for. GONZALEZ It was shipped in your suitcase. VICKY Which I’d given Tommy the weeks before. GONZALEZ You and Tommy seem to be pretty intimate. VICKY What is this shit? Just because you’re the man of the hour, you think you can say whatever you want to my face? Excuse me, Batman, I’ve got a husband to bury. (She gets up.) GONZALEZ Sit down. I said, SIT DOWN. (VICKY sits.) Don’t try your Rottweiler act with me ‘cause I will meet you halfway, ruca. I’ll charge you with withholding evidence and put you away for YEARS. Since this case started, I’ve been shunned, slandered, and called a vendido. My family has received death threats. But that’s business. I know what I am, and I know what I sacrificed to be what I am. I live the life I want. I just want to know what motive Tomas would have for shooting your husband. VICKY Tommy loved his brothers. He’d never sacrifice them for a career. GONZALEZ Have you ever seen this man? (WILLIS, in prison greys, and FELECIA at the table.) WILLIS Lesha doll. FELECIA They let me out, Pappy. WILLIS That’s good. FELECIA They said they didn’t have enough on me. The lawyer said he might could get me off if I testify against you. WILLIS Well, you know better than that, don’t you? FELECIA Uh-huh. I’m so mad at her, Pappy. I can’t believe she turned us in. WILLIS Your momma has a mean streak. FELECIA It just riles me. She did it to keep us apart, you know. WILLIS Yahweh will punish her. FELECIA They said, when they caught you, that you were driving back to Dallas to kill us both. WILLIS I wouldn’t do a nasty thing like that, would I? FELECIA I s’ppose. Oh, Pappy, I miss you. All ‘cause of that judge. You should’na killed him. WILLIS I didn’t, honey pie. FELECIA You didn’t? WILLIS Well, I admit I shed his grace all over his front yard, but until they find the rifle, they have the wrong man. Now, why’nt you slung over and let me feel the sweetness of you for Pappy’s sake? FELECIA Here? We can’t do it here. WILLIS Nobody’s watching. Slung over and lemme dip my chip. FELECIA Later, Pappy. When you get out. WILLIS That be a while. Felecia Lee, don’t vex me. Lean in. (FELECIA slumps in her seat toward WILLIS. He slips his hand under the table between her legs.) Oh, honey. I been missing you so bad. I feel like bustin’ wide open with-- (WILLIS withdraws his hand, producing a small button with a long thin cord attached from under her dress.) The hell is this? (GONZALEZ steps forward with the tape player.) FELECIA Sorry, Pappy. (GONZALEZ plays it. WILLIS’ VOICE broadcasts loudly over speakers: “Well, I admit I shed his grace all over his front yard, but until they find the rifle, they have the wrong man.”) WILLIS You? You wearin’ a wire? (FELECIA quickly retracts her bug and scrambles away. WILLIS pounds the table like a madman.) YOU LITTLE BITCH! YOU GOT A WIRE! DAMN YOU! YOU TREASONOUS LITTLE TART! YOU DONE HANGED ME BY A WIRE! YOU HEAR! YOU HANGED ME! GOD! THESE WIRES! THESE GODDAMN WIRES! HELL WILL BE A PLACE OF WIRES! (He stomps off, tearing off the buttons from his shirt and ranting to himself. GONZALEZ turns to VICKY.) VICKY No. I’ve never seen him. GONZALEZ You’re free to go, Mrs. Santos...for now. (He goes. VICKY puts on her veil and slowly crosses the stage toward TOMAS.) VICKY Cordero de Dios, que quitas el pecado del mundo, Ten piedad de nosotros. Cordero de Dios, que quitas el pecado del mundo, Ten piedad de nosotros. Cordero de Dios, que quitas el pecado del mundo, Danos la paz. (She joins him at the table.) VICKY Fernie was buried this morning. TOMAS Dios ten piedad. VICKY I was only one at the graveside. Everyone else is in jail. TOMAS How’s Mike? VICKY He’s up for the chair. Nena just wants her shoes. TOMAS The baby’s okay? VICKY He’s fine. He comes into my custody tomorrow. TOMAS What about the Willises? VICKY All but the daughter are getting charged. She’s the star witness. Everybody’s testifying against each other. Except you. Nobody wants to sell you out. TOMAS It’s good to see you, Vicky. Even in your weeds. VICKY I thought all my feeling for Fernando was gone. But right when they started to lower him into the ground, out of nowhere, these tears came spilling down my face. I couldn’t make them stop. I cried all the way home for a worm who treated me nice only as an afterthought. The heart just never gives up, does it? TOMAS That’s what makes it a heart. VICKY What happened with you and Fernie, Tomas? TOMAS There is no point in trying to-- VICKY You haven’t told me. I want to know. Did you kill my husband? (TOMAS looks toward the conference table for a moment.) TOMAS I came to mourn the death of my child. (FERNIE comes out of the shadows.) FERNIE Say what? (TOMAS rises and joins him. VICKY watches.) TOMAS The breach has rattled its little bones to mush. FERNIE Are you tripping? TOMAS Carnal, I am gonna level with you. The child Vicky lost wasn’t yours. It was mine. My baby. FERNIE What are you talking about? TOMAS That was my baby you beat outa her. FERNIE You...and my wife? TOMAS That ain’t the half of it. If you knew the shit I been up to. FERNIE Then fuckin’ tell me. TOMAS That bust at Gila Stables, I made that call. I’m the nark. I got Camacho killed, put Mikey in jail and ruined his family. I had the Judge killed with money from Dad’s store, and then I boned your wife and caused my own kid to die. (He produces the gun.) Soy traicionero, Negro. (slowly advancing on FERNIE with the gun) Santos & Santos. Sons of La Malinche. Hijos de la chingada madre. Poor bitch. I know how she feels. (He puts the gun in FERNIE’S hand.) Orale. Whenever you’re ready. (FERNIE aims the gun at TOMAS, then drops it.) FERNIE You’re my brother. TOMAS Negro, you have to do this. FERNIE Wise up, ese. This is what they want you to do. They want you to rise above the family, to think above the family, NOTHING is above the family. We die without it. Our father left Concordia to carve a new life for himself and his family. And he made it, ese, he got his bitchin’ American house, but he couldn’t have done it without the guts of Aztlan. I’m talkin’ heart. The heart knows what borders are crossed. It knows sacrifice. Am I right? TOMAS You’re right. FERNIE We are good people. If we fuck up, it’s ‘cause we’re fuckups. Like anyone else. But you are the only law, the real law, you, carnal. Here. You take the damn gun. (He places it in TOMAS’ hand.) Aim the thing at my head. Aim it. (TOMAS aims it.) Can you shoot your brother in the head? That’s what you asked me to do. Check out this profile, man. Aztec fucking nose. Dark indio tone. The hair. The thick tongue of my people. We’re beautiful, ese. Chingones. VICKY No, Tommy. (MIKE comes out, dressed as he was in the beginning.) MIKE Are you capable of that betrayal? TOMAS I don’t know. FERNIE So? MIKE You’re gonna be the most famous one of us. FERNIE Gonna shoot or not? MIKE Your good makes us shine. TOMAS We’re bastards. FERNIE We are princes. TOMAS Mongrels. MIKE Sons of Gods. TOMAS Alone. MIKE Never alone. TOMAS False. FERNIE True as our mother’s heart. VICKY Don’t do it. TOMAS I feel the breach. MIKE Do you? VICKY Tommy... FERNIE Do you, brother? (TOMAS keeps the gun aimed at his head.) TOMAS [oh Victoria i aim this 45 caliber guilt right into the face of my bro until i see on my arm the sign the holy sign our justice greater than us tattooed with GRACE i aim at my bro the kind of grace that forgives us all forever forgives us for America forgives us for the blood that runs that will always run i aim grace at my carnal Victoria] FERNIE (grinning) You see? It’s not gonna happen. It is not gonna happen. (They remain in this tableau as the lights fade out.) CURTAIN. END OF PLAY