BRAINPEOPLE

By José Rivera

(A once-luxurious penthouse apartment

in downtown Los Angeles. The SUN sets,
forcing the sky into strange colors.)

(Sparkling city lights appear -- until

the view outside feels like an urban
dreamscape as removed from crime, fear,
distress as possible.)

(There are big windows; exposed brick;

morbid artwork; folkloric, graphic
crucifixes; naked statues of Jesus; old
books, faded furniture, a once-fancy
fireplace with missing tiles,
distressed wooden floor.)

(A long, empty TABLE covered in a

colorful tablecloth decorated with
images of the ancient Taino Indians.)

(Everything was once brightly colored,

vibrant, now muted and decayed -- as if
the room were stuck in time.)

(By the table is ROSEMARY/ROSIE, early

30s, graceful, slender, beautiful but
hungry and worn down by life’s
tragedies and insults.)

(Her clothes, shoes and costume jewelry

are from the Salvation Army. Her over-
done make-up is trashy. She speaks in
an IRISH accent to an off-stage
person.)

ROSEMARY/ROSIE

God, I haven't had meat in so long. I forgot how much I

loved the smell!

(MAYANNAH enters from the kitchen with

a fancy bowl of melted butter.)
 2.

(She is 30s, an aristocratic Puerto

Rican with long dark hair, dark,
intense eyes; her clothes are elegant
and black; she wears diamond necklaces,
earrings, and bracelets.)

MAYANNAH

This butter was made from the milk of cows born and raised in
my parents' hometown in Puerto Rico.

ROSEMARY/ROSIE

Red meat, blood, and butter! Wow!

MAYANNAH

Every year I get it flown from the island on a private jet

just for this meal.

ROSEMARY/ROSIE

I love that pretty necklace. So glittery.

MAYANNAH

My mother left it for me.

ROSEMARY/ROSIE

And it's absolutely incredible, this place, Mayannah.

(MAYANNAH pours rum.)

MAYANNAH

Comes with the best Puerto Rican rum in the world. My

family's own label!

ROSEMARY/ROSIE

Like a big, bloody church. All the pretty Jesuses!

MAYANNAH
 3.

I collect them. From all over the world.

ROSEMARY/ROSIE

Why are they all naked?

(The doorbell rings.)

MAYANNAH

Ay! That must be her! The other one! I thought she'd never
show!

(MAYANNAH goes off. ROSEMARY/ROSIE

hungrily stares at the butter.)

LAYNA (OFF)

Hello? It's, it's Layna. I'm here. In one piece thank God!

MAYANNAH (OFF)

Yes! So glad you're here, Layna!

(ROSEMARY/ROSIE sticks her finger in

the butter and tastes it.)

ROSEMARY/ROSIE

Oh good God, that's bloody fuckin' fab ... !

(ROSEMARY/ROSIE hungrily drinks the

butter and licks the bowl.)

LAYNA (OFF)

Your home, Mayannah -- so dark -- but beautiful!

MAYANNAH (OFF)

You are beautiful! I had no idea!

(MAYANNAH and LAYNA, 30s, enter. LAYNA

is a bookish, obsessive, lovelorn Greek-
American woman with piercing eyes
beneath glasses. Hair in a ponytail.)
 4.

(Though articulate and well-dressed

there's something awkward about her:
she has a hard time navigating real and
emotional space.)

LAYNA

Yeah, well, last time you saw me, I looked like death. Oh,
someone's already here. Hi.

MAYANNAH

Layna -- meet Rosemary.

ROSEMARY/ROSIE

God, don't call me that awful name. She was not fucking
bloody invited! It's Rosie.

MAYANNAH

Oh, I meant -- Rosie ...

LAYNA

Nice to meet you, Rosie

ROSEMARY/ROSIE

Yeah, okay.

LAYNA

I brought some wine. I don't actually know anything about

wine but I read in a pretty good wine magazine that this is a
pretty good bottle of wine.

MAYANNAH

Thank you so much, that's so thoughtful.

ROSEMARY/ROSIE

Wine mag? Lame!

LAYNA

So they -- they put up these new checkpoints on the 10. God,

those soldiers are the dumbest, most Neolithic men in
America! They asked for my I.D. and it took forever.
 5.

Lucky that your driver had all that cash. Or else I never
would have gotten here.

MAYANNAH

Well, you're here with friends now and everything's going to

be magic.

LAYNA

Magic? Is that a good thing?

MAYANNAH

Oh, you two: lovely eyes, lovely hands. And we're all really
here -- in my house -- the three of us.

ROSEMARY/ROSIE

Three! Oh, brother!

MAYANNAH

So this is the part where I officially thank you guys for

braving the crazy streets and coming all the way here to be
with me tonight.

LAYNA

Well, thanks for having us.

ROSEMARY/ROSIE

That goes double for me! Triple, even!

MAYANNAH

The rule is, whatever happens on the street tonight, it

doesn't touch us. Up here we will have as much fun and be as
happy as we can.

LAYNA

Okay -- no pressure!
 6.

MAYANNAH

I have a feeling you two are going to be the best guests I

ever had.

LAYNA

So all we have to do is eat, right?

MAYANNAH

And talk, really talk -- no holding back, either of you -- I

didn't go through all this trouble to talk about the weather!
At the end of dinner, there'll be a little monetary reward
for you two, as we already discussed. Then everyone goes
home. Easy, right?

LAYNA

Cash, check, or wire transfer?

ROSEMARY/ROSIE

Not to put the cart before the horse, but would it be kosher
to get my hundred K in crisp, new five-dollar bills?

MAYANNAH

Make it to the end of dessert and you might get the keys to
the whole, damn house!

ROSEMARY/ROSIE

Awesome!

LAYNA

Why wouldn't we make it to the end of dessert?

MAYANNAH

Okay, now -- there's a lot to do. And I do it all myself.

That's my rule.
 7.

(MAYANNAH goes off to the kitchen.

LAYNA and ROSEMARY/ROSIE regard each
other warily, awkwardly.)

LAYNA

So you don't know her either?

ROSEMARY/ROSIE

First time for me.

LAYNA

First time?

ROSEMARY/ROSIE

Technically, the second time, I guess. But it's the first

time for me.

LAYNA

She seems nice. A little -- uhm, odd -- bit gloomy ...

(MAYANNAH appears, puts a platter of

tostones on the table.)

So! I, I changed outfits like eighteen times. It's been

forever since I got asked out. Didn't know people still did
that. Have dinner parties.

MAYANNAH

Because people are too afraid.

(ROSEMARY/ROSIE is drawn to the food

like the starving person she is.)

ROSEMARY/ROSIE

Well, sure, all the curfews and tanks and -- that looks
yummy.

MAYANNAH

People were afraid before the curfews. Let's face it, people
terrify. La Doña always tells me: nothing on earth can scare
you like another human being.
 8.

(MAYANNAH goes off to the kitchen.)

LAYNA

Thought I was the only one who thinks depressing shit like
that.

ROSEMARY/ROSIE

You must think you're pretty special, then.

LAYNA

No, it's just -- people worry me. You can't trust what they
do or say. Like everyone around here is speaking their own
language. And nobody tells the truth!

(MAYANNAH appears, puts a steaming

platter of rice and beans on the table,
along with serving spoons, long knives,
cleavers, long forks, skewers, and
corkscrews.)

MAYANNAH

Absolutely true!

LAYNA

Isn't that how we are? Always hiding from each other -- so

we never know what's really going on?

ROSEMARY/ROSIE

When do we stop the yakking and start the eating?

LAYNA

It's like we're geniuses at keeping the really good stuff --

the far-too-easy-to-break stuff -- buried so deep, no one can
touch it. It makes me feel like I have to be a damn
archeologist half the time, always digging below the surface
of people, hoping, you know, for answers, some clarity, an
actual, real glimpse at a person's, you know -- soul.

MAYANNAH

An archeologist of personalities!
 9.

LAYNA

Yes! It's like a defense thing with me. So I don't get

tricked or smashed or fucked, the way I look at people.

MAYANNAH

I noticed that about you. You keep staring at me and, uh,

Rosie --

ROSEMARY/ROSIE

I'm sorry, but it gives me the heebies, all your staring, all
your eyeballs googling at me.

LAYNA

I don't think of it as staring. I think of it as analyzing,

like an x-ray.

ROSEMARY/ROSIE

"Layna," is it? Let me just say, Layna, that maybe you

shouldn't dig too deep. Could hurt somebody.

MAYANNAH

Or scare yourself to death.

LAYNA

Good! It's called self-examination?

ROSEMARY/ROSIE

Well, I don't want anyone exploring me. Cracking my head

open to look inside.

MAYANNAH

You won't look her in the eye. I noticed that about you.

ROSEMARY/ROSIE

Or listen to the words in my head. Some nights it's like the

bloody BBC in there! Okay?!
 10.

LAYNA

Hey, back off a little!

MAYANNAH

There's some tension between you two and that's not what I'm
paying for --

LAYNA

All I'm saying, okay, someone tells you to choose between

being Socrates unsatisfied, or a pig satisfied. Obvious
answer: Socrates.

ROSEMARY/ROSIE

Because pigs end up like this. On a plate.

MAYANNAH

It's not pig. In fact, it's not even remotely pig-like.

(MAYANNAH goes off to the kitchen.)

LAYNA

Excuse me? What's she serving us?

ROSEMARY/ROSIE

So, Mayannah, how rich are you, anyway?

LAYNA

Look, if she's serving us people -- not staying.

MAYANNAH (OFF)

A lot fucking rich.

ROSEMARY/ROSIE

You never count it?

 11.

MAYANNAH (OFF)

I don't like to think about the money.

ROSEMARY/ROSIE

If it was mine? I wouldn't think of anything else. It would

be the air in my lungs and the man in my bed. And I would
use it to get the hell out of this country but fast.

LAYNA

Amen to that.

MAYANNAH (OFF)

Sometimes I think I should be living on the street, wallowing

in filth, but my poor parents would not have wanted that for
me ...

ROSEMARY/ROSIE

Are they dead?

(MAYANNAH enters, with a huge steaming

platter of MEAT covered in bright-red
juices: organs, glands, legs, claws,
muscles: bloody. She sets it carefully
on the table.)

MAYANNAH

Dead as the meat on our table.

(LAYNA and ROSEMARY/ROSIE look at

viscera that doesn't look like anything
they've ever eaten before.)

LAYNA

Okay, you're going to think I'm -- tell me it's not a person,

okay?

MAYANNAH

You're too cute, Layna! A person!

 12.

ROSEMARY/ROSIE

I've never smelled anything like it. It has a hypnotic kinda

scent.

MAYANNAH

Well, this is it, girls, tonight's meal. My parents bought

these plates the first week they were married. The tostones
and the arroz con gandules are the way we made them for
generations. And the meat -- very special. Special for
tonight. For my two special guests.

(MAYANNAH pours three shots of rum,

hands them out and raises her glass.)

Salud, dinero, y amor!

(LAYNA and ROSEMARY/ROSIE raise their

glasses with less enthusiasm.)

LAYNA & ROSEMARY/ROSIE

To your health./ Cheers.

(The strong rum makes LAYNA and

ROSEMARY/ROSIE cough, but has little
effect on MAYANNAH.)

(MAYANNAH lights the long black

candles, puts the napkins, glasses of
water, loaves of bread, and other
finishing touches on the table, and
carefully watches LAYNA and
ROSEMARY/ROSIE interact.)

MAYANNAH

So Layna, mi amor -- didn't you just bring Socrates into the

conversation?

LAYNA

Well, I don't know if what I said makes any sense -- the self-
examination thing?
 13.

ROSEMARY/ROSIE

Well, sure, you try to live up to these socially-imposed,

impossible-to-live-up-to standards of beauty ...

MAYANNAH

Wealth. Sex.

ROSEMARY/ROSIE

... sex, status, boob-size -- it's enough to make you barking

mad if you think about it too much.

LAYNA

Still, it's better than being naïve and satisfied with your
un-examined self -- leaving your heart open -- getting your
central nervous system chain-sawed by a man you thought
actually loved you. Who actually gave two shits about you.
But turns out all he wanted to do was fuck with your head!

MAYANNAH

Has someone had her heart broken?

LAYNA

It's just -- I look around and it's like everyone's lost

their souls. Did someone come and steal our souls when we
were sleeping?

ROSEMARY/ROSIE

She didn't answer your question, Mayannah. Dodgy, that.

LAYNA

On the street, in bars, at home, every person out there --

soulless, unreal. Like we're dead or dying or fake or
faltering. Who could connect like that? Who could love like
that? You want a relationship with a man? You might as well
shadowbox with ghosts. You might as well make love to the
wind.

ROSEMARY/ROSIE

Grim, sad world you live in, LAYNA.

 14.

LAYNA

Then you wonder if you yourself even exist!

ROSEMARY/ROSIE

Well, in Dublin we were busy surviving. We never obsessed

about love and death like you Americans.

LAYNA
(skeptical)
Dublin ... ?

ROSEMARY/ROSIE
(impatient)
So? What are we waiting for?

(MAYANNAH finishes her preparations.)

MAYANNAH

Done! Girls -- we're ready. Everyone. Sit. Now.

(MAYANNAH sits, ROSEMARY/ROSIE and

LAYNA on either side of her.
ROSEMARY/ROSIE eagerly serves herself
the arroz con gandules and shovels it
in her mouth. Her first solid food in
days. LAYNA munches on a tostone, wary
and watchful.)

ROSEMARY/ROSIE

I'll be buggered. I didn't know rice and beans could be so

bloody luscious.

MAYANNAH

Layna -- better not tell me you're not hungry. That's

against the rules.

LAYNA

I'm working on it.

 15.

ROSEMARY/ROSIE

I can't believe you've done all this by yourself, Mayannah.

MAYANNAH

The whole staff got the night off. La Doña -- she's the
incredibly old woman who runs my life -- El Doctor, El
Cocinero, all of them. Every year, on this night, I make
them leave me alone. I have to promise them I'll be okay
with strangers.

ROSEMARY/ROSIE

Some day I'm going to have my own staff -- and armed

soldiers, like you, May'.

LAYNA

If you don't have a private army, you're not safe in this

country.

MAYANNAH

The soldiers were La Doña's idea. They're supposed to keep

us safe in case the food riots start again. Oh my God, those
riots! “Eat the rich! Eat the rich!”

ROSEMARY/ROSIE
(quietly)
... Eat the rich! Eat the rich!

MAYANNAH

But the soldiers don't make me feel any safer. The way they
look at me. The dirty things they whisper. “I'd eat her!
I'd let her fuck me!”

(Beat.)

I haunt this place, I don't really live in it. I don't even

see the staff much. I hear them. El Cocinero gossips about
me. La Doña goes through my stuff looking for the weird
drugs El Doctor gives me. I don't think that old witch is
ever going to die. There's no way I'll ever be friends with
these people.
 16.

ROSEMARY/ROSIE

Well, I don't think we're ever going to be happy or feel

safe, period. At least I'm not. So to hell with it and pass
that lovely plate of glands over there.

(MAYANNAH serves the meat.)

MAYANNAH

It's tiger. And it's amazing.

ROSEMARY/ROSIE & LAYNA

Did she/you say "tiger"!?

MAYANNAH

Can't wait for you guys to try it!

LAYNA

You never told us we were going to eat tiger.

ROSEMARY/ROSIE

We're having bloody tiger! Is it hard to get? Like is it

U.S. Government Inspected?

MAYANNAH

El Cocinero gets it for me every year. Swears it's legal.

Frankly, girls, I don't want to know.

LAYNA

Is it like eating a cat?

MAYANNAH

It's like nothing you ever had. It's unreal.

ROSEMARY/ROSIE

He looks beautifully unreal to me.

MAYANNAH

She. Female.
 17.

LAYNA

We're eating a girl tiger?

MAYANNAH

Oh, yes! Mommy-tiger was shot between the eyes and died in a
splendid, red turbulence of blood. She left behind a
whimpering little family wandering India, trying to remember
what that bitch looked like.

LAYNA

That is fucked on so many levels.

MAYANNAH

No, there's justice to it. Animal justice. I may never eat

greens again.

LAYNA

Think I'll just work on the nice tostones for now.

ROSEMARY/ROSIE

Light weight!

(ROSEMARY/ROSIE spears a slab of meat,

puts it in her mouth and chews.)

Hmmm ... Jesus, yeahhhhhh ... !

MAYANNAH

It's inside you now!

ROSEMARY/ROSIE

I don't know if it's delicious because it's delicious, or

it's delicious because it's endangered!

MAYANNAH

Filling all your cells!

ROSEMARY/ROSIE

I mean, how do you describe this taste?

 18.

MAYANNAH

I know what it tastes like. It tastes like sweet revenge.

LAYNA

O-kay ... cryptic ...

(MAYANNAH eats the tiger meat,

relishing it.)

MAYANNAH

Do you girls ever ask yourselves -- every time you put meat
in your mouth, is the cliché true: are we really what we eat?

LAYNA

I -- maybe -- you mean -- literally -- ?

MAYANNAH

When I eat this tiger, will I know what she knew? Will I be
able to feel her mother's tongue licking her at birth? Will
I know the thrill of the chase, the delicious heat of mating,
and the sunsets in India?

LAYNA

Is that physically possible?

ROSEMARY/ROSIE

I am so totally going to India some day!

MAYANNAH

And if a tiger ate me, would she taste my personality and

know my experiences? Would she know my childhood stories and
dreams and every book I ever read? Would she love the same
music I love? Would she love the same people? In every cell
of this tiger, imagine: there's information, stories of the
past, memories.

LAYNA

Jesus.
 19.

MAYANNAH

And what happens when a tiger gives birth? Is all the

knowledge in the tiger's stomach passed down, genetically,
from mother to child? Generation after generation? So, in a
strange way, if you're eaten by a tiger do you basically live
forever?

(Beat.)

It's funny. So many changes happen in your life. Babies to

adolescents to old age. Always going from one state of
matter to another: like water goes from ice to steam.
Especially when you die and you're buried. Flesh goes to
dust, blood goes to soil, mind goes to air. But -- if you're
cremated? Does everything in your flesh and in your mind
just float off with the smoke and ash? It makes you wonder,
doesn't it: what's in the air right now?

ROSEMARY/ROSIE

Or who is.

MAYANNAH

Yes! Who!

LAYNA

Thanks for contributing that!

MAYANNAH

Whose life did you just suck into your lungs? How many times
a day do you take in the evaporated dreams and remains of
other people? And when you breathe in that smoke, carrying
all that information and life -- does it change you?

ROSEMARY/ROSIE

Could explain mood swings.

LAYNA

What? No! Mood swings are caused by chemical reactions in

brain. I read that in a pretty good science mag --
 20.

MAYANNAH

My parents were cremated. I think of their final fire a lot.

Their fingers burning. Eyes melting into their heads.
Memories of me turning to smoke. Their life-stories floating
in the air. Oh, how I wish I could've breathed them in! I
wish I had a chance to feel their ashes and odors filling my
lungs. God, please, just one last contact with the young
lovers who conceived me ...

(Hundreds of emergency sirens scream

far below, sending waves of fear and
foreboding through the women.)

No! Not tonight, Dios, por favor!

ROSEMARY/ROSIE

No, no, no ...

(MAYANNAH and Layna go to the window.)

MAYANNAH

Thank God, they're not coming here ...

LAYNA

I saw one of their sweeps in my neighborhood and it's sick

how they grab people up and herd them in their vans.

MAYANNAH

There's never been a sweep down here. It must be something

else. They're looking for someone.

LAYNA

Better not be one of you guys.

MAYANNAH

We can't worry about them tonight, Layna -- I still have my

soldiers. Let's sit down and eat. You haven't touched your
tiger.
 21.

(MAYANNAH leads LAYNA back to the

table. ROSEMARY/ROSIE is frozen,
muttering.)

ROSEMARY/ROSIE

... no, no, no ...

MAYANNAH

Rosie?

ROSEMARY/ROSIE

... no, no, no ...

(ROSEMARY/ROSIE turns into

ROSEMARY/ROSALIND, 40s, aristocratic,
arrogant, a slight mean-streak in her.)

ROSEMARY/ROSALIND

-- no, no, no, I'm sorry -- but I'm starting to find this
conversation a little horrendous. Count on Rosemary to get
invited to the worst party in the city!

(LAYNA and MAYANNAH look at

ROSEMARY/ROSALIND surprised.)

LAYNA

I thought you were having so much fun, Rosie.

ROSEMARY/ROSALIND

Rosalind. It's Rosalind.

LAYNA

Rosalind?

ROSEMARY/ROSALIND

Do I look like a Rosie?

 22.

LAYNA

Uh -- yeah?

ROSEMARY/ROSALIND

Death, cremation, the police -- why are you forcing me to

think about things I don't want to think about? Don't you
realize every word you say ricochets in my head -- colliding
with all the other crap -- making things worse in there for
everybody?

LAYNA

What's going on? Is she, like, the entertainment?

ROSEMARY/ROSALIND

Oh, wouldn't you like to know? You have no idea: the

traffic, the chatter, the mind-boggling soap opera chaos in
there!

MAYANNAH

It's like she put on someone else's eyes ...

LAYNA

Okay, what is this? What are you trying to do to me? You

into make-believe? Telling stories and lies?

ROSEMARY/ROSALIND

Oh why don't you just take your paranoia and shove it?

LAYNA

You're making me, oh, a tad nervous, okay? I like to have

something firm under my feet when I --

ROSEMARY/ROSALIND

Maybe a little anecdote will help.

 23.

One night, one of the kids Rosemary sits for, Rosemary says
to her, "It's past your bedtime, Courtney, you have to be in
bed," and Courtney scrunches up her face and goes, "I know
it's past my bedtime but my brainpeople say I could stay up
late if I want." And that word gave Rosemary the chills.
Because she knows, down in the under-belly of her heart, that
that word -- "brainpeople" -- perfectly captures this feeling
she has about herself, this nauseous, free-floating mental
achy feeling, that she's had since the politics started,
since the knocks on her door at midnight, this feeling she
can't describe to anyone but that pervades everything she
does.

LAYNA
(getting it)
Oh my God.

ROSEMARY/ROSALIND

So, Mayannah, if a tiger ate Rosemary would she inherit all

the voices in her head? Would she know all her brainpeople?
Will she remember all the screams? The darkness? And when
Rosemary eats her, this delicious tiger on this plate will
she enter her mind?

LAYNA

So which one is Rosemary?

ROSEMARY/ROSALIND

This is Rosemary: since the day they let her stumble out of
that hell in mental tatters, the only job she can get is
walking dogs. Taking care of other people's babies.
Anything low and servile, involving lots of shit and crying
you want to pay slave wages for, she's your girl. That's the
level of her self-respect! That’s how much they took away
from her in there! Your bathroom?

MAYANNAH

Left at the stuffed tiger.

(ROSEMARY/ROSALIND exits to the

offstage bathroom.)

LAYNA

A total fucked-up, one-woman circus just walked out of this

room.
 24.

MAYANNAH

Yes. But don't you get it, Layna -- she's so porous ...

LAYNA

I get it and it's not for me, thanks. Mayannah, it's been --
wow. Truly. But, you know, between the sirens and the tiger
meat and Sybil in the next room, you need to tell your driver
to take me home.

MAYANNAH

Home? No!

LAYNA

I don't care about the curfew. Or how many points they're

going to take from me.

MAYANNAH

But you haven't touched your food. That's part of the deal.
At least have the tiger meat --

LAYNA

But I don't even know why I'm here. Maybe this was all a
mistake. I don't care how much money you're giving me. I'll
find another way to leave this country!

MAYANNAH

But do you know how much I paid those hunters to track down
this tiger? The number of embassies I bribed to get the
carcass into my kitchen?

LAYNA

Too bad but I don't seem to care.

MAYANNAH

But it's my anniversary dinner. The most important night of

the year for me.
 25.

LAYNA

Look, it's hard enough for me to put myself in space when

that space is mine. I don't go out, I work alone. So I
don't have a lot of contact with other people. I really
thought this might be fun, try out a few ideas, talk about
Socrates!

MAYANNAH

But this is my yearly ritual: the meat, the blood, the

strangers, and the crazy hope I invest.

LAYNA

But I don't even know what you're celebrating. You never

told us.

MAYANNAH

It's hunger. Hunger is why we're here.

LAYNA

Oh, that's not creepy -- or vague!

MAYANNAH

Mira, I'll double the offer. Two hundred thousand, cash,

tonight, just sit down and eat your dinner.

LAYNA

Two hundred thousand? In cash?

MAYANNAH

This isn't going to be like the other years. I'm not going
to let everything fall apart. I'm not going to scare
everyone away. I don't care what it costs me.

LAYNA

You'd really make it two hundred K?

MAYANNAH

I can do everything better. Just let me start over. Music!

 26.

(MAYANNAH goes to a record player, puts

on an old bolero, starts to dance.)

What kind of hostess am I? Letting everything get so morbid.

Life's what's important tonight. Let's talk about life!
Let's talk about love!

LAYNA

Let's talk about two hundred fucking thousand dollars!

(MAYANNAH beckons to LAYNA and she goes

to her. They slow-dance together.)

Okay, life sounds good. Uh. Gee. So the parents are dead,
huh?

MAYANNAH

Yes -- but in life they were so in love, you couldn't be in

the room with them when they got, you know, that way. In
life my father was a big success in television.

LAYNA

Television? Really?

MAYANNAH

My Papi was seen and loved by millions. But that was before
all the news programs had their balls cut off.

LAYNA

Seen? Your father was on the air?

MAYANNAH

Remember when they used to have international news? He did

those. So I was told by La Doña. You see, I have facts
about my parents but no memories ...

LAYNA

What time was your father on the air?

 27.

MAYANNAH

Twice every day.

LAYNA

At six and eleven?

MAYANNAH

At six and eleven! How did you know?

LAYNA

Now you're just fucking with me.

MAYANNAH

Were you a fan? But he died before you were born. For sure,
if you saw him, though, he would've driven you crazy.

LAYNA

Stop saying things like that!

MAYANNAH

Made Mami so jealous! La Doña told me that, in Puerto Rico,

my parents loved to take long walks along the beach together.
They touched each other in shameless ways, in full view of
the birds and joggers! La Doña says my parents were obsessed
with tigers. She says they read Borges and Kipling to me
every night, spoke about tigers in whispers, and understood
them in some weird, amazing way.

(Beat.)

She says my parents died together. In India. They had an

accident. I was eight. That's something you don't forget.
I just don't know why I forgot so many other things about
them. You know how much money I'd pay to remember one thing
about my parents that's all mine? That doesn't come to me
pre-digested from a bunch of over-paid freaks who don't give
a shit about me? Who never ask me if I was happy!
 28.

LAYNA

I'm sorry, Mayannah, that's sad, and you should see a

qualified professional about that --

MAYANNAH

God, I love your hands, Layna. That was the first thing I
noticed about you, the hands ...

LAYNA

-- but the fact that your father was on TV doing news at six
and eleven freaks me out a bit because the man I was
desperately in love with --

MAYANNAH

In photos of Mami, her hands are exactly yours. So soft. So

dark! La Doña says Papi loved Mami's dark Taino skin. He
called her "Mi India."

(LAYNA pulls away from MAYANNAH.)

LAYNA

Can you shut up about this?

MAYANNAH

I'm sorry, I talk about them so much because I didn't know

them.

LAYNA

But “India!” That was my nickname growing up ...

(ROSEMARY/ROSALIND enters from the

bathroom. She’s turned into
ROSEMARY/ROXIE, a happy-go-lucky
agreeable hippy.)

ROSEMARY/ROXIE

I really, really understand you, Mayannah, and I really,

really support you.
 29.

LAYNA

Oh God, who's this one?

MAYANNAH

You do, Rosalind? Thank you!

ROSEMARY/ROXIE

Meet Roxie! And unlike some people who shall remain

nameless, Roxie wants to hear all about your Mami.

MAYANNAH

Well, uhm, as I said, there was Taino Indian in her.

ROSEMARY/ROXIE

Then she must've been dark, like me!

LAYNA

Dark? Like you?

MAYANNAH

Papi’s racist family didn't like her. So the day after they
got married, they fled Puerto Rico for Los Angeles.

ROSEMARY/ROXIE

I love LA!

MAYANNAH

La Doña says it was hard for Mami at first, but Papi's pure
green eyes reminded her of the Caribbean.

ROSEMARY/ROXIE

My eyes are green and pure!

LAYNA

Your eyes are green? That ain't green!

 30.

ROSEMARY/ROXIE

They're a little green, you bitchy lady person, so go fuck

yourself even.

LAYNA

I got a better idea, why don't I go over there and kick your
ass?

ROSEMARY/ROXIE

No! Do you know who you're talking to?

LAYNA

It's anyone's guess, Roxie, Rosie, Roseface, Rose Bud -- !

(ROSEMARY/ROXIE turns into

ROSEMARY/ROSE, furious, intelligent,
powerful.)

ROSEMARY/ROSE

My name is Rose, and I gotta question for you. What makes

you crazy? You got any idea, Layna? Sweet, sad Layna? Love
makes you crazy.

(To MAYANNAH.)

The death of a parent makes you crazy.

(Beat.)

Sometimes an entire people go crazy. When you change the

definition of simple words. When the abhorrent becomes
familiar. When the absurd is routine. And no one seems to
know the difference. Or if they know the difference, they
don't talk about it, they're silent and that silence makes us
crazy.

(Beat.)

For Rosemary? It started with the housing project she was

born into. The dogshit in the hallways, the airshafts where
people dumped old trash, rum bottles, unwanted babies.
 31.

It was the cockroaches that seemed to live in colonies under

her eyelids. The young people -- her childhood friends --
who died of diseases reserved for the old. It was watching
the cops burst into the living room to beat the shit out of
her father. It was being driven insane by lottery numbers
that never hit. It was the sick feeling that in the tenements
and projects where she was raised -- and where she'll
probably die a lonely, miserable death that will never make
the headlines -- the rules are different than they are for
all the rest of the world.

(Beat.)

It was the day she rebelled against this silence. And she
took to the streets. With her teacher and friends. And they
shouted, “Eat the rich! Eat the rich!” -- and the rich
rolled out their private armies, clutching their wooden clubs
and toxic gas. And they captured her. They put her in a
cell ... they put her in a cell ... they put her in a ...

(ROSEMARY/ROSE turns into ROSEMARY/ROZ,

bookish, stuck-up.)

ROSEMARY/ROZ

... sell your books! Write what you know! So I write about
the mind and it's wonderful adaptability. Ah, the mind! The
more pressure, the more stress, instead of cracking like an
egg, it gets more creative, more elastic and lucid and
fertile, freer and freer to do whatever it needs to survive.
I wrote three books on this! Prize-winners!

MAYANNAH
(confused)
Books?

(Before ROSEMARY/ROZ can respond, she

turns into ROSEMARY/ROSA, unforgiving,
hungry, feral, hyper-active.)

ROSEMARY/ROSA

Fuck books! They starve me! There's never any food when I'm
around!

(ROSEMARY/ROSA tears into the food,

eats as fast as she can.)

It's their little power game. Hoarding the food, the light,
the air. Rosie's the worst. Dublin slut!
 32.

Always hogging the time and attention, like she's hot shit!
But the others aren't much better. Rosalind is a compulsive
narcissist. Roz, who you just met, ignores us because she
has delusions of grandeur. P.S. her writing blows. Roseanne
doesn't speak to Rose. The Teacher thinks we're idiots. And
everyone's worried about Tom!

LAYNA

Who's Tom?

ROSEMARY/ROSA

I'm gonna save some food for Tom!

(Eating.)

What the others don't know is there's no controlling a force

of nature like me. They think I'm something Rosemary made up
in the dark, screaming, lonely hole of her cell. But I'm as
natural and real and here as this awesomely tasty pile of
flesh on my plate. You see, I'm the custodian. The
caretaker of our little mental family. You try being that.
Guardian and witness to her life. Since the day of her
release, I've had to watch her scratch and scramble month
after month in some isolated shoebox in a building full of
freaks. Watching her sleep with the landlord for a small
discount on the rent. And I'm the only one -- of the
hundreds of us -- who bothers to talk to her. Who whispers
to her, night after night: "What happened to your courage,
girl? Your pride? You've got to get back on your feet! The
cause needs you! You could be a hero!” Does she listen to
me? No!

(MAYANNAH looks at the clearly upset

Layna.)

MAYANNAH

We'll call it three hundred thousand.

ROSEMARY/ROSA

Yeah, she had it bad in there. It was one continuous

nightmare and thank God she's forgotten it. The sensory
depravation and beatings. The serial rapes. But lots of
others suffered worse and they didn't crumble like she did.
 33.

That's what pisses me off: she broke. She lets the

nightmares win time and time and --

(ROSEMARY/ROSA turns into

ROSEMARY/TEACHER, a benign, patient,
older woman with a Southern accent.)

ROSEMARY/TEACHER

Time is like a prison, children. That's the lesson for all

of you today. They torture the person in the cell next to
yours, and you hear Time removing eyes and replacing them
with marbles covered with cataracts. Removing ears and
replacing them with shells stuffed with cotton. You hear
knees being worn to the bone. Nerves plugged with mucus.
Arthritis sprayed on the hands. Blood to the sex organs
diverted to the thick, blue, intestine-shaped veins in the
legs. Memories segregated into darker and deeper little rooms
in the mind, as all the signs that tell you how to find those
memories are covered in cobwebs and dust. The prisoner being
tortured by Time in the cell next to yours doesn't scream.
All you hear is the clock-like beat of torture instruments.
And all you can do in your cell is wait for Time to finish
with your neighbor and come for you. And you wait so long
that on the day it comes to get you, you don't realize Time's
already had its way with you -- and you never even noticed.

(Beat.)

What? What do you want to say? Don't you understand it's

rude to interrupt?

(Beat.)

Two minutes, Tom! You can come out and say --

(ROSEMARY/TEACHER turns into

ROSEMARY/TOM, a frightened little boy
with a slight stutter.)

ROSEMARY/TOM

Hi! Check it, I gotta t-talk fast 'cause they don't let me
have a lot of t-time in Life! That's 'cause I'm such a prize
fuck-up and I never get no chance to fix my shit, I mean, I
just can't rewind my life and h-hope to do it better, can I?

MAYANNAH

Maybe you can.

 34.

ROSEMARY/TOM

So when I get out, I'm so lost, I can't do anything right and

it m-makes me so sad and I can't stand myself no more -- and
I just wanna cut myself -- bad.

(ROSEMARY/TOM grabs one of the knives

on the table and puts it to her arm.
LAYNA and MAYANNAH rush to her.)

MAYANNAH

Rosemary, don't!

LAYNA

Holy shit!

ROSEMARY/TOM

Hey, I know Rosemary's just like me. That's how come I just
love her so much and I always fight the others, defending
Rosemary -- “g-give her a chance,” I tell 'em. “Rosemary's
really trying to get on with her life, you guys!” Man,
Rosemary's so soft. Those pretty brown eyes. I kiss her
when no one's looking. I'm not supposed to. She has dreams,
and I watch them like movies, and they make me laugh. I
don't get one thing -- how come Rosemary knows Rosie and Rosa
and all them others, but she don't know Tom. She don't know
I'm here and how bad I wanna love her and heal her and marry
her and start a family.

(ROSEMARY/TOM puts the knife down and

weeps. MAYANNAH quickly takes the
knife.)

(ROSEMARY/TEACHER and ROSEMARY/TOM talk

to each other.)

ROSEMARY/TEACHER

Time to go to bed, Tom.

ROSEMARY/TOM

But I'm still hungry. And my brainpeople say I can stay up

late if I want!
 35.

ROSEMARY/TEACHER

Nice try, but the lights are going out on you, Tom.

ROSEMARY/TOM

I hate the dark in here. All those voices scare me!

Rosalind's so mean!

ROSEMARY/TEACHER

I love you, baby, don't cry.

ROSEMARY/TOM

Don't leave me alone, Teacher ...

(ROSEMARY/TEACHER/TOM turns into

default-ROSEMARY.)

ROSEMARY

... Oh my God ... my head ...

(ROSEMARY looks at MAYANNAH and Layna

as if for the first time.)

... oh my God, where am I?

MAYANNAH

My house.

ROSEMARY

You. I remember you. You -- invited me to your mansion, on

some street only sheiks and king-pins can afford ... Saturday
night.

MAYANNAH

Are you her ... ?

ROSEMARY

Does that mean it's Saturday right now?

 36.

MAYANNAH

Layna, I think this is the one I met that night -- the one I
invited. It's Rosemary.

LAYNA

Yay.

ROSEMARY

Oh my God, I've lost three whole days, haven't I? I've never

lost three days in a row before. What have I been doing all
this time?

MAYANNAH

We don't know, Rosemary, we just met you!

ROSEMARY

Oh God, this is bad. You know how much trouble I could have
caused in three days?

(Checks her body out.)

No new scars, no bruises, nothing broken, okay, that's

encouraging. Did I steal anything, break anything, sleep
with anyone? Please don't judge me! You don't know me.
You don't know what I go through. The black-outs -- they
were only minutes in the beginning -- now they're days.
That's a disaster!

(To herself.)

Focus, Ro’. Don't spin out of control. First things first.

You're not home. Deal with that. Find out where you are.
Uhm, where are we?

MAYANNAH

Downtown. Flower Street.

ROSEMARY

That's miles from me. How did I get here?

 37.

MAYANNAH

I sent an armored limo to pick you up.

ROSEMARY

Dinner party. A hundred thousand bucks. You said you always

ask two strangers. Are you the other one?

(Afraid, LAYNA doesn't answer.)

Have I offended you? Whatever I said to you before, I'm

sorry -- it wasn't me --

(Noticing the table.)

Oh my God, did I eat this shit? Excuse me, but except for
white meat, I'm a strict vegetarian!

LAYNA

Wait'll she finds out it's not pork.

ROSEMARY

This isn't funny. You just don't know what it's like for me.
I wake up with ticket stubs in my pocket to places I never
went to. On the street, women I don't know slap my face for
sleeping with guys I never met. At home I open my diary and
the words are in someone else's handwriting -- the craziest
shit you ever heard.

LAYNA

I bet that's true.

ROSEMARY

Oh my God, how many of them did you meet? All of them are
imposters, no matter what they say. And each one, when they
come out, they think they're the center, the essence of me.
But they're not. There's only one, only me. I am Rosemary!

(She takes out a wallet full of

pictures.)

That's me at eight. The projects where I grew up. My best

friend Tom just before he died in police custody.
 38.

My favorite teacher who taught me not to believe the lies

they tell you. This girl I met in a bar called Dublin -- she
really loved to have a good time. Look: a drawing of me by
Rosario. She draws me with horns and a tail because she
hates me. They all hate me. They've tried to kill me.
They've put rat poison in my food. You know how many times
I've had my stomach pumped? They've cut my wrists. And I'm
just a girl who wants a little normal happiness and no more
drama, no more politics, and just maybe find someone to love
me and make a family some day ... believe me ...

(ROSEMARY turns into ROSEMARY/ROSARIO,

fiercely violent, malignant.)

ROSEMARY/ROSARIO

-- when I say the one who says she's the real Rosemary is a
liar. A killer. She's wanted for all those horrible murders
in the projects. Mutilations. She's the one the police are
looking for tonight. Don't trust her! HIDE THOSE KNIVES!!

(ROSEMARY/ROSARIO turns into default

ROSEMARY.)

ROSEMARY

-- God, what are you looking at? What's wrong? What just
happened? You don't believe me, do you? You think I'm one
of them telling you stories. You don't believe I'm really
here --

ROSEMARY/ROSIE

-- You're not here!

ROSEMARY/ROXIE

-- You're not here!

ROSEMARY/ROSE

-- You’re not here!

ROSEMARY/ROSARIO

-- YOU WERE NEVER HERE!

 39.

(ROSEMARY turns into ROSEMARY/ROSALIE,

a woman so old and slow, she barely
moves or breathes.)

ROSEMARY/ROSALIE

My.

MAYANNAH

Hello?

LAYNA

She's dead, right?

(MAYANNAH touches ROSEMARY/ROSALIE's

forehead, and pulls her hand away.)

MAYANNAH

Ay! Hot!

LAYNA
(putting knives away)
What's going on with her?

MAYANNAH

It's like she over-heated ... she shut down.

LAYNA

I'm ready to shut down.

ROSEMARY/ROSALIE

Mind.

MAYANNAH

She's going to be fine. I think she's just resting.

LAYNA

Are you sure we don't need your doctor? Maybe he's got a
spare straight jacket?
 40.

MAYANNAH

Poor thing. You wanted to know what the soul is like? This
one's in shreds because of what they did to her ...

LAYNA

How can you be so calm? You know what you brought into your
house?

MAYANNAH

I do.

LAYNA

And that's cool with you?

MAYANNAH

It is.

LAYNA

So is that why you picked her? Because she's a village?

MAYANNAH

I picked her for her lovely eyes.

LAYNA

Them why, out of this endless army of screwed up people that

night in front of the bar, why did you have to pick me?

MAYANNAH

I told you.

LAYNA

Yeah, my hands. “Lovely eyes, lovely hands.” That explains

the whole thing.

MAYANNAH

Some more rum?

 41.

LAYNA

I mean, for all I know you and Rosemary are working together
to play some wicked sick game on me.

MAYANNAH

Why would we do that?

ROSEMARY/ROSALIE

Has.

LAYNA

Who needs a reason to be cruel anymore? It's sport. It's

fun. It's: let's see how much we can get away with.

MAYANNAH

Layna, that's a little paranoid --

LAYNA

You're the one with the fucking army! And the naked Jesuses!

MAYANNAH

But I've given you no reason to --

LAYNA

Don't you think this happens to me all the time? That I'm
victim to little bouts of mental cruelty a dozen times a day?
Don't you think I feel the creepy little war going on out
there between the weak and the strong?

MAYANNAH

But we can make something with the three of us that's real

and healthy --

LAYNA

Healthy? I haven't slept in days. I'm so alone, I'm free-

falling. People and the words they say don't connect. I
don't recognize the world I was born into. Everyone's got
secrets but no one's got privacy. And soon as it gets dark,
the soldiers crawl out like vampires and make things worse.
 42.

MAYANNAH

But with me and Rosemary, in this house, you don't have to be

alone.

LAYNA

But something in me was stolen. I'm beyond alone. I'm less

than myself.

MAYANNAH

But don't you feel potential between us? To be more than

friends? More than lovers?

LAYNA

Mayannah, I came here for money. Not to be friends. Money.

Please, give me the money so I can go.

MAYANNAH

I can't.

LAYNA

Look, I really need to get out of this country. To live in

some village somewhere. Not just because of what this
country's become, which is bad enough, heart-breaking enough.
I need to go so I can forget him. To be where everything
doesn't remind me of how stupid I've been ...

MAYANNAH

Say it with me: men are mierda.

LAYNA

When he turned on me he didn't just take himself away, he

took pieces of all my important organs, slices of my
memories, half my prayers. I was channel-surfing the first
time I saw Miguel ...

MAYANNAH

My father's name!
 43.

LAYNA

It was a sea of faces. So many of those TV faces are

plastic, like the opposite of attractive. But there he was
suddenly. I couldn't take my eyes off him. He wasn't
plastic or perfect but that's what made him perfect. I
started seeing him right away. At six, I'd turn on the TV
and get in bed. At first I'd close my eyes and just listened
to him. I wouldn't give myself the pleasure of looking at
his face. Just to heighten the suspense and joy. Then I'd
open my eyes to watch his mouth form those words, those lips
around those orb-shaped vowels, and I'd get so horny. By the
time I took care of business, his broadcast was over and I
turned him off until eleven, and it would start all over
again.

ROSEMARY/ROSALIE

Been.

LAYNA

Why did everything have to turn to shit? All I wanted was to

look at him, listen to him. There was all this endless stuff
between us. It was the only time I understood what
"infinity" meant. Like there was an infinite number of
choices between us, an infinite number of ways to be happy.
And for one sweet month, I thought I was pregnant! I had
dreams of a daughter with wild, dark hair, like yours. But
she was just a dream.

MAYANNAH

A dream.

LAYNA

Then one night at six, I turned on the TV and he didn't say

anything. He just sat there, staring at me. I didn't know
what to do, so I hit the side of the TV -- and he "woke up"
and started his broadcast. Okay, weird. But then he did the
same thing at eleven -- except this time he had a scary,
annoyed reaction when I hit the TV. Same thing happened the
next day! I got so freaked, I changed to another channel! I
mean, I can't be in a relationship, even if the sex is great,
if I'm scared of the other person, you know? I'm not crazy
for thinking that, right? Then I woke up one morning. It
was that first week of martial law. And my TV was already
on! And there he was. Just staring at me. And I lost it.
I started screaming: "Leave me alone! You're too crazy for
me!
 44.

It's over between us!” I was walking up and down, foaming at

the mouth, and that's when I saw his eyes following me.
Well, I unplugged the TV and threw it out the window.

ROSEMARY/ROSALIE

Ruined.

LAYNA

A few nights later I was in the only government-approved bar

in my neighborhood, drowning my sorrows, and I didn't notice
the TV. It was eleven. I was the only woman. The streets
were quiet except for the armored vehicles. The place was
full of cigarette smoke -- and tension. Because no one knew
what was going to happen. When the news came on, I thought
they were going to show that woman who set herself on fire in
front of the Supreme Court to protest the canceled election
and the arrest and torture of the dissidents -- but, no -- it
was him. With a really nasty look on his face. I'm
screaming: "You can't hurt me anymore, motherfucker!" He
smirked! The sound was off but the captions were on. So I
started reading. You know what I read? The fucker was
reading my diary! On the air! All the men in the bar got,
like, riveted to my sordid life story. To all the ways love
turns to shit. To all the creative abuse men have turned
into art-forms. To all the tricks I used just to survive.
My face turned white from dread, then red from anger. And
the men standing around me, who were learning all the dark
secrets of a single woman's mind, they were hooked. Some
took notes. Some texted their buddies. All laughed at my
dumb, pathetic life. When they saw my face change colors,
they figured out it was me they were reading about. All
their eyes locked on me. This piece of nervous meat who had
the balls to think she knew how a man's great mind worked.
Those eyes started to strip me, Mayannah. To pull off my
clothes, then my skin. Then all the inner goo, down to the
electricity in my nerves, to my soul, which they tried to see
with their x-ray eyes, reducing me to nothing, to air, to
moisture, to nothing. When they knew everything they needed
to know about me, I didn't need to exist.

(Beat.)

I left the bar crying and grabbed a streetlamp so I wouldn't

fall over and that's when a stranger with morbid eyes and
black hair walked up to me and knew I'd be too weak and
lonely to say no to her beauty, her wealth, and her
invitation to dinner on Saturday night ...
 45.

ROSEMARY/ROSALIE

By.

LAYNA

I used to look to a lover to reflect myself back to me, to

describe reality to me: I'd know about my soul that way; I'd
have some idea of my own intelligence and value because of
the dented mirrors my lover held up, and I'd look into them
and search for the truth and try to understand what my soul
was made of. This man taught me that all these mirrors lie,
Mayannah. They lie.

ROSEMARY/ROSALIE

Poverty.

LAYNA

Now, when I'm in bed, and think about love and what it does
to my heart, I can feel my heart changing shape. First it's
a pyramid, then it's round and hard like a fist, then soft
and gooey like a giant amoeba -- never valentine-shaped or
pretty or pink. And it always feels way too big for my body.
And all I want is to take my big, freakish heart and get out
of this country and go into the world and find a love so good
and real, it will make my heart change into a true valentine
shape. But my heart always seems about to collapse under its
own weight and I'm sure I'm going to die from its crazy
hunger and its unbearable ability to feel. Does that make
any sense?

MAYANNAH

Si, mi amor, si.

(MAYANNAH goes off.)

ROSEMARY/ROSALIE

My.

(Mayannah comes back with a black

leather bag.)
 46.

LAYNA

What's that?

MAYANNAH

Enough money to get you out of this country forever. What

happens to your heart after that, Layna, I don't know.

(MAYANNAH hands the money to LAYNA.)

LAYNA

Wow -- this is mine? I don't have to do anything for it?

MAYANNAH

You've gone through enough. Just take the money and go home.
I'll watch over her -- them -- until they're okay to go.

LAYNA

I'm really done?

MAYANNAH

If you want to go now, I'll call the driver.

ROSEMARY/ROSALIE

Mind.

LAYNA

Someone who keeps their word. That's new in my life. I

guess maybe I was wrong about you.

MAYANNAH

I'm sorry we never got to be friends.

LAYNA

I'm sorry I was so high-maintenance tonight.

ROSEMARY/ROSALIE

Has.
 47.

(MAYANNAH starts to clear the table,

blowing out the black candles, etc.)

LAYNA

This totally ruins your plan for tonight, doesn't it? This
whole thing you do every year. I mean, what did you expect
me and Rosemary to do?

MAYANNAH

It doesn't matter now. It was stupid ...

LAYNA

Well, I think it's cool you wanted me and Rosemary to be your

friends. I know what it's like to live without any love. I
hope that changes for you. Maybe you'll meet someone nice
sometime?

MAYANNAH
(the meat)
I'll have to throw this all out ...

LAYNA

Have you ever loved anyone like I did? Crazy like that?

MAYANNAH

My mind has been ....

ROSEMARY/ROSALIE

Been.

MAYANNAH

There are forms of love I just don't know and don't think
I'll ever know.

LAYNA

I know all the shitty forms. Like I have a PhD in it.

 48.

MAYANNAH

If I want love, well, este, it's a good thing I'm filthy

rich.

LAYNA

You pay for men?

ROSEMARY/ROSALIE

Ruined.

MAYANNAH

Men, boys, women, groups on tour. El Doctor checks them out.

Says it's good for me to do it as much as I can. But I have
rules. I never have the same person more than once. No
names. And I’m not supposed to enjoy it, Layna. Sometimes
I put nails in my bed. I once made love to a man in a
coffin. I had sex with a woman on her dying day. I felt her
final breath on my cheek -- and I came.

LAYNA

Just when I'm starting to like you ...

MAYANNAH

I can only have sex that takes me far from all this, where I
can smell the dirt in my grave and feel the rough chill of my
tombstone.

ROSEMARY/ROSALIE

By.

MAYANNAH

Where do you go -- even if it's just in your dreams? You and

your love?

LAYNA

I see us on the beach.

 49.

The waves make, like, liquid sucking sounds. And we touch

each other in broad daylight right in front of ...

LAYNA AND MAYANNAH

... the birds and joggers.

LAYNA

The trouble is, he made me think the only true, good, free,
perfect love is the love you imagine.

MAYANNAH

Because he broke something in you.

LAYNA

Is that why I miss him so much?

MAYANNAH

It's not him you miss. What you miss is yourself, unbroken.

ROSEMARY/ROSALIE

Poverty.

LAYNA

I do. You should've seen me as a little girl. I was so

tough. So cool.

MAYANNAH

I was that kind of girl too.

LAYNA

Maybe we could've been friends. You're a nice person.

MAYANNAH

You think so?

LAYNA

Well, a little too gothic for your own good, and maybe I
would redecorate a little ...
 50.

ROSEMARY/ROSALIE

My.

MAYANNAH

That night, in front of the bar, on the one day in the year I
go out, and I love it because it feels like freedom, and that
feeling scares me in a good way, I saw so many people. I
rejected them all. Except for Rosemary who had these haunted
eyes I couldn't forget. And there was something in your
hands, Layna. Like I knew them before.

LAYNA

Like from another life?

MAYANNAH

Hands that put me to bed. Hands that held copies of Borges

and Kipling. Hands that worked so hard for my future.

LAYNA

A better life?

MAYANNAH

A better life. Yes.

LAYNA

How do you find that? A better life? A completely new way

to live? Do you have to do like Rosemary and be so many
people maybe one of them will survive and be happy?

ROSEMARY/ROSALIE

Mind.

MAYANNAH

Maybe we could do that. If we can be friends. Maybe it's

not too late to find a new way to live. Really live, you
know?

LAYNA

Out of this country?

 51.

MAYANNAH

Away from the staff and the soldiers --

LAYNA

-- and the past --

MAYANNAH

-- and the animal meat. What do you think? You and me and
all the Rosemaries!

LAYNA

Could get crowded.

MAYANNAH

We'll live in a big house, in a cool, obscure country. We'll

go topless all day and cook big meals together!

LAYNA

No endangered species!

MAYANNAH

You could find love. Rosemary could find peace and

wholeness. I could wear another color besides black. I
could travel to India and see tigers in person. I'll finally
finish this madness. And we could start right now. We don't
have to wait for anyone's permission. I'm a goddamn grown
woman. And I have money.

ROSEMARY/ROSALIE

Has.

MAYANNAH

I could sell these rocks -- or use them like dollar bills. I

can bribe the driver. We can flirt with the soldiers.

LAYNA

I know how to flirt.

 52.

MAYANNAH

We'll buy new IDs on the black market and start our lives
tonight, Layna. Yes?

LAYNA

Yes.

MAYANNAH

Yes!

ROSEMARY/ROSALIE

Been.

(MAYANNAH takes out her cellphone.)

(Another series of eerie police, fire,

and emergency sirens -- closer this
time, LOUDER.)

(MAYANNAH listens, immobile.)

LAYNA

May' ... ?

ROSEMARY/ROSALIE

Ruined.

(LAYNA goes to the window looks out.)

LAYNA

It's okay, they're going somewhere else.

(MAYANNAH puts the phone down.)

MAYANNAH

What do I think I'm doing?

 53.

LAYNA

It's okay -- we can go.

MAYANNAH

I didn't go the first time ... I can't go now ...

LAYNA

I can call the driver if you can't.

MAYANNAH

No. I can't do it. I can't go.

LAYNA

With all that money, we can do anything --

MAYANNAH

Fuck the money -- !

(MAYANNAH tears at her earrings,

necklaces, and bracelets and throws
them on the floor. LAYNA grabs
MAYANNAH and makes her stop.)

LAYNA

What's wrong with you? Why can't you get out of this morgue?
What the fuck is keeping you here?

ROSEMARY/ROSALIE

By.

MAYANNAH

Can you tell me ... why would God curse a child, Layna?

LAYNA

Did God curse a child? Is that what happened to you?

 54.

ROSEMARY/ROSALIE

Poverty.

MAYANNAH

I can't look out a window or an open door without wanting to

throw up.

LAYNA
C'mon, stop it.

MAYANNAH

Every room I look into, it's the same room. The same thing
happens there.

LAYNA

What room?

MAYANNAH

I don't want to go in there again --

LAYNA

Where is the room?

MAYANNAH

I said I don't want to go in there! I don't want to see it

anymore!

LAYNA

If you don't go back into that room, you're never going to

leave it. Is that what you want? To be stuck? So next year
you can go out and find two more pathetic losers to freak
out? And the year after? When does all this end, May'?

ROSEMARY/ROSALIE

My.
 55.

MAYANNAH

I don't know if I can tell you --

LAYNA

If not us, then who? That staff you never talk to? The
soldiers? The police who tortured poor Rosemary? Your dead
mother and father? They can't hear you. They can't take
care of you. I can hear you, though. I can.

(Beat.)

MAYANNAH

It's a church. It's a church, Layna!

ROSEMARY/ROSALIE

Mind.

MAYANNAH

It's a church.

LAYNA

I'm getting that it's a church.

MAYANNAH

An old church in Puerto Rico.

LAYNA

Make me see it. Take me there.

MAYANNAH

The three of us are in the church.

ROSEMARY/ROSALIE

Has.
 56.

MAYANNAH

It's my first time in this old church. They were married

here. I'm so nervous, I need to pee. I'm so little, I have
to look up to see everything. Mami was here. Papi here.

ROSEMARY/ROSALIE

Been.

MAYANNAH

Holding hands.

LAYNA

Holding hands.

MAYANNAH

Everyone's looking at us. That's because my Papi drives

women crazy. Young women whisper his name as he walks by --

LAYNA

Miguel!

MAYANNAH

They say it with such heat. La India doesn't like it.

LAYNA

But you love it, don't you?

MAYANNAH

Yes. I'm proud. I have the best Papi. But I see him only
on Sundays and on TV. When he reads the international news.
I always kiss the TV when he's on. And he always smiles when
I do it. He once read my poem on TV.

LAYNA

It all sounds so good, so perfect.

 57.

ROSEMARY/ROSALIE

Ruined.

MAYANNAH

It's the day of my First Communion. The three of us hold

hands up the aisle. Ay, the smells. Camellias, “Old Spice,”
“Paradise.” My new black shoes are tight. I'm in a long
white dress Mami made by hand for me. My hair done all
special. The floor creaks. The air is humid, old. In the
pews, poor people, on their knees, pray to la Virgen for
lottery numbers to hit, for pregnancies to end well, for
husbands to stop cheating -- they beg and beg for a million
secular miracles. Then I see him.

ROSEMARY/ROSALIE

By.

MAYANNAH

He's ... almost as big as Papi. Almost ... naked. I'm

scared. I want to pull back. Then I see the blood! In
front of me is a young man impaled on an upside-down sword,
nailed into space. And -- he's sweating, he's breathing.
He's still alive. And he knows that I know. His dark eyes
move -- his mouth opens -- he tries to say something to me.
I scream: “Help him! Get him down from there! My parents
don't know what's wrong with me. And I don't know why
everyone keeps walking past this poor, handsome young man --
those strong, long muscles. Those thin, hard hips -- those
dark eyes full of old music -- his soft, fleshy mouth. And
I'm the only one who can see him the way he really is. His
eyes beg me to wipe his bloody face and soothe his young,
mighty heart, to take him home, feed him rice and beans, put
my fingers in his wounds -- and eat his sorrow. I run out of
the church. He haunts me all day. Even after my parents
laugh at me for thinking that the huge wood crucifix in the
back of the church is real. They tell all their friends what
a boba I am for ruining my First Communion. That night we
have dinner. Lots of meat and butter. It's pouring rain.
I'm talking about a book report. My parents are excited
because they're going to India to shoot pictures of tigers in
the wild. This would be the first trip they'll take without
me -- and I'm hopping mad. And I can't stop thinking of the
crucifix because I know it's a bad omen, and I try to warn
them not to go to India without me and they just think I'm
being childish and that's the last time I see them alive.
I'm not in India to protect them and they don't come back.
 58.

ROSEMARY/ROSALIE

Poverty.

MAYANNAH

I wait by the window. Months pass. I scream for my parents,

for answers. Then I just stop screaming.

(Beat.)

La Dona forges some documents and takes control of my

parents' fortune. She sets up a corporation to raise me.
The house is full of sad-eyed, silent staff members, dressing
me, feeding me, listening to me rant and rave, trying to
relate to this stunned, eight-year-old orphan. Nobody kisses
me. When I start demanding some affection, La Dona tells me
my parents were eaten by tigers. Only parts of their bodies
were recovered. Those few bones were cremated. That ends it
for me.

ROSEMARY/ROSALIE

My mind.

MAYANNAH

So every year I celebrate the anniversary of our last night

together as a family by paying two complete strangers to have
dinner with me, and serving them tiger meat.

LAYNA

But, Mayannah, you can't say that was your fault --

MAYANNAH

Yes! If I had just convinced them to take me --

LAYNA

That's why you're torturing yourself? You were just a child.

 59.

MAYANNAH

And every year, I do everything I can to recreate that final

meal: the dishes, the rum, the tiger meat. But year after
year, no matter how perfectly I planned it, the miracle never
happened. Then I realized it can't be just any tiger. There
was only one and I had to find her.

ROSEMARY/ROSALIE

Has been.

MAYANNAH

That's why I was so sure this year would be different. This

year El Cocinero told me: “We found her! The daughter of the
tiger who ate your mother and father! This is her!”

LAYNA

This one's the daughter? That's who we're eating tonight?

ROSEMARY/ROSALIE

Ruined by.

MAYANNAH

Look at her. She's magnificent. Such a waste. That's why I

asked you: are we really what we eat? And can we ever really
know, Layna, what mysteries are passed down from mother to
daughter?

LAYNA

Or who is.

MAYANNAH

Yes, who.

LAYNA

That's why we're here. To eat the past.

ROSEMARY/ROSALIE

Poverty. My.
 60.

MAYANNAH

I figured something out when the Rosemaries exploded and you

talked about your love. All I wanted was to take back what
the world stole from me. But now I think ... this meal, this
night, doesn't belong just to me. This is also her night --
and yours.

LAYNA

Mine?

MAYANNAH

I can give you all the money I have. What will change,
Layna? Really change. Your heart? Your place in this dirty
food chain we live in? I think tonight, Layna, it's
possible, just possible, I don't know, but I think I can give
you something more than the money you crave. I can give you,
and poor Rosemary ...

ROSEMARY/ROSALIE

Mind has been.

(MAYANNAH pulls out Layna's chair at

the table, inviting her to sit.)

MAYANNAH

... a whole new life.

(LAYNA takes a breath, sits at her

place at the table, picks up her fork.)

LAYNA

A whole new life.

(LAYNA stabs the tiger meat, puts it in

her mouth and eats ... an unexpected
smile.)

Wow, it is good. Like chicken only not!

 61.

ROSALIE/ROSEMARY

Ruined by poverty.

(LAYNA hungrily eats the tiger meat.)

(MAYANNAH looks at her as if expecting

something to happen.)

(After a few moments, LAYNA stops,

confused.)

LAYNA

I don't feel anything. What was I supposed to feel?

MAYANNAH

I don't know exactly ...

(LAYNA gets up from the table. Goes to

MAYANNAH, hugs and kisses her.)

LAYNA

It didn't work. I'm sorry. Maybe it’s me. Maybe I don't

have the magic.

ROSEMARY/ROSALIE

My -- mind -- has -- been -- ruined -- by -- poverty ...

LAYNA

Aaaaaand she's back.

(ROSEMARY/ROSALIE becomes
ROSEMARY/MIGUEL, a middle-aged,
aristocratic Puerto Rican man, and
stares at LAYNA.)

ROSEMARY/MIGUEL

La India? Mi amor, is that you?

(LAYNA doesn't know how to respond.

She looks at MAYANNAH.)
 62.

LAYNA

Is that -- him?

MAYANNAH

Ay Dios mio.

ROSEMARY/MIGUEL

You look frightened, my India!

LAYNA

Is she -- ? Is he -- ?

ROSEMARY/MIGUEL

That's your nickname, isn't it?

LAYNA

Yes, but --

ROSEMARY/MIGUEL

What would you like to do? How do we start to trust each

other?

LAYNA

I don't know what to do, Mayanna.

ROSEMARY/MIGUEL

May I suggest ...

(Feeling weak, LAYNA takes off her

glasses.)

LAYNA

And I really feel weird ...

ROSEMARY/MIGUEL

... that we do something ...

 63.

LAYNA
(weaker)
I should go ...

ROSEMARY/MIGUEL

... like this?

(ROSEMARY/MIGUEL goes to LAYNA and

gently kisses her.)

(The kiss seems to send a jolt through

LAYNA's body.)

(As ROSEMARY/MIGUEL kisses LAYNA,

MAYANNAH gasps -- not from surprise,
but because it looks so familiar.)

LAYNA

Oh my God ...

(ROSEMARY/MIGUEL goes to the necklace

MAYANNAH had ripped off her body, picks
it up, and puts on around Layna's neck.
Takes down her hair.)

(A struggle in LAYNA's mind and body as

she becoming LAYNA/INDIA, a young
aristocratic Puerto Rican woman.)

ROSEMARY/MIGUEL

I ask again: how do we start?

LAYNA/INDIA

Do we take a walk, Miguel?

MAYANNAH

A walk would be perfect.

ROSEMARY/MIGUEL

A walk would be perfect!

 64.

MAYANNAH

Along a body of water.

LAYNA/INDIA

Along a body of water.

ROSEMARY/MIGUEL

Something deep, ancient, and not too polluted.

LAYNA/INDIA

Reminding us that we're shallow, young, and a little dirty.

ROSEMARY/MIGUEL

No words for a long time.

LAYNA/INDIA

Words would ruin it.

ROSEMARY/MIGUEL

We let the tide and the moon have their conversation.

LAYNA/INDIA

They talk about love and attraction.

ROSEMARY/MIGUEL

They talk about gravity and moisture.

LAYNA/INDIA

Would I stop during our walk? Would I stop in your path?

ROSEMARY/MIGUEL

And face me. Block my way.

LAYNA/INDIA

My two strong legs slightly apart. My mouth open.

 65.

ROSEMARY/MIGUEL

The moon and the tide stop talking. They watch us.
Anticipation is killing them.

LAYNA/INDIA

I spend a long time looking at your face. Planning my move.

ROSEMARY/MIGUEL

My hands sweat.

LAYNA/INDIA

Do I forget how I was raised? Good Catholic girl? A good

family? One of the best in Puerto Rico! A reputation as
long as history itself!

ROSEMARY/MIGUEL

Anticipation is killing me!

LAYNA/INDIA

Do I forget all that and simply let your hand come down
inside my legs, Miguel?

ROSEMARY/MIGUEL

Not a bad way to start the day!

LAYNA/INDIA

I want to stop you, but I can't. Everything I've been taught

about men -- it's all true! Pigs, all of you!

ROSEMARY/MIGUEL

Gracias! Then?

LAYNA/INDIA

I'm afraid I'll be seen. Not by God -- but by the staff my

parents employ to spy on me! Their princess! Their
prisoner!
 66.

ROSEMARY/MIGUEL

Then we go to eat. We talk about the future.

LAYNA/INDIA

I examine every word you say. I try to sift the lies from
the half-truths.

ROSEMARY/MIGUEL

I'm all about the truth.

LAYNA/INDIA

It takes more than one dinner.

ROSEMARY/MIGUEL

It takes days, then months.

LAYNA/INDIA

And I learn how to love you.

ROSEMARY/MIGUEL

And I learn all of you.

LAYNA/INDIA

But your family doesn't trust you me. They're so white they
think they're from Spain.

ROSEMARY/MIGUEL

But your green eyes and dark Taino skin devastate me. And we
marry.

LAYNA/INDIA

In an old church.

ROSEMARY/MIGUEL

With an ageless, life-sized crucifix of wood.

 67.

LAYNA/INDIA

Then. Slowly. Easily. With visions of angels in our heads.

ROSEMARY/MIGUEL

And in our dreams, night after night ...

LAYNA/INDIA

We make a child.

ROSEMARY/MIGUEL

We make a child.

LAYNA/INDIA

We make a child.

ROSEMARY/MIGUEL

The child is beautiful, with long wild hair and dark eyes and
she's the third, final, and most perfect part of this little
world we've created. She saves us from each other, from the
wild animals that stalk our imaginations. She's our purpose,
our compass. Something in her that seems to keep us alert
through all the morbid dangers of daily life ... like a good
luck charm.

(LAYNA/INDIA and ROSEMARY/MIGUEL turn

to MAYANNAH.)

LAYNA/INDIA

Are you hungry, mi'ja?

(The sound of rain as it pelts the big

windows.)

MAYANNAH

No.

ROSEMARY/MIGUEL

Why not?
 68.

MAYANNAH

'Cuz.

ROSEMARY/MIGUEL

Oh, I know why ...

(ROSEMARY/MIGUEL mimes the crucifixion

and laughs.)

LAYNA/INDIA

Don't tease her again, Miguel.

ROSEMARY/MIGUEL

When did I say anything -- ?

MAYANNAH

You're laughing.

LAYNA/INDIA

She's sensitive.

ROSEMARY/MIGUEL

Ay Dios, when did I say a word -- ?

LAYNA/INDIA

If she starts crying again ...

ROSEMARY/MIGUEL

She's not going to cry. Are you, Mayannah?

MAYANNAH

No. Depends.

ROSEMARY/MIGUEL

You made a little mistake. There's not enough light in that

stupid church. And, when you think about it, they don't have
to make it look so real. So bloody. Sadistic Catholic
bastards!
 69.

(LAYNA/INDIA laughs, crosses herself.)

LAYNA/INDIA

Ay Dios, Miguel, watch what you say in front of the child!

ROSEMARY/MIGUEL

Right, mi cielo?

MAYANNAH

Si. Catholic bastards.

LAYNA/INDIA

I hope you're pleased with yourself!

MAYANNAH

Do I have to eat?

LAYNA/INDIA

Of course you have to eat. This is the last night we're

going to eat together for three weeks.

MAYANNAH

Jesus killed my appetite.

ROSEMARY/MIGUEL

Ven aqui!

LAYNA/INDIA

You're going to spoil our last dinner ...

ROSEMARY/MIGUEL

Pobrecita. Que te vengas aqui, carajo!

(MAYANNAH approaches ROSEMARY/MIGUEL

tentatively.)

MAYANNAH

Not funny, Papi.

 70.

ROSEMARY/MIGUEL

I know; my sweet angel of an angel; I know ...

(ROSEMARY/MIGUEL and MAYANNAH hold each

other a long moment.)

MAYANNAH

Okay, I'm hungry now.

LAYNA/INDIA

How the hell do you do that?

ROSEMARY/MIGUEL

Now sit down now and stop being foolish, boba.

MAYANNAH

Yes, Papi. You’re the boba!

(MAYANNAH sits.)

(LAYNA/INDIA serves food.)

ROSEMARY/MIGUEL

This lechon smells like heaven itself ...

MAYANNAH

We shouldn't eat meat.

ROSEMARY/MIGUEL

Pity the poor vegetarian, I say!

(LAYNA/INDIA pours rum and lights black

candles.)

(MAYANNAH runs to the record player and

turns it on, excited. A BOLERO plays.)

LAYNA/INDIA

What are you going to do while we're gone besides miss us?
 71.

MAYANNAH

Book report.

ROSEMARY/MIGUEL

On?

MAYANNAH

Tigers!

ROSEMARY/MIGUEL

Ah!

MAYANNAH

I said it a million times!

LAYNA/INDIA

You don't need to be sarcastic, young lady.

MAYANNAH

But he never remembers! Ugh!

ROSEMARY/MIGUEL

My memory. Worthless! Shoot me in the head, por Dios!

LAYNA/INDIA

I can't tell you how excited I am about this trip. We need

this trip.

(ROSEMARY/MIGUEL and LAYNA/INDIA hold

each other and dance close.
ROSEMARY/MIGUEL smiles at MAYANNAH.)

ROSEMARY/MIGUEL

Oye. We'll take pictures for you. We'll have many, many
pictures of tigers for your book report.

MAYANNAH

It's not fair. Why can't you take me? I can help.
 72.

I'm not a baby. The Jesus in church -- scared me. His eyes
did. It's bad luck if you see Jesus still alive. I read
that in the stupid Bible! If you go without me, it's bad. I
feel it. And you can't leave me with La Doña. She's a big,
fat liar! Please? What if I never see you again? Mami,
Papi, will you please take me to India with you to see the
tigers?

(ROSEMARY/MIGUEL and LAYNA/INDIA look

at each other.)

ROSEMARY/MIGUEL

What do you think?

LAYNA/INDIA

We made our plans.

ROSEMARY/MIGUEL

Can't we change our plans?

LAYNA/INDIA

Can we change what's already done?

ROSEMARY/MIGUEL

She's been good.

LAYNA/INDIA

Can we change what's meant to be?

ROSEMARY/MIGUEL

We can change whatever we want to change, mi India.

LAYNA/INDIA

She's been so very good, that's true.

 73.

ROSEMARY/MIGUEL

She has been perfect.

MAYANNAH

Is that yes?

(ROSEMARY/MIGUEL and LAYNA/INDIA stop

dancing.)

ROSEMARY/MIGUEL

Si, mi cielo. The answer, tonight -- is always -- was always

-- and will forever be always --

MAYANNAH

... Yes!

(ROSEMARY/MIGUEL, LAYNA/INDIA sit at

the table.)

(MAYANNAH hugs them.)

... yes, I'm going.

(MAYANNAH looks around -- at her

resurrected parents, at the world
that's completely changed.)

I'm going.

(MAYANNAH pours herself a shot of rum,

takes a sip, and coughs. LAYNA/INDIA
and ROSEMARY/MIGUEL laugh at her and
begin to eat.)

(The family eats together, lively,

animated, laughing ... as lights go
down on them, the bolero gets louder,
and police sirens fill the air -- then
black out.)

END OF PLAY