A Play A Day #123

Shooting Pool

Cast:
Woman
Man

Setting: A bar with a pool table, after hours. Lights are off except over pool table. Woman is getting ready to shoot eight ball in. It's not an easy shot, lots of green, last ball on the table. There is a crash, sound of a door opening, women jerks upright, turns around, grasping pool cue tightly, a masked gunman enters, he is young and extremely nervous, pointing gun at woman, she doesn't move. The young man is so jumpy and excitable that it's entirely possible that he might accidentally fire the gun at any time.


Man: Hands up! Hands up! Now! Fucking bitch, now!!

(woman slowly raises hands, pool cue is still in one hand)

Man: Drop the stick! Drop it!

Woman: (calmly) Can I put it down gently? It's my favorite cue.

Man: Drop it, right fucking now!!

Woman: (starts to slowly place cue on table, looks at him very intently) Why are...

Man: Shut up! No fucking talking!!

Woman: (calm) I'm just wondering...

Man: Shut up! Shut up!!

Woman: Alright. (long pause) Ummm... now what?

Man: Just hold... Shut up! I told you to shut the fuck up!

Woman: You probably want money?

Man: Get me the fucking money!

Woman: None left. Manager took it home.

Man: You fucking liar! You're the fucking manager!

Woman: Just a bartender. I'm closing tonight. Thought I'd shoot...

Man: Stop fucking around! I know you're the manager!

Woman: How do you know that?

Man: I been here before!

Woman: Really?

Man: Yes! Get the money!!

Woman: Now, son, I already told...

Man: I'm not your son! I'm not anyone's fucking son! Get the money!

Woman: Must be somebody's son.

Man: I'm no son! Shut up! Now! Shut up!!

Woman: Momma won't claim you anymore?

Man: Fuck you!! Stop fucking talking to me!! The money!

Woman: Sorry. It's not here. The mana...

Man: (grabbing her viciously by the hair, snapping her head back, gun to her neck, very loud screaming) You're the fucking manager!! Get the money! Get it now!!

Woman: (fear for the first time) O.K.! O.K.! O.K.... O.K. ... O.K. ... just... c'mon now, just... c'mon now... relax... let go of my...

Man: I won't fucking relax! (pulling hair violently again, she cries out in pain) Fuck you... fuck you... get the money!!

Woman: Alright... alright... calm... uh... please let go... please... I'll get the money!

Man: (letting go violently, throwing her head forward as he does, keeping gun very close to her head, he is sweating with nerves, shaking like crazy) Fucking right you will! Get it, get it now!

Woman: You know... you were right... I'm the manager... sorry I lied to you... it's just... I'm not only the manager, I own this place. That money is what I live on...

Man: Fuck if I care! Get it now, fucking bitch!

Woman: (observes his shaking) This is you first time doing something like this...

Man: Fuck you! Stop stalling!

Woman: You're 16? 17?

Man: Shut up! Shut up! I want the...

Woman: You don't have to do this!

Man: You fucking cunt! (grabs her hair hard again, gun at the soft underside of her neck) Fuck you! I'm gonna fucking kill you now!

Woman: (rapidly) Not like this! You don't... not like this...

Man: Shut your fucking face!

Woman: You can turn around... I'll let you go.

Man: You'll let me go?! That's fucking funny!

Woman: You knew before you came in here that this was a mistake...

Man: Fuck you! (throws her to the ground, she cries out in pain, she lands on her knees, he snaps her head back, straddles over her back and stands tall, putting the gun barrel directly on top of her head) Just stop...

Woman: A mistake that you can still stop... you don't have to do it... I won't tell anyone...

Man: (more interested than he wants to show) You already fucking lied to me once!

Woman: Yes yes yes... I did... You're right, you're right, I shouldn't have... but not this time... I won't...

Man: You can't! You can't lie! I'll kill you! BAM! Right through your fucking head!

Woman: I know... I can't... not this time... o.k. o.k.... so a deal... uhh.. you leave... I tell no one.

Man: Fuck that! I need that money!

Woman: O.K. O.K. Sure, sure... uhhhhh... better terms then? Uhhhh... a bet?

Man: A fucking bet?

Woman: Yes... a bet.

Man: Like what?

Woman: (thinking fast) Uhhh... pool! Pool!

Man: What?

Woman: See that shot on the table? (he looks over his shoulder) Eight ball...

Man: Yeah... eight ball.

Woman: Right... long shot, not easy...

Man: So?!

Woman: If I make that shot, you leave, and I don't tell anyone...

Man: If you miss?

Woman: You get the money.

Man: And you don't tell anyone?

Woman: Ummm... no... (he snaps her head back hard again)... yes yes... o.k. yes... I don't tell anyone that I've been robbed....

Man: (pause) You're a liar. Fuck it! How about I shoot you and take the money, then you can't tell anyone.

Woman: (he cocks the gun) No! No! Better terms! A better deal for you!

Man: It better be! Why should I make a deal with you to get what I came here to take anyway?

Woman: Right... right... so a better deal... (pause)

Man: What's the deal, bitch!

Woman: Uhhh... it... uhhhh....

Man: NOW!! (pushes her head to the floor)

Woman: ME! ME! You... get... me!

Man: (lifting her head up) What?

Woman: I miss the shot... you get the money, and... you can have sex with me.

Man: What makes you think I want that; you ain't so fucking hot.

Woman: It's what I have. I'm just making a guess.

Man: And if you make it?

Woman: You leave; I tell no one.

Man: Probably a pool shark.

Woman: No... no...

Man: You got a favorite cue, you already said that.

Woman: I play a bit... I mean I run a bar... that's to be expected...

Man: Then I get to call the pocket.

Woman: (pause) O.K... you call it...

Man: Same deal?

Woman: Yes... same deal... like we just said...

Man: But I get to call it?

Woman: Yes, yes...

Man: Sex and the money?

Woman: If I miss...

Man: And you tell no one?

Woman: I'm telling no one whether I make it or not.

Man: Sounds just about right... but why don't I just fuck you, kill you, then take the money?

Woman: Because you want a way out.

Man: No, I don't want...

Woman: And I'm giving you that chance.

Man: You aren't the one who gets to say what chances I get!

Woman: Yes! Yes, I am. You rape me, rob me, kill me; you're life is done. Even if they never catch you, you'll never sleep soundly again.

Man: You fucking...

Woman: You'll be trapped in a past life. You'll never escape.

Man: You don't have a...

Woman: I'm letting you out of that. Take the deal, and you get off free... you might get the money and have sex with me... with my permission. I make it, you have a new life...

Man: I don't need a new life!

Woman: Yes... you do. You're miserable right now; something driven you to do something on an impulse... an impulse you wish desperately you could have back...

Man: (obviously thinking, trying to stay tough) I... but...

Woman: I'm giving you the chance to pretend this didn't happen. I make the shot, I tell no one. Your life is free of this, forever. You'll be free again.

Man: (heart's not in it as much) Shut up. Shut up. Shut...

Woman: You don't want to fuck me. You don't want the money. Not like this. It's a trap.

Man: Shut up!

Woman: Your own trap! You set it! I'm giving you a way out.

Man: Shut up!!

Woman: I'm offering you salvation.

Man: (pulling her up by her hair and throwing her against the pool table) SHUT UP!!! Take it! Take the fucking shot!!

Woman: (picking up cue, calming herself) Call the pocket.

Man: (long pause, he is shaking violently, he can't decide) The.... uhh... the... the... uhhh... no... the... this one. (puts his hand down on the pocket that is closest to the eight ball)

Woman: (looks at him for a while) That's... that's... the easiest pocket for this shot... you do realize...

Man: TAKE THE FUCKING SHOT!!!

(Weird white noise sound starts low, getting louder, Woman leans forward to line up shot, draws back on the cue a few times, hits cue ball, lights out immediately, white noise sound up all the way for a couple seconds, then silence)

(end)