Lorenzo Buford
Act One
SCENE ONE
BUS STOP IN A LOWER WORLD / BEFORE SUNRISE
MAX is standing slightly away from KIMBERLY and CAMERON who are showing signs of impatience waiting at the bus shelter. KIMBERLY is dressed very provocatively. MAX is dressed in black and CAMERON is wearing a leather vest, no shirt and leather chaps. SYKES is standing in the background unnoticed by everyone. KIMBERLY and CAMERON are holding bus tickets. The sound of a heavenly choir is heard in the background as the ANGEL enters.
ANGEL
(Entering) Bus line 35 will be arriving in 20 minutes. Please have your tickets ready.
MAX
They keep ignoring me.
ANGEL
This bus is for the living.
MAX
I lost my ticket!
ANGEL
And your reality! (Walks away) Twenty minutes people.
MAX
(Yells after him) What about me?
ANGEL
(Stops and turns abruptly and respond with slight arrogance. Exits) You didn't wake up.
MAX
(Yells after the ANGEL) I'm stranded goddamit.
KIMBERLY
This is fucked!
CAMERON
Someone say fuck?
KIMBERLY
I don't want to be here!
MAX
Shit happens.
KIMBERLY
That's your solution, shit happens? No wonder you don't have a ticket.
MAX
Thanks for the sympathy.
CAMERON
(To KIMBERLY) Seems like you're numbers almost up, so let's toss caution to the wind, and have party.
KIMBERLY
I'm not into petite experiences.
CAMERON
I'm hung like a horse...wanna ride?
MAX
Why don't you leave her alone?
CAMERON
You wanna be my horse?
MAX
In your dreams.
CAMERON
Does this look like a goddamn dream?
CAMERON goes and takes sits at the bus shelter.
MAX
My name is Max.
KIMBERLY
Kimberly.
MAX
I've seen you a few times. (Points in a direction away from SYKES) I always stood over there in the shadows.
KIMBERLY
All this is so confusing. I'm supposed to be asleep in my bed.
MAX
Yeah.
KIMBERLY
Why doesn't somebody tell us when we're awake that we die each night and are reborn in the morning? If we don't take the bus, it means we are not going back to life but moving into death. Why doesn't somebody warn us?
MAX
Maybe it's different for others and this is how we perceive it.
KIMBERLY
Wow, that's smart.
MAX
If I was so smart, I wouldn't be here.
KIMBERLY
No one has a patent on immortality.
MAX
I wish I could break the cycle.
KIMBERLY
Why live forever when you're going to wrinkle? So Max, do you...?
MAX
I'm strictly a man's man.
KIMBERLY
Have you ever been with a woman?
MAX
No. Have you?
KIMBERLY
(Amused) Of course not, I mean, I think it's cool if that's what you want, but I like men; unfortunately, men have become an addiction.
MAX
Likewise.
CAMERON
(Interrupting) I was watching this porn and working some tight ass when I focused into here.
MAX
She doesn't want to hear it.
CAMERON
In fact, he looked like you. I know you!
MAX
Just keep your shit to yourself.
CAMERON
I'm not the one that used my face as a cushion.
KIMBERLY
Guys, there is a lady present.
CAMERON
This whole scenario is like being recycled.
MAX
(To CAMERON) You still have a ticket. If you want to stay, I'll take it.
CAMERON
I'm not that generous.
SYKES
(Does not step into the light as he speaks to CAMERON) You forgot my name the next morning.
CAMERON
(To SYKES) I'm consistent about being an asshole. So Sykes, do you think people who hide in shadows like to freak?
SYKES
Just give away all my trade secrets.
CAMERON
It's okay to have sex Sykes. Your parents did. How do you think you got here? A turkey baster?
SYKES
Is this the beginning of an undeclared war?
CAMERON
You know the rules, I don't apologize. (SYKES steps further back into the shadows as CAMERON makes his comments to the others.) We fucked twice then he attached himself like an emotional leech. He was amusing for a hook-up. Just a fuck.
KIMBERLY
(Gets up in CAMERON's face.) You're such a jerk. No one is impressed with your cheap imitation of manhood. Men like you always want to put a paperbag over someone's face and go on a rampage. One day, someone's going to flip men and fuck them like a whore without a name.
CAMERON
(Flirting) Been there, done that. Ass is ass to me. I don't care whose ass I'm servicing. I'll even pull up to your bumper baby.
KIMBERLY
You're disgusting.
CAMERON
You're not upset...just fascinated.
KIMBERLY
(Looks at MAX who is lost in thought.) You'll never know what fascinates me.
MAX
When I approached the bus, the distance gets further and further away.
KIMBERLY
If I get on the bus, I want to be sure...if I am...still beautiful...am I?
MAX
You have the face of an angel.
KIMBERLY
My hair will be falling out soon.
MAX
You still have your ticket. You're lucky.
CAMERON
(Interrupting) Are we? When I was a size queen, I was seduced by trade telling me they had the dick of death. I thought the size of their dick would kill me not the bullets it was shooting.
KIMBERLY
Even my beauty can't save me from this place.
MAX
Use to dance in these clubs where older men with rusty fingers always thought I had the gold. Sex was like breathing. I got paid very well for it. Producers offered more money if I fucked without condoms. Had sex before and after filming, during lunch breaks. Would cruise parks, bookstores, movie houses. Some days, I just had enough time to shower before the next one. Now, their faces are storm clouds in my head. Goddamn it, I wish I had a ticket. You don't know what it is like. I am no where.
KIMBERLY
There's got to be someone you can ask. Maybe they'll reconsider and give you a ticket.
MAX
I'm a ghost.
CAMERON
(Touches MAX's butt.) His ass was like a vacant room.
MAX
(Pushes CAMERON away) You're not my type.
KIMBERLY
When are we supposed to die?
MAX
You still have your ticket.
KIMBERLY
(Looks at her ticket and thinks for a moment.) I don't want my hair to fall out, take all those damn pills. People will look and whisper loudly, ‘Poor Kimberly, she was so pretty.' I'm not taking the bus. (Drops her ticket and runs off crying.)
MAX
Wait. (Picks up her ticket) It's not your time yet.
CAMERON
Girlfriend has got serious attitude problem.
MAX
It's always like this in the beginning.
CAMERON
Now you have a ticket.
MAX
They check the names.
CAMERON
If you can't ride the bus, cash it in on another ride.
MAX
I think I'm having dreams.
CAMERON
You're just remembering when you were alive.
MAX
I haven't figured it out yet, but it means something. It might be a way out.
CAMERON
Your number is up. (Flirting) So does the dick still work when you're dead?
MAX
I wouldn't know. And I do have a name.
CAMERON
I don't fuck names. Names put a person in your head and you in theirs. I can't be hanging out in somebody's head. At some point, they'll have expectations. I'm into the 3 F's. Find ‘em, fuck ‘em, and forget ‘em!
MAX
Did that stop their anger from eating away at you?
CAMERON
Fuck you okay. (Starts to exit.) I don't need to hear this shit from you and nobody else.
MAX
Everybody is somebody's victim.
CAMERON
Yeah, well fuck the ticket. (Tears up ticket.) See. I'm outta here. (Pause) I may not have had your ass yet, but I had your face. (Exits quickly as SYKES steps out of the shadows. He seems dazed, confused, half awake and half asleep.)
MAX
So what's your problem?
SYKES
Your face looks familiar. Do we know each other?
MAX
Made a movie called, The Face That Launched a Thousand Hips.
SYKES
I rarely watch foreign films.
MAX
This didn't have subtitles.
SYKES
Maybe it was at a book reading. (Thinks for a moment.) No, that would require your full attention.
MAX
Books are for people who don't have a life.
SYKES
Books do wonders for the imagination.
MAX
Made another film called Put It Where You Want It, Just Don't Leave It There.
SYKES
I like comedy. (Pause) Are you taking the bus?
MAX
No.
SYKES
Meeting someone?
MAX
There is no we.
SYKES
I'm also a singular sensation.
MAX
I was a porn star.
SYKES
Oh, well, my hand has seen more action than my body.
MAX
At least you know where your hand has been?
SYKES
Are you really a ghost?
MAX
My ticket expired.
SYKES
I could help you get a ticket.
MAX
I don't fuck the living.
SYKES
I'm sure they're all grateful for that. Well, I should get to my bus. (Starts to exit) Is it lonely being dead; not being reborn, I mean, don't you miss living?
MAX
I never let morning catch me looking in some trick's eyes.
SYKES
I'm the type that makes breakfast in the morning.
MAX
I am always anticipating my next fuck.
ANGEL
(Walks through) Bus line 35 boarding at Gate 7. Please have your ticket ready.
MAX
Guess you're waking up now.
SYKES
Maybe we'll meet again? (The ANGEL takes his ticket.) I read in this book I was editing that death is only a transition to another state of consciousness and we create our own heaven and hell. Maybe I'll see you in heaven.
MAX
I don't do sympathy fucks.
SYKES
Do I look like I need tea and sympathy?
MAX
There are no free rides.
SYKES
Maybe your anger has made you a ghost.
MAX
Don't feel sorry for me, I wouldn't feel sorry for you. (Takes a few steps. Stops. Looks at SYKES. There's a look of compassion then he attempts to hide it.) Sorry, I don't do chocolate, strictly a vanilla kind of guy.
SYKES
Guess you enjoy being a shell of something you use to be. You know I read a ghost is just left over energy from a dead person that takes longer to dissipate. (MAX walks away angry as SYKES yells after him.) I don't fuck the dead! (Yells out) Hold the bus, I'm coming.
BLACKOUT
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