Carmen (3 page)

JOSÉ

For me?

CARMEN

For you, baby. I didn’t know you would still be so handsome. Your wife must be proud of you.

?

JOSÉ

I don’t have a wife.

CARMEN

Then your woman must be happy with you.

JOSÉ

I don’t… What do you care?

CARMEN

I care about a lot of things. You’d be surprised.

CARMEN moves closer to JOSÉ. The other cops gesture for him to go after her, but he is shy. When he takes another step toward her, she runs away and into Delgado’s as the other officers laugh.

ZUNIGA

Okay, okay, let’s get back to the station. We’ve got work to do.

TÍA SOFIA

And don’t come back without a warrant!

ZUNIGA

In this neighborhood, nobody has an education and everybody is a lawyer!

MERCEDES

In this neighborhood, you don’t need an education because they don’t hire us anyway. You need to be a lawyer because one way or another—you will get arrested.

ZUNIGA

Yeah, yeah. Look, mami, we don’t need your lectures today. When we come back, we’ll arrest you first.

MERCEDES

Oooooh, Officer, I’m sooo scared!

MERCEDES follows the other factory girls from Delgado’s back to work.

The POLICE OFFICERS begin to pack it in, gathering their gear and leaving in twos and threes. MICAELA comes from around a corner.

ZUNIGA

José, what are you now? The village stud? First Carmen gives you the eye, and now this girl comes to look for you again. She was here before.

JOSÉ

What girl?

He sees MICAELA and smiles broadly, putting the flower that CARMEN gave him into his pocket.

MICAELA

I was looking for you.

JOSÉ

And here I am. How are you?

ZUNIGA and other officers are off to one side, leaving JOSÉ and MICAELA center stage.

MICAELA

I’m good. I like working at the school. The hours are good, and the pay’s all right. I’m taking classes in the summer. Maybe I can get a degree and teach.

JOSÉ

Sounds good to me. What are you doing in this neighborhood?

MICAELA

I told your mother I was coming over here today to the new Lowe’s to buy a picture frame. She gave me a message for you.

JOSÉ

How is she?

MICAELA

She misses you. But José, she’s so happy. She’s finally been accepted into the senior citizen housing. One bedroom and one and a half baths. The building is beautiful, overlooking the park. She gave me this letter for you. She asked me to…

MICAELA blushes as she looks away.

JOSÉ

To what?

MICAELA

She kissed me and asked me to pass it on to you.

JOSÉ

Well, if she asked you to pass it on, you can’t keep it for yourself.…

MICAELA shyly kisses JOSÉ.

MICAELA

And here’s the letter. She was hoping you would call more often. I can understand that.

JOSÉ

I’m glad she’s moving, but I have so many good memories of that small apartment we lived in. We would sit in the kitchen, with the sun beaming through the fragile white curtains. All of life was before us then. There was nothing but hope and the promise of good things to come.

MICAELA

You think of your mother, your home.… You are so sweet, José. Maybe one day…

JOSÉ

What does she say in the letter?

MICAELA

(anxious to leave before he reads it)

I have to go. You can read it later.

JOSÉ

Stay a minute. I haven’t seen you in weeks.

MICAELA

I have to go. Really. I would… I would like to see more of you.

She starts to leave, pauses for a moment to take a last look at JOSÉ, then exits.

JOSÉ

(reading the letter)

“Dear Son, I hope this letter finds you well. I have sent it by Micaela, who has been so helpful to me. José, if you want, you can move into my old apartment, the one you loved so much as a child. It has two bedrooms, as you remember, big enough to start a family. I will be so glad when you marry. I know that once you marry, you will be more careful, even if you remain a policeman. I hope you find someone who will love you. Someone like Micaela. You know she loves you almost as much as I do. Your loving mother.”

I want to make my mother happy, to make her a grandmother and see the smile on her face as she plays with the children. And she’s right: Micaela does care a lot for me, and she’s a solid girl. Nothing flighty about her. Her working at the school is good, too.

There is the sound of fighting offstage, and a glass vase comes flying out of one of the factory’s windows.

ZUNIGA

What the—? Shea, Lane, go into that building to see what’s going on!

SHEA and LANE enter Delgado’s, guns drawn.

ZUNIGA

This place is a hellhole. Useless people doing useless things. Wasting their time.

TÍA SOFIA

All they have to spend is their time. So they do it freely.

ZUNIGA

What? You haven’t died yet? What are you waiting for?

TÍA SOFIA

For you to die first so I can pee on your grave!

ZUNIGA

If I ever get the chance to arrest you, you old hag, I’ll handcuff you to a fire hydrant and leave you there!

TÍA SOFIA

Hey, how did you get to be so ugly? You take pills for that, or what?

ZUNIGA

Shut up!

TÍA SOFIA

Just tell me one thing and I’ll shut up. Did your father have a tail?

ZUNIGA reaches for his gun as TÍA SOFIA slams her door shut.

OFFICERS SHEA and LANE come out of Delgado’s with half of the factory workers, including FRASQUITA, all shouting about who started the fight. In the middle, held by SHEA and LANE, is a very angry CARMEN.

ZUNIGA

What happened?

OFFICER SHEA

A fight broke out between this one and another girl.

FRASQUITA

The other girl started it! She said that Carmen had a big mouth!

CARMEN

And all I said was that the flies like her mouth because her breath smells like—

ZUNIGA

I don’t want to hear this nonsense!

CARMEN

Neither do I! Let’s send out for pizza!

ZUNIGA

You keep your mouth shut. Shea, is this serious?

OFFICER SHEA

The other girl has a cut across her face. And this one had a knife.

ZUNIGA

(to CARMEN)

What did you do? Cut her?

CARMEN

(singing flightily)

Did I? Could I? I’m not talking!

Hands behind her back, CARMEN dances around ZUNIGA.

ZUNIGA

Don’t play with me, Carmen. Now tell me what happened in there.

CARMEN

(still singing)

Burn me! Torture me! I’m not talking! Tra la la, tra la la, tra la la la la la la la la!

ZUNIGA

José, handcuff her and take her in. We’ll show these people we’re not playing!

ZUNIGA and the other men start off. JOSÉ has handcuffed CARMEN, who looks over her shoulder at him.

CARMEN

The handcuffs are too tight!

JOSÉ

They’re not tight at all.

CARMEN

Not for you, of course. You’re a big, strong man, but I’m just a helpless woman. How tall are you, anyway? Seven feet? Look how strong your arms are, and how long. You can put one of your arms completely around my body!

She spins into his arms.

JOSÉ

Behave yourself! You brought this on yourself.

CARMEN

How can you do this to a fellow Italian?

JOSÉ

You’re not Italian, and neither am I.

CARMEN

How can you tell I’m not Italian?

JOSÉ

Your dark eyes tell me that you’re Latina. Your accent is Dominican, and your lips…

(stopping himself)

Well, you’re quite attractive.

CARMEN

Oh, Officer José, tell me what my lips say to you. Whisper it to me. But hold me close so I can hear you.

JOSÉ

Look, you’re going to jail! Don’t talk to me.

CARMEN

Oh, you’ve got me too excited. I need a drink. Something cool. I have a friend who owns a club.

JOSÉ

I told you to keep quiet.

CARMEN

Why are you so hard on me? Don’t you remember me? I’m the little gypsy girl who lifted her dress so you could see her legs, remember? I was in love with you, and you just glanced at me coldly because I was so ugly.

JOSÉ

(weakening)

You weren’t ugly.

CARMEN

And skinny.

JOSÉ

You were thin.

CARMEN

And now? Still too ugly? Still too thin? Wait—let me lift my skirt up.…

CARMEN touches the hem of her skirt but doesn’t lift it.

JOSÉ

Carmen!

CARMEN

We can meet at my friend’s club. You’ll love him. It has lots of corners. We can sit and look into each other’s eyes.

JOSÉ

Don’t talk to me like that. I’m a police officer!

CARMEN

Okay, and I’m just a prisoner. And I’m afraid, so I’ll sing to myself. I always sing to myself when I’m afraid. As I am now.

She hums “La Seguidilla.”

JOSÉ

(weakening more)

This isn’t right.

CARMEN

We can make it right!

JOSÉ

You don’t mean what you say! You’re just…

CARMEN

A girl trapped by a huge man who has her in his power. Whose heart is beating wildly as he towers over her! But instead of just feeling fear, she is beginning to have deeper feelings for him. I’m that little girl again in the old neighborhood. Not knowing if I can even go there again. Not knowing if that place even exists anymore.

JOSÉ

(weakening further)

Do you want that place to exist again?

CARMEN

I’m too embarrassed to say what I really want, José.

CARMEN dances in front of JOSÉ, handcuffed hands behind her, pushing them toward him. Finally, he unlocks them. CARMEN turns and takes JOSÉ’s face in her hands as if to kiss him, then pushes him away and runs. She stops at the far end of the stage.

JOSÉ

Don’t make fun of me, Carmen.

CARMEN

No, it’s my heart that’s making fun of me. Leading me into love again when I’m so afraid of it. I’m not laughing at you, José. I would never do that.

JOSÉ

I came here a shell, wondering about my career, and my life. Now you’ve found all the empty spaces and filled them.

CARMEN

If I escape, will you be too angry to ever see me again? Or will you wonder how I would feel if I were in your arms, the way I am wondering how it would be?

JOSÉ

Carmen… Carmen… You make me think too much. I am drunk with thoughts of you.

CARMEN

Lillas Pastia’s club. I’ll be waiting for you.