Ravenhill Plays: 1: Shopping and F***ing; Faust is Dead; Handbag; Some Explicit Polaroids (Contemporary Dramatists) (9 page)

Mark
     Alright then. Yes.

Gary
     Good and now we’ll . . .

He holds out a handful of credit cards as if they were playing cards
.

Pick a card, any card.

Mark
picks a card. Reads the name on it
.

Mark
     P. Harmsden.

Gary
     You remember? Last night. Poppers. Kept on hitting himself.

Mark
     Ah. P. Harmsden.

Gary
     Right then. Get it off and then we’re eating out. My treat.

Mark
     Why don’t you . . . wait outside?

Gary
     I’m not bothered.

Mark
     Have a look round. I’ll only be a few minutes.

Gary
     Too late now. I’ve seen it.

Mark
     Seen the . . . ?

Gary
     Seen the hard-on.

Mark
     Ah yes. The hard-on.

Gary
     Must be aching by now. Up all day.

Is it the shopping does that?

You gotta thing about shopping?

Or is it ’cos of me?

Mark
     Yes. That’s right. It’s because of you.

Gary
     Right.

What’s going on in your head?

I mean, I can see what’s going on in your pants but what’s in there?

Tell me.

Mark
     Nothing. Look. It’s just a physical thing, you know?

Gary
     So why don’t you say what you want. Do you want to kiss me?

Mark
     Yes.

Gary
     Go on then.

Mark
     Listen, if we do . . . anything, it’s got to mean nothing, you understand?

Gary
     Course.

Mark
     If I feel like it’s starting to mean something then I’ll stop.

Gary
     You can kiss me like a gentle kiss. Me mum, she’s got a nice kiss.

Mark
kisses
Gary
.

Gary
     How was that?

Mark
     Yes. That was alright.

Gary
     How old do you think I am?

Mark
     I don’t know.

Gary
     When you met me – what did you think?

Mark
     I don’t . . . sort of sixteen, seventeen.

Gary
     Right. Bit more?

Mark
     Bit more.

He kisses
Gary
again
.
This time it becomes more sexual. Eventually,
Mark
pulls away
.

No. I don’t want this.

Gary
     I knew it. You’ve fallen for me.

Mark
     Fuck. I really thought I’d broken this, you know?

Gary
     Do you love me? Is that what it is? Love?

Mark
     I don’t know. How would you define that word? There’s a physical thing, yes. A sort of wanting which isn’t love is it? No, That’s well, desire. But then, yes, there’s an attachment I suppose. There’s also that. Which means I want to be with you, Now, here, when you’re with me I feel like a person and if you’re not with me I feel less like a person.

Gary
     So is that love then?

Say what you mean.

Mark
     Yes.

I love you.

Gary
     See.

Mark
     But what I’d like to do – now that I’ve said that which was probably very foolish – what I’d like to do is move forward from this point and try to develop a relationship that is mutual, in which there’s a respect, a recognition of the other’s needs.

Gary
     I didn’t feel anything.

Mark
     No?

Gary
     When you kissed me. Nothing.

Mark
     I see.

Gary
     Which means . . . gives me the power, doesn’t it? So I’ll tell you. You’re not what I’m after. I don’t want it like that.

Mark
     But over a period of time . . .

Gary
     No.

Mark
     You see, if you’ve never actually been loved –

Gary
     I’m not after love. I want to be owned. I want someone to look after me. And I want him to fuck me. Really fuck me. Not like that, not like him. And, yeah, it’ll hurt. But a good hurt.

Mark
     But if you had a choice.

Gary
     Then I wouldn’t choose you. I want to be taken away. Someone who understands me.

Mark
     There’s no one out there.

Gary
     Think just because you don’t feel that way no one else does? There’s lots of people who understand. And someone’s gonna do it.

I’m going now.

Mark
     Stay please. Please I . . .

Mark
kisses
Gary
,
who pushes him away
.

Gary
     That’s not true about me mum. I don’t let her kiss me. She’s a slag.

You go home now. You go back where you belong.

Mark
     I want to stay with you.

Give me a day, OK? Another day.

Gary
     Don’t waste your time with me.

Mark
     You can . . . look yes. Come home with me.

Gary
     What for? I’m nothing.

Mark
     Show you where I live, who I live with.

Gary
     You’re pathetic you.

Mark
     Just one more day. Give it a day.

Gary
     You gonna take me home and fuck me? Alright then. One day. Take me home.

Mark
     Suck my cock.

Gary
     You taking me home?

Mark
     Suck my cock now. Take you home later.

Gary
     There’s a security camera.

Mark
     Doesn’t matter.

Gary
     All this for me? Fourteen.

You got it wrong. I’m fourteen.

Robbie
and
Lulu
looking at the phone
.

Robbie
     Come on. Ring. Ring.

This shouldn’t be happening.

Why is this happening?

I mean, we’re close really. Nearly two thousand. Over two thousand – that’s good, isn’t it? We’re very, very close. We’ve been working. We’re making money. We’re good at it, aren’t we? Isn’t that right? You’d say that’s right, wouldn’t you?

Lulu
     That’s right.

Robbie
     So, it can’t stop now. They’ve got to keep on coming.

Ring you bastard ring.

Shit. I can’t stand it.

Lulu
     It’s just quiet. A quiet time. That happens.

Robbie
     Hasn’t happened before.

Lulu
     Sit down. Relax.

Robbie
     I can’t.

Lulu
     It’ll start again.

Robbie
     There isn’t time. We can’t afford this.

Lulu
     Just a moment’s peace. Make the most of it.

Robbie
     I want to live. I want to survive, don’t you?

Lulu
     I don’t know.

Robbie
     You want to die?

Lulu
     No. I want to be free. I don’t want to live like this.

Robbie
     That’s right. Another day yeah?

Lulu
     Yes.

Robbie
     One more day and we’ll be free.

Lulu
     Yes.

Robbie
     If it keeps on ringing.

Ping of a microwave
.

Lulu
     Food’s ready.

Robbie
     Yeah.

Lulu
     Eat something?

Robbie
     Yes.

Exit
Lulu
.

Robbie
     Come on. Come on. Please.

He picks up the phone and speaks into it
.

Why aren’t you ringing you . . .

He realises that the line is dead.

Checks the lead – finds it’s been pulled out of the wall.

Check the mobiles. They’ve been switched off.

Sits
.

Enter
Lulu
with microwave meals, offers one to
Robbie
.

Robbie
     No thanks.

Lulu
     Eat something.

Robbie
     No thanks.

Lulu
     Come on.

Robbie
     I’m not hungry.

Lulu
     Alright then.

Pause
.

Have a bit.

Robbie
     Don’t want any.

Lulu
     Might as well have a meal while it’s quiet.

Robbie
     You reckon?

Lulu
     It’ll all start again in a minute.

Robbie
     They’ll all be ringing?

Lulu
     Of course.

Robbie
     Don’t think so. Do you?

Lulu
     Course they will.

Robbie
     No. I reckon they’re not gonna ring. I reckon that tomorrow we’re gonna die.

Lulu
     Course not.

Robbie
     Because I reckon that one of us wants to die.

Lulu
     No.

Robbie
     No?

Lulu
     No.

Robbie
     Then tell me why one of us disconnected the phones.

Lulu
     For a few moments. I just wanted / a few minutes peace.

Robbie
     And I want to live. That’s what I want to do.

Lulu
     I just wanted to eat a meal without . . . all that.

Robbie
     There’ll be time later.

Lulu
     I can’t stand it. In my head.

Robbie
     And what about me?

We’ve got to do this together.

Robbie
moves to reconnect the phone
.

Lulu
     No. Please. Not yet.

Robbie
     We have to carry on.

Lulu
     After we’ve eaten this. Ten, five minutes.

Robbie
     Come on.

Lulu
     There was this phone call. I had this call. Twenty minutes, half hour ago. Youngish. Quite well spoken really. And I did the . . . you know . . . where are you sitting? In the living-room. Right. And you’re . . . ? Yes, yes, playing with his dick. Good. Fine. So far, auto-pilot. And then he says, I’m watching this video. Well, that’s good. And then he starts to . . . he describes . . . because he got this video from his mate who copied it from his mate who copied it from dahdahdah. And I mean, he’s wanking to this video of a woman, a student girl who’s in the Seven-Eleven, working behind the counter. And there’s a wino and . . . yeah.

Robbie
     Fuck.

Lulu
     Yeah. He was wanking to the video.

So if we can just. A few more minutes.

Robbie
     No. We’re gonna carry on.

Lulu
     Eat something first.

Robbie
     There’s no time.

Lulu
     Eat. Eat. Eat first. Few minutes.

Robbie
     I’m not eating.

Lulu
     What’s wrong with the / . . . Look, if I’m eating . . . If I can . . .

Robbie
     I don’t want the food, / it doesn’t taste of anything . . .

Lulu
     And why? / What is so wrong that you can’t eat it?

Robbie
     I’m not eating. / There isn’t time.

Lulu
     Come on, you’ve got the world here. You’ve got all the tastes in the world. You’ve got an empire under cellophane. Look, China. India. Indonesia. In the past you’d have to invade, you’d have to occupy just to get one of these things and now, when they’re sitting here in front of you, you’re telling me you can’t taste anything.

Lulu
holds
Robbie
back to prevent him reconnecting the phone
.

Robbie
     Well, yes. Yes I am. / There’s no taste. This stuff tastes of nothing.

Lulu
     Eat it. Eat it. Eat it.

Robbie
     This stuff?

Lulu
     Now. Eat it now.

Robbie
     No. This? This is shit. / This? I wouldn’t feed a fuckng paraplegic with cancer this shit.

Lulu
     Eat it. Eat it. Eat it. Eat it.

Lulu
pushes
Robbie
’s face into the food
.

Enter
Mark
and
Gary
.

Mark
     Hello.

Robbie
     Where have you been?