The third scene of American Road, READY FOR THE DEAD, was inspired by my father-in-law who, after being a Republican conservative his whole life, became a Deadhead in 50's, back in1990 or so. Not long after I wrote this, Jerry Garcia died. Not long after that, my father-in-law, whom I loved, trial though he might sometimes be, also passed away from lung cancer. I don't think he ever read it, but I know he loved me and Diana and hopefully, forgives me..
ROAD 3 - READY FOR THE DEAD
A section of seats in the Forum, Los Angeles. General
pre-concert crowd noise plays quietly under the scene.
DICK, 60, heavy Upstate accent, wears a Sony Walkman.
His colorful T-shirt is stretched by his belly, which is ample. His physique is
that of a bear. His face is a bit ruddy and worn. His short, rural conservative
cut hair is a mix of black and gray.
TAYLOR, 19, wearing a hand-painted denim Grateful Dead
jacket, makes his way up the steps to his row holding a souivenier super-sipper
cup. He stumbles slightly as he sidesteps towards to his seat which is right
next to Dick’s.
Taylor’s mANNr of speaking is part of his style and not a product of intellectual
barrenness. You sense that sometimes he is satiring the speech of his
contemporaries. Other times, he is his contemporaries.
Taylor sits.
Dick keeps glancing over, wanting to say something.
Finally, he switches off the Walkman and removes the headphones. He pulls out a
pair of bifocals and puts them on. He is trying to read the ticket Taylor is
holding in his hand without being noticed. Taylor notices him.
DICK
I
think that seat is... I don’t want
to
seem uptight.
Taylor holds up the ticket. Dick holds Taylor’s hand
(the ticket) at a good reading distance.
DICK
Well,
Jesus... I gave my ticket to
a
woman outside, I thought
she
was a righteous sister.
Dick always talks like he’s telling a fish story in a
bar-- added/manufactured urgency, laughs and exclamations. His way of saying
“Jesus Christ” is rather
inoffensive, like a substitute for “I tell ya”.
DICK
(Taylor
seems unsure)
Hell,
I don’t care, I’m glad
it
didn’t go to waste. Jesus,
though.
Whoever
heard
of a chick scalper?
Dick laughs. Taylor puts his ticket in his jacket pocket.
DICK
Is
that a pack of smokes?...
In
your jacket?...
(Taylor
nods)
All
I have is the habit tonight.
TAYLOR
It’s
a clean indoor air state.
DICK
We’ve
got twenty thousand
people
smoking kind bud, I can have one
cigarette.
Taylor snaps the pack, so that three cigarettes jut
out. Dick takes all three and digs for more.
TAYLOR
Woah!
DICK
I’ll
give you a few bucks.
I
stayed with my daughter last night.
Jesus
Christ, it was like Stalag 17, I had
to
tunnel out under the searchlights to have
a
freaking smoke.
Dick lights up.
TAYLOR
Are
you like “The Original Roadie”?
DICK
Oh,
Jesus Christ, no.
(takes
a drag)
No,
this young gal in the office took
me
to my first concert in Buffalo
a
year ago, changed my goddamn
life.
I’ve chalked up 65, 000
frequent
flyer miles since then.
TAYLOR
The
Grateful Dead are excellent.
DICK
Are
you a Phil Phan?
TAYLOR
No.
I mean, “yeah”, but no. Jerry.
DICK
(connects,
nodding)
Then
I’m proud to know ya.
(offers
hands)
Dick
Ames.
TAYLOR
Taylor.
(shaking
hands)
Dick?
DICK
Well,
Richard. I’m changing it to Richard.
You
know. Because of the inference.
TAYLOR
You’re
just getting to that now?
DICK
Christ,
I didn’t think it mattered!
But
I got to hanging around with these people--
It
ain’t cool, you see what I’m saying?
(takes
something from his pocket)
Here.
For the smokes.
He hands it to Taylor.
TAYLOR
Bootleg?
What of?
DICK
It’s
a DAT recording of the breakout
performance
of “All
Along
the Watchtower.”
TAYLOR
Cool.
Thanks.
(looks
towards stage)
It
hasn’t started?
DICK
No,
and I’m uneasy because of the jellyfish?
(beat)
The
jellyfish? Oh, Jesus, Jerry
got
stung by a jellyfish.
That’s
why he cancelled
his
last two concerts.
TAYLOR
‘Cause
of a jellyfish?
DICK
I’ve
been so goddamned depressed, I haven’t
been
sleeping. I got a pinched nerve
in
my back.
Dick coughs the deep, liquid cough of a life long
smoker.
DICK
These
steps about killed me.
Dick catches his breath sufficiently to take a drag on
his cigarette.
TAYLOR
The
steps? The nicotene.
That’s
the uh, right? Yeah. So...
DICK
Aw,
hell, I quit for a while til my
wife
died. My ex-wife. Carla. Hell, I’m still trying.
Dick rolls up his sleeve to reveal a patch.
TAYLOR
You
wear those instead of smoking.
DICK
They
don’t work! I bought the generic patch--
Dick has a coughing fit, sees the little grimace on
Taylor’s face. Dick concentrates
on suppressing the cough, holding his breath and focusing. After two tries, he
is successful.
DICK
It’ll
settle down.
TAYLOR
Good
news. Man, what a phat seat.
DICK
(checks
Taylor’s seat, briefly confused)
Oh.
Well, I paid enough for them.
You’re
in my daughter’s seat.
TAYLOR
She
get sick?
DICK
Yes,
of me, apparently. Do you
get
along with your parents?
TAYLOR
(dismissing
the subject)
Who?
Taylor takes a long sip.
DICK
I
hear ya.... What have you got in there?
(off
Taylor’s look)
I have a nose like a bloodhound.
TAYLOR
Good
stuff.
DICK
Aw,
Christ, I might as well. I’m
not
supposed to, but, Jesus,
I
gotta do something.
Dick holds out his hand, waiting for Taylor to hand
him the sipper. Taylor is a bit hesitant.
TAYLOR
Be
kind. That’s all there is.
Taylor hands Dick the sipper. Dick opts away from the
straw, lifts the lid and takes a swig.
DICK
Tequilla!
(Taylor
grins, Dick shakes his head)
Jesus
Christ.
Dick takes another sip, another quick one, then hands
it back to Taylor.
DICK
So
how many concerts have you been to?
TAYLOR
Twenty.
Some guys in my dorm were
into
the Dead-- then I met some serious
Deadheads
at the 30th Anniversary--
DICK
That
was some concert I heard.
TAYLOR
Ashbury.
Yeah. I didn’t get it til then. So
I
hooked up with Dave and
Tino
and Set.
DICK
Set?
TAYLOR
Set.
She has a set. We
call
her Set.
DICK
Set.
And they’re your friends?
TAYLOR
Yeah. They’re pretty
much
idiots. You know, nice, but,
fried
most of the time....
So
I ditched school this last semester.
DICK
You
left college?
TAYLOR
Correct.
DICK
Why?
TAYLOR
I
don’t know. It wasn’t working.
I’ve
been programming an interactive.
Non-violent.
You go to a concert.
Rush
the stage, score drugs, get busted.
I’ve
actually made it so you can jam
on
guitar right next to Jerry.
DICK
Sounds
hot. Keep me informed.
TAYLOR
So
what concert is this for you?
DICK
Twelfth.
TAYLOR
Nearly
a virgin.
DICK
(honest
indignation)
I
know a Hell of a lot more about
it
than you do. Seriously.
I
own seventy-nine tapes--
eight
of them I duped down at
Club
Dead in Puerto Rico.
TAYLOR
Let’s
not get Deader-than-thou , shall we.
DICK
Well,
cause I freaking missed the 60’s entirely.
I
was raising a family. You should have seen
their
heads spin.
TAYLOR
Whose?
DICK
(complaining,
but delighted)
Over
this. Christ, my son--
and
my daughter, she’s still giving
me
crap. I mean, when she was
younger,
we were--... I don’t know
what
happened.
(beat)
I
thought the maternal thing would
kick
in. But, Christ, this
was
the worst visit ever.
I
think everything’s
all
right, okay? No fights
in
two days. She wakes up
this
morning, she starts packing my bag.
I’m
just standing there.
TAYLOR
Drag.
Where is section F?
DICK
Says
she can’t forgive me.
For
what? For being a “lifetime disappointment”.
What
kind of crap is that?
TAYLOR
Section
F? I’m meeting my
friends
there.
DICK
I’m
supposed to be something I’m not,
I
guess. Christ, what’s it matter, I’m the
only
living grandparent--
TAYLOR
It
sucks. My advice to you is “where
is
section F”?
DICK
Why
are you asking me?
TAYLOR
I
lost my glasses.
DICK
Here?
TAYLOR
No,
two weeks ago.
I’m
supposed to meet
my
friends in section F,
so
where is it?
Dick shrugs slightly, looks away, a bit sad. Taylor
thinks he’s insulted the man.
TAYLOR
Hey,
sucks your daughter bailed.
Shit,
my girl bailed on me after
the
fourth concert, but, hey,
fuck
it. You got your son, right?
DICK
No,
he’s in jail. Prison, now.
Apparently
that’s my fault, too.
TAYLOR
Gotta
blow it off. Keep moving.
Taylor takes two long sips. Dick gives him a studied
look.
DICK
I
remember when I was stationed
overseas.
TAYLOR
You
were in the Army?
DICK
After
I left school, it
seemed
like something to do.
So
we were in West Berlin,
and
me and my buddies would
frequent
the local gay bars,
ya
see. The old Nellie
Krauts
loved boys in uniform.
Didn’t
care we had just kicked
their
asses in the war. I had no
taste
for it before that.
TAYLOR
(misconstruing)
Hey,
I don’t want to know this.
DICK
(beat)
I’m talking about drinking. A
taste for booze.
They
would buy our rounds.
We
went to gay bars cause we
had
no money, see?
TAYLOR
Good
news.
DICK
Oh,
Christ!
(laughs,
which starts a cough)
TAYLOR
My
Dad dodged the draft.
DICK
(shakes
his head, still coughing)
I
en-- enlisted. After I left Cornell.
TAYLOR
Were
you like an officer?
DICK
Pri--
(he’s
still coughing/suppresses it)
Private.
They tried to promote me
to
P.F.C., but I wouldn’t let ‘em.
Too
much responsibility.
TAYLOR
You
graduated from Cornell?
DICK
No.
But I went there on a
full
scholarship.
TAYLOR
Me,
too. At U.S.C.
DICK
Come
on.
TAYLOR
Physics.
DICK
Crap.
TAYLOR
Straight
A student.
DICK
Horseshit.
TAYLOR
I
fuck you not.
DICK
Why’d
you drop out?
TAYLOR
I am on freshman sabbatical. I’ll go
I am on freshman sabbatical. I’ll go
back
in a year or so. I just
want
to... see what’s out there.
DICK
Give
me some physics.
TAYLOR
You
know physics?
DICK
I
know enough to know if
you’re
full of shit.
TAYLOR
Like
what? Okay. The catagory is useless
physics
trivia.
Black
holes. Right?
Atom
smashers.
Super
colliders, they smash atoms.
DICK
Okay.
TAYLOR
It’s
like the A-bomb. They don’t know.
They
didn’t know then, if the A-bomb
was
going to start a chain reaction
that
would wipe out the earth.
(Dick
nods)
If
the nucleus of an atom is compressed
25%,
it’ll create a black hole.
DICK
Okay.
TAYLOR
Now,
they’re almost 100% sure that a
supercollider
can’t compress a nucleus
25%.
Nothing can. It’s too malleable.
Too
squishy.
DICK
I
know what malleable is.
TAYLOR
My
bad. A collapsing star can,
obviously. But, if they’re wrong--
let’s
go there. If a super collider can
compress
a nucleus 25%, it’ll create a
black hole. The entire earth would be
sucked
into
it in a matter of seconds. Like sucking
a
big blob of jello off a plate.
Sweet,
huh?
Taylor sips a long sip. Dick takes a drag, again
studying Taylor.
DICK
Yeah.
I might as well... be nostalgic.
The
Dead is the best thing
this
country has left to offer.
TAYLOR
(nods
agreement)
Deadheads
are the best.
You
really feel the love.
Taylor takes a long sip.
DICK
They’re
very spiritual, laid back.
(Taylor
is still sucking it down)
Hey,
you don’t want to miss the encores.
TAYLOR
(shakes
his head, grins)
They
call me “the Well”.
DICK
Christ,
they had some nickname for me--
“Der
Fueller”. Like fuel tank.
In
college, I could drink a quart of
beer
in
less than five seconds.
I’m
serious. I could open up my throat...
TAYLOR
You
had talent.
DICK
(hardness
in his voice)
Goddamn
curse.
(beat)
I
thought I was so popular.
The
whole time, I’m thinking
we’re
all in the same boat. But
they
go on, okay? They graduate,
have
top jobs and good marriages.
See?
TAYLOR
Fuck
‘em all.
DICK
(beat)
Yeah.
TAYLOR
Listen,
Dick. Been a pleasure.
I
gotta take off.
DICK
Christ,
I remember that feeling.
Nineteen.
TAYLOR
I
don’t feel that great, so
don’t
worry.
DICK
Where
do you think you’re headed?
TAYLOR
To
find my friends.
Taylor rises, Dick puts his hand on Taylor’s forearm.
DICK
You’re
making a mistake, son.
TAYLOR
(flippantly)
That’s
what you learn from.
DICK
Your
first few, maybe. Somewhere along
the
line, I compressed my freaking nucleus.
Ya
see what I’m saying?
TAYLOR
Yeah.
DICK
It’ll
make you sick near death what
gets
sucked into that hole. Let me tell you--
TAYLOR
It’s
been a pleasure, Dick.
DICK
Christ,
I try to help, I’m still
wrong.
Fucking young people...
TAYLOR
It’s
just, you know, forgive me,
you’re
like one of those old warped
records
my parents love.
There
might be something on them
worth
listening
to
but I can’t get past all
the
fucking crackles and skips.
Ten
minutes around you and
I’m
Jonesin’ badly.
(gesturing
to surroundings)
All
this shit is a joke to me.
I’m
playing. In ten years I’ll
be
with Intel making enough to retire
at
forty.
DICK
Okay.
TAYLOR
See,
you’re pissing me off.
DICK
(shrugs)
Hey.
TAYLOR
Like
you have advice for me?
I
mean, your daughter, I think I understand.
DICK
You
don’t understand anything.
TAYLOR
No.
If I’m where you are
at
sixty, I’m sorry, but shoot me.
DICK
There
is no section F.
TAYLOR
What?
DICK
There
is no section F.
TAYLOR
Section
F, row U.
DICK
(shakes
his head)
The
sections are numbered. You’re
in
section 154 now. See?
Dick shows Taylor his ticket.
TAYLOR
(catches
on)
“F-U”.
DICK
So
don’t be so smart.
TAYLOR
“F-U”.
(fighting
tears)
That’s
some cold shit.
DICK
Yes,
it is.
TAYLOR
Set
has all my money
in
her purse.
Six
hundred bucks.
DICK
(shakes
his head)
Ya
see?
(pause)
So
okay, you learned a good
lesson
here. And Christ, I’m
sorry
we had to get upset
with
each other, let’s
forget
it.
TAYLOR
I’m
fucked.
DICK
Maybe
after the concert,
you call your parents.
TAYLOR
My
parents--... are not pleased.
DICK
They’ll
bail you out.
That’s
what they’re there for.
TAYLOR
No.
DICK
Well...
alright. Maybe it’s time
for
Old Papa Dick to help.
(quietly)
I
have two thousand dollars in
my
pocket. My daughter wouldn’t
take
it . It would serve her right if I gave it
to
a stranger. Hell, you’re no
stranger.
You’re one of us.
Seriously.
The Dead have
four
shows here this week.
We
could catch every one of them..
Taylor studies Dick for several seconds, shakes his
head.
TAYLOR
I’ve
gotta move.
Cheers from the crowd, a chant begins: “You know our
love will not fade away”, the refrain from “Not fade Away.”
DICK
You’re
not going to find your friends
out
there.
TAYLOR
(rising)
I’m
walking back to USC.
DICK
(rising)
Now?
The band’s coming on.
Christ,
whatever else,
you’re
stupid to miss the concert.
Taylor sidesteps down the aisle, looks back at Dick,
trying to think of something to say to him.
TAYLOR
Dick...
Richard... Good luck or...
Good
luck.
Taylor sets down his sipper cup and goes. Dick looks
after him, lighting a cigarette almost by second nature. He seems stunned,
deadened. He suppresses a cough.
DICK
Where’s
Jerry?
(a
harsher intonation)
Jesus
Christ. Where--....?
(Dick
squints, relieved)
There.
Here he comes.
Dick sinks into his seat. “Not Fade Away” begins to play. We watch Dick listening.
Lights fade out.
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