"I saw him on a bus"

Hanako   Wed Mar 19, 2008 10:25 am GMT
"I saw him on a bus"

Which one do you think this sentence implies? (1) or (2)?
(1) I saw him when he was on a bus.
(2) I saw him when I was on a bus.

Thanks in advance.

Hanako
RayH   Wed Mar 19, 2008 4:20 pm GMT
I think you will find that most of the time the first meaning will apply. The speaker will mean "we were both on a bus when I saw him" or it could mean that the speaker happened to be on the sidewalk or in a passing car and "saw him on a bus".

Of course the second meaning can also apply but, I would think, more rarely.

As is so often the case the exact meaning will depend on the context.
Estel   Fri Mar 21, 2008 6:07 am GMT
I'd go for the first option. The explanation is as RayH has explained.
Guest   Fri Mar 21, 2008 6:14 am GMT
S A N D


by Trista Baldwin
























S A N D


Ó 2007 Trista Baldwin
all rights reserved




Characters:



JUSTIN American soldier in his early 20’s. Caucasian.

ARMANDO/AHMED Armando is a Puerto Rican American soldier in his late 20’s.
Ahmed is a Arab citizen of the same age.

KIESHA/ALLISON Kiesha is an American soldier, 18 years old. She is African American.
Allison is Justin’s younger sister.


Setting:

Spring 2003.
In the desert. In the sand.

There is a gas station with one pump.
There is nothing else.

Things appear out of, and disappear into, the sand. It gives and it takes. There is a sense that the sand is alive to the degree that it should feel like a character in the play.

~
SAND was developed with the generous funding of the Jerome Foundation while in residence at The Playwrights’ Center and the resources of Overlap (NY).



Sand. Yellowy white. Empty. Endless.

Desert.

We wait for something more than desert.

Perhaps, if we look hard enough, we see a the remnants of a British military uniform, the color and texture of sand. We see what seems to be a chest rising and falling in the sand, some indication of life. Or perhaps we don’t. The sand is both dead still and vibrating with life. Depending on where your eyes fix. Depending on wind, on sunlight.

We wait.


At last, a sound.

It is the sound of someone breathing.

A light discovers JUSTIN, a U.S. Army Private, alone with his rifle.
He squeezes the rifle close, his body trembling.


JUSTIN
(muttering, nearly inaudible)
Did I do this? I did this. Could I do this? I did this.


The sand has shifted to reveal a small, rustic gas station. One pump.

ARMANDO walks on, armed with an M﷓16 and a heavy ruck. He gets to the gas station and stops to set up gear.

JUSTIN
Pussy, pussy, pussy, pussy

ARMANDO
Not here, man.

JUSTIN
Pussy pussy...

ARMANDO
None for miles.

JUSTIN
Crawl back up inside ‘n just –

ARMANDO
Man, where you goin’?

JUSTIN
Start. Over.

ARMANDO
Yo, Peterson!

JUSTIN
Start over.

ARMANDO
Peterson!

JUSTIN
Huh?

ARMANDO
Where you goin?

JUSTIN
Go–?

ARMANDO
You’re here.
JUSTIN starts laughing.

No joke.

JUSTIN laughs harder.

This is it.
JUSTIN is in hysterics.
ARMANDO hits him lightly with the butt of his rifle.


ARMANDO
No joke, man.

JUSTIN
No joke.

ARMANDO
Water.

JUSTIN
No joke!

JUSTIN drinks from his canteen.
His mind clears.

ARMANDO
Gotta stay hydrated.

JUSTIN
Yes, Sargeant!

ARMANDO
Serious.

JUSTIN
...This is it?

ARMANDO
This is the assignment.

JUSTIN
Piece of cake!

ARMANDO
No cake.

JUSTIN
All we gotta do is stand here?

ARMANDO
Guard –

JUSTIN
This’ll make Mom happy –

ARMANDO
C’mon.

JUSTIN
(pulling out a cell phone)
Hey Mom, I just arrived here at The War, and guess what, ain’t nothin’ left to do!

ARMANDO
Always something – (to do)

JUSTIN
Bombed ‘em all to shit!

ARMANDO
Man, wouldya –

JUSTIN
Ain’t no one left to kill!

ARMANDO
– put that thing down.

JUSTIN
Man, this is cool! I knew I wouldn’t have to kill nobody. Hey Sabados, say cheese.

JUSTIN points his cell phone at ARMANDO and takes a picture.

ARMANDO
(Pendejo)

JUSTIN
Sabados of Puerto –

ARMANDO
Rico, fuck you.

JUSTIN
Fuck you.

ARMANDO
Fuck you, and fuck you.

JUSTIN
You remember that shit?

ARMANDO
What shit.

JUSTIN
The beginning, man.

ARMANDO
This is the beginning.

JUSTIN
The start of it –

ARMANDO
Starts now.

JUSTIN
The fuckin’ start of it, first flash ‘cross the sky

ARMANDO
Set it up.

ARMANDO and JUSTIN work together to set up for the night.

JUSTIN
First fuckin', fuckin’ BOOM!

A bomb explodes in the distance: BOOM.

ARMANDO
Wasn’t that loud.

JUSTIN
BOOM. BOOM.

More bombs heard in the distance: BOOM, BOOM.

ARMANDO
Bright.

JUSTIN
BOOM.

A BOOM, more distant now.


ARMANDO
Unit’s just watchin’

JUSTIN
Watchin’ and waitin’ – BOOM BOOM BOOM.

Bombs further in the distance.

ARMANDO
Bomb after bomb after bomb.

JUSTIN
BOOM.

A faint sound, then flash of light.
JUSTIN watches the flash while ARMANDO remembers.

ARMANDO
Flash after flash after flash.

JUSTIN
Then: nothin’.

ARMANDO
Then flash again.

JUSTIN
Got like watchin’ a movie.

ARMANDO
Then nothin’.

JUSTIN
Like fake.

ARMANDO
Then flash again.

JUSTIN
Tryin’ to tell myself it’s real.

ARMANDO
Beautiful.

JUSTIN
…That was some shit, huh?

ARMANDO
May have popped your cherry but I seen that shit before.

JUSTIN
Fuckin’ Sabados.. Too much.

ARMANDO
Can’t have too much of a good thing.

JUSTIN
You were a dick, you know that?

ARMANDO
You were a limp dick book readin’ pussy ass slacker that didn’t belong in my unit.

JUSTIN
Why you gotta be like that, dawg?

ARMANDO
Don’t try to talk ghetto. Go cut down a tree or somethin’, logger boy –

JUSTIN
Ain’t no trees –

ARMANDO
– kill an owl.

JUSTIN
At least Springfield’s in the States, man.

ARMANDO
States ain’t shit.

JUSTIN
States you can vote.

ARMANDO
So what. You vote?

JUSTIN
Springfield... (shakes his head)

ARMANDO
Oregon, right?

JUSTIN
Or-ee-gone, thank God I’m gone. Not much goin’ for Springfield. ‘Cept it’s close to the ocean.

ARMANDO
My babies love the ocean.

JUSTIN
And KFC. Wendy’s. Mickey Dee’s –

ARMANDO
My girls…

JUSTIN
Arby’s 5-for-5...Thurston High, Wal-Mart of course. Denny’s, Izzy’s, Applebees…

ARMANDO
(presenting JUSTIN a picture)
That’s what it’s all for.

JUSTIN
Beautiful.

ARMANDO
Nothin’ smells like they do.

JUSTIN
Maria. Two?

ARMANDO
Already...Elisa, she just started writing her name.

JUSTIN
Three?

ARMANDO
Three years old, I can’t believe...

JUSTIN
But number one – all of us know number one: oil.
I do miss my car. Yes I do. Miss my bed. Real pillow. Underwear with no sand makin’ my balls bleed… I miss rain...never thought I could miss rain…

ARMANDO
(to the photograph)
Maria Bonita.

JUSTIN
I miss women.

ARMANDO
You don’t know love until you have a girl like this …

JUSTIN
Women. Never again to take for granted –

JUSTIN/ARMANDO
The smell

ARMANDO
Nothing smells like that, your blood.

JUSTIN
Skin. Hair –

ARMANDO
Your own blood.

A shift.
A woman appears, a young American soldier, dark skin and bright eyes. Beautiful. Only JUSTIN sees her.

KIESHA as ALLISON
My own Juice...

JUSTIN
Alli...?
She smiles, dancing to music we cannot hear.

ARMANDO
What's that?

JUSTIN
Huh?

ARMANDO
You just said somethin’.

JUSTIN
Ah. Naw.

JUSTIN shuts his eyes tight. The woman disappears. JUSTIN opens them. She is gone.


***

Days later.

JUSTIN stands watch over the gas pump.

Hours pass in seconds; a blip –until JUSTIN sees something in the sand. It is a bullet.
He holds it up to examine.

ARMANDO comes over to take over JUSTIN’S shift at the gas pump.
JUSTIN shows him the bullet.

JUSTIN
One of theirs?

ARMANDO
Ain’t one of ours.

JUSTIN
Looks old.

ARMANDO
Hmm. British? Maybe.

JUSTIN
Finders keepers.

ARMANDO
Whatcha gonna do with some old bullet, man?

JUSTIN slips the bullet into his pocket.

Shift of guard: JUSTIN off, ARMANDO on.
***
Days later.

ARMANDO stands watch over the gas pump. Hours pass in seconds. JUSTIN, off duty, reads. Change of guard.

***
Days later.
JUSTIN stands watch over the gas pump.

Hours pass in seconds – until JUSTIN sees something in the sand. A photograph. As he examines it,
the shadow of a 1920’s British soldier appears behind him, mirroring his position at the gas pump.JUSTIN catches the shadow out of the corner of his eye. Blinks. Squints.

The shadow fades with the sun.

***

Later.

JUSTIN, writing a letter.

JUSTIN
May – what is it – seven. Seventh.

Dear Mom. Mother mine. Hi. Hello. Greetings from Mars. Dear Mom. Bored. Alive. Dead stupid. Desert is...weird.

He stops writing and watches the sand.

JUSTIN
The sand is. Something so… big. Like an ocean, but nothing like that, except it, like it moves you know, it changes shape… Alli’d freak if she could see me now.

Nah, you wouldn’t like it here too well. It’s like 120 degrees right now I shit you not. You have no idea what that even is. I have no idea what this even is, shit messes with your mind.

And all the Nothing. Nothing to look at nothing to do nothing to feel. (I don’t know.) Maybe Alli’d like that part. (I don’t know.)

JUSTIN pulls the bullet out of his pocket.

JUSTIN
Trying to figure out why you let me, Mom. Why you let me come to this. Nah, that’s bullshit. I’m not trying to figure nothin’.
(fingering the bullet)
Except this.
(shadow of a British soldier in the same position as JUSTIN)
This place, Mom?, turns out it’s make believe. British made it up. I read that (yeah, I read). British made it up but like the people? They didn’t believe it, just lines in the sand to them. Just lines in the sand this place ain’t even real. Not that it matters to me, I’m not even here. Blink and I’m gone.
JUSTIN goes back to his letter, scribbles for a minute. Looks. Signs.

“Peace in the Middle East.” (Justin).

Days later.

ARMANDO pulls a football out of his ruck.

ARMANDO
Hup!

ARMANDO throws the football. JUSTIN catches it and throws back.

JUSTIN
Ho!


ARMANDO
Look alive, man!

ARMANDO throws the ball back to JUSTIN.

JUSTIN
Look alive!

JUSTIN goes to throw - the football disintegrates, becomes sand.

A shift.

JUSTIN hands and knees in the sand, looking for something. We will wonder if he’s looking for the football that has turned to sand, but he is looking for the bullet.


JUSTIN
I can't find it.

ARMANDO
Close your eyes.

JUSTIN
I can't.

ARMANDO
Feel for it. See what you cannot see: faith. That is everything.

JUSTIN
Faith has nothing – (to do with it)

ARMANDO
Faith is everything.


ARMANDO leaves him.

Shift.

ARMANDO prays in Spanish.

In another space, JUSTIN finds the bullet. Examines it.

ARMANDO’s prayer becomes a Muslim prayer, in Arabic.





=

JUSTIN enters his space, rifle ready.

ARMANDO looks at him. He slowly becomes AHMED, his prayer a Muslim prayer, in Arabic.


JUSTIN
Sir, I’m going to have to ask you to leave.

AHMED stops.

JUSTIN
Sir, do you understand English?

AHMED
Oh, I understand English.

JUSTIN
I’m going to have to ask you to leave.

AHMED
Why are you going to have to?

JUSTIN
I’m going to have to ask you to leave.

AHMED
You’re going to ask me?

JUSTIN
Sir, I am asking you to leave.

AHMED
Right now, you are asking this?

JUSTIN
I am asking you to leave.

AHMED
Why this question – sorry?

JUSTIN
Sir, there is no loitering here, the sign –

AHMED
The sign?

JUSTIN
There is no loitering here.

AHMED
Loi – ?

JUSTIN
There’s no hanging – there’s no sitting around, no standing, this is a business.

AHMED
Ah, business, yes, I understand. I have business also.

JUSTIN
You can’t sit here.

AHMED
Oh, I see.

JUSTIN
Please take your belongings with you or your belongings will be treated as –

AHMED
This is a petrol station, is this correct?

JUSTIN
That is correct, sir.

AHMED
The business is gas.

JUSTIN
Is this your bag?

AHMED
I have it, thank you.

JUSTIN
I’m going to look inside your bag.

AHMED
You’re going to look inside my bag?

JUSTIN
Sir, I kindly ask that you cooperate, for you own safety.

AHMED
I am sorry, is the business safety?

JUSTIN
Excuse me?

AHMED
I am sorry, I thought I am at gas station.

JUSTIN
You are.

AHMED
Ah... My cousin, he worked this gas station. I come here to – (sell)

JUSTIN
What is this?

JUSTIN pulls something out of AHMED’s bag.

AHMED
Balah.

JUSTIN
Excuse me?

AHMED
Like date? Date. Like fruit. Are you hungry?

JUSTIN places the item back in the bag, keeping an eye on AHMED.

AHMED
You are just curious, then?

JUSTIN gestures stiffly for AHMED to pass, to be on his way.

AHMED
I am curious, too.

JUSTIN
Thank you for your cooperation.

AHMED
You are welcome for your cooperation.

JUSTIN
Here.

AHMED
Skit – ?

JUSTIN
Skittles. Candy. “Taste the Rainbow.” It’s, ah, candy.

AHMED
Candy.

JUSTIN
The best.

AHMED
The best, thank you.

JUSTIN
You’re welcome. Remember, no loitering.

AHMED
Loy-tir-ring. Yes, thank you.

JUSTIN
Bye, now.

At last, AHMED walks away. Before he is gone, he straightens, becoming ARMANDO again, turning around.


ARMANDO
You make a great Hall Monitor, Peterson, your Mama should be proud. Bet when you get to that fancy prancy college of yours, you get promoted to Dorm Leader.

JUSTIN
Suck mine.

ARMANDO
You suck it.

JUSTIN
Wish I could.
ARMANDO
You know, you might stand a chance for some action as a Dorm Leader. When you write-up drunk co-eds for pukin’ on the grass, “I won’t tell” if you – (makes an obscene gesture)

JUSTIN
What’s into you?

ARMANDO
Nothin’s into me.

JUSTIN
Got up on the wrong side ‘a the Sand.

ARMANDO
Sand got up in the wrong side of me.

They share a laugh.
ARMANDO gets quiet.
Pulls something out of his pocket.

ARMANDO
Maria. She lost her first tooth.

JUSTIN
Your wife sent that? Gross.

ARMANDO
You’re gross.

JUSTIN
Gotta pack of baseball cards from my mom. Like I’m 13 at summer camp.

ARMANDO looks at the baby tooth.

JUSTIN
…You should be able to go home to your girls. I mean what the fuck are we doing here. I could be standing guard at a Gas N Go and see more action.

ARMANDO
You wanted to See the world.

JUSTIN
Yeah.

ARMANDO
Here you go.

JUSTIN
You know, the first time I was on an airplane was on my way to boot camp. Down South. Sweat like a bitch. Didn’t see shit. Girls at the bars were skanks.

ARMANDO
Always are.

JUSTIN
Second time on a plane was Kuwait.

ARMANDO
Maybe next time you end up in Columbia.

JUSTIN
Yeah? Is it nice there?

ARMANDO laughs

JUSTIN
Down past Mexico, right?

ARMANDO
Yeah, it’s called South America.

JUSTIN
I told you man I ain’t been anywhere. Family vacation was like takin’ the tent to a park, fuckin grillin a hot dog. You gotta edumacate me.

ARMANDO
Columbia was my first tour. First assignment.

JUSTIN
Oh. Yeah? What was the – I mean, how long were you-

ARMANDO
Popped my cherry.

ARMANDO gets quiet. JUSTIN doesn’t press.

JUSTIN
After that was Somalia, right?

ARMANDO
Somethin’ like that.

JUSTIN
You lifers, man.

ARMANDO
Just you wait.

JUSTIN
Ain’t for me.

ARMANDO
You don’t know what is for you, how you gonna know what ain’t. Shit. I seen guys like you before. It’s alright. Every tool is useful. Every tool serves a purpose.

JUSTIN
What’s your purpose, anyway, how’d you end up on this ‘luxury detail.’

ARMANDO
We’ll see how luxury this is. We’ll see. Problem with a detail like this? It’s like the street. Looks like nothings going on. Looks like a nobody little Hajib, turns out to be a somebody - can’t tell. Can go soft on a detail like this. Soft is dangerous soft is compromised.

Small silence. JUSTIN pokes light.

JUSTIN
Lot a coke in Columbia. Good?

ARMANDO glares at him. Turns away.

ARMANDO
Only one thing good there. Women. Fine fuckin women.

Dust envelopes them.
It is the dust from passing trucks.

Through the yellow air, KIESHA appears. ARMANDO and JUSTIN stare.

JUSTIN, energized, goes for his football, throws it, catches it.

ARMANDO approaches her, on edge.

ARMANDO
Private Williams.

KIESHA
Yes, Sargeant.

ARMANDO
What is the status of medical supply delivery Charlie 89 X as in X-Ray?

KIESHA
Delivery is complete, Sargeant..

ARMANDO
At ease, Private. Nice work.

KIESHA
Thank you Sargeant..

ARMANDO
I understand there is a problem with your truck?

KIESHA
Yes, Sargeant.

ARMANDO
Your truck is needed repairs before you can complete your next mission.

KIESHA
Yes, Sargeant, that’s what I understand.
ARMANDO
Welcome to the sand pit. Hope you’re not stuck here long.

KIESHA looks down.

ARMANDO
Armando Sabados.

KIESHA
Kiesha. Williams.

ARMANDO
Your first week out?

KIESHA
It shows, huh?

ARMANDO
You’re doin’ great.

KIESHA
Thank you Sargeant.. Armando, Sargeant. Ah-.

ARMANDO
Armando Sargeant?...So, what, we’re friends now?

KIESHA
Sure.

ARMANDO presses himself into her, yelling in her face.

ARMANDO
THERE ARE NO FRIENDS HERE, WILLIAMS. THERE ARE ONLY SOLDIERS.
He circles.

ARMANDO
You look confused.

KIESHA
I – ahh –

ARMANDO
“I” “Ahh” – you gotta toughen up there Williams. I don’t want to see you fed to the sharks, or in this case scorpions, on my watch, do you understand?

KIESHA
I understand.

ARMANDO
And by scorpions, I mean both inside and outside of U.S. Army issue tents, DO YOU UNDERSTAND?

KIESHA
, I understand, Sargeant Sabados!

ARMANDO
…Good.

ARMANDO leaves her.

JUSTIN throws a football her way.
She catches it. They throw the football back and forth between them as he speaks.

JUSTIN
Day I joined up? Signed my name on the dotted line? Just another rainy day. November, sky was saggin’ to the ground, everything gray as concrete. I was fixin’ the car, again. Piece of shit Chevy always breakin’ down. Dad’s car, only thing he left us and I gotta fix it and I’m all pissed off under the hood, when my chest starts hurting. Like somethin’ pushin’ up against my ribs, gonna push right out. Feel my sister-

(Stops. Starts again.)

She never got out of Springfield. And I – it was time for me to get out, way out - I had nothing to get out with, you know? Couldn’t even afford my classes at the community college, working full time at Jiffy Lube, (yeah) the guys giving me shit for studying on breaks, nah, couldn’t do that shit anymore. Couldn’t see that fuckin’ Chevy again, couldn’t see Mom sittin big with her box of Entenmanns in front of the fuckin’ TV, had to find my way out.Of.That.

Found it in the parkin’ lot of Gateway Mall: U.S. Army recruiting. Pay my way to college, see the world? Hell yeah. Got my papers and a pretzel. Set. To. Go.

ARMANDO enters running.
A military exercise. JUSTIN joins.

ARMANDO
Ain’t no use in goin’ home

JUSTIN
Jody’s got your girl and gone

ARMANDO
Ain’t no use in feeling blue

JUSTIN
Jody’s got your sister too

KIESHA joins them.

ARMANDO
Ain’t no use in lookin’ back

JUSTIN/KIESHA
Jody’s got your Cadillac

ARMANDO
When I die bury me deep

JUSTIN/KIESHA
With two crossed rifles laid beneath my feet

ARMANDO
And by my side a .45m I wear

JUSTIN/KIESHA
And don’t forget to pack my PT gear

ARMANDO
Because early one mornin’ around zero-five

ARMANDO/JUSTIN/KIESHA
The grounds gonna shake there’ll be thunder in the sky.

Sound of a helicopter. Dust.

ARMANDO breaks off on his own.

JUSTIN helps KIESHA unload boxes of medical supplies.


KIESHA
Numbers. I want numbers here.

JUSTIN
Numbers don’t tell you everything.

KIESHA
You afraid to tell me?

JUSTIN
No, I’m just sayin’, countin’ it up like that is bogus.

KIESHA
Bogus? You old.

JUSTIN
Old school.

KIESHA
Old geezer.

JUSTIN
Please.

KIESHA
I’m gonna say fifteen. Round that.

JUSTIN
Fifteen? You think I’m a playa?

KIESHA
Fifteen’s not too many for some of you’s.

JUSTIN
Try three.

KIESHA
Three?

JUSTIN
That’s what I said.

KIESHA
Naw, I don’t believe you.

JUSTIN
Why you ax tha question if you ain’t gonna hear the answer?

KIESHA
I hear it, but –

JUSTIN
But what – you don’t think that’s a “respectable” number?

KIESHA
Oh, it’s respectable, a little too respectable.

JUSTIN
You don’t got respect for me?

KIESHA
Well…

JUSTIN
Wellll, I’m a very respectable guy.

KIESHA
Well, well.

JUSTIN
Well, well, well.

KIESHA
Mr. Respectable.

JUSTIN
Thasright.

KIESHA
No whoring in Thailand?

JUSTIN
Nah.

KIESHA
Philippines?

JUSTIN
Not too much.

KIESHA
Somebody told me they can make change with their –

JUSTIN
Somebody told me that, too.

KIESHA
I sure can’t do that.

JUSTIN
I’m sure glad.

KIESHA
Tho it’d be cool, I guess –

JUSTIN
But it would be a bad sign.

KIESHA
If a girl can make change with her hootch?

JUSTIN
Then you might wanna ask her where she’s been.

KIESHA
What she’s been through.

JUSTIN
God.

KIESHA
Lotsa things screwed up in the world.

(they get quiet)

JUSTIN
So you’re from Jersey?

KIESHA
Jersey City. Ever been?

JUSTIN
Naw. Close to New York, right?

KIESHA
‘Cross the river.

JUSTIN
Damn.

KIESHA
It ain’t all that.

JUSTIN
I never been to New York City. Statue of Liberty. Empire State. The –
(remembers the Trade Center)
...You see them go down?

KIESHA
Not up close, but. Yeah.

JUSTIN
Fucking bastards.

KIESHA
Burnin’ in hell.

JUSTIN
I could be in college right now.

KIESHA
Gettin’ smart?

JUSTIN
Gettin’ drunk.

KIESHA
I could be takin’ a shower.

JUSTIN
I could be puttin’ on a clean t-shirt, fresh out of the dryer.

KIESHA
Gettin’ my hair did.

JUSTIN
Watchin’ Survivor.

KIESHA
Goin’ to church.

JUSTIN
You go to church?

KIESHA
You don’t?

JUSTIN
Nah.

KIESHA
That’s weird.

JUSTIN
Sunday mornings, I like to pick my mom up from Wal-Mart.

KIESHA
Never been to a Wal-Mart.

JUSTIN
Everybody's been to Wal-Mart.

KIESHA
I ain't everybody.

JUSTIN
No you ain’t. Okay:
Wal-Mart is like a town. A city. A whole big goddam city. Filled with fat motherfuckers.

KIESHA
Aw, shit.

JUSTIN
Fat like my mom.

KIESHA
Your mama’s not fat.

JUSTIN
Oh yeah, she’s fat.

KIESHA
That’s not nice, even if she is.

JUSTIN
She’s fat and she’s tired from keepin’ the stock boys in line. You see, she was recently promoted to “Night Manager.”

KIESHA
Good for your mom.

JUSTIN
She works hard when she’s not sitting on the fucking couch. Yes she does…

KIESHA
So you go to Wal-Mart instead of Church.

JUSTIN
Good a place to go.

KIESHA
You cynical.

JUSTIN
Well, see, God hasn’t been to Springfield in a while, so.

KIESHA
Springfield. Like the Simpsons!

JUSTIN
Like Kip Kinkel.

KIESHA
Who?

JUSTIN
The school kid who shot –

KIESHA
Colombine?

JUSTIN
‘Cept it was before.

KIESHA
I never – (heard)

JUSTIN
Three guns, three dead, twenty-two wounded.

KIESHA
Dang.

JUSTIN
Good old Thurston High -

KIESHA
Were you – (there)?

JUSTIN
Me and my sis, we went to Springfield High. Little ways away.

KIESHA
Thankfully.


JUSTIN
Yeah.
I didn’t know the kid, Kip. But somehow, the whole thing, it didn’t surprise me.

KIESHA
I know what you mean.

JUSTIN
Yeah?

KIESHA
Shooting everything up is easy.

JUSTIN
...Funny how no one thinks about that stuff anymore.
Got the war now, I guess.

KIESHA
I guess.

JUSTIN
Springfield...Pretty at least. It's got these mountains, Serious Mountains, the Willamette river, and the ocean.

KIESHA
Oh, God -

JUSTIN/KIESHA
Water…

ARMANDO enters their space, drinking from his canteen. They watch him drink.

He wipes his chin. Offers water to KIESHA. She takes it.

ARMANDO
Hear about Harlan?

KIESHA
The guy from 57th?

ARMANDO
He’s pulling through it.

KIESHA
Did he really go blind?

JUSTIN
He didn’t go blind.


ARMANDO
His left eye.

JUSTIN
He was injured, it got his eye, they took him to the hospital.

KIESHA
Glad I didn’t see that.

JUSTIN
They fixed him in the hospital.

ARMANDO
He’s still got the right one. A lot to be thankful for.

JUSTIN
He’s got both of ‘em.

ARMANDO
Nah, man.

KIESHA
Really? He lost his eye, really?

ARMANDO
He has a lot to be thankful for.

KIESHA
I guess he’s lucky.

ARMANDO
Lucky is what you are when you’re careful.

JUSTIN rolls his eyes.

ARMANDO
They’re shipping him out. He’ll be back with his woman in a week or two. Back with his girl.

KIESHA
That’s good.

ARMANDO
He’ll miss it, though.

KIESHA
I wouldn’t miss it. I’d be so glad to be outta this, I’d go straight to my mom and my sister, never look back.

ARMANDO
Sure you’d look back.

JUSTIN
I wouldn’t look back either.

ARMANDO
You always look back, where your friends are still fighting, still riskin’ it. You get a ache to be there. Part of it. Watchin’ their back. Once this gets in you, it don’t get out.

The sand stirs.

JUSTIN
Check out that lizard.

KIESHA
Oh, gross.

JUSTIN
That thing is huge.

KIESHA
That thing is too big to be a reptile, it’s like cat-sized.

JUSTIN
It’s cool.

KIESHA
It’s cool over there. Way over there.

JUSTIN
I bet I could catch it.

KIESHA
I bet you can’t.

JUSTIN
Bet you a candy bar?

KIESHA
Then I will be eating your candy.

JUSTIN runs after the lizard.
KIESHA and ARMANDO are left alone.


KIESHA
Stupid.

ARMANDO and KIESHA make eye contact.

They look away.

Long pause.

ARMANDO
I’m married.

KIESHA
I don’t do that.


ARMANDO
Good.

After a moment more alone with no words said, JUSTIN hollars.

JUSTIN
I got him, I got him!

He loses the lizard.

KIESHA
Nice.


JUSTIN
I had him for a second.

ARMANDO
Gotta keep him.


JUSTIN starts at ARMANDO.

JUSTIN
What, man?

ARMANDO points to JUSTIN’S rifle, abandoned in the sand.

ARMANDO
What the hell's that?

JUSTIN
What?

ARMANDO
Pick it up.

JUSTIN
Pick what up.

ARMANDO
Your weapon, pendejo. What the fuck you thinkin’.

JUSTIN
I got my weapon right here.

JUSTIN adjusts his balls.

ARMANDO
Man, stand the fuck up. Straight.

JUSTIN
I am straight.

ARMANDO
What you are is a little cabron from Springfield. You ain’t seen shit you ain’t done shit. Try some of this, man.

ARMANDO threatens him physically.

JUSTIN
Stop fuckin’ around.

ARMANDO
(referring to his rifle)
Man before I was sixteen, I had three of these held to my fucking head.

JUSTIN
Somebody try to steal your pina colada? What? Were you gangbangin’ on the beach, what?

ARMANDO
You need to understand what this is.

JUSTIN
I understand –

ARMANDO
No. You do not understand.

JUSTIN
It’s not like nothin’s ever happened to me/ Sar, you can cut the act.

ARMANDO
It is exactly like nothin’s happened to you man, nothin’ has, I’m happy for you, really happy you got to hang at the mall or whatever you bolillos do, I’m happy for you that you did not have some ojete with an oozie all up in your pimple ass face or some knife at your throat ‘cause you went to the wrong fucking side of the street.

JUSTIN
Christ, man.

ARMANDO
Christ is what got me out of that and into this.

JUSTIN
Got you out of what, exactly?

ARMANDO
No struggle, that’s what’s wrong with you. No pain no discipline no faith.


ARMANDO walks away.

JUSTIN
(punching his palm)
Pow.

KIESHA
Justin.

JUSTIN
Pow pow.

KIESHA
Justin, what’s goin’ on.

JUSTIN
Going on? Gee, I don’t know. It appears I have shit duty. Guardin’ a fucking gas station in the middle of fucking nowhere in a country that doesn’t fucking exist! It’s all bullshit!
(yelling in ARMANDO’s direction)
Fucking BORING BULLSHIT is what’s going on.

KIESHA
Bullshit!

JUSTIN
Bullshit!
(scream)
Ahhh!

KIESHA
Ahhhh!

JUSTIN
Ahhh!

KIESHA
Aaaaaahhhhh!

JUSTIN
Burn it, gotta burn it!

They start to run together, a military exercise.

JUSTIN
Mom makes fourteen grand a year

KIESHA/JUSTIN
Works night n day till she got gray hair

JUSTIN
Mom says Son don’t you be like me

KIESHA/JUSTIN
Gotta get yourself a college degree

JUSTIN
Mom I ask what about the money

KIESHA/JUSTIN
Son don’t be silly there’s the U.S. Army

JUSTIN
Signed me up at the recruiting station

KIESHA/JUSTIN
United States Army gonna pay tuition

JUSTIN
Momma momma tell me what’s that terrible noise

KIESHA/JUSTIN
Hounds of war come to take my boys

JUSTIN
Momma momma please don’t you start to cry

KIESHA/JUSTIN
‘Stead of sending me to college, they’re sending me to die.

They collapse in the sand.
***
Night. A thin moon. JUSTIN and KIESHA sit together, alone.

JUSTIN
So what’s a girl like you doing in a place like this.

KIESHA
You’ll have to ask my recruiting officer, cuz I wouldn’t have thought this up on my own. That’s for damn sure. He was cool, the recruiter. Alex. And no, I did not think he was cute. He was just with it, you know, together. Nobody else I knew had it together like that. My friends were bummmin’ me out, just hangin’ out ‘n smokin’ out, not even trying to make a plan for their life and it was makin’ me real
agitated but it’s not like I had any bright ideas, it’s not like I had any kind of picture of my future. I’d try. To get a picture in my mind. Like, when I’d be in bed, supposed to sleep, I’d go, okay Kiesha think. You’re gonna be graduatin’ soon, whatcha gonna do whatcha wanna do. I’d lay there squeezin’ my brain, and no juice. The only pictures I’d get were these images of fallin’. Into the water, like...
not screaming or slipping, not like a scary accident. Just quiet. Falling still. Into such dark water. Like night. When you’re falling asleep... except I wasn’t fallin’ asleep. I couldn’t sleep at all....
I’m not talkin’ any sense.

JUSTIN
Yes you are.

KIESHA
I guess I just needed something to come along’.
I didn’t think it was learnin’ to kill people, but –

JUSTIN
But, hey!

KIESHA
It all happened so fast, you know. I never thought I’d be in, like, a war. It don’t feel real.

JUSTIN
It isn’t real.

KIESHA
But it is.

JUSTIN
Naw, it’s all made up. The borders, all make believe.
The British made it up. It’s true! I got evidence.

JUSTIN pulls the bullet out of his pocket.

KIESHA
What is that?

JUSTIN
A bullet. From 1920. British. I looked it up. Here.

KIESHA
I don’t want to touch it.

JUSTIN
It feels weird, huh?

JUSTIN retrieves an old photograph of a young British soldier.

JUSTIN
The borders of this place? they were made up by guys like this.

KIESHA
Where did you get that?

JUSTIN
Right here.

KIESHA
He looks so young.

JUSTIN
Young as you, probably.

KIESHA
So this dude was here. Where we are now?

JUSTIN
He was probably here in 1920. That’s when the shit hit the fan. All the borders start to unravel, ‘cause they aren’t real borders, they were made up by the English after WWI, when the Ottoman Empire fell apart.

KIESHA
Actin’ all smart and shit…

JUSTIN
I can be smart. And shit.

KIESHA
I guess you can…

JUSTIN
Stop it.

KIESHA
Stop what?

JUSTIN
Anyway. So. I’m talking about. What am I talking about?

KIESHA
This British dude. Who looks like you, actually.

JUSTIN
No he don’t.

KIESHA
Yes he do.

JUSTIN
No, no, look. Listen. Borders, I was talking about borders.

KIESHA
Borders. Boundaries.

JUSTIN
Yes. Boundaries. Between. People.
Made up. By people outside the people. In this case, the British Empire came in and made a country that was like,
intentionally fucked up. They put together tribes of people that were historically at war with each other. Instead of the Shias having one country, the Sunnis another, the British come in and draw a line around some Shias from over here, Sunnis from over there, Kurds from over there, they draw this line in the sand and say Here. This Is Your Country. Make it work.

KIESHA
This dude does too look like you.

JUSTIN
You’re not even listening to me are you.

KEISHA
I am listening to you, it’s just like, what am I supposed to do with that? Think this country ain’t real? Think it ain’t real what we're doin' here?

JUSTIN
What is it we're doin' here?

KIESHA
(laughs)
What we're told.

JUSTIN
Seriously.

KIESHA
But you know something? Shh, it's a secret.
(she looks around, then whispers)
I like it.

JUSTIN
You like it?

KIESHA
I feel strong here. I feel strong as a solider.
I never thought I could feel strong like this, in my body, in my mind.

JUSTIN
Does give you focus.

KIESHA
Focus, yeah.

JUSTIN
And a job.

KIESHA
If they fix my truck.

JUSTIN
What, you don’t wanna be stuck here with me any more?

KIESHA
I don’t know how you dudes can take this post.

JUSTIN
It’s career development. Manage me a Texaco when I get out.

She laughs. Then thinks.

KIESHA
Hopefully a job, when I get out.

JUSTIN
Nurse Williams!

KIESHA
I hope.

JUSTIN
It'll happen.

KIESHAIf I make it out alive.

JUSTIN
What are you talkin', of course you will -

KIESHA
All I ask, if it’s gonna come, Lord, bring it fast. None of this injury shit. None of that. If you gonna take my legs? Take my eyes? Best take it all. ‘Cause I ain’t doin’ no half way kind of life. All or nothin’.


ARMANDO enters their space, with a radio.

JUSTIN slips the photo and bullet into his pocket.

Cheering and sounds of celebration. JUSTIN, KIESHA and ARMANDO gather around the radio and listen to good news.


ARMANDO
WHOO!

KIESHA
We got him!

JUSTIN
Woo-hoo!

KIESHA
Feels pretty good, have to say.

ARMANDO
Took that fuckin’ bastard down, man! To the fuckin’ ground, man!

JUSTIN
YEAH! Not like I had anything to do with it, but –

KIESHA
Sure you did.

JUSTIN
- sittin on my rifle watchin’ nothin’ happen to nothin’.

KIESHA
You’re here.

JUSTIN
I ain’t there, though. I ain’t there!

ARMANDO
Fuckin’ sadist bastard, DOWN. Took him fuckin DOWN.

KIESHA
Hell yeah!

ARMANDO
U-S-A. U-S-A. U-S-A.


JUSTIN
(laugh ing)
This from a fuckin’ Puerto Rican.

ARMANDO
Fuck you man I’m proud of my country.

JUSTIN
The USA ain’t your country, that’s all I’m sayin’.

ARMANDO
Hey: Fuck.You.

JUSTIN
I’m not puttin’ it down, man, I’d be Puerto Rican over being American any day.

ARMANDO
Man, you have no idea what you’re fuckin’ talkin about.

KIESHA
We just took out a guy who, like, tortured people. Who, like, gassed people just for being a different race. I think we can feel good about ourselves.

ARMANDO
U-S-A. U-S-A. //U.S.A

KIESHA
U.S.A.

JUSTIN
(to KIESHA)
That’s the thing I don’t get.

ARMANDO
What don’t you “get.”

JUSTIN
I don’t get what makes you fight for a country you’re not even, like, a citizen of. I’m not tryin’ to piss you off –

ARMANDO
You’re not trying to piss me off, huh.

KIESHA
Boys, boys. // We’re celebrating.



ARMANDO
My dad fought in Korea. Silver Star for it. My Uncle in Panama.

JUSTIN
Panama? What were we // doing in Panama?

ARMANDO
They were proud to serve. They had honor. They understood duty.

JUSTIN
“Duty”

KIESHA
Sounds like you have a strong family.

ARMANDO
Strength from faith.

JUSTIN
Right! Faith.

KIESHA
Faith is everything.

JUSTIN
Faith has nothing – (to do with it)

ARMANDO
Faith is nothing? Faith is everything. What’re you doing here if you don’t have faith in your country? If you don’t have faith in God? How the hell can you carry that gun?

ARMANDO walks away. Wind.

JUSTIN looks to KIESHA. She appears to sink into the sand. KIESHA is disappearing, being swallowed by it.

JUSTIN desperately tries to keep her. He digs, pushes and pulls, trying to keep her from disappearing.

He pulls her out. The wind dies down.

KIESHA sits calmly in the sand. JUSTIN watches her.

KIESHA
What?

JUSTIN
Nothin. Just - You remind me of my sister.

KIESHA
Oh yeah?

JUSTIN
My little sis. Called me Juice.

KIESHA
Juice, I like that.

JUSTIN
She beat me up all the time.

KIESHA
No she didn’t.

JUSTIN
Yes she did.

KIESHA
Why you let your little sister beat you up.

JUSTIN
Can’t hit a girl.

KIESHA
Please.

JUSTIN
I know, I know…

KIESHA
She doesn’t beat you up any more, does she.

JUSTIN
No. No she does not do that.

KIESHA
...What’d she die from? She get sick?

JUSTIN
I guess you could say that. A kind of – sick.

KIESHA
You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want.
But I’m not afraid of it, whatever it is.

JUSTIN
You say that now.

KIESHA
I say that for real. You can say whatever. I’m not gonna freak and get quiet on you or get talkin’ all about myself real fast like oh-shit-oh-shit I can’t listen to what he say.

JUSTIN
... My sister killed herself.

KIESHA
When did she pass?

JUSTIN
Three years ago, about.

KIESHA
So it’s been a little while.

JUSTIN
Yeah. No. I mean, I can’t tell how long it’s been. I know, but then again, every day - every time I think about it it’s like it’s right now, the same as when I first got the call, like I’m movin’ along in life then somethin’ trips me and I look down and see this hole in my chest, and I’m like, shit, that’s right, there’s a hole in my chest.

KIESHA
Like a wound.

JUSTIN
Nothin’ to do but watch it bleed....You ever lose anyone?

KIESHA
No, nobody of mine. Nothing like losing my sister.

JUSTIN
Alli was cool.

KIESHA
‘Course she was, she was your sister.

JUSTIN
I couldn’t even feel when she...I was in a bar, when she...I was in a bar. Shootin’ the shit with my pals, right, I’m all party-party and I can’t even feel it when – when she goes. When she does it. I always thought that. If something happened to her – I thought I could – I thought I would know…

KIESHA
You think that because you couldn’t feel it when she passed, that you weren’t really connected?

JUSTIN
I don’t know.

KIESHA
You can’t feel guilty.

JUSTIN
I don’t know.

KIESHA
I do.

JUSTIN
Why? How can you know something like that? How can any of us know what another person takes from something – from our action, or our, our, inaction – how can we say we’re not to blame in something, I mean maybe you need something right now and I can’t even see it, maybe I’m completely blind to it, maybe you’re crying for help while I take up all this space with, with my problems, when your problems are, are real/now/happening, I’m talking about the past, crying over what – what’s already done! it’s done! but there’s right now, there could be things right now that I can’t even see, and who can say that it’s okay for me not to see them? I mean isn’t it our job out here, our responsibility to this country, to see, to listen, to— (know)…

KIESHA
I know I didn’t know your sister. But I can tell that you loved your sister for real, and there’s no way she couldn’t have felt that. There’s no way you weren’t a good brother to her.


JUSTIN
Good brother – (scoffs)

KIESHA
A good brother to her.

***
A voice, singing. A Muslim call to prayer, beautiful.

KIESHA leaves.

***

ARMANDO enters, chewing on a “Hooah” energy bar.

JUSTIN
Man, where’d you get the Hooah?

ARMANDO
MRE.

JUSTIN
Told me you were out.

ARMANDO
I lied.

JUSTIN
I get half a that Hooah.

ARMANDO
Why.

JUSTIN
‘Cause you got everything. Wife, kids. Church. What do I got?

ARMANDO tears off half of the protein bar for JUSTIN.

ARMANDO
I don’t know. What do you got?


JUSTIN
I dunno. Don’t know what the hell I’m talking about.

They chew in silence.

JUSTIN
You been married for what -

ARMANDO
Six years.

JUSTIN
And you still like her, like, you’re hot for her?

ARMANDO
I’m crazy about her. To me she’s like a supermodel, even though she ain’t. Especially when she was pregnant.

JUSTIN
Really?

ARMANDO
Most beautiful thing in the world, the woman you love with your baby like that.

Miss her so bad it hurts.
She and my baby girls. Everything to me.

JUSTIN
I can’t imagine it.

ARMANDO
You find the right girl, you can imagine it.

JUSTIN
Well.
There is this one girl.

ARMANDO
You got a girl back home you ain’t told me about?

JUSTIN
I think I’m fallin, man.



ARMANDO
Serious?

JUSTIN
We’re keeping it loose. Keepin’ it open.

ARMANDO
Close to the exit, huh? One foot in, one foot out. Man, that’s just fear of commitment. You get over it.

JUSTIN
I wanna be able to change my life, change who I am in a second, snap like that.

ARMANDO
What you are is a soldier and that ain’t ever gonna change, bro.

JUSTIN
That’s just what I’m doing. Not who I am. It doesn’t define me. In a few months, I’ll be readin’ Thoreau n shit.

ARMANDO
Nah, man.

JUSTIN
Lettin’ my hair grow.

ARMANDO
In a few months, you’ll be right here.

JUSTIN
If I’m still here in a few months? I’ll be fucking dead.

ARMANDO
Not sayin’ that.

JUSTIN
I’m leavin’ this place. No Army can make me stay. I got a future.

ARMANDO
We all got futures.

JUSTIN
I got a different future.


ARMANDO
Only God knows your future, bro.

JUSTIN
You ain’t gonna convert me so stop pushin’ – (the God shit)

ARMANDO
You ask me, I’m gonna tell you.

JUSTIN
I’m not asking you.

ARMANDO
You ask about marriage. What do you think? Marriage is faith.

JUSTIN
Faith has nothing – (to do with it)

ARMANDO
Faith is nothing?

JUSTIN
Has nothing –

ARMANDO
Faith is everything. How you keep a woman –

JUSTIN
Trust –

ARMANDO
Not just trust but faith. Faith in that love that brought you together. Sounds like sap to you, cuz you’re young. And you cannot see. It’s all about what you cannot see, bro. Gotta give it to God. Let God see for you. You are a cup, you are a plate, you are a tool of God’s. You do not have the power to question His use of you. And if you have the arrogance to believe you have this power, that you, as a cup, can fill yourself? As a plate, can wash yourself? You put a burden on yourself that’s too heavy. You can’t carry this burden. No one can carry this burden.

What are you doing here if you don’t have faith? In your country? In God? How the hell can you carry that gun?

ARMANDO is gone.

KIESHA enters, stands at the edge of the scene. Talks to JUSTIN from far away. Almost a monotone.

KIESHA
Cisco got his foot blown off yesterday, you hear that?

JUSTIN
Yeah. That sucks.

KIESHA
Crazy.

JUSTIN
Yeah.

KIESHA
What would you do if your foot got blown off?

JUSTIN
Go home, I guess.

KIESHA
For real.

JUSTIN
Can’t think about stuff like that.

KIESHA
Yeah...I guess.

JUSTIN
Don’t think about it.

KIESHA
Just be glad I got both my feet.

JUSTIN
And all your fingers.

KIESHA
Two arms, two legs.

JUSTIN
Everything you need to keep dancin’.

KIESHA starts dancing, alone. JUSTIN watches.

AHMED enters, with a boom box. The boom box plays a Backstreet Boys song.

KIESHA is dancing to the music. JUSTIN watches as she fades away.

AHMED walks towards JUSTIN, sporting a baseball cap with an American flag on it.


AHMED
Hello! Hello, American!
(he points to boom box)
This is American, too! Hello! Why do you not say hello?

JUSTIN
Afternoon.

AHMED
You look tired, yes?

JUSTIN
No sir.



AHMED
I am tired! Long day, so many long days. When I am tired I like to have the music.

JUSTIN
(suppresses a laugh)

AHMED
You are laughing, I am being serious.

JUSTIN
(referring to boom box)
You can’t set that there.

AHMED
I cannot?

JUSTIN
No. Over –

AHMED
What about here? Can I put it here?

JUSTIN
That should be okay.

AHMED
Okay. I love the American song on the American radio!

JUSTIN
That’s the Backstreet Boys.

AHMED
Back street?

JUSTIN
Boy band. Nevermind.

AHMED
No, explain to me.

JUSTIN
It’s a band. That’s all men. Young guys, teenagers, all dressed in some different trendy kinda way. And they do synchronized dance moves.

AHMED
They dance!

JUSTIN
Yeah. They dance.

AHMED
This is good, I like this! This is your music!

JUSTIN
No. This is not my music. I mean I’m glad you like it, but –

AHMED
You do not like this American music?

JUSTIN
No, this isn’t the only music we’ve got, it’s just one kinda music, it’s not the best kind, but –

AHMED
What is the best music.

JUSTIN
Well, Jimmy Hendrix, for a start.

AHMED
Jimmy…?

JUSTIN
He played guitar. Back in the 60’s. That was the best, the 60’s, you should listen to that stuff.

AHMED
Did this Jimmy dance?

JUSTIN
(laughing)
No, this Jimmy did not dance.

AHMED
I will show you something, yes?

JUSTIN
I’m sorry, I gotta –

AHMED
Yes, you are guarding this petrol – gas station we are at this gas station and you have all the gun and, yes I understand.

JUSTIN
You can stay here, it’s okay.

AHMED
I play a song.

JUSTIN
You can play a song.

AHMED
I can play?

JUSTIN
Sure, I’d love to hear a song. Nothin’ goin’ on, so.

AHMED
Very good. Very good song! This is from here where you are standing. My country.

AHMED puts on a song. It is beautiful classic Middle Eastern music.

AHMED
Tell me do you like this?

JUSTIN
Yeah, it’s cool.

AHMED
Cool.

JUSTIN
It’s hip!

AHMED
Hip! Cool!

JUSTIN
(laughing)
Is this your favorite kind of music?

AHMED
This is my music, yes.


JUSTIN
It’s good.

AHMED
This music, you can dance to this music.

AHMED starts dancing, a traditional dance. Unequivocally masculine. His hands in the air and hips turning.


AHMED
This is how the dance is to the music.

JUSTIN suppresses a laugh.

AHMED
I am not the best dancer.

JUSTIN
You do pretty good.

AHMED
I only dance for a good time.

JUSTIN
That’s the best reason.

AHMED
Do you sometimes have a good time?

JUSTIN
Back home, you bet.

AHMED
Back home, yes. Do you miss your country?

JUSTIN
I miss home, yes I do.


AHMED
Your family.

JUSTIN
Yeah.

AHMED
It is hard to not have your family.

JUSTIN
It’s hard to not have a lot of things, but you know. I like it here, too, though. Here in your country.

AHMED
You like my country?

JUSTIN
Yeah. I do.

AHMED
What is it that you like of my country?

JUSTIN
Well, I like your music.

AHMED
Music, yes I am glad.

JUSTIN
And, I like how it’s – how everything has history, the ancient culture, the history.

AHMED
The history! Yes.
(clapping his hands, in dance)
To history!

JUSTIN
To history!

AHMED
You, too, have history. So tell me. What is it about my history that you like?

JUSTIN
I don’t really have history.

AHMED
Every person has history.

JUSTIN
I mean America. It’s –

AHMED
New.

JUSTIN
Yeah, new.

AHMED
But not “poof” from thin air, no?

JUSTIN
Well, no.

AHMED
But new idea, maybe. Where you stand now, is not new.

JUSTIN
Exactly, that’s what I –

AHMED
Many things have begun right here where you are standing. Writing. Mathematics.

JUSTIN
Yeah, yeah.

AHMED
God.

JUSTIN
Huh.

AHMED
Your God started here. Your Jesus. That is what I hear.

JUSTIN
I hadn’t heard that.

AHMED
You want to learn how to dance?

JUSTIN
Oh, no, I can’t do that.

AHMED
You cannot?

JUSTIN
No, I sure can’t do that.

AHMED
You will not?

JUSTIN
I’m –

AHMED
The gun, of course, yes, but you see this dance, this dance you can do with a gun. Come.

AHMED dances with seriousness. JUSTIN, after looking around, slowly warms to it. Starts to move.

AHMED
Yes! That is it, like this.

JUSTIN is dancing, with his gun.

JUSTIN starts to learn from AHMED’s movements. The two dance.

Day becomes night...

as Puerto Rican music begins to play. ARMANDO is dancing, flask in hand.

KIESHA enters. Begins to dance to Armando’s music.


KIESHA
I like this.

ARMANDO
Never heard it before?

KIESHA
Don’t think so. Ooo, you’re drinkin.

ARMANDO
Damn right I’m drinkin’. A man’s gotta rest. Gotta get loose.

KIESHA
Shit, you’re funny.

ARMANDO
I’m never funny.

KIESHA
Maybe that’s why you’re funny.

ARMANDO
So you’re laughing at me?

KIESHA
Do you see me laughin’?

ARMANDO
I’m a soldier not a club kid.

KIESHA
You never party?

ARMANDO
‘Course I party.

KIESHA
I never partied before the Army.

ARMANDO
Now you’re an Army girl, you’re a party girl.

KIESHA
Gotta do somethin’.

ARMANDO
Yes you do.

KIESHA
Get some release.

ARMANDO
Gotta have that.

KIESHA
Or I go crazy.

ARMANDO
Wouldn’t want you to go crazy.

KIESHA
You go crazy?

ARMANDO
Never.

KIESHA
Please.

ARMANDO
I never go crazy.

KIESHA
You lyin’.

ARMANDO
I gotta strong head.

KIESHA
What, you can like, break cement walls with it?

ARMANDO
Mind. I got a strong mind.

KIESHA
You got strong breath is what you got. What is that, whiskey?

ARMANDO
Tequila.

ARMANDO leans into her, a kiss.
KIESHA responds with some force. They twist into each other, desperate.

JUSTIN appears out of the dark, shaking and breathing heavily.

The music grows louder.

We see through Justin’s eyes:
The air seems to blur as KIESHA and ARMANDO press into the gas pump,
And KIESHA drinks from the gas nozzle.

JUSTIN trains his rifle on ARMANDO and KIESHA.

An explosion.

Parts of a vehicle fly.

KIESHA falls into the sand.

ARMANDO is thrown.

JUSTIN hits the ground.

Sand fills the sky.
The three soldiers are blown into separate spaces. Shock.

KIESHA sits alone, shell shocked in the sand, shivering.

ARMANDO emerges swerving as if drunk, carrying a small package through the wreckage.

ARMANDO
Where the fuck’d you get off to. Who’s mannin’ the fuckin’ ship, G?!

JUSTIN
(begins to march)
Sir! Yes Sir!

ARMANDO
Where is everything. Peterson! I got somethin’ to show you, bud. Good buddy ole pal a mine ya fucking numbnut cuckold cocksuckin’ salad tossin’ mutherfucker.
(thinks of KIESHA as he holds a photo from his care package)
…Jesus, kill me. Straight through. Clean shot. All I ask for. PETERSON YOU AWOL ON ME?


KIESHA crawls through the sand.

ARMANDO sees JUSTIN. Goes to him.

KIESHA
Pow.

ARMANDO
Check it out bro.

KIESHA
Pow pow.

JUSTIN
(out)
Sir, yes sir!

ARMANDO
Mail call, man.

JUSTIN
Sir, yes sir!

ARMANDO
Bitch sent me chocolate. Don’t the bitch know that the shit melts? It’s fuckin’ 120 degrees, man!

JUSTIN
Sir, yes sir!

ARMANDO
Shit’s pudding, check it out!

JUSTIN
Sir, yes sir!

ARMANDO is playing with something in the package, muttering in Spanish.

KIESHA
Pow.

ARMANDO
My wife.

KIESHA
Pow.

ARMANDO
Taste.

KIESHA
Pow Pow.

ARMANDO
TASTE. IT.

ARMANDO grabs JUSTIN’s head.



ARMANDO forces the melted chocolate into JUSTIN’S mouth.

ARMANDO
My wife, this is my wife, she made this herself, you like this? This is my wife. This is my wife, you like the taste? Huh? Yeah? You like it? She makes this shit from scratch.

ARMANDO stops abruptly and turns his back on JUSTIN.

ARMANDO
GOD TAKE ME.

JUSTIN’s face is smeared brown.

JUSTIN
What happened.

ARMANDO
...I can’t remember.

JUSTIN
What happened back there.

ARMANDO
Can’t feel remember you

JUSTIN
How long is it we...

ARMANDO
Can’t feel you Lord

ARMANDO whispers a prayer in Spanish.

JUSTIN
How long is it we been out

Something still smoulders.

JUSTIN
I don’t understand

KIESHA gets up.

JUSTIN
Wait.

KIESHA
(speaking out, as if to JUSTIN)
This how we’re gonna leave things?

JUSTIN
Leave?

KIESHA
Alright then.

JUSTIN
No

KIESHA
All gotta leave sometime.

JUSTIN
Not gonna leave – (you)

Shift.

KIESHA, alone, sees a sandstorm approaching.

KIESHA
Sand…

ARMANDO becomes AHMED, taking gas from the pump.

AHMED
You might call it Sand.

KIESHA is swallowed by sand as JUSTIN swings to face AHMED.

AHMED
I would call it many things you could not understand because you do not have those words anywhere in your head. They do not exist for you.



JUSTIN
What are you doing?

AHMED
(ignoring his question)
Like you do not exist for me. I am looking at you now, but in a moment, you will be gone. Like rain that brings no water.

JUSTIN
Are you taking the gas?

AHMED
Are you taking my country?

JUSTIN
Me? I - I’m not trying to take – this – from you, I don’t want this place, we don’t – we’re not trying to take it from you

AHMED
But you are taking this from me. Piece by piece by piece by piece by piece. I did not know this world could be seen in so many pieces until I meet you. And see you break it down for me. You break it and I see all the pieces that used to be one whole and I see how you look at these pieces, how you look at these small pieces I have left, and I hear a grumble in your stomach and see your tongue hang from your lips. Why are you so hungry?

JUSTIN
I’m not –

AHMED
Then why do you look at me like a starved dog.

JUSTIN
Me? I’m not, I - I’m just one person. I’m not my country –

AHMED
But you are.

JUSTIN
I’m sorry, I –




AHMED
Why are you sorry? You are who you are. You are your country, I am my country, we are the dirt that we grow in, there is no sorry there.

JUSTIN
I don’t want to do this.

AHMED
Then why are you doing it?

JUSTIN
It’s – I’m not my country

AHMED
Like rain that brings no water. I say words to you now, but they go into emptiness. What is this place that we are in? Where rain is not rain and words are not words? Do you know of this place? What do you call this?

JUSTIN
I’m armed...I’m sorry – (I have to warn you)

AHMED
Again with the sorry. I am sorry for you with all of this sorry.

AHMED begins to walk away with the gas.

JUSTIN
I can’t let you walk away with that.

AHMED
If you are not your country, as you tell me, then you can let me walk with what is mine.

JUSTIN trains his gun on AHMED; finger on the trigger.

AHMED slowly walks away. JUSTIN cannot shoot. He tries to pump himself up to pull the trigger.

JUSTIN
Load another magazine
In my trusty M16
Cuz all I ever wanna see
Is bodies, bleeding bodies.
Throw another hand grenade!
Should have seen the mess I made.
Cuz all I ever wanna see,
Is bodies, broken bodies!
Stab em with the bayonet!
If he squirms you're not done yet!
Cuz all I ever wanna see,
Is bodies, cut-up bodies.

JUSTIN readies his bayonet. ARMANDO appears beside him.


JUSTIN
What makes the grass grow?

JUSTIN/ARMANDO
(stabbing the air with their bayonets)
Blood Blood Blood Blood!

KIESHA joins.

JUSTIN
What makes the grass grow?

JUSTIN/ARMANDO/KIESHA
(stabbing the air with their bayonets)
Blood Blood Blood Blood!

ARMANDO
What makes the grass grow?

ARMANDO/JUSTIN/KIESHA
(stabbing the air with their bayonets)
Blood Blood Blood Blood!


A shift – sharp. A hard turn.

KIESHA approaches JUSTIN.


KIESHA
Cisco got his foot blown off yesterday, you hear that?

JUSTIN
Yeah. That sucks.

KIESHA
Crazy.

JUSTIN
Yeah.

KIESHA
What would you do if your foot got blown off?

JUSTIN
Go home, I guess.


KIESHA
For real.

JUSTIN
Can’t think about stuff like that.

KIESHA
Yeah...I guess.

JUSTIN
Don’t think about it.

KIESHA
Just be glad I got both my feet.

JUSTIN
And all your fingers.

KIESHA
Two arms, two legs.

JUSTIN
Everything you need to keep dancin’.

KIESHA
Shake my ass!

JUSTIN
S’right!

KIESHA
Shake it, ‘fore I lose it!

JUSTIN
You aren’t gonna lose it.

KIESHA
Who’s to say?

JUSTIN
I am. That ass is gonna stay right where it is, with the legs to carry it.

KIESHA
You gonna protect it, huh?

JUSTIN
Damn right. From all dangers, foreign and domestic.Protect it with my life if I have to.

KIESHA
Well guess what? I’m gonna protect your ass, too.

JUSTIN
Yeah?

KIESHA
Yeah. You gotta nice ass.

JUSTIN
Private Williams...

KIESHA
Fuck “Private.”

JUSTIN
Uh-oh, you’re talkin’ like the rest of these animals.

KIESHA
Damn straight. Why not? We’re all animals out here. Fuck, man. Why not do everything? Why hold back from shit!

JUSTIN
Shit like what?

KIESHA
Anything, like...anything...

JUSTIN
Kiesha.

KIESHA
Justin.

JUSTIN
What are you doin’.

KIESHA
Just lookin’ at you.

JUSTIN
Don’t do that.

KIESHA
Why, does it hurt?

JUSTIN
I can’t –

KIESHA
Can’t what.

JUSTIN
...What happens when we get back?

KIESHA
What happens when we don’t?

JUSTIN
We will.

KIESHA
Sure. Just like everyone thinks.

JUSTIN
We will get back.

KIESHA
Why you stoppin’ yourself?

JUSTIN
Stoppin’ myself from what?

KIESHA
Doin’ what everybody else does.

JUSTIN
Everybody else?

KIESHA
Don’t play all innocent.

JUSTIN
I’m not playin’ anything.

KIESHA
...You never did ask me how many I been with before.

JUSTIN
Oh. Yeah-

KIESHA
One. I been with one before I came to this place. He was sweet, too. He was real sweet.

JUSTIN
Good. I’m glad – (he was sweet)

KIESHA
You’re glad! Oh, God that’s funny.

JUSTIN
I don’t get it.

KIESHA
Well. What do you get?

JUSTIN
Kiesha -

KIESHA
What is it you think happens, huh?

JUSTIN
I got school in a few months.

KIESHA
Little school boy, huh?

JUSTIN
What about you?

KIESHA
Why?

JUSTIN
Stop playin’ with me, okay.

KIESHA
I’m not playin’.

JUSTIN
You know why.

KIESHA
Yeah? How can I know what I’m not told?

JUSTIN
You gotta be told everything?

KIESHA
You too all up in yourself.

JUSTIN
What’s that supposed to mean.

KIESHA
You need to come on out of there.
(knocks on JUSTIN’s head)
Hey! Hey you in there!

JUSTIN
Stop it.

KIESHA keeps knocking, laughing.
JUSTIN
Stop it!

JUSTIN swipes at her, hitting her arm.

KIESHA
Ow... Shit.

JUSTIN
Sorry – shit, are you okay.

KIESHA
Fuck you, Peterson.

JUSTIN
Wait – God damn it wait a minute would you?!

KIESHA
What for?

JUSTIN
You want me to say it? I like you, okay. I could see us living like real people, you a nurse, me a teacher, buying a house / with like a porch, you know, two kids and a dog.

KIESHA
What?

JUSTIN
Or a cat. Whatever you want. I mean… I could love you, Kiesha. I could fucking love you.

KIESHA
…Don’t say that.

JUSTIN
Now you don’t want me saying it?

KIESHA
How can you say that shit out here? Where the hell do you think you are? Where you are, people fuck people. Like I fucked five of ‘em just the other fucking night. I mean how can you stay so / innocent?

JUSTIN
You what?

KIESHA
I mean, shit.

JUSTIN
Oh God, wait, what are you tellin’ me – ?

KIESHA
You too old to be so young.

JUSTIN
Kiesha, were you raped?

KIESHA
...What, you don’t think I’d want to?

JUSTIN
Oh my God.

KIESHA
Don’t think I could take it? You have no idea how much I can take. None of you, have any idea, what I can fuckin’ take – I am fucking strong. I’m strong.

JUSTIN
God

KIESHA
Don’t.
Don’t be sad.

Shit, don’t be sad.

JUSTIN turns his back on her.

KIESHA.
It’s just… war.
Justin. Justin?

JUSTIN starts to walk away.

KIESHA
Justin?
The sound of wind. A sand storm is threatening.

KIESHA
Justin?
She picks up a box of medical supplies.


KIESHA
Justin?


KIESHA becomes ALLISON.

ALLISON
Juice?

JUSTIN turns around.

ALLISON
You hear me, Juice? Remember that I love you, okay? No matter what happens, okay?

JUSTIN
Why, what’s gonna happen, Alli.

ALLISON is gone.


JUSTIN
Alli! – Kiesha – Kiesha, wait!

KIESHA gets behind the wheel of a truck.JUSTIN sees her leaving, in a convoy.

JUSTIN
Wait!

Echo of an explosion.

KIESHA’s eyes go wide.
She breathes in.

Lights out.

JUSTIN’s voice in the dark.


JUSTIN
Kiesha?

KIESHA moans in pain.

JUSTIN waves a flashlight in the dark. His light passes over ARMANDO, asleep.

JUSTIN
Where is she?

KIESHA
(moans)

JUSTIN
KIESHA!

ARMANDO
(waking)
What the hell

JUSTIN
Where is she

ARMANDO
What the hell are you talking about.

JUSTIN
She go to you?

ARMANDO
Get that fucking light out of my face, man.

JUSTIN
Greedy motherfucker.

ARMANDO
Justin what the fuck are you doing.

Dawn breaks.


JUSTIN
Fucking hypocrite! Faith, huh? How you keep a marriage, yeah I like how you keep a marriage, Sabados


ARMANDO
This aint’ right.

JUSTIN
It sure as hell ain’t.

ARMANDO
Can’t bring this out now

JUSTIN
What, this uncomfortable for you “Family Man”? Mr. Fucking Morality, to face your own hypocrisy? SHE WAS EIGHTEEN FUCKING YEARS OLD.

ARMANDO
Don’t –

JUSTIN
I hope that sweet wife of yours is gettin’ banged by some Freshman Army fuck –

ARMANDO pins JUSTIN, he struggles.


JUSTIN
What’d you do with her. Kiesha!

ARMANDO
Come on.

JUSTIN
Why can’t I see her

ARMANDO
She’s not here

JUSTIN
I just heard her voice!

ARMANDO
She’s not here, Peterson

JUSTIN
You telling me I’m hearing things? KIESHA!

ARMANDO
You’ve been up for three days

JUSTIN
I’m not HEARING not SEEING shit, I’m not CRAZY / for shit’s sake

ARMANDO
That girl // was in the convoy

JUSTIN
“That girl”?

ARMANDO
She was in the convoy.

JUSTIN
That girl has a name. Williams. Kiesha.// Kiesha. Williams.

ARMANDO
Williams was in that convoy. The convoy that -

JUSTIN
NO. NO. I just - saw her – I just - heard her voice – until you – What are you doing here, man, what the FUCK ARE YOU DOING? (Why can’t I hear her?) WHAT DID YOU DO?

JUSTIN attacks ARMANDO who tackles him to the ground. ARMANDO holds JUSTIN to the ground.


ARMANDO
There was a sandstorm.

JUSTIN
Why can’t I hear her.

ARMANDO
There was a sandstorm.

JUSTIN
Why can’t I see / her.

ARMANDO
You don’t hear her because she’s not here. You don’t see her because she’s not here.

JUSTIN
She – ?

ARMANDO
She’s gone.

KIESHA is visible, slumped behind the wheel.

JUSTIN
No.

ARMANDO
Listen, now.

JUSTIN
No, no.

ARMANDO
She’s gone.

JUSTIN
She...?

ARMANDO
She’s dead.

JUSTIN
She



ARMANDO
She’s dead.

JUSTIN is still on the ground, under ARMANDO’s grip/consolation.

KIESHA slowly stands. No pain.
She turns to JUSTIN. He watches as she becomes a shade of ALLISON and disappears.


KIESHA is gone.

JUSTIN, in ARMANDO’S grip/consolation, turns on ARMANDO as if he were AHMED.

JUSTIN
You. This is you. Let you in. Number one mistake. Saw you as human. Number one mistake to make. Risked my life, seeing you as a human being. Risked her.

JUSTIN breaks free from ARMANDO.
ARMANDO becomes AHMED.

JUSTIN
Risked her life.


AHMED
Her life? What of mine? You cry for your sister, but what of my brother? Should I not cry for my brother?

JUSTIN
My si