Soul of a Whore and Purvis (25 page)
Read Soul of a Whore and Purvis Online
Authors: Denis Johnson
DILLINGER
: One more drum, Ma, then it's back to prison.
[
Fires out the window. Then all is quiet. After a pause, he sings.
]
'Twas midnight and moonlight the hour I departed
And left her to fend for her own
My horses and all that I had on the earth
I'd have wagered that I would return.
G-MAN'S VOICE
[
O.S., through megaphone
]: DILLINGER AND NELSON! (God, that's loud.)
COME OUT. YOU'RE SURROUNDED. THERE IS NO ESCAPE.
DILLINGER
[
singing
]:
Hands with a touch
That could calm the little lambs
Voice like a chime in the churchyard
Eyes the same color
As her straw-colored hair
I'll never forget you I swear.
G-MAN'S VOICE
[
O.S., through megaphone
]:
TWO MINUTES, THEN WE'RE COMING IN. GIVE UP!
COME OUT BACKWARDS WITH YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR!
DILLINGER
[
singing
]:
The shape of her shadow so soft in the moonglow
Did waltz on the frost on the ground
The tears on her cheeks shone like diamonds
She mourned but she made not a sound.
[
Meanwhile,
BABY FACE
reenters very stealthily by the same way he exited, with his tommy gun and a white, wet lily. In silence he waits for the song to end.
]
Hands with a touch
That could calm the little lambs
Voice like a chime in the churchyard
Eyes the same color
As her straw-colored hair
I'll never forget you I swear.
BABY FACE
: Grandma taught me Father Who Art in Heaven,
And I felt it right down in, this feeling of being saved,
Like all the world was rescued, like as if
Angels with wings swooped down here and
Carried us away from these guns through the stars.
Grandma taught me to pray,
“Let me awaken as Jesus in every last part
Of my body.” Whattaya think of that?
DILLINGER
:â¦Do you realize for two and a half long days
You've done nothing but drink my booze and talk
About your pecker and his pecker and her pecker?
BABY FACE
: Listen to what I'm telling you.
This is the news that I'm bringing.
There's nobody out be
hind
the place!
I went all the way to the lake and had a piss.
The coppers never even heard me tinkle.
Maybe there
is
a God to love us, John.
DILLINGER
: Bull. Go out for real, and see what happens.
BABY FACE
: I
went
out, John. I tiptoed out and took
A whizzer in the lake and shook it off
And tiptoed back to tell ya.
I brung you a lily, John.
DILLINGER
: Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â I am goddamned.
BABY FACE
: Them G-men don't know how to surround a house!
G-MAN'S VOICE
[
O.S., through megaphone
]: SIXTY SECONDS, BOYS, AND THEN IT'S OVER!
COME OUT BACKWARDS WITH YOUR HANDS IN THE AIR!
BABY FACE
: They're spreading out! We gotta move, or else!
They tiptoe out, leaving the young woman bound and alone in the room.
G-MAN'S VOICE
[
O.S., through megaphone
]: THE HOUSE IS
COMPLETELY SURROUNDED. GIVE IT UP.
AS SURE AS YOU'RE BORN, WE'RE GONNA GET YOU.
DON'T TRY TO THWART THE LAW. WE JUST KEEP COMING.
AS SURE AS YOU'RE IN THAT ROOM, WE'RE GONNA GET YOU.
BLACKOUT
-END-
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Cindy Lee Johnson
Soul of a Whore
and
Purvis
Denis Johnson is the author of nine novels, three collections of poetry, and one book of reportage. Between 2000 and 2010, during his stint as Playwright in Residence for the Campo Santo Theater Company at San Francisco's Intersection for the Arts, he wrote six productions for the stage, all premiered by Campo Santo. His novel
Tree of Smoke
was the 2007 winner of the National Book Award.
Farrar, Straus and Giroux
18 West 18th Street, New York 10011
Copyright © 2012 by Denis Johnson
All rights reserved
Soul of a Whore
was previously published, in slightly different form, in
McSweeney's. Purvis
was previously published, in slightly different form, in
The Iowa Review.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Johnson, Denis, 1949â
[Soul of a whore]
Soul of a whore; and, Purvis: two plays in verse / Denis Johnson.â1st ed.
p. cm.
ISBN: 978-0-374-70965-5
1. Verse drama, American. I. Johnson, Denis, 1949â Purvis. II. Title. III. Title: Soul of a whore, and, Purvis. IV. Title: Purvis.
PS3560.O3745 S58 2012
812'.54âdc23
2011046069
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