Dark Moonlight – Hustlers and Geisha - 2. Part Two

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Scene Four: “To Fall in Your Prime”

(BASS and BARITONE enter in a friendly way; they sit)

 

 

No. 10 – Dialogo

 

BASS:

So what do you think of them?

Why do they pay to have sex?

 

BARITONE:

[…] It’s the only way they feel loved.

They think we love them.

We don’t give a shit. […]

They don’t get it.

We laugh at them. […]

 

BASS:

And you say that,

Except for one guy in Ontario,

You’ve never been

Friends with anybody?

 

BARITONE:

No.

 

BASS:

So you think they’re

Just idiots who imagine

You’re going to love them?

 

BARITONE:

Yeah. There are tons

Who say, like:

“I love you.

I’m in love with you!”

(gestures like he’s spitting on the ground)

Come on!

 

BASS:

You don’t think that they

Know beforehand that

You won’t fall in love with them?

 

BARITONE:

They know it deep down.

But they tell themselves:

“He loves me.” [MFS]

 

 

No. 11 – Aria

(BASS rises and leaves BARITONE sitting)

 

BASS:

My dream of a spring night

Now grows complicated –

The smell of his body

Wafts freely on the air –

My ringed eyes and the sky

Become cloudy and veiled.

Do we make a couple?

Like that of blossom

And of a roving bee –

Well, well, I mean to say

Like that of flower

And gentle butterfly.

 

While the night-bird sings her singing,

We at first did not sleep at all –

But fine slumber followed our love,

With your rounded arm my pillow,

And then the light was fetched away

Without you or I awakening. [AOG]

 

(recap: “My dream of a spring night” etc.)

 

 

No. 12 – Terzetto

(enter COUNTERTENOR from stage left)

 

COUNTERTENOR:

A bridled horse –

Tethered to a tree in bloom.

A shaking head –

And a snow of cherry pink.

 

(BARITONE rises and joins them stage center)

 

COUNTERTENOR and BASS:

Slow-motion petals

Fall like dying snow

And a snow of cherry pink

Slow-motion petals

Fall like dying snow.

(repeated as a ground for BARITONE)

 

BARITONE:

Is it not best to fall in your prime?

It is because they fall they are loved?

The branches reach out, but why hold on

Without the binding glue of some hope

As a withered husk on the green tree

That all the birds callously shit on

As they wing freely away from you. [SOG]

 

COUNTERTENOR, BASS and BARITONE:

A bridled horse –

Tethered to a tree in bloom.

A shaking head –

And a snow of cherry pink.

 

(darkness – all exit left)

 

 

Scene Five: “Some Need That”

(enter TENOR stage right)

 

No. 13 – Cavatina

 

TENOR:

By means of a two golden plums,

Streaked with silver throughout,

I raise my dew-moistened hand

To greet the callow morn.

 

“Now,” I cry for it to hear,

“Satiated am I.

Let the juice run down my arm

As if he were with me.” [SOG]

 

(enter COUNTERTENOR and BASS, who shake hands and sit down. TENOR exits in the dark)

 

 

No. 14 - Dialogo

 

COUNTERTENOR:

Usually clients aren’t

Like people think.

Maybe for girls

It’s not the same thing.

They get short-changed,

And beaten up,

And stuff like that.

Gays are pretty clean.

They’re not violent.

I’ve never had any

Trouble with anybody,

So . . .

 

BASS:

(chuckling)

It’s them who get beaten up?

 

COUNTERTENOR:

(smile and nod)

Yeah, I know. Yes.

I never robbed anyone. […]

People in general

Really don’t get Gays.

“What’s a Gay?”

“What’s it like being Gay?”

They just get off on

Men instead of women.

"How is a Gay guy different?"

It’s just sex; that’s all.

 

You’re walking down the street –

Are you supposed to be able

To tell what his kick is?

You don’t freak out.

He gets off on that.

No big deal. […]

It’s just sex.

It doesn’t change

Who they are.

 

BASS:

For you, how do you see prostitution? […]

 

COUNTERTENOR:

Yeah, like I'm just

Providing a service.

I don’t get turned on. […]

There are customers

Who want to see you hard,

And I can arrange that –

If it’s a regular customer. […]

Some customers need that. [MFS]

 

(lights fade on COUNTERTENOR and BASS, and rise on BARITONE stage right)

 

 

No. 15 – Aria

 

BARITONE:

Dark clouds come over the house

As he rises and makes to leave.

So, what choice faces me now?

Be a vexing, chirping cricket,

A silent burning firefly –

Stoic grief, or passioned nagger?

 

Above and roundabout us

Too much mosquito netting flows.

Would it were to engulf us,

To keep us here just as we were.

The little fire of my heart

Already outshines the nightlight,

Would it were enough to draw

The moth of him to the flame of me. [SOG]

 

(recap: “Dark clouds come over the house” etc.)

 

 

No. 16 – Quartetto

(COUNTERTENOR and BASS rise. Enter TENOR from stage left, and the three join BARITONE stage center)

 

COUNTERTENOR:

Blooms may be fine to see,

Scented high, a gift to enjoy,

But the taste of a living flower

Is what every man most enjoys.

 

A spring rain fell and wetted

Peach blossoms in a vase.

“Which is more beautiful?” I asked,

And he touched me, saying,

“None match the petals I wet.”

 

TENOR:

Called out by the rushes

I go out to my veranda,

And dew sparkles everywhere I look:

Winter chrysanthemums smell sweet.

 

Gold and touched by rising frost

The petals’ scent still floats,

Reminds me when I served you

Mums in your warm sake –

Deep in its rich transparencies.

 

BARITONE:

Little blue summer blooms,

Forget-me-nots color and scent,

And if I clap my hands, you appear:

An absence more than memory.

 

What would I do with you if

You floated to me like

A bunch of little blue blooms?

I would root you firmly

To love through my lonely days.

 

BASS:

Tossed at a great long shot,

Two open fans spin and tumble

And one settles slow on the other:

Such is the way we long to be.

 

Mortals in each other's arms

Tumble like autumn leaves

And hope they land together –

You, my chrysanthemum fall

Sweet and high-hued in my hand. [SOG]

 

(all together at recapitulation)

 

COUNTERTENOR:

A spring rain fell and wetted

Peach blossoms in a vase.

“Which is more beautiful?” I asked,

And he touched me, saying,

“None match the petals I wet.”

 

TENOR:

Gold and touched by rising frost,

The petals’ scent still floats,

Reminds me when I served you

Mums in your warm sake –

Deep in its rich transparencies.

 

BARITONE:

What would I do with you if

You floated to me like

A bunch of little blue blooms?

I would root you firmly

To love through my lonely days.

 

BASS:

Mortals in each other’s arms

Tumble like autumn leaves

And hope they land together –

You, my chrysanthemum fall

Sweet and high-hued in my hand.

 

COUNTERTENOR, TENOR, BARITONE and BASS:

Blooms may be fine to see,

Scented high, a gift to enjoy,

But the taste of a living flower

Is what every man most enjoys.

 

(Darkness – Intermission)

 

 

 

Scene Six: “Alpha/Omega”

(enter COUNTERTENOR, TENOR and BARITONE stage right)

 

 

No. 17 – Terzetto

 

COUNTERTENOR, TENOR and BARITONE:

A three-string chord sounds

As the wind plays through the roof –

One of moon, of snow, of flower.

 

COUNTERTENOR:

From the first small pushings of spring,

The green of the living pine tree –

Is green and alters itself not.

 

TENOR:

What do the baby birds cry out

With their first flight outside the nest?

“Long live Summer. Long live the greens.”

 

TENOR and BARITONE:

Deepness of night sounds

As the moon sets, Autumn grows cold –

And the toying wind, ominous.

 

COUNTERTENOR:

My stringed instrument besides me

Flutters beneath my fingertips –

A chord of me and my pillow.

 

TENOR:

What do returning geese cry out

With their tired flight back to the nest?

“We’ve come back. We’ll always return.” [SOG]

 

COUNTERTENOR, TENOR and BARITONE:

A three-string chord sounds

As the wind plays through the roof –

One of moon, of snow, of flower.

 

(enter BASS stage left who hails TENOR. The others exit stage right. BASS and TENOR sit)

 

 

No. 18 – Dialogo

 

BASS:

You’ve only done crack

Four times in the last

Few weeks?

 

TENOR:

Yes.

 

BASS:

Are you afraid

Of falling back into it?

 

TENOR:

It’s scary; like a white wall.

And the wall turns black afterwards,

Like death, and everything.

And you can see Death’s face

When you’re doing crack.

 

BASS:

[You can?]

 

TENOR:

That’s what I see, anyway.

First time I did crack . . .

I was Seventeen when I

Slept [in the open] for the first time. […]

And I dreamed that I was doing crack,

And then I woke up, wide-awake. […]

So now when I do it, well,

I see a white wall, and

Then it turns into a black wall.

 

BASS:

When’s that –

The white and black wall?

 

TENOR:

When I sleep, I dream

Of a blank wall.

A white wall is

When I don’t use.

When I do drugs,

It’s a black wall.

It means death.

 

BASS:

[It does?]

 

TENOR:

This will sound hokey…

(shy smile – ready to be ridiculed)

I never saw Jesus in my life,

But I dream of him.

 

BASS:

(comforting)

You dream of Jesus?

 

TENOR:

Yes.

It’s pretty ridiculous . . .

 

BASS:

No. It’s not.

 

TENOR:

I’ve dreamed of his birth and death.

 

BASS:

How does he appear in your dreams?

 

TENOR:

I really see his face, you know.

 

BASS:

What’s his face like?

 

TENOR:

Like the face of Christ –

In the church.

 

BASS:

And you dreamed of Christ

Being born?

 

TENOR:

Yes. And I have no idea

What it means.

 

BASS:

When did you dream that?

When you were a kid?

 

TENOR:

(blinking in surprise)

I dream that almost

Every night. […]

I dream it almost

Every single night.

I don’t know what it means,

But it scares me . . .

 

BASS:

Why ‘scare’?

 

TENOR:

The idea of dreaming of Jesus

And not knowing what it means . . .

You don’t know what’s coming.

It might mean that

Your own death’s coming.

You just don’t know.

 

BASS:

But you could also say […]

That it’s a positive image.

(a spectral look passes over TENOR’s face – something uncomfortable dawns on him. He gives BASS a frowning smile)

Do you know what I mean?

 

TENOR:

That it’s me?

Myself . . . ?

 

BASS:

A positive image of yourself.

 

TENOR:

(trying to deflect the serious mood)

Like I’m a Jesus?

 

BASS:

A sort of [Christ], yes.

 

TENOR:

You ever dream of that?

 

BASS:

Yes, it’s happened.

 

TENOR:

And when it happened,

Were you –

(losing his train of thought – lolling his head momentarily)

I’m always afraid.

I’m scared to death.

 

BASS:

You talk a lot of death.

When you first came here –

I don’t know if you remember –

I asked you why you

Got into prostitution,

And you said, basically:

“I wanted to catch AIDS and die.”

 

TENOR:

(looking BASS squarely in the face and demanding he drop it. He relents)

No. But, death scares me.

 

BASS:

And it also fascinates you?

 

TENOR:

(looking down – quietly)

No. Not at all.

(looking up – exasperated)

I’m scared. Stop talking

About that. […]

I’m scared of the black wall.

That’s what the black wall is.

The black wall is Death.

 

BASS:

(changing the subject)

How are things at home?

 

TENOR:

Fine, except the

Bunch of crack heads

Are being paranoid.

 

BASS:

Do you think

They got you thinking

About death?

 

TENOR:

(looking away again)

Yeah, maybe.

Especially with a Black guy

In front of me.

 

BASS:

(pause)

What do you mean?

 

TENOR:

Willy’s Black.

 

BASS:

And . . . ?

 

TENOR:

He’s a black wall.

Yeah. He scares me.

Sometimes being with him scares me.

I don’t know if he’ll kill someone,

But I can feel it coming. [MFS]

 

(TENOR gets up huffily and exits)

 

 

No. 19 – Arietta

(rising, visibly affected)

 

BASS:

See the sparrow alighting

On the bamboo harmoniously –

See that in love faltering

Nothing becomes harmonious

For I alone am to suffer

Pining for the face I should hate.

 

The sparrow so at home

Amongst the bamboo leaves

Sees her foot one day ensnared

By a trap made from bamboo.

Thus is love caught by hate –

Too comfortable are they. [18]

 

(recap: “See the sparrow alighting” etc.)

 

 

 

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