THE NEXT LEVEL DOWN: ACT II, SCENE FOUR.

Scene Four: A wide alley.

JACKSON: So who’s who again?

JAKE: I’m Jake.

JANET: And this is Clark.

JACKSON: Jake? No way.

JAKE: And your name’s Drake.

DRAKE: Yeah.

JAKE: That’s quite the coincidence.

DRAKE: I mean. I suppose.

JANET: By the way: if any of you guys want to know any thing about ASTROLOGY, this is the guy to talk to.

DRAKE: I mean. I guess.

JACKSON: He’s so modest.

JANET: What’s your name?

JACKSON: Jackson.

DRAKE: Jacobsen.

JACKSON: No, Jackson.

JANET: You just call him Jacobsen?

JACKSON: It’s my surname.

DRAKE: His whole name makes “J.J.”

JANET: Oh no way!

DRAKE: Yeah. That’s kind of a coincidence.

JAKE: Indeed.

DRAKE: But more so than the Drake and Jake thing.

JANET: I don’t know.

DRAKE: Yes. That other coincidence was NOT a coincidence.

JACKSON: It depends on how you look at it.

JAKE: Certainly SOUNDS like J.J.

DRAKE: What? No he doesn’t. They just have similar names.

CLARK: You heard that he got arrested?

DRAKE: [Pause.] Yes.

CLARK: So I’m confused. Which of you is J.J?

JACKSON: I am.

CLARK: And your name’s NOT Jake.

JAKE: No. MY name’s Jake.

CLARK: And you’re not Jake?

DRAKE: No. Drake.

CLARK: But the other guy was J.J. too.

DRAKE: Yeah.

CLARK: But not Jake either.

JAKE: Nope. That’s me.

CLARK: Unreal.

DRAKE: So what are we all standing around here waiting for?

JANET: We’re waiting for Zack.

DRAKE: Wait. So not Zane?

CLARK: Yeah, Zane.

JAKE: Only no, he does not want to be called that.

DRAKE: He has an OTHER name?

JACKSON: What was the second name again?

JAKE: I think it was Drake.

DRAKE: No. It was Jake. [Pause.] How could you forget your namesake?

JAKE: Sake? I thought you said Jake.

DRAKE: No I mean. How could Jake forget Jake?

JACKSON: Which Jake?

DRAKE: THIS Jake.

JAKE: I did not forget. I simply misheard him when he told me that his name was Jake.

DRAKE: Oh.

JAKE: Yup. I’m more visual than I am auditory.

DRAKE: Oh wow. [taken aback.]

JACKSON: So we are waiting for Jake?

JAKE: He’s right here.

DRAKE: No. We mean the OTHER Jake.

JAKE: An other Drake?

DRAKE: No. You misheard me again.

JAKE: My bad. Visual. Like I said.

DRAKE: No it’s okay. I’ll speak up more.

JANET: Jake the snake.

JAKE: Don’t call Drake a snake!

CLARK: Drake the shake.

JACKSON: Easy bake.

CLARK: Earthquake.

JAKE: Guys you know this is hard for me.

DRAKE: Me too.

CLARK: MAN-drake.

JACKSON: NICE one. How about: Man JAKE.

CLARK: Right on.

DRAKE: You know: this is vaguely relaxing.

JAKE: Of COURSE it is. It’s nonsense.

DRAKE: It’s a break from logic-chopping.

JAKE: Yup. That’s why I’m pretending half the time to mishear.

DRAKE: Wait. So you’ve been pretending all this time?

JAKE: Nope. Only HALF the time.

DRAKE: Oh. So half of the time that you were acting deaf, you were just acting?

JAKE: And the other half I really did have a hearing impairment, yeah.

DRAKE: [Pause.] Right on.

CLARK: OR he COULD mean that half of the time that we’ve said ANY thing, he was pretending to mishear it.

JAKE: So the other half of the time I was REALLY mishearing it.

CLARK: But that time you did not mishear it.

JAKE: Unless I pretended to hear it.

CLARK: Or you pretended to PRETEND to hear it.

DRAKE: So you’re saying what I heard before: that the WHOLE time you “misheard” you were pretending, and the rest of the time you did mishear it either in semblance or actuality.

CLARK: YUP.

JAKE: What did you say? I did not catch that. [grins knowingly. This is his perpetual face. He is the living antithesis of Clark.]

JANET: All right. I’m going to do a return.

DRAKE: You know, talking to you guys is like talking to my self. But as three people.

JAKE: Are you SURE you’re only one person?

DRAKE: Good point.

JACKSON: You guys are too much for me.

JANET: SEE? Drake was right. He is TOTALLY like J.J.

JACKSON: Thank you.

DRAKE: Wait. You mean JAKE is right. Not me.

JAKE: Thank you.

[Janet walks off.]

DRAKE: No. Stop. You’re still wrong. And. Jake. I mean Jackson damn it. Why are you pretending still to agree?

JACKSON: I’m not.

DRAKE: Yes you are. When Janet said it.

JACKSON: Hey look! It’s Jake.

JAKE: Yep.

DRAKE: No not you Jake.

JAKE: I know.

CLARK: He means Zack.

JACKSON: You mean Zane?

DRAKE: Zane!

ZANE: What’s UP, bro!

[Zane distributes high-fives.]

DRAKE: Hey, good to see young Heisenberg here.

ZANE: Yeah man.

DRAKE: Hey. Where’s J.J?

ZANE: Oh dude don’t you remember?

DRAKE: Remember what?

ZANE: J.J. got ARRESTED.

DRAKE: Huh? He was just here!

JAKE: The OTHER J.J.

ZANE: There was an other J.J?

DRAKE: Forget it. How’ve you been, dude?

CLARK: Wait. Where DID J.J. go?

JAKE: Jail.

CLARK: The OTHER J.J.

JAKE: Prison.

CLARK: No. The OTHER J.J.

JAKE: I think that he followed Janet.

CLARK: Why the fuck did he do that?

JAKE: [shrugs smiling.] curiosity?

[Clark takes off after Janet. At this moment a high school aged kid runs across, carrying two full boxes of expensive beer.]

CLARK: Go, go, go!

ZANE: Woah. Did you guys SEE how much liquid he was moving?

CLARK: Yeah. That’s PROFESSIONAL.

JAKE: I all most wanted to stick out my leg and trip him.

DRAKE: No, don’t do that. Even if he does not cut himself on glass he’d have to carry those two bleeding vessels onward, leaving a trail. Or otherwise abandon them, fingerprints and all.

CLARK: Yeah don’t fuck him up. [points at Zane.] I’ll be BACK man.

ZANE: All right. I’ll be here.

[Clark exits.]

ZANE to DRAKE: All right so no offense dude. But I got to do business now. You know?

DRAKE: Oh yeah I know what you’re saying. I just wanted those two dollars.

ZANE: Huh? I thought I paid you back.

DRAKE: No cause remember I gave you a five for bus faire. And then last time you paid me three of the five in coins. You counted them. I bought a polish and a drink, and then a small coffee. Or some thing.

ZANE: Doesn’t coffee cost like at least three dollars? And a polish is like two.

DRAKE: One and a half for the Polish. And I had enough coinage notwithstanding to add to the money you returned to me. So I got coffee afterwards. But you only gave me three. I remember.

ZANE: Hm. That’s funny. I thought I paid you back.

DRAKE: You did. But only three. I remember getting the Polish and then having one and a half left, plus some cents of my own from that day. So I got a coffee too.

ZANE: All right hold on let me think.

DRAKE: Sure. Take your time.

[Zane deals with Jake. Jake breaks a five. Zane turns around.]

ZANE: Here you go man. Two dollars. I remember now.

DRAKE: THANKS, Zane.

ZANE: Yeah. Don’t mention it.

[Clark returns.]

CLARK: No sign of Janet yet?

JAKE: Nope. Still doing her return I guess.

CLARK: How long can she TAKE?

ZANE: Why? Are you tripping?

CLARK: I just hope she’s not off FUCKING that J.J. asshole.

JAKE: J.J’s in prison.

CLARK: No the OTHER one.

JAKE: That one’s in jail.

DRAKE: Wait. So why do you care?

CLARK: Umm. I’m DATING her.

DRAKE: Oh. [Pause.] Hey you know what I just noticed?

CLARK [still staring suspiciously at Drake.]: What?

DRAKE: We’re the mutable squad.

[points at Zane.] GEMINI.

[points at Jake.] Sagittarius.

[Points at Clark.] Virgo.

And Pisces.

JAKE: It’s like I said. Synchronicity. Coincidence. It happens a lot to me.

DRAKE: Me too.

[An other awkward pause.]

So uh. You know who I saw today?

CLARK: Nope.

DRAKE: SYLVESTER.

JAKE: Oh he got out?

DRAKE: Yup. Living it up downtown I guess.

CLARK: I wouldn’t say THAT.

DRAKE: Well. LIVING at any rate. And down. Town. You know how he got arrested at Out-N-About?

CLARK: I heard.

DRAKE: J.J. probably thinks that it’s a race thing. But I believe it’s more of a hanging-out-with-J.J. sort of thing.

CLARK: I question that.

DRAKE: I mean: I only say this because I’ve been hassled before on J.J’s behalf. I could have gone to jail myself. And I did not even have nothing ON me, UNLIKE Sylvester.

[Janet returns.]

CLARK: Where’d you go OFF to?

JANET: None of your fucking BUSINESS, asshole.

JAKE and DRAKE, at once: AWW.

[Drake eyes Jake with suspicious approval. Jake grins back.]

[J.J. returns.]

CLARK: Way to leave separately.

JANET: Shut up Clark.

CLARK: I’ll shut up if I FEEL like it.

JACKSON: Hey so you’re Zane. I’ve heard a lot about you.

ZANE: Yeah. Weren’t you just here moments ago?

JACKSON: Yeah sorry if I didn’t say hi. Hey so: I’m looking to try WHITE.

ZANE: all right I got you.

DRAKE: Jackson, that shit’s EXPENSIVE.

JACKSON: I can manage.

DRAKE: And you didn’t even have enough to buy me COFFEE.

JACKSON: I did. I did buy you coffee. And I had enough to buy you more. I just didn’t want to.

DRAKE: Well fuck. That’s selfish.

JACKSON: Uhhh… this is a DRUG DEAL. Do I look like Gandhi?

DRAKE: You will after you try it.

JAKE: Meth does not make you go thin. Heroin does that. Meth only makes you thin if you stop eating.

DRAKE: I thought heroin did that.

JAKE: It does. But meth all so eats up all your money.

CLARK: Heroin does do THAT.

JANET: Word.

DRAKE: Jackson LISTEN to them. Meth is ADDICTING.

JACKSON: So is coffee.

All except J.J. and DRAKE: CHURCH.

DRAKE: Wait. You’re my friend. Why are my feelings and concerns, even for your own safety, matters of consumer preference to you?

JACKSON: Because I want to get nigga HIGH, negro.

ZANE: Works for me.

DRAKE: Is that even…. Even…

JACKSON: LATER, Drake. Nice listening to your stories. You’ve been a BIG help. Getting me arrested for some thing I didn’t even DO. Taking my money and giving me nothing but STORIES, all day, in exchange.

DRAKE: I. Thought.

JACKSON: What? You thought that just because I was an EXTRAVERT that I was STUPID? Or simply that I did not have my own PROBLEMS to DEAL with? Because we spent the WHOLE day talking about YOU. You never even bothered to see me as more than a means to an END.

DRAKE: That’s. False.

JACKSON: I’m SORRY that your parents sucked, Drake. May be it’s karma.

DRAKE: Did you just talk about my mother?

JACKSON: LISTEN to yourself. Telling me what to do with my money. Acting like you care about my HEALTH when all you want is to waste my money on coffee you don’t even LIKE.

DRAKE: That’s NOT true. [indignant.]

JACKSON: Then what? On burgers? Fuck off. I know what you’re going to say. You’re going to say that Dominic leeched off of YOU. Because YOU had a plan. Dominic had an AGENDA. But no. Not YOU. YOU were PURE. YOU wanted every one just to get ALONG. And he REFUSED to.

DRAKE: Well. His agenda had no relevance.

JACKSON: To what. To YOURS?

DRAKE: Sure. We both had agendas. But he never reasoned with me.

JACKSON: That’s because YOU PRESUMED. You PRESUMED upon the integrity of your own plans.

DRAKE: I HAD to. My upbringing. My past. My TRAUMA. You know what? FUCK YOU. You have NO IDEA.

JACKSON: All day I’ve been listening and I have no IDEA.

DRAKE: You DON’T!! All my life I was led to believe that I was not allowed to EXIST unless I did every thing RIGHT! And all I ever tried to do was to live UP to that. To create the world that I’d been raised to live in by my backwards-thinking parents.

JACKSON: Your parents’ world is gone.

DRAKE: But it’s all I’ve ever KNOWN. I was never ALLOWED to be selfish, growing up, and I do not CONDONE it now! I CAN’T. You know why?? Because all I’ve ever DONE was aimed at being GOOD ENOUGH. And I realized some thing: that I CAN’T be good ENOUGH unless EVERY one lives up to that. The least Dominic could have done, to atone for being less than good enough, was to understand my drive. And not to try to EXPLOIT it. Like YOU did. Fuck YOU. I was FINE before you came up to me today. I HATE talking to you! You act so damned aloof that I figure NATURALLY that you have no problems. It shows in what a JOKE you take me to be every time I open my mouth.

JACKSON: What EVER man. I’m just here for the good time. And Zane is my ticket to ride. Let’s bounce.

[Zane and J.J. walk off.]

ZANE calls after DRAKE: I’ll see you later, dude!

[Jake and Drake alone in alley.]

DRAKE: Where the hell did Janet go? And that other guy?

JAKE: Probably fucking. Make-up sex.

DRAKE: JESUS. People.

JAKE: You can’t blame them. They’re a new couple.

DRAKE: No not them. I meant Jackson.

JAKE: Oh I know. But then you all so SUBLIMINALLY meant Janet and Clark. And I weighed the two groups and determined the latter to be of greater import and promise to you presently. If that is not presumptuous of me.

DRAKE: Not at all.

JAKE: and I hope you know that when I say that I do not mean to admit towards my being presumptuous. But rather to suggest that you would THINK that I am. But I’m not implying by that at all that YOU are being presumptuous. [Pause.] And that was not sarcasm. And neither is this. To be clear.

DRAKE: Yeah I know. You’re good.

JAKE: I know you know. And you’re good too.

DRAKE: You know: you and I really jive well.

JAKE: We get the flow. The mutability.

DRAKE: I’ve been to hell and back today. All I want is a BREAK.

JAKE: Well you got your money back. That must be good for SOME thing.

DRAKE: Yeah. A fucking hamburger made from recycled tires.

JAKE: Better than NOTHING. Not that you do not DESERVE better. But this is your best present option. And the FLOW seems to suggest that you keep at it.

DRAKE: You know what: you’re right. The first time that I bought any thing on my own was an O’Donnell’s breakfast. It was in the cafeteria at San Diego State. The same place I would go on to meet Ariana. This one girl I loved.

JAKE: THERE you go. Funny how a place seems like so many different places under so many disparate circumstances. But then you remember some times that it’s all the same place. And has all ways BEEN that same place. And will probably go on without you.

DRAKE: wabi.

JAKE: Pardon?

DRAKE: A Japanese word. For depression turning into acceptance. Usually brought on by the appreciation of things that will outlast one’s sovereign self.

JAKE: I hear you. I mean. To be clear: I do not hear your WORDS so much as your MEANING.

DRAKE: You know. Vague as that might have just been. It makes more sense than all the logic in the world.

JAKE: It all ways does. Logic is an attempt to control the Flow. But you never want to fight the Flow. Nor force it. It gets better. Trust me. And if it’s not. Whatever. The way I see it: What if there’s no plan? Or if there is then it’s one I can’t hope to change? That it’s one that does not favour me one bit but still I cannot use my will to put an other in its place? And that if such a plan exists then it remains ambivalent to me at best, and still at worst I am but a pawn in a game where my role does not involve my getting what I want, and so precludes that possibility.

DRAKE: [dazed and dumbfounded.] Yeah.

JAKE: What if the world goes on without me, and all those passing patrons who had ridiculed me for my failures and my inexperience are just as silly as the pain that I internalize from them, apathetic as both critics and as audience when I return to them with pleas for time to learn the lessons of the World, and that both the judging public and my aching soul are every bit as insignificant as the fleeting, arbitrary, and fundamentally ignorant instinct to bully me in the first place?

DRAKE: [still dazed and dumbfounded.] Yeah…

JAKE: But then I say: no. Because a deep desire for what I deserve then overcomes me. And I am met with the presence of a beneficent entity that says: It is all right. You are loved. You are deserving.

DRAKE: [after long pause.] Jake. Do you ever get. The eerie feeling. That we are in a play?

JAKE: Constantly. And by that I mean that I could not imagine any other way. So it’s hard to answer without sounding pretentious and self-referential. If you get my drift.

DRAKE: This place feels like a stage.

JAKE: And we are all but players in it.

DRAKE: and when we break the fourth wall: that is enlightenment. The actor ceases to be a character. He becomes a person. But a PERSON is a MASK. So even the person is revealed to be a character. And we are all actors. [They both look out at audience.]

But that would be crazy.

JAKE: It’s just like I all ways say, man…

DRAKE: I know, I know. The flow. Don’t fight it. Don’t control it.

JAKE: Word up. Church.

DRAKE: [brief pause.] Okay! I’m off to O’Donnell’s.

JAKE: Enjoy your meal!

Dm.A.A.