THE NEXT LEVEL DOWN: ACT IV, SCENE ONE.

Act Four:

Scene One: A Jail.

DRAKE:

[On telephone:]

Just so you know: This is still on you. I did not HAVE to specify how I felt about you in order for you to know. My non-verbals are all ways strong and I would be deluding myself to suggest otherwise. You and tape both knew what you were doing every bit as well as I, and had I tried earlier to make my desires known I would have come off self-entitled earlier. Yet it was he that all ways had been self-entitled and an extended history of accommodation for his habits left me feeling as though I might never be "good enough". So when I insisted I deserved you it was true, for I was breaking out of that self-deprecation and self-deprivation. You just did not want to listen. And to his mind any claim I might have made towards any personal desire on my part was at once self-entitled and, by his own self-entitled standards, undeserved. And yes: I held you both to my [own] standards. But at the root of it was a desire to be loved and a capacity to love and nurture that neither of you showed.

But I forgive you.

(And that goes to prove my point as well.)

[Harry wakes.]

DRAKE: Harry! You’re awake!

HARRY: Oh, what a trip. I can’t believe I fell asleep.

DRAKE: When’s the last time you slept?

HARRY: I don’t know man. I went for about three days straight just staying up.

DRAKE: You didn’t think to use the bushes again?

HARRY: Naww. [with futility and disgruntlement.]

DRAKE: So they finally caught up with you huh?

HARRY: It certainly appears so.

DRAKE: I’m sure you’ll feel better about it all soon though. It should not go too badly.

HARRY: I don’t know man.

DRAKE: Ever the trooper. You would face Charybdis and Scylla and refuse a life-raft or a life-saver.

HARRY: I guess so. [confused.]

DRAKE: Don’t worry about it. Hey. Now you have me for a cell-mate. Bet you didn’t see that one coming.

HARRY: Nope. That I can’t deny.

DRAKE: It’s good to see you man.

HARRY: Likewise. So what are YOU in here for? If you do not mind my asking.

DRAKE: In all honesty: I can’t remember now. I’m trying too damned hard to recall my dream.

HARRY: Oh?

DRAKE: Yeah. All I know is when I woke from it I felt like I could take this case on. I am being sued, you see.

HARRY: That sucks.

DRAKE: It happens.

HARRY: To YOU though?

[Our hero blushes.]

DRAKE: You’re my hero Harry.

HARRY: Hey. Don’t mention it.

DRAKE: You presume that it would not be my fault. All the while presuming that all that YOU go through is your own.

HARRY: Hey man I don’t presume. I KNOW it.

DRAKE: For once the infamous Scorpio double-standard works wonders on my heart.

[Harry smirks congenially.]

DRAKE: So guess who I saw last before I got here.

HARRY: I don’t know bro.

DRAKE: PETER.

HARRY: Honestly bro. I don’t regard Peter as a great person.

DRAKE: I know. I mean. It does not surprise me that you’d say that. He does go a bit too far for Janet at times.

HARRY: Honestly I don’t regard Janet as a great person either.

DRAKE: I’ll take your word for it. But hey. They told me about the kid who got thrown in a van for five minutes.

HARRY: When did you hear about it?

DRAKE: It was on the News. Even my mother knew about it. Matter of fact she told me. She asked if I knew the bastards. Though she did not put it that way.

HARRY: You didn’t know them.

DRAKE: That’s what I told her. Then I asked Peter about it. Just a few days before I met you. May be just the day before. And he told me it was drug-related and not to get worked up over it.

HARRY: Yeah man. I’m not really supposed to talk about it. Otherwise some one might come for me.

DRAKE: I won’t part a Scorpio with his secrets. It’s just: odd. Getting kidnapped by some one that you know. It seems eerily… familiar.

DRAKE: Jackson??

JACKSON: Yeah yeah. Second time you screwed me.

DRAKE: Don’t start.

JACKSON: After they caught you napping they found me walking the streets in a drug-induced stupor.

DRAKE: You were still asleep when they caught me!

JACKSON: I blend in. But you don’t. So now here I am. Second time in twenty-four hours.

DRAKE: I told you not to start.

JACKSON: Typical Drake. Thinking only of his own self-perpetuation.

DRAKE: Speaking of which: if you’re under arrest, why are you walking around?

JACKSON: Oh. Turns out they had to let me off the hook.

DRAKE: No joke?

JACKSON: Turns out that there’s this new thing called a “Boy Cried Wolf” law.

DRAKE: Oh I heard of that.

JACKSON: Right? Turns out that they can’t arrest you for intoxication twice in one day. I mean twenty-four hours. If the first time you were clean.

DRAKE: I wonder how they thought of that.

JACKSON: Any way: I’m here to bust you out. Don’t ask. I pulled some strings.

DRAKE: AT this point I won’t bother. But you know: it’s kind of cozy in here.

JACKSON: You are mental.

DRAKE: Harry here’s a homie.

JACKSON: And Horton hears a who.  You ready to GO?

DRAKE: Hold on. You know I have my court date coming up?

JACKSON: Yeah. I got your paperwork for you right here.

DRAKE: They let you carry it?

JACKSON: It’s complicated. Any way…

DRAKE: My point is that I had a dream.

JACKSON: I get those some times.

HARRY: I don’t.

DRAKE: Oh, yeah? That’s probably the black and white taking their toll on your gray matter.

HARRY: Probably.

DRAKE: Any way: I feel that it might carry clues.

JACKSON: RIGHT. Except that this is not Twin Peaks.

DRAKE: I know. I know. But damn it. Can’t you just for once treat some thing like it’s novel and not some thing out of television?

JACKSON: “There is nothing new under the Sun.”

HARRY: Church.

DRAKE: But this dream. I know it had a clue. Of some sort.

JACKSON: Yeah. And right now my clue is: I have your exit key. Let’s go.

DRAKE: I’ll miss you, Harry. You’re the best Scorpio I have ever known.

HARRY: Thanks.

DRAKE: [Pause.] Except for may be… Xavier.

JACKSON: Up and atom!!

DRAKE: Where are we going?

JACKSON: Didn’t I tell you? We are going to the theatre!

DRAKE: Again?

JACKSON: Yes. But this time: the monsters are real!

DRAKE: What…

JACKSON: Dress rehearsals are OVER. I got us two tickets – you’re well come – to their last Matinee.

DRAKE: You mean the Jesus thing?

JACKSON: The Jesus thing.

DRAKE: Oh. Wow. That’s.

JACKSON: Holy. Yes. I’m imitating Christ just thinking about it.

DRAKE: But. This is the last one?

JACKSON: Afterwards they break down the whole set. Yes.

DRAKE: Hey. You want to grab a drink first?

JACKSON: I am buying I guess.

DRAKE: I’m not drinking. Only recommending.

JACKSON: Suit yourself.

Dm.A.A.