Scene Six
We are in the Presidential
Palace again, only this time is night. FLORA and JOSE are both frantically
packing their suitcases---mostly with money.
JOSE
I told you so…I told you
I heard grumblings…
FLORA
Oh, shut up and pack.
JOSE
You see! It wasn’t my stomach.
It was the peasants…and now they’re outside the palace gates.
FLORA
How was I to know they’d
get here so fast? They wouldn’t have, damn it, if it hadn’t been for all
those lousy pinko commie American movie stars! Why don’t they start their
own revolutions?
JOSE
This all could have been
safely in the Swiss banks if you hadn’t kept searching for this Adolph
you-know-who.
FLORA
What do you want from me?
I recalled every single soldier and policeman as they started the uprising.
JOSE
Now we’ll never make it the
airport!
FLORA
Airport? Are you out of your
mind? Manuel has the helicopter waiting on the roof.
JOSE
The people hate me.
FLORA
Hurry up, for God’s sake!
Our soldiers can only hold them off for a few more hours.
(A huge rock shatters
one of the windows followed by angry cries outside. FLORA rushes to the
window.)
FLORA
You bastards! Bastards!
JOSE
The peasants are here!
FLORA
Not the peasants, you idiot,
your own friggin' soldiers!
JOSE
My own soldiers!
FLORA
Look out there! They’re leading
the goddamned peasants. And our loyal Palace Guards. They’re not holding
them back. They’re handing out floor plans of the building!
JOSE
My own soldiers…they didn’t
really love me…they just pretended to love me.
FLORA
Stop crying, for God’s sake,
and hurry up!
JOSE
I loved them. I raised their
pay, gave them soldier’s compensation, put reveille forward a whole hour
so they could get more sleep.
FLORA
Shut up, for Christ’s sake,
and let’s get the hell out of here!
JOSE
I’ll show them!
(rushing to the desk and extracting a pistol)
They’ll be sorry all
right. They’ll see me lying in a pool of blood, and, boy, will they have
guilt feelings.
FLORA
Nitwit! The helicopter’s
waiting!
JOSE
You don’t think I’ll do it,
do you? You don’t think I have the courage!
(Suddenly cannon
fire blasts the room shattering all the window panes. JOSE drops the gun
in terror, grabs his suitcase and dashes for the door.)
FLORA
Not that way, you imbecile!
Through the secret passage.
(SHE is about to
press a panel on the wall near the bookcase when the door flies open and
ISHMAEL lunges into the room, sword in hand, á la Douglas Fairbanks.)
JOSE
It’s…it’s…
ISHMAEL
Aha! We meet at last, Flora
Pasquale Ibañez.
(JOSE clicks his
heels and gives the Nazi salute, but ISHMAEL is too intent on Flora to
notice.)
Now you’re going to learn
something about the freedom of the press!
(JOSE steps further
in front of Ishmael and makes the same movements waiting desperately to
be noticed. ISHMAEL steps aside and goes closer to Flora.)
You think you can silence
us, don’t you? You think you can keep us from saying what is true…what
is…
(JOSE marches again
to Ishmael repeating the "Heil" gestures with a little goosestep thrown
in for good measure.)
JOSE
Mein fuehrer…
ISHMAEL
Will you stop that!?
JOSE
I believed…all along I believed.
In military school…I was in military school when you came to power…
ISHMAEL
Get out of here, will you!
JOSE
Everyone else was going…
(HE makes an odd,
comical movement and marches a few steps)
…for President Valesquez.
But not me. I was going…
(repeating the Nazi goosestep and salute)
…for you.
ISHMAEL
Guards! Get this maniac out
of here!
(Doors open and FOUR
GUARDS we have seen earlier enter and drag Jose out.)
JOSE
But I was! I was going…I
was…ask Perez Jiminez! He was in the same class.
(DOORS slam shut,
and ISHMAEL is now alone with Flora.)
ISHMAEL
Aha! We meet at last, Flora
Pasquale Ibañez! Now you’re going to learn something about the freedom
of the press.
(FLORA has been inching
her way to the bookcase. SHE now makes a dash for it, presses a side panel.
The bookcase slides open, but before she can get through the secret passageway,
ISHMAEL has caught her. THEY wrestle. Finally, ISHMAEL manages to pin her
arms back against the floor.)
ISHMAEL
You think you can silence…
(A musical chord
pierces the air. ISHMAEL stops instantly.)
FLORA
Kill me!
Put that sword through my heart
And kill me!
Come and tear me apart
And kill me!
What are you waiting for?
ISHMAEL
(loosening his grip)
No, Please…
FLORA
Call all your
peasants
And tell them to beat
me up!
Let them break me in
two
And then after they’re
through
Have tarantulas eat me
up!
ISHMAEL
Don’t sing. Please don’t
sing.
FLORA
Toss what is
left of me
In the sea in a sack!
But Flora Pasquale
Is gonna strike back!
ISHMAEL
That voice!
FLORA
Go on and take
me---
Be quick and be done
with it;
Here’s my beauty so fresh
And this exquisite flesh,
Go ahead and have fun
with it.
ISHMAEL
I’m not going to touch you!
FLORA
Sully my chastity
Till I’m blue and I’m
black!
But Flora Pasquale
Is gonna strike back!
ISHMAEL
I don’t want your chastity!
I just want you to stop singing!
(By now, SHE is pursuing
him about the room. HE has his hands over his ears.)
FLORA
I’m gonna strike
back!
You’d better start praying;
I’m gonna strike back!
You hear what I’m saying?
ISHMAEL
Well, say it then, but for
God’s sake, don’t sing it!
FLORA
I’ll trail you
and haunt you,
I’ll cut you to size
again!
You may think that you’re
free,
But you’re going to see
We Pasquales shall rise
again!
ISHMAEL
I can’t stand it! Guards,
someone…help!
FLORA
Yes, we shall
rise again!
We shall rise and attack!
(FOUR GUARDS we saw before come rushing in.)
ISHMAEL
Make her stop singing!
FLORA
Yes, Flora Pasquale
Is gonna strike back!
(ALEJANDRO, BLASINA and ROSA dash on.)
ROSA
Ishmael, what is it?
ISHMAEL
That voice! Oh, that voice!
(FLORA tries for a high C.)
It’s like a constipated
cockatoo. I had the speech all worked out in my mind, but I couldn’t get
past the second sentence.
(FLORA tries for another high C.)
No. It’s no use. Just
take her away.
(INKEY, in a uniform
much like Jose’s, bursts through the doors.)
INKEY
Take her away and shoot her!
(GUARDS made a move
toward Flora, but ISHMAEL stops them.)
ISHMAEL
Wait outside, Inkey. There’s
been too much shooting in Montillano already…ever since I was a boy. We’re
simply going to teach her a lesson.
INKEY
I said I want her shot!
BLASINA
Do what Ishmael says, Inkey.
ISHMAEL
We’re going to devise some
way, some wonderful way, to give her permanent laryngitis.
INKEY
She’s going to be shot---do
you hear me! Shot! Shot! Shot!
ALEJANDRO
If you don’t quiet down,
you’re gonna get some hit in the head.
INKEY
How dare you! I’m in command
now. Me! Me! Presidente Escabosa! Guards, arrest that woman!
ROSA
Inkey, will you be quiet!
ALEJANDRO
One more word…just one more
word…
BLASINA
Inkecito, be a good little
boy…
INKEY
Guards! Arrest them all!
BLASINA
My little boy, he jokes…
INKEY
Did you hear me? I said arrest
them all!!!
(GUARDS approach Alejandro and Blasina.)
ALEJANDRO
Stop that!
INKEY
I want them all shot! There’s
gonna be no opposition in my regime!
ROSA
Inkey!
(GUARDS begin to
drag them out. ISHMAEL glances at the secret panel, makes a lunge for the
light switch and plunges the room into darkness. Orchestra strikes up "It’s
Fun To Be Young!" at a mad, accelerated pace. We see FIGURES in the dark
scurrying about.)
INKEY
Catch them! I want them all
shot! Shot! Shot! Shot!
BLACKOUT
