Heaven
by
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CYNTHIA Hi. Miss me? WAYNE Come ley me show you something here. Let’s see if we can work it in. CYNTHIA No way. The dance stays as it is. Anything new at this late stage is only going to confuse me. WAYNE Dummy. CYNTHIA Dummy yourself. WAYNE So wha’ you say happen to you all this week? CYNTHIA I ain’t tell you? Guess not. Hardly saw you at all and you didn’t even call me once. WAYNE I called. Left several messages at home and at work. CYNTHIA I would have called you back if you had a phone, but… [Pause.] Roger called me. WAYNE In truth? CYNTHIA Four or five times, this week alone, he calling me. WAYNE To say what? CYNTHIA Not a line, as you know, Wayne, not one word, far more phone call, in two and a half years, and now, all of a sudden, he breaking me down wid calls, telling me I must pack up, resign my job and come join him. WAYNE And? CYNTHIA And? I tell him to go to hell! Two and a half years, you know, man. And he know the condition he left me in. But yet not a word, not an inquiry to see if am alive or dead or if I eat. In two and a half years! And now I must join him? No, man. WAYNE I agree with you, but what you mother saying? CYNTHIA He talk to her too, for long. She think I should go, but now way. Not me. That bastard! Anyway, let’s talk about it some other time because it getting me upset. Come telling me ‘bout he not taking no for an answer. WAYNE On another matter, Cyn. Wha’ Mr. Drum…. CYNTHIA Don’t call me “Cyn!” WAYNE Okay, Cynthia. Wha’ Mr. Drummonds give you? CYNTHIA What you talking ‘bout? WAYNE When I came back with the drinks he was giving you something. CYNTHIA Oh God, yes. Boy, you fast, eh? WAYNE What was it? CYNTHIA None you damn business. What I did with it at all? [She searches, finds envelope and opens it. It contains ten $20 bills.] See? 20, 40, 60, 80, 100. 20, 40, 60, 80, 200. WAYNE Two hundred dollars? For what? CYNTHIA For what? For me. WAYNE You goin’ keep it? CYNTHIA De sun goin’ rise tomorrow? WAYNE You can’t keep it, Cyn. CYNTHIA You dotish or what? And don’t call me “Cyn.” WAYNE Cynthia! Christ, what’s the matter with you? CYNTHIA My name is Cynthia. I don’t like to be called Cyn, so don’t call me Cyn. WAYNE All I’m saying is that I think you should give him back his money. CYNTHIA I didn’t ask him for it, you know. I didn’t beg him for no money. Is he take it on himself and give it to me. WAYNE All the more reason you should give it back to him. CYNTHIA I didn’t see you giving him back the change he gave you earlier. WAYNE That’s different altogether. CYNTHIA Different how? He offer you money and you keep it. He offer me money and I keeping it too. Where’s the difference? WAYNE You know exactly where the difference is. CYNTHIA You know how long it take me to work for $200, boy? WAYNE Just give it back to him, Cynthia. CYNTHIA You know what I could do with this $200? WAYNE Regardless. CYNTHIA And what is $200 to a man like Sam Drummonds? WAYNE Why you think he give it to you? CYNTHIA Who the hell cares why? WAYNE Well, you should care. CYNTHIA Why the hell should I? He gee me his money, I keep it, I spent it, that’s it. Fini! Kaputs! Kapeesh? WAYNE It’s not that simple. CYNTHIA Couldn’t be simpler. You’re young, Wayne. You don’t understand these things. nWAYNE I understand this perfectly well. And you only pretending not to understand. CYNTHIA I understand one thing: De man gee me 200 bucks an’ ah keeping it. That’s all. WAYNE When you keep his money all you’re doing is saying yes to him. CYNTHIA Yes to him for what? WAYNE Think about it. CYNTHIA No. You tell me. WAYNE You agree to sell yourself. CYNTHIA Don’t be a damn arse. WAYNE Just think about it and you’ll see what I’m saying is true. CYNTHIA You really believe Sam Drummonds gee me this $200 just so he could jump me body? WAYNE Why else? CYNTHIA As if I’m some ole whore? WAYNE In a sort of way, yes. CYNTHIA I want to meet the man who could buy me for $200. WAYNE Why would he just up and give you $200? CYNTHIA Because he’s a nice ole man. Because he can afford to be kind. Because he likes me and wants me to be happy. [Pause.] You don’t think that’s possible? You doan believe there’re people in the world like that? WAYNE Maybe, but I don’t think that’s what’s happening here. CYNTHIA Why not? WAYNE Because of how he looks at you when he doesn’t think I’m seeing. He strips you naked with his eyes. CYNTHIA [In jest.] Dirty ole man. WAYNE That’s why I’m asking you not to keep his money. CYNTHIA Well, Wayne, as long as it’s only his eyes he’s stripping me with, at $200 a strip, he can undress me as much as he likes. I’m keeping the money and I’m not even going to buy you one drink out of it. WAYNE Don’t even talk to me until you give it back. CYNTHIA Don’t hold your breath because I’m definitely, positively not giving it back. WAYNE Give him back his money, Cynthia. CYNTHIA I am not giving it back! Now will you just get the hell off my case and stop bugging me. WAYNE Sometimes you really make me sick. [He exits.] CYNTHIA Be sick all you want, Wayne Cabey. You could puke your guts out all over Heaven for all I care.
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About the Book
Heaven is a discothèque frequented by thrill seekers. On this Saturday night Wayne Cabey, a high school boy, has come to win the dance competition featured by the disco. He needs the price money to pay for his school leaving examinations and has persuaded his gorgeous friend, Cynthia Corbett, to be his dance partner and help him win. But two far more powerful men, Sam Drummonds and Tony Thompson (with his wife Dilys) are also in Heaven with their own plans for Cynthia. The young dance couple must work their way through a night of temptations, machinations and passions that are an integral part of their world. Howard A. Fergus, in his review of the play says: “Heaven, employed as a key metaphor by the author, reflects the ambiguities, tensions and uncertainties of real life…It is the heaven metaphor which lifts an otherwise interesting man-woman love-tangle story into the highly engaging realm of good art.”
About the Author
David Edgecombe is one of the Caribbean's leading playwrights. He began writing plays as a schoolboy and his work has been produced across the Caribbean, Canada and Africa. On leaving high school he founded the Montserrat Theatre Group (MTG) and later became its artistic director. In Canada he worked for several years with the Black Theatre Workshop of Montreal directing a number of award winning productions and staging several of his early plays. During this period he was commissioned to write a play based on the works of the celebrated novelist Austin Clarke, for Canada’s participation in the Second World Festival of Arts and Culture (FESTAC) in Nigeria. He titled the play Strong Currents. The BBC broadcast another of his plays, Kirnon’s Kingdom, worldwide. As Director of the Reichhold Center for the Arts, University of the Virgin Islands, Edgecombe started such programs as the Reichhold Caribbean Repertory Company and the Youth Moviemaking Workshop to provide expanded opportunities for artists and technicians working in the Caribbean. He is currently part of a developing network dedicated to promoting the works of artists, especially Caribbean artists. The network contends in the literary arts particularly, Caribbean artists have not had success commensurate with their talents, despite the three Caribbean artists who have already won Nobel prizes for their work — an amazing achievement by any measure.