Sam Shepard - The god of hell - a play

: You don’t want to hear about it, do you, Emma? You’d much rather go on thinking it’s just the two of us, lost out here in an ocean of snow and ice. Milk and cheese. One monotonous frozen day after another.

EMMA

: I’m perfectly happy out here.

FRANK

: Where is Graig!?

EMMA

: I told you, I don’t know. Last time I saw him he went down in the basement. Why are you walking like that?

FRANK

: I’m in pain!

( He goes to sofa and collapses. Pause . EMMA goes to him .)

EMMA

: Frank, what happened? What have they done to you?

(EMMA bends down and touches FRANK s shoulder, and a blue flash of light comes from him . EMMA screams and jumps back .)

FRANK

: Don’t touch me! I’m contaminated!

EMMA

: What?

FRANK

: You didn’t believe that static shock business, did you? He’s a carrier. He was sent here to do us in.

EMMA

: Sent here? Who would have sent him? I thought he was your friend?

FRANK

: He’s a traitor! He’s betrayed us all. A pretender. They look like us. They act like us. But underneath they’re deadly.

(EMMA rushes over to the potted plants and starts pushing them toward the door. She stacks them all up against the door to block it .)

What’re you doing?

EMMA

: (

as she works

) Nobody’s getting in here anymore. Nobody!

FRANK

: There’s going to be a meeting, Emma. Tuesday.

EMMA

: No meeting! No Mr. Welch! No Mr. Haynes! Nobody! We are closing our doors to the outside world! I don’t care if they set fire to Lake Michigan! This house is closed!

FRANK

: You can’t stop them.

EMMA

: (

still working

) That’s the whole trouble—the open-door policy. The friendly neighbor—the borrowing salt and sugar. All that’s gonna end. I can’t believe you’d sell us down the river like this, Frank! I can’t believe it.

FRANK

: What?

EMMA

: For a bunch of heifers! What’d he give you for those heifers, anyway?

FRANK

: (

still on couch

) It’s not that. It’s not that so much.

EMMA

: Well, what is it then? You were happy with those heifers, Frank. We were both happy with those heifers. Now they’re gone! For what?

FRANK

: For what they are going to contribute to the future security of this nation, Emma!

(EMMA stops cold, stares at him )

EMMA

: What?

FRANK

: You heard me.

EMMA

: Heifers? How are heifers going to contribute to the national security?

FRANK

: You’ll see. It’s all going to be revealed at the meeting. You’re going to be very proud of those heifers, Emma. I guarantee you.

EMMA

: (

charging

FRANK

) There’s not going to be any meeting!!!

FRANK

: Don’t touch me!!

( A piercing scream from HAYNES comes from the basement . EMMA and FRANK freeze. Long pause )

EMMA

: (

heavy whisper

) What was that?

FRANK

: Don’t go down there.

EMMA

: I’m not going down there.

FRANK

: It’s a trap.

EMMA

: Frank—how did this happen? How could this be happening to us? We were living so—

FRANK

: We weren’t paying attention, Emma. We let things slip right past us. I should’ve known the minute he called me from Rocky Buttes—

EMMA

: Don’t say that name!

FRANK

: What?

EMMA

: That name—you shouldn’t be tossing that around. It’s top secret.

FRANK

: Is that what he told you?

EMMA

: Who?

FRANK

: Graig.

EMMA

: I thought he was your friend.

FRANK

: So did I.

EMMA

: Maybe they’re in this together—the two of them. A conspiracy.

FRANK

: No.

EMMA

: Why not? He sends Haynes out here to soften us up; then he steps in for the kill.

FRANK

: Kill? Who? Mr. Welch?

EMMA

: Yes.

FRANK

: Mr. Welch is a righteous man!

( Another sharp scream from HAYNES out of the basement . FRANK and EMMA freeze .)

EMMA

: One of us has to go down there.

FRANK

: That’s just what they want, Emma. That’s exactly what they want.

EMMA

: They? See—how many of them are there?

FRANK

: I don’t know.

EMMA

: It sounds like he’s being tortured.

FRANK

: He’s used to that.

EMMA

: I’m going down there!

FRANK

: No!

(FRANK grabs her but lets go immediately as another bolt of light comes from his arm. Pause . EMMA stares at him .)

EMMA

: Frank, the whole world can’t just suddenly get turned inside out like this overnight.

( The sounds of heavy, labored breathing, feet scraping against the basement staircase; a low moaning comes from basement . EMMA and FRANK stare in that direction. Slowly , WELCH appears in shirtsleeves coming up the stairs backward, pulling on a long black electrical cord apparently tied to something heavy at the bottom of the stairs .)

WELCH

: (

breathing heavily, pulling on cord

) This—this is what we’re up against now, Frank. Lying, deception, manipulating the truth! Right here in your own home. Right down in your own basement! A man who claims to be your friend. An ally. Can you believe it? There he was, hovering down there in a corner, plotting your annihilation. I finally got it out of him. Got to the nasty rock bottom of it.

EMMA

: You’re not torturing him, are you? What’re you doing?

WELCH

: Torturing? Torturing! We’re not in a Third World nation here, Emma. This isn’t some dark corner of the Congo. Frank, haven’t you told her about our new platform? Our design for the new century?

EMMA

: (

moving toward stairs

) What are you doing to Mr. Haynes?

WELCH

: Haynes? That’s not his name, Emma. That never was his name. That’s just a cover so he can sneak around and deceive innocent people like you and Frank.

(WELCH punches a button attached to the black cord . HAYNES yells out in pain from below . EMMA runs to top of stairs and looks down .)

EMMA

: Oh, my God! Frank! He’s got him by the penis!

(FRANK stands suddenly on couch, grabbing his own crotch .)

FRANK

: What?

EMMA

: Come and look! He’s got that cord attached to his penis. (

to

WELCH

,

charging him, hitting his shoulders

) You stop that right now! Just stop it!

(WELCH pushes her away roughly, keeps ahold of cord . FRANK keeps standing on couch, holding his crotch .)

WELCH

: Now’s not the time for hysterics, Emma. We just fall into their game plan that way. Isn’t that right, Frank? Isn’t that what we discussed? I’m surprised you haven’t had a chance to talk things over with Emma.

EMMA

: Stop calling me by my name! I hate that!

WELCH

: She needs to get on the same page. Stop acting like some whacked-out subversive. You’ve explained the dangers to her, haven’t you? Frank? The folly of mixed messages?

FRANK

: (

still on couch, holding crotch

) She doesn’t know a thing.

EMMA

: What don’t I know?

WELCH

: Well, we’ve got to get her involved, Frank. She can’t be flopping around on the outside of the loop, like a fish outa water. It’s too risky.

EMMA

: What don’t I know!? What don’t I know!? That’s what I want to know!