Life at 21 Lane-Scene Two- A one Act play by Austin Mitchell

SCENE TWO of LIFE at 21 LANE- A One Act Play by Austin Mitchell

(This is at Sammy’s bar. Banjo and Scully are in the bar drinking. The bartender is a woman, Tiny. Two men and a woman are the only other customers. Music is playing in the background)(Enter, Priscilla and Darlene)

BANJO: Where are both of you going?

PRISCILLA: Your woman came down here and didn’t find you. Where were you, Mister Banjo?

BANJO: What do you want to know that for?

PRISCILLA: Because she came to put us out of our house and it was you who put her up to it.

TINY: Order if you want anything. I don’t want any quarrelling in my bar.

PRISCILLA: Tiny, I don’t go to bars to drink and you should  know that too. You ever see me in your bar yet? Then how come you are being fresh with me like that?

DARLENE: I wonder if she knows who we are? Hey bartender girl, you must have better manners than that.

BANJO: Don’t worry yourself, Tiny, it’s me they are arguing with. They are in my place and don’t want to come out. I want to get rid of them.

PRISCILLA: You heard this man, telling lies about us. Who is in anywhere for you, Mister Banjo?

TINY: If you stay in the bar quarrelling, I am going to lose my customers. That’s what I’m talking about. (The two men and the woman leave)Look there, see my customers leave there.

PRISCILLA: Run these two men out of your bar, Tiny.

BANJO: I am a paying customer. Tiny is not going to run me out of her bar.

DARLENE: Mister Banjo, you’d better prepare to bail Wella. He knows gunmen who came to our house and tried to hold me up. I went to the station to report it and they want him to come in for them to question him.

BANJO: What business is that of mine? It’s the two of you he lives with. You and your sister must deal with it because it’s you who made the report on him. (Several more customers have made to enter the bar, but the entrance is blocked by the two women) (People hiss their teeth and walk away)

TINY: Women, you don’t see that both of you are blocking people from coming into the bar and you are not buying anything.

BANJO: They are waiting on me to buy something for them, Tiny.

DARLENE: I’m  a big respectable woman. It’s me, you want to go to bars to drink.

TINY: So leave my bar then.

PRISCILLA: We are waiting on Mister Banjo. We want to know what he’s up to.

BANJO: You want to know what I’m up to. It’s tomorrow we are moving in so you had better move out from tonight.

DARLENE: So what are you going to do about Wella?

BANJO: (Finishes drinking his rum and milk and ignores Darlene’s question about Wella) Give me another drink, Tiny and give Scully one too. Give them a drink too. What do both of you want?

PRISCILLA: We don’t want anything to drink, isn’t that true, Darlene?(Darlene nods in agreement with her sister)

BANJO: These two girls are my step-daughters. The two of them don’t have any manners to me and that’s why I ran them out of my house. (Tiny serves Banjo and Scully their drinks.)

BANJO: (Drinks some of his rum and milk) From I know them going on fifteen years now, their behavior hasn’t changed. But I leave them up to those two men they’ve taken up.

TINY: It’s so they are wicked to you. That’s why you ran them out of your house, Banjo?

PRISCILLA: Tiny, if you want to listen to Mister Banjo and his lies, you’re free so to do, but don’t pass any remarks about me and my sister. And I would like to know how we were feisty with you, Mister Banjo because it’s not us who told our mother to run you? (Banjo gets into a temper, when suddenly three men rush towards the bar. They are masked. One is a burly man while another is tall and thin. The other is slim and of medium height)

TINY: Gunmen!

BURLY GUNMAN: (Waving his gun at the customers and motioning for Priscilla and Darlene to go inside the bar) This is a stickup. We want all of your money. Put them in this bag here. We want all of your cell phones too.

SLIM GUNMAN: (Trying to disguise his voice) (With bag) Put all of your money in here. Come bartender, open the till.(The till is opened and the money taken)

TALL GUNMAN: We want all of the liquor and cigarettes too. (Takes liquor, cigarettes and other things and puts them into another bag).(Cell phones are put on the bar counter).

BURLY GUNMAN: All of you empty out your pockets and take off your rings and all of the men are to take off their shoes and their hats.(Banjo and Scully comply)

TALL GUNMAN: Hey, what kind of cheap cell phone these people have? None of them have any cameras on them. All of you take them back.(Gives back phones)

SLIM GUNMAN: (Still trying to disguise his voice) I don’t go anywhere and don’t kill somebody. I marked all of your faces. If any of you report it at the police station I’m going to shoot you. (Points his gun at Scully)

TINY: But what a way you’re bright, you robbed us of all our money and don’t want us to report it. I don’t even have bus fare to go to my yard; you’ve cleaned out my bar. As soon as you leave here I’m going to report it at the station.

SLIM GUNMAN: (Still disguising his voice) (Points gun at Tiny) You want to die, woman. Give us back the cell phones.(Takes back cell phones and put in bag.)

BURLY GUNMAN: Come my brethren, we have to leave here because we aren’t sure if the police aren’t patrolling the area. All of you go on your faces.(Everybody goes to the floor and gunmen run out of the bar)(People rise from their positions on the floor after making sure that the gunmen are gone)

TINY: (Grabs a cell phone from out of a drawer and presses the police emergency number) Officer they’ve just robbed Sammy’s bar. Come quick. Murder! Murder!( Priscilla, Darlene, Banjo and Scully still look dazed)

TINY: It’s a good thing that I have this phone hidden away for any emergencies.

DARLENE: Mister Banjo, I could swear that the slim one was Wella, even though he was trying to disguise his voice. The other two are the ones who were trying to rob me. I want back my phone from him. He is a murderer. You heard what he said, that he doesn’t rob anywhere and don’t kill somebody. My blood ran cold when I heard him say so.

BANJO: What a big liar and wicked girl. It’s your brother you are calling a gunman and murderer.

TINY: They’ve gone with twenty thousand dollars in cash and more than that in liquor and cigarettes.

BANJO: They took away more than that from me. And the phone that they’ve gone with is worth more than fifteen thousand dollars.

SCULLY: It’s about ten thousand dollars the boys took from me plus my phone,  which is worth about the same amount of money. The one who said that it was cheap phones we had doesn’t know anything about phones. You saw the boy who pointed the gun in my face. It’s Wella, I could  swear that it was him. He was feisty with me up at the house and I had to draw my knife after him. He swears that he is going for his gun to kill me.

BANJO: It’s not him that, Scully. None of those men have the build like Wella. Wella’s shorter than that man.

SCULLY: All I know is that I want back my phone. Anytime I see him, he’d better give it back to me or else I am going to do him something.

PRISCILLA: The two of you never have money yet. Both of you are two liars and the police should lock you up for public mischief. About you lose expensive phone. The phone that they took from me is a cheap phone. I don’t walk with expensive phone to let them steal it.

TINY: I am going to tell the police that it’s those two women  and those two men who set up the robbery, because I heard you whispering that you know one of the men.

BANJO: Tiny, it’s me you are calling a thief? Look how much business I give you. Look how many times I’ve come here and  drank off my pay. Look how many times I’ve borrowed money from you to buy more liquor and paid you back. (Pricilla and Darlene are shaking their heads at Banjo’s revelations)

PRISCILLA: You are confessing what you used to do with your money. You never spent any money on the place that you are claiming. Look how many lies you used to tell our mother when you came home with your pockets empty.

BANJO: I used to give her money though. Where were you ten years ago when I was putting on those two rooms on the big house and make Darlene’s house? You know how many times your mother told me to run both of you off the place when she dies and make you go live with your boyfriends.

PRISCILLA: It’s a lie you’re telling, Mister Banjo, so why did she leave the place to us then? All I remember seeing you do is mixing cement.

BANJO: It was just buying and selling goods your mother used to do. Have you ever wondered where she got money from to work on the house? My lawyer will talk to you.

DARLENE: Stop arguing with him,Priscilla. Those two houses were there before Priscilla and I were born.

TINY: I don’t understand, how she would give you her place over her own children, Banjo.

BANJO: They treated her the same way they did me. They  took up with two men. One of the men, all he can think about is his expensive liquor and the other man is older than Darlene. He is in America, working.

PRISCILLA: (Shouts) Come out of my business, Mister Banjo, you are too inquisitive. Mr. Banjo you’re forgetting that our father was a builder. He did a lot of improvements to those two houses before he died.(Enter two policemen, Sergeant Duke Wright and Corporal Hal Jepson)

SERGEANT WRIGHT: Who did they kill down here? Anybody get shot? We heard that robbery and murder took place down here.

TINY: It’s murder, yes, look how long you took to reach here. The boys could have killed us off already.

SERGEANT WRIGHT: (Getting very flustered) Tiny, don’t bother with that. All right, tell us what happened. How many of them were there? Any of you recognize any of them?

TINY: It was three of them, but they had on masks covering their faces. I heard those women there saying that they recognized them.(Points to Darlene and Priscilla)

PRISCILLA: How could we recognize them and they never took off their masks?

CORPORAL JEPSON: They got anything?

TINY: They emptied the bar of all the liquors and cigarettes and they’ve gone with twenty thousand dollars and all of our cell phones. Banjo and Scully said that they took money from them too, plus their expensive cell phones.

SERGEANT WRIGHT: What did you say Tiny? Banjo and Scully lost money and their cell phones too. Is that true Banjo? Because from I know you, I’ve never seen you with a good cell phone yet.

BANJO: It’s true, Sarge and they took money from Scully and his cell phone too, sir. It’s only those women there they didn’t rob. (Points to Priscilla and Darlene)

TINY: I feel that it was they who set up the robbery, Sarge. They are just standing before the bar and not buying anything.

PRISCILLA: (Marches up to Tiny) Beg your pardon, Corporal Jepson and Sergeant Wright but if you weren’t here I would lean your face for you, Tiny.

TINY: (Runs into the bar and grabs up an empty rum bottle) Sergeant Wright and Corporal Jepson, give me some way there, let me burst this bottle in that woman’s head because she  threatened to lean my face.

SERGEANT WRIGHT: Don’t bother with that, Tiny.

TINY: How do you mean don’t bother with that, Sarge? You know that I don’t back down from anybody. I have to do her something tonight.

DARLENE: Tiny, do you think I was just going to sit down  and let you beat up my sister and don’t do you anything? I’ll soon leave because you are encouraging Mister Banjo to fast in my business and I don’t want to get myself into trouble for you.

TINY: (Getting into a temper) Sergeant, you heard this other one threatening me now. I am going to do them something. (Tiny is twice the size of either Priscilla or Darkene both of whom are tall, thin women.)

BANJO: Don’t bother with that, Tiny, I am going to take care of them. Sergeant, I have a matter to put to you, sir. Those two young women there live in my house. I gave them notice and they don’t want to come out. And they also went into my account and used off my money too, sir.

SERGEANT WRIGHT: What kind of notice did you give them?

BANJO: How do you mean what kind of notice I gave them? I told them to come out of my place. Isn’t that good enough?

DARLENE: Mister Banjo, are you mad? From I know you it’s 21 Lane you’ve always lived, in a cardboard house. My mother had little sympathy on you and took you in and you gave her a boy child before you left her and went to live with your sweetheart. You are accusing us of stealing your money, but it was our mother who owned the account. She left it for me and Priscilla.

SERGEANT WRIGHT: Banjo, tell you what you do. Let us see your title for the place. The best thing I would advise you to do is to take out a summons.

BANJO: That’s what I never wanted to do. Their aunt has a big house renting out. She can find rooms up there to put them up. Monday, I am going out to the bank and I’m sorry for both of you.(Both Priscilla and Darlene burst out laughing)

TINY: Sarge, how are you making Banjo’s business take up so much of your time? One of the robbers was disguising his voice.

CORPORAL JEPSON: It’s the same boy these people came to report. He’s Banjo’s son, it was he who robbed you, Tiny. He changed his voice because he doesn’t want you to recognize him.

SERGEANT WRIGHT: That boy is now a person of interest to us. We are asking you to tell him to come down to the station with his lawyer. We are going now. (Exits both policemen)(Priscilla’s cell phone starts ringing. She takes a phone from her back pocket.)

PRISCILLA: (Answering phone) What did you say, Wella? Banjo’s woman moved in on us. They sent mine and Darlene’s belongings up to Aunt Ruby’s house. (Exits Banjo and Scully). They could be bright, you wait until we come up there. (Presses button on the phone to finish the conversation)

DARLENE: Who was that, Priscilla? What are they saying?

PRISCILLA: It’s Wella, he said Mister Banjo’s woman move in on us. I am wondering how Wella reached home so quickly if he was really one of the robbers. Where are Mister Banjo and Scully?

DARLENE: A car was waiting for Wella and his friends up the road. I could swear that I heard it drive off after they left. Mister Banjo and Scully are gone. It’s a call they got from Gwen, that’s why they ran off so quickly. Where they got phones from?

PRISCILLA: They must be mad. They can just move into people’s place like that. They are going to find out something tonight.

TINY: What happened?

DARLENE: Mister Banjo moved in his woman on us.

PRISCILLA: Come Darlene, we will see you, Tiny.(Exit Priscilla and Darlene)

TINY: I am going to lock up the bar and go up there. I’m sure that their brother is one of the robbers, that’s why he was  trying to disguise his voice. I am going to call the police and tell them where to find him. I’m not sure that all of them aren’t in league with him.(The light fades)

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