Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Pedro Mártir y el maldito martillo de oro/Pedro Martir and the fucking golden hammer (Caroline Castro)

PEDRO
I learned how to use power tools at an incredibly young age. My dad had this gold lookin hammer that he’d, um, he’d never let me use because he said it’d be too heavy. Pedro, no lo toques, el oro te daña el corazón…porque pesa. [Pedro, don’t touch it, gold ruins the heart, because it’s heavy]. It wasn’t real gold though so I don’t know what the hell he was talkin about. (Pause) We’d build all sorts of shit. Stuff we didn’t really need around the house. A trashcan out of wood… A, a whatumacallit, rack-thing to dry clothes off of. Except Pa made it especially for Mami to use for her underwear. The only thing that touches her intimates, is my wood. Verdad, Clara? She’d call him cochino and bring us dinner to the garage. Then, one day my dad said we were gonna make something big. And that I could use the hammer. Shit, what are we making, Pa? He gave me the hammer, spent the whole day building this huge box with me. What’s it for, Pa? Keep hammering. It’s huge. Pásame el screw… It was fucken brutal, not knowing what that damn box was for. But I got to hold the hammer, sooo… it didn’t matter, right? I guess. But fuck. It was fucken hot in that garage too. (Pause) And I hate my father. I remember his face, calm, concentrated, looking up at me and smiling like we did all the time building shit. (Pause) And that day, he left the hammer out and he packed the rest of his tools up. He packed up all his shit, and he left me the hammer. And he left. And that box sweated in that garage for eleven fucken years.

MAMI
Pedro!

PEDRO
My Ma calls me home when she needs someone to fix things at her house. And she still has that fucken box and the same fucken hammer.

MAMI
Pedro.

PEDRO
Qué es, Mami?

MAMI
Besito. Pero, Pedro, salúdame, puñeta. (He kisses her on the cheek). There. That’s better. Mira, esa caja está ready?

PEDRO
Por qué?

MAMI
Está ready el box o no?

PEDRO
Bueno, pa’ que, Mami?

MAMI
Sí o no, nene! Caramba!

PEDRO
Bueno, sí… Pero para qué lo necesitas?

MAMI
Yo no…tu pai. Your Daddy needs it.

PEDRO
Mi pai…

MAMI
Tu padre…Pedro. Tu papá. Mi Pedro mayor—

PEDRO
Qué con mi papá?

MAMI
He’s coming back.

PEDRO
What?

MAMI
I got a letter que me dijo que lo están mandando para’ca.

PEDRO
Quién?

MAMI
Qué se yo, los federales. Anyways, get the box ready, okay?

PEDRO
Ready for what, Ma? It’s done. It’s a big fucken box—

MAMI
Ey, pero no me hables asi, ah? Cabrón… They’re gonna send all his things here first.

PEDRO
He’s not bringing them? (Mami shrugs) Ah? Y el postal? La carta, Mami. Give me, give me the letter.

MAMI
I threw it away.

PEDRO
Why?

MAMI
I don’t know. Recycling came today. I like to recycle.

PEDRO
Ay, Mami.

MAMI
Don’t “ay Mami” me, okay!? You just clean that box up and get ready.

PEDRO
Get ready for what, Ma?

MAMI
Your father.

PEDRO
I have nothing to say to him.

MAMI
Doesn’t matter.

PEDRO
Pues—

MAMI
He’s your father, Pedro, and you better treat him right. You can’t disrespect the dead, no matter what they’ve done to you.

PEDRO
What?

MAMI
He’s dead, Pedro.

PEDRO
What?

MAMI
Ay, esque tu estás sordo? No me oyes!? Mi marido, MI marido está… muerto.

PEDRO
Ma—

MAMI
Prepara el casket, ah? Y déjame en paz, sin preguntas, okay. Hazlo en silencio y no me molestes. Here’s el martillo (hands him the hammer). Make it nice. For your father, Pedro. I’m going to my room.

(She leaves)

PEDRO
Fuck. (He stares at the box) Who the fuck were you? (There’s a knock from the box) What the fuck… (He opens it)

PAPI
Fuckity, fuck-fuck. You say that word a lot, papito.

PEDRO
Yeah.

PAPI
Those who don’t do…say, ah?

PEDRO
Huh?

PAPI
You married?

PEDRO
Hell no.

PAPI
Why not? Best years of my life.

PEDRO
Yeah so why the hell’d you go?

PAPI
We’ll talk about that later, mijito. Pero dime, whatchugonna do with my box, huh, jefe?

PEDRO
What do you mean?

PAPI
You weren’t thinking of burning it…? Maybe with me inside?

PEDRO
That could feel good.

PAPI
Yeah, put fire under my balls.

PEDRO
Yeah.

PAPI
Let me see the hammer, jefe.

PEDRO
Here you go.

PAPI
Damn, I missed this thing, you know.

PEDRO
(Pause) You did…

PAPI
Of course.

PEDRO
Well, it’s a good hammer.

PAPI
Yeah and all the memories we had.

PEDRO
I don’t wanna—don’t talk about that yet.

PAPI
Okay, I’ll take it easy, jefe—

PEDRO
And don’t call me jefe—

PAPI
Pedro—

PEDRO
What?

PAPI
Mijo.

PEDRO
What dad?

PAPI
Dad? You sound white saying that. Daaad. Sounds like dead.

PEDRO
Well…

PAPI
Shh, shh, I know, pero c’mon…I’m a lot more alive than “dead ol’ dad.” That’s gringo stuff. Papi! I’m you papi, no?

PEDRO
Not really—

PAPI
Yes, yes, today I’m your papi.

PEDRO
Whatever you want.

PAPI
I want.

PEDRO
How’d you die anyway—

PAPI
Hard to say. You’ll have to take a look at me when I get here.

PEDRO
Were you in jail?

PAPI
Where do you think I was? All this time?

PEDRO
I don’t want to say.

PAPI
Sure you do. (Pause) Cuéntame. Where have I been all this time?

PEDRO
Well…

PAPI
(Listening) Ahah…

PEDRO
At first you were just on vacation, building a boat on some beach somewhere.

PAPI
Really?

PEDRO
Yeah…I was a little kid. I was stupid... to me, you were building a boat and you were going to haul it back here for us to use. But…when that ship sailed and you were gone a year… I figured you went to Vegas to make more money for us to live a better a life.

PAPI
I did go to Vegas a couple of times.

PEDRO
But not for us.

PAPI
No…

PEDRO
Anyway, after two years I thought you had been arrested.

PAPI
For what?

PEDRO
I don’t know, the reason changed after the years.

PAPI
For something bad?

PEDRO
Not at first. Stealing from an old lady, breaking into a white family’s house with your tools… Some lame shit like that. It got worse the more time you stayed away. Pedophilia, first-degree murder.

PAPI
That bad, ah?

PEDRO
What you did was pretty fucken bad, Dad.

PAPI
I know. Shit, your mami. (Dad hides in box, disappearing. MAMI comes out with a box of letters. She tosses them in the box.)

PEDRO
What’s all that?

MAMI
None of your business. (She exits)

PAPI
(Pops his head out) Ah, I remember these. Love letters. From when we were young. Your mami, she was…mmm. She got my (whistles) rigor-mortis pretty fast.

PEDRO
Papi, ya.

PAPI
Well, it’s true. Something about the way she smells, still smell it a little. (Sniffs) But she’s mostly dried out. But mmm… and when I’d taste her—

PEDRO
Good for you, Dad. I’m good without all the juicy details.

PAPI
Juicy. That’s it. White women aren’t juicy like that. En las caderas or anywhere else down there. (Pause) You been with una blanquita yet?

PEDRO
A few.

PAPI
Yeah, it’s hard to stick with just one of them. They’re nice but so casual. “Hi, how are you? Wanna have sex with me? Thanks.” That’s nice only the first couple of times. But your mami, ah, she tortured me. Made me work hard for it. Made me a man. (Pause) What?

PEDRO
What?

PAPI
You looked like you wanted to ask me something. What is it?

PEDRO
No, I’m cool.

PAPI
Dímelo.

PEDRO
Nah. No, it’s, it’s nothing.

PAPI
What is it?

PEDRO
If she—nah, man, forget it…

PAPI
You don’t think I’m a man.

PEDRO
You’re dead now, what does it matter?

PAPI
It matters a lot. I want peace, Pedrito.

PEDRO
Why did you leave?

PAPI
(Pause) Good question. And I promise, I’ll answer it later.

PEDRO
Fuck—Get outta here then! I don’t want to hear it if you can’t say it now. Later, later, fuck you, man. Get outta the damn box.

PAPI
But it’s mine.

PEDRO
Then get back in it, or wherever you came from. Vete pa’l carajo, man.

PAPI
(Gets a letter) Read a couple of these and I’ll be back.

MAMI steps out to read the letters, she’s more like a memory:

MAMI
(Sweetly) Ay, Pedro. Pedro Mártir. Mmm… (Pause) Leave me the fuck alone, okay? I already told my pa’ about you and he’s got his machete ready. And I don’t care what he does to you, okay? You look at me with those eyes, like a demon, like haunting me. And I think you should leave me alone. Yo soy una virgen, okay? I don’t take that stuff lightly. And you come around here, I know what you want. Get me pregnant…on purpose. Keep me around with you forever. Take care of me. Make love to me. Cook for me from time to time and hold me in your sleep. Vete pa’l carajo! I’ma go to college, see the world, oiste? Not gonna get stuck in a house with babies…But I do want a kid…one day. A boy. Or a girl, but boys are better; they listen to their mamas. (Pause) But we won’t be having any babies anytime soon, and if you come over here again asking to take me out or sit on the couch and look at me the way you do with those eyes and that smile and smelling like you do, making me wonder what you look like sin pantalones, then I will get my dad’s machete and shake what my mama gave me, my hand right down there and I’ll take care of you, not in the sexy way, okay? So you better leave me alone for two more years until I get out of community college. Then we can talk. Maybe. (She grabs another letter, it’s from him. She does a “man’s” voice) But, Clara, I love you. (Pause) Pfff! That’s it? That’s all you wrote back? Caramba! Everything I said and then you write that and what do I do? Date you. (Shakes her head) Like a tonta! And we danced and we fought. And you—we made our mistakes and we forgave. And two years later we got married and two years after that we had Pedrito…And for eleven years we laughed and danced and fought and made love. Thank you. (She exits)

PAPI
(Reappears, doing Darth Vader voice) Pedro, I am your father. Pedro, Pedro… Where’d you go? (Fishes out stuff from the box)

PEDRO
(Bringing in his dad’s stuff) What the hell are you doing?

PAPI
Some of my stuff arrived.

PEDRO
What is all of that?

PAPI
You don’t remember? My flamingo lamp that I won in poker? (Pedro shakes his head) Here.

PEDRO
I don’t want it.

PAPI
Loosen up. Turn it on. (Gets two beach chairs out and a cooler) Sit down with me and let’s have a couple of beers.

PEDRO
In there?

PAPI
Why not?

PEDRO
That’s your, your dead space.

PAPI
It’s not contagious. Come in. Pull up a seat.

PEDRO
(Pedro sits, opens a beer)

PAPI
This stuff…is my favorite kind of gold.

PEDRO
It’s alright.

PAPI
No bebes?

PEDRO
No mucho.

PAPI
That’s good, papito. Good. I’m surprised.

PEDRO
Why is that?

PAPI
It runs in the family…plus, you got a belly.

PEDRO
A bell—

PAPI
I’m just saying, you said you weren’t married so ain’t no woman cooking up that stomach… And you don’t drink? You don’t do much then, do you now.

PEDRO
I take care of Mami.

PAPI
Ah, pues. A toast (holds up the beer) to your beautiful mother. (They clink bottles, Pedro puts his down). I told you how good your mother was right? Firm and determined. My heart was always true to your mother.

PEDRO
And your dick?

PAPI
Ey, me respetes alright. I’m your father. When I lived here…I was true to your mother.

PEDRO
Where did you go?

PAPI
It doesn’t really matter where I was, papito…but where I’m going.

PEDRO
Whadd’you mean?

PAPI
Where are you gonna send me, Pedro?

PEDRO
Ah?

PAPI
It’s up to you. If I go to el cielo con Papa Dios or you know down where to suffer.

PEDRO
I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about—

PAPI
Ok, I’ll ask again later. But the decision is yours. If you wanna send me to hell or to peace, jefe. Damn but I hope there’s corona in heaven, you know? You know how the Bible talks about we’re gonna put our crowns before him… I’ll put my corona in front of him, papito…and I hope He…I hope He likes beer is what I hope.

PEDRO
Nah…He likes wine and shit.

PAPI
(Laughs) Maybe we could change His mind.

PEDRO
So you’re really dead?

PAPI
Yeah, Pedro. I’m a dead mother-fucker. You get it, cuz I used to (whistles) with you mom.

PEDRO
You better cut that shit out or I will send you someplace dry…like a white woman’s pussy—

PAPI
Ahhh, no! No! Anywhere but there!

PEDRO
Damn, we’re messed up, Pa.

PAPI
Yeah. We’re only human though, you know?

PEDRO
That’s the thing though, you weren’t human to me.

PAPI
No?

PEDRO
Nah. You were my rock. You were something so big to me. Strong. Funny. You had your woman and you took care of us. And you had fun doing it.

PAPI
I was a loser, Pedro.

PEDRO
Not to me.

PAPI
Yeah well, I didn’t make much money. Then, that summer, I lost my job.

PEDRO
So get a new one.

PAPI
You know what a pain in the ass it is to get a job out here, Pedro?

PEDRO
Yeah, but—

PAPI
No. No, hear me out because you’ve had it a little easier.

PEDRO
I don’t want to hear about how times were hard for you—

PAPI
Well I’m telling you anyway. I worked on a farm most of my life, move here with a family, had to get work quick. Shitty jobs are fine when you’re starting, but when you keep getting placed in that position, those positions where no one respects you because…they don’t even notice you. Damnit, I speak English. Didn’t matter. Working alongside white college kids that are there just for party money. Spend their tip money on blow or bud or fucking cigarettes…And it’s hard to hold it against them because they don’t know any different and it’s hard not to because they don’t know how different it can be. It may not seem like it, but I’m proud, papito. And when I couldn’t build us something good, well, I went down. I went to all those places you said. Everything you’ve imagined of me is right. I’m a low-life. So I left and did what I was good at and I got out of your way.

PEDRO
You ran away. I was a little kid, I didn’t know. I didn’t see anything wrong with you. Why…why wasn’t the look in my eyes—the innocence—the trust—fucken…awe of you…why wasn’t that fucking enough, Pedro.

PAPI
I don’t know. I’m sorry.

PEDRO
Fuck. Mom took extra jobs until I could keep up. I was fucking eleven. And I had to wait till I could do something to help. That’s—I suffered until I was sixteen and could fucking do something about it finally. Help her out. I don’t need a woman, I got one to take care of…Yours. Fucker. And she still loves you. She kept this box. This stupid, ugly, ghetto-ass box that you made, knowing you were leaving and only death would bring you back. Man, fuck you. How do you let your kid make your casket with you, that’s sick. Go to hell, Pa. Go to fucking HELL, okay?

PAPI
Is that what you want?

PEDRO
(Pause) No.

PAPI
Then burry me out back. Put me in the box and burry me out back. And talk to me whenever you want.

PEDRO
I don’t know. I have to think about it.

PAPI
Okay. Then think.

PEDRO
But I want reasons. I want fucken excuses. I want to know why you did all this. What you did out there without us? How you missed us…You’re gonna be quiet now? (Kicks the flamingo) This fucking flamingo, fucken—FUCK!

MAMI
Pedro!

PEDRO
Ah?

MAMI
Qué tu haces gritando solo?

PEDRO
Nothing.

MAMI
Ay comida aca’tras.

PEDRO
Yeah, I’m coming.

MAMI
(She comes near him) Pedro. Pedro, mírame.

PEDRO
What?

MAMI
He was your Papi, Pedro.

PEDRO
So what?

MAMI
He was everything I loved and gave me everything I love.

PEDRO
Yeah…good for you.

MAMI
Ey. Era humano. And whatever sins he did against us, he did against our Lord and he must live with that forever, para una eternidad.

PEDRO
Good. I want him to live with it.

MAMI
You shouldn’t have to live with his sins, papito. They’re not yours. Let them go. And stop drinking this beer like it’s coconut juice, okay? Got me worried and you’re already getting fat.

PEDRO
Ay, Mami!

MAMI
Ay, Mami qué? Get out of this box—this garage. You’re here all the time—

PEDRO
You wanted me to fix the casket—

MAMI
Looks pretty good to me. He’s not gonna know the difference.

PEDRO
You ask me to come here—

MAMI
Yeah, well, now I’m asking you to leave. To live. To lose some weight, papito.

PEDRO
I’m not that big!

MAMI
No…so why don’t you grow up, ah, become a man—

PEDRO
I always was one—

MAMI
Well then take a few steps back, and do all the shit you missed out on and then grow up. You were always waiting for him to come back. Well, he’s back now, okay? Safe and sound. Now, get out.

PEDRO
Ma—

MAMI
You heard me, get out, get a woman, go to college, get a hobby, una pasión. You need some passion in your life, for something, for someone. For life. Vete.

PEDRO
You want me to do all that? And leave you alone?

MAMI
I’m not alone. I’m gonna burry your papi out back and grow chilies out of his plot and make dinner for my new boyfriend.

PEDRO
Your new boyfriend—

MAMI
Ey, till death do us part, and I put in my time. Conoces a Don Gregorio from down the street?

PEDRO
Yeah…

MAMI
I’m going to make him a nice juicy flan, lots of canela sauce—

PEDRO
Okay, ma’, I don’t, that’s fine. You go do that.

MAMI
Yeah, I’m gonna do that, and I don’t want you here to hear okay.

PEDRO
Got it.

MAMI
Okay. Thank you, papito. Te amo, ah?

PEDRO
Yeah, me too.

MAMI hums as she goes inside.

PEDRO
You still there? Pa…Pa, you still there?

PAPI
(Takes a while but then pokes his head out) Yeah. Damn that was hard to hear…Don Gregorio…

PEDRO
Pa.

PAPI
Yeah?

PEDRO
She’s gonna put you out back.

PAPI
I know…I’ll probably hear her screaming with Don Gregorio…preciosa, she always knew how to get me back.

PEDRO
Pa, here’s your hammer.

PAPI
No, I gave it to you. You keep it. Use it. And…when you need advice, you come out back, me oyes?

PEDRO
I’ll visit you…but I’m not asking for no advice.

PAPI
Okay.

PEDRO
What you did was fucked up.

PAPI
I know.

PEDRO
What else do you want in there with you?

PAPI
Um…an extra six pack…?

PEDRO
What else?

PAPI
A picture of your mami on our wedding day.

PEDRO
Uhuh.

PAPI
Your diploma—

PEDRO
Don’t got one.

PAPI
Get your GED, bruto, c’mon.

PEDRO
Alright.

PAPI
Y dame un abrazo, coño.

PEDRO
I will in a minute. What else do you want?

PAPI
You know what I came for…

PEDRO
Yeah. I’m giving it to you, but don’t get cocky, I’m not giving you much more.

PAPI
That’s all I need.

PEDRO
Alright, I’ll be right back. (Goes to get the stuff, while he does this, Papi gets nice and comfy in the casket). Here.

PAPI
Ah, thank you.

PEDRO
Pásame el screw.

PAPI
What you gonna build, papito?

PEDRO
Get in.

PAPI
I am.

PEDRO
Lay down.

PAPI
Hey…

PEDRO
What?

PAPI
You said you were gonna give me something else.

PEDRO
Ah, fuck. I forgot. Yeah. Stand up. (Papi drops all his stuff inside as he stands up. They hug.)

PAPI
Te amo, Pedro. Oiste?

PEDRO
Yeah. You take care now, Papi.

PAPI
Gracias. (Papi lays down)

PEDRO hammers the box shut, places the hammer on top and leaves.

3 comments:

  1. Notes from Roy:
    Opening Monologue is very intriguing, and gives us a strong sense of this character's voice, and the nature of these people's lives. His shared moments with his father seem really strong and full of affection, which makes the moment when he says he hates his father very surprising and dramatic. That along with the mystery of what the box if for carry the drama forward with lots of suspense.

    Roy

    ReplyDelete
  2. Notes from Roy:
    The second scene heightens our sense of the family, and the complicated nature of their relationships.

    When writing in English with Spanish, I do think it's important to craft the structure so that that doesn't become a barrier to the audience. You have some good technique with that. For example,the exchange in which you use "la caja", and then "the box" in a Spanglish sentence. Also, by keeping the characters focused on the question of the box it's simpler for the audience to follow.

    There's lots of humor and pathos in the exchange between Mami and Pedro. The certainty of hate in the monologue is called into question. And Papi's appearance in the coffin is surprising and theatrical. But very latin theatre style.

    The scene between Papi and Pedro works well. Pedro's anger is somewhat muted by Papi's appearance, but his resentment is still strong. Papi's ability to ignore Pedro's concerns and steer the interaction into the direction he wants helps to push the drama along. The question of where he was remains unanswered. We follow's Pedro's fantasies about that, but are still in the dark. The sense of love and desire that remains between Papi and Mami makes Pedro's feelings all the more complicated in a very dramatically effective way.

    Roy

    ReplyDelete
  3. -The fact that the mom still has the box... it’s nice. A real love there, perhaps? Never giving up hope?
    -The Spanglish, in reading, it’s hard for me as I don’t speak Spanish. In performance, it works so well. It’s quite beautiful. I wonder how, when submitting stuff to places in the future, you can “translate” the spanglish for the gringos? Just something to think about, as you may run into it some day. And to clarify, don’t stop using it, as I think it’s what makes your writing yours. It’s an important part of you.
    -The father is so much fun. He’s endearing, but we know he is not a “nice” man. He’s complex. It’s exciting.
    -The missing the hammer line is wonderful.
    -Dad sounds like dead- very nice observation on both character and language.
    -I love the way Pedro makes excuses for his father’s absence. And how as time marches on, his excuse grows to make sense for that passage of time. It’s subtle, but it shows Pedro is a smart kid.
    -These characters seem so fully fleshed out. It reminds of Hemingway’s iceberg quote, where he says (I’m paraphrasing/interpreting) his characters are like icebergs, they are giant and deep and he knows them from top to bottom, but all we get to see is the tip, the rest is underneath. Okay, maybe Hemingway didn’t say all of that, but I think the idea still applies.

    ReplyDelete