the grey between red and yellow

7/31/2019 The Grey Between Red and Yellow

1/11

THE GREY BETWEEN RED AND YELLOW

By

Jaime Zamora Cruz

2010 Jaime Cruz

[email protected]

www.jaimecruz.net


2/11

1

THE GREY BETWEEN RED AND YELLOW

CAST

Stan, a dead eighteen year old from the seventies.

Nick, a recently deceased young man in love.

SETTING

The busy intersection of a small town.


3/11

AT RISE: An intersection. Outside a police

station. Stan looks all around him. A lot of

change

STANWe have a sushi place now?

Nick enters screaming.

NICKStan they found me! They found me and shes coming!! They found me! Hahaha!!!

STANSo we done? Im starting to smell like swine and I didnt even go in.

NICKThey found me and they caught him! Oh buddy its a spectacle in there

STANHey congratulations Nick. Did you know we have a sushi place?

NICKOh forget the sushi! Im getting resolved here!!

STANYeah but, what do you know about the sushi place?

NICKI was eavesdropping when they brought him into the interrogation room. He was sittingthere crying his eyes out, like something out of General Hospital.

STANSo its done?

NICKHes booked. Hes behind bars. Its done.

STANThats far out, man. How are you feeling? Atoned for?

NICKIts all happening so quickly I have to collect myself.

STANYoure such a wallower.

NICKA wallower. What?

STANYou always struck me as a wallower. You like to simmer in your own thoughts. Its nothealthy.


4/11

2

NICKThats unfair. I just want to get myself together before we celebrate!

STANSee, this is what Im talking about.

NICKIm experiencing catharsis as we speak, the unresolved has just been solved!

STANWallower.

NICKThats it! I am not a wallower. I am so not a wallower and I am going to go out andcelebrate this moment!

STANOh where are we off to?

NICKYou want sushi? Okay. Lets go over to the sushi restaurant and watch people eat

STANAnd what good is that going to do you?

NICKOh? This coming from the guy who spies on unsuspecting couples as they engage insteamy sexual escapades?

STANHow else are the dead supposed to have fun, you square?

NICKDid you just call me a square?

STANSay what?

NICKForget it. Lets go to the Old Mill and watch people get plastered, this is a joyousoccasion after all.

STANIts the same concept as watching people do it.

NICKBut removing the element of voyeurism.

STANNick

NICKIts less perverted.


5/11

3

STANTheyre still second hand emotions.

NICKAre you quoting Tina Turner?

STANGood God, no Besides, you dont have time to celebrate. You better pack your bags.

NICKWhy do you say that?

STANYour unresolved businesses have been laid to rest.

NICKCome on, Stan. You should know better.

STAN

Sorry. Puns just come out of me, cant help it. But really, you have to get ready to go.

NICKAre you kidding me? I havent felt this alive

STANSince you were alive?

NICKIn a long time

STANHave they told your lady friend?

NICKYeah and shes comingshes on her way. Good God I have a phenomenal woman

STANHada phenomenal woman. Who might I add, is a fox.

NICKThats my Kelly youre talking about

STANSettle down, its not like I can woo her in my current state.

NICKShes beautiful. I hate it when shes surrounded by men, just makes her a target.

STANJust paying her a compliment.

NICKBut she did pull through with that warrant.


6/11

4

STANShe did.

NICKThe rest of the family thought she was crazy

STANI bet. With a story like that.

NICKBe honest with me. Do you see this a lot? I ask because, youve been here a while.

STANSee it all the time. People killed by their kin. Its madness.

NICKYeah. Heartbreaking.

STAN

But lets be honest. Youve had more than enough time to recover.

NICKMy cousin Eric took a two by four to the back of my head. One clean swing. My kin, asyou put it: And you dont think I have a few scars that time has yet to heal?

STANThis was ages ago.

NICKIve only been dead six months! Sorry I havent had an eternity to think of my untimelydeath like a certain someone

STANExcuse me?

NICKYouve had plenty of time to atone and reflect on how you landed here! And you expectanyone who lands in this purgatory, this waiting place, whatever you want to call it, toresign themselves the same way you have?! Youre being inconsiderate.

STANInconsiderate? How can you say that to me?

NICK

I said it just now, Ill say it again. Youre an inconsiderate.

STANAn inconsiderate? Dont you forget I showed you the ropes around here, without me, youwould have made a lot of enemies.

NICKThis isnt prison. This is the afterlife. Im not going to become someones bitch withoutyour protection.


7/11

5

STANSnippets didnt like you. I changed that.

NICKSnippets is a great guy, I just told him I dont mind the way he looks.

STANHes not a pretty sight, Ill give you that.

NICKPoint being, Im not a wallower, nor am I inconsiderate,you are!

STANYou know its a good thing youre leaving, cause I was just getting sick of your antics!

NICKSorry to disappoint, but Im not going anywhere for a while.

STAN

Thats not the way this goes.

NICKPlease enlighten me. You prick.

STANYou get killed. You have unresolved matters to tend to. You roam in this ridiculous nomans land until you or your surviving loved ones get your shit together and atone.

NICKAnd then what?

STANThen you say goodbye and you leave. For good.

NICKBut maybe I can stay a little while longer?

STANFor what? Your killers been caught! You can stop wandering this infuriating waitingroom! Man, Im surprised youre still here, its not even your call to make!

NICKMaybe I do have a say in it!

STANThats bitchin man: So all this time, I could have simply avoided my misery throughwillpower and a can-do attitude?

NICKMaybe.

STANEnough with the maybes! You know what I got on my high school graduation day?The keys to my old mans 67 Pontiac. The Goat, they used to call it. Wasnt a big deal,


8/11

6

STAN (CONTD)family had quite a bit of moolah. Snippets said that car was destined to become a classic:A real muscle car. I had no clue. I just thought it was groovy and I wanted to pick upchicks with it. So I got in the drivers seat, picked up my friends and we went out.Unsupervised. For some goddamned reason my parents seemed to trust me. I drove it to aparty. It was supposed to be off the hook. Drank myself stupid until everything went

dark. Alcohol poisoning. May 9th

, 1977. Thought I was so hip. I was a brat.

NICKDamn. Thats a hot car.

STANNot as hot as your girlfriend

NICKWatch it.

STANBut the good news is that you now have a one-way ticket to the pearly gates. You get to

move on, man! Keep truckin!

NICKWhat else is keeping you here, Stan?

STANThey never found my body.

NICKWhat do you meanyou died at a party, didnt you? Lots of people

STANMy buddies. They made sure I disappeared.

NICKAnd the Pontiac?

STANDisappeared. Erased.

NICKI dont understand, how is this still unresolved after decades? Didnt you have CSI, withtheir fingerprint database and their semen detectors?

STAN

They covered their tracks. Those guys came from good families and wanted nothingcoming back to them.

NICKYou can still do something, cant you? You gotta do something!

STANOh yeah, tell me how to do that, Zen-master? You seem to have everything figured out.


9/11

7

NICKI dont know. Go haunt their houses or something!

STANNick, take a chill pill! You let me worry about my deal and you worry about your own.

NICKStan

STANYou got a long way to go.

NICKOh my God, Kelly! There she is!

They watch Kelly walk past them and into the

police station. A moment

STANWell? Had enough?

NICKGod I just want to touch her. Im going in

STANYou cant.

NICKWhat about closure?!

STAN

Thats more than any of us ever get, so beat it! Hit the road, Jack!

Went too far. They dont know what to say to

each other. They stare at the traffic.

STAN (CONTD)Lot of traffic. This little towns gotten way bigger since my day.

NICKStan. Good things will come.

STAN

If the seventies didnt bring my atonement I dont think Ill be getting one at all.NICK

Jesus. Looks on the bright side! What if there was a way to trade?

STANSay what?


10/11

8

NICKIf I pass my atonement, my moment of catharsis on toyou. Would you be able to rest inpeace?

STANYoure an idiot.

NICKI just I wish I could stay longer. Be closer to Kelly. A little closer.

STANYoull be fine, man. I assure you whatever you have in store will be much better than thislooking-through-the-window bullshit. Who knows, maybe youll get to have her again inHeaven.

Nick stares after Kelly. Chuckles.

STAN (CONTD)Shes gotta catch up to you sometime? (bad thing to say) Youll be fine, I mean

NICKThats a morbid thing to say. But I think youre righ

And the epiphany hits.

NICK (CONTD) Oh my God: Im atoned. Im atoned! I feel so, cathartic inside (laughs joyously) Igotta go, buddy. But where?

Nick cant stop his giddy laughter.

STANThey say youre supposed to start walking. Til you dont know where you are anymore.I suppose your final destination will make itself be known to you.

NICKHow do you know that?

STANIve been here long enough to know thats the way it is. Trust me.

NICKThanks Stan.

STANJust answer me this: Where did they find you?

NICKIn the trunk of his car. My body had been there all along. He left it there over the winterto freeze. He was on his way to get rid of it when he ran the red light He ran a red light.Thats how he got busted. Why?


11/11

9

STANI had a little bet going with Snippets. Looks like I won.

NICKI dont even want to know. But you tell Snippets he really is as ugly as he feels.

STANThats low. You try looking good after being torn up by a semi.

Smiles. Beat.

NICKYou take care, Stan.

STANYou do the same, Nick.

They shake hands. Nick exits.

Stan looks to the intersection.

LIGHTS OUT.

the grey between red and yellow

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