Entropy Part 4

(Gittins and Marjorie slump into the single chair together, unaware they have just made body contact. They are both drained.)

GITTINS
(Annoyed) Great. First my TV goes, and now there's blood on my carpet.

MARJORIE
(On verge of tears) He called me fat.

GITTINS
I promised myself when I was sick that I would try to learn a few more skills. "Multiskilling" it was called. I should be a carpet cleaner.

MARJORIE
First you call me fat, and then he does.

GITTINS
Carpet cleaners get a lot of cash in the free market world. No one knows how to clean them properly.

MARJORIE
I'm ugly. I'm fat. I'm useless.

GITTINS
A TV repairman also earns a lot of cash. If I knew how to repair them, I'd have my TV back in no time.

MARJORIE
You can't repair a smashed screen.

GITTINS
You're not fat.

(They look at each other, then realise their closeness. They move away from each other abruptly).

GITTINS
Good shooting.

MARJORIE
I was aiming at his head.

(They both begin to laugh)

GITTINS
Enough of this, we might get arrested by the secret police.

MARJORIE
We are the secret police. Are we going to arrest each other?

GITTINS
Tell me, what did they teach you when you became a member of the scret police.

MARJORIE
Why what did they teach you?

GITTINS
I only just joined yesterday. They didn't teach me anything.

MARJORIE
Well, they didn't teach me anything either.

GITTINS
Nothing? How did you become a member of the secret police?

MARJORIE
I only joined last week. I used to be a dish washer at a canteen in the western province. They reassigned me to the secret police.

GITTINS
Who else do you know in the secret police?

MARJORIE
Only you. And Hierarch Sam. That's it.

GITTINS
Do you realise we may be the only members of the secret police in the whole world?

MARJORIE
That can't be true. When I was a dish washer, I knew that there was many other dish washers around. It must be the same for the secret police, surely.

GITTINS
Maybe. (pauses) You used to wash dishes?

MARJORIE
Yes.

GITTINS
Can you wash carpets?

MARJORIE
(Pointedly) NO.

GITTINS
You shot Xavier, you should clean it up.

MARJORIE
I was a dish washer, not a floor washer. Besides, I was doing you a favour. YES, I was doing YOU a favour. You owe me Gittins.

GITTINS
Spoken like a true free trader. You provide goods and services, I pay you back with cash or, alternatively, other goods and services. (Looking at carpet forlornly, then at TV. Look of anguish over his face).

22. View of Gittins sitting in chair, writing.

GITTINS (V.O)
With no TV to keep me happy during my free time, I decided to do something I used to do when I was sick. I wrote. I used to write lots of big words, words I learned from some banned books I used to have. I used to write about freedom and happiness and all sorts of other subversive garbage. Now, however, I was trying to formulate a plan - a plan to try and infiltrate the underground.

MARJORIE
Gittins, what are you doing?

GITTINS
I'm trying to formulate a plan - a plan to try and infiltrate the underground.

MARJORIE
I'm going home now. It's getting late and I want to watch TV before going to bed.

GITTINS
(look of sadness comes across his face) Yes, well you do that. I'll call you tomorrow. What's your call number?

MARJORIE
555-3426.

GITTINS
Why do call numbers always start with 555?

MARJORIE
I don't know Gittins, and I don't really want to know. I'll see you tomorrow. happy planning. (goes out through door).

GITTINS (V.O.)
(Continues to write) When I was sick, I used to enjoy people's company. Fortunately I was now cured. Maybe I would have enjoyed Marjorie's company when I was sick, but she is quite repellent to me. Xavier was right, she is fat, but not so fat that it was very noticeable. She certainly won't be taken away by the government like people in years gone by.

23. Shot of very obese man trying to hide. Gittins is there, helps him away from searchers. He reassures the man. V.O. continues over this.

GITTINS (V.O.)
When I was sick I used to help people like that. I used to get them to the outskirts of the world, where some free traders would hide them. Free traders were like that, they had some mistaken belief that these very fat people had something to offer to society.

24. Shot of obese people being led away by police. Gittens watches, covertly from a window. V.O. continues.

GITTINS (V.O)
I remember being very sad seeing these obese people being led away, but I was sick, and the feelings I had were due to this sickness. Thinking about it now, I'm glad the government took these obese people away. They were very ugly and unsightly. Getting rid of them was good for society.

25. Back to Gittins sitting on couch.

GITTINS (V.O.)
One thing the free traders demand is something called "free press". It means reporting on events in a factual and objective manner, unbiased by government ideologies. The free traders have a number of publications they call "News Papers". They are a sheet on paper with words printed on them, reporting on events and publishing opinions.

26. Gittins standing in dark alleyway, smoking.

GITTINS (V.O.)
One of the best places to gather information about the underground was to contact a newspaper publisher. I needed to make friends with one of them. To initiate some form of mutual trust. I would then use this mutual trust to bring down the free traders.

(Marjorie turns up)

MARJORIE
Why are we here?

GITTINS
We're here to meet a newspaper man.

MARJORIE
A What?

GITTINS
It's sort of like TV, except it's writing. And it's written by free traders, for free traders.

MARJORIE
I see. What is that thing in your mouth? It's on fire.

GITTINS
It's called a cigarette. The free traders use them. You inhale the smoke like so (does so, then exhales), then blow it out.

MARJORIE
It smells terrible.

GITTINS
It tastes good, you should try it, you'll mix in with the free traders. No one would suspect us.

MARJORIE
Okay, give me a try.

(Marjorie takes the cigarette, inhales, then coughs violently, throwing the cigarette away)

MARJORIE
That is disgusting! It is the most vile thing I have ever tasted! (continues to splutter) If all free traders smoked, they won't live long enough for us to nail them.

GITTINS
Remember the irony. We are using the tools of the free traders in order to bring them down from the inside.

MARJORIE
I have no idea what you're saying. What the hell is irony? Is it some form of metal tool?

GITTINS
You didn't read my journals much did you?

MARJORIE
Enough to see that you are perfectly vile. Your whole existence was akin to that... thing.. you gave me. Disgusting.

to be continued...

© 2005 Neil McKenzie Cameron, http://one-salient-oversight-entropy.blogspot.com/




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