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Shades of Blue from a Red State

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Thursday, September 13, 2007

 

 

 

 

New World  Monkeys

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

God is a comedian playing to an audience too afraid to laugh.

- Voltaire

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

FADE  IN

 

 

Int. Club Wicked, A trendy  fetish club in Shibuya. Night

 

 

 

OTTO

  I  like it.

 

JD

Pretty freaky, huh?

 

OTTO

The candle light, the  chandelier…it’s  so  Baroque.

 

JD 

Did you see the  piano  across the hall there? Or maybe it’s a harpsichord.

 

OTTO

Where’s Liberace when you  need him?

 

JD
He’s  dead, of  course. But I could  see  his  ghost  taking refuge in a place like this.

 

Otto:

You come here often?

 

JD

Been a long time. Not since my first night in  Tokyo.

Now you’re the new kid and I’m the veteran.

 

Otto

Passin’ the torch.

 

They clink beer bottles together

 

OTTO

 How do they say cheers?

 

JD

Kampai.

 

OTTO

Kampai!

 

JD

You jet-lagged?

 

OTTO

I feel just fine. Maybe it’ll just  catch up  with me.

 

JD

Maybe  you’ll elude it.

 

OTTO

Doubtful. That was  a long  damn  flight.

 

Middle-aged person of unknown gender in black dress and high heels  dances next to

adjacent booth

 

OTTO

I think it’s  a man.

 

JD

I think it’s  a  ladyman.

 

Otto

Is it  common here?

 

JD

  Not  where  you’ll be. The  other  end of the  spectrum, the big city.

 

 

OTTO

Which do you  prefer?

 

 

JD

I  need ‘em  both.  Yin and yang.

 

 

OTTO

I hear you  on that.

 

 

JD

We’re  birds of  a  feather

 

 

OTTO

Too bad you’re  leavin  as  I’m coming.

 

 

JD

I’ll be  back, don’t  worry.

 

 

 

                       They toast

 

 

 

EXT Train station  Higashi-Nozumi DAY

 

 

MICKEY

What’s  up?

 

OTTO

Off to the  big  city.

 

Mickey

Little  early  for  that?

 

Otto

Got to  pick up my  credit  card.  Left it  in a  restaurant.

 

Mickey

Cross your  fingers they have it.

 

Otto

I  looked into it.  They  have it.

 

Mickey

You  heard what happened to Bobby?

OTTO

They told me he  got knocked  flat. Riding his  cycle.

 

MICKEY

Not just  that. They gotta  fuckin  rebuild  his   whole  leg.

 

OTTO

The poker  star  is  gonna  need  a wheelchair.

 

MICKEY

He  could  come in with crutches and  an  eyepatch.

 

OTTO

It  would just  add to his  mystique. Is  the  game on Wednesday  still on?

 

MICKEY

Should be.  With  Bobby   gone   people won’t  be  so afraid  to play.

 

OTTO

Well, Bradley is  back in Saipan chasing  after that blonde.

 

MICKEY

What a  nut.  Every  time I  hear about  him  he’s  chasing  after someone.

 

Otto

Here  comes  your  buddy.

 

MICKEY

We’re  heading  off to Kyoto.

 

OTTO

I’m  jealous. I’m  just   gonna   hang  out  here  this   weekend. I’m  broke.

 

MICKEY

They  still haven’t paid  you?

 

OTTO

I  got  it  in writing  now  that   payment’s  coming.

 

MICKEY

Fuckin’  bureaucracy.  “You’re  check  is  in the  mail.”

 

OTTO

Tell me   about it.   I’ve been  really  scrapin’ lately.

 

MICKEY

Good thing  you  got  friends.

 

OTTO

 Yeah they keep  me  going. Then there’s mom.  Always  good  for a  hundred  bucks.

 

MICKEY

Who ever  thought  mom  would still be   payin’ the bills?

 

OTTO

Sad. They better   pay  me   soon.

By the way,  what  was  up with Jerry   last  Friday—he  seemed  a  little  pissy.

 

MICKEY

 

Oh, it’s  nothing. He’s a pretty  good  guy.  He  was  just  hearing  some bad  news  back in the  States. His uncle or  something. Car wreck.

 

 

OTTO

Oh, that’s too bad.

 

MICKEY

 

Hey, I got  a friend, Morris, coming  in  from Michigan. Isn’t that where you’re from, originally?

 

OTTO

 

Yeah, maybe we’ll meet up again Friday.

But I may have to  go  up to  Shimoda.

 

 

MICKEY

Shimoda’s beautiful. What the  hell brings  you up there?

 

OTTO

Oh, there’s this  conference. Actually more like a retreat.

 

 

MICKEY

That’s nice up there. Bring  your camera. Oh well, gotta run.  Gonna  miss Brooks. He  didn’t  even see me.

 

OTTO

See you.

 

MICKEY

 

Itte rasshai!

 

 

 

INT-OUTBACK RESTAURANT- NIGHT

 

 

 

Bradley:  Usually I just  go out to the  noodle   shop.

 

OTTO

I  always  seem to  end up here.

 

 

BRADLEY

We’ve got different  styles.

 

OTTO

You’re more frugal.

 

BRADLEY

That’s  for sure.

 

 

OTTO

There’s one thing about those  noodle  shops. The

way the natives slurp those noodles. Drives me crazy.

 

BRADLEY

 I’ve been out here longer than you. Ya get  used to it.

 

FU

How bout another  martini?

 

OTTO

  One more,  kudasai!

 

FU

Too strong?

 

OTTO

That was  just  right.

 

FU

Okay, I make the  same.

 

BRADLEY

  This seafood’s  pretty good. I  gotta  start coming out here.

 

OTTO

That lady looks like Yoko.

 

BRADLEY

Right across from us?

 

OTTO

 Yes, a  slightly  younger  version of her.

 

BRADLEY

Did you  sleep with her too?

 

OTTO

Nah, I don’t  know anyone  who did.

 

BRADLEY

She   used to  hang  on  to  JD a bit.

 

OTTO

They  had a  weird  thing  goin’  on. She wouldn’t  actually  get together  with him in public, but at closing  time they would  head off together.

 

BRADLEY

Head off  where?

 

OTTO

Into the  night. Probably  JD’s place.

 

BRADLEY

What an  unlikely  couple.

 

 

OTTO

Not  exactly   Ken and Barbie. An aging  drunkard and Goth boy.

 

BRADLEY

Opposites attract.

 

OTTO

You’re telling me.

 

 

 

 

 

INT  -CLUB WICKED FETISH BAR-NIGHT
 

 

Otto

Have you  been back home?

 

JD

Not  for  a couple  years. I’m in for  a little   culture  shock.

 

OTTO

So am I . Coming in the other direction.

 

JD

At least I learned  a little Japanese. It  would have  been embarrassing to  come  home  without  some.

 

A sinewy  silhouette  dances in the  aisle  next to them.

 

OTTO

I  think it’s  a different  guy.

 

JD

Nah, that’s a  femme. Look at the  hips. Look at the small hands.

 

OTTO

You’ve got a  better eye than I  do.

 

JD
 I’ve been  to  Thailand  recently. You need a good eye there. Lot’s of  females who aren’t so  female.

 

OTTO

That’s what I hear.

 

JD

Though I  do recommend it, going down there. Cheap as  hell.

 

OTTO

Is it?

 

JD 

Live like  a king.

 

OTTO

Bangkok?

 

JD

No way. I couldn’t get outta there fast enough. They have  these  islands  to the  south that are  just  gorgeous.

 

OTTO

Look over at the  couch. Those two  are  really  going  to  town.

 

JD

Two transvestite  salarymen  going  at it. If their  wives  only  knew.

 

OTTO

They told their  wives  they had  to work late  tonight.

 

JD

I always  wonder.

 

OTTO

So where am I  going to  get  a drink in the  little  town of  Nomuzi.

 

JD

Nozumi. Those  drinks  getting to  ya?

 

OTTO

Sorry.

 

JD

You can get  a  beer anywhere. There’s  this little  type of  place, the izakaya,

where  you  get booze  with your  dinner and  listen  to music…jazz, whatever.

 

OTTO

Is it   a   bar?

 

JD

Somewhere between a restaurant  and  a tavern.

 

OTTO

You  went there  a lot?

 

JD

Sometimes.  There’s an  American  tavern near the  train    station. The  Roadhouse.  You’ll be going there. Owner’s  from Chicago. So you  get the English teachers, the Toyota  guys,  the researchers from the Institute, all coming there to meet  Fridays, Saturdays. It’s  a good time.

 

OTTO

Here comes the   waitress.

 

JD

I’m gonna  get another martini

 

OTTO

Make that two.

 

 

 

 

 

INT –Mark’s apartment. North  Nozumi  Night

Otto knocks on door, waits. Door creaks  open.

 

Bruce

There you  are,  mate.

 

OTTO

Sorry I  got  here  late. Never been to this part of town.

 

BRUCE

You can  take  the  shoes off, or  not.  I don’t  care.

 

Otto

When in Rome…

 

 

Otto takes off shoes, walks inside.

 

Bruce

Can I get you  a  beer?

 

Otto

How about  just  a soda?

 

Bruce

Coming  right  up.

 

Otto

Where’s  Kumiko?

 

Bruce

At  work still.  Said she be  late tonight.

 

Otto

She  teaches  English, right?

 

Bruce

She  teaches  Japanese…to gai-jin.  Like you .  Like  me.

 

Otto walks toward television.

 

OTTO

Is this  the  Australian team.

 

BRUCE

Sure is. Against Japan. Should be interesting if  Kumiko  comes home soon.

We’ll be  rooting for different teams.

 

OTTO

It’s still scoreless. Should be  a   close one.

[Hears a thud in the bathroom.]

Who’s that?

BRUCE

Gilberto. He’s in there playing poker online. Here he  comes.

 

Gilberto enters room

BRUCE  (Cont’d)

You two know each other?

OTTO

Yeah, the face is  familiar.

 

GILBERTO

Out in  Nagoya  one night. That was  me  with   Rogerio and Mickey.

 

OTTO

Wow. What a night! That was   a  while  ago.  We went out to that  dance hall.

 

GILBERTO

Yeah. You know I  have to get  going. I have to pick up my girlfriend.

 

BRUCE

You can tell her  how much you made playing poker.

 

GILBERTO

How much I  lost.

 

 

Gilberto opens door.

 

BRUCE

Thanks for  stopping  by.

 

GILBERTO

 

See you later. Give me  a  call.  Tell me  how it  was.

 

Door closes

 

BRUCE

It’s  a good thing.  My  wife  isn’t  too crazy  about him.

 

OTTO

Why’s  that?

BRUCE

Hell, I don’t  know. She’s  racist. Not too crazy about   Brazilians.

 

OTTO

Australia  scored another goal.

 

Bruce leaves room then re-enters.

 

BRUCE

Wow, I  didn’t think we  had  a chance. Maybe  we’ll win the World Cup.

Here’s  what  I  got. All the  way  from Morocco.

 

Bruce holds out chunk of  hashish in  his  hand.

 

OTTO

That’s look  pretty  good.

 

BRUCE

That’s ni ma  Yen. Twenty  thousand.

 

Otto opens wallet, pulls out two crisp bills.

 

Otto

Here  ya  go.

 

Bruce

Sample?

OTTO

Nah, I gotta  get going.

 

BRUCE

Careful, man. Don’t  get   caught  with that in this  county.  You’ll be  eatin  fish-head soup.

 

OTTO

I’ll keep  it   safely  stashed.

 

BRUCE

See you  this  weekend.

 

OTTO

See you  at   Jerry’s  place.

 

 

 

INT –OUTBACK RESTAURANT-NIGHT

 

 

Bradley

That stuff catching up with you?

 

OTTO

It’s only my third.

 

Bradley

That would be starting to hit me. It’s eleven. Wanna  start  heading over to Motown?

 

OTTO

Thinking it  over.

 

BRADLEY

Never been  here before. Is there  anything I  should know?

 

OTTO

Actually, there might be some  drama tonight.

 

BRADLEY

What are you saying?  You’re gonna  get in a  fight tonight?