Scene Six


As the set revolves, we hear "Look at Me!" played as a lowdown burlesque number. Then over a loudspeaker comes a male voice.
ANNOUNCER (o.s)
And now what you’ve been waiting for, the one…the only…the incomparable Beaster Boys! (Over the p.a. system come wild applause and catcalls. Lights rise on a blank stage with a leather backdrop. SIX magnificently developed Young Men, among them DEEDELUS, have their backs to the audience. When THEY turn to the raunchy beat, THEY are dressed in Beaster outfits with bull’s heads, enormous breasts and huge erections beneath their leather tights. THEY proceed to do the movements of present day male strippers. We hear wild ecstatic reactions, both male and female, from the imaginary audience. Lights flicker to denote the passage of time. Now the SIX enter from the right in long leather capes, removing them gradually and doing their bumps and grinds. Lights flicker again, and the SIX emerge from the left in silver cowboy-type outfits with holsters. When THEY strip, their trunks now are also silver. THEY bump and grind, flex their biceps, fondle their weapons obscenely and proceed to do a variation of the same strip number to an even more strident audience reaction. At the climax, THEY perform one last magnificent bump. BLACKOUT. The set swings to the right, and we are in a dressing room backstage. Like everything else, it is oddly shaped and at curious angles. Upstage left is a door leading to an alley. THEY are all in the process of donning their bull’s heads and ersatz breasts and stuffing steel rods down their trunks. DEEDELUS, making no attempt to get into costume, sits alone at the dressing table reading one of his tattered volumes. A single spot falls on him.)
DEEDELUS
                                        I was just a kid when I came to Clittsburgh---
                                        I trusted every one I met.
                                        I was so naïve when I came to Clittsburgh,
                                        But what I’ve learned I won’t forget. As long as you have a book
You have a friend,
You have a friend.
As long as you have a book,
You have a pal,
You have a pal.
A pal who is there with you,
A pal who is true,
A pal who will share with you
Things you never knew.
One who will help you out
To the bitter end---
As long as you have a book,
You have a friend.
 
  (Lights rise, and DEEDELUS is suddenly aware of BEASTER BOYS listening to him with cynical looks on their faces. Placing their hands on the holsters around their waists, they proceed to satirize what Deedelus has just sung.)
BEASTER BOYS
Though we were merely kids when we came to Clittsburgh,
We trusted no one from the start;
We all knew the moment we came to Clittsburgh,
That dumb is dumb and smart is smart.

As long as you have a gun,
You have a friend,
And what a friend!
As long as you have a gun,
You have a pal,
And what a pal!
A pal who is there for you,
A pal who is tough,
A pal who will care for you
When enough’s enough.
One who will help you out
To the bitter end---
As long as you have a gun,
You have a friend.

(Suddenly and determinedly, DEEDELUS stuffs the book in his old knapsack, leaps to his feet and races out through the doorway. The FIVE OTHER BEASTER BOYS stare after him, laughing.)
   
LIGHTS QUICKLY DIM
 


 
 


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