Thursday, June 27, 2019

The Rats Discuss New York

     (Two RATS are outside a pizza place
chewing on a used tissue.)

RAT:  I miss that place that used to be on--

OTHER RAT:  I know which one you're--

RAT:  The pepperoni at that place--

OTHER RAT:  Grandpa Nick's Pizzeria!

RAT:  That's the one.

OTHER RAT:  You can't find pepperoni like
that these days.

RAT:  I've been saying that--

OTHER RAT:  It doesn't exist.

RAT:  And they shut it down.

OTHER RAT:  Bastards.

RAT:  And for what?  For nothing.

OTHER RAT:  Nothing at all.  Just because
they felt like it.

RAT:  Bastards.

OTHER RAT:  Dirty bastards.

RAT:  How much did you used to poop
in that place?

OTHER RAT:  Constantly.  Constantly
pooping in there.

RAT:  No better place to poop.

OTHER RAT:  You couldn't find a better place.

RAT:  And they shut it down.

OTHER RAT:  You know who's ruining this city?

RAT:  I know.

OTHER RAT:  The Health Department.

RAT:  I know.

OTHER RAT:  Like rat feces ever hurt anybody.

RAT:  Other than the plague.

OTHER RAT:  Other than the plague, rat feces
has never hurt a soul.

RAT:  Some people think being around it
is good for you.

OTHER RAT:  It might be.

RAT:  Remember how they used to say coffee
was bad for you?

OTHER RAT:  Now it's good for you.

RAT:  Now you die if you don't have it.

OTHER RAT:  That could be rat poop.

RAT:  It could be!

OTHER RAT:  Those subways though--

RAT:  Please.

OTHER RAT:  I can't even move.

RAT:  You know how many feet I ran over
the other day?

OTHER RAT:  I hate when you have to run
over their feet.

RAT:  And they don't even scream anymore. 
They're used to it.

OTHER RAT:  So then it's not even fun.

RAT:  I had to stop in the middle of a crowd--
risking my life, because you know they'll
step on you without thinking twice about it--

OTHER RAT:  My cousin Mickey got stepped on. 
Crushed one of his legs.  Now he lives down by
the pier eating whatever cheese I remember to
bring him.

RAT:  No way to live.

OTHER RAT:  Terrible way to live.

RAT:  Anyway there I am, stopped in the
middle of this crowd, and I thought to myself--
you know what I thought?

OTHER RAT:  I know just what you're going
 to say.

RAT/OTHER RAT:  I gotta get out of this city./
I should bite one of these people
and give them the plague.

     (A beat.)

OTHER RAT:  But yeah, the city's a mess. 
You should leave.

RAT:  Imagine being a rat upstate?

OTHER RAT:  I think about it all the time.

RAT:  Living a nice country life.

OTHER RAT:  Not fighting over trash all the time.

RAT:  You don't even want to know what I
had to do to get half a hot dog the other day.

OTHER RAT:  Oh, I know.

RAT:  Those other rats were coming out of
the woodwork--

OTHER RAT:  They'll eat you and the hot dog. 
Be careful.

RAT:  We're eating our own out here. 
We're cannibals.  This is what we've been
reduced to.

OTHER RAT:  I ate a nickel the other day. 
Just to see what would happen.

RAT:  What happened?

OTHER RAT:  Nothing...yet.

RAT:  So you...you still got the nickel in...

OTHER RAT:  It'll do something eventually.

RAT:  I...yeah.

OTHER RAT:  My cousin Jerry moved to Boston. 
Says it's even worse than here.

RAT:  Can't be worse than here.

OTHER RAT:  Says it is.

RAT:  CANNOT be worse.

OTHER RAT:  That's what I said.

RAT:  Can't be.

OTHER RAT:  But he says it is.

RAT:  Listen, no disrespect, but your cousin
 is filthy lying con artist.

OTHER RAT:  How'd you know he
was a con artist?

RAT:  That was just a guess.

OTHER RAT:  By the way, Joey says
you're the one who tipped off the
exterminators to his place inside
the Old Navy?

RAT:  Joey's full of it.

OTHER RAT:  He says you gave him away. 
Says you're a...

(A beat.)

RAT:  A what?

OTHER RAT:  You know.

RAT:  No, I don't know.

OTHER RAT:  You do.

RAT:  I don't.

OTHER RAT:  You do.

RAT:  I don't.

OTHER RAT:  You--

RAT:  You were going to call me
a stool pigeon.

OTHER RAT:  I was--not.

RAT:  A disgusting, disease-carrying
stool pigeon.

OTHER RAT:  Hey, don't knock
carrying diseases.

RAT:  I didn't give up Joey.

OTHER RAT:  No skin off my teeth if you did.

RAT:  Well, I didn't.

OTHER RAT:  Well, I guess I can keep the
skin on my teeth then.

RAT:  I guess you can.

OTHER RAT:  Fine with me.

RAT:  Fine with me.

OTHER RAT:  Fine with me.

RAT:  Fine with me.

OTHER RAT:  Fine with me.

     (A beat.)

RAT:  Fine with me.

OTHER RAT:  Fine with me.

     (A beat.)

RAT:  You cannot get good deep dish
 in this city anymore.

OTHER RAT:  You can't get it.

RAT:  And nothing you can do about it.

OTHER RAT:  This whole place is turning
 into a real sewer.

     (They go back to chewing on the tissue.)

The End

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