Baptism by Green Fire
Skin Savers and Old Tavern Tales (AIDS Comes Home)
by
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Skin Savers: Mickey: (In a cold deadly voice) Let me ask you, Hank, do you now know the smell of cancer? Can you tell me what color it is? I can only describe it as puce. It has such an acrid smell to it. Have you listened to its sweet death song as they gasp for another breath? Hank (gasps): Oh my God! Mickey Have you tasted the sweet sickness of cancer? It has a flavor all its own. Do you know the feel and texture of the disease? Do you hear its song? It is so melancholy. Have you learned the silent lessons that cancer teaches? No matter how much you pray; he will die today! Hank: (Blinking back tears) (Pulling out a large white handkerchief and violently cries into it) You have to excuse me; I have to be somewhere else! Beau, I need to go see Ed. I’ll be at Florida Keys Hospital. EXIT Hank Beau: (angrily) Who do you think you are to talk to my Hank that way! Have you no idea what he is going through? Mickey: I know exactly what he is feeling. You see, I had a twin brother who had cancer from the age of three until he died when we were almost fifteen. I know what Hank must feel. I pray for him every night Beau: Oh my God, God sent you to us! God sent us an angel to help us through this! Mickey: No Beau! I am no angel. This is another punishment that God has given me. Beau: Don’t you see it is a miracle! Mickey: Stop it Beau. I’m just a very confused man frightened of my future. I am the spawn of Satan. I am no angel. I am so scared and the sounds keep getting louder in my head. Why did God send me to a paradise then bring back all my fears. You and Hank are right. I have the face of an angel, the body of a satyr and the cold heart of the devil. I am just a worthless whore! I am a lost spirit. I am the walking dead! Old Tavern Tales (AIDS comes home): Mickey: Paul and friend Wally went up to Hartford to go clubbing up there. Alejandro: And he left you all alone! The guy must be a fool. Mickey: What do you guys do again? Alejandro: I work at the local PBS station. I’m in charge of Hispanic programming. Dave here is an intern at Yale-New Haven Hospital. What do you do? Mickey: I’m a marketing guy from Virginia working at the Electro Blade Company in Bridgeport. Alejandro: You are one hot man. Dave: We came out here to smoke a joint, didn’t we? (Pulls out a cigarette and lights it and takes a drag) Mickey: Yeah, I want to get really high tonight. (Takes a drag) Alejandro: I want to kiss your beautiful fucking mouth (Takes a drag) Dave: I bet you have a really tight ass. I’d like to fuck a really tight ass tonight. (Takes a drag) Mickey: I just want to get high with you guys. I just want to meet some new people in town. (Takes a drag) (Stage direction: They pass around the joint and slowly position Mickey in a corner) Dave: That beautiful mouth is going suck my cock. Mickey: What?? Alejandro: (flashing a knife) Admit it queer boy, you came out with two straight guys to suck our cocks and get your ass fucked. You are the bottom boy tonight faggot! Mickey: You got it all wrong. Dave: Get on your knees now! Open your mouth, cocksucker. Alejandro: We are going to have fun. I’m going to fuck you hard and nasty. No lube for the queer boy, we are going to fuck you dry and hard, just a little spit Mickey: Please don’t hurt me. Oh God! Oh God! Please use a condom! Dave: You are dreaming. Shut up you faggot or you are going to get a beating. I’ll make that pretty face of yours a bloody mess. (Scene Black)
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About the Book
What is real or unreal? If one looks close, things may not be what they appear to be. In his second collection of plays set in the 1980s, Michael JP Williams takes a look back at a time when Ronald Reagan’s Hollywood glamour sparked the American spirit and prosperity graced many homes—even as the AIDS crisis quietly intensified in the shadows.
In Skin Savers, Key West, Florida, a mecca for artists, writers, transplanted New Yorkers, seves as the setting and as a perfect place for Hank and Beau, two businessmen who have been trying for years to make their fortunes at their fabric firm. Discouraged by a recent chain of events, they are thrilled when they receive the resume of a young talented artist. But as they recruit him to work at their company, they have no idea that Mickey D’West is battling his own issues. In the second play Old Tavern Tales, Paul and Mickey fall in love and soon become immersed in a bizarre relationship where neither has respect for the other—or themselves. Baptism by Green Fire highlights a time when Key West was abruptly changed with the arrival of a horrifying disease that robbed the world of many beautiful, vibrant, and talented men.About the Author
Michael JP Williams writes advertising copy, direct mail catalogs, and brochures by day, but by night, he loves to write poetry and dramatic plays. His influences include the works of Eugene O’Neill, Tennessee Williams, Edward Albee and many other American playwrights. Michael lives in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.