The Escalation of Murder

Ronald and Hank enter from stage left. Ronald stumbles around, obviously inebriated and Hank cautiously follows him.

Ronald: (thickly accented) Oh, Hank, old boy, we’ve really hit the jack pot this time. I can’t barely hold all this coke in my little arms.

Hank: (anxious) Geese, Ron, was your mother a particularly stupid Neanderthal or something? You can’t just say what we carrying out loud. We get caught and we get twenty years in the slammer a piece.

Ronald: Ah, calm down, Hanky, it’s alright. Ain’t nothing gonna happen to you and me pal. (clumsily puts his arm over Hank’s shoulder) You and me, we best buds and we protect each other.

Police enters from stage right carrying a large flashlight and a gun holstered on her hip.

Police: (Authoritative) Hey! You guys can’t be out here at this time of night.

Ronald: (boisterous, obnoxious) Oh, yeah. Says who?

Police: (Pointing to her gun) It seems to me that I’m the one holding all the cards here, now don’t it? I said stay away.

Ronald looks at Hank and smiles sinisterly. Hank shrivels in fear. Ronald pulls out a pistol from his back pocket and points it at Police. 

Ronald: (indignant, still drunk) So, dat’s how we gonna play dis?

Police: (shocked) Hey there, let’s talk about this. Look at me, I’m lifting my hands.

Police lifts her arms above her head in a sudden movement. Ronald reacts and shoots her. Blood spurts from Police’s chest. She falls to the ground, makes a final gurgling, gasping noise and is dead.

Hank: (terrified) Christ, Ron!

Ronald: (stone cold) She was making a move, Hankie.

Hank: She was trying to surrender. (getting louder) She was trying to be reasonable, Ron!

Ronald: Sure as hell didn’t look like from my vantage.

Hank: Ain’t nothing seem right about your perspective. (moves over to Police and checks her pulse) She’s dead, Ron. (holds his head in his hands) She’s freaking dead. Oh, my god, we killed her. We killed her, Ron!

Ronald: I’m sorry, Hankie, I didn’t mean it. I was ... defending my rights. That’s all.

Hank: (angry) Defending your rights with a damn hand pistol!

Ronald: Hey, now wasn’t it you that said the gun wasn’t loaded.

Hank: Who the hell tests to see if a gun is loaded by shooting someone?

Ronald: Hey, I was scared was all. She was making a move on me.

Hank: (frustrated and frightened) She was trying to put her hands up.

Ronald: (flustered) We don’t have time for dis, Hankie. We’ve a dead body, ten pounds of cocaine between the two of us and two hours to make both disappear. Find us a shovel and we might still have a fighting chance.

Hank: Oh no, you don’t. You shot that police lady. I ain’t going down with you.

Ronald: (towering over Hank) I don’t see a whole hell of a lot of choice for you in the matter.

Bystander enters from stage right. She is talking on her cell phone, completely oblivious to what lies in front of her.

Bystander: That’s right. I told him straight out: “you don’t put a ring on my finger before New Year’s, I don’t let you put a toe in my bed ever again”. Well, I used a bit different words than that, as you can imagine. (laughs) Yeah, well it was time I guess-

Bystander looks on the body of Police and drops her phone. Her mouth opens wide in a banshee’s scream. Bystander runs off stage right. Ronald wears a look of disgust and follows her.

Hank: Ron, wait. You can’t just- (interrupted by gun blast)

Ronald enters from stage right, dragging the bloody body of Bystander.

Ronald: (sarcastic) You want to check dis one’s pulse too, Hank.

Hank: (horrified beyond belief) Geese, Ron. What on earth have you done?

Ronald: Hey, Hankie, wake up. The longer we wait here, the more people are gonna come and the more people we’re going to have to pop. Get me dat shovel!

Hank: (in a state of disbelief) No, Ron, I didn’t want to do any of this. I’m a mule, Ron. I move product across the border, dat’s all. I ain’t never s’posed to bury bodies or nothing.

Ronald: (temper building) I don’t see what part of our little situation here seems optional. You already an accessory to murder as it is. Now, we get rid of these bodies and sell our stuff, we make (thinks for a moment) maybe twenty large a piece. On the other hand, we don’t hide these bodies, we get caught, we each get twenty in the pen. So the way I see it, there ain’t a whole hell of a lot of options here.

Hank: No, Ronald, I ain’t gonna do it. I’m not going to be a hunted murderer for the rest of my life. I’m not going to hide in some bush three hundred miles from civilization just to avoid a jail cell. I’m not gonna run for eternity with the blood of two innocent human beings on my hands.

Ronald: (furious, speaking very slowly and deliberately) You are not going to rat on me!

Hank: (scared, backing up) We gotta tell someone, Ron. We can’t just live with these peoples’ deaths on our conscience. We’re movers, not murderers.

Ronald: What can I say? I have a few transferable skills.

Hank: (repulsed) God, I barely know who you are anymore.

Ronald: (making one last effort, enunciating perfectly) Shovel.

Hank: No

Ronald: (shrugs) Ah, well.

Ronald turns around and is about to exit stage right. Hank is incredibly relieved. Ronald changes his mind and charges at Hank with his gun pointing. Hank tries to dodge but Ronald pierces him with a bullet. Hank drops, blood spouting in a perfect arc from his neck. Ronald falls to the ground, leaning against a wall.

Ronald: (angry and frustrated) I just wanted some extra cash. Is that really too much to ask for, huh? I just wanted a nice car, a nice girl, and a maybe a small business on the side. Was that too much to hope for? Was that too much for you manage? Was twenty thousand dollars really worth the lives of three of your children? (yelling at the sky) Was it! (huddles in the corner, looks at the bodies around him) Look at you all, free. Not having to care about your fiancé who didn’t want to tie the knot, or that jerk on the force who forced you become a beat cop, or having to look into the eyes of a judge when he sentences you to life. You don’t have to worry about the sirens in the distance, the barks of police dogs or the howls of their owners. I do, though. I got five pounds of coke and a gun with three bullets left. Well, that’s two too many. (looking at Hank and crying) I didn’t want to kill you, I didn’t want to kill any of you. (hangs his head in shame) I didn’t want to hurt anybody. I just wanted …

Ronald points the pistol to his head and fires.

                                                                  -Fin-

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