Scene Three

 

Outside of Nanking. It is sunset. A COOLIE waits with a rickshaw downstage left. All at once, BARON materializes behind him, places his hands upon his throat and chokes him until he loses consciousness. HE then removes the Coolie's hat and jacket and dons them. He retains his monocle, however. MOLLY and ANNIE MAY hurry on from upstage left. ANNIE MAY is exhausted, but MOLLY is as cool as ever. ANNIE MAY I never wants to see a mule again as long as I lives. Dat dere was the stubbornest, orniest…

MOLLY

Mules are like men, Annie May. It's all according to how you mount them.

ANNIE MAY

Oh, Miz Molly! Lookey there. That's the rickshaw we is to take.

MOLLY

Rickshaws are like men, too, Annie May…

ANNIE MAY

Yes, Miz Molly?

MOLLY

                                                           (after a pause)
Don't worry. It'll come to me. (BARON bows low. MOLLY and ANNIE MAY get in the rickshaw. BARON lifts it, then almost collapses from the combined weight. HE hobbles with them offstage. Lights dim. Night descends. JOHNNY, CLARISSE and SAM enter from the right. Clarisse is all askew. SHE stops, sinks to the ground.) CLARISSE I can't go a step further.

JOHNNY

Adios, amigo.

                                                                               (HE and SAM begin to leave her.)

CLARISSE

Johnny! Wait! You wouldn't leave me here alone!

JOHNNY

Yup.

CLARISSE

Yup?!

JOHNNY

This is the end of the line, babe.

CLARISSE

But after all we meant to each other?

JOHNNY

                                                                 (to Sam)
Two nights in a couple o' China haystacks, and already she's involved.

CLARISSE

But, Johnny, I'm a wealthy girl. You'd be set for life. That is, if I went to London and Daddy saw I was really I and that I hadn't drowned in the Pacific Ocean.

JOHNNY

Sorry, sweetheart.

CLARISSE

But, Johnny, every one needs someone. Everything needs some thing. Look around you. Trees need other trees. Bees need other bees. Birds need…

JOHNNY

                                        Birds of a feather
                                        Flocking together
                                        Are part of what I am condemning;
                                        That goes for sheep, too,
                                        And Little Bo Peep, too---
                                        If there's one thing I ain't
                                        It's a lemming. No restraints,
No controls,
No commitments
Or pigeonholes---
A fella like me
Gotta go it alone.

No delays,
No dead weight,
Slaves and vassals
Only vacillate---
A fella like me
Gotta go it alone.

Only a fool can afford to
Make any permanent ties;
Damn every chain and each cord, too,
Umbilical or otherwise.

Wedding bells
Have no appeal,
A cottage small
Is a small bastille---
That's why
A fella like me
Gotta go it alone.

(At the end of the number, JOHNNY begins to walk off with SAM behind him.) CLARISSE But if all that is true, what about Samoan Sam there?

JOHNNY

He's different.

                                                                                (SAM nuzzles Johnny's shoulder as THEY exit.)

CLARISSE

So are you! I'm getting bloody sick of being rejected. (SHE flounces offstage. Lights change to indicate dawn, then morning. BARON enters from upstage right, pulling the rickshaw and nearly dropping from exhaustion. Panting, HE comes to a dead halt center stage.) MOLLY                                                            (still filing her nails)
This countryside is beginning to get monotonous. Why are we stopping, Mr. Foo? According to my instructions…

BARON

                                                           (turning and facing them, pulling out a revolver)
According to my instructions, you are going no further. (A sting of recognition music, then the soft strains of "East of Samoa".) MOLLY Pierre? But I thought…

BARON

It takes more than a shove overboard to do away with Pierre Montparnasse. The briefcase, Marie.

                                                                                 (MOLLY hands it over.)
 

ANNIE MAY

Oh, Miz Molly, to think we gets dis far…

BARON

To allow you to live would be folly, Marie. Or, should I say, Mandalay Molly?

MOLLY

It took more than one man to change my name to Mandalay Molly.

BARON

Who the hell cares? (JOHNNY and SAM appear behind Baron. JOHNNY has his pistol aimed at Baron's head. MOLLY emits an inadvertent gasp. BARON turns.) JOHNNY The jig's up, Baron.

ANNIE MAY

Samoan Sam!

SAM

My little China doll!

JOHNNY

Can the mush and get his gat. (As SAM goes to pick up the gun, BARON kicks him viciously and slaps the briefcase against Johnny's hand so that his gun falls. Now HE picks up both weapons.) BARON The jig is up, but for whom, Mr. Glissando? Stand over there. You, too.  You have your choice of pistols. Which would you like to die with?

ANNIE MAY

Miz Molly, he is done gonna kill us!

MOLLY

It takes her a little longer.

SAM

If this is the end, little China doll, I wantcha know I likea you.

ANNIE MAY

I likea you, too, Samoan Sam.

JOHNNY

And I hate to say this, Mandalay Molly, but I likea you.

MOLLY

If the truth be known, Johnny Glissando, I likea you, too.

BARON

                                                                 (aside)
I could kill them for this dialogue alone.
                                                                (to the Quartet)
All right. Enough. Say your prayers. (CLARISSE suddenly appears from stage left. SHE totes a gun, also.) CLARISSE You had better say yours, too, Conrad. (As BARON whirls around in horror, JOHNNY knocks the revolvers and the briefcase out of his hand.) CLARISSE Leave the gun there, Johnny. I have something to square with the Baron by myself.

                                                                                (SHE raises the pistol to his head.)

BARON

Clarisse, you wouldn't! I only left you at the railroad tracks to get the briefcase. You see! So we'd have money to live together in the style you're used to. Clarisse, you can't. Listen…

Some people meet in Biarritz,
Some meet in Scottish glens,
Some in Nairobi
And even the Gobi
And some meet in opium dens.

Some people meet at parties…

ANNIE MAY Don't you listen! Go head an' shoot, honey!

BARON

Some on an omnibus---
Some meet in…

ANNIE MAY Don't let him con you, honey!

BARON

Don't, Clarisse! Please!

CLARISSE

I have to get someone.

MOLLY

How about your dressmaker?

BARON

We met in the ocean---
We met in the sea---

MOLLY Let me help. (SHE bends down and picks up one of the guns BARON dropped, then moves to the other side of him, pointing the weapon at his temple. JOHNNY, in the meantime, has taken the briefcase.) BARON Marie, you wouldn't!

East of Samoa,
West of Bombay,
I found my lover---
         (seeing Clarisse grip the trigger, HE turns to her)
While struggling and groping,
I found you
And you found…
              (back to Molly)
One wonderful day.
The tropic sun caressed her shoulder,
The trade winds danced upon her hair…
               (to Clarisse)
We met in the ocean,
We met dans la mer…
              (to Molly)
She smiled,
Castles rose in Spain---
So wild
Beat my pounding brain…

JOHNNY                                                      (feeling left out and moving to Molly)

I don't talk much,
I like it that way… (As all this is going on, SEVERAL ARMED CHINESE GUERILLAS tiptoe on stage and surround the group, bayonets poised. WAR LORD, in ceremonial grab, storms on, followed by CHANG and WANG.)

WAR LORD I will take that, Mr. Glissando.
                                                                                (HE seizes the briefcase. To the Soldiers)
Arrest them. They are all to be shot at sunrise.
 
 

BLACKOUT