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ARRESTED IN GRENADA
A Play in Three Acts
© 1986 Richard Katz
20 Belvedere Avenue
Point Richmond, California
94801 U.S.A.
katz@frogojt.com
Dedicated to Cornelia A Dellenbaugh (nee Cricket Dellenbaugh) who really was arrested by Communists.
CHARACTERS
TOURIST #1:Female English Economics Professor, in Grenada on business
TOURIST #2:Male Australian Tourist, traveling with Tourist #1
TOURIST #3:Female Danish Tourist, love interest with TOURIST #5
TOURIST #4:Female Danish Tourist, traveling with Tourist #3
TOURIST #5:Male American Tourist of African descent
GRENADIANS in the Nutmeg Cafe
WAITRESS at the Nutmeg Cafe
BENSON: A Grenadian
MILITIA MEMBERS #1-#3
ARMY SERGEANT
GUARD #1 AND #2
GPS OFFICER MAJOR KEITH ROBERTS
MAURICE BISHOP
Voices of HUDSON AUSTIN and BERNARD COARD, speechifying offstage.
Voice of GRENADIAN POLICE OFFICER AUTOMOBILE DRIVER.
ARRESTED IN GRENADA
ACT ONE, SCENE ONE
Four Caucasian TOURISTS are seated at a window table in the Nutmeg Cafe in Ste Georges, Grenada, W.I., late in the afternoon in March, 1983. TOURIST #3 and TOURIST #4, both females in their twenties, are holding a conversation in Danish. TOURIST #1, an Englishwoman in her thirties, is holding a conversation in English with TOURIST #2, a male Australian also in his thirties. Rum Punches all around.
Most of the other tables in the Nutmeg are empty. One table has a party of Grenadians. The bartender is a male Grenadian. The waitperson is a female Grenadian. All the other Characters in this Play are Grenadians. When they speak to the five Tourists, they speak English the way Grenadians speak to tourists. When the Grenadians speak to each other, they speak Grenadian dialect.
A political rally is taking place outside on the Carenage. General of the Army Hudson Austin is finishing up his address to the crowd; General Austin's stentorian exhortation is clearly heard as a voiceover, offstage.
GENERAL AUSTIN (offstage)
(public address system)
...When Ronald Reagan speak, he expect us to wiggle. Wiggle, Grenadian, Wiggle! When Ronald Reagan speakin', is when we wiggle the AK.
The CROWD LAUGHS.
GENERAL AUSTIN (offstage) (cont.)
Tonight is when we begin diggin' the trenches! Remember Grenadians, the Militia is the eyes and the ears of the Revolution. Alert Militia members of the Grand Mal Militia have last night intercepted a boat without lights with five men, approaching shore near the Emulsion Plant and our Grenadian fuels storage tanks. Imperialism is always afraid of the Militia. Militia is everywhere. Armies can not win the wars, only can the people win the wars knowin' for what they fightin'.
CONTINUED
The defense plan for economic installations is in the hands of the Militia. Ronald Reagan has shown on the American television snaps of our International Airport at Point Salines. Ronald Reagan has said our airport is a military base. Ronald Reagan is serious. Ronald Reagan should come to Grenada to talk to his medical students studyin' at True Blue. They tell him. They tell him when they at the end of the runway.
The Crowd laughs a bit.
GENERAL AUSTIN (offstage)
Tonight all the Army is on Alert! Long live the Revolutionary People's Army!
THE CROWD (offstage)
(not terribly enthusiastic)
Long live!
GENERAL AUSTIN (offstage)
Long live the People's Revolutionary Government!
THE CROWD (offstage)
Long live!
The Crowd CHEERS and APPLAUDS, not terribly enthusiastically.
EMCEE (offstage)
Welcome the People's Leader Comrade Prime Minister and Minister of the Interior Maurice Bishop.
MAURICE BISHOP (offstage)
(not as loud, with a crescendo through "Long Live!";
a bit like a minister at a revival)
Comrades. Today...is the day. Today is the day when Grenada faces its greatest challenge. Today is the day when we say, we will not be in anyone's backyard. Not Ronald Reagan the nuclear cowboy. Not Caspar Weinberger with his ships and his planes and his guns. Today is the day when we say, let them come. Let them come. Let them come, and we will sink them in the sea. Today is the day when we say, Forward Ever!
THE CROWD (offstage)
Forward Ever!
MAURICE BISHOP (offstage)
Backward Never!
THE CROWD (offstage)
Backward Never!
MAURICE BISHOP (offstage)
Long Live the People's Revolutionary Government!
THE CROWD (offstage)
Long Live!
Wild APPLAUSE and cheers.
EMCEE (offstage)
Minister of Finance and Secretary of the New Jewel Movement Comrade Bernard Coard.
BERNARD COARD (offstage)
Three days ago...
A fifth TOURIST, male from the U.S.A. of African descent, in his thirties, toting a soft suitcase and a sleeping bag, enters the Nutmeg. He spots the Caucasian Tourists, walks to their table, grabs a chair and sits down.
Finance Minister Coard continues his speech (offstage), in the BACKGROUND, while the Tourists have their conversation about Grenada from a tourist's point of view.
BERNARD COARD (cont.)
(offstage, in the background)
...Ronald Reagan stated that TINY Grenada is a threat to the national security of the big and powerful United States. Brothers and Sisters, let us take this attack seriously. It came from the U.S. President himself, who is also Commander-in-Chief of the U.S. Armed Forces. Reagan said &emdash; publicly&emdash; that there were Soviet and Cuban military bases in Grenada, with sophisticated weapons. He said we have built superior naval and air bases and developed huge storage facilities.
Grenadians. Patriots. Revolutionaries, we must understand Reagans's statement for what it's really worth. It's the closest thing to a declaration of war by the United States on our beloved homeland. The New Jewel Movement and the People's Revolutionary Government have absolutely no doubt that our glorious revolution is seriously threatened at this very moment.
Look at the stepping-up of attacks on our revolution during the last two months:
Earlier this year, in January, U.S. Vice-President and former chief of the CIA, George Bush, openly attacked the Grenada Revolution in Miami;
At January's meeting of Non- Aligned Foreign Ministers, held in Nicaragua, the American Government circulated a paper attacking Grenada;
In February, the Washington Post, in a front page story, stated that Ronald Reagan accepted a plan of propaganda, economic and other "unusual and unspecified" methods of destabilization;
CONTINUED
Two weeks ago, Nesta Sanchez, Deputy Secretary for Defense of the USA, again openly attacked Grenada;
On March ninth, a Voice of America newscast stated that US Secretary of Defense, Casper Weinberger, in his latest report, claimed that human rights in Grenada are getting worse, that detainees are being tortured and kept hungry... all lies, lies, and more lies!
At the same time, in recent weeks, there has been a systematic, powerful, and highly coordinated spread of rumors, inside and outside of Grenada. These were aimed at discrediting the leadership of the country.
Brothers and sisters, all these events cannot be seen in isolation. They are interrelated, and in fact, coordinated by one body &emdash; the CIA.
The latest military maneuvers which began off Puerto Rico on March 11, therefore, cannot be seen as a coincidence. The US has thirty six battle ships and over three hundred planes in war maneuvers right now off Puerto Rico. Two battleships, the John Kennedy and the Invincible, are in Barbados right NOW, their helicopters flying close to Grenada's airspace. In fact within a hundred miles of Grenada's waters there are six US battleships: two in Trinidad, one in Dominica, one in Antigua, two in Barbados. There are thousands of American soldiers aboard these ships.
CONTINUED
Grenadians. Patriots. Revolutionaries, we must be in a state of FULL ALERT. US imperialism has tried propaganda destabilization... and failed. They have tried economic destabilization... and failed. They have tried political and diplomatic destabilization... and failed. Anyhow they come, they will fail again. Anyhow they come, we will beat them back.
Reagan and his imperialist stooges know that our people are fully behind the revolution. They know that our economy grew by five point five percent in 1982 &emdash; THE HIGHEST IN THE WESTERN HEMISPHERE.
TOURIST #1
(looking out the window, breaking the thread of the Tourist's conversation)
Showing a profit, I see.
BERNARD COARD
(offstage, in the background)
They know that more benefits are coming to our people &emdash; more roads being built, better housing, improved and expanded. Free health care, more schools opening, more and more scholarships for our students... and our revolution is growing stronger and stronger.
While all these political and economic strides are taking place in Grenada the economies in the other English-speaking islands, and in the United States, are collapsing. In the United States homelessness is increasing... crime is increasing... unemployment is increasing... social services are being cut back and the poor and working people are being more and more pressured.
CONTINUED
Grenada is indeed an example to the English-speaking region and the rest of the world.
Grenadians! Patriots! Revolutionaries, we have crushed all attempts to turn back our revolution in the past. Even when Reagan had his Amberines maneuver in August 1981, a trial run for the direct invasion of our country, he had to completely scrap his plans. Our people responded with massive Heroes of the Homeland maneuver &emdash; we showed U.S. imperialism that we were ready to defend the revolution to the last drop of blood. Yet there must be an even bigger response... because the threat is graver, more serious &emdash; the enemy has become more dangerous and desperate. Let us defend our glorious revolution at all costs.
WE MUST:
Guard our beaches, watch for ships and planes;
Guard our factories and new projects of the revolution;
Pass on information about any and all suspicious activities, including local ones, for the CIA always tries to get local counters to assist in its dirty work;
Support all activities of the revolution. Show imperialism that we are strong and united.
We must be prepared to undertake ANY revolutionary task in the defense of our homeland.
THE REVOLUTION MARCHES ON! DOWN WITH IMPERIALISM! UP WITH THE REVOLUTION!
LONG LIVE THE REVOLUTION!!!
Some cheers and applause from the Crowd, offstage.
EMCEE (offstage)
All militia members report to militia commanders. Rally is ovah.
The Army marches off, to the tune of "Capitalism Gone Mad", by The Mighty Sparrow.
The rest of this Scene is spoken concurrently with Coard's speech on the Carenage, above. Sometimes the Tourists pay more attention to Coard's droning, sometimes they pay more attention to each other.
TOURIST #1
(Englishman)
How's it going there, old boy?
TOURIST #5
(U.S.A.)
Can't complain.
TOURIST #3
(Dane)
How are you? You have been to the rally?
TOURIST #5
Yeah. You watched?
TOURIST #3
Of course.
TOURIST #5
It's heavy, man. You been listening?
TOURIST #3
Oh, yes. Who is that man speaking just now?
TOURIST #5
That's Coard.
TOURIST #2
(Australian)
That is Maurice Bishop?
TOURIST #5
No. That's Coard. The Finance Minister.
(pause)
Regular Lenin.
(pause)
Mon.
TOURIST #1
And who was that man speaking before him?
TOURIST #5
The first guy was Austin. The General. General of the Armed Forces Hudson Austin. General of the Armed Forces and Minister of Construction and Public Utilities. General of the only army in the world that marches to calypso music. The second guy was Bishop.
TOURIST #1
He was quite funny. "Wiggle the A.K." Quite funny indeed.
TOURIST #2
I wonder who died and left him Boss.
(pause)
You're certainly up on your Grenadian protocol. "Minister of Public Construction and Utilities", is it? Grand Poobah.
TOURIST #5
I heard he used to be a prison guard. Or a prison warden. Something like that.
The Grenadians at their table look a bit askance at the Caucasians at their table. Waitperson approaches the Caucasians' table.
WAITPERSON
Do you want to order?
TOURIST #5
Get everybody a Rum Punch. Thanks.
Tourist #5 places some Eastern Caribbean currency on the table. Waitperson takes the order to the Bartender, without taking the money.
TOURIST #5
And a pack of Phoenix, please. Thanks.
(pause)
Best tobacco in the world.
TOURIST #4
(the other Dane)
Why did you leave so early? Everyone is still outside, getting some sunshine, listening to such a nice lecture.
TOURIST #1
Yes, I thought you rather liked political rallies. You've certainly been to a lot of them lately.
TOURIST #5
Yeah, political rallies are great. Hey, man, it's a revolution. But you know, how everybody raises their arm at the "Long Live!" bit? Long Live! Like that.
Tourists raise their arms with clenched fists.
TOURIST #5 (cont.)
Right. You got it. Long Live! Well hey, I was Long Living with the best of'em, but when the General there started saying how they were gonna blast the Americans, you know, "Long live the Army that's gonna blast the fuck out of the Americans", hey, man, I just found it a little hard to get it up. You know what I mean? The old arm there just wouldn't get it up like it used to, and I found it kind of embarrassing to stand there with my arm limp. I'm an American. So I said fuckit, and came in here to get a drink.
TOURIST #3
What good is a revolution if you can't drink?
TOURIST #5
Right on!
TOURIST #1
Long Live Rum Punch!
The Grenadians cast a long alienating stare at the Tourists. Tourists take notice and quiet down a bit.
TOURIST #1 (cont.)
Carry on.
The rum punches and the Phoenix cigarettes arrive.
TOURIST #2
Is anyone having anything to eat?
TOURIST #1
That's a capital idea. Has anyone eaten here before?
TOURIST #5
I imagine quite a few people have. You want to know what kind of food they have?
TOURIST #1
(perusing a menu)
Yes. What sort of food do they have, do you suppose?
TOURIST #2
Grilled lambie. Now whatever do you suppose that could be?
TOURIST #1
You could ask the waitress.
TOURIST #5
It's conch.
TOURIST #2
Conch. Conch, as in conch shell? The sort of thing one holds up to one's ear, and hears the ocean in it?
TOURIST #5
Right. You eat the meaty part.
TOURIST #1
That sounds quite interesting. I've never had conch.
TOURIST #3
I once went to hear the ocean like that. The ocean didn't say a thing.
Quizzical glances all around.
TOURIST #3 (cont.)
It just waved.
Everybody laughs, except Tourist #4.
TOURIST #3 (cont.)
[Translation into Danish, with lots of hand motions.]
Tourist #4 laughs. They all laugh.
TOURIST #3 (cont.)
You see? It's very very funny in Danish. Even you laughed.
TOURIST #1
It's frightfully expensive. Twelve and one half dollars EC.
TOURIST #2
It's the most expensive thing on the menu. Nearly four pounds!
TOURIST #5
You can tell how old people are on this island if you ask them how much lambies used to cost. Conch. People say, "A dollar", or "Seventy cents". One old dude, I asked him how much he remembers lambies used to cost, and he said, "Twelve cents".
TOURIST #4
That is like in Denmark, with the inflation.
TOURIST #5
Naah. There's more to it than that. Nothing goes from twelve cents to twelve bucks in a coupla years.
TOURIST #1
It's not really inflation.
TOURIST #5
It's not?
(deferential)
Oh, right, you're an economist. What is it?
TOURIST #1
It's greed.
TOURIST #3
I think that maybe they just are very good at telling you what you want to hear.
TOURIST #5
What do you mean by that?
TOURIST #3
You say, "How much do lambies cost?" and these Black people say something that makes you smile.
(pause)
Twelve cents.
(beat)
See, you smiled.
TOURIST #2
Imagine how much it would cost in Melbourne.
Waitperson approaches.
WAITPERSON
You wish to order something to eat?
TOURIST #2
Yes, I'll have some grilled lambie. Do you want to go in on one?
TOURIST #1
What a marvelous idea! Yes, let's do.
TOURIST #2
And some soup. What is that greenish soup those people have over there?
WAITPERSON
Calalou.
TOURIST #2
I wonder whatever that is made from. Well never mind, I'll have a cup of soup. And crackers.
Waitress looks expectantly at the others. Tourist #4 nods a "No."
TOURIST #3
No, I think not. Later perhaps.
TOURIST #5
(pointing to menu)
Fish.
Exit Waitperson.
TOURIST #5
Kind of reminds me of the abalones back home. Used to be you walked out into San Francisco Bay with a tire iron and pried your dinner up offa rock. Abalones.
TOURIST #2
And what reminds you of that?
TOURIST #5
The lambies. Now abalones cost sixteen dollars a pound. Of course, you can always go get a scuba diving outfit and a boat and go a mile out to sea and try to grab a few for yourself.
(pause)
The abalones used to be free. So did the medicine man. Nearly.
TOURIST #1
That was a subsistence economy.
TOURIST #5
No it wasn't. Well yes, I suppose you could call it that. Subsistence economy.
TOURIST #1
You do call it that.
TOURIST #5
And what do you call it when it costs sixteen bucks?
TOURIST #1
A cash economy.
TOURIST #5
I call it a ripoff.
TOURIST #2
But of course it's far more desirable to have a job and a steady source of income than to be scrabbling about in the bush for a few old roots and berries, now isn't it?
TOURIST #5
I don't know. Let's ask the professor. Is it better to have a job and a steady source of income than to be "scrabbling about in the bush for a few old roots and berries?"
TOURIST #1
In general it is, yes. It depends on what you mean by a job. Subsistence economy is just that: subsistence. Generally one gets low standards of living, not much variety of foodstuffs and whatnot.
TOURIST #5
Wait a minute. You're the one who said that it was greed.
TOURIST #1
One can't ignore the role of local rule and custom in these things. A cash economy has to be regulated.
TOURIST #5
And what do you call it, after all the white people eat up all the food, and everybody has to move to Trinidad or move to Brooklyn because nobody can afford to buy lunch?
TOURIST #1
A remittance economy.
TOURIST #5
Aaah, capitalism sucks. They rip off the food and they sell you back your health care for a thousand dollars a day.
TOURIST #2
I just don't see why there have to be so many guns around here!
TOURIST #4
They're expecting to be invaded, don't you know? The Yanks.
TOURIST #2
How silly! Now what on Earth would they do in that event?
TOURIST #1
Put white flags on the ends of the rifles and wave them about in surrender, no doubt.
TOURIST #2
I just don't see why there have to be so many of them. At home one doesn't see that. Not at all.
TOURIST #5
(annoyed)
At home? Back home?
(laughing)
That's crazy. Back home is where this place was a colony of. Back home is where all the lambies went. Back home is where they used to come over here and shoot these people for sport. Back home is where they used to .... oh, hey, I'm sorry, you're from Australia. Got it backwards. Upside down. You're from Australia, you're from England. Well, anyway, you know what I mean.
(pause)
Yeah, they do have a lot of guns.
TOURIST #2
And all those Cubans at the airport.
TOURIST #1
What about them?
TOURIST #2
My god, it's like Angola or some such thing.
TOURIST #5
You mean at Point Salines? The new airport?
TOURIST #2
The new landing strip by the Medical School. Yes, Point Salines.
TOURIST #5
(getting all worked up)
Have you been there? The Cubans are like slave labor. They're construction workers. They stay down there at that godforsaken place and work their asses off cause Fidel tells them to. I was walking over by Fort Ross the other day and this bunch of Grenadians across the street starts yelling, "Hey Cubano! Hey, Cubano!" It's an insult. Like I was white, or something. You seen any Cubans around? No, you haven't, because they never leave their miserable little camp over at Point Salines. They found out I was from the US, I mean the Grenadians found out I was from the US, and right away they start telling me how the Cubans like to fuck goats. She's right, they just tell stupidass tourists what they want to hear. You seen any Cubans fuck goats? You think they fuck goats? They don't fuck goats. They don't fuck anything else, either. Real Puritanical. Revolution is like that. The commies are all crazy. And the Americans are crazier.You seen any Russians? You seen any Americans? I seen more Danes here than I seen Americans and Russians put together.
TOURIST #1
So you see, the Cubans will build the Grenadians a nice airport, and then Grenada will have a nice Tourist Economy. Nice American tourists, the legendary American tourists, spending gobs of money and being led 'round like sheep.
TOURIST #3
Did you hear what the Prime Minister of Trinidad said during Carnival when somebody asked him "Isn't all the oil money going to ruin everything for everybody?
(beat)
"Slavery .... is ovah!"
Tourist #3 and Tourist #4 laugh.
TOURIST #5
Trinidad. Let's all go to Trinidad. This place is confusing.
TOURIST #2
(motioning toward window)
There's a fellow sailing to Tobago in the next day or so. French chap. That blue and white four- master just over there.
TOURIST #5
(looking out the window)
Really. That's a beaut. Lookit that sunovabitch. Must be fifty feet long. Looks like a racer. What kind of a guy is it?
TOURIST #2
Don't know really. Pleasant enough fellow. I didn't care particularly for his partner, but he seemed easygoing enough.
TOURIST #5
(still out the window)
Hey, lookit this. Check this out. See that guy? He sailed that boat in, that red and white one anchored right there smack in the middle of the channel? Now he's got that little dinghy? Right, watch when he gets out of the dinghy and gets back aboard. See? Now that's an American.
TOURIST #4
What makes him an American?
TOURIST #5
Who else would power into the harbor, power the dinghy to the Carenage, buy one six-pac of beer, and power back out? What an American. Hey, if you want to use fifty percent of the world's resources every year you got to work at it.
TOURIST #1
While you're up, what's going on out on the Carenage?
TOURIST #5
Coard's still at it.
TOURIST #2
He carries on like a professor.
TOURIST #5
Yes, he does.
TOURIST #1
What's he the minister of again?
TOURIST #5
Finance. Finance. Bookkeeper of the Revolution. Dude is sharp. Made a profit last year.
TOURIST #2
I thought this was supposed to be socialism.
TOURIST #5
Hey, he's just mindin' the store. Listen.
Coard is going on about the 5.5 pct and the 14 pct.
TOURIST #2
How devastatingly dull!
(leaningoutthe window)
And you simply can't trust people who never smile.
TOURIST #5
You can't trust Ronald Reagan and he smiles all the time.
(pause)
IMF looked over the books and gave'em a big fat loan this year.
TOURIST #4
You are packed, with your suitcase and your sowepose. Your sleeping bag.
TOURIST #5
Yeah.
TOURIST #3
Do you really go now? Do they scare you that much?
The Waitperson arrives with the food and drinks. She serves Tourist #1 Tourist #2.
TOURIST #1
So this is lambie.
TOURIST #2
I thought you said it was conch.
Waitperson serves Tourist #5.
TOURIST #5
Thank you. This looks very fresh.
Waitress brightens up quite a bit at the fresh fish compliment.
TOURIST #5
I already made a reservation. For tomorrow. At six A.M.
TOURIST #2
I don't imagine you had much of a problem getting a flight out. It would appear that everyone has already left.
TOURIST #5
You mean all the tourists. All the white people. Yeah, it's amazing, isn't it? Course there weren't very many when I got here. How long've you been here?
TOURIST #1
As a tourist? Two and a half weeks.
TOURIST #2
The same. Obviously.
TOURIST #5
Oh, right, but you'll be staying here for the duration to work. What'd you come here to work on? I forget.
TOURIST #2
Planning Department. Ministry of Information, you know. How long have you girls been here, altogether?
TOURIST #4
When we met you, we had been here only one or two days.
TOURIST #2
(to Tourist #5)
And you've been here, what, three weeksnow, you said?
TOURIST #5
Yeah. About that.
TOURIST #2
Whatever brought you to this place, anyway? Why did you come to Grenada?
TOURIST #5
You know, I'm beginning to ask that question myself. Just the other day, I said to myself, "Self: What the fuck are you doing in this place? And then I thought to myself, there's no other place quite like this place anywhere near this place, so this must be the place. Next case.
TOURIST #3
Do you remember those Irish boys? They did not say farewell or goodbye or anything.
TOURIST #5
Maybe they were declared enemies of the Revolution and deported.
TOURIST #2
The one chap, the one who liked bicycling so much, I believe he was off to the interior.
TOURIST #5
You mean one of the Irish guys? Liked bicycling?
TOURIST #1
Yes, the blonde one with the very very deep voice.
TOURIST #2
Kind of "sexy", was it?
TOURIST #1
Yes. Indeed it was.
TOURIST #3
How will you get to the airport?
TOURIST #5
I thought of that. The buses have all stopped running, haven't they? In Grenada, you can't get a goddam bus after five thirty. I'll hitchhike. With all these Army guys running around all over the place at all hours of the day and night somebody will give me a ride.
(pause)
You know, this place really is too much. Did you see the turnarounds? The circles?
Blank stares all around.
TOURIST #5 (cont.)
Out in the countryside. Where two roads come together. And then go apart.
TOURIST #3 and #4
(singing an old Beatles tune)
Come together. Over me.
TOURIST #5
To go together is divine. No wait, that's fucked up, to go together is heavenly. Right, to go together is heavenly, but to come together is divine.
TOURIST #1
Is that what that meant? Come together. Indeed. Lennon. John Lennon.
Tourist #3 and Tourist #4 sing a few bars of another tune from the White Album, "Rocky Raccoon".
TOURIST #5
An intersection.
TOURIST #2
You mean a roundabout.
TOURIST #1
A roundabout, of course. What about them? Very British. No, didn't really notice any of them. Oh, yes, there is one at the top of this hill just over here, on the way to that school and community center where we went to hear Bishop last Sunday. Seemed like a perfectly proper roundabout. Nothing out of the ordinary, certainly. See them in all the colonies.
TOURIST #5
That one is perfectly ordinary. Right. Perfectly ordinary, straightforward roundabout. But hey, man, you go out in the country, Grand Roy, Morne Rouge, out in the middle of nowhere, out in Grenada, you know? Gairy built these round abouts just for the hell of it.
TOURIST #4
Even where there were no two roads, this side and this side, the road going north and the road going west?
TOURIST #5
No, there'd be two roads, but there'd be these roundabouts, and Gairy had them built because it had something to do with UFO's.
TOURIST #4
U-F-O's?
TOURIST #5
Yooo-foes. Unidentified Flying Objects. Space ships. Flying saucers. Little green men. Gairy believed &emdash; believes all that stuff. Like voodoo. He believes in it. He lives in San Diego. Down the street from the Shah of Iran. The melting pot. Melting pot my ass. A garbage can &emdash; Eric Gairy and the Shah of Iran. Didn't fix the roads. Let the roads go to hell, but he built roundabouts. He went to New York and addressed the United Nations about UFO's.
TOURIST #3
What did he tell the United Nations about flying saucers?
TOURIST #5
I haven't the faintest idea. No, wait a minute, it was just when he was going to do that, just when he was going to speak in New York, that Bishop had the Revolution.
TOURIST #1
How do you know all this? Did you read a book or something?
TOURIST #5
I think that's in a book. The UFO thing and the roundabouts. I think I read that somewhere. Maybe it wasn't in a book. They've got a museum here, you know. It's got Maurice Bishop's pants in it. It's right over there, in an alley. The pants Maurice Bishop was wearing when Gairy's Mongoose Men threw him in jail and beat him up and shaved his head. That was like five years after these guys had shot Bishop's father to death while he was standing in front of some schoolkids. See that building there? Otway House? Rupert Bishop. Died there.
TOURIST #4
So now you are a walking history book about Grenada.
TOURIST #5
Sorry, I didn't mean to be boring.
TOURIST #1
It's not boring at all. History is fascinating.
TOURIST #5
It's not history. It's current events. The same guys are down there right now. See that guy Austin? He was in the same jail at the same time. He's the guy who took over the army barracks when Gairy left the country and then that was the Revolution. He liberated the country.
TOURIST #1
And what was he doing before that?
TOURIST #5
He was.... Actually, he was a prison guard. He was a prison warden.
TOURIST #1
A prison warden. Curious. Not a very radical vocation, by and large.
TOURIST #5
No, you're right. I hadn't thought of that. A prison warden. A pig. A prison warden. Man, this place really is crazy. The prison warden is a revolutionary.
TOURIST #1
What did this fellow Coard do? He's just as dull as dishwater.
TOURIST #5
He was an accountant. No, come to think of it, he was ... an economist! Published scholarly articles about something or other. Now he's like the ideologue, you know? Keep everybody on the true path. Dialectics, and all that shit.
TOURIST #4
But this Bishop. My my he is exciting.
TOURIST #5
You like him?
TOURIST #4
Yes I do. I love to hear him speak.
TOURIST #3
He will be the one for this island for Inge.
TOURIST #2
So I'm beginning to see your problem, old chap. You fear that these people are not only irrational, but that they are going to start being irrational with you.
TOURIST #5
Yeah. Right. Sink the Americans in the sea.
TOURIST #1
So you have a flight tomorrow A.M.?
TOURIST #5
Yup. Six . Six in the morning.
TOURIST #1
And you will be on it?
TOURIST #5
I reckon. Fact is, I think I'm gonna hit it right now.
Tourist #5 gets it together to leave.
TOURIST #3
You are leaving?
(pause)
I'll walk out with you.
TOURIST #1, TOURIST #2, TOURIST #4
Goodbye ... Come to see us ... etc.
Out in the hallway.
TOURIST #3
Maybe you will come back.
TOURIST #5
You'll be gone.
TOURIST #3
Yes, we go soon. But you can come to see us.
TOURIST #5
In Europe? I don't know. I've never been outside the USA before.
TOURIST #3
I know. You told me that. So you go now. What about Grenada Free Enterprise Trucking Company? What about the rest house on the Carenage?
TOURIST #5
Yeah. Well, maybe later for that. I don't know. Seems like the natives are restless.
TOURIST #3
Goodbye, then.
TOURIST #5
Goodbye.
A restrained passionate kiss. Exeunt.
ACT TWO, SCENE ONE
BENSON, a male Grenadian thirty some years old, is leaning back in his chair on his porch, on the outskirts of Grenville, Grenada, W.I. It is dusk. Benson has his RADIO on, tuned to Radio Free Grenada. Radio Free Grenada (RFG) is playing reggae exclusively, heavy reggae of a type not played in the United States. After a few minutes of this (a song and a half, or so, with references to Babylon and Zion), RFG announces and then begins broadcasting a special address by Prime Minister Maurice Bishop; Benson listens impassively to Bishop.
RGF ANNOUNCER
(on the radio; BBC-style)
It is eight o'clock. Radio Free Grenada brings you the People's Leader and Chairman of the New Jewel Movement, Prime Minister Maurice Bishop. This broadcast is live from Ste George's.
MAURICE BISHOP
(on the radio)
Grenadians.
An automobile comes to a SCREECHing halt, offstage. Judging from the prerecorded SOUND, the car stopped some distance away. Car door opens; the engine is running.
TOURIST #5
(offstage,some distance away)
Hey, thanks, man.
GRENADIAN AUTOMOBILE DRIVER
(offstage, some distance away)
See you.
Meantime,
MAURICE BISHOP
(on the radio)
We have been this week celebrating the Fourth Anniversary of the Revolution. Many of us have attended the rallies, and many of us have been in the motorcade around our island, and have showed our solidarity and the strength of our Revolution. We have many
CONTINUED
accomplishments to be proud of. Today, the dedication of the new cement block plant, an accomplishment we share with our brothers and sisters of Canada, and which is going to help us build housing all over our island. And today, two Grenadians, Comrade Roebling Louison and Comrade Marcus Canto, have brought honor to Grenada in the International Netball Tournament in Barbuda.
While we have been celebrating, other people have been making plans for us. Other people have been plotting against our Revolution.
Today, the intelligence services have found new information, the most specific and detailed ever collected on any plot. This new information confirms, the Revolution faces its gravest danger yet of military aggression, backed by the U.S. administration of Ronald Reagan.
Bishop continues his speech on RFG, while Benson and Tourist #5 strike up a conversation (infra).
MAURICE BISHOP (cont.)
(on the radio)
The continuing economic crisis in the U.S. and its effects, the increasing successes of the popular liberation movements particularly in El Salvador, the continued deepening and strengthening of the revolutionary processes in Cuba, Nicaragua and Grenada, the total collapse of Reagan's so-called Caribbean Basin Initiative, and the growing popular opposition to his mad nuclear policy, have made imperialism more desperate and more determined to halt revolutionary processes in this region.
CONTINUED
Reagan is on radio and television in the U.S. showing his spy plane photographs of the international airport at Point Salines. Grenada is not in Ronald Reagan's backyard. Let Ronald Reagan come in the front door, come and see for himself that our airport is for Grenada coming up and progressing. Our airport runway is ten thousand feet long; in Barbados, in Trinidad, in Bermuda, in Jamaica, runways are longer. Reagan does not show photographs of runways in Trinidad, in Barbados; are these military runways? Ronald Reagan says our international airport is a threat to the national security of the U.S. The only threat to the national security of the U.S. is Ronald Reagan, with his nuclear weaponry and his cowboy political thinking.
Counter-revolutionary forces are gathering now who have publicly declared their intention to overthrow revolutionary governments in our region. We have discovered that the key figures have been meeting more and more frequently and have begun to resolve their leadership differences to create a united front. Their coordination with the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency has stepped up and they have got money, arms and training from the CIA. They have got offers of transportation, logistical support and supplies, and the promise of recognition for their counter-revolutionary governments, as soon as they attack Grenada.
The People's Revolutionary Government knows the name and the full background of the main CIA officer coordinating the plot and the other revolutionary processes he has tried to subvert. We know that another CIA case officer
CONTINUED
involved was also the director and the mastermind of the bomb blast attempt to assassinate the PRG leadership in Queen's Park in June Nineteenth 1980. The counter- revolutionaries have established links with the Cuban exile group responsible for the Air Cubana sabotage off Barbados in 1976, and with supporters of the late Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza. With CIA help, they have been able to get criminals trained in Miami, in the same camps that have trained mercenaries and the Somocistas who yesterday crossed the border from Honduras and are now invading Nicaragua.
We know that there are accomplices of the CIA at work now on Grenada. We will find them; we will chase them in the bush, and we will bring them to justice. We will build the Revolution, and we will go onward. Forward ever. Backward Never!
Automobile door SLAMS, just about when Bishop's prerecorded radio speech (supra) is getting into "The continuing economic crisis in the U.S. and its effects, the increasing successes of the popular liberation movements particularly in El Salvador" part. Car takes off. Enter Tourist #5, trudging along with his soft suitcase and sleeping bag. Tourist #5 eyeballs everything in his path with restrained curiosity. Benson eyeballs Tourist #5.
BENSON
(with a friendly gesture)
Come. Come over here.
Tourist #5 waves, thinks about it a bit, then crosses the "street" to Benson's front porch.
BENSON
How is it goin'?
TOURIST #5
Pretty good. I'm going to the airport.
BENSON
You goin' to Pearls?
TOURIST #5
Yeah. The old airport.
BENSON
You limin'?
TOURIST #5
Limin'? I don't know.
(pause)
What's "limin'" mean?
BENSON
It means walkin', mon.
TOURIST #5
True True.
"True True" is pronounced as one word, "Truetrue".
BENSON
Where you walkin' from?
TOURIST #5
From Ste Georges. Not really; I got a ride with ...
BENSON
I saw him. He is from the Police.
TOURIST #5
Really?
BENSON
True true.
TOURIST #5
He hit me up for five dollars E.C.
BENSON
You paid for his oils.
TOURIST #5
(distracted by the radio)
Oils. Oh, yeah, gas. Fuels. Oils.
BENSON
You listened to RFG?
TOURIST #5
The radio? Oh, yeah, Radio Free Grenada. That's Bishop, isn't it?
BENSON
True true.
TOURIST #5
I listened in the car.
BENSON
What did you think?
TOURIST #5
I think it is time for me to go home. I don't know; maybe I can go to Trinidad. Maybe I could go to Barbados.
BENSON
Where you from, mon?
TOURIST #5
California.
BENSON
You're from U.S.?
TOURIST #5
Yeah. I'm from Berkeley, California. United States of America.
BENSON
You're from the CIA?
TOURIST #5
Yeah. I'm from the CIA. I'm going back home to talk to George Bush. Or whoever is running the CIA now. Anything you want me to tell him?
BENSON
Yeah mon. Tell him that my record player is broke, and I need a new needle. It is a Panasonic.
TOURIST #5
I'll get right on it. Just as soon as I get back home. I mean, back to Washington, D.C. Anything else you want me to tell him?
BENSON
Yeah mon. Tell him that when the Americans come, I will show them the way.
Tourist #5 drops his bags, stares at Benson a bit, then takes a seat on the steps.
TOURIST #5
Okay. I'll tell him that.
BENSON
Where you goin', mon?
TOURIST #5
To the airport.
BENSON
Airport is five kilos from here. And you walkin'.
TOURIST #5
I walked here when I got to Grenada. I walked from the airport here to Grenville. I walked right by this house. Oh no, wait a minute, I didn't, now that I think of it. I walked over that way, because I saw some people I met on LIAT. They were flying here to do a television show. I saw their van parked over there, at the nutmeg plant. So I walked over there by the nutmeg plant. The co-op.
BENSON
So you were on television?
TOURIST #5
Naaah. They were filming a political education class for the workers at the nutmeg co-op. That was interesting.
BENSON
Meetin'! Did Grenadians look interested? Used to have those meetin's on Sunday. When people used to be church goin'.
(pause)
Why did you come to Grenada?
TOURIST #5
It sounded interesting.
BENSON
You like Grenada?
TOURIST #5
Yeah. Sure. It's nice.
BENSON
But you leavin', mon. On foot.
TOURIST #5
True true.
BENSON
You smoke?
TOURIST #5
Yeah. Here.
Tourist #5 fishes in his pocket for his last pack of Phoenix, extends the opened pack to Benson. Benson waves the cigarettes away with evident disgust. Tourist #5 looks a bit nonplussed, with a "What the hell I'll never understand these people" expression, and lights up a Phoenix.
BENSON
(rolling a joint)
Ganja, mon. You smoke ganja?
TOURIST #5
No. Never touch the stuff.
BENSON
Well I gonna smoke. You want some splif, it be better for you than that Phoenix.
Tourist #5 carefully extinguishes the cigarette, and puts the remaining three fourths of it back in the pack. Benson offers him the joint, he takes it, and lights up.
TOURIST #5
(toking)
Ganja.
(passing)
Here.
BENSON
(toking)
This is illegal, mon. The man catch you with this, he put your ass in jail.
TOURIST #5
I heard they fine you a hundred dollars. The first time.
BENSON
(passing)
They fine you a thousand dollars and put your ass in jail.
TOURIST #5
Oh. Where's the jail?
BENSON
Richmond Hill.
TOURIST #5
(toking)
Really? I've seen it. I mean, I went to look at it. It looks evil, man.
BENSON
You lucky you didn't see it. You didn't see all of it.
TOURIST #5
No, I just saw it from above. On a hill. It looked like the kind of place the British would build.
BENSON
I was in Richmond Hill for one year.
TOURIST #5
Oh, really? That's a drag. For what? Dope?
BENSON
For smokin' ganja.
TOURIST #5
(staring at the joint,finally passing it)
Yeah, that's a drag. This is good dope.
BENSON
Why you come to Grenada, mon? To smoke ganja? You should have gone to Trinidad.
TOURIST #5
It sounded interesting. I read an article in a newspaper. The Guardian newspaper in New York. Commie newspaper. Radical. My girlfriend used to get it. They had an article about Grenada.
BENSON
What they say about Grenada? The Isle of Spice?
TOURIST #5
Naaah. None of that tourist shit. It was about the Revolution. I mean about the government, and about the fourth anniversary of the Revolution, and how they were making a profit, and things were pretty good, and all. I don't know, it sounded interesting. Socialism. I wanted to see Socialism.
BENSON
So why you didn't go to Cuba?
TOURIST #5
Cuba? I don't know. Cuba's communist. Besides, you can't go to Cuba. You can't get a passport, or a visa, or whatever the fuck you're supposed to get, you can't get it. Shit, I don't know why I went to Grenada. Oh wait I remember, "For a vacation."
BENSON
That's what you say when the immigration ask you? That you are on holiday?
TOURIST #5
That's it. "On holiday."
BENSON
(taking a last toke)
That's good, mon. So why did you come to Grenada?
TOURIST #5
Why not? Course, I didn't know about how you can't smoke dope. Ganja. What the fuck kind of a revolution is it if you can't smoke dope? What about the rastas I see around? Don't they smoke ganja?
BENSON
How you know they Rastaman?
TOURIST #5
Dreadlocks.
BENSON
True true, they got their hair. Some cut their hair.
TOURIST #5
Why?
BENSON
Cause they in the Army. Rastas go in Army, they get hair cut. True true.
TOURIST #5
You mean the Army that fought Gairy? That Army?
BENSON
True true.
TOURIST #5
No shit. So if you were in the Army, and you were a Rastafarian, then after the Revolution, you had to cut your hair and stop smoking dope?
BENSON
New young fellow have to cut the dreadlocks.
TOURIST #5
No, I mean if you were already in the Army. What about the guys who were already in the Army?
BENSON
They quittin', mon. No more in the Army.
TOURIST #5
Were you in the Army?
BENSON
True true.
TOURIST #5
And you quit?
BENSON
True true.
TOURIST #5
And then they busted you and put you up in Richmond Hill Prison. For a year. Grim.
(pause)
I remember people always used to say, "Come the Revolution..."
BENSON
Revolution? Under Gairy was no election. Like the British, mon. No elections. Then we get Gairy. Obeiah-man. Space ships. Man was crazy. The Revolution traded a crazy guy for a bunch of stupid guys.
TOURIST #5
You think they are stupid?
BENSON
Anybody won't let you smoke Ganja is a fool. Throw you in the British jail for smokin'.
TOURIST #5
Who else is in the jail?
BENSON
Lots of people in the jail. Stanley Cyros. He went to Harvard. Thomas Langton. They arrested him. For being an American agent. And he escaped, and they chase him through the bush, and shot him down. And throw him back in Richmond Hill Prison. And never give him any medicine for his wound. In Richmond Hill you in the jail cell twenty three hours a day, mon! And you can't see a damn thing. Lots of people in the jail. For lots of years.
Bishop's SPEECH is over by now. RFG goes immediately back to heavy reggae. Very heavy.
BENSON (cont.)
Army on alert. RFG playin' reggae all night. So they stay wakin'. You sayin nothin', mon. You tired?
TOURIST #5
No. I mean, yeah sure, no, not particularly. I just wonder &emdash; ah, I don't know. I just thought &emdash; I didn't think.
Benson extinguishes the radio.
BENSON
You heard of Malcolm X? Malcolm X mother was from Grenada. The hour will strike again.
TOURIST #5
Far out.
BENSON
Time to cover up. You can sleep here in my sideyard with your sleeping sack.
Benson extinguishes the porch light.
TOURIST #5
Yeah. Thanks. Hey what about this roach?
BENSON
Roach! You can smoke it. Or sleep on it. Good night.
Exit Benson. Tourist #5 settles into his bag, having placed the roach carefully in a matchbox.
Lights DIM.
TOURIST #5
Far out.
Lights stay dim, then brighten just a bit. The moon moved over on the sky a bit also. Tourist #5 gets up, stretches, pees in the bushes, looks around a bit.
TOURIST #5 (cont.)
Grenada. The People's Revolutionary Government of Grenada. Come the Revolution, baby, we're gonna ... we're gonna do everything, Come the Revolution. Come the Revolution, we're gonna all get high and stay high. Come the revolution, we're gonna all get down and have free sex and... Remember all that shit? That was a long time ago. Back in the Sixties.
(pause)
Two days ago, I was talking to this old dude in Gouyave.
I was runnin' off at the mouth about Revolution. About how Revolution must have been a powerful word, twenty years ago. You know, before teevee. I was raised on a new improved revolution, the kind that makes revolutionary advances in, say, toilet paper. "New, Improved Facial Quality Viva. A Revolution in Toilet Tissue". Sheee-it! I don't know, I told him, it seems like after thirty three years of consuming the American revolution, I've lost my taste for it.
(pause)
That's what I was telling this old dude out in Gouyave. Yeah, it sounds like I was stoned, but I wasn't. Grenada is just ... an altered state.
CONTINUED
So the old dude from Gouyave comes back with something like,
(mimicking)
"I don't know about the revolution in toilet paper. Revolution a bloody mess. The blood spurt from the wounds of the Americans who shoot rifles at the British colonialist pigs. Wounds appearing now on fighters rising up to fight the oppressor to the death."
Heavy. Right. And most of the older folks give less than a flying fuck about the Revolution. You ask'em. They say,
(mimicking)
"Well, I think things will get better, with the young people in Ste George's."
Right, I said to the old guy. The blood is still spurting. There's always been winners and losers, colonialists and slaves. Everybody did it or had it done to them. It's exponential; it's snowballing right now. The Roman empire, the Viking empire, the British empire, the American empire, the Empire that Strikes Back &emdash; but you know, they were all slow. They were Newtonian. The new empire is new, it's really new &emdash; it's a relativistic empire, it moves with the speed of light. It's the Information empire. Human colonization now extends to the minds of humans. Humans are now so completely dependent on their culture, they'd starve to death without it.
(fiery)
"This is revolution of the armchair you speakin'", he said. "In Grenada is revolution we makin'. If we goin' broke, we needin' the handout. We needin' the world to feed us, and we be starvin' like in Africa is people starvin'. In Grenada, is a profit we makin."
CONTINUED
I liked this old guy.
That's good, I said.
(pause)
Everyone is becoming dependent on someone else's culture. Everyone is importing thoughts and experiences from a foreign "mind", and it is more than meaningless which "country" that "mind" is in. In the days of Landsat satellites, those lines on the old "maps" are absurd and will become meaningless. Reality is not a line on a map, it is the heat from a smokestack on an infrared screen. Television colonizes your head. Don't let them in. Shut it off. If you think you can watch that stupid tube and not succumb to braindrain, just try it. Intelligent people do not watch sitcoms. It's a fucking non sequitur.
The old guy there in Gouyave just stared at me. I mean, what an asshole I was making of myself; in Grenada, they don't even have TV. And then he hit me with a rap, I can't really do it justice, man. Something like, Do you think that just because we were slaves for three hundred years that made us stupid?"
Maybe I just run off at the mouth too much. Sheeeit. So here, the Revolution came, and it went, and it's a fucking crime to get high.
(pause)
Fuck the Revolution.
Tourist #5 lights up the reefer, takes one hit off it, and then carefully stubs it out and puts the roach back in his matchbox.
TOURIST #5 (cont.)
So long, Benson.
(pause)
Panasonic.
Tourist #5 gets it together to leave and trudges off.
ACT TWO, SCENE TWO
Tourist #5 trudges across the stage, same direction as at the end of Act Two, Scene One. It is still dark out.
Three Militia members in cammies suddenly pin him down with their AK47's. MILITIA MEMBER #3 holds a flashlight on Tourist #5's face.
MILITIA MEMBER #1
Halt! Drop your suitcase. Drop it.
MILITIA MEMBER #2
Raise your arms up.
MILITIA MEMBER #1
Don't move.
Militia Member #2 pat searches Tourist #5. Militia Member #2 then does a quick search of the bag and sleeping bag.
MILITIA MEMBER #2
You can put your arms down.
Meanwhile,
MILITIA MEMBER #3
(into radio)
Hildreth is here, and we have an intruder.
RADIO
Are you in control?
MILITIA MEMBER #3
(into radio)
Yes sir.
RADIO
I will be there.
While the Militia Members search the bags, etc., a Jeep pulls up in the distance. Jeep door SLAMS.
A nattily dressed Army sergeant with a .38 automatic pistol in a belt holster walks up out of the darkness.
ARMY SERGEANT
Didn't you know, airport is closed?
TOURIST #5
I didn't know. Here's my ticket. I'm here to catch a plane.
MILITIA MEMBER #2
You are from U.S. You know about Somocista invasion of Nicaragua?
TOURIST #5
Yes. I heard.
MILITIA MEMBER #2
And who is responsible?
TOURIST #5
I don't know.
Militia Member #2 points a rifle directly at Tourist #5.
MILITIA MEMBER #2
U.S. is responsible.
ARMY SERGEANT
(to MM#2 and MM#3)
Take him to Grenville to the Police Station.
Militia Members #2 and #3 have to stuff everything back in the bags. While they are doing the job, Army Sergeant has a word with Militia Member #1.
ARMY SERGEANT
How did this happen?
Militia Member #1 just stares.
ARMY SERGEANT (cont.)
How did an American get past the airport gates?
Militia Member #1 just stares.
Army Sergeant stalks off, pissed.
Exeunt, with Militia Members #1 - #3 guarding Tourist #5.
ACT TWO, SCENE THREE
Grenville Police Station. Army Sergeant searches every stitch and seam of Tourist #5's clothes and sleeping bag, but he is pretty perfunctory about it.
ARMY SERGEANT
The airport is a high security area. The airport is closed until six A.M.
(inspecting passport)
This is your first time in Grenada.
(pause)
Why did you come to Grenada? Are you a tourist?
TOURIST #5
Yes. I came here on holiday.
ARMY SERGEANT
How do you like Grenada?
TOURIST #5
It's great.
ARMY SERGEANT
Where did you stay?
TOURIST #5
At Johnson's Rest House. Then I moved to Crissy's.
ARMY SERGEANT
She is the Indian Woman? She has a shop? Below?
TOURIST #5
True true.
ARMY SERGEANT
Where did you cook when you stayed with Johnson?
TOURIST #5
Restaurants.
Army Sergeant looks horrified and worried.
TOURIST #5 (cont.)
Then I moved to Crissy's. There was a stove and a refrigerator and a kitchen, and I bought fish on the Carenage and eggs and soursop and sopodilla and mandarin and... it was all fresh and very good. With local coconut oil. Everything local.
ARMY SERGEANT
Empty your trouser pockets.
Tourist #5 produces a pocket knife, a chain-drive wallet, some currency, a few keys, and a pen.
ARMY SERGEANT (cont.)
Empty your shirt pocket.
Army Sergeant searches the cigarette pack and matchbook. He sniffs the tiny little roach.
ARMY SERGEANT (cont.)
Does your head hurt?
(pause)
Do you know this is a crime? Do you want to go to the magistrate? No? Then tell me where you got this.
Tourist #5 just stares.
TOURIST #5
Where I come from, it's no crime to walk to an airport.
ARMY SERGEANT
I asked you where you got this.
TOURIST #5
I never saw it before.
ARMY SERGEANT
Did you get this from Benson? I went to school with Benson. I know Benson. Did you get this from Benson?
Army Sergeant displays the roach to two Police, then throws the joint in a trashcan.
ARMY SERGEANT (cont.)
The Government frowns on these vices.
Army Sergeant rummages through the contents of the bags one more time.
ARMY SERGEANT (cont.)
Take him to LIAT. Plane is at six.
Exeunt except for Army Sergeant. Army Sergeant dials a four digit telephone number.
ARMY SERGEANT
(into telephone)
Airport Security. American is on his way to LIAT. Rearrest him. To Richmond Hill.
ACT THREE, SCENE ONE
Tourist #5 is being interrogated by Major Keith Roberts of the Grenada Prison Service, in Roberts' Office at Richmond Hill Prison, Ste George's, Grenada, W.I. Major Roberts' office is glassed in; the big pane of glass separating Major Roberts, Tourist #5 and Guard #1 has been "removed" so the audience can hear them. Major Roberts is wearing a very sharp uniform, somewhere between the Waffen SS and the Berkeley, California police.
Guard #1 palpates every inch of Tourist #5's sleeping bag. He then takes every item individually out of the suitcase. Major Roberts occasionally motions for a particular item to be brought to him for a personal inspection.
The backdrop has a window view of Ste George's harbor, the most beautiful harbor in the world. The rest of the "view" (off to the left) is of whitewashed prison cells, with the only window above transom height.
MAJOR ROBERTS
(holdingupa large folded map)
What is this?
TOURIST #5
It's a map of Grenada.
MAJOR ROBERTS
(unfoldingthe map)
Where did you get this map?
TOURIST #5
I bought it at the Tourist Service Office. Down by the wharf.
MAJOR ROBERTS
What are all these marks on the map? Here. And here. And here.
TOURIST #5
Different stuff. That's a waterfall. And that's...
MAJOR ROBERTS
I can see. I know Grenada. When were you at the wharf?
TOURIST #5
Last Sunday.
MAJOR ROBERTS
What did you want to see at the wharf on Sunday?
TOURIST #5
I watched them unload a boat full of cement. From Britain.
MAJOR ROBERTS
Cement.
Major Roberts stares hard at Tourist #5.
TOURIST #5
And then all these small trucks hauled the cement to a warehouse outside of town.
More stares.
MAJOR ROBERTS
What else was in the warehouse.
TOURIST #5
Besides cement? Crates. Wooden crates.
(pause)
What were they? Guns? I don't know. Looked like guns.
(pause)
Hey, man, I just wanted to see how they haul freight in Grenada. I do that sort of work back home.
MAJOR ROBERTS
And what were you seeing in Sauteurs?
TOURIST #5
Caribe's Leap. You know, where the French chased the Caribes off the cliff, and they all ....
MAJOR ROBERTS
And you were in Gouyave, in Morne Rouge, in.... what were you seeing in Morne Rouge?
TOURIST #5
Where is that
Major Roberts points to it on the map.
TOURIST #5
I don't remember. What's there? Oh, wait, I got it. I was there with this American television crew. They were ....
MAJOR ROBERTS
You are a journalist?
TOURIST #5
No.
(pause)
I'm a truckdriver.
Guard #1 resumes going through the stuff in the suitcase. He comes up with a notebook. Major Roberts leafs through it.
MAJOR ROBERTS
You are not a journalist. What is it you have here?
TOURIST #5
It's a notebook. Now that you mention it, it's a journal.
Major Roberts has a collection of old computer paper that had been inserted in the journal.
MAJOR ROBERTS
And what is this? XXX SCROY EXEC CSSUP S1 FOC EXEC. E-X-E-C. E-X- E-C. And here, what is JOB CLASS?
TOURIST #5
(non-plussed)
I haven't the foggiest idea.
Major Roberts displays it to him.
TOURIST #5 (cont.)
I don't know. Can I see it?
Major Roberts hands over the computer printout.
TOURIST #5
It's nothing. It's trash. It's the back side of something else. It's scratch paper. It's recycled. It's from a trash can in the U.S. I never saw it before.
MAJOR ROBERTS
It was in your suit case.
TOURIST #5
Of course it was. That doesn't mean I wrote it. It's trash.
MAJOR ROBERTS
What do you carry trash to Grenada? From ... California.
TOURIST #5
It's recycled paper. I write on it. It saves money.
Major Roberts checks out a few other things, including a computer floppy diskette.
TOURIST #5 (cont.)
Ohmigod! No! Don't do that! Don't put your fingers on it!
Major Roberts puts it back. Looks at wallet and passport.
MAJOR ROBERTS
This is a new passport?
Tourist #5 nods.
MAJOR ROBERTS (cont.)
You got a new passport before coming to Grenada. You lost your old passport?
TOURIST #5
I never had a passport.
MAJOR ROBERTS
(going through the wallet)
And you came to Grenada.
(pause)
Why did you come to Grenada?
TOURIST #5
I'm on holiday.
MAJOR ROBERTS
Are you in military service?
TOURIST #5
Pardon?
MAJOR ROBERTS
In the Army.
TOURIST #5
No.
MAJOR ROBERTS
When were you in military service?
TOURIST #5
I was never in ... uh... military service.
MAJOR ROBERTS
It is supposed to be two years. Why were you not in military service?
TOURIST #5
Pardon me; you're asking me why I wasn't in the U.S. Army?
MAJOR ROBERTS
Yes. Why not?
TOURIST #5
Because going to Viet Nam to kill babies was not my cup of tea.
MAJOR ROBERTS
(holding up a California Highway Patrol citation)
What is this?
(readingthe citation)
You had some trouble with the police?
TOURIST #5
It's a traffic ticket.
MAJOR ROBERTS
Why are you wanted by the police?
TOURIST #5
It's a fixit ticket.
Major Roberts stares.
TOURIST #5
It's nothin'.
MAJOR ROBERTS
(reading off the ticket)
Violation of Vehicle Code Section 100005, section 10f. Grease on Undercarriage. That is nothing?
TOURIST #5
It's no big deal. That's what they give you when they got nothin' else to pin on you. At an inspection station. Cordelia. On the way to Sacramento. They pull you over; they can't find nothin' wrong, they give you a fixit ticket for grease on the undercarriage. Trucks are greasy. Costs you sixty bucks to get your tractor steamcleaned. No big deal.
(pause)
Or maybe they put a marijuana cigarette under your seat. And then they "find" it.
MAJOR ROBERTS
You think you did nothing wrong?
TOURIST #5
.... I didn't say that.
MAJOR ROBERTS
You think you did nothing wrong?
TOURIST #5
They're cops. I'm a trucker.
MAJOR ROBERTS
You passed the racetrack out at Sea Moon. You went to the beach at Morne Rouge.
TOURIST #5
That's right. I did.
MAJOR ROBERTS
What were you looking for?
TOURIST #5
Nothin'.
MAJOR ROBERTS
There is nothing at Morne Rouge but sharks and palm trees. What were you looking for at Lance Aux Pines?
(pause, holding up some typing paper)
Where did you get this?
(pause)
(holding up a Grenadian license plate)
And this?
(pause)
Why were you at 151 Hughes Alley? Thursday? Why were you at Ministry of Construction last week? How did you know who to see at Construction Ministry?
(pause)
Who did you speak with in Grenville? And stand under the light pole, so your face could not be seen?
GUARD #2 enters.
MAJOR ROBERTS (cont.)
Who did you visit on the ship Aurora?
Major Roberts waits for an answer to this one. Meanwhile, MAURICE BISHOP stops just short of entering Roberts' office. He waits out in the hallway, eavesdropping on the conversation.
TOURIST #5
I was looking for a room. A cheap room.
MAJOR ROBERTS
Did you find what you were looking for?
TOURIST #5
No.
MAJOR ROBERTS
Who did you talk to?
TOURIST #5
I don't know. Some German.
MAJOR ROBERTS
Why did you go back to Yacht Service harbor every single day after that?
Guards move closer.
TOURIST #5
I don't know a single person on board Aurora. I went to the Yacht Service harbor every day to catch the water taxi. To town.
MAJOR ROBERTS
Do you still say you are just a tourist? With no camera?
TOURIST #5
Hey, man, I'm a tourist.
MAJOR ROBERTS
You're a troublemaker.
TOURIST #5
I'm just a trucker. A simple trucker on holiday.
MAJOR ROBERTS
Who is in trouble with the police.
TOURIST #5
Like I said. Truckers ... and cops.
MAJOR ROBERTS
I don't think you are a truck driver. And I don't think you are a tourist. I think you are a troublemaker. You want trouble with me?
TOURIST #5
I don't know. Take off that gun and then we'll talk about it.
MAJOR ROBERTS
You are a troublemaker.
TOURIST #5
I said, take off that gun and then we'll talk about it.
Major Roberts slides off his gunbelt and holster, and jumps from behind his desk. Guards look confused. Tourist #5 and Major Roberts circle each other. Major Roberts is going to box, but before he throws a punch, Tourist #5 executes a single leg dive. He holds up Major Roberts' leg by the ankle, effectively preventing him from throwing a punch, taunting him just a bit.
Guard #2 notices Bishop out in the hallway. He motions to Major Roberts, who doesn't notice; finally Guard #2 speaks up.
GUARD #2
(gesturing)
Major, sir. PM, sir.
Bishop steps into the office.
MAURICE BISHOP
Major! Take your hands off that man!
Actually, that is Roberts' problem &emdash; he hasn't been able to get a hand on him.
MAURICE BISHOP (cont.)
As your Commander-in-Chief &emdash; unhand that man!
(to Tourist #5)
Drop it!
Tourist #5 drops the leg.
Bishop steps behind the desk and assumes authority. Major Roberts and the Guards stand about.
MAURICE BISHOP (cont.)
Leave the prisoner with me, Major.
(to Guard #2)
Stand guard, please.
Guard #1 starts to salute Bishop, hesitates. Bishop waves him away.
Roberts and Guard #1 split.
Guard #2 stands outside the door. Bishop settles wearily in Roberts' chair, motions Tourist #5 back to his chair.
Bishop picks up Roberts' pistol and belt, studies it. He stands up, tries it on. He unholsters the pistol, brandishing it about.
MAURICE BISHOP (cont.)
(big smile)
Ronald Reagan!
(doing a Reagan imitation)
"Now just who in the hell do these niggers think they are, anyway?
Bishop takes off the gunbelt, sits at the desk, goes through the papers and other stuff, finds the passport, and looks it over perfunctorily.
TOURIST #5
Sir, can I go to the bathroom and have a glass of water?
MAURICE BISHOP
Of course.
(to Guard #1)
Go with him. Show him to W.C.
Exit Tourist #5, accompanied by Guard #2.
Bishop sits at the desk, goes through all the other papers, reading the good parts.
He stops reading and picks up Roberts' phone.
MAURICE BISHOP (cont.)
(into telephone)
Seven Seven Oh One.
(pause)
Yes, my dear, that is Prime Minister's office. This is the Prime Minister. How are you doing at Telephone Service?
(pause)
Oh. Call Comrade Donald at Ministry of Information. He will take care of that.
(pause)
You are most welcome.
(long pause)
This is PM. The People's Leader is going to be at ...
(readingoffthe dial)
Seven Seven Eight Eight.
(short pause)
That is Grenada Prison Service, GPS. At Richmond Hill.
(pause, laughing)
No, I am not in the jail. But keep in touch.
(pause)
Cable to Comrade Fidel and tell him I will be at the meeting, most certainly. In the Republic of Cuba. And tell the Comrade Premier that I am certainly so sorry to miss his telephone call. One more thing.
(peering at a piece of paper from the suitcase)
One more thing &emdash; telephone Comrade Newport in Berkeley, California, that he should call me on an international matter. Put him through to me here.
Bishop hangs up.
Tourist #5 reenters, accompanied by Guard #1. Both are laughing. All three men then sit about, very casually.
MAURICE BISHOP
That was good single leg dive. You are a wrestler?
TOURIST #5
I wrestled one twelve. In high school. Placed second in the Invitationals. You wrestled?
MAURICE BISHOP
True true. In Aruba. Maybe we'll have a few falls sometime. Major Roberts will be referee.
Laughter.
MAURICE BISHOP (cont.)
You have had some trouble with the police.
TOURIST #5
In California or in Grenada?
MAURICE BISHOP
Both.
TOURIST #5
Yeah.
MAURICE BISHOP
What happened with this letter to Comrade Prine at Construction Ministry?
(holding it up to the window light)
On my stationery.
TOURIST #5
That's your stationery? That's nice stuff.
MAURICE BISHOP
Who else has foolscap with the map of Grenada, Carriacou and Petite Martinique on the watermark? Where did you get it?
TOURIST #5
Sorry. I got it at Office Services Limited. In Ste Georges. I went in there to get a few sheets of paper and I ended up renting a typewriter. They were a lot of help.
MAURICE BISHOP
They helped you to some of my paper before it was printed.
TOURIST #5
Actually, they offered me some Eaton's. British. Onionskin. I held it up to the window, and the Comrade said, "You enjoy watermarks?" And he gave me a couple hundred sheets of this.
MAURICE BISHOP
He is a good Socialist. And then you typed this? Yourself? You know how to typewrite?
Tourist #5 nods.
MAURICE BISHOP (cont.)
This is good. "On March seventeenth, I was also privileged to hear Prime Minister Maurice Bishop speak, and it was his resounding words that day which drew me finally to write this letter. The Prime Minister called on everyone to participate, and indeed made it necessary, lest the People's struggle not triumph."
TOURIST #5
The part after that is good too.
MAURICE BISHOP
"I have spent years acquiring the above information, along with a thousand and one other bits of knowledge and skill required to keep rigs rolling, in the arid atmosphere of private profit. Hopefully, all this knowledge is "old hat" to someone at Construction. If it is not, then the matter is somewhat crucial. If you should like to discuss matters further, I shall be here through Wednesday. I should welcome any opportunity to be of help to the people of Grenada and to work in solidarity with them, Long Live the Revolution, ...
(pause)
"My sincere thanks to Office Services Limited for the generous use of the typewriter and the typing paper."
(picking up the phone, dialling)
Just a moment, please.
(pause)
Did we hear from Comrade Newport?
(pause)
His secretary "...never heard of no Gren-ah-da?"
(pause)
And then he was "... in a conference?" No, my dear, there is no other way. Thank you, no, it is okay.
Bishop hangs up the phone.
MAURICE BISHOP (cont.)
Comrade Newport needs a hot line.
(pause)
Tell me, why did you come to Grenada?
TOURIST #5
I read about Grenada in the newspaper.
MAURICE BISHOP
The New York Times?
TOURIST #5
No. The New York Times! I haven't read the New York Times since the Bay of Tonkin. In the Guardian from New York.
MAURICE BISHOP
And what did the Guardian from New York say about Grenada?
TOURIST #5
They said that Grenada had a revolution in 1979. That was pretty amazing. Four years ago. I never heard of it. And I read the paper every day. And that Grenada was socialist. And things were going pretty good. And that the Grenadians got four big fishing boats. From Canada. Or Poland. Or from Somewhere.
MAURICE BISHOP
So you went to Grenada. Did you see any fishing boats?
TOURIST #5
No. I didn't. The first thing I saw when I got to Ste George's was four big Diesel engines laying over on their sides on the Carenage.
Quizzical stare from Bishop.
TOURIST #5 (cont.)
They were blown up. One of'em had a rod through the side of the block.
(pause)
And then a truck came through. Hauling sacks of cement. I heard it coming, and I almost cried. Hey, you got to keep your R's up. You got to keep that thing up against the governor!
Quizzical stare again.
TOURIST #5 (cont.)
You know, the tachometer!
MAURICE BISHOP
Revolutions gauge.
TOURIST #5
Right! Revolutions gauge. The revolutions wasn't doin' too hot. He was luggin' it. It wasn't really the driver's fault. I saw the truck parked at LuLu's Lunch shop and it didn't even have a tachometer &emdash; revolutions gauge &emdash; and all the signs in the cab were printed in Russian.
Bishop looks tired.
TOURIST #5 (cont.)
So I got this idea, see, that you could have the Grenada Free Enterprise Trucking Company. Have two trucks running all the way around the island, make two round trips in opposite directions. Big trucks. Semi's. Eighteen wheelers. Kings of the Road and all that good shit. Hauling freight. At night, when there's no cars. And they'd haul people too, 'cause there's no busses. At night. Just like the little Morris's do now, up around Sauteurs. With the open flatbed with benches and canopies, built local in St Davids. The night bus.
(pause)
Maybe have machine guns on the roofs. Truckers are armed.
This last remark doesn't go over too big with Bishop.
And during the day, they'd haul truckloads of tourists from the new airport. American tourists with gobs of money. Being led around like sheep. Big trucks &emdash; save on oils. Like now, there's all these little trucks, and they are using up a lot of foreign exchange down the tank ....
MAURICE BISHOP
(tiredof listening to details; with a wave of the hand)
I am certain you could work it out. And so you came to Grenada and you have a wrestling match with a major in Grenada Defence Force who is top officer with GPS.
TOURIST #5
Yeah. Well. Hey, you got to kiss their ass a little bit. I think he thought that I was just a good liar. How would you prove that you're not from the CIA? Besides, that's not so bad. You got beat up yourself a few times, I heard.
MAURICE BISHOP
Where did you hear that?
TOURIST #5
I read it in a book. And I saw it in the Museum in Ste George's. Your pants and shirt, stained with blood. When the Mongoose Men beat you up. At... Richmond Hill.
MAURICE BISHOP
And what else did you read?
TOURIST #5
I read your speeches. You said, "No one knows how many thousands of geniuses might have flowered if they had received ... if they had had the privilege of receiving ... some form of education. Oh yes, and "We're not in anyone's backyard and we're not for sale." "Tell the U.S. Ambassador, that we're not in anyone's backyard and we're not for sale."
MAURICE BISHOP
Yes.
TOURIST #5
And I read about BBC Beach. When the new landowner wouldn't let the people use the Beach. And you won the case in court. In England. And they still wouldn't let the people use the beach. And you led the people &emdash; the children &emdash; to the beach, and broke down the barricades.
MAURICE BISHOP
Yes.
TOURIST #5
And I read about Gairy. And the Strikes. In 1974.
MAURICE BISHOP
The schoolchildren.
TOURIST #5
About your father. He led the schoolchildren from the Mongoose Men. To safety. Upstairs. In Otway House. And the Mongoose Men broke down the door, and aimed their guns. And your father ...
Bishop is on the verge of tears.
TOURIST #5 (cont.)
Your father jumped in front of the children. And they shot him dead. Dead. I read that. And now those men are in this prison.
Bishop is crying.
TOURIST #5 (cont.)
What I read is that they have had no trials, these killers. What I did not read, is that they killed your father ... and you do not kill them.
Tourist #5 holds Bishop's hand.
TOURIST #5
And your father and the Father of us all would approve.
Bishop, Tourist #5, and Guard #2 get it together to leave, including stuffing all of Tourist #5's belongings back in the soft suitcase and repacking the sleeping bag in its stuffsack.
MAURICE BISHOP
Come. Let us go.
Exeunt.
ACT THREE, SCENE TWO
Night time in Ste George's, Grenada, W.I. Tourist #5 approaches the darkened porch of Tourist #3 (and Tourist #4's) rest house. He steps around to the side of the house, and raps on the window. Tourist #3 pokes her head out the window.
TOURIST #3
(whispered)
What is it out here?
TOURIST #5
(whispered)
Hey! It's me.
TOURIST #3
(whispered)
Oh! Et Minut.
She ducks back in the window then reappears, half-dressed, on the porch.
TOURIST #3
So you heard that we rented your room.
TOURIST #5
(loudly)
Yeah. Come. Let's go for a walk.
Tourist #3 shushes him. She closes the front door.
TOURIST #3
Okay.
TOURIST #5
Down to the beach.
(pause; walking)
You know the beach is closed. At night.
They walk the short distance to the beach, to a set equipped with palm trees and a full moon over the Caribbean Sea. It is &emdash; well, it is very romantic.
She takes his hand, sitting on the beach.
TOURIST #5
I want to tell you something.
TOURIST #3
Yes. I knew you would come back.
TOURIST #5
(pause)
Really? You did?
TOURIST #3
Yes. Of course. I just knew you would.
TOURIST #5
You mean, you missed me?
TOURIST #3
Yes, of course I missed you.
(pause)
What do you want to tell me? Where did you go?
TOURIST #5
I went to Grenville. And I camped on the beach, and the moon was like tonight. But not as full. It made me think of you.
TOURIST #3
That is so sad.
TOURIST #5
And then, this morning, the sun came up on the water. And I just meditated on it, and thought all day about ... so many things. About so many days to come. Getting in touch with how I felt about you. About why I came to Grenada. What about you?
TOURIST #3
And I went to the Carenage, and we went to Hughes Alley. Our rest house.
(laughing)
Grenada Free Enterprise Rest House. What a ... dump! that old building is. Without you, it didn't seem like a good idea. Not at all.
TOURIST #5
I thought about that too. I think it will all work out, don't you?
TOURIST #3
Of course. Look at the moon. I think I have never seen a moon like that.
TOURIST #5
Neither have I.
And now we shall leave these two to themselves.
CURTAIN
EPILOG
Six months later, Maurice Bishop was shot dead along with a dozen other innocent Grenadians. Bernard Coard and Hudson Austin were responsible, and Major Keith "Chicken" Roberts is suspected of having pulled the trigger.
The United States invaded Grenada October 27, 1983. Coard, Austin, and Roberts are incarcerated in Richmond Hill Prison.
Richard Katz
January 1986
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