Gorilla Blanket Act III, part One

Act III, part One

Curtain Rises

Jet's living room.
A blood red sofa sits in the middle of the room surrounded by a few beanbags. Directly in front of the sofa is a low, long table at arms length, with a heavy looking ashtray. Beyond the table, a television, video recorder and Playstation struggle among the cables on the floor.
Books and films are neatly placed on book shelves on either side of the television. On the walls are pictures of painters and 1950's films.

Jacob stops in the doorway with the others behind him

Jacob: If these old walls could talk!

He walks in and jumps into a beanbag
The others follow

Ben: Aye its a cool place you've got here Jet.

Tempathy, Lisa and Luke go to the sofa
Ben, Jet and Louie grab beanbags
They unwrap chip parcels and open beers

Luke: Any chance of a plate?

Jet nods to the door

Jet: In the kitchen.

Ben: Don't be such a fussy kitten Luke, chippy grub is supposed to be eaten from yesterdays gossip columns not your best Wedgewood.

He throws a fistful of chips into his mouth, some fall back into the paper
Luke watches him

Luke: Yeah I can see how attractive it looks.

He gets up and exits through the kitchen door

Tempathy: Somebody put some music on!

Jacob: Jet doesn't have any music just aggressive noise.

Jet: I haven't got anything at the moment. My stereo's on the blink, I dropped a pint of Guiness on it.

Louie: Way to go Jet.

Luke suddenly shouts from the kitchen

Luke: Bloody hellfire!

Lisa: Uh oh, whats he done now?

Ben: Probably found Jets dark inspiration hiding under the sink.

Luke stands in the doorway, plate in hand

Luke: You should see how much cans and bottles of booze there are in his fridge!

Louie: Is that all? We thought you'd found gold.

Jet: Those are my personal stock.

Luke goes back to the sofa

Luke: Fuck if I had a stash like that i'd want to keep it personal as well. Like between me and my liver donor. We could set sail on it if we wanted.

He tips his food onto the plate
Jet finishes his beefburger and moves toward the kitchen

Jet: I had better begin draining the ocean then hadn't I?

Tempathy: Could you fetch me a glass honey?

Jacob finshes his food and twists the top off the vodka

Jacob: And me too. Got any lime?

Jet exits into the kitchen
He returns a moment later with several glasses and a bottle of lemonade which he hands to Jacob

Jet: Here cop this, I don't have lime.

Passes glasses around

Lisa: Ooh you are a gentleman. Ever thought of being a husband to somebody?

Ben: Thats what started him drinking.

Jet: Too right. And if falling in love and getting married involves fetching and carrying with the occasional stroll down lover's lane in carpet slippers you can leave me out of it. Ghastly buisness!

Louie pours three beers into glasses and hands one each to Tempathy and Lisa

Louie: Here we are ladies, let us drink to our gentleman host! One of the last true romantics!

Lisa lifts her glass

Lisa: To Jet!

Tempathy: :ong may his wicked eyes look into our hearts, and pretty mouth paint pictures of the grim but beautiful life that lays ahead of us!

Jet: Just be careful not to trip over the bones of your mistakes as you go. Pay them respect and learn from them then let 'em rest!

Ben: You keep that torch a-shining bucko! Hey does anyone want to finish these chips off? I'm stuffed like a giddy egg.

He offers a handful of chips in newspaper around

Ben: Any takers? No?

He screws the paper into a ball and throws it in a plastic bag

Tempathy gets up from the sofa

Tempathy: Okay after the dining comes the wine and cabaret.

She goes to the bookshelves, glass in hand and looks at the collection of films

Ben: Have a look to see if there's any comedies.

Jacob: Or something a little more adventurous!

Louie wags a finger at him

Louie: You're going to go blind one of these days. And be left crawling in dark alleys, lost in a seedy world with tears streaming from eyeballs cracked from too many bare bums and cheap cider.

Jacob: Cobblers! An old wives tale.

He pauses for a second then smiles

Jacob: Now there's a thought. Hey Jet have you got any old wives on video? Horny slags into young bucks like us?

Jet: Sure, they're upstairs keeping my blow up doll company.

Tempathy turns away from the shelf

Tempathy: You jest I hope. If you want old wives you should drink in the Pied Piper tavern. That's a regular haunt of middle aged rebels with boring husbands looking for a junior partner for no string fun if you catch my drift. I know of a few eager kids who have followed their lady piper into a wreckless bed.

Lisa: Me too. You ought to see them now with glazed eyes and tired, whiplashed bodies shuffling from one frisky mums embrace to another. They're like Action Men, fun for an hour then left cold at the foot of the bed. Tragic.

Ben: Bloody hell! Who would be a toy boy eh?

Jacob: Don't listen to the Ben. If you ever get the chance to die at the mercy of an older woman, jump at it!

Luke puts his plate down

Luke I worry about you.

He turns to Tempathy

Luke: Found a flick?

Tempathy glances at the shelf again

Tempathy: I think all the actors in these films are long dead.

Ben takes a shot of vodka from Jacob and throws it back in one

Ben: Gone to the studio and great director in the sky! Still at least they're safe from the critics now.

Louie: Are we drunk yet?

Ben waves an arm

Ben: Drunk as a punk skunk!

Tempathy gives up and goes back to the sofa

Jet: Nothing to your liking?

Tempathy: Nope.

Jacob: Videos, videos everywhere and not a film in sight!

Jet: I'll put a music video on.

He gets up goes into the kitchen and returns with a towel

Lisa: What on earth?

They all watch as Jet covers the television screen with the towel then slips a video cassette in the recorder and switches music on

Jet: Presto! The dj said let there be sound and it was good!

Ben: Nice one boyo. I like the towel. What are you doing? Practising on becoming a blind man?

Jet: That towel is there for protection. I got this music taped from MTV.

Louie: The technicolour sick shop!

Jet: Aye, good music, ratty vidoes. Not their fault I know but still.

They all sit looking at the covered screen passing around beer and shots of vodka

Jacob: Unusual this isn't it?