Date: Fri, 4 May 2001 06:03:03 -0500 From: Tom Emerson <thomas@btl.net> Subject: Ropeyarn Act. I Ropeyarn (Act I) M/b, Mm/f, incest. By Feather Touch FADE IN (INTERIOR, NIGHT) BACKSTAGE OF A LARGE NEW YORK THEATER, THE YEAR IS 1877. IT IS THE END OF THE EVENING. A THIRTEEN-YEAR-OLD BOY IS DRESSED AS A YOUNG GREEK. HIS NAME IS ANDREW RAMBANOWITZ. HE IS POSING IN FRONT OF A MIRROR SURROUNDED BY GASLIGHTS. IN THE BACKGROUND, THE NOISE OF DEPARTING CAST AND STAGEHANDS SUBSIDES. ANDREW CONTINUES STRIKING POSES. A VOICE INTRUDES ON THE BOY'S REVERIE. VOICE There you are. THE VOICE IS FRIENDLY. YOUNG ADULT MALE. ANDREW IS STARTLED. ANDREW Canfield, is that you? I know it is. Don't do things with your voice. CANFIELD It's you that does things to my voice, child. ANDREW Fine. You try to do things that have nothing to do with my voice, which is what you are paid to train. SERIES OF SHOTS OF TWENTYISH CANFIELD APPROACHING THE THIRTEEN YEAR OLD BOY. MIDDLE SHOT AS THE ATTRACTIVE OLDER MALE COMES UP CLOSE BEHIND ANDREW. CLOSE-UPS ON BOTH IMAGES IN THE MIRROR. CANFIELD (Lifting the shoulder strap of ANDREW'S Greek robe with his index finger.) You put it on all by yourself, no cue, no prompting. ANDREW I didn't think I could stand the excitement of having you help. CANFIELD Yes, but you sing like a bird, Andrew. I have surpassed myself with you; nothing left to accomplish, vocationally speaking. Leaving what for fulfillment, to say nothing of excitement? The pleasures of the pipe and the pox? Or the way of Homer, Plato, Socrates and Athens? ANDREW (Looking up over his shoulder, at the tall young man standing close behind him.) And what of the way of the beast without a cave? CANFIELD (Pulls Andrew's should strap free, letting it fall, while keeping the sarong from falling all the way to the floor with his left arm around the youngster's waist. He then plays against the boy's naked shoulders with his fingers.} How about these poor little caveless beasts? They attack you here, and here, and here, and there. They consume nothing... just want to play, perchance to love. ANDREW And I'm meant to find that exciting? CANFIELD You prefer the other dragon? ANDREW I'm used to the other dragon. One large, bombastic, overbearing nuisance I can hear coming a mile away. A beast worthy of the name. Yours are more like critters in need of a school of deportment. CANFIELD Yes, you have a point. More germane, I have ten points. Five are beasts -- critters -- of naked fields, elysian. Five are of a different arm of the same family, though they have the same wants and needs as their cousins, are captive of folds of soft linen. They yearn for freedom, Andrew. ANDREW And I'm some kind of Overseer? I don't even weigh a hundred pounds. CANFIELD But you can talk, Andrew. And talking can lead to trouble. You've already admitted you'd not be much of an adversary to young beasts, rampant. Anything to add? ANDREW For a moment there, I thought you wanted to subtract. CANFIELD Your wit, sire, seems to multiply. Perhaps I waste my time with you, with your voice lessons. Your trade may turn out to be that of the pen. ANDREW That's why I let you do what you did to me after Wednesday's curtain. CANFIELD Experience, only? ANDREW I'm not wearing a wedding gown. Not just because I'm thirteen, either. CANFIELD Experience, only. ANDREW I was offered the knee of many a pedagogue. Least of all, I needed to work on my voice. I not only found but donned the toga, and took pains to pick an appropriate time and place. If that doesn't bring out the beast in you, I'll try to think... CANFIELD RELEASES HIS LEFT ARM FROM ANDREW'S WAIST. AS THE BOY'S ROBE FALLS TO THE FLOOR, HE SHRUGS HIS OWN OFF. CLOSE UPS AND TWO-SHOTS AS ANDREW TURNS TO THE OLDER MALE. ANDREW Summon all your beasts to me. CANFIELD COMPLIES BY FONDLING THE THIRTEEN YEAR OLD. MEDIUM SHOT AS THE TWO MALES MOVE, CANFIELD STEPPING SLOWLY BACKWRD AS HE CONTINUES TO FONDLE AND MASTURBATE THE YOUTH IN HIS ARMS. THEY SETTLE TO A SOFA, ANDREW STILL IN THE ARMS OF THE OLDER MALE. THEY LIE BACK AND ANDREW FINDS CANFIELD'S BIG PENIS. THEY GENTLY MASTURBATE EACH OTHER. CANFIELD Are you all right? ANDREW As a matter of fact, I feel beastly. EVEN FOR THE THEATER, RUBY IS LOUD. HER VOICE PIERCES THE TABLEAU OF RECOMBANT MAN AND BOY JUST AS CANFIELD BEGINS EJACULATING. THE TWO SCRAMBLE FOR AT LEAST THEIR TOGAS AS THE ONE TRUE BEAST APPROACHES. RUBY RAMBANOWITZ Andrew! Andrew! Wherefore art thou, Lessthan Wonderful? I broke my heel. I need your help, Andrew. WIDE SHOT AS RUBY ENTERS; NOT ONLY "A LARGE, BARBARIAN MOTHER," BUT A CLOSE ONE. THE SCRAMBLE TO DRESS IS JUST FINISHING AS SHE ENTERS. ANDREW AND HIS SINGING MASTER DO THEIR BEST TO STAND TO, BUT THEY ARE WEARING EACH OTHERS' ROBES. SINCE ONE MALE IS SIX-THREE AND THE OTHER, LESS THAN FIVE FEET, THE MISTAKE DOES NOT GO UN-NOTICED. RUBY What on earth are the two of you up to? CUT TO (INTERIOR, NIGHT) THE OPULENT CONFINES OF THE RAMBANOWITZ HOUSEHOLD. WIDE SHOT OF UPSTAIRS HALLWAY LIGHTED BY A CANDLE, FIRST FROM A JOINING CORRIDOR, THEN IN VIEW. IT IS CARRIED BY RACHEL RAMBANOWITZ, NINE. SHE PROCEEDS SLOWLY, HALTINGLY TO A DOOR, AND TAPS VERY GENTLY. SHE LISTENS FOR A MOMENT AT THE DOOR, THEN OPENS IT CAREFULLY. RACHEL Andrew? It's me. Are you awake? ANDREW'S ROOM AS RACHEL OPENS THE DOOR AND WHISPERS. THE BOY ROLLS ON HIS BACK, LIFTING HIS HEAD TO LOOK AT THE DOOR. RACHEL SEES HE'S AWAKE AND SMILES NERVOUSLY. SHE CLOSES THE DOOR BEHIND HER AND HER CANDLE REVEALS A LARGE AND WELL-FURNISHED VICTORIAN BEDROOM. AS RACHEL APPROACHES HER OLDER BROTHER'S BED HE REACHES FOR HER HAND AND GUIDES HER WHILE SHE USES HER CANDLE TO LIGHT ANOTHER ON ANDREW'S BEDSTAND AND SET THE TWO SIDE-BY-SIDE. SHE SITS ON THE SIDE OF HIS BED AND LOOKS INTO HIS EYES. RACHEL It sounded like the South rising again down there, what happened, Andrew? ANDREW It was more like the uprising of six or eight tribes, all here in Manhattan. I think I have inadvertently challenged the image of masculinity, as regards the person of myself, in the eyes of a stupendous dragon. Said dragon, mother of all beasts, has, therefore, decided to implement a syllabus of manly development. And, not only that, but to initiate said developmental regimen, forthwith and verily. Nor is the person of the first person, myself, to be the sole respondent to the anticipated curriculum viti. RACHEL This sounds like it's going to be a long one. Let me come under the covers with you. I've got things to tell you, as well. ANDREW I'm glad to hear it. You go first. RACHEL SLITHERS IN BESIDE HER THIRTEEN-YEAR-OLD BROTHER. IN THE CANDLELIGHT THEY LOOK INTO EACH OTHERS' EYES. ANDREW (Repeats.) You go first. RACHEL I found out more. It is a club. Sixteen girls at school. Charlotte Townsend is Chief. The name of the club is TRAVESTY. It stands for Total Rejection of All Victorians Encouraging Sexual Terrorism of Youth. ANDREW And I thought I had an interesting day. RACHEL Did you? Did you meet with Canfield? ANDREW Shh. Let me look at you. ANDREW GENTLY TRACES THE YOUNG GIRLS FACE WITH HIS FINGERS. HER FINGERS JOIN HIS, THEN STRAY TO HIS FACE. THEY SLOWLY COME TOGETHER AND KISS VERY GENTLY; MORE THAN CHILDISH, LESS THAN PASSIONATE. ANDREW I love you, Rache. RACHEL I love you, And. ANDREW Mosquito. RACHEL Chimp. ANDREW bzzz RACHEL erk -- erk -- erk Grow up. Tell me what happened downstairs. What did you mean by manly development? ANDREW Picture it, darling little sister. Think of Harper's and Century Magazines. The beautiful copper plate engravings. Mountains, gorges, precipices; wonders of nature too vast to count for a hundred years. Think of wide rivers, waterfalls, forests and mining towns. Rapids, canoes, rafts, and, god love us, Rachel, Indians. Cow pokes, campfires, saloons, stage coaches, cattle and outlaws. RACHEL It does sound manly. ANDREW What it sounds is crazy. She wants us all to go. A gigantic tour. The troupe, the orchestra, the props. You, me, dad. Wagons, scouts, outriders. She says it's a great nuisance on behalf of a child who will probably one day show his gratitude by contracting diphtheria or consumption and dying of it, but, to carry on in her opinion, since she was cursed with motherhood, in the first place, she might as well make the best of it by doing her best, and doing her best, again, in her opinion, was not to let me remain happily in New York City and play Greek games, after hours, with a highly select few who might desire escapades with a juvenile, plus my darling love of a nine-year-old sister. Lower a building on this, and what it means is color for those black-and-white engravings; orange sunrises, rustling leaves, birds singing, coyotes howling and probably indoor frost. Lifelike, horizon to horizon, all day, every day. RACHEL And when is this great migration of talent meant to commence? ANDREW The threat to my manhood is deemed by the beast master to be immediate in nature so my guess is the presumed remedy will suffer no long delay in its initiation. RACHEL Speaking of delays in initiation... ANDREW Oh, darling. Sis. I'm sorry. RACHEL. It's all right. You have a lot on your mind. ANDREW Not any more. ANDREW USES HIS FINGERS TO BRING HIS SISTER'S FACE TO HIS AND KISSES HER TENDERLY ON THE LIPS. SERIES OF SHOTS AS THE KISSING BECOMES MORE URGENT. BY THE LIGHT OF THE TWIN CANDLES, THE BOY STRIPS BACK THE BED COVERS EXPOSING THE FEMALE CHILD STILL WELL WRAPPED IN HER VICTORIAN NIGHTWARE. HE REMOVES HER BONNET LETTING HER HAIR CASCADE OVER THE PILLOW, THEN ATTACKS THE RIBBONS AT HER THROAT, OPENING RACHEL'S NIIGTGOWN. THEY WHISPER. RACHEL Did you go all the way with Canfield? ANDREW He spilled his seed all over us, but the dragon roared before I was able to. RACHEL Did he have a lot? ANDREW He was a geyser. RACHEL Oh, And, I want to see! ANDREW Rache, I thought you wanted my first time to be inside you. RACHEL I did. I do. I don't know. I thought that was going to happen with Canny. So you could be inside me a long time on our first time together. But if it didn't happen with him you might be premature. And I do want to see. What do you think? ANDREW Child mosquito, I am but a stripling youth at once banished to a howling wilderness while simultaneously availing myself to my adoring sister, whom I adore, for initiation into a world of carnal grace and freedom. I have no wish to prevaricate or temporize; indeed, none at all, yet the choice is taxing to contemplate. Pray, darling sister, assist your brother in this, his hour of need. RACHEL I am torn as you are, my sweet love. I wish your seed and I wish your child. Can't you see? But you are too young a boy to linger inside my womb; aye, you must spend before you even achieve the spot your child will grow. Sweet prince, I long for you to linger within me, not to read Byron whilst eating chocolate, but so you can tell me of Mr. Canfield while I whisper to you about my Charlotte. Therefore, darling brother, spill your first torrent upon my breasts. Young as they are they will take your gush with the pride of a woman, and, later, my waking dream of candle and night, when you lie atop me with your spend wet between our hot young bodies, perhaps you will find within you that manliness our dragon seeks and spill to me our baby. What sayest thee, my unnatural and forbidden love? THE CHILDREN RESUME THEIR KISSING. SERIES OF SHOTS, MEDIUM AND CLOSE, AS ANDREW DRAWS THE LASS FROM HIS BED. THE TWO MOVE ABOUT ANDREW'S BEDROOM LIGHTING ADDITIONAL CANDLES AND ARRANGING THEM ALONGSIDE A FULL LENGTH MIRROR. IN A MINUTE THEY TAKE PLACES IN THE LOOKING GLASS, THE BROTHER A HEAD TALLER THAN THE LITTLE GIRL. AS THEY STARE AT THEIR IMAGES, ANDREW FONDLES HIS SISTER'S NECK AND SHOULDERS WHILE SHE LEANS HER HEAD BACK TO HIS TOUCH. HE WHISPERS TO THE YOUNG GIRL. ANDREW. I'm going to drop my nightshirt and stand naked, behind you. When you're ready, turn to see me. Would that be all right? RACHEL Yes, darling. ANDREW BACKS THREE PACES AND SHRUGS HIS GOWN FROM HIS SHOULDERS. ITS FALL IS HINDERED BY THE BOY'S ERECT PENIS. RACHEL WAITS A COUPLE OF BEATS, HER EYES CLAMPED SHUT, THEN WHISPERS. RACHEL Are you ready? Don't make me wait. ANDREW APPEARS FROZEN, UNABLE TO MOVE; EVEN DO JUST A LITTLE SHAKE TO MAKE THE LIGHT FABRIC LOOSE AND TUMBLE TO HIS FEET. RACHEL HOLDS FOR ONE MORE BEAT AND TURNS. HER EYES WIDEN AS SHE STARES AT HER BROTHER FROZEN LIKE LOT'S WIFE, AT ARM'S DISTANCE. SHE REGARDS HIM HEAD TO TOE, AND BACK, FINALLY LEVELING HER GAZE AT HIS WAIST. RACHEL Is it magic? ANDREW How much did Charlotte tell you about boys? RACHEL And, she just said they were exciting. The details, I am meant to discover for myself. ANDREW Well, there is nothing supernatural for you to behold, my angle, no magic. If you want, darling, you can come and see for yourself. THE NINE-YEAR-OLD GIRL STEPS TO THE THIRTEEN YEAR OLD, AND LOOKS UP INTO HIS EYES. RACHEL Are you sure? You're not wearing a pistol, which holds the fabric so? ANDREW No. I'm just glad to see you. RACHEL But you haven't. Not yet. Just the same old dumb face and hair. ANDREW I'm still glad. If I can't think, I can imagine, and right at this moment I am imagining... RACHEL This? THE GIRL STEPS BACK UNTIL ALMOST TOUCHING THE MIRROR, THEN SHRUGS HER GOWN TO THE FLOOR. SHE COVERES HERESELF, ALMOST IN SHOCK AT WHAT SHE'S DONE, THEN LOWERS HER HANDS TO HER SIDE AND STANDS FACING ANDREW. THEY HOLD THE TABLEAU FOR LONG BEATS. FINALLY ANDREW BREAKS THEIR SILENCE. ANDREW Come back here. RACHEL CATCHES HER FALLEN ROBE ON THE TOE OF HER RIGHT FOOT AND PUSHES IT AHEAD OF HER, TO ANDREWS FEET. SHE STEPS FORWARD AND KNEELS ON THE SOFT FABRIC. HER HANDS GO TO ANDREW'S HARD PERFORMER'S BELLY AND SHE TRACES DELICATE PATTERNS ON HIS SKIN. HE STARES DOWN AT THE CASCADE OF HAIR OVER HER COMPLETELY NAKED SHOULDERS. HER EYES RISE TO HIS AND SHE REACHES UNDER HIS ROBE. RACHEL Your legs feel like iron. ANDREW They're built that way on purpose. So I won't collapse on top of you. RACHEL Sounds like very poor engineering to me. How is man ever to fly if he constructs his balloons of stone? Each thing built must to its purpose be true, and there is great waste in all this strength. Perhaps a thoroughly detailed inspection will reveal faults which might one day be corrected. ANDREW According to the veritable beast my faults are both numerous and legendary. I wish you good hunting. RACHEL NOW HAS BOTH HER HANDS UNDER ANDREW'S NIGHTGOWN. THEY MOVE FROM HIS BUTTOCKS AND APPEAR ABOVE THE FABRIC TUMBLED LOOSELY AROUND THE YOUNG MALE'S WAIST. HER FINGERS PLAY UP HIS BELLY REACHING AS FAR AS HIS NIPPLES, WHICH SHE TWEAKS GENTLY, THEN LEANS FORWARD TO SUCK AND KISS. HER HANDS WANDER LOWER, BACK UNDER THE FOLDS OF CLOTH, THEN TO ANDREW'S FRONT. RACHEL Oh, brother mine, I seek not your frailties and decrepitudes. Only the source of strength, be that it not be magic, which holds your nightshirt aloft and by so doing brings us to a standstill. ANDREW Seek, my sister, and indeed you shall find. RACHEL Oh, And! THE BOY'S GOWN FALLS TO THE FLOOR AND RACHEL STARES AS HIS ERECTION, INCHES FROM HER FACE. TIMIDLY, SHE REACHES AND TOUCHES HIM. THEIR EYES LOCK AS SHE FONDLES AND EXPERIMENTS. ANDREW BEGINS SHAKING ANDREW Sis, I've got to lie down or I'm going to fall. At least sit. RACHEL Am I doing it wrong? ANDREW No! No! RUBY (From hallway.) No! No! You heathen. I'm putting an end to this. Turpitude! Scandal! Noisome morality and fetid behavior, foul children, foul theater, foul world. As there is a God in heaven, that is going to change. CUT TO (EXT., DAY) MASS ACTIVITY IN THE ALLEY BEHIND THE THEATER. THE ASSEMBLAGE NUMBER OVER FIFTY. ROPES STRAINING, HORSES LUNGING. RUBY AMONGST ALL. A PAPERBOY APPROACHES HER. RUBY You're another dirty face I won't be seeing a week from now. Give here. PAPER BOY Yes, ma'am. I'll be missing the theater, ma'am. RUBY This is New York. Someone else will be along to read that trash you sell. As for myself, I'll be glad to read it once a month when it's six months old, perhaps lining the trunk of a rare escapee of this tawdry nightmare. PAPER BOY It's not a nightmare for everyone, begging you pardon ma'am. I mean it can't be, because we have to live here, isn't that right, Miss Ruby? RUBY New York City has the outright dishonor to have provided the lowest standard of living for the longest period of time for the largest number of people in the history of the world, and it has managed to accomplish this feat at the mouth of the mighty Hudson and off the shores of the Garden State. The only thing you've got is the theater, and I'm taking it away. So if you don't want to live in a nightmare, don't, but don't pretend you're not, because you are. Reality, you filthy urchin, now and forever. THE EMPRESSARIA RESUMES HER DUTIES AS BOSS OF THE LOADING OPERATIONS. FINDING A CHAIR AT A VANTAGE POINT SHE UNFOLDS HER PAPER AND READS. NARRATOR (Reads newspaper article over shots of moving activity.) Another Deed Done Report from our Western correspondent. Work of desperadoes Occasion of a tragic accident Where will it end, the question posed. Again from a savage new frontier our correspondent writes of travail and disaster for one and all. Gunfire erupted. A lass of the Hannibal, upon entering the Adams and Brothers Bank, was somewhat wounded by the discharge of a shotgun from the inner premises toward the street door through which she was entering. Though the blast did her little harm, the force of numerous lead pellets against her crinolines, as well, in all probability, as the shock of the ten-gauge firearm discharged unexpectedly in her direction, propelled the young lady forthwith back, pell-mell, into the street. At the tragic moment a wagon drawn by four and well laden with goods happened to pass directly in front of the bank. The gruesome details of what happened in the following instances hardly bear recounting on these family pages, but, nevertheless, must be set down for the public record. In short, the left arm of the unfortunate girl, identified as a Miss Alice Logan, of Hubbard Street, chanced to pass between the spokes of a wheel of the speeding wagon, dislodging said limb from the lady in question, and hurling the hideous missile, trailing the sleeve within which a moment before the limb in question had been innocently clothed behind it, into a large shop window, which shattered on impact slicing noses and forearms off two unfortunate young women in the employ of the haberdasher's establishment. Our correspondent goes on to tell us that the source of gunfire was none other than the Black Soles gang whose malevolent history is known all to well from Iowa south to the delta. This is the fourth outrage by the Dusty Shultz mob within the last half year, leaving we here in our gotham of the east settled in our knowledge that lawlessness and the terror of rampaging bands is far beyond our horizon... RUBY REACTS STRONGLY TO THE NEWSPAPER ARTICLE. HER EYES TAKE ON A HARDNESS AS SHE RESUMES HER SUPERVISION. RUBY Male child? THIS IS A SHOUT. WE FOLLOW REPETITIONS FROM A SERIES OF VOICES THAT CARRY US QUICKLY THROUGH THE THRONG OF LABORERS AND THEATER PERSONNEL. SEVERAL VOICES Male child? AN ANSWER TO RUBY'S QUERY COMES BACK THE WAY THE QUESTION WENT FORTH. SEVERAL VOICES. Coal bin. RUBY Female child? THIS QUERY ALSO GOES OUT AND RETURNS IN A LIKE MANNER. SEVERAL VOICES (In sequence.) Rendering lard from pigs in the soap room. RUBY SEEMS SATISFIED WITH BOTH ANSWERS. CUT TO (EXT., DAY) ST. LOUIS. THE RAMBA TROUPE IS ABOUT TO CROSS THE MISSISSIPPI RIVER ON A RAFT. RUBY IS BY NOW BRANDISHING A WHIP. SHE MENACES ALL WITH IT AS SHE STRIDES ABOUT THE SCENE, FINALLY LAYING INTO ANDREW AND RACHEL WHO ARE STRUGGLING TO ROLE A LARGE CASK UP THE GANGPLANK. RUBY Together at last. How very charming. Lessthan Wonderful and Strumpet. Would that we were living two hundred years hence; I could stage your antics and pack the house at a dollar a ticket. Sell additional tickets to view your spawn through peepholes. The two of you have a marvelous future together; and, while it's sad about the tedious wait, perhaps we can assure salvation through vast productivity in the intervening years. I may be wrong, of course; who can ever tell about foul children, but it hardly behooves me to leave any opening for fateful intervention when I can get a free day's work from each of you, why, practically forever. HER SPEECH DELIVERED, RUBY PROCEEDS ON HER MISSIONS. ANDREW Now we get to be sailors. Yo, ho, ho. RACHEL Do you think she'll really show our baby through a peephole? ANDREW If things don't change for the better, we'll never have a child for anyone to see. RACHEL You can say that, again. What are we going to do, Andrew? ANDREW Abide, I suppose, as they say in the bible. That's what children are meant to do. and there is no mention of extremes, presumably, because they were assumed.. RACHEL Well, this barrel is extremely heavy. VOICE FROM THE BARREL I beg your pardon? RACHEL YELPS IN SURPRISE. JUMPING IN FRIGHT, SHE TUMBLES INTO THE RIVER. THE BARREL, NOW UNBALANCED, PIVOTS ON THE GANGPLANK, TOSSING ANDREW INTO THE RIVER, THEN ROLLS BACK DOWN THE RAMP, CRASHING AGAINST A STACK OF CRATES. A MOMENT GOES BY, THEN AN END OF THE LARGE VESSEL POPS OFF AND CANFIELD EMERGES. HE SURVEYS THE SCENE, BLINKING AT THE SUDDEN LIGHT, AND DIVES IN AFTER THE DRIFTING CHILDREN. SWIMMING POWERFULLY, HE SOON HAS ANDREW AND RACHEL UNDER HIS CONTROL, AND SWIMS THEM IN UNDER SOME DOWNSTREAM PIERS. CANFIELD If it can be said genius redefines talent that routine should redefine the theatrical entrance for many years to come. ANDREW Indeed. It made quite a splash. RACHEL I want to get out of these clothes. CANFIELD Were they pulling you under? RACHEL No. I just want to get out of them. THE MALES LOCK EYES FOR A MOMENT AND ALMOST GROAN OUT LOUD. THEN THEY BOTH LOOK AT RACHEL WHO HAS GONE TO WORK ON THE FASTNERS OF HER WORK CLOTHES. CANFIELD AND ANDREW LOOK AROUND. ANDREW Did anyone see what happened? CANFIELD From my vantage point, surrounded by oaken walls nearly an inch thick, I could hear your mother holding forth. Her harangue seemed to continue, unabated, during the interval between abandoning my temporary quarters and my presence in the river. I judged her to be some two-hundred feet distant, so it appears... RACHEL We've slipped through the cracks. Andrew, was it rude of me to mention cracks? CANFIELD I'm sure your mother wouldn't approve. ANDREW That gets us off to a good start, whatever happens. CANFIELD I seem to be doing well on the spur... RACHEL I seem to be dressed. Dirty and dressed. I'm not asking to be clean and I am not asking to be dressed. CANFIELD Here? ANDREW Where else? THE MALES DRAG THE NINE-YEAR-OLD FURTHER IN UNDER THE PIER. THEY STRIP TO MAKE HER AN IMPROVISED BED. RACHEL (Stripping.) It will be more comfortable for all of us if you add this. SHE HANDSTHE MALES HER OUTER CLOTHING AND THEY ADD IT TO THE BOWER. THE NEST READY FOR THE YOUNG FEMALE, SHE STEPS CLOSE TO HER BROTHER AND HIS FRIEND. SHE SLOWLY CLOSES THE DISTANCE AND STANDS IN FRONT OF THE BOYS WHO STEADY EACH OTHER WITH ARMS OVER EACH OTHER\S' SHOULDERS. SHE PUSHES ANDREW'S UNDERPANTS DOWN FIRST, THEN CANFIELDS. FOR SEVERAL MOMENTS SHE STANDS IN FRONT OF THE MALES, HER SOFT, NAKED BELLY INCHES FROM THEIR HOTLY SWOLLEN PENISES. AS ONE, THE BOYS LOWER TO THEIR KNEES, AND, ONE TAKEING EACH OF HER HIPS, THEY SLOWLY DRAW DOWN HER PANTIES. THE BOYS STAND, AGAIN, AND NOW ALL THREE ARE WITHIN INCHES OF EACH OTHER. RACHEL REACHES OUT SLOWLY WITH HER RIGHT HAND AND TOUCHES ANDREW'S THROBBING ERECTION. RACHEL I want you to be my first. ANDREW Put you hand on Canny. Make him spill. Then you'll know what's happening when I spill inside you. Okay? RACHEL DOES AS BIDDEN. SHE MOVES CLOSE TO CANFIELD, HIS PENIS HIGH ON HER CHEST. ANDREW STANDS BEHIND HIS SISTER AND FONDLES HER AS SHE BEGINS STROKING THE MATURE MALE. HE WHISPERS IN THE YOUNG GIRL'S EAR. ANDREW. Do you like it? RACHEL I knew that crazy cow had to be wrong, and most of the world with her. Every girl should be able to do this, if she wants to, as long as she knows enough not to get pregnant, if she comes from a poor family, and doesn't get a disease, which is unlikely if she sticks close to her family and friends. And you can't get sick from doing this, the doctors say so. RACHEL CONTINUES MASTURBATING THE OLDER MALE. ANDREW HOLDS HER SLIM YOUNG BODY AGAINST HIS NAKED CHEST, AND FONDLES HER WITH BOTH HIS HANDS. EVENTUALLY, ONE OF HIS HANDS LEAVES THE YOUNG FEMALE AND FINDS CANFIELD. HE CUPS HIS SENIOR AS HIS SISTER BEGINS TO STROKE THE STALLION WITH BOTH HANDS, SPHINCTERING LOW ON HIS BONER WITH THE FINGERS OF HER LEFT, AND STROKING WITH HER RIGHT. SHE MODIFIES HER TECHNIQUE TO GATHER EXCESS SKIN AT CANNY'S BASE, CAUSING THE HEAD OF HIS PENIS TO SURGE WILDLY FREE. CANFIELD It's really starting to happen, Rachel. Please don't stop. RACHEL I won't. ANDREW AND RACHEL HUDDLE TO THE MATURE MALE AS HIS COCK FURTHER ENGORGES. CUED BY HIS GRUNT, RACHEL BRINGS HER HANDS QUICKLY TOGETHER AT THE BASE OF CANFIELD'S SEVEN IN PHALLUS, AND HOLDS BOTH HANDS STILL. HER INSTINCT PROVES CORRECT FOR WITHIN SECONDS THE EJACULATION BEGINS. THE FEMALE TAKES THREE SPURTS OF SPERM ON HER CHEST AND FACE, THEN GUDES THE PULSING ORGAN TO HER BROTHER. ANDREW HUMPS HIS BELLY IN TO TAKE A STRONG SPRAY, THEN ANOTHER. KEEPING HIS BALANCE WITH ONE HAND AGAINST THE OLDER BOY'S WAIST, ANDREW SLIPS BACK BEHIND HIS SISTER, AND GENTLY PUSHED DOWN ON THE CHILD'S RIGHT SHOULDER. RACHEL BOWS IN RESPONSE TO WHAT HER BIG BROTHER IS DOING IN BACK OF HER, AND TAKES THE SPURTING PENIS IN HER LIPS. SEVERAL GUSHES OF SEMEN PULSE FROM HER LIPS, BUT BY THE TIME SHE BEGINS TO EXPERIMENT WITH HAVING CANNY ACTUALLY IN HER MOUTH HIS CLIMAX IS SUBSIDING. HER GOD STRIPPED OF ALL HIS NECTAR, THE LITTLE GIRL FALLS TO HER BED, SPREADING HER LEGS WIDELY. RACHEL (To Canfield.) Help him find me. CANFIELD BRINGS THE YOUTH TO HIS POSITION. WIPING HIS STILL WARM SPERM FROM THE LITTLE GIRL, HE GUIDES ANDREW BY HALF MOUNTING HIM AND REACHING AROUND THE BOY'S WAIST WITH HIS RIGHT ARM. USING HIS FINGERS TO EXPLORE, HE SLOWLY BRINGS THE BUCKING BOY TO HIS SISTER, PLACING THE TIP OF HIS PENIS AGAINST HER CHILDISH VAGINA. ANDREW TURNS TO IRON AT THE FIRST TOUCH AND CANNY HOLDS HIM WITH A LIKE GRIP. RACHEL RAISES HER HEAD AND SWELLS HER HIPS HIGH SO SHE CAN SEE AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE. CANFIELD (To Andrew.) Relax. Don't lose control. I want to take my hand away so she can see, but I don't want you to hurt her. ANDREW Don't even think about it. Sorry, Rache; if he lets me go, I won't be able to help it. CANFIELD DOES THE BEST HE CAN TO TURN THE OPEN PORTION OF HIS HAND TO THE GIRL'S POINT OF VIEW, MAKING A VEE WITH HIS THUMB, SO RACHEL CAN WATCH ANDREW'S PENETRATION OF HER. THE CHANGING GRIP OF THE OLDER MALE HAS A MILKING EFFECT ON THE THIRTEEN YEAR OLD'S ENRAGED PENIS MAKING THE BOY GRUNT LIKE A HOG. A FLOW OF BLOOD COVERS CANNY'S HAND AS THE CHILD'S SHORT URGENT THRUSTS TEAR THE GIRL'S HYMEN. SENSING THE CRUCIAL MOMENT IS OVER, CANNY FURTHER OPENS HIS HAND SO RACHEL CAN SEE WHAT HER BIG BROTHER IS DOING TO HER. FREED, THE BOY ENTERS HER WITH A SERIES OF FAST IN-AND-OUT THRUSTS, GAINING A PRECIOUS INCH WITH EACH DOZEN CYCLES. WHEN HE REACHES A POINT WHERE HIS PENIS IS HALF WAY INSIDE HIS LITTLE SISTER, CANNY REMOVES HIS HAND, ENTIRELY, SLIPPING IT UP THE YONGSTER'S BELLY TO HOLD HIM SLIGHTLY OFF THE LITTLE GIRL. RACHEL STARES BETWEEN THEIR JOINED BODIES AS ANDREW CONTINUES TO ENTER HER. HER RIGHT HAND FLAILS OUT TO CANNY'S SHOULDER AND SHE HALF SHAKES HIM AND HALF PULLS HER TO HIM. RACHEL (To Canfield..) Thank god you came; I couldn't have waited another day. I want you the moment And spills. Haul him off me and rape me. TAKING ADVANTAGE OF CANFIELD'S MOMENTARY DISTRACTION, ANDREW THRUSTS THROUGH THE OLDER MALES GRIP ON HIS LOWER CHEST AND LODGES HIMSELF FULLY INTO RACHEL. RACHEL (To her brother.) If you get me pregnant, you'll have to leave me alone for months. ANDREW I can't think of any greater payment for my sacrifice than a daughter and niece. RACHEL What if it's a boy? ANDREW If he's of a temperament, I'm sure his uncle Canfield will be a satisfactory teacher, or, if your male child is his, I can take on the role. RACHEL Well, I'll hope for a girl. We females get the best part of the beginning and the biggest reward. CANFIELD As long as you're rich and healthy. Not a game for everyone. FOR LONG MINUTES ANDREW FUCKS RACHEL. HILTED AFTER HIS FINAL THRUST TO COMPLETION INSIDE THE LITTLE GIRL, WE SEE HIS EYES SOFTEN AS HE LOOKS INTO HIS SISTER'S EYES. RACHEL CONTINUES GRIPPING CANNY'S SHOULDER WITH HER RIGHT HAND, WHILE HER LEFT ARM IS AROUND HER BROTHER'S WAIST. AS AND BEGINGS HIS SLOW, TENDER FIRST FUCK STROKES INSIDE HIS SISTER, HER LEGS GO UP AROUND HIM. CANFIELD, NOT LONGER NEEDED TO HELP GUIDE ANDREW'S FIRST PENETRATION, CHANGES HIS GRIP ON THE BOY SO THAT HE CAN REACH RACHEL'S RIGHT LEG. HE GRIPS HER LIMB, HIS HAND COMING BETWEEN THE SILKY FLESH OF THE INNER THIGHT OF THE FEMALE CHILD AND AT THE SAME TIME FIRMLY PRESSED AGAINST THE HIP OF THE POWERFUL BOY. THE INTIMATE TOUCH OF THEIR BELOVED FRIEND TRIGGERS PASSION IN THE MATING CHILDREN. ANDREW'S THRUSTS INTO THE LITTLE GIRL GRADUALLY LOSE THE INNOCENT, TENATIVE NATURE OF A BOY AND TAKE THE DEEPER, MORE URGENT STROKING OF A MAN. RACHEL RESPONDS TO REPEATED FULL PENETRATIONS BY HER BROTHER AND SLIDES HER HAND DOWN CANFIELD'S LEFT ARM UNTIL SHE CAN HOLD HER BROTHER'S SHOULDER. CLOSE UP ON HER FINGERS AGAINST THE BOY'S UPPER ARMS, SETTING THE PACE FOR WHAT HE IS DOING DEEP INSIDE HER. AS THE GIRL'S FINGERS PLAY AND TIGHTEN, THE BOY FUCKS HIS SISTER FASTER AND HARDER; DEEPER. ANOTHER CLOSE-UP OF CANNY'S HAND BETWEEN THE INNDER THIGH OF THE GIRL AND THE HIP OF THE BOY. MANIPULATING HIS HAND, HE COMES HIGH ON THE GIRL, AND INSERTS HIS RIGHT, MIDDLE FINGER ON TOP OF ANDREW'S THRUSTING BONER. BOTH CHILDREN GRUNT AT THE SUDDEN EXTRA STIMULATION, AND THE END COMES QUICKLY. VOICE ( Shouting from offstage) Male child? SECOND VOICE (Also calling from a distance, and joined by others.) Female child! Female child? CANFIELD HAULS ANDREW BODILY OFF HIS SISTER. HE SEES THE BOY IS ON THE VERGE OF EJACULATION, AND STROKES HIM. AS THE SPRAY OF WATERY, THIN SEMEN STARTS HE HISSES TO RACHEL TO GET DRESSED, AND BEGINS TO RETRIEVE ANDREW'S CLOTHING. RACHEL IS MOMENTARILY TRANSFIXED BY THE SIGHT OF HER OLDER BROTHER HOT EJACULATION, AND EVEN CANFIELD IS MESMERIZED FOR A MOMENT. THEN ALL COME TO THEIR SENSES AND CANFIELD WRESTLES ANDREW INTO HIS WORK SHIRT AT THE SAME TIME HE'S GUIDING THE SPRAY OF SPERM WHERE IT WON'T GET ALL OVER EVERYTHING. HIS CLIMAX AT LAST COMPLETE, ANDREW PULLS ON HIS OWN WET PANTS. CANFIELD TAKES A MOMENT TO CHECK AS BEST HE CAN, THEN KISSES EACH OF HIS YOUNG LOVERS AND EASES BACK INTO THE RIVER, WHERE HE DISAPPEARS AMONGST THE PILING OF THE NETWORK OF DOCKS AND PIERS. THE OFFSTAGE VOICES CONTINUE THEIR APPROACH, WITH RUBY'S SOON DOMINATING. RUBY Male child! Female child! Annoy me any further at your extreme and immediate peril. I want to clap eyes on you, and I want to do it before I have lost another dollar paying a troupe of nitwits to mind your every foul hour on this planet. Make some noise, unless you're dead. FROM UNDER THE PIER THE CHILDREN RESPOND. CUT TO (INT. NIGHT) LARGE ST. LOUIS THEATER. THE HOUSE IS PACKED, ANDREW ON STAGE DRESSED AS A SCHOOL GIRL AND CENTERED IN A TABLEAU. AROUND HIM ARE AN ELABORABTELY COSTUMED CAST OF DOZENS. THE SET CROSSES THE STAGE IN THREE TIERS; THE UPPER, CLOUDY AND BLUE, THE LOWER, FLICKERING AND RED, WITH SMOKE. ANDREW'S KEY LIGHT FINDS HIM BETWEEN THESE TWO LEVELS; ANGELS OFF ONE SHOULDERS, AND THE FIERY PIT BENEATH THE OPPOSITE FOOT. HE DELIVERES AN ORATORY. ANDREW Childlike, you ask? See-ist thee, here, in this fair light which bathes me, a child? How could this be? Now half our story, you have seen. I the child so young, so keen; A brilliant future, laid at my feet; for a bold fine son. and mother's treat. Yes, o'er this past hour, and more, since you entered our theater door, A tale your have allowed, suspended disbelief; but, what you really want, is a little childish mischief. For why was it that you and your coins parted, each from t'other, like a wench's loins? To see of heaven? I rather think not, nor will heaven you get, but a saltier brew from the druid's pot.. Daring we come from the streets of New York, but we're not dismayed by this rural fork; For here work the men, and here strut the girls; building, building, no furls, no furls. It's true as we started our evening together, I was a bunny in fresh, green heather, But see how I've sunk in the eyes of all; lower with each curtain, I fall my fall. An angel tries, one truer than gold, to keep me to bosom, to heart and to fold, While I resist, plan better, play coy; thinking all of life's but a toy. So we come to our little break, and ask that this theater, the innocent forsake, Because the angel I've already mentioned before, says Adults Only, shall ever see more. THE CURTAIN FALLS AMID MIXED APPLAUSE AND CONFUSION. WOMEN AND CHILDREN LEAVE THE THEATER WHILE THE MEN TEND TO GATHER IN THE FRONT ROWS. IN THE LOBBY WE SEE THE NEW YOUR PAPER BOY APPROACH RUBY, WHO IS CIRCULATING AMONGST THE CROWD ENCOURAGING SOME TO STAY AND OTHERS TO LEAVE. SHE SPOTS THE BOY, DISENGAGES HERSELF FROM SMALL TALK AND APPROACHES THE CHILD, GRABBING HIM BY THE EAR AND UNOBTRUSIVELY HAULING HIM INTO AN EMPTY PASSAGE OFF THE LOBBY. RUBY Pox! Are you following us? PAPERBOY I suppose so, ma'am. I just brought the paper; not from New York, of course, I'm out here on my own; found it at the depot. Only four days old. Knew you favored it. RUBY Yes, and I'm sure you would have been precisely as thoughtful and altruistic had I been a poor widow lady. PAPERBOY Well, only if she favored the paper. No sense in putting one's self out for nothing. RUBY Clever child. You have just summarized my existence to putting myself out for not only one nothing, but a pair of them. PAPERBOY I could hear him clear out here in the lobby, Miss Ramba, he sounded just fine. Wish I had the price to go in and sit, but I'm lucky to have made it this far. A CALCULATING LOOK COMES OVER RUBY'S FACE AND SHE REGARD THE PAPERBOY WITH A SIGN OF GENUINE INTEREST. RUBY Well, I suppose a four-day-old New York paper is worth something. You can't see the final act, but I'll give you a dollar and you can come and see the first two acts of Lessthan Wonderful in all his feminine glory. I'm even of a mind to subsidize your passage back to the old neighborhood so you can put a personal touch on the glories my child has reached. Dressed like a girl, prattling like a monkey, that's how he's ended up, and my letters to my friends can't tell the whole story. What's your name, child? PAPERBOY Dickie, Miss Ramba. RUBY As in Ricardo? DICKIE I suppose so. Mancuso. RUBY It's all goy to me. Take the dollar, be here at half-past seven, tomorrow, for the curtain. Be prepared to travel east the following morning, or by late train if there is a late train this far down the track to nowhere. GRABBING THE NEWSPAPER, RUBY DISMISSES THE BOY AND HUSTLES THROUGH THE THRONG THAT IS NOW RE-ENTERING THE AUDITORIUM. AS THE CURTAIN RISES WE CUT TO (INT., NIGHT) THE AUDITORIUM OF A SMALLER, MORE PRIMITIVE THEATER AS THE CURTAIN RISES ON THE FINAL ACT. ON THIS SET, HEAVEN AND THE MID-LEVEL ARE REALIZED WITH SKETCHES AND THE MAIN IS GIVEN OVER TO THE INFERNO. THE COMPANY HAS ALSO TAKEN ON A NEW MOTIF; IS NOW A BURLESQUE TAKEN TO NEAR EXTREME. THE CARNALITY FOCUSES ON ANDREW WHO BECOMES THE CENTER OF THE QUASI MACABRE PEFORMANCE. AS THE SCENE ENDS, THE BOY IS SUSPENDED BY WIRE AND `FLIES' OVER THE STAGE WHICH IS GIVEN OVER TO A SCAFFOLD, A STAKE AND A TUB OF WATER. THE GIST OF THE SKIT IS THAT THE AUDIENCE GETS TO CHOOSE WHETHER THE WAYWARD CHILD IS TO BE DROWNED, BURNED OR HUNG. RUBY HARRANGUES THE AUDIENCE AND THEY BEND TO HER WILL, FINALLY VOTING ON ALL THREE. AS HER SON SWINGS OVER THE ASSEMBLAGE, RUBY SURVEYS THE ROUGH APPEARANCE OF THE SPECTATORS AND NODS TO HERSELF IN GRIM SATISFACTION. CUT TO (EXT. DAY) THE RAMBA TROUPE DISEMBARKING AT A SMALL RAIL SIDING AND TRANSFERING TO CONESTOGA WAGONS. CUT TO (EXT., NIGHT) THE WAGONS ARE CIRCLED FOR THE FIRST NIGHT ON THE TRAI.L. RUBY ADDRESSES THE COMPANY. RUBY. Only men will continue from this point, wear they trousers or wear they dresses. Tonight our wagons are circled; this will never happen again. We will proceed straight as an arrow into this heart of darkness. When exhaustion overtakes man and beast we will not circle but maintain rank and file until sunrise. General Custer got befuddled and bedraggled and it cost the moron his curls. Nonesuch for the Ramba Theater. We will not be caught napping, we will not be taken off our guard by any overture from any source. Our destination is no city or town; rather, we shall operate autonomously, a nation unto ourselves, come hither to entertain and enlighten in the wilderness. Our mission is the almighty dollar, and failing that, furs, minerals, novelties; anything of convenient value. If Manhattan could have been purchased for a hat-full of beads, well, our future is assured because we are privileged to have two real jewels amongst us. Their glitter, and a special glitter it will be now that we are free of the more distracting elements of society such as the police and the courts, will make us rich and famous. Our side street in New York will amount to Main Street out here west of the river. We rule but we ourselves are ruled by gold and fur and coin and northern dollar. As our audience pays, so we shall play. Our former final act, now we are on our own, becomes our opening act, from now on. With each performance we shall get more daring, so when yokel A speaks with yokel B there will be something new to tell. Thus we make our presentation our advertisement under a word-of-mouth banner reading "Scenes of unnatural life never before revealed in public" and subtitled: "Can the whispers be true?" RUBY'S SERMON IS INTERRUPTED BY A COMMOTION AT THE VERGE OF THE WAGONS. SEVERAL MEN OF THE COMPANY GRAB TORCHES FROM THE CAMPFIRE, OTHERS CARRY LANTERNS. PREYING BARE RIDES INTO THE ENCAMPMENT, FOLLOWED BY THE OUTRAGEOUS RIDERS, AN INDIAN TROUPE OF A DOZEN. THEY FORSAKE THE STEREOTYPE OF WHOOPS AND GUNFIRE, BUT RATHER BRING THEIR HORSES QUICKLY TO CADENCE AND EXECUTE A PRECISE DRESSAGE DRILL. THE CHOREOGRAPHED ROUTINE ENDS WITH PREYING BARE'S HORSE IN A BOW AT RUBY'S FEET. PREYING BARE Madam, it pleases me no end to present my humble troupe of western entertainers: Fetid Feathers, Beaver Beaver, Raining Cloud, Mounted Bull, Raminghim Rifle; his boy, Thinchester; Tawdry Falcon; my nephew, Prancing Bare; White Tongue, Strange Bedfellow, Starting-With-Hair, Painted Everywhere, Spear-Of-Five-Boys'-Hands, Girl In Wishing, Hands of Silk, Bone of Mountain, and, last and least, Papass, who has just reached the age of seven years. We were interfered with by a man of the cloth, yes, and from a tender age, I might add. Thus, we have grown as Free Spirits. We entertain, and, since the good reverend, faux though he may have been in other respects, had a fine eye for talent, as well as a ready hand for the whip, you see before you an unknown but exceedingly engaging company of acrobats, singers, and performers, in general, more than adequately tutored in the tongue of fair England.. Half of us play females and none of us play hard-to-get. We are used to staging our presentations far from the law, so the law is not after us. Regrettably, the frontier is fast disappearing now the iron horse is about to cross the river, and so our way of intimate specialty in the realm of performance in hidden caves and forest glades must go the way of sod before steel. I fear we will even have to change our names, but if we must in order that our people learn to bend steel to make boilers so our children can be warm in the winter, then, well, our rituals and pagan assemblies must yield; more poetically, the heat of our loins must evolve to the heat of coal, and, where there is coal there is value, and where there is value there are police, judges, juries and gallows. Everything is written down so any fool but a lawyer could understand it, and, while our aboriginal cousins see the white intrusion as an abomination, no one died and appointed them king. According to their logic, if a man's grandfather once walked across a valley, it belongs to the grandson. We welcome you. We are pleased to live in your time. For twenty-thousand years our fathers have made no progress beyond selecting the straightest branches for their spears and the warmest furs for their chiefs. We have brutalized each other for millennia, and, in the process, kept ourselves locked in the Stone Age and limited to fabricating flint on mountains made of almost solid iron. Again, we welcome you. We welcome the opportunity to reform. Where once we performed unspeakable acts in the darkest of recesses, we now wish to delight those of all ages with the grace and novelty of our theatrical lore. ANDREW AND RACHEL ARE CAGED SIDE BY SIDE. THROUGH THEIR BARS THEY CAN SEE THE PROCEEDINGS AND BOTH ROLL THEIR EYES. RUBY DOES NOT DISAPPOINT. HER FACE TAKES ON THE LOOK OF A SUPPLICANT AS SHE RESPONDS TO PREYING BARE'S SPEECH. RUBY Laudable. Grand. That's what I call it. Noble. Serendipity. Kismet. Welcome, all. By the time we get you back to St. Louis, you will be fit to entertain before crowned heads. In the meantime, make yourselves at home. If the secrecy of you existence is matched by you skill under the lights, and your willingness to lend a hand where needed, then we will sign papers assuring you a percentage of the gate. Add to this your gentrification and urbanization and you can count a fortune on top of a fortune. CUT TO (EXT. DAY) THE WAGON TRAIN ON THE OPEN PRARIE. ANDREW AND RACHEL LIE HUDDLED IN THEIR LION CAGES, DRESSED IN ROUGHLY STITCHED ANIMAL SKINS. OTHERWISE IT IS A SCENE AT ONCE PASTORAL AND BRILLIANT. THE OUTRAGEOUS RIDERS CAVORT THROUGH THE SLOW WAGONS, GIVING RIDES TO CHILDREN AND GENERALLY MIXING IN. NARRATOR The turning wheel, the ever turning wheel. The straining spoke, the pounding rim. So the miles, the seemingly endless miles, pass beneath each foot of man, each hoof of beast and each slowly rolling cart and wagon. Leather squeaks on wood, iron jingles on iron, and the long grass swishes, swishes, swishes, endlessly, against all. The horizon draws. It may be a mile or fifty miles. It may drop, precipitously, the drop, itself, hidden. There is lightning. There is fire. Buffalo by the tens of millions, ready to whirl and dash for miles at the buzz of a snake. An hour of rain can bring crashing water as high as a horse. So the journey, so the reach into the unknown, so the migration, so the human tide with its thousands on thousands of turning wheels and plodding, dragging feet. Toil against mile and mile against toil. This toil, those millions of miles, man and animal, St. Louis to San Francisco, left in its wake legions of broken men. Men who took, for good reason and bad, the pistol over the plow and the knife over the ax. Run-out men, run-down men, and men with nowhere to run. The forty-niners had their gold. The lust for land pulled millions. Something fast, something easy, and something rich. Walk in a circle, behind a plow, or walk to California, and never walk again. As many motives as souls have pulled and continue to pull westward, ever westward. Scores of passions, cities of desire, a nation of greed, and, new to the open range, a force of justice, a force of truth, of probity, of dignity, of honor, of the American Way. (Someone get me a staple gun before I vomit from reading this crap.) CUT TO (INT., NIGHT) THE FIRST PRODUCTION OF THE RAMBA TROUPE IS STAGED IN A LARGE TENT. IT IS INTERMISSION AND RUBY MOVES THROUGH THE THRONG, QUIETLY USHERING A BETTER CLASS OF PEOPLE ON THEIR WAY HOME. BY THE TIME THE AUDIENCE IS AGAIN SEATED THE HUNDRED OR SO IN THE SEATS RESEMBLE A ROGUES GALLERY OF THUGS AND MISFITS. THEIR MANNERS ARE NO BETTER THAN THEIR APPERANCE. THEY HOOT AND HOLLER FOR THE CURTAIN, WHICH DULY RISES. ANDREW AND HIS SISTER ARE NOW IN GILDED CAGES. THEY ARE SUSPENDED OVER THE CARNALITY ON THE STAGE. THE OUTRAGEOUS RIDERS CAVORT IN DISCIPLINED AND PRECISE PAGENTRY, SHEDDING SKINS AND FEATHERS AS THEY GO. THE SIX DRESSED AS FEMALES WILE AND TEASE THE MALES BEYOND THEATRICAL CONVENTION. AT THE VERGES OF THE PROCINEUM ARE SCRIMS WHICH THE PLAYERS DUCK BEHIND AT THE CRUCIAL MOMENT LEAVING ONE COUPLE IN FRONT OF THE CLOSING CURTAIN. BEHIND THE CURTAIN, RUBY TAKES CONTROL IMMEDIATELY AFTER THE CURTAIN CLOSES. ANDREW AND RACHEL ARE LOWERED TO STAGE AND RETURNED TO THEIR STORAGE CAGES. RUBY HASTILY DISENGAGES VARIOUS CAST MEMBERS FROM THEIR EMBRACES AND RESTORES ORDER. WHISTLES AND CHEERS FROM THE AUDIENCE PENETRATE THE CURTAIN. THE COUPLE LEFT ON STAGE ARE PREYING BARE AND DANCING BARE. THE OLDER MALE, SEVENTEEN, IS DRESSED AS A ROMAN ARCHER, AND DANCING BARE, TWELVE, IS WEARING A WIG AND ATTIRED IN THE COSTUM OF AN ENGLISH SCHOOL GIRL. THEY COME TOGETHER AS TEACHER AND STUDENT IN FRONT OF THE CHEERING AUDIENCE. IN CLOSE-UP WE FINALLY RECOGNIZE PREYING BARE AS CANFIELD AND DANCING BARE AS DICKIE, THE PAPER-BOY. AS THE ACTORS PERFORM, THEIR DIALOGUE US UNHEARD BY THE NOISEY SPECTATORS. DICKIE (Dancing Bare, whispering.) This is brilliant. I'm glad you recognized me at the station. CANFIELD (Preying Bare.) I'm glad you had the hundred dollars for your secret mission. DICKIE I'm glad I had a rich uncle so I could learn to ride and take gymnastics. CANFIELD I'm glad you had a rich uncle so you could learn to ride and become a gymnast. DICKIE I'm glad my rich uncle had a handsome groom and dancing master, rolled into one. DICKIE AND CANFIELD HAVE COME TOGETHER AS TALL, POWERFUL ARCHER AND SPINDLY SCHOOL GIRL. AS THE MALE HOLDS THE LITTLE GIRL AND HER BOW, THE FINGERS OF HIS RIGHT HAND SLIP INTO THE WAIST OF HER SPECIALLY SEWN DRESS, AND RISE, EXPOSING SEVERAL INCHES OF PALE CHILD FLESH. THIS REDOUBLES THE RESPONSE FROM THE STOMPING AUDIENCE. DICKIE TURNS OVER HER SHOULDER, AND GIVES THE ROMAN A BALEFUL LOOK. SHE PLAYS COY AS THE AUDIENCE HOOTS FOR HER DEMISE. AS THE FINALE APPROCHES, THE CURTAINS RE-OPEN, EXPOSING A BRIMSTONE CAULDRON FROM WHICH A DEVIL'S VERSION OF CUPID ARISES. HE SHOOTS THE RELUCTANT SCHOOLGIRL, AND THE ARCHERY LESSON CONTINUES WITH THE CHILD RESPONDING TO THE SARTRE. DICKIE TURNS TO HER TEACHER AND BEGINS TO BARE THE GLADIATOR'S CHEST AND THE POWERFUL MALE BEGINS TO UNBUTTON THE GIRL'S SPECIALLY DESIGNED DRESS. DICKIE (To his partner.) How far can we go, with everyone watching? CANFIELD Not far enough for them to see you're really a boy. I mean, they probably wouldn't care, but in theater illusion is the thing. Have you ever done it with anyone watching? DICKIE Uncle Rob used to. No one ever mentioned it, but I know he used to watch us from the north end of the loft. I was with Mick; he was my best friend and unc's favorite of the stable boys. I'm just glad it's you. CANFIELD I'm glad it's you, too. BOTH PLAYERS ARE SOON NAKED TO THE WAIST, AND FEWER AND FEWER ARROWS ARE BEING SHOT AS THEIR TOUCHING FINALLY YIELDS TO A FACE-TO-FACE AND NAKED-CHEST-TO-NAKE-CHEST ENCOUNTER. THE DEVILI'S CUPID, SATISFIED WITH HIS WORK, RETURNS TO HIS CAULDRON, AND THE CURTAIN CLOSES LEAVING THE PERFORMERS ALONE THE STAGE APRON. DICKIE DROPS HER BOW AS ALL PRETENCE AT INSTRUCTION IS ABANDON. CANFIELD SWINGS THE CHILD SO SHE IS FACING THE HOUSE, AND DISPLAYS THE BEAUTIFUL YOUNG NAKED CHEST TO THE AUDIENCE WHILE FONDLING IT FROM BEHIND WITH BOTH HANDS. A HUSH FALLS OVER THE CROWD AS THE CHILD RAISES HER ARMS HIGH IN THE AIR, ALLOWING THE STRAPPING MALE BEHIND HER UNRESTRICTED ACCESS TO HER TORSO. STILL SLOWLY ARCHING, THE GIRL FINDS THE HEAD OF THE TALL ROMAN IN HER HANDS AND LACES HER FINGERS BEHIND HIS POWERFUL NECK. AS STAGE MACHINERY IS OPERATED, THE TWINING COUPLE SLOWLY ROTATES BEFORE THE AUDIENCE, ENGENDERING AN EVER LOUDER AND MORE DEMONSTRATIVE RESPONSE. CANFIELD You're doing fine. Great. You're a natural. Listen to them. DICKIE Can we do this alone, sometime? I mean I know you like Andrew and Rachel... CANFIELD I've never had a one-night-stand in my life, and I certainly don't intend to start with you, if that is your wish. And do not worry about the children in the cages, you have earned your place with them as well as with me. DICKIE I wish you could do this to me all night. CANFIELD That will happen, but patience. Patience. A virtue in the world, a necessity in the theater; life and death, in this theater. DICKIE There's our cue for me to get beside you. CANFIELD Thank god, five more beats and I would put on a poor show for the payees. I've got to be careful with you. THE TABLEAU ON STAGE CHANGES. DICKIE AGAIN TURNS SLOWLY IN HER SOLDIER'S ARMS AND THEY ARE CHEST TO CHEST. HER SMALL HANDS GO TO THE HEAVY BELT OF THE CENTURIAN. THE AUDIENCE THUNDERS ITS APPROVAL, AND, IN A FEW MOMENTS, THE HEAVY LEATHER BELT AND SKIRTING FALL TO THE STAGE. HIS UNDERGARMENT CONSISTS OF A SIMPLE SILK WRAP AND THE CONTRAST OF THE TALL, POWERFUL BODY, STRIPPED ALMOST NAKED, AND THE FEMALE LOOKING CHILD, SLIM AND NAKED ABOVE BILLOWING PERIOD SKIRTS, DRIVES THE AUDIENCE TO FURTHER ENTHUSIASM. DICKE FALLS TO HIS KNEES IN FRONT OF HER STRAPPING SOLDIER, AND HER SMALL HANDS BEGING AT HIS ANKLES AND TRAVEL SLOWLY UP THE LONG, MUSCULAR LEGS OF THE OLDER ACTOR. AS HER FINGERS REACH THE SILK, THE LITTLE PLAY GIRLS STANDS AND MOVES BEHIND HER MAN. HER YOUNG HANDS WORK FROM THE REAR, AS HE HAS ONCE WORKED OVER HER, FONDLING THE POWERFUL BELLY AND STROKING HIS RUGGED FLANKS. EVENTUALLY, HER HANDS FIND THE NIPPLES ON HIS POWERFUL CHEST AND HE ARCHES TO HER INTIMATE TOUCH. THEN THE GIRLISH LITTLE HANDS DROP, TO THE BELLY, AND BELOW, TO THE SILK, WHERE THEY WORK SLOWLY WITH KNOTS ON BOTH THE MAN'S HIPS. THE SILK IS FINALLY FREE AND TRAILS HALF-WAY TO THE STAGE FROM CANFIELD'S POWERFUL ERECTION. DICKIE PUTS HER LEFT ARM AROUND THE TALL MALE'S WAIST, AND HER FINGERS SLOWLY CRAWL HER RIGHT HAND FROM VIEW IN UNDERNEATH THE DANGLING SILK. THE FABRIC BULGES AND RIPPLES TO THE RHYTHM OF HER SLOW MASTURBATION OF HER TEACHER. AS THE FRENZY OF THE AUDIENCE MOUNTS, A YOUNG BOY OF ABOUT THIRTEEN IS SUDDENLY SEIZED ON BY THE PATRONS. HE IS GENTLY BUT QUCKLY STRIPPED NAKED AND THRUST UP ON THE STAGE BESIDE THE PERFORMING DUO. THE CHOSEN BOY SEEMS TO KNOW INSTINCTIVELY WHY HE HAS BEEN SELECTED AND STANDS IN CLOSE TO CANFIELD AND DICKIE. HIS PENIS IS HUGELY SWOLEN AND JUTS OBSCENELY FROM HIS BOYISH WAIST. THE AUDIENCE, IN TUNE TO WHAT THE PERFORMERS NEED TO COMPLETE THEIR ACT, SUPPLY ANOTHER NAKED VOLUNTEER. A HANDSOME YOUNG TWENTY YEAR OLD JOINS THE TRIO ON STAGE, AND TAKES THE NEW YOUTH FROM BEHIND. DICKIE IS FONDLED BY BOTH IMPROMPTU CAST MEMBER AS SHE CONTINUES STROKING HER MAN UNDER THE SILK. THE FOUR PERFORMERS ARRANGE THEMSELVES IN DIFFERENT POSES FOR BENEFIT OF THE AUDIENCE. AS SHE SENSES THE ADULT'S CLIMAX APPROACH, DICKIE ENCOURAGES THE BOY FROM THE AUDIENCE AND SOON HAS HIM STROKING INTENTLY ON HIS OLDER PARTNER. AS THE YOUNG MAN'S BREATHING GETS TO THE RAGGED EDGE HIS BOY HOLDS THE TIP OF HIS PENIS AGAINST CANFIELD, TEARING AWAY THE WISP OF SILK AS HIS CUM BEGINS. CANNY RESPONDS IMMEDIATELY TO THE SLICK WETNESS ON HIS BOY'S STOKING HAND AND IN SECONDS BOTH MALES ARE EXPERIENCING HEAVY EJACULATIONS, MUCH OF THEIR SPERM SPLASHING AND SPRAYING ON THE CHILDREN WHO ARE JERKING THEM OFF. THE COPIOUS SPEND OF HOT SEED STIMULATES THE AUDIENCE BOY TO A SPONTANEOUS EJACULATION, AND QUICKLY HIS SEMEN IS GUSHING MOSTLY ON DICKIE, WHO IS NOW COVERED WITH LONG RIBBONS OF WHITE MALE FLUID THAT TRAIL FROM HIS BARE CHEST DOWN OVER THE SKIRTS HE IS STILL WEARING. THE VISITORS TO THE STAGE ARE RECLAIMED BY THE AUDIENCE AND THE CURTAIN OPENS FOR A FINAL TIME ALLOWING THE ERSATZ CUPID A LAST PASS TRAILING THE SMOKE OF BRIMSTONE. THE PERFORMERS TAKE QUICK BOWS, THE CURTAINS CLOSES, AND WE END THE FIRST ACT WITH A FADE OUT. (Act. I)