Shades of War by Dara Harper Page A

outta here... I have to be at work by first light.

    GUSS: Goodnight,
Thomas.

    THOMAS:
Goodnight.

    (THOMAS
exits.)

    (Guss
goes from table to table drinking from the half empty glasses of ale
patrons left behind. After a few rounds, he passes out.)

    (SAM
enters.)

    SAM: Guss! Guss!
For god’s sake, get on your feet man!

    (SAM
nudges GUSS awake.)

    GUSS: Mr.
Fraunces, you mind...

    (GUSS
lifts his glass up towards SAM.)

    SAM: Not for all
the coins in your pocket.

    (GUSS
puts his glass down on the table and sits up straight in his chair.)

    GUSS: Look here,
I’ll be on my way, just pour me some ale. I can even drink it out
on Broadway. Pour me one more and I’ll be outta here, just like I
said... I’m real good ‘bout keepin’ my word.

    SAM: No!

    GUSS: Hey... you
seen Rebbecca?

    SAM: Heavens no!
I do not consort with such women, there are far better uses for my
money! Guss, you are a disgraceful sight! A living example of the
worst attributes of our race... For everyone like me, there are
hundreds still like you... Lazy. Hopeless.

    GUSS: Mr.
Fraunces, I ain’t nothin’ like you say!

    SAM: Well then,
what am I missing about your character? Night after night, I’ve
watched you drink yourself to a dither! I want to know your plight,
my good man. What is your sad story? What’s stopping you from
living a productive life?

    GUSS: My life
suits me just fine, Mr. Fraunces!

    SAM: Oh, surely,
there’s something! Perhaps a tragic past? I assume that you’re a
fugitive. From where exactly?

    GUSS: Ascending
Bay, Louisiana. I may not have been born free like you, Mr. Fraunces,
but I got my freedom now.

    SAM: And now that
you have it, what good does it serve! Name one thing you have
contributed to society since your escape... and if you cannot, you
are better off a slave.

    (GUSS
stands up so fast that his chair falls over in the process. He is
face to face with SAM. GUSS tightens his fists.)

    SAM: This is just
what I expected of you... acting at whim, no control over your
emotions! This is why they think so poorly of our kind, because of
Negroes like you.

    GUSS:
We ain’t so different as you think, Mr. Fraunces. I hear what they
call you. “Black Sam, fetch my
wine!” “Black Sam, get me some coffee!” “Black Sam-”

    SAM: They do not
mean it in that vein!

    GUSS:
You is Black Sam, ain’t you? No matter how much property you own or how
much education you got, you gonna die Black Sam.

    SAM: Those men
respect me. I have the ear of Washington, Hamilton, all of them! A
nickname makes no difference.

    GUSS: If this was
my tavern, I wouldn’t let nobody call me out of my name. You can
believe that.

    SAM: But it isn’t
yours! I doubt you own anything besides those dreadful clothes.

    GUSS: Now just a
minute, Mr. Fraunces. That’s fixin’ to change.

    SAM: Do you even
have employment?

    GUSS: I been...
talking to some people around the city about work... ‘Sides, I
could always get a job back on a ship again.

    SAM: What
experience do you have at sea?

    GUSS: Been
everything from a cabin boy to a first mate. You probably size me up
and think I ain’t been nowhere or done nothin’, but I seen a
whole lot of this world. Maybe even more than you. The Caribbean.
Europe even.

    SAM: In all you
travels, did you ever visit Saint-Domingue?

    GUSS: Couples
times, I sure liked it there. Wouldn’t mind gettin’ me some land
by the beach and a pretty, young wife. They sure got some fine
lookin’ women to pick from down there.

    SAM: Indeed. That
is my homeland.

    GUSS: Yeah, you
kinda talk like it.

    SAM: I’ve been
in New York for many years, but I know I’ll carry my accent to the
grave. My French has served me well here. Dutch too.

    GUSS: I’ve
heard you with the customers, speaking all them different languages.

    SAM: The best way
to learn is to listen. Take that pearl of wisdom, and keep it with
you. So why did you come to New York?

    GUSS: I figure if
a colored man could make somethin’ of himself,