My New Black Magazine - NYU Black Renaissance Noire BRN-FALL-206 ISSUE RELEASE | Page 163

Scene 7

The next night in the apartment.
the mayor:
Too Much, Too Soon
sound: the pocket roll call plays
“trouble funk express”
the door:
Slam!
nikki low crawls into the apartment
as if she is on the battle field.
nikki’s clothes are stained with blood.
nikki has a gun in the waist of her
pants. She calls out to sara.
nikki:
Pssssst, Sara. It’s me.
sara:
Too soon for you to be visiting me,
nikki. Too soon.
nikki:
Get down here ‘fore somebody open
fire on our asses. I can’t get these holes
in my body to close. Can you help me?
I aint leaving. You scared?
sara:
You should be bothering her. Not me. I
can barely think straight as it is.
I haven’t slept in I don’t know how long.
nikki:
That’s why I like you. Look, get down
here. You gonna get us both killed.
Help me close this hole. Just this one.

162

sara gets down on the ground with
nikki.

sara:
You already dead. Hate to tell you but
it’s true. And I must be closer to that
than living, since I gotta hear and see
you. Damn it. I told all the spirits that
can hear, I don’t need to see y’all like
this. It ain’t natural.
nikki:
I’m dead? Who told you that? I’m here.
I got holes in my body. Help me close
just this one. It’s mak ing me cold.
sara:
No offense, Nikki. But I’m bout tired
of spirits telling me what to do.
nikki:
I don’t wanna be no spirit. I’m just
coming back from over-seas. Shit. I’m
a black woman. Fools can’t leave me
alone. And I ain’t going nowhere now.
Nobody’s forgetting me, ‘cause I can’t
forget. Help me close these holes in my
body. Make me whole, Sara.
sara:
I should be gone to New York by now.
nikki:
Nah, I need you here. Make me whole
so they can’t make me invisible no
more.
sara:
I should be gone. I had planned on
being gone.
nikki begins cleaning her gun.

nikki:
Well, I had planned on playing the
congos down at The Garage ‘til them
damn pigs stuck it to me like they
always do. And I fight for this mutha
fuckin’ country. Aint no plans ‘cept
what’s right in front of you, sis. Give
me something to close this hole.
sara bandages nikki with a white
cloth.
sara:
I got a life besides this. I’m ready to
go…just don’t want to leave Khadija
like this. Bad timing, Nikki. I know
you ain’t make it this way. But the
timing is really bad for me.
nikki:
That’s better. You gonna go. Trust that.
Just gonna have to break her out this
funk she’s in, and bomb the truth.
nikki hands sara her gun and begins
doing push-ups.
sara:
Why? Bomb the truth? With what?