Azalea

by

Jaime Noblin Grimaldo

 

CHARACTERS

MEZZROWE - A criminal defendant from the inner city in his early thirties.

THE P.D. - A public defender in his late twenties.

THE DEPUTY - A sheriff's deputy in his thirties.

SETTING

An “attorney visiting room” in a southern California county jail.   Late afternoon, approaching 5 o'clock.

(The P.D. stands before a table reviewing a file folder.)

(The steel door opens. A DEPUTY escorts MEZZROWE inside, then exits, closing the door. MEZZROWE backs up to the door and slides his cuffed wrists through a waist-high slot. The DEPUTY unlocks the cuffs. MEZZROWE approaches the table and sits across from the P.D.)

             P.D.

Mezzrowe?

            MEZZROWE

Yeah.

            P.D.

I'm your P.D. You prefer Mezzrowe or Robert?

            MEZZROWE

Don't matter. And save that confidentiality bullshit. All I care about is getting out.

            P.D.   (Beat, then he reads from the file)

Says here you emptied the till from a flower shop. You ran, then “came back seconds later and took a flower.” A clean lick if you kept running. Why did you go back for the flower?

            MEZZROWE

I ain't did nothing. This a case of they got the wrong motherfucker.

            P.D.

Well, they're charging it as a felony.

            MEZZROWE

Okay.

            P.D.

Okay? You already have two felony priors: a burglary and a hot prowl. That means –

            MEZZROWE

Man, can you help me get out of here or not?

            P.D.

That means if you get convicted for a third felony you could do 25 to life.

            MEZZROWE

For what? Wasn't nothing but chump change in the till or the March a Times jar.

            P.D.

Owner said the register had over $400. Plant was worth another $10. How much you have in our pockets?

            MEZZROWE

Just ‘cause I was carrying paper don't mean nothing. I won that money playing –

            P.D.

Did you hear me? If this is your third felony, that's 25 years minimum. End of story.

      (Pause)

They say they have surveillance footage.

            MEZZROWE

Wasn't no video in that shop. I ain't no fool.

            P.D.

They logged a cassette into evidence. I'll look, but if it's you on tape?

            MEZZROWE

You think it's righteous to do 25 to life for chump change and a potted plant?

            P.D.

No, but I didn't pass the law. It isn't fair. Shit rolls downhill. What can I say?

            MEZZROWE

You best say goodbye before you ease the fuck on out my face, alright? I don't need no night school lawyer. I need a for real lawyer. To defend me. To help me. I need –

            P.D.

I am a real lawyer. I'm what you've got.

            MEZZROWE

And I'm innocent until proven guilty, right?

            P.D.

Unless proven guilty. Correct.

            MEZZROWE

That's what I...so why you acting like I'm already on the tier, programming? Goddamn, you done already gave up on me.

            P.D.

Just being realistic. And I've got three other defendants to see downtown, so –

            MEZZROWE

You ain't being realistic. You being pessimistic. Like every buster I ever crossed paths with, had a chance to help me or straighten me out? All them bitches were pessimistic. I'm “too stupid...a bad seed...no good, ya'll...mercy, Jesus...no motherfucking good.”

            P.D.

Okay. Okay. You made your point. But facts are facts, and I –

            MEZZROWE

You know I got straight A's in school ‘til I was in the 7th grade?

            P.D.

Do I...what?

            MEZZROWE

It's a fact. Every report card from kindergarten through 7th grade. Straight A's, with some A-pluses, even, in the mix. You get straight A's?

            P.D.

No.

            MEZZROWE

Never?

            P.D.

Never.

            MEZZROWE

See, I'm street, but I ain't street trash.

            P.D.

Never said you were. I certainly don't think you –

            MEZZROWE

Check this out: big-ass white man came to my school one time? I was eight, nine. Takes me out a class, to a office. Sits me across a table from him, just like you doing. Asks me do I want to play some games? Puzzle games. Hell, yeah. We played. I figured all of ‘em out in no time. Week later, my moms get a letter said my I.Q. was all high and shit. They want to send me to a special school out by the beach, where the white folks live? But my Moms, all she wanted to know was can we get money –

            P.D.

I'm not going to ... Mezzrowe? Robert? I'm not here to question your intelligence, okay? I can see you're sharp. I'm here to advise you –

            MEZZROWE

You want to know what happened? Why I stopped getting A's?

            P.D.

I've got three more defendants to see, I have to dictate a brief that's due –

            MEZZROWE

My Pops killed my Moms.

      (Pause)

Beat her head in with a steam iron.

            P.D.   (Beat, then he sits, and opens a legal pad)

A steam iron...you...you know this for a fact?

            MEZZROWE

I was there. Beat me too. Left a burn on me shaped like the bottom of that Sunbeam.

            P.D.

Oh. Oh. I'm sorry...you...I'm very sorry to hear that. My God.

            MEZZROWE

Wasn't your fault. We don't choose our parents. How or where we grow up.

            P.D.

I...I suppose you're right. But, if you don't mind...why did he...what happened?

            MEZZROWE

Started off same old, same old. She was being hard on me, and that school thing had lingered in me for years, ‘cause she never followed up on it. So when she'd yell at me, I'd say she didn't love me, ‘cause if she did I'd be with them little white boys, getting all smart and shit. But she'd say, “I can't get you out a bed to get to the school down the street on time, how I'm going to get you up to get on a bus take you to a school across town?”

            P.D.

What did your father think about it?

            MEZZROWE

I don't know. He wasn't always...see, he boxed a little, but lacked what they call the

“will to win.” He used to say “Styles make fights.” And “No matter what you say, what happens in the end, is what you wanted all along.” Like that was wisdom. Couldn't hold no job. Hated people telling him what to do. Moms said I was a splinter from that stick.

            P.D.

But, I mean, he must have had some input into your –

             MEZZROWE

He drank, man. Juice-head. He'd get home on Friday with three six packs, maybe some Mad Dog? Drink till he passed out. Sleep through Sunday. Get up to piss once or twice. Moms let it go ‘cause if she woke him, he'd be all moody and shit, start tagging people.

            P.D.

Is that...is that what happened when she...if you'd rather not discuss it...

            MEZZROWE

It's cool. Me and Moms was arguing in the kitchen. She was doing some ironing for Miss Betty next door? And I was mad cause she wouldn't buy me no Halloween outfit. Said we didn't have money. But I couldn't let it go. I said how all she cared about was money, just like a ho. So she slapped me, to shut me up. But I'm a junkyard dog when I got my reasons. And, like I said, I'd been harboring a grudge about that school and –

            P.D.

Because she wouldn't let you go?

            MEZZROWE

That, and ‘cause once the lames on my block found out I was gifted they would give me beat-downs all the time, call me a punk. One of ‘em tried to make me suck his dick.

            P.D.

Jesus.

            MEZZROWE

Nah, I fixed his ass. Anyways, Moms...she wasn't having none of it that day. She hated when I talked back, and I was yelling back. Finally she slapped me but good, and I fell back and knocked a chair over. Or the ironing board. Shit, I forget.

            P.D.

Were you hurt?

            MEZZROWE

That wasn't the problem. The problem was in the bedroom, Pops said, “Fuck's going on?”

            P.D.

You guys woke him.

             MEZZROWE

Yeah. It was Wednesday, but he'd been drinking cause he got laid off. You know some-thing? He could sleep with a full can a beer in his hand and not spill a goddamn drop.

            P.D.

Okay, so he woke, and then?

            MEZZROWE

Then he come into the kitchen, walking all crooked, and tells us to shut up ‘cause people can't sleep through all the racket. But Moms wasn't...I don't know why she...she tells him to go back in his cave and let her take care a the family, ‘cause she the only one know how. She tell him, better yet, “Take your out-a-work ass outside and look for another job instead a teaching your son how to piss his life away.”

(The P.D. exhales loudly, then shakes his head slowly.   MEZZROWE stands and acts out the memory.)

             MEZZROWE

That's right. He couldn't believe she wolfed at him. But when she didn't look away, he said, “Shut up, you know what's good for you.” She could have dropped it right there. But she go, “Since I'm the only one working, I say whatever the fuck I want.” Then he picked up the coffee pot from...see, my moms was heating some coffee on the stove? She love her Folgers with milk. But he...he was so fucked up, he picked the pot up by the side, not the handle? And that pot was boiling, man, so in the same motion, he picks it up, burns his hand, yells out, and flings that bad boy at the window. I ducked, expecting glass to fly. But when the pot hit the window, the glass didn't break. It just cracked and gave in a little, and the pot got stuck in it, upside down, spilling coffee all over...

      (Pause)

Pops went to the sink, cursing, pouring cold water on his hand. Moms started laughing. I did too, cause that coffee pot looked funny. Like a ... like a fly trapped in a spider web. Shoot, even Pops start laughing.

      (Pause)

Then he said something like, “I guess we need a new window.” But Moms, she goes from laughing so hard she was crying, to wiping her tears, to saying, “You can't even break a fucking window correct.” And that was it. He stepped to her, “Say that again, bitch.” I started pulling on him, ‘cause I'd seen him get that way before. And she repeated it, man, but with a smile on her face, like she was high? She said, “You can't hold a job. Take care of your family. You can't even break a piece of glass. You a sorry, useless motherfucker.” And he snatched the iron from the table with that burnt hand, and clocked her in the head–PI YOW!–and she slid down, like all the air let out her legs. I pulled on him, but he swung around and caught me on my shoulder with the iron, knocked me across the room. I couldn't think straight. I looked at Moms, and her face looked...it was...

      (Pause)

Her titty had popped out her blouse, and she was trying to button it. Made no sense why she was still smiling. Then she said he was all dick and no balls, so useless he wasn't even my real daddy. And she giggled like a little girl, like a little...then he just beat her with that Sunbeam, over and over. She didn't moan but once or twice.

      (Pause)

I was crying, “Mama, mama…”   I crawled to her, but her head was, like...it was coming loose, and her face was caved in on the side, bleeding all over them clean shirts...

      (Pause)

Once he seen...once he knew what he done, he start howling, like a dog got kicked in the ribs. “Azalea, baby, I'm sorry.” He kept saying, “Azalea, I love you, baby.” Like that. Until the police came and took his sorry ass away.

      (Beat. The P.D. removes his glasses and loosens his tie.)

            P.D.

Azalea. Your mother's name was Azalea?

            MEZZROWE

No. Arcelia. But when he drank, he called her Azalea ‘cause his tongue got lazy.

            P.D.

What happened to you after that?

            MEZZROWE

Foster homes. Some of them were more messed up than Pops if you can believe it. Then Youth Authority. Calipatria. Yes, I have seen some shit in my day.

            P.D.

You ever get grief counseling, therapy to help you...I don't know...cope?

            MEZZROWE

I coped. I learned. I learned that don't nothing mean nothing. People close to you will fuck you. People you don't know will fuck you. That's a fact. And the only one ever loved me, ever cared about me, that I knew in my heart, no matter what she said, no matter how angry she got, still loved me? Was my Moms. And she got took from me.

            P.D.

My mother is...my best frie...sometimes, I wonder...if something happened to her –

            MEZZROWE

Sometimes? Sometimes I think she knew exactly what was going to happen. I think she wanted him to go off. ‘Cause she was tired. Tired and stuck, just like that goddamn coffee pot. And sometimes, I think...no...I know ...that even Moms didn't love me enough to see me to manhood, okay? She gave up. But it's like that sometimes.

            P.D.

I am so...forgive me. If I was abrupt, earlier? Please...forgive me.

            MEZZROWE

It's alright, man. It's just that yesterday was 20 years to the day. I wanted to visit her grave, you know? Leave her something, keep her company. But I am a stone dope fiend. No job, ‘cause all I want to do is get high. And even when I try to work? I got a record, no G.E.D, no experience, and no reason for no one to take a chance. I'm what you call a broke dick dog, partner...without prospects.

            P.D.

You ever consider...I don't know...changing your name, start over somewhere else?

            MEZZROWE

Sure you right. That's exactly what my plan was. I was going to say goodbye to her, then take off, start over. So, yeah, I went to that flower shop, for real. And I took that money. My ticket out. And when old boy tried to stop me, I brushed his ass aside and ran. But I stopped and went back for that azalea. And if the cops hadn't got me, I would have laid it on her grave. I wasn't trying to hurt nobody. I was just trying to change the address in my head, ‘cause I am a low rent type and that day in the kitchen is where I live 24-7, 365.

            P.D

Have you...have you ever told anyone else about this?

            MEZZROWE

Who I'm going to tell? Some bitch I want pussy from? You think I like telling that story? Staying high is the only way I know how to forget about it for a minute.

      (Beat. The P.D. stares at the ceiling, rubbing his forehead.)

            P.D.

Alright. Okay. Let me...let me talk to the prosecutor. Maybe...maybe she'll agree to strike your priors. Or the judge...if I couch it the right way –

            MEZZROWE

That's all I'm asking, homes, that's all.

            P.D.

Maybe reduce this to a misdemeanor, conditioned on you going into rehab for –

            MEZZROWE

Bless you. You good people. I apologize for doubting you.

            P.D.

Well, your story is...it's compelling. I only wish –

            MEZZROWE

Think we got a shot?

            P.D.

Who knows? Your arraignment's at 8:30 in the morning. Judge Carter. Real hard-ass. So I better buttonhole the prosecutor tonight, see if she'll –

            MEZZROWE

I could tell the judge the story. I mean...yes, I could.

            P.D.

You don't need to do that.

            MEZZROWE

I could tell him, man. You tell me what will work.

            P.D.

No. Tomorrow's just the arraignment. You...what do you mean, “What will work?” What's that mean?

            MEZZROWE

Tell me what to leave out, or what to put in. Make him feel it.

             P.D.

You don't need to put anything in, you just ... wait. Wait. Wait a goddamn minute. Are you telling the truth now? Are you telling me the truth or are you just fucking with me?

      (Pause)

Is any of it true?

            MEZZROWE

Don't matter.

(The P.D. rises, moves to the mirrored plexiglass window and bangs on it, then gathers his things from the table.)

            P.D.

It matters to me.

            MEZZROWE

What I can tell you? That's how I feel. In my bones...my bones. Every day.

             P.D.

What do you want from me? You need a...I'm a public defender. I'm here to –

            MEZZROWE

Help me, motherfucker. I need your help. Will you help me? Will you?

            P.D.

I don't think I can. But I...I know why you went back for the azalea.

            MEZZROWE

Man, fuck you. Go on. Go on foster daddy. Cash your county check –

            P.D.

You went back because you knew you'd get caught. You knew you'd find yourself in a cage like this, talking to someone like me, asking why you have to do 25 to life for chump change. And you're going to do the time because like ... like you said, “Whatever happens in the end is what you wanted all along.” You knew all that, deep down, because you used to get straight A's, which I bet is the only part of your story that is true.

(Beat. Then the DEPUTY knocks, and the door slot opens noisily. MEZZROWE rises, approaches the door, turns his back to it, then slides his wrists through the slot. )

            MEZZROWE

Man, you...I want...this what you do for people need help? This how you help?

(MEZZROWE steps away from the door, wrists cuffed again. The door opens and the DEPUTY enters.)

            P.D.

I'll see you at 8:30. Think about how you want to plead.

(The P.D. exits. The DEPUTY holds MEZZROWE in place for a beat, then steps behind him to nudge him through the door. The door closes on an empty room.)

      (Blackout.)

 


 

 

 

 

 






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