Lucifer's Library

LUCIFER

Not exactly. See those books? There’s eight of them. Four are a chance for salvation, the other four, damnation. Two games. Two of you play a game of chess. The other two, poker. Your choice. At the end of the game the losers start out with nothing, the winners start out with all that they want or need. Money, power, sex., whatever. Tonight you play. You have four days starting at tomorrow at 9:00 am to redeem yourselves. Goodnight gentlemen. Tick tock

Lucifer exits. The men grumble and argue. It escalates. They fight. They try to kill each other.

DION

STOP. GOD DAMNIT STOP. This isn’t getting us anywhere.

The men settle down.

NICK

What do you suggest, pretty boy?

DION

Go fuck yourself. I wouldn’t touch you with a ten foot pole.

NICK

You don’t have a pole. You have a four inch pecker.

LEO

Shut up. You’re both motherless sacks of shit.

DION

How dare you! Who the fuck do you think you are?

NICK

I know who I am. What the fuck are you?

DION

I’m Dion. I’m an artist. And I don’t belong here with you brutes.

NICK

Brute? Better that than the Sugar Plum Fairy.

ALEX

Goddamn it STOP. Shut the fuck up. We have work to do.

DION

So who are you, big boy? Leader of the Pack?

ALEX

Yes. Exactly. I’m Alex Lord.

LEO

Lord huh. If you’re the Lord, get us out of here.

ALEX

Shut up. I’m CEO of Pan global Enterprises. No one can beat me. I have more power than….

DION

Not anymore. Okay, sugar. You want to try to beat me at chess? Come on. Show me what you’re made of.

LEO

I guess we play poker. Perfect. This is going to be fun

NICK

You think so? Okay. Cut the deck.

The evening passes.

DION

Checkmate.

ALEX

Well played. I’d never have thought….

DION

I’m gay. That doesn’t make me a pussy.

Lucifer enters.

LUCIFER

That’s it. Times up.

THE MEN

Wait. We haven’t finished.

LEO

Yeah

The fire roars.

LEO

Alright. Draw. High card wins. You shuffle.

NICK

Okay.

He draws a two.

LEO

Well, that settles it.

NICK

Not necessarily. Draw. Two of hearts is high.

Leo draws a card.

LEO

King.

LUCIFER

That’s settled. Go on. Pick a book.

They pounce on the pile of books. Another fight ensues.

LEO

STOP. If we don’t we’re going to fight forever. That’s what he wants. This isn’t purgatory. This is Hell. I couldn’t stand a week here, much less eternity.

ALEX

He’s right.

DION

So you have a solution? What, may I ask is your solution?

LEO

It doesn’t make sense for us to grab two books and go. Someone will get two salvations and the rest of us are fucked. We’ve got to have a plan. Maybe if we figure out why we’re here….

ALEX

On hold.

LEO

So to speak.

NICK

I’m listening.

DION

I don’t know. I’m not like you guys. I’m a fag. I was damned from the start.

LEO

That’s crap. There’s nothing wrong about being gay.

DION

Tell that to my old man. It’s his fault I’m gay.

ALEX

Go on. Tell us your story.

DION

I’m Dion. I was raised Catholic. I was the youngest of four kids and I was an accident. My father didn’t want anymore kids. He was a brute. There wasn’t room in the house for a nursery but there was a large closet in the master bedroom. That’s where I slept until I was ten years old and my brother, Paul, left for college. When I was very young the closet was fine. It was close to my mother. She’d sing me to sleep before my father came up to bed. Or she’d let me sleep between the two of them when I was frightened by a thunder storm or sick. But that stopped. I wet the bed one night and my father took me out and whipped my behind. That was the last time I slept with them. After that I had a hard time sleeping. I’d lie awake all night. Sometimes in the middle of the night I’d hear mom and dad making noises like animals. The bed rock. I was afraid that my father was hurting mom. I asked her one day when I was I was six years old. We were shopping for school supplies. My mom started crying. “My baby’s growing up.” It was humiliating. In the car on the way home I asked if I could move in to my brother’s room. “No,” mom said. “Paul needs his space. He has to study. He’s going to go to become a priest and make us all proud. “Maybe Christina and Marie could share a room until Paul leaves.” What’s this about?” Mom asked. “I hear things at night when I’m in the closet. Does he hurt you mom? What does he do to you? I can make him stop. Or I’ll tell Paul.” “Oh for heaven’s sake, Dion. That’s just mommy and daddy giving each other pleasure.” “Pleasure? It doesn’t sound like pleasure. He’s all big and hairy.” “You watched? You little pervert!” I got a whipping for that. I sneaked out and went to Saint James. I told father Mark. He comforted me. I swear, that’s all he did. I got home late and got another whipping.

The next day my teacher, Father Xavier, saw my black eye and busted lip. He called me in and asked me what happened. I didn’t say anything. What good would it have done? I had to live under my parent’s roof and I had to sleep in the closet. I started spending a lot of time at church. Father Xavier was so great. He called my mother and asked her to come in for a meeting. Mom cried a lot and promised to protect me. She said she couldn’t leave my dad. She had no money. No place to go. What would happen to the family? What family? Father Xavier said under his breath. But mom told dad and said he’d better leave me alone. She moved the girls into the larger of the bedrooms. I got a room of my own. But dad had only paused to catch his breath. A few months later he really lit into me. Father Mark walked me home. He wanted to talk to dad about having me sent away to school. I was scared. Father Mark hugged me, and kissed my head. Let’s get this over with, he said. Dad saw us hugging. He called Father Mark a pervert. He started punching. He was drunk and a lousy fighter. Father Mark warded off the blows. But one connected. Father Mark’s nose spurted with blood. Father Mark lost his temper. He knocked my dad flat. It was so great. The next day my dad took me to the Bishop at St. James. He told Bishop Thomas that Father Mark was a pervert. “Look what he did to my son.” He showed the Bishop the black eye. And that’s not all. “I’m going to take Dion to the police and have them give him a full examination. It’s on your head if they find my boy’s been buggered.” “No, I cried. Dad’s lying. Father Mark didn’t touch me. It was my father. He did it. Don’t listen to him, my father said.” “Father Mark’s a pervert. Rotten to the core, just like the rest of your damned church.. I’m taking Dion home.. Well get things settled.” Dad beat me. He said he’d have Father Mark arrested if I didn’t go along with the story. I didn’t know what to do.

We went back to St. James’s the next day. Dad said he was going to sue the church. “Go ahead, “he shouted at me.” Tell what Father Mark did. I couldn’t speak. I couldn’t get anything out. “See? said my dad. He’s so scared he can’t even talk.” The bishop sighed. He called for Father Mark to come into the office and told him what was up. Father Mark was crushed. I should have said something. I should have gone back and told the Bishop the truth. Something. I was too scared of my father and too humiliated. About a month later a little girl accused a priest in the next parish of fondling her. The shit hit the fan. Word got out about my dad’s allegations…. Father Mark was sent away. The stories kept growing. They followed him around from parish to parish. I was old enough to do something. I discovered I loved men. I was literally out of the closet. I had a lover and was making was making my way as an artist. I heard on the news that Father Mark shot himself in St. Mark’s confession room. He had a little girl with him Her mother had just heard about the gossip against Father Mark. Something snapped in me when I heard the story. I got a gun. I hunted my bastard father down and I shot him point blank. Then I shot myself.

LEO

Horrible. How sad.

ALEX

Oh come on. We’ve heard that story over and over. Poor little faggot.

NICK

Yeah. Another “bad mommy” story. You make me sick.

DION

Fuck you.

NICK

You ain’t got the balls. I wouldn’t pack your shit for a million bucks. Life’s what you make of it.

DION

Yeah? I showed you mine. Now show me yours.

LEO

Yeah. You look like a cold son of a bitch. What brought you here?

NICK

Okay. At least you had a mother. And a father. I was dumped in a garbage can when I was born.

DION

Oh. Boo Hoo.

ALEX

Shut up.

NICK

I’m Nick. I was put up for adoption. No takers. I was passed from foster home to foster home. Each one was worst than the last. I never stayed more than two years. I grew up tough. Had to. I’m an observer. I watch and wait. Take opportunities where I find them and make the best of them. I started with nothing. I didn’t bother no one unless they bothered me. I’d have been good at basketball but when I got revved up I’d feel this anger. Anyone got in my way I knocked the shit out of them. I was a loner. By the time I was fourteen I had a long juvie sheet. All property crimes. When I was caught I’d play nice for the judge and the social workers. Kiss ass for a few weeks until they stopped bothering me. They were long gone before I picked up the next charge. That went on for a while. But I did well in school…. Ya see I had this one teacher. She was a silly little thing. Miss Molly. Molly was her last name. Reminded me of a rabbit. She was young. Not very pretty. To me she was a goddess. She kept on my ass. Put me on detention. Made me study. Gave me extra work. I had to use the library a lot and discovered I liked it. I was getting tired of the street. I skipped a grade. Molly got me all excited about goin’ to college. It’d been a year since I got into trouble. I loved her. I gave her a box of chocolate and card on Valentine’s day in my senior year and wrote I love you, Nick. She got all teary-eyed when she read the card. The group home where I lived was awful but the social worker helped me fill out applications to colleges and job opportunities. She was an Amazon. But pretty. Regal. Natasha. A couple o’ weeks after graduation I got an acceptance letter from Brown University. Shit. Ivy League. I was pumped up. There were some financial aid forms I didn’t understand. They had to be returned fast. Natasha wasn’t around. And I didn’t want the rats in my house to find out I was going to college. They would’ve ragged me big time. I knew Ms. Molly’s phone number – got it from her employment records a couple ‘a years ago. So I called her. I told her About Brown. She was thrilled. Didn’t ask how I got her number. She wanted to take me out to dinner to celebrate after we finished the forms. I wished we’d ordered pizza. We went to an Italian restaurant. She had a glass of wine with her spaghetti. I drank Coke. The food was great. At least for me. I’d never been inside a nice restaurant. Just our luck there was another teacher. Mr. Williams, at the restaurant. He came over and say hello. Low life bastard. Molly was terrified – sure she was going to lose her job. I tried to reassure her but what did I know anyway? She was crying when we left the restaurant. We’d taken the subway to the restaurant. We split up. She didn’t want me to ride home with her. Anyway, on the way home she was mugged and raped. I don’t know how the news spread. But I found out she was in the hospital. I went to see her. Brought her flowers. She was a mess but all smiles. I passed Mr. fucking Williams on my way out. What a smug bastard. He told the school board I was “seeing” Ms. Molly. There was a huge stink but it was resolved. Molly kept her job. A couple of the home boys got wind of the story. They said If I could do her why couldn’t they? I tried to warn Ms. Molly but part of the deal with the school board was that we stayed away from each other. The hommies followed her the Friday nigh before I was supposed to start Brown. They rapped her. She died. I went crazy when I found out. I went after the brothers. Almost beat the first one to death. The other one left town. But it was too late for me. I was sure I was going to prison for life. I refused to plead guilty. I wanted the jury to hear the whole sorry mess. I was found guilty but at sentencing the judge gave me a choice. In light of my record I could join the military or spend ten to life in jail. I ended up in the Navy Seals. Did real well. The CIA got interested in me. They trained me to kill. I was good at my job. Very good. Finally I was tired of the killing. My last assignment was to hit the head of a drug lord in Bogotá. Who shows up as his body guard? The other brother who’d raped Ms. Molly. I knew it was fate. I could get my vengeance. The drug lord was a clean kill but I took my time on the brother. The CIA found out and called my beyond redemption. I didn’t last a year. Sniper got me. So here I am. What do you think? Am I beyond redemption?

LEO

You did what you had to do. No use complaining. Mother fucker had it coming. That’s what I think. You’re more likely than the bastards that run the “Company” to be redeemed.

NICK

I dunno, I dunno. So what’s your story?

LEO

I’m Leo. I’m a biochemist. I’m also a magician, but I do that on the side. Kids shows, parties. That kind of thing. I was total geek in school. I was about 5’8 I junior high. Thick glasses. Crappy clothes. I couldn’t see anything if it wasn’t under a microscope. My parents were thrilled. IQ through the roof. Another Mensa in the family. They didn’t give a damn if I was happy or hungry or lonesome or hurt. They wanted a Nobel Prize winner. All I wanted to be was a superhero. I wanted to have power. Fly. Have chicks a least give me more than a scornful glance. I met very nice, older cousin the summer between junior high and high school , Jenny. She wasn’t brainy but she was very well endowed. [he pats his chest] I learned a lot that summer. I blasted through high school in two years. Went to MIT on a full scholarship. I also grew a few inches and filled out. Everything fell into place. I had a different woman in my bed every night. I got my PhD. when I was twenty-four. I didn’t care as much for the science as for the power. I needed something great. Patentable. Marketable. I incorporated myself. Wrote a lot grant proposals. Everyone wanted me. The NSA; the CIA; the FBI; Interpol; corporations. I was all set to join a small biochemical research lab in California that had the potential for huge Department of Defense contracts when I was invited to a family reunion. A gaggle of geniuses, my mother said. I was hoping to see Jenny. She wasn’t there. No one would even talk about her. But I overheard a conversation between my mother and one of my aunts. Not Jenny’s mother. I learned that Jenny was living in Toronto with “that little monster” she gave birth to. “It looks like an alien,” my mother giggled. “Why on earth did she keep it? Ruined her life. Can you imagine what the freak the father must have been? She probably met him at a carnival. Jenny gave it up to anyone how looked at her twice.” “What are you are you talking about? I asked. “You remember Jenny,” my aunt said. “You panted after her the whole summer you were 15. Remember? I’m surprised she didn’t give you a tumble or two.” You sure wanted it.” “I was furious. “You heartless fucking bitches. That’s my child. Mine” My mother almost had a stroke. It would have served her right. “Where is she?” “Now Leo. You don’t want to get involved in that mess. You have too much going for you. Let the past be the past.” “No. I want to see her. If there’s anything I can do, I’ll do it.”

She was living in a horrible shack. The baby was four years old. It had something called ‘Cat Syndrome’ because of the noises it made at birth. I couldn’t bare looking at it but Jenny loved it. She was half out of her mind. She called it Leo. Maybe it would have died in a few weeks if I hadn’t shown up. They don’t live long. But Jenny couldn’t take care of it any more. I didn’t know what to do. I did some research. Found there was a possibility that the baby could be “adopted.” I knew what that meant. Illegal medical research. So I did what had to be done. I sedated Jenny. When she fell asleep I took the baby outside and twisted it’s neck. Just like a little kitten. I put the body in the freezer, got Jenny to a hospital for long term care. When she woke up she was broken hearted. All she would say is where’s little Leo? Where’s my baby?” She cried and cried. She didn’t know me. After I left I went back to the trailer, wrapped the baby up properly. Then I set the trailer on fire. Left and never looked back. I visited Jenny in the beginning. She never recognized me. I still went time to time but less and less. I threw myself into work. Made a shit load of money. Left a string of women behind. Didn’t matter. About ten years later I went to see Jenny. She was an old crone. A hag. I had her discharged. Ran the car off a bridge on the way home.

ALEX

There seems to be a thread of similarity to our stories.

NICK

You think? I don’t know about you all but I’m getting tired of this drivel.

ALEX

You had your say. Shut up. It’s my turn. I’m Alexander Lord.

NICK

A fucking Lord. If you’re a lord why don’t you get us out of this place? I’d like to kill….

ALEX

You can’t kill me so would you please shut the fuck up?

NICK

I’d like to get my hands around Lucifer’s little neck.

ALEX

Lot of good that would do us. Sit down and listen. Maybe you’ll learn something.

ALEX

Like I said. I’m Alexander Lord. Friends call me Alex. I’m a military brat. My father was a career Army Officer. He went from 1st lieutenant to General in 15 years. My mother was a housewife. I had two younger brothers. Troy and Ike. We bounced from base to base and school to school my entire childhood. God what an anal retentive, hard nosed bastard my dad was. “Nothing shapes a man like the military. He was Captain of his platoon in Viet Nam. I’m surprised the enlisted men didn’t fragg his ass. I researched his career and learned he put flank after flank after flank in harms way for the sake of a few hills. He lost more men than any other officer in the Army. He came home from the war mean and bitter but he was a good politician. He married a General’s daughter. That clinched him for promotion. I was born in 1970 – an accident between tours of duty. My brothers were born later. 1976 and 1978. When my father was home the house was spotless and we towed the line. Out of order meant strict discipline. He did white glove inspections. If my mother fell short he beat the crap out of her. Same with us. SOP. I had it drummed into me that I was meant to be a soldier. Not a fucking chance. I watched people and learned to sense their emotions. If I knew how they felt I could manipulate them. I was an angry kid but I saw how destructive anger was. I studied The Art of War, Mien Kampft. Anything I could lay my hands to learn how to have power. I played chess, learned Japanese and German. Studied martial arts I refused to strike out at my father. He taunted me. Called me a pussy and a wuss. I didn’t fucking care. I was short. Five foot nine. My father took this a personal insult from God. You’ll never make it in the ranks,” he said. You’re too scrawny. I bided my time. Meanwhile I was having the time of my life. Women sense power. It has it’s own perfume. I got a full scholarship to Yale. A year at Oxford. Then Harvard Law. I met an extraordinary woman in law school, Rachael. She was a radical feminist. A martyr for the masses she called herself. We could argue for hours about anything. She was beautiful. An inch taller than me. She loved it. Called me Napoleon. Business came first of course, but I was in love. The first time we made love I was startled to learn she had a prosthetic left leg. She asked me if I was disgusted. Not disgusted. Surprised. We could make love for hours in her funny, little loft apartment. I got picked by a big defense lobbying firm in DC. It was perfect for my career. Rachael got an offer at a banking firm in Manhattan. My firm brokered massive defense department contracts. I had a high level security clearance. Rachael visited me a few times in DC. Of course I never took documents home. We were in love. Rachael convinced me to pull some strings and get her a job in the Department of Defense. It worked out perfectly. But Rachael got pregnant. She was furious. She wanted to have an abortion. I refused. “What about my career. How can I take care of a baby when I work 14 hours a day.?” “It was your choice to come to DC.” “I know. But I’m stifling. You’re the big Dick. You want the baby, you take care of it.”