The Bootlegger Blues Read Free Page A

music.
    ANDREW:
    I love it.
    ANGIE:
    How can you love music about falling off bar stools and ( In a twang ) cheatin' on your woman?
    ANDREW:
    You've got a lot to learn about reserve life, Angie White.
    ANGIE:
    Tell me about it. I've been here all day watching the dancers strutting their stuff. Only I'm not quite sure what stuff it is that they're strutting. They don't show this kind of dancing on "Much Music." I don't know anything about this stuff — I wouldn't know a snake dance if it bit me. And a round dance, what the hell is that?
    ANDREW:
    ( Teasing ) That's when everybody who's around dances.
    ANGIE:
    Oh, and why do the drummers drum on the ground?
    ANDREW:
    Because they can't fly.
    ANGIE:
    You're making fun of me. Quit it. It's hard enough around here without you teasing me.
    ANDREW:
    Listen, I'll give you some advice. The entire philosophy of this whole reserve can be boiled down into three letters of the alphabet, B.L.T.
    ANGIE:
    B.L.T.?
    ANDREW:
    Bingo, liquor, and tournaments.
    Uttering a brief scream, Angie darts into Andrew's arms.
    ANDREW:
    It's only a snake.
    ANGIE:
    I know that. I watched "Wild Kingdom." I just hate these bush things. They scare me to death. And all the noises, you should see me at night sometime. I'm walking down the roads and I'll hear a bush rustle or a tree creak. Bang, I'm in the nearest doorway so fast I'd run over rabbits.
    ANDREW:
    I noticed your legs. Well, here's your house. I used to play in your backyard when I was young.
    ANGIE:
    I bet you'd still like to.
    ANDREW:
    Uh, so do you want to get together later and do something? The reserve doesn't have to be as boring as you may think.
    ANGIE:
    Sounds great. (Pause) Oh I can't, not tonight. My mother has some friends staying over from the powwow. I have to hang around, cook, entertain, all that sort of stuff.
    ANDREW:
    No way of getting out of it?
    ANGIE:
    Can't. Promised my mom.
    ANDREW:
    Later?
    ANGIE:
    Sorry.
    ANDREW:
    When?
    ANGIE:
    Tomorrow?
    ANDREW:
    Tomorrow?!
    ANGIE:
    Yep.
    ANDREW:
    Okay.
    ANGIE:
    When?
    ANDREW:
    Breakfast?
    ANGIE:
    Yum.
    ANDREW:
    Tomorrow.
    ANGIE:
    Bye.
    ANDREW:
    Bye.
    They walk backwards a bit, not wanting to go. Then they turn to leave.
    ANDREW:
    And it's not even my birthday.
    ANGIE:
    And suddenly it's Christmas.
    He walks off singing 'Angie" by the Rolling Stones.

SCENE 6
    Martha walks into the kitchen in her house. The kitchen is quite homey and clean, a kitchen a mother could be proud of (and she is). On the table is a bunch of receipts along with a cash box. Martha storms across the room, obviously not too happy. She sits down at the table and looks through all the bills and receipts.
    MARTHA:
    That'll teach me! Yep, it surely will. Never again will I use the Devil's tools to profit the Lord. (Sadly) I'll even give up bingo.
    Andrew comes in the room loudly announcing his presence.
    ANDREW:
    What's on the stove, Mom? I'm hungry enough to eat a Mohawk, funny haircut and all.
    MARTHA:
    Oh behave you, I brought some food home from the Center. Mudbin. [Sit down.] Fix yourself something.
    Andrew grabs a sandwich from a box on the table.
    ANDREW:
    Thanks Mom, worked up quite the appetite.
    MARTHA:
    Doing what?
    ANDREW:
    Walking with Angie. Angie White.
    MARTHA:
    That's nice. Cousins should get to know each other.
    ANDREW:
    Cousins!! We're cousins?!
    MARTHA:
    Uh huh.
    ANDREW:
    You sure?
    MARTHA:
    Oh yes, you see my uncle on my mother's side used to be married to a certain Wilhimena George before she went crazy and tried to eat her cat. They had a child, I believe his name was Celestin. He was well known for his fondness for ladies and he ended up fathering a child out of wedlock with a young lady named Clyde.
    ANDREW:
    Clyde?!
    MARTHA:
    Her father had a peculiar sense of humor. Any-ways, they didn't last long and if I remember correctly, Angie had a great-cousin, I think on her father's side, named Ben but everybody called him Boney, because the man was a living rack of bones. You could play "Amazing