Leopoldville by Jaki McCarrick

Author:Jaki McCarrick
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2015-10-01T00:00:00+00:00

MIKEY I’ve a job.

JOE Listen to the milky bar kid. Clearin’ out horse-shite’s not a job.

PRENTICE (to MANSFIELD ) Your mother checked out of yer life quick enough, didn’t she? Must have known the misery she’d given birth ta.

MANSFIELD Keeping up with the likes of you was what was wrong with her, Mr. Black. Made her sick. That’s all she ‘checked out’ for. Keeping up with the Jones’ and the flashing-their-cash-in-the-middle-of-a-fucking-recession Prentice Blacks of this town.

PRENTICE Was always unhappy. Like she was suckin’ a lemon most days. Now I know why.

MANSFIELD Every unhappy family is unhappy in its own way.

PRENTICE Who said that?

MANSFIELD Tolstoy.

JOE That’s you lanky.

MIKEY It’s the writer he’s named after, dipshit.

PRENTICE Well she deserved better ‘n you with your thug Grange buddies, tell ya that. Came from a good family she did. Lovely people. Genteel. Bad day she met your father. He’d a driven anyone to it.

DEVLIN Now that’s not nice talk, is it Mr. Black? Poor Mansfield. No more Ma. How would you like it, huh? Your darlin’ Ma foun’ swingin’ from the ceilin’ by her own shoelaces.

DEVLIN has now brought all attention back to himself. Long pause. Lights up a cigarette, walks up to PRENTICE in the chair.

The Congo. Why’d you go callin’ the place a strange fucken name the like a that, huh? After some far-off land in Africa.

MIKEY Because it’s dark and full of blood-suckin’ insects in here, that’s why.

DEVLIN Come on, Prentice. Talk.

MANSFIELD He was out there. That’s why.

DEVLIN So he says.

JOE Shoulda stayed.

PRENTICE How could I stay there? Place erupted. That was that.

DEVLIN Doin’ what in Africa exactly?

Pause.

PRENTICE Excavating.

MIKEY Were ya one of those ‘archaeologist’ fellas?

JOE (to MIKEY ) Ya swatty bastard.

MANSFIELD He raped the place of diamonds and gold. Isn’t that right, Mr. Black?

PRENTICE What I traded in! It was my job! Company I worked for were – excavating – or – if you prefer, mining. Copper, tin, diamonds. Then we were trading. When war broke, it broke big-time. Belgians realised what they’d given away, see: all that fucking wealth. King Leopold, he’s the one started it all, last century. Made the Congo his private little cash cow, sucking up all that wealth ta build Brussels. Anyway. Time I was there they decided to give it back. The Belgians. Until the likes of De Beers and Union Miniere started breathin’ down their necks. Well, it looked like they were goin’ back on the deal. And it didn’t go down too well with the natives. They went ape-shit. Tribe on tribe. Kinda like here with the civil war. Same old shit, ya know. Anyway… I came back here in ‘62. But what had changed? Not much fucken better. Few years later: Sunningdale, soldiers on the border, scumbags like you. I had Republican sympathies in the early days. Sure me and Jonah were. (beat) Ah… to answer your question: when I opened this place I wanted to remind people of how easy it is to lose what ya have. The name – was a symbol of all that for me.

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