The Happiest Song Plays Last by Quiara Alegría Hudes

Author:Quiara Alegría Hudes [Hudes, Quiara Alegría]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781559367721
Publisher: Theatre Communications Group

(Yaz finds a little tin, offers it to Agustín.)

Tic Tac?

AGUSTÍN: Gracias.

(He takes one.)

I haven’t played like that since, imagínate, since we marched on the nation’s capital. You, me, Elliot, his mom singing boleros to Bill Clinton! All them whites and blacks and chinos marching at our side for the Boricua cause, telling me, “Man I ain’t never heard music like that.” I said, “Oye, the songs are pretty but make no mistake. Each song is a revolutionary song. Each song is a protest. A declaration of what belongs to us!”

YAZ: You know what I realized about the cuatro tonight? It’s an outlet for the men. You can make a string quiver like laughter but you can also make it moan like crying. It’s the one acceptable way a Puerto Rican man can cry.

AGUSTÍN: I’m holding a funeral for this beautiful instrument. The only woman I ever loved . . .

YAZ: It looks like you played baseball with this thing.

AGUSTÍN: Someone must have sat on her or stepped on her.

YAZ: I’ll order you a new one from Puerto Rico. That’s how I’ll pay you for playing all night.

AGUSTÍN: I’m too old to start over. A new cuatro won’t have the memories.

YAZ: I bet there’s old ones on eBay.

AGUSTÍN: A dinosaur like me can’t last much longer.

YAZ: Well. A consolation prize.

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