you! I want your opinion.
DOREL
All right.
DAVID
What?!
DOREL
I said, “All right.” What do you want to know?
DAVID
How come you wouldn’t talk to me earlier?
DOREL
I could only talk if you ordered me to. This is the first time you have.
DAVID
What are you—really?
DOREL
I was a physician he’d trained in early 19th-century Kentucky. Name’s Don Lautel. I did something he didn’t like. Manufactured and sold a patent medicine—Laurel’s Bleafage Tonic.
DAVID
Must have helped some people he didn’t want helped.
DOREL
Aye, and maybe a few horses, too.
DAVID
I just saved someone he didn’t want saved.
DOREL
I don’t know what to tell you—except that I was arrogant and insolent when he confronted me concerning the medicine, and I wound up as transportation. You might to try a different tack.
DAVID
Thanks.
(He plucks a quarter from under the headlight and flips it.)
Tails. I will.
Lights fade, come up on DAVID’S apartment. MORRIE enters.
DAVID
Care for a cup of tea?
MORRIE
David, how could you? I’ve been good to you, haven’t I? How could you go against my express wishes that way?
MORRIE
{SONG: “BETRAYED”}
Betrayed!
In learning the feelings, one by one,
Betrayed’s not a good thing to know.
I trusted the kid and look what he did:
He saved a man I wanted dead.
It’s sure to go to his head,
Not the way I wanted things to go.
I’m mad right now.
He’s got to learn
That I say who shall die or live.
Though I made a vow, I’m doing a burn
That makes it hard to forgive.
I’ll have to speak with him.
I want this thing set right.
If it goes to his head
And he raises the dead
We’re heading for a fight.
Though David’s my godson
Who taught me to care
Betrayed’s not a good thing to know,
And it’s there, and it’s there, now it’s there!
Betrayed’s not a good thing to know.
DAVID
I’m sorry, Morrie. I did it because I felt sorry for the guy—starting off with such a great year in office, particularly those health care programs, putting all those fat cat business interests in their place, and being taken out of the game so suddenly. And—well, I used to date his daughter. She’s the one you made me break up with years ago. I still like her, as a matter of fact. That’s why I did it.
MORRIE
(squeezes DAVID’s shoulder)
David, you’re a good-hearted boy. It’s hard to fault a man for compassion, but in my line ofwork it can be a liability. You’re going to have to be ruled by your head, not your heart, when you’re working my cases, you understand?
DAVID
Yes, Morrie.
MORRIE
Okay. Let’s have a cup of tea and talk football.
Lights fade, come up on the same scene. MORRIE is no longer onstage. The phone rings, DAVID answers it.
DAVID
Hello? Oh, yes! How are you feeling, Governor?
CAISSON (O.S.)
Fine, and I know l owe you a lot, but that’s not why I’m calling.
DAVID
Emergency?
CAISSON
That’s right. It’s Betty, and from what Puleo told me about my seizure this sounds like the same thing. He didn’t say anything about it being contagious.
DAVID
I’ll be right over.
CAISSON
Should I call an ambulance?
DAVID
No.
(Hangs up, gets his medical kit, goes to DOREL.)
Betty’s got the same thing her dad did.
DOREL
What are you going to do?
DAVID
You know what I’m going to do.
DOREL
I was afraid of that.
ACT III
SCENE 1
{THEME: “REMEMBERING”}
BETTY’S bedroom. BETTY lies unconscious in the bed. DAVID is checking her over as MORRIE enters the room and stands at the foot of the bed. DAVID draws medicine from a vial into a syringe, then turns BETTY around so that MORRIE is standing by her head.
MORRIE
David, I forbid it!
DAVID
Sorry, Morrie.
He administers the injection. BETTY opens her eyes. DAVID leans down and kisses her. MORRIE reaches over and grips DAVID’s shoulder.
MORRIE
Me, too.
{THEME: “BETRAYED”}
Lights fade, come up on cave as MORRIE leads DAVID through a tunnel lined with candles, and into his office. DAVID notices
DOREL
All right.
DAVID
What?!
DOREL
I said, “All right.” What do you want to know?
DAVID
How come you wouldn’t talk to me earlier?
DOREL
I could only talk if you ordered me to. This is the first time you have.
DAVID
What are you—really?
DOREL
I was a physician he’d trained in early 19th-century Kentucky. Name’s Don Lautel. I did something he didn’t like. Manufactured and sold a patent medicine—Laurel’s Bleafage Tonic.
DAVID
Must have helped some people he didn’t want helped.
DOREL
Aye, and maybe a few horses, too.
DAVID
I just saved someone he didn’t want saved.
DOREL
I don’t know what to tell you—except that I was arrogant and insolent when he confronted me concerning the medicine, and I wound up as transportation. You might to try a different tack.
DAVID
Thanks.
(He plucks a quarter from under the headlight and flips it.)
Tails. I will.
Lights fade, come up on DAVID’S apartment. MORRIE enters.
DAVID
Care for a cup of tea?
MORRIE
David, how could you? I’ve been good to you, haven’t I? How could you go against my express wishes that way?
MORRIE
{SONG: “BETRAYED”}
Betrayed!
In learning the feelings, one by one,
Betrayed’s not a good thing to know.
I trusted the kid and look what he did:
He saved a man I wanted dead.
It’s sure to go to his head,
Not the way I wanted things to go.
I’m mad right now.
He’s got to learn
That I say who shall die or live.
Though I made a vow, I’m doing a burn
That makes it hard to forgive.
I’ll have to speak with him.
I want this thing set right.
If it goes to his head
And he raises the dead
We’re heading for a fight.
Though David’s my godson
Who taught me to care
Betrayed’s not a good thing to know,
And it’s there, and it’s there, now it’s there!
Betrayed’s not a good thing to know.
DAVID
I’m sorry, Morrie. I did it because I felt sorry for the guy—starting off with such a great year in office, particularly those health care programs, putting all those fat cat business interests in their place, and being taken out of the game so suddenly. And—well, I used to date his daughter. She’s the one you made me break up with years ago. I still like her, as a matter of fact. That’s why I did it.
MORRIE
(squeezes DAVID’s shoulder)
David, you’re a good-hearted boy. It’s hard to fault a man for compassion, but in my line ofwork it can be a liability. You’re going to have to be ruled by your head, not your heart, when you’re working my cases, you understand?
DAVID
Yes, Morrie.
MORRIE
Okay. Let’s have a cup of tea and talk football.
Lights fade, come up on the same scene. MORRIE is no longer onstage. The phone rings, DAVID answers it.
DAVID
Hello? Oh, yes! How are you feeling, Governor?
CAISSON (O.S.)
Fine, and I know l owe you a lot, but that’s not why I’m calling.
DAVID
Emergency?
CAISSON
That’s right. It’s Betty, and from what Puleo told me about my seizure this sounds like the same thing. He didn’t say anything about it being contagious.
DAVID
I’ll be right over.
CAISSON
Should I call an ambulance?
DAVID
No.
(Hangs up, gets his medical kit, goes to DOREL.)
Betty’s got the same thing her dad did.
DOREL
What are you going to do?
DAVID
You know what I’m going to do.
DOREL
I was afraid of that.
ACT III
SCENE 1
{THEME: “REMEMBERING”}
BETTY’S bedroom. BETTY lies unconscious in the bed. DAVID is checking her over as MORRIE enters the room and stands at the foot of the bed. DAVID draws medicine from a vial into a syringe, then turns BETTY around so that MORRIE is standing by her head.
MORRIE
David, I forbid it!
DAVID
Sorry, Morrie.
He administers the injection. BETTY opens her eyes. DAVID leans down and kisses her. MORRIE reaches over and grips DAVID’s shoulder.
MORRIE
Me, too.
{THEME: “BETRAYED”}
Lights fade, come up on cave as MORRIE leads DAVID through a tunnel lined with candles, and into his office. DAVID notices
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