THE TAPE (love gone sour)

DRAMATIS PERSONAE:-
Tinuke Fallon
Ezugo Anobi
Jack
Moji Fallon
Mrs. Fallon
Mr. Fallon
Funke
Yakubu
Aneze Anobi
Ajoke
BARTENDER

PROLOGUE

(JACK goes towards the centre of the stage and picks up the phone from the table situated there.  He dials a couple of numbers.)

JACK: Alright then, did you bring it? … I don’t care.  Just send me the tape … Look, I don’t want to hear about your problems … Just set up a meeting between me and the agent … You had better, or I’ll see to it that your name ends up with the Vice … For God’s sake, are you deaf? … No.  No.  I want Tinuke Fallon out of this.  You got that? (hangs up the phone and exits)

Curtains

Act One, Scene One

(EZUGO’S room: A table with its chair opposite the unkempt bed, a half-glass of whisky without its bottle on the bedside, two washed-out portraits in near-collapse on the wall facing the bed.  EZUGO comes out from the toilet and drops on his bed in exhaustion.  A knock comes from the entrance door.  At EZUGO’S “Come in”, the door opens to receive TINUKE.  On seeing her, EZUGO hisses and lies back down.)

TINUKE: I can see you aren’t ready yet.  (EZUGO sits on his bed and rubs his face with his hands.  TINUKE goes to sit on the bed with him.) Remember when you said that you wanted a girl of your dreams?  Do you remember, Ezy?  Well, it is the girl that is sitting right next to you now.  She’s the one who loves you, with all her heart.  And I want to marry you, Ezugo.  (At this, EZUGO gets up from the bed, exasperated and walks away from her.) Tell me you’re disappointed.  Tell me that you’re angry.  But please say you’ll marry me. (gets up as well)

EZUGO: (turns and shakes his head) It’s just not possible.

TINUKE: Please don’t say that.

EZUGO: I loved you.

TINUKE: It can’t be over.  It can’t be.

EZUGO: I still love you.  (pauses and blinks his eyes in disbelief) In fact, the most craziest thing of all is that I’ll always love you.

TINUKE: (desperately) And I love you.

EZUGO: It is too late.  You come in here and you say that you want to marry me when I don’t even know who you are.

TINUKE: Then tell me who I’ll be, and I’ll be it.  (EZUGO scratches his head in confusion.) All those times that I said I loved you and want to marry you, I was saying the truth.

EZUGO: (angrily) Now how do you expect me to believe that, eh?  You lied about this.  You could lie about anything.

(A relative pause.)

TINUKE: But…but Ezy, we had dreams.  We had plans.  (A poignant, pregnant pause) You told me I was the only girl you ever loved.

EZUGO: (sincerely) You were.

TINUKE: Can’t you find it in your heart to forgive me?

EZUGO: Forgive you?  How the hell am I suppose to forgive you?  I don’t even know you.

TINUKE: That’s not true.  You’re the only man who ever knew me.  All those other men were…

EZUGO: …were customers, right?  Is that not the word for it?

TINUKE: Yes.  You’re right.  Customers.  And do you want to know why?  Because you don’t want to know them.  And they don’t want to know you.  You’re different from them.  They can never be like you, Ezy.

EZUGO: I cannot trust you anymore, Tinuke.  You have been lying to me from the first moment we’ve been together.

TINUKE: (starts to cry) That’s not true.  I came to tell you the truth.

EZUGO: You came here today because of that videotape.

TINUKE: (shocked) O God!  You have a copy, too?  I didn’t know about this, I swear.  I didn’t know you had a copy.

EZUGO: But you knew I would see it sooner or later, though.  One day, I was going to watch that tape, Tinuke.

TINUKE: A copy was sent to me, but I kept it aside to destroy it later.  But it didn’t mean anything to me.  The people who sent it were only trying to scare me.

EZUGO: So you did come because of that videotape.

TINUKE: I came because I love you.  And I didn’t want you to marry me without knowing the truth.

EZUGO: (angrily) Why did you have to wait until two hours before we were supposed to get married?  Why didn’t you tell me this six months ago?  Why did you let me find out like this?

TINUKE: Because I was scared.  Can’t you see that I was just scared?  It happened a long time ago.  I didn’t want to drag you into it.

EZUGO: Drag me?  I wasn’t worthy enough to know?  You know, honesty isn’t something you choose because you feel like it.  You can’t be honest about one part of your life and not about the other part. (pause) All those nights I held you in my arms, you said to me, “Oh Ezy, I have never felt like this before.”

TINUKE: (sobbing) It’s true.  I have never felt like that with any man.

EZUGO: And why?  Why is that?  Because there were too many of them to remember.

TINUKE: Please, don’t be mean.

EZUGO: All those times that you wouldn’t even let me kiss you, you must’ve been laughing at me on the inside, ah. (pause) As my woman, I have the right, the sole right, to expect that you are going to be honest with me, the right to feel that I could trust you.

TINUKE: Please!  I swear that from now on you can trust me.  I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about myself a long time ago.  I should have told you.  Please forgive me!  You can trust me from now on.  Please, be my husband!

EZUGO: (shakes his head) No, Tinuke.  No.  I can’t trust you.  I don’t think I ever will be able to trust you again.  And I sure as hell cannot marry you. (pause) Better go.  I think I’ve said all I have to say.

(He turns his back to her.  TINUKE exits, crying.  After a moment, EZUGO walks to the bedside and picks up his drink.  He downs the drink, smashes the empty glass on the floor and weeps.)

Curtains
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