Patrick #2 calls from jail. He was picked up at a playground.
What the fuck were you doing at a playground? Mercy asks.
I was just swinging. I swear to god. It's a beautiful night. I wanted to clear my head.
But it wasn't even nighttime yet, families were still there, you looked like a creep.
But I'm fucking not obviously
I was just trying to clear my head
I mean Jesus Christ Mercy c'mon
seriously with all the shit that's
been going on, fuck man, I just
needed to clear my head
But you know the laws in the city man, you can't be at the playground without a kid or a family or something because you know you look like a creep. It would be less creepy if it were me because I'm a woman but dude you can't look at you
Patrick #2 has Carhartt overalls and a red and black plaid on underneath and steeltoe boots and a huge red beard and
you look like a psycho, I would call the police on you, too. I'm sorry, but, just, like, whatever, don't do it again, you're lucky they gave you a warning.
Wednesday, October 31, 2012
MERCY
Caroline calls Mercy and says you need to check this website, you need to check that website, you need to check out this and that website because there is some dirt on you, they are saying you have a sex tape! A sex tape! Pan to Caroline, hover above and her beautiful red lips lined with a dark pencil. It is snowing and Caroline and Mercy's favorite bar has just burned down. She is sad. She has been crying and her mascara has run because it does not matter the mascara her eyes are too watery, she shouldn't wear mascara in the first place. Caroline says in the mirror, yes, into her black sleek phone, yes, a sex tape, Caroline says, yes, a sex tape, that is what they are saying Mercy, do you have a sex tape, do you have one did you ever make one and with who who did you make a sex tape with?
Mercy says I don't know.
Mercy says I don't remember.
Mercy says I remember oh my god Patrick. Patrick. Patrick sold this tape.
The newspapers found out a week before that her father was ill. They have not stopped calling. They have not stopped showing up. There are lawyers now. Mercy says to Caroline, we have so many lawyers now, these people won't stop. Patrick told them that Jessica was sick, she says and now this. This sex tape.
You can retaliate. You know that you can, right, Mercy, Caroline says. You can fight this. I don't know where it is yet, it was released in the night so you know that there are about a thousand copies in the world now you know that right.
Mercy says I don't know.
Mercy says I don't remember.
Mercy says I remember oh my god Patrick. Patrick. Patrick sold this tape.
The newspapers found out a week before that her father was ill. They have not stopped calling. They have not stopped showing up. There are lawyers now. Mercy says to Caroline, we have so many lawyers now, these people won't stop. Patrick told them that Jessica was sick, she says and now this. This sex tape.
You can retaliate. You know that you can, right, Mercy, Caroline says. You can fight this. I don't know where it is yet, it was released in the night so you know that there are about a thousand copies in the world now you know that right.
MERCY
Patrick #1 and Mercy take their last trip together ever to New Orleans.
Patrick #1 begins drinking at the Detroit airport at 11am at a sports bar with oversized chairs with slits in them showing their orange hard stuffing. He is drinking vodka neat, double, many.
On the plane, he orders a gin & tonic. He orders another.
On the way out of the airport, he stops at a ratty bar on the outskirts of the airport. He orders a Miller Light.
He asks the cab on the way into the city to stop at a gas station. He buys several mini-shots of rum and a diet ginger ale. He shoots all the shots and finishes the ginger ale by the time they get to the hotel.
He heads to the bar and they sit, he and Mercy and take in the fake gold interior and marble countertops and the pillars and stained glass on the ceiling, the fountains, Patrick's father had gotten them a tremendous deal for the weekend, huge room, sprawling, 30th floor. They are drinking dirty martinis.
It is dinnertime already. They find a restruant close because they will be going out, as far as they are concerned in this moment, for every single meal for the next few days and they have it all planned out so they want to stay in the Quarter, they want to stay close so they find an American food place, not a diner, but something close to it, and he orders a steak and she orders a chicken sandwich and they drink "high gravity" beer as it says on the menu and they drink many beers and Mercy does not eat the chicken sandwich because she does not eat right now.
They take a walk and go down Bourbon Street and each buy two "BIG ASS BEERS" from the vendors and drink them in front of the Christians with their signs boycotting the debauchery around them. Fuck the gays! the signs say. Fuck the aborters! Fuck the Jews! Fuck drinking drugs and sex!
This entire day they have not said a word to each other. Here is a scene where they are sitting next to each other. Across from each other. In the closest of proximities. Here they are holding hands, they are sliding into each other's sides, they are slinking, they are holding each other up. They are not saying a word or at least any words that matter. What have they talked about this whole time? Mercy cannot even begin to fathom.
Here are the words. They come so quickly now. Patrick #1 is telling Mercy how he does not love her and how he wants to be with me and how he is going to hook up with somebody tonight and Mercy you are the only person I have ever loved and I cannot love you because Mercy, I am gay, Mercy, do you believe me, no, no
he is up in her face now
no, no, Mercy, you do not believe me but you must know, I cannot have sex with you anymore, I'm sorry but its over, we cannot be together like this because it does not make sense and it does not work and I'm sorry Mercy but I am better than you, OK, do you know that I am just better than you in every single way you must know that that I can't tell people that we're hooking up or that we're in love or whatever because I am embarrassed of you, Mercy, don't you see, you are embarrassing me
and here is where it gets weird
Mercy, I'm a fugitive, I'm a fugitive Mercy, don't you see, I'm a fugitive Mercy, don't see you, I'm on the run now, Mercy, I'm on the run, don't you see, I'm on the run, I have to go now, Mercy, I have to leave you, and I'm sorry but I have to go now because they are after me, don't you see, they are after us and I have go, I love, I'm on the run now, I'm a fugitive.
3:00 p.m the next day. Mercy is in the California King Size bed alone and she calls Patrick #1's phone repeatedly, 10, 20, 30 times and it goes to voicemail every time where is he where are you Patrick where you I'm worried where you please call or come back to the room.
A knock at the door.
A knock at the door that Mercy does not hear until the third, the fifth. It is the concerige. The concerige is holding him by the collar and saying in a thick jamacian accent dis man dis man jus showed up do'nstairs, dis man jus' called some staff names dis man is havin da po-lice called on him yes he is.
Patrick #1 is stinking and he has no shoes. Where are your shoes, Patrick?
Where did they find you?
They found me a laundry shoot
of a hotel close to here
and these women screamed when they found me
I thought I was in heaven Mercy
all this beautiful white, I thought
I was dead finally and I was elated
and then I realized I was upside down
and I had vomited on all the sheets below me
and it looked like blood
and these women did not speak English
and they thought I was dead, I know they did
and they were screaming like I was dead
and then the cops showed up and they said
Son, why are you upside down with no shoes on in a laundry shoot in this hotel?
and I said
I don't know, I have parents who love me
and raised me right.
Patrick #1 begins drinking at the Detroit airport at 11am at a sports bar with oversized chairs with slits in them showing their orange hard stuffing. He is drinking vodka neat, double, many.
On the plane, he orders a gin & tonic. He orders another.
On the way out of the airport, he stops at a ratty bar on the outskirts of the airport. He orders a Miller Light.
He asks the cab on the way into the city to stop at a gas station. He buys several mini-shots of rum and a diet ginger ale. He shoots all the shots and finishes the ginger ale by the time they get to the hotel.
He heads to the bar and they sit, he and Mercy and take in the fake gold interior and marble countertops and the pillars and stained glass on the ceiling, the fountains, Patrick's father had gotten them a tremendous deal for the weekend, huge room, sprawling, 30th floor. They are drinking dirty martinis.
It is dinnertime already. They find a restruant close because they will be going out, as far as they are concerned in this moment, for every single meal for the next few days and they have it all planned out so they want to stay in the Quarter, they want to stay close so they find an American food place, not a diner, but something close to it, and he orders a steak and she orders a chicken sandwich and they drink "high gravity" beer as it says on the menu and they drink many beers and Mercy does not eat the chicken sandwich because she does not eat right now.
They take a walk and go down Bourbon Street and each buy two "BIG ASS BEERS" from the vendors and drink them in front of the Christians with their signs boycotting the debauchery around them. Fuck the gays! the signs say. Fuck the aborters! Fuck the Jews! Fuck drinking drugs and sex!
This entire day they have not said a word to each other. Here is a scene where they are sitting next to each other. Across from each other. In the closest of proximities. Here they are holding hands, they are sliding into each other's sides, they are slinking, they are holding each other up. They are not saying a word or at least any words that matter. What have they talked about this whole time? Mercy cannot even begin to fathom.
Here are the words. They come so quickly now. Patrick #1 is telling Mercy how he does not love her and how he wants to be with me and how he is going to hook up with somebody tonight and Mercy you are the only person I have ever loved and I cannot love you because Mercy, I am gay, Mercy, do you believe me, no, no
he is up in her face now
no, no, Mercy, you do not believe me but you must know, I cannot have sex with you anymore, I'm sorry but its over, we cannot be together like this because it does not make sense and it does not work and I'm sorry Mercy but I am better than you, OK, do you know that I am just better than you in every single way you must know that that I can't tell people that we're hooking up or that we're in love or whatever because I am embarrassed of you, Mercy, don't you see, you are embarrassing me
and here is where it gets weird
Mercy, I'm a fugitive, I'm a fugitive Mercy, don't you see, I'm a fugitive Mercy, don't see you, I'm on the run now, Mercy, I'm on the run, don't you see, I'm on the run, I have to go now, Mercy, I have to leave you, and I'm sorry but I have to go now because they are after me, don't you see, they are after us and I have go, I love, I'm on the run now, I'm a fugitive.
3:00 p.m the next day. Mercy is in the California King Size bed alone and she calls Patrick #1's phone repeatedly, 10, 20, 30 times and it goes to voicemail every time where is he where are you Patrick where you I'm worried where you please call or come back to the room.
A knock at the door.
A knock at the door that Mercy does not hear until the third, the fifth. It is the concerige. The concerige is holding him by the collar and saying in a thick jamacian accent dis man dis man jus showed up do'nstairs, dis man jus' called some staff names dis man is havin da po-lice called on him yes he is.
Patrick #1 is stinking and he has no shoes. Where are your shoes, Patrick?
Where did they find you?
They found me a laundry shoot
of a hotel close to here
and these women screamed when they found me
I thought I was in heaven Mercy
all this beautiful white, I thought
I was dead finally and I was elated
and then I realized I was upside down
and I had vomited on all the sheets below me
and it looked like blood
and these women did not speak English
and they thought I was dead, I know they did
and they were screaming like I was dead
and then the cops showed up and they said
Son, why are you upside down with no shoes on in a laundry shoot in this hotel?
and I said
I don't know, I have parents who love me
and raised me right.
Mercy
In college, Mercy was a teacher's pet, and by teacher she had one teacher that she loved, in a mutually respectful way, as the teacher decided Mercy was brilliant but needed guidance and Mercy wanted the guidance and so there relationship was respectful and professional yet loving.
Mercy was caught cheating. Mercy was caught literally eating another student's work.
In the afternoon of a test one semester, the teacher asked Mercy to handle the business of tending to the class. Not teaching it, per se, but taking attendance, handing out homework, collecting assignments, 30 minutes tops, no big deal, the teacher did not care if it looked like Mercy was being favored because she was and she could handle it.
Mercy could not handle it. Mercy went through all the assignments, read them with guluttony.
Zoom into Mercy, a fraction away from her face. Look at her short dark hair rebellious hair style, the grown-out princeton haircut she gave herself. Look at her lustily reading her nemesis's project, reading through every shitty story, reading through every narrative and scientific equation, reading through the ways in which her nemesis fulfilled or did not fulfill the assignment. Mercy decided to tear a page of the assignment out. She tore it out and panicked. She tore it out and panicked and then decided to eat it. She tore the page out and didn't know what to do and ate it cold, swallowed it and chewed it and had bits of it in her teeth.
She drove back to her apartment in glee. She would never get caught, not in a million years. How to tell, it looked like there were simply pages missing. That is all. Missing pages.
A security camera shows what happened. Several phone calls, several weeks, knock at the door, meetings, meetings. Mercy, you are caught cheating and putting another student's work in danger. Mercy, you stole intellectual property and then consumed it. Mercy, there are no rules in place here, Mercy, you, yet again, have shown us
Mercy was caught cheating. Mercy was caught literally eating another student's work.
In the afternoon of a test one semester, the teacher asked Mercy to handle the business of tending to the class. Not teaching it, per se, but taking attendance, handing out homework, collecting assignments, 30 minutes tops, no big deal, the teacher did not care if it looked like Mercy was being favored because she was and she could handle it.
Mercy could not handle it. Mercy went through all the assignments, read them with guluttony.
Zoom into Mercy, a fraction away from her face. Look at her short dark hair rebellious hair style, the grown-out princeton haircut she gave herself. Look at her lustily reading her nemesis's project, reading through every shitty story, reading through every narrative and scientific equation, reading through the ways in which her nemesis fulfilled or did not fulfill the assignment. Mercy decided to tear a page of the assignment out. She tore it out and panicked. She tore it out and panicked and then decided to eat it. She tore the page out and didn't know what to do and ate it cold, swallowed it and chewed it and had bits of it in her teeth.
She drove back to her apartment in glee. She would never get caught, not in a million years. How to tell, it looked like there were simply pages missing. That is all. Missing pages.
A security camera shows what happened. Several phone calls, several weeks, knock at the door, meetings, meetings. Mercy, you are caught cheating and putting another student's work in danger. Mercy, you stole intellectual property and then consumed it. Mercy, there are no rules in place here, Mercy, you, yet again, have shown us
Tuesday, October 30, 2012
Mercy
Mercy is haunted by the ghost of her 14 year old boyfriend Jace who killed himself after school one day. She thinks of him all the time. Her first boyfriend. The first boy her father had found her with, hands under shirt, over bra, not under bra, because Jace didn't think that way, he was a nice boy, a troubled boy, that's why he liked Mercy, because they were the same he said, don't you know.
When the word got out around school, the whole building became a mosoluem. Mercy's best friend Shandee left without even signing out or getting a note or permission, she took Mercy with her, they had their Moms calls the school later. There was no thinking going on, no learning that day.
It was the same when the bomb threat happened to school. Mercy had so many absences that she couldn't miss the day, the school district did not cancel classes, Mercy had to show up. When she arrived, there were cops and metal detectors and people searching backpacks, bags. Every single exit had police at it. There was no way anyone would get into the school with weapons. When it was Mercy's turn, the principal himself went through her bag.
Do you have any weapons on you, Mercy?
Well, if Huckleberry Finn is a weapon?
When the word got out around school, the whole building became a mosoluem. Mercy's best friend Shandee left without even signing out or getting a note or permission, she took Mercy with her, they had their Moms calls the school later. There was no thinking going on, no learning that day.
It was the same when the bomb threat happened to school. Mercy had so many absences that she couldn't miss the day, the school district did not cancel classes, Mercy had to show up. When she arrived, there were cops and metal detectors and people searching backpacks, bags. Every single exit had police at it. There was no way anyone would get into the school with weapons. When it was Mercy's turn, the principal himself went through her bag.
Do you have any weapons on you, Mercy?
Well, if Huckleberry Finn is a weapon?
MERCY
Mercy's mother shows up to her grandmother's funeral with her birthday presents in tow. She says, I want you to open them, I need you to open them, let's go outside and I want to see you open them.
Yay! Happy Birthday, she says. This is one of my worst memories, Mercy is telling her father. Do you remember? and she was so happy, she got me nothing, some socks, a sweater I wouldn't wear, a used book, a framed picture of a unicorn, which was actually OK, but how could she know I would like that, she didn't, and besides, you know.
Yes, I remember, yes, her father says but he says that a lot. He is wearing a red flowing wig, lots of curls and bigness. He is wearing a freezer pack around his hairline now because of his hot flashes, having a constant headband is not a good look he says but what am I supposed to do, sweat to death?
Yay! Happy Birthday, she says. This is one of my worst memories, Mercy is telling her father. Do you remember? and she was so happy, she got me nothing, some socks, a sweater I wouldn't wear, a used book, a framed picture of a unicorn, which was actually OK, but how could she know I would like that, she didn't, and besides, you know.
Yes, I remember, yes, her father says but he says that a lot. He is wearing a red flowing wig, lots of curls and bigness. He is wearing a freezer pack around his hairline now because of his hot flashes, having a constant headband is not a good look he says but what am I supposed to do, sweat to death?
MERCY
Mercy wants to dye her hair blonde, she tells Patrick #1, I want to dye my hair white white blonde, what do you think, Mercy says, what do you think.
Mercy has dark hair, almost black, and it is long and wavy. She has not always had long wavy hair, she has experimented with her whole life as a sense of control, when things were out-of-control Mercy would cut her hair or dye her hair or do something to prove to the world that her body was her own and that she could do whatever she wanted with it.
Patrick #1 told her early on he liked dark haired girls and curly haired girls and dark, curly-haired girls and so she immediately went back to her original color and grew it out and it grew wavy like an advertisement.
You look like a Ralph Lauren model Patrick #2 said once to her. You look like you just stepped out of a movie set.
Our gorgeous Mercy with her long wavy dark hair now wants to dye it blonde.
Tell me, should I dye it blonde, what do you think? Marilyn Monroe style. What do you think. Jayne Mansfield style. What do you think. Mae West style. What do you think?
I think you'll look like a whore, especially with those dark eyebrows Patrick #1.
Mercy has dark hair, almost black, and it is long and wavy. She has not always had long wavy hair, she has experimented with her whole life as a sense of control, when things were out-of-control Mercy would cut her hair or dye her hair or do something to prove to the world that her body was her own and that she could do whatever she wanted with it.
Patrick #1 told her early on he liked dark haired girls and curly haired girls and dark, curly-haired girls and so she immediately went back to her original color and grew it out and it grew wavy like an advertisement.
You look like a Ralph Lauren model Patrick #2 said once to her. You look like you just stepped out of a movie set.
Our gorgeous Mercy with her long wavy dark hair now wants to dye it blonde.
Tell me, should I dye it blonde, what do you think? Marilyn Monroe style. What do you think. Jayne Mansfield style. What do you think. Mae West style. What do you think?
I think you'll look like a whore, especially with those dark eyebrows Patrick #1.
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