JIM:
(To audience.)
A man’s got to do what a man’s got to do. It’s
a matter of honor.
(JIM crosses his arms and puts
his nose in the air.)
MOM:
Then go to your room.
JIM:
No way!
MOM:
Way. And stay there until you change your attitude.
(JIM stomps away.
OPTIONAL TRANSITION:
JIM #1 exits. JIM #2 will enter at next entrance.
MOM cleans up dishes. Two
STORYTELLERS become door with shoulders together. They swing
open as JIM pushes, then slam shut as JIM slams it. Other
STORYTELLERS make the door noises.)
JIM:
It’s not fair! Am I the only one around here that’s
got any imagination? Everybody’s busy going to work and going to
school and doing homework and... eating TOFU!
MOM:
I heard that.
(MOM takes dinner props and exits.)
JIM:
And all the time we could be out on the high seas!
(SEA LEGS SAM pops a toy pirate
hat on his head.)
Sailing across the briny deep!
Diggin’ for the gold doubloons!
(HURRICANE HAL puts a toy sword
in his hand.)
I say, matey, what have we
here? Why, it’s nothing but my rapier wit! Ha!
Ha! Take that and that and that.
(He slashes at the air,
pretending swordplay. There is a knock at the door.
STORYTELLERS become door again and make the knock sound. JIM speaks
to his sword.)
It’s the saucy wench come to
make amends.
(The knock becomes an urgent pounding.)
Mom? I’m coming.
(JIM goes to door, turns
knob. STORYTELLERS open, there stands a nightmare of a pirate,
BILLY BONES.
SOUND CUE #3:
Billy Bones entrance music. SOUND
CUE ENDS.)
Who are you?
(BILLY BONES enters dramatically
and blusters right past JIM, pushing him out of the way.)
BILLY BONES:
So this is what you call the Benbow Inn, eh?
JIM:
Well, no, actually I don’t. (Looking
out.) Mom?
BILLY BONES:
Fetch my sea chest, boy, and be quick about it.
(JIM is dumbfounded, looks
around. STORYTELLERS put sea chest at door.)
JIM:
Uh, this... uh... sea chest?
(STORYTELLERS indicate that this
is the sea chest in question. JIM drags it in.)
BILLY BONES:
Yo, ho, ho, and a bottle of rum!
JIM:
Mom doesn’t keep any rum in the house. I have some water
in my backpack,,,
BILLY BONES:
Water! I’ve had enough of water, me lad! Waves and
waves of the stuff -- the likes you’ve never seen! Ah, the
deep and salty drink.
JIM:
There’s some orange pop in the...
BILLY BONES:
(Grabs JIM by the
collar, speaks right in his face.)
He’s out there, boy. Make no mistake about it.
JIM:
Wh... who?
BILLY BONES:
And he’s the scurviest blackest pillagin’ knave ye ever
want to meet.
JIM:
Um, what... what does he look like?
BILLY BONES:
He’s the one-legged man, boy. Beware. Beware.
JIM:
Okay.
BILLY BONES:
(Pointing to chest.)
Now hide that, laddie. Hide it quick!
(JIM runs to hide the chest.)
Keep a weather eye upon it.
Lest ye pay with yer life.
(Another knock at the door.
JIM jumps out of his skin.)
JIM:
Ah! Is it him? Is it him? The one-legged man?
The one-legged man?
(BILLY BONES takes cover behind
a leg of the ladder and puts a hand to his knife at his belt.)
BILLY BONES:
Don’t just stand a gawkin’, ya lubber. Open
her up. Open her up wide, boy. Don’t be afeared.
(JIM opens door, STORYTELLERS
making creaking sounds. There stands BLIND PEW.)
JIM:
Ah! (Drops to his
knees, sees that the man has two legs.)
Two legs!
(JIM prays thanks to heaven
under his breath.)
BLIND PEW:
(Shouting dramatically.)
Billy Bones?
BILLY BONES:
You know who I am.
BLIND PEW:
I’ve come for ye, Captain.
BILLY BONES:
How did ye find me in this godforsaken place?
BLIND PEW:
Old Pew’s got his ways.
BILLY BONES:
I know all about yer ways.
BLIND PEW:
I‘ve got somethin’ for ye, Billy.
(BLIND PEW steps forward, blindly thrusting out his fist.)
BILLY BONES:
Na! Na! Keep it away from me, Pew!
BLIND PEW:
Nothing can save ye now, Billy Bones.
(BILLY BONES
plants a heavy hand on JIM’s shoulder.)
BILLY BONES:
Remember what I told you, boy.
JIM:
About the one-legged meh... meh...
BILLY BONES:
And the sea chest, boy! The sea chest!
JIM:
Oh. That stuff about my... me life.
BLIND PEW:
Put out yer hand now, Billy, and face it like a man.
BILLY BONES:
(Overcome with emotion.)
Me time has come at last!
BLIND PEW:
It’s only what ye deserve, Captain, pure and plain.
(BILLY BONES puts out his
hand. JIM directs his hand to BLIND PEW so he knows where it
is. BLIND PEW places a piece of paper in it. BILLY BONES
receives it like a burn on his palm, looks at it with horror!
BLIND PEW nods to JIM and turns, exits.)
BILLY BONES:
(Showing it to JIM.)
The black spot!
JIM:
Oh!
BILLY BONES:
I’ll never forget ye, lad. What a kindness ye did
me. Just put old Billy out the door. The birds’ll do
the rest.
(BILLY BONES
clutches the black spot to his heart, seizes and drops dead.)
JIM:
Billy!
(JIM drops down to the ground in
tears. BILLY BONES rises and claps a hand on him.)
BILLY BONES:
The one-legged man, laddie. Beware. Beware.
(BILLY BONES shakes his legs and
dies. He shakes his arms and dies. He shakes all his
parts and at last dies and lays still.)
JIM:
Billy!
(JIM cries over the body.
STORYTELLERS in ladders get impatient. At last one
whistles. JIM looks up and they all point to the chest.)
STORYTELLERS:
The chest.
JIM:
Oh! The chest. (He
stands and looks at it.)
What do you think is in there?
HURRICANE HAL:
Open it up and see.
JIM:
Me? Why don’t you do it?
BLACK DOG:
It’s your adventure, Jim.
(JIM takes his toy sword and
stands far away trying to lift the lid with it, without getting
near. It doesn’t budge.)
JIM:
(Relieved.)
It’s locked.
(ONE-EYED TOM hands him a
hammer. JIM swallows and gathers courage.)
STORYTELLERS:
One, two, three...
(JIM breaks the lock, throws the
lid open. He jumps back and covers his eyes. Then he
slowly peers in.)
JIM:
Nothing.
STORYTELLERS:
Aw...
(JIM takes out an old moldy roll
of paper.)
JIM:
Nothing but this old thing.
(Suddenly JIM and STORYTELLERS
look at each other. They realize...)
SEA LEGS SAM:
(Whispering.)
Open it.
(JIM unrolls it. He looks
up, wide-eyed.)
JIM:
A treasure map.
Note:
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