Between Riverside And Crazy

Scene 1 opens two weeks after the dinner party. Pops’s apartment is a mess, with moving boxes strewn about. Lulu serves refreshments to an attractive Brazilian woman wearing religious-themed jewelry as Pops looks on and drinks bourbon. Lulu mentions Junior, who has been “gone thirteen days now” (44). Pops tells their guest that Lulu is “having a baby—you know—a ‘bambino’” (44). Lulu leaves to go meet Junior, after asking Pops if he “would like to give [her] money or something so I can give it to Junior” (44). Pops refuses to take her hint, and she leaves empty-handed.  

As soon as Lulu leaves, the lady visitor, who is from the church, asserts that Lulu is not pregnant after all. Pops tells the church lady about the robbery that left him injured: “Bandito left here in handcuffs, with several of his front teeth scattered over there by the houseplant. Bandito was lucky the police came” (45). Pops and the church lady discuss Glenda, who used to come to see Pops and his wife, Delores, and bring them communion, but is now ill; they banter back and forth, and after the church lady explains that her husband is deceased, Pops says to her, “I like you” (46), and she responds in kind.  

They discuss their personal lives, and the church lady reveals to Pops that she “know[s] shit too. But I can’t tell you what I know unless you want me to” (47). Pops responds to her invitation to intimacy cannily: “I don’t know exactly what you’re after, and I don’t mind that you’re after it” (47). The church lady speaks of Pops’s wife, Delores, which disorients Pops, and then asks him to take communion with her, telling him all the while about the orphans and lepers in Brazil that she helps. They engage in “‘chitchat, chitchat’” (49), and then the church lady offers to heal Pops. She spills bourbon all over herself, saying to Pops “You are healing” (50), before she and Pops start having a sexual encounter. When they have intercourse, Pops is shocked by his physical response, as he thought he was impotent. While having sex, the church lady asks Pops for money to send to the Brazilian orphanage, which has “suffered [a] horrible flood” (51). He agrees moments before having a heart attack and asks her to “[c]all the ambulance” (52). 

Scene 2 takes place in Pops’s bedroom, a week after his heart attack. Junior is at his bedside, and he tells Pops that the “[p]olice is taking care of your medical right now” (53). This piece of news irritates Pops, and he tries to dismiss Junior after suggesting to Junior that he might die. Junior wants to tell Pops about his feelings, that he is “sorry and […] scared to death” (54), but Pops refuses to listen. They argue, and Junior crosses a line when he mentions his mother. He offers his father something to drink to make amends. This gesture smooths over the tension and they reminisce about Delores together: “Moms did always have something to say, didn’t she?” (55). Pops tries to tell Junior about his own father, “a traveling man” (56) whom Pops hated, so Pops tried to “[live his] own life in reaction to that…everything the opposite” (56). He explains to Junior that now, he would like to do some traveling of his own, as he realizes that he is “more like [his] daddy than [he] thought” (57). Junior tells Pops that Lulu isn’t pregnant after all; Pops advises him to take the opportunity to move on. After Junior tells Pops that Audrey and Dave have tried to visit, Pops tells Junior to call Pops’s lawyer, because he’s “ready to deal” (57). The scene closes with Junior telling Pops he loves him. Pops says, “[s]ame to you. Alright?” (58).  

Scene 3 brings all the characters in the play together. Audrey sits next to Pops’s bed, while Lulu sits outside the bedroom door. Junior is inside the apartment, while the church lady waits outside the apartment door. Dave arrives with a get-well card for Pops. As Dave enters the apartment, Junior orders the church lady to “[s]tay away from [his] father” (59). Dave speaks to Pops about the state of his case against the city: “Unfortunately: no money […] You get your apartment back plus eighteen months free rent […] the city agrees to expunge your son’s entire criminal record” (61).  

Pops insists on money. Dave tells him that he has a $15,000 discretionary fund, at which point Pops says, “I’ll take forty” (62). Audrey becomes involved and says to Pops that he is “like [her] father” (62) and attempts to get him to sign the paperwork from the city. Audrey and Dave are shocked when Pops suggests that they give him Audrey’s engagement ring: “Fifteen grand and the ring, we can call the whole thing even—whaddya say?” (63). Dave responds aggressively and threatens Pops: “you’re not ever getting her fuckin’ ring—so straighten up and fly fuckin’ right over here before you get hurt!” (64). Junior becomes worried, but Audrey reassures him, so he and Lulu leave. Pops and Dave resume their discussion. Dave admits that his father didn’t commit suicide after all, as Dave had said he did, and that he is alive and well, “a retired electrician living in Fort Myers” (65), which inspires Pops to ask Dave for his necktie as well. Audrey intervenes when Pops says to Dave, “Look Dave: The Ring. The Check. The Necktie—or go fuck yourself” (65). Pops is intractable and unresponsive when Audrey asks him why he wants the ring. She says to Pops over and over, “this isn’t right” (67), but Pops is immovable. 

Scene 4 takes place six months after this confrontation. Junior appears in the apartment, sitting in his mother’s wheelchair in the kitchen. Oswaldo enters the scene, thanking Junior for “letting [him] stay here again” (68). Lulu comes into the kitchen and asks Junior if he has heard from Pops, hoping “he’ll be home for Christmas” (69).  

A flashback then interrupts the scene. It’s two weeks after Pops asks Dave and Audrey for the engagement ring. Pops and the church lady meet on the roof of his building. He tells her he is going to travel and gives her the engagement ring, “[f]or them orphans down there” (70). She tries refuse and explains that “[t]here are no orphans” (71), but Pops insists, saying, “Well—there are orphans somewhere” (71).