Mike: “I’m sorry, Gus, I really am, but (pause) let’s just not do this right now, ok? Let’s finish eating and get out of here. I just can’t, ok, So drop it.”
MICHAEL I’m sorry Gus, I really am, but (pause) let’s just not do this right now, ok? Let’s finish eating and get out of here. I just can’t , ok, so drop it.
there’s a couple cars in front of me and they’re all kind of slowing down when they get close, but none of ‘em are really stopping. So finally I’m like ten feet away and I can see the guy’s definitely kneeling over an animal or something. And I’m kinda naturally slowing down during all this and I finally get to this guy. He had to be homeless from what he was wearing, was kneeling over a dead dog. Thing looked real nasty, prolly got hit. Tongue was hangin’ out and it had this kind of dirty gray color all across its fur. But as I’m passing, guy looks up and for maybe two seconds we make eye contact. And, you know, for a moment, like, I thought maybe I’d stop and see if the guy needed help, that could have been his dog was lying there dead, right? But when he looked at me, it was like we both knew I wasn’t gonna stop. And I didn’t. I swear to God I must’ve watched that man in the rearview mirror for the next mile before he just kind of fizzled out. And then I kept drivin’.
GUS Whatever, man. (They’re quiet now. GUS is finally done with his meal. The waitress comes and delivers a check. MICHAEL stares at the check for a long time, more to distract himself from the conversation than to read it.) MICHAEL You know actually (pause) I got a story. GUS Alright, (pause) What is it? MICHAEL Like three years ago I was doing a road trip with my buddies down to Tampa. We all took turns driving a leg and I got lucky enough to get the 4 to 6 AM shift. Now, it was s’posed to be the passenger seat’s job to stay awake with the driver, but this kid pussed out and fell asleep, I didn’t mind too much, though. I was doing okay. So round 5:40 I’m driving in the middle of god knows where, and I start seeing some figure on the shoulder of the road like a hundred yards ahead. I couldn’ really tell cuz it was early morning and all the fog and shit, but seemed like a guy. So as I’m getting closer I could see it’s definitely a guy and he’s kneeling over something. And you know
GUS (Confused look on his face) Mike (pause) what the fuck are you talkin’ about? MICHAEL (Laughs quietly to himself ) Nothing man, let’s just get outta here. END OF PLAY
174