Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now by James Soto

AIN'T NO STOPPIN' US NOW by James Soto 2/25/20

At rise: A Chicago block where three young Latino men sit in lawn chairs, circa 1987.

Springtime.

“Ain’t No Stoppin’ Us Now” by McFadden and Whitehead is playing on a boombox radio.

VICTOR Man, Vato, do you remember this song? It came out some years ago, it’s sayin’ some real shit!

TOM Yeah, I remember it.

JOSE Yeah, me too.

VICTOR (Gets up from chair, starts singing.)

“Ain’t no stoppin’ us now We’re on the move.

We gotta get ourselves together Polish up our act.

Don’t let nothing hold us back.

Get rid of all the negative peeople ...”

JOSE I know I don’t let nothing hold me back.

VICTOR Shut up. You can’t say that. Your girl got you in check. You know that crazy bitch got you on a short leash.

JOSE Naw man, ain’t no vieja got me in check. I do what I want.

TOM Both you fools can’t say nada. Both your ladies got y’all on lock.

VICTOR You say that ‘cuz you ain’t got no woman. You ain’t got no game. Can’t hold no lady down.

2/25/20

2.

TOM What you sayin’. I got game. I got plenty of game.

VICTOR Forget all that. Let me school you two burros about this song. It’s sayin’ you got to cut all of the bullshit out of your life and get yourself together. Now that’s real shit. That’s how you get paid. And make it in this world.

JOSE Yeah, I heard that. There is so much bullshit out here. I do got my lady on me about gettin’ a better job so we can get our own place.

VICTOR Man, you don’t get it. I’m talkng about if you want to get money – real money! You got to go for it.

TOM I know what you’re sayin’. We need to start clockin’ some big dollas. Get on some Al Pacino “Scarface” level shit.

VICTOR No, you don’t get it. I’m talkin’ some legit bizness, like a club, a store, or sumthin’.

JOSE How you expect to get it. You got to have some money to even start it. Without no ‘evestment money you can’t start no business.

(Pause.)

TOM My idea is better. We put some ends between us and go hollar at Slim’s Uncle. He’ll hook us up on some good shit and we can start slingin’ right here on this block and we’ll get paid.

VICTOR That’s a sucker’s deal. Yeah, sure we could do that, but my Uncle Beto told me there is no real future in slangin’ dope.

TOM What does he know ‘bout da drug game. Ain’t he locked up for murder?

VICTOR Yup, but he is pretty smart. He’s always reading and shit. He knows a lot of things. And being locked up he sees a lot of vatos who got caught up. He says people will sell their mother out to duck going to prison. He says the system is a set up for any person of color. Penitentiary or cemetery is what they have for us.

2/25/20

3.

TOM Man, all dem dudes who get locked up get on some social-political crap. Or they be talkin’ some anti-government stuff. I say that we go with Jose’s idea. I seen Slim last week, he was cruisin’ in a badass Cadillac with ‘Trues and Vogues.’ We need to get on what he’s on, for real. Look around. Everybody is gettin’ paid. But here we are in our mid-20s, high school dropouts, and we’re Mexicans. The odds are stacked against us.

And all we do is hang out in front of Jose’s mom’s house.

(Pause.)

VICTOR Let me ask you, what would you do with the first $10,000 you get?

TOM Man, I’ll get me a badass ride like Slim, buy some nice clothes, a nice chain and big T.V. JOSE I hear that!

(Slaps five with Tom.) TOM What would you do? Buy you a couple of clothes stores?

(Tom and Jose laugh in synch.)

VICTOR See – you guys think small. That’s why you dudes ain’t on nothing and you’ll probably never have nothing.

TOM What’s with the attitude? What makes you better than us.

(At that moment a man’s voice is heard yelling offstage.)

MAN ELOTES! ELOTES! VICTOR You burros hear that.

(Pause.)

JOSE What – you talkin’ about the Elote man. So what you want to buy some?

TOM I could go for some corn, with some butter, salt and red chili pepper. Or throw some mayonnaise on it. Slap all of it on. Man that some good-ass shit.

2/25/20

4.

JOSE

I could go for some too!

(Slapping five with Tom.) VICTOR This is exactly why I say you two ain’t on nothing. You don’t get what I’m saying.

TOM Well – what are you saying?

VICTOR I’m saying that the Elote Man understands. He is out in these street pushing a cart with a bunch of corn on the cob. He offers his customers a few condiments and pulls in a profit.

JOSE So you’re saying you want to go into the corn business.

VICTOR Jose, you are one stup’-ass motha fucker. No, I ain’t talkin’ ‘bout no ‘pinche’ corn. I’m talking about opening a club. With a D.J., dance floor, drinks – the whole nine years.

TOM How you gonna get it off the ground? Reality is, you ain’t got no credit. How you expect to get it opened?

JOSE Yeah, you’re just talkin’ out the side of your neck!

VICTOR You guys never got anything positive to say. You’re satisfied with hanging out and drinking beer.

You know that song is gonna be my anthem. I am going to get rid of “all the negative people.” You see, I already asked my dad to see if he could get a loan for me from his credit union at his job. And if that don’t work out, I asked my lady’s Tio Ray to help me with the finance. I even went to that place on 27th and Lawndale to see exactly how much money I need.

TOM Why you tellin’ us now?

VICTOR I even got a name picked out: “ON THE MOVE.” I was going to put you two in on it.

But I realized today, I really can’t “let nothing hold me down.” And as cold as it sounds you two fools are holding me down. Even if I don’t get the loan – guess what?

2/25/20

5.

I’ll go back to school or get a vocational skill. Anything, because hanging here on the block is not my goal in life.

TOM Man, you can try all you want, but at the end of the day you’ll be right here with us in the middle of all this bullshit.

(Several loud shots are suddenly heard. A young boy is yelling offstage.)

YOUNG BOY Slim just got shot in his Cadillac. He’s bleeding everywhere. I think he’s DEAD! (All three friends look at each other. Victor shakes his head. Now words are spoken.)

END OF PLAY