Scene from "Danny and the Deep Blue Sea" by John Patrick Shanley

Danny and the Deep Blue Sea by John Patrick Shanley

• Characters:
• male: Danny, 29
• female: Roberta, 31
• Scene: empty bar

DANNY: How 'bout a pretzel?
ROBERTA: No. They're mine.
DANNY: You ain't gonna eat all of 'em. Lemme have one.
ROBERTA: Fuck off.
DANNY: All right.
ROBERTA: You wanna pretzel?
DANNY: Yeah.
(ROBERTA picks up the bowl, takes it to DANNY'S table, and goes back to HER seat.)
ROBERTA: You can have 'em. I'm finished with 'em.
DANNY: Thanks.
ROBERTA: You're welcome.
DANNY: You want some of my beer?
ROBERTA: No.
DANNY: Some fuckin bar. Nobody here.
ROBERTA: That's why I like it.
DANNY: What's the matter? You don't like people?
ROBERTA: No. Not really.
DANNY: Me neither.
ROBERTA: What happened to your hands?
DANNY: Fight.
ROBERTA: Who'd you fight?
DANNY: I don't know. Some guys last night. Tonight, too.
ROBERTA: Two fights?
DANNY: Yeah.
ROBERTA: How come?
DANNY: I don't know. Guys bother me, I start swinging.
ROBERTA: I don't get it. Did they say something to you?
DANNY: (Exploding) Who the fuck asked you to get it? Ain't none a your fuckin business I lock horns with anybody! Nobody crosses my fuckin line, man! They can do what they want out there, but nobody crosses my fuckin line!
ROBERTA: All right.
DANNY: They asked me where I was going.
ROBERTA: Who?
DANNY: The guys I was fighting tonight.
ROBERTA: They asked where you were going.
DANNY: That's right. So I decked the first guy. Hit him in the nose. You hit 'em in the nose, they can't see.
ROBERTA: Why not?
DANNY: I don't know. But it's true.
ROBERTA: All right.
DANNY: But while I was hittin on him, the other guy got me with his belt.
ROBERTA: That musta hurt.
DANNY: Yeah. I made him eat that fuckin belt.
ROBERTA: Where you from?
DANNY: Zerega.
ROBERTA: Yeah? I used to catch frogs from over at Zerega.
DANNY: Ain't no frogs 'round Zerega.
ROBERTA: Not now. When I was a kid.
DANNY: Ain't never been no frogs 'round Zerega.
ROBERTA: Yes, there was. There used to be a little like marsh over on Zerega, and it had frogs in it.
DANNY: When?
ROBERTA: A long time ago.
DANNY: How old's that make you?
ROBERTA: Thirty-one.
DANNY: I'm twenty-nine. When I turn thirty I'm gonna put a gun in my mouth and blow my fuckin head off.
ROBERTA: Do it in the bathroom. It's easier to clean up.
DANNY: I'm gonna do it!
ROBERTA: Why you say a thing like that?
DANNY: I don't know.
ROBERTA: Ain't no different to be thirty.
DANNY: It's gotta be different.
ROBERTA: I'm thirty-one.
DANNY: I heard ya. That's you. Me, I'm twenty-nine and I can't stay the way I am for too fuckin long.
ROBERTA: Why not?
DANNY: 'Cause I can't!
ROBERTA: You from Zerega whaddaya doin here?
DANNY: There's something goin on over Zerega.
ROBERTA: Nothing goin on here.
DANNY: Yeah, well maybe I like that. Peaceful.
ROBERTA: You don't look peaceful to me.
DANNY: I'm peaceful. But people fuck with me.
ROBERTA: Why don't you come over, sit with me.
DANNY: I don't wanna. This is good where I am.
ROBERTA: All right.
DANNY: I'm sorry.
ROBERTA: That's all right.
DANNY: Is that guy looking at me?
ROBERTA: Who? Fred? No, he's sleeping. He's drunk. Can't you see, his mouth's open.
DANNY: Oh, yeah. There's light on his glasses. I couldn't see his eyes. I thought he was looking at me.
ROBERTA: What if he was?
DANNY: I'd beat his fuckin face in. (THEY both laugh.) You from here?
ROBERTA: Yeah.
DANNY: Where?
ROBERTA: Right up the block.
DANNY: What, you married?
ROBERTA: Divorced.
DANNY: Gotta kid?
ROBERTA: Yeah.
DANNY: Who's takin care of the kid?
ROBERTA: My mother. My mother always takes care of the kid.
DANNY: That's a good deal.
ROBERTA: Yeah. You gotta friend, you know, a girlfriend?
DANNY: No.
ROBERTA: No?
DANNY: We broke up.
ROBERTA: What was her name?
DANNY: Cecilia.
ROBERTA: Italian?
DANNY: Yeah.
ROBERTA: I'm Italian.