Page:Plunder (Perlman).djvu/35

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29

EDWARD

The hell I did. You know I was in India at the time dad--and you know damn well why! It was your idea, not mine. Don't tell me you forgot! It was so you could rake in all those wartime profits!

DARIUS STARK

Are you talking about the Indian crockery plant?

EDWARD

It was your idea to start that factory! Use the local iron, labor, raw materials, sell the stuff to the British Army--and Bingo! Out goes the stuff and in comes the profits. Bingo! Just like that! Yea, I know dad. You went to India when you were a kid and that's how you got started. I know all about that! And ever since you've been sitting on your fat ass letting me do your dirty work. Sure, dad! You just sit and rake in the profits and give dollar bills to cripples. Just don't forget who it is that makes your Bingo work! Christ I never gripe. I like working in dirt. I'm proud of it! Just don't go telling me about any riots in South Africa!

LIGHTS OUT

BRUNO

Of course we do not want a punishment so severe.
Such an open display of personal violence.
Your youthful energy, your know-how, your entrepreneurial talents,
Are shamed in such a guise.
This crude executioner, this unveiled Hercules,
He is not one of you!
Body of a giant, head of a child, a bloated infant!
He lacks your shrewdness, your finesse.
For you are a far subtler executioner.
The execution must be slow, impersonal,
Must have the appearance of a natural force.
This was too crude, too personal, too direct!
Yet whisper it, Masters--you can admit