For No Apparent Reason- A2S1
#3 of For No Apparent Reason
ACT TWO, SCENE ONE
TED LEGRASSE enters, wearing a rain jacket over his police uniform as outside the police station the weather has turned foul. He meets in his office Dr. MAXIMILIAN THURGOOD, the psychiatrist for the police department.
Ted Legrasse: (takes off the raincoat to drink a cup of coffee) I'm absolutely soaked from all this rain we've been having.
Maximilian Thurgood: Oh, don't be so upset. The whole Northeast region would not be so fruitful and nice to live if not for the occasional rain. And besides, there is no water in Hell. I know because Dives, the rich man only wanted a few drops of water from Lasarus' fingertips when he was there.
TL: That's all you ever seem to talk about- Hell and heaven. Ever since that whole born-again phase on Montauk.
MT: Oh, it's more than a phase, my friend. Hell is a very real place and that's where the unrepentant sinners go. And I can assure you that as a police officer, there is great spiritual warfare for your soul.
TL: And why do you say that?
MT: Well, let us consider that as a police officer, you fight crime. You've gotten into gun battles and high-speed chases and you are still alive to see this day. So you have angels watching over you. No matter how good a cop you are, sometimes you need what's the word... divine intervention.
TL: You can't be right about that divine intervention.
MT: Think about it- what was your toughest case so far? Not just the investigative part but also the well action part too.
TL: Ok. You got me on that one. There was one leopard by the name of Patrick Martinez "Fizzle" was what he wanted to be called. He was wanted for raping and murdering dozens, perhaps even hundreds of females throughout the Northeast. Real messed-up leopard too. We find out that he had been sexually and physically abused as a child. We don't know why he did what he was doing- he raped all these women for no apparent reason...
MT: No. I was there at that trial. He was abused physically by his parents and they were the first he murdered. Then he goes on a rape-and-kill rampage throughout New England, I guess he just wanted revenge.
TL: Well, he killed a pregnant Cuban immigrant, a panther I think, and then he snuffed out several cops, including my partner. I was just a fresh fish then and I never forgave him. Fizzle seemed to feed off of hate, hatred of women, hatred of authority, hatred of everything.
MT: Now there's the kind of guy who would be in Hell. We know that the hateful shall never inherit the Kingdom of God.
TL: Yeah, that leopard was Satan's own. He was sent to the chair a few months back, which is something liberal New England usually doesn't do. Fizzle was a bad bad individual. A Catholic priest, a fox gives him extreme unction before he dies and he refuses to repent of his sins. Then he goes and quotes Milton saying "he'd rather reign in hell, than serve in heaven." At the trial, he said that in Hell he'd continue to rape the unsaved and fallen.
MT: There's no need to listen to such blasphemy. He's suffering just as sure as everyone else is down there. But you don't have to worry about such morbid things such as eternal damnation. You're in fine condition.
TL: Yeah, I guess you're right. I can't wait- in just a month my wife and I and you, if you want to come along will be going to Montauk. We'll chill out in Long Island. Nice place this time of year and there's plenty of fun to be had. But I've had this thought in me since I got called for a domestic disturbance the other day.
MT: Go on, I'd like to know.
TL: Dave Jenkins, heard of him? He's a local eccentric shut-in who lives cross town. Hasn't left his home in a month for fear of 'demons'. Very weird individual- some guys from a catering service called about how this cat was keeping them from conducting business.
MT: Yes, I've seen their truck just parked out there in front of that mansion for days as well as Chinese takeout and pizza companies. He has the money to hold them hostage like that so that doesn't seem to be a problem.
TL: Well, we get into a confrontation and he tells me that there will come a time in the future when the US will go to war with Iran over nukes. He told me I'd be called into duty and the war would disfigure me. He said something about losing both arms and an eye to torture and that there would be no place for me to call home. Despised of all men. And that I'd be a murderer.
MT: Even if all those crazy things happen, how exactly would you go about killing people? If you don't have arms (pats his shoulders) you can't have arms (points to the officer holster). And you're too upstanding to go bad. I know it goes against all policy but I'd give you money to get that man so I could examine him. Perhaps maybe some tetrabenazine.
TL: But that wasn't the worst of it all. There was something that this fearful cat told me that really made my fur stand on end. He told me that he'd been to Hell in his dreams and that he'd seen a leopard demon there raping women. Not to mention other demons whose species match recent species of those in the obituaries. You don't think it's... no it can't be.
MT: That cat is crazy- book him next time. None of those things happened. Fizzle is in extreme torture right now for his sins and he will never break free from that. And besides, from what I know of theology, the unrepentant sinners do not become demons. They do not torment others in Hell but are instead tormented themselves.
TL: I guess you're right about that. If I ever decide to become well even more than just a good bloodhound and really want to seek God, I'll come running to you then, I guess. (heads for exit, then slams the door.)
MT: (reads paper) Oh, that's too bad. Domingo Cruz just passed away. Shame, he was a real good minister too.