Valley of the Go-Go’s

145

 

 

Continued from previous page…

 

 

CHARLOTTE

I’m tellin’ ya, I’ve
been cured… I’m
right as rain now.

MYLES

What did you do?
Have a religious
experience or
something?

CHARLOTTE

I’m heavy into
psilocybin mushrooms
now.

MYLES
(shrugging)
Is that supposed to be
funny or something?
I don’t even know what
that is.

CHARLOTTE

Boy, you really are a
nerd, aren’t you? …
You just grew up in your
quaint, little Beverly Hills..
with your rich, CBS executive
dad.. and your gorgeous,
socialite mother… spending
your summers at rich-kid
camp… eating your caviar
with your silver spoon…

MYLES

Oh, gimme a break…
You didn’t exactly grow up
in poverty, ya’ know.

CHARLOTTE

No.. no I didn’t…
But I can assure you..
there was a lot more
blue-collar stuff goin’ on
than you realize…
My parents were tough.

MYLES

What does any of this have
to do with you.. eating canned
mushrooms.. or shooting-up
acid, or whatever it is that you
nut-bag rock and rollers do?

CHARLOTTE

Because it cured me!!
Don’t I look better?!
Don’t I look nice
and healthy now?!

MYLES

You look fine.

CHARLOTTE

Aha!!
You’re still attracted
to me, aren’t you?

MYLES

Knock it off…
The fact that you’re a
good-looking woman has
nothing to do with it…
And I don’t believe for a
second that you’re
cured, either.

CHARLOTTE

Oh, but I am…
You know… taking
psychedelics is very
common in our industry…
Some musicians swear
that it aids in their creativity.

MYLES

Hallelujah.

CHARLOTTE

In fact…
One that I’m extremely
close to… is quite the
advocate of such.. mind-
altering drugs, you might
say.

MYLES
(not amused)
An inside joke,
I presume?

CHARLOTTE

Very inside.

MYLES

So… Am I also to presume
that this person that you’re
referring to… does indeed
have a drug problem?

CHARLOTTE

Oh, I wouldn’t call it a
problem, no, no, no…
Quite the contrary…
This.. chick that I’m referring
to is like a human garbage
can… She can handle anything
that comes her way… This..
chick that I’m referring to
pretty much thumbs her nose
at drug use… She looks at drugs
like most people look at their
morning coffee…
But, enough about this chick
Let’s talk about Belinda instead.

Charlotte smiles.
Myles does not.

MYLES

Where is she?

CHARLOTTE

Who? Gina?
She’s probably got her
headphones on..
jamming away to Rush,
or some other heavy…

MYLES

I’m not talkin’
about her!

CHARLOTTE

Oh, you mean the other
fugitive? Well, I assume she’s
going to come running back
into your arms at any
minute now… Telling you
what an evil, monstrous
human-being I am. Telling
you that I planted the drugs
and had her committed to an
insane asylum.

MYLES

You’re assuming that
she already knows?

CHARLOTTE

Knows what?

MYLES

That you orchestrated
this whole ordeal?

CHARLOTTE

Oh, I know she knows…
I told her.

MYLES
(surprised)
You told her?

CHARLOTTE

Mmm-hmm.

MYLES

And when was this?

CHARLOTTE

Last night..
At the hospital.

Myles is
stunned.

CHARLOTTE

I went there last night to
check up on her.. To see
how she was doing… And
I told her the whole thing.

MYLES

You’re shittin’ me.

CHARLOTTE

Nope…
Well, she, more-or-less,
figured it out on her own…
Belinda’s a pretty smart cookie.
When she saw how evil I was
acting.. it triggered her little
brain buds, and, she came to
the grand conclusion all on her
own… You should have seen her..
she was so cute..
trying to come up with this clever,
little scheme about acting like
she was my kid sister… and trying
to convince me to let her go
because the ‘bad’ people were
after her and me… that I had to
protect her from the ‘bad’ people…
It was quite ingenious, I have to
admit…Of course, I had to pretend
that I was falling for the whole
charade… You know.. to feed into
her ego…I have to give her credit…
You got a good one there, Myles..
Don’t let her go.

Myles is
speechless.

CHARLOTTE

So…
I’m assuming that Gina must
have come in some time after
I left..  in her housekeeping
disguise… Gina a housekeeper. Hah!!
That’ll be the day… I wonder how
I didn’t run into her?

MYLES

So, that’s it then.

CHARLOTTE

That’s what?

MYLES

You.. and Belinda!
Kaput !!
The Go-Go’s.. no more!
It’s over!

CHARLOTTE

Oh, I wouldn’t say that…
No, no, no, no, I wouldn’t
say that at all.

MYLES
(mouth agape)
Are you out of your
fucking mind?!!!

CHARLOTTE

What?

MYLES

Do you honestly think that
Belinda’s ever gonna talk to
you again, now, after this?!!!

CHARLOTTE

What? This? Come on…
So I planted drugs in her house
in order to get her committed
to a sanitarium, so that I could
steal her family and leave her
there to turn into a vegetable…
Come on…
We’re in a rock and roll band…
We’ve been through worse
drama than this.

MYLES

This is unbelievable.

CHARLOTTE

You see…
You have to understand my
relationship with Belinda…
It’s different that the others…
She trusts me.. she confides
in me… We’re closer than the
others.

Myles is
exhausted.

MYLES

I thought she told me that
Gina and Kathy were her
best friends?

CHARLOTTE

No, no, no, they’re just
her drinking buddies…
I’m the one she really
talks to.

MYLES
(addled)
So.. where does that
leave the squeaky one?

CHARLOTTE

Who? Jane?
Hard to say, exactly.
No one’s ever been able to
figure out exactly what their
relationship is all about…
I will say this, though..
if she has a true sister in this
band.. it’s Jane…
They have a symbiotic
relationship that only comes
from the cosmos…
I don’t think they can live
without each other…
If one of them ever dies…
the other might be right behind.

MYLES
(shaking his head)
I’m speechless.

CHARLOTTE

Myles, Myles, Myles…
I’ll straighten everything out
with the doctors and the police…
Don’t you worry about a thing…
At least she doesn’t know about us.

Charlotte starts
to lead Myles
towards the
door. Myles’
shoulders are
slumped like
a reprimanded
twelve-year-old.

MYLES

She’s never gonna find
out about us, is she?

CHARLOTTE

No, now that’s something you
never have to worry about…
I would never tell her that part…
Then, for sure, that would be
the end of The Go-Go’s…
I couldn’t have that. I need them
in my life forever.

MYLES

Are you sure?

CHARLOTTE

Definitely.

MYLES

Okay.

Charlotte tries
to cheer him up.

CHARLOTTE

You know.. technically..
when you and I were doing
the nasty… You weren’t
officially married to Belinda
yet… so… try and think of it
as a last minute fling on your
part. Okay?

MYLES

But what about you?

CHARLOTTE

I’ll be fine…
Now, you just run on home
and don’t you worry about
a thing… I’ll be fine..
I’m a psycho, remember?

MYLES

But I thought you were…

Charlotte cuts
him off as she
closes the door.

CHARLOTTE

Goodbye, Myles…
Do you want me to
validate your parking?

MYLES

No, I’ll be fine.

CHARLOTTE

Okay. Ba-bye.
Have security
show you out.

Charlotte
closes the
door.

CHARLOTTE

Whew!!
I’m beginning to wonder
what I ever saw in that guy.