MITCH RAECK FINAL CONVERSATION- CAPT. BEATTY and GEORGE

(We find George and CAPTAIN BEATTY sitting in a comfortable room, with a small coffee table in front of them. There is another, smaller seat between them. BEATTY and GEORGE have glasses of water in front of them. THE MODERATOR walks in and sits in the open chair. He speaks :)

MODERATOR: Hello, everyone, I just wanted to thank you both right now for joining our little chat. This will be rather brief as I’m sure you are both very busy.

BEATTY: Yes. I have a fire station to run, after all.

MODERATOR: Well then, let’s get started. An often heard phrase is “ignorance is bliss.” Do you think this phrase is true?

GEORGE: Yes I do. My buddy, Lennie, was like that. He wasn’t all that smart, but he was happy. Probably the happiest guy I ever met. And he didn’t know nothing about the world or people or stuff like that.

BEATTY: I’m going to have to agree with my counterpart, here. In my society, books are illegal, and therefore, knowledge is illegal. The citizens are quite content with their blissful ignorance. They don’t know anything, but still are enjoying themselves.

GEORGE: Yeah, Lennie, unlike me, didn’t understand how the world worked, but he sure was happy. He died a happy man. Something a lot of us can’t say. My life hasn’t seemed that great, and I think what I know about the world and people have something to do with it.

BEATTY: You’re on to something. Matthew Prior said “From ignorance our comfort flows. The only wretched are the wise.”

MODERATOR: Very true, very true. Now, another question: Do you enjoy solitude, or “alone time?”

GEORGE: You know, I spent a lot of time with Lennie, so I didn’t have a whole lot of “me time,” but when he wasn’t around, I usually kept to myself. I’m always playing solitaire. I guess you could say that was my alone time.

BEATTY: I’ve always been a solitary man. Ever since I was growing up, it’s just been me and my books. Of course, once they embargoed books, I had to start interacting with people, but I’ve always taken advantage of my time alone.

GEORGE: I’ve never really designated time for just me. I’ve always had to keep one eye on Lennie, making sure he isn’t getting into trouble.

BEATTY: What is it with you and him? Why do you have so much compassion for another person when you aren’t even related?

GEORGE: Well, I never really had a lot of friends, and his Aunt Clara always wanted me to look after him, so when she died, he just kind of started following me around. I really took a liking to him.

BEATTY: I see…

GEORGE: Well, it turned out that he couldn’t live without me, and I couldn’t live without him. Jeez, he was one in a million. (He starts getting choked up…)

BEATTY: Ah, yes. You two were total opposites, yet you needed to be there for each other. Henry Adams once said “One friend in a lifetime is much; two are many; three are hardly possible. Friendship needs a certain parallelism of life, a community of thought, a rivalry of aim.”

GEORGE: I know all I needed was Lennie. (Sighs)

MODERATOR: Well, growing off from that, here’s another question: Do you think that it’s right for someone to die for the greater good?

(GEORGE is silent.)

BEATTY: Well, if it’s a rule breaker, of course. Laws are there for a reason, and if someone gets in the way of those laws, they must be punished.

GEORGE: (Exasperated sigh) Lennie was a really great guy. He had to die. I couldn’t have him die afraid, or confused. In the end, it was for his own good. It was for my own good.

BEATTY: Well, I had to make a tough decision like that, too. Mind you, it wasn’t over the death of my own living best friend, but it was over the death of my figurative best friends: Books. When books were declared illegal, I had to make a difficult decision, but the law is the law. I didn’t want to be a lawbreaking hooligan. So I decided to give up on my passion of learning.

(Slight pause)

How, might I ask, did Lennie die?

GEORGE: (fighting off tears) Well, he got in some trouble, he accidently killed a higher-up’s wife, and they were coming to get him. We had a meeting spot for when he would eventually get into trouble, and I found him there. He was pretty scared. So I reminded him of our dream to own our own farm… (breaks, takes a deep breath) … and how he got to feed the rabbits. He was happy… and then I shot him in the back of the head (sobs). My best friend… (continues to sob)

BEATTY: I’m sorry I asked.

GEORGE: (regaining composure) But… it was for his own good. Like I said, he died a happy man.

MODERATOR: All right, thank you George. It must be very difficult to bring up that topic.

GEORGE: It’s all right, I guess it’s good for me to get this all out.

MODERATOR: All right then, moving along. Here is a rather different question: Do you consider yourself a selfish person? Did you do what you did for your own selfish gains?

(BEATTY remains silent, introspecting.)

GEORGE: Of course not, didn’t you hear my whole, uh, what was the word? Oh yeah- soliloquy over there? I did it for Lennie’s own good, and it sure as hell didn’t benefit me.

BEATTY: Are you sure, George? Ayn Rand said “Selfishness does not mean only to do things for one's self. One may do things, affecting others, for his own pleasure and benefit.” Are you sure you didn’t kill Lennie for your own gain?

GEORGE: Of course! I had nothing to gain there!

BEATTY: Really? Lennie wasn’t hindering you at all? You said you never had time for yourself, now that that burden’s gone… You can do (pause) whatever you want, my boy. Nobody following you around, you don’t have another mouth to feed. You finally have (pause) freedom.

(GEORGE sits bewildered)

So let’s ask again: Did you really kill Lennie for just his own good?

GEORGE: (shaken) I guess… no. I do enjoy the freedom. I can do whatever I want without worrying when Lennie’ll get me in trouble… I am a selfish person…

BEATTY: I know I’m a selfish person. I’ve always wanted to be the smartest. So, once books were made illegal, and all knowledge ceased to grow, I decided to instead of learning more than any other, I must destroy anyone’s chances of learning more than me. That’s why I became a fireman. So I could become the smartest person in the world. Also, I didn’t finish my Ayn Rand quote. Picking up from where I left off: “This is not immoral, but the highest of morality.” Using others for my own gain makes me a good person, a saintly person.

MODERATOR: Ok, well we’re almost out of time, so I’ll leave you with one final question: Do you think that mankind as a whole is naturally good?

GEORGE: Absolutely. Lennie couldn’t interpret life, he didn’t know how real life worked, and he was just like a child. And he loved life, mankind and was a very kind person. He was the kindest person I’ve ever met. And he was a genuine individual.

BEATTY: Hmmm… (pauses and thinks) I’d have to say people are naturally primitive and destructive, so I assume that would be bad. People need to be exposed to information. Once they have this information, they will make a decision on how to use it, be it good or bad, and have the chance to form morals. In my society, people never wince at a death, unlike George here. People will go out of their way to hit someone with their cars. Once information is obtained, morals can be formed.

MODERATOR: Thank you for your time, gentlemen.

BEATTY: You’re welcome.

GEORGE: No problem.

(BLACKOUT, Exeunt)