A Table by the Window (by Joel Kaye)

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A TABLE BY THE WINDOW

ANDREW AND COOPER ARE SEATED IN A RESTAURANT BY A WINDOW

  • COOPER    You see all the world’s types passing here – Slavs, Africans, Asiatics, Indians, Semites, Nordics. Who would you trust?
  • ANDREW    See that couple?
  • ANDREW GESTURES AT A COUPLE PASSING BY

He’s nordic-looking with mousey hair, walking arm in arm with a black-haired asiatic woman. There’s no tension between them. They are perfectly in step.

  • COOPER    They say you need two Georgians to strike a bargain with a Greek, and two Greeks to do a deal with a Jew.
  • ANDREW    Meaning?
  • COOPER    Trust only extends so far. In numbers I trust. Two versus one.
  • ANDREW    Commerce!
  • COOPER    Don’t despise commerce. It puts food on your table.
  • ANDREW    It gets as far as the market. Where you haggle and barter and bargain.
  • COOPER    Yes, of course!
  • ANDREW    Commerce doesn’t grow it. That’s done in co-operatives. Doesn’t cook it. You work in a restaurant kitchen you work as a team.
  • COOPER    But restaurant owners?
  • ANDREW    Swindling bastards. Cheat the customers and treat the staff like shit.
  • COOPER    Are you ready to order?
  • ANDREW    Yes.
  • COOPER    Who’s paying?

CURTAIN