A Free Man of Color Read Online Free Page A

)Look at this letter!
    MORALES ( opens it; shock !)It’s a cryptogram!
    PINCEPOUSSE A cryptogram?
    MORALES I remember some of the cipher. Plxtr is “Spain”. Here is another—Voomf is “Napoleon”.
    JACQUES CORNET Spain? Napoleon?
    MORALES Am I being dismissed? Oh, dear Lord—no—
    PINCEPOUSSE Where did you put the Imperial cipher breaker?
    MORALES At home in my safe.
    PINCEPOUSSE ( whispers )Could the cryptogram be orders to restore le Code Noir ? I’d like that.
    JACQUES CORNET What is he saying?
    MORALES Restore le Code Noir ?
    JACQUES CORNET Le Code Noir ? What about le Code Noir?
    DR. T ( to us )George Feydeau, the great French playwright, was asked how to write a play.
    GEORGES FEYDEAU appears.
    FEYDEAU There is only one rule of playwriting. Character A says “My life is perfect as long as Character B does not show up.” Knock knock. Enter Character B.
    Georges Feydeau goes.
    JACQUES CORNET My life is perfect.
    Murmur enters, carrying a door. He is dressed in black and holds a skull.
    MURMUR Knock knock.
    JACQUES CORNET Who’s there?
    MURMUR/DEATH Le Code Noir!
    Jacques Cornet, terrified, slams the door shut. Murmur goes.
    DR. T ( to us )He’ll tell you what le Code Noir is later in a very grand speech.
    MORALES Jacques, muchos gracias for your hospitality.—Pincepousse, to my house. Let no one suspect we have received a cryptogram.
    PINCEPOUSSE Find the code breaker!
    Margery enters.
    MARGERY I want to see New Orleans. I want to eat food. I want to see that man.
    PINCEPOUSSE The carriage! Go!
    Pincepousse drags Margery off. Morales follows.
    JACQUES CORNET A restoration of le Code Noir? Spain lets us live in the mathematics of a loose equation. But add Napoleon to the algebra? The name of my play is very clear: A Free Man of Color or The Happy Life of a Man in Power. What’s in that letter? Murmur, bring me the key to the garden of Senor Morales. Hurry! Hurry!
    MURMUR ( taking out the key ring )I’m hurrying.
    Jacques Cornet goes onto the street. A masked woman appears. (DOÑA ATHENE) Jacques Cornet turns to her.
    JACQUES CORNET They told me you were beautiful. They didn’t tell me you—
    DOÑA ATHENE ( pulls off mask )It is your wife ! Doña Athene! Why have you scorned me!
    JACQUES CORNET Murmur!
    MURMUR I’m staying out of this one.
    DOÑA ATHENE I thought I would dwell in Paradise when you begged to marry me to celebrate your newly purchased freedom. I relented happily to the wonder of your words. You promised me Israel in your arms. You parted the Red Sea when you loved me. Now you deny me your ardor. Why would Moses turn his back on his chosen people? A Gethsemane of madness crushes in on me. Your phantom words divorce me from all sense. How can you speak, yet be devoid of consequence?
    Jacques Cornet runs off.
    DOÑA ATHENE What did I do to make him turn away?
    MURMUR Take it as a compliment, Madam. He found such comfort in your arms that he seeks you everywhere.
    DOÑA ATHENE “The Increase of appetite had grown by what it feeds on.” Is that my crime? My love made him discover love?
    MURMUR There you go.
    Doña Athene goes. Jacques Cornet reappears.
    JACQUES CORNET Murmur, one of your few duties is to block Doña Athene.
    MURMUR She is your wife.
    JACQUES CORNET A moment’s spur. I didn’t buy myself out of one slavery to move into another. What’s in that letter?
    Murmur plays the seductive rhythm of el son on a gourd.
    MURMUR The drawing room of Supreme Intendante Juan Ventura Morales.
    DOÑA SMERALDA, the wife of Morales, sits with ACHILLE CREUX and his wife, DONA POLISSENA, who carries a microscope. A bedroom is visible.
    Morales and Pincepousse enter and proceed to take the drawing room apart.
    MORALES The safe! It’s here—in this safe—
    DOÑA SMERALDA Darlingest treasure trove! We have company!
    MORALES Have you seen the Imperial decoder—parchment— sealed with red wax—in a black leather tube?
    DOÑA SMERALDA Darlingest jewel in my jewel box, your cousin has arrived from