Article: Dumb and Dumbo

The action takes place in a NYC police station on a Saturday afternoon in the present day. Characters: NYPD DETECTIVE DUMBO-male, late 30s NYPD OFFICER MULE-male, early 30s JOHNNY VOTER-male, early 20s AT RISE: As the lights go up, we see Dumbo, Mule, and Johnny in a locked room. A very nervous Johnny is seated at a table. MULE: (to Dumbo) So, what we got here? DUMBO: One of them punks from today's protests. Him and his pals think they have something important to say and it's okay to break the law to say it. With that, Dumbo delivers a hard slap to the back of Johnny's head...so hard that Dumbo shakes his hand in pain afterwards. MULE: (to Dumbo) You okay? DUMBO: I'll be fine. Ain't no protest punk that can hurt me. They're powerless. Mule moves to the far corner of the room as Dumbo closes in on Johnny. DUMBO: (to Johnny) You're fucked, kid. I hope you know that. We know all about your plans. All that's left is find out who else was in on it. JOHNNY: Plans? Dumbo lands another smack to the kid's head and again appears to have hurt his hand. MULE: (to Dumbo) You better be careful. DUMBO: (to Mule) You think I'm out of line? MULE: I meant you better be careful or might break your hand on his head. DUMBO: (to Johnny) Wise up, punk. We know you and your anarchist buddies wanted to smash that Starbucks' window. You think we don't know things? We hear your phone calls, we read your e-mails, we can see right into your friggin' head if we want to. JOHNNY: We just wanted to buy coffee. We were cold. DUMBO: Cold? You want cold? (laughs) Wait till you spend a few nights at Rikers. JOHNNY: I want to see my lawyer. This brings a big smile to Dumbo's face. He starts to laugh and looks over at Mule but Mule is too busy checking himself in a small mirror. Dumbo yanks the chair from under Johnny...sending the kid to the hard floor. DUMBO: Give us names, punk, or you'll be in no condition to see a lawyer. The law can't help you now because I am the law. Mule walks over to Dumbo. MULE: Take a break, Dumbo. Let me give it a shot. DUMBO: I'll give you ten minutes, Mule. After that, I'm taking off the gloves. We're going Gitmo on his ass. Dumbo storms out as Mule helps the kid back into his chair. MULE: I don't like his style any more than you do. JOHNNY: Then why didn't you do something? MULE: You don't understand. My hands are tied. But now we can do this the right way. JOHNNY: He'll be back in ten minutes. MULE: It won't take you that long to give me a few names so we can get you home for dinner. JOHNNY: I don't want any trouble. MULE: I can see that, kid. Tell me who really set this up and you'll be fine. Trust me. JOHNNY: (starts to cry) But... MULE: Hey, when Dumbo gets back, all bets are off. Guys like him are different than us. You gotta trust me...comrade. Johnny nods his head. Mule hands him a pen and a small notebook. A sobbing Johnny scribbles down names as Dumbo returns. Mule looks up at Dumbo and winks. DUMBO: Mission accomplished. Mickey Z. can be found on the Web at http://www.mickeyz.net.