The Black Album (11 page)
Chili
Just the place I want! Care to join me there? Now fuck off out of here with your poodles! Then I’ll release this one!
Chad
There are hundreds like us, hundreds and thousands!
Chili
What you waiting for – bring them on!
They go, and Chili flings Riaz out
.
Riaz
We will start another experiment,
insha’Allah
!
Chili
Yeah, yeah.
Deedee
(
concerned
) Shahid …
Shahid
I’m all right. Really.
Deedee
Time we had a proper meal.
Chili
I’ve had all I can stomach, babe.
A beat
.
Deedee
Take care of yourself, Chili.
Deedee goes to the kitchen
.
Chili
(
to Shahid
) Hug me, bro.
They embrace
.
Shahid
Thanks for saving my balls.
Chili
Cool entrance, eh? Someone should have videoed it. You okay?
Shahid
Sore all over. Going somewhere?
Chili nods
.
With Strapper?
Chili
Yeah.
Shahid
After what he did?
Chili
Will you talk to Ammi for me? Say I’m okay? Getting better? You know what to say.
Shahid
Toot sweet, brother.
Chili
Yeah.
Chili exits, with Strapper. Deedee leaves the room
.
There is a tapping on the window. Shahid grabs a
knife and investigates. Hat is knocking. Shahid opens
the window
.
Hat
Will you listen if I say something? Please, Shahid.
Shahid
Why should I trust you?
Hat
I trying to say I sorry about what happened.
Shahid
Oh, yeah.
Hat
Please listen! There’s no one else – I alone! Because Allah is forgiving and merciful, I will only show love and consideration for others. I ashamed of what we did.
Shahid
Why?
Hat
Whatever you done, it not my place to condemn another person. Only God can do that. I was wrong to put myself in that position, as if I never done wrong things. I hope you don’t turn away from Allah.
Shahid
To tell you the truth, Hat – I’m sick of being bossed around, whether by Riaz or Chad or God himself. Brother, what we do, and the things we make, is more interesting than anything that God is supposed to have done. Do your accountancy, Hat. You’ll regret it if you don’t pass.
Hat
I disagree. But I get what you say. I said what I have to.
He starts to leave
.
Shahid
Where are you going?
Hat
To paradise. Please forgive me. Forgive all of us and may there be mercy.
Hat leaves. Deedee enters
.
Shahid
I want to be with you.
Deedee
For as long as it lasts?
Shahid
For as long as that.
They embrace
.
A beat
.
Dawn. Hat is seen carrying a rucksack. He bends
down to take it off his shoulders. An explosion. Hat is
killed. Sounds of sirens. Ambulances, fire engines,
police cars and flashing lights
.
Deedee and Shahid go out. There is a pall of smoke.
Shahid and Deedee look at each other
.
Shahid
I want to see my mother. Come with me? Then we can go to the sea – I know a place. I’ve decided. I know what to write.
She holds out her hand. He takes it and they walk off,
towards the dawn
.
Mobile phones start ringing, coalescing into sounds
of wild celebrations at news of London winning the
2012
Olympics. Four young men appear, wearing
baseball caps and with rucksacks slung on their backs
.
Blackout
.
Hanif Kureishi is the author of novels (including
Something to Tell You, The Buddha of Suburbia, The Black Album and Intimacy
), story collections (
Love in a Blue Time, Midnight All Day, The Body
), plays (including
Outskirts, Borderline
and
Sleep With Me
) and screenplays (including
My Beautiful Laundrette, My Son the Fanatic
and
Venus
). Among his other publications are the collection of essays
Dreaming and Scheming, The Word and the Bomb
and the memoir
My Ear at his Heart
.
plays
PLAYS ONE
(
The King and Me, Outskirts, Borderline, Birds of Passage
)
SLEEP WITH ME
WHEN THE NIGHT BEGINS
screenplays
COLLECTED SCREENPLAYS 1
(
My Beautiful Laundrette, Sammy and Rosie Get Laid
,
London Kills Me, My Son the Fanatic
)
THE MOTHER
VENUS
fiction
THE BUDDHA OF SUBURBIA
THE BLACK ALBUM
LOVE IN A BLUE TIME
INTIMACY
MIDNIGHT ALL DAY
GABRIEL’S GIFT
THE BODY AND SEVEN STORIES
SOMETHING TO TELL YOU
non-fiction
THE FABER BOOK OF POP
(edited with Jon Savage)
DREAMING AND SCHEMING:
REFLECTIONS ON WRITING AND POLITICS
First published in 2009
by Faber and Faber Ltd
Bloomsbury House
74–77 Great Russell Street
London
WC1B 3DA
This ebook edition first published in 2010
All rights reserved
© Hanif Kureishi, 2009
The right of Hanif Kureishi to be identified as author of this work has been asserted in accordance with Section 77 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
All rights whatsoever in this work are strictly reserved. Applications for permission for any use whatsoever, including performance rights, must be made in advance, prior to any such proposed use, to The Agency (London) Ltd,24 Pottery Lane, Holland Park, London
W11 4LZ
([email protected]). No performance may be given unless a licence has first been obtained
This ebook is copyright material and must not be copied, reproduced, transferred, distributed, leased, licensed or publicly performed or used in any way except as specifically permitted in writing by the publishers, as allowed under the terms and conditions under which it was purchased or as strictly permitted by applicable copyright law. Any unauthorised distribution or use of this text may be a direct infringement of the author’s and publisher’s rights, and those responsible may be liable in law accordingly
ISBN 978–0–571–25327–2