THE SET UP
Vincent is speaking to his girlfriend Gabby about his best friend Byron, who died of AIDS. Vincent’s faith has been shaken by his friend’s untimely death; Gabby’s faith has not.
“I just don’t like thinking of him in a box underground, rotting.”
VINCENT
I just don’t like thinking of him in a box underground, rotting.
Byron wanted to be cremated, you know. He knew there’d be no stripping him for spare parts — infected blood running through his organs. ‘Course his folks didn’t listen. They never listened to him.
He didn’t write it down? They couldn’t be sure?
He told me. Why couldn’t they believe me? You think I’d ask somebody to toss my best friend into a fire just for fun?
Putting him in a furnace was probably too close to what his mother figured was going to happen to him anyway. Why cheat the devil of his due, right?
How can you believe in something like that?
(photo: 1996 production by The Early Stage (Minneapolis, MN); Jim Lichtscheidl as Bryon, Eriq Nelson as Vincent)
Leave a Reply