Between Riverside And Crazy

Scene 1 opens at the breakfast table, where Pops and his friend, Oswaldo, chat. Oswaldo eats almonds and talks extensively about his caseworker’s recommendations for a healthy lifestyle, while Pops drinks whiskey and asks for Cool Whip to top his pie. Lulu, Pops’s son’s girlfriend, enters, wearing very little. Pops reacts to her appearance with disapproval: “How about a little robe then, something?” (7). The admonition washes over Lulu, and when Pops reminds her about their plans for dinner that evening, she kisses him on the cheek and calls him “Dad” (8). After Lulu leaves, Pops comments on Lulu’s appearance, saying “She may be nice, and she look good, but I fear the girl is retarded” (8). As Oswaldo expresses his gratitude to Pops for letting him stay in the apartment rent-free, Pops’s son, Junior, enters the scene. Pops begins to question Junior about his whereabouts the night before, money matters, and the “hot merchandise” (11) in Junior’s possession, and then he demands that Junior “go walk [the] damn dog” (11) that belongs to Lulu. Junior asks, “How many drinks you had this morning, Pops” (11), much to Pops’s irritation. Junior says he has cancelled his plans to go to Baltimore later, wondering how he is “supposed to feel comfortable going anywhere anyway with [Pops] drinking all day, climbing on ladders, doing all types of recklessness” (13). Pops reacts defensively, then tells Junior that “Audrey and her fiancé [are] coming over for dinner ‘round eight” (13). As Junior leaves, Pops asks Junior to drop a check off for him at the lawyers’ office. They argue about the lawyers, whom Junior calls “them Lubenthal and Lubenthal shyster lawyers” (14). Pops and Oswaldo close the scene with a discussion of Oswaldo’s sobriety, and Pops tells Oswaldo that he is “proud of [him]” (16).  

Scene 2 takes place on the roof of Pops’s building, later the same day. Lulu and Pops sit and talk, smoking pot and discussing Lulu’s future. He asks her about a job, and she explains that she is a student before changing the subject. Lulu thanks Pops for letting her stay in the apartment, especially because she is pregnant; she explains that Junior is supportive, but “he doesn’t want me to have it” (18). Pops questions the paternity of the baby, and Lulu responds: “I may look how I look—but that don’t mean I am how I look!” (18). They share a close moment thinking about the baby before Pops reminds Lulu that she shouldn’t be smoking pot because “we having a baby!” (19). 

Scene 3 dramatizes the dinner party that evening. Pops is hosting, and Lulu, Junior, Detective Audrey O’Connor, and her fiancé, Lieutenant Dave Caro, are enjoying after-dinner drinks. Pops and Audrey reminisce about their shared time on the force in between Dave’s drunken expressions of warmth and good will: “And speaking of thank-yous—that meal you cooked this evening, Mr. Washington—I mean, you are really one helluva incredible gourmet chef!” (20).  

Pops jokes about his late wife’s cooking skills, which inspires Junior to come to her defense, until Dave changes the subject back to the days when Pops and Audrey were partners. Pops, Audrey, and Dave take turns telling a story, and Audrey tells Pops how much she misses “those days coming up with [Pops] in the 90s” (24); this reminder of working in the 90s inspires Pops to curse Rudy Giuliani’s name, which leads to a rant by Dave about “that pretentious guinea windbag” (25) (meaning Giuliani), who was the mayor of New York City from 1994 to 2001.  

Dave’s rant interferes with Audrey’s attempts to communicate with Pops about how much he means to her. Junior and Lulu leave the party so Junior can catch his bus to Baltimore while Pops admires Audrey’s engagement ring, which “looks like some serious Audrey Hepburn-Cartier-Kim Kardashian-shit right” (26). Dave admits that he paid “thirty grand” (27) in cash from his poker winnings for the ring, and when Audrey says it will be “a good story some day for the grandkids” (27), Pops reveals that he will be a grandfather soon. After congratulating Pops, Audrey begins to hint to Dave that they should go soon, but Dave finds reasons to linger, until Pops tells Audrey to “say whatever it is you’ve obviously come here to say” (28).  

At this point, Dave becomes serious, insisting to Pops that Pops has “gotta drop this civil suit and settle” (28), to which Pops responds: “Sees the department hasn’t gotten any better at not shooting innocent black men” (28). Dave tries to empathize with Pops, acknowledging that “eight years ago” (28), the situation was different; now, “[t]he truth is nobody cares about your case anymore except you” (29). Audrey points out that Pops’s landlord has served him subpoenas in order to pressure him to settle his case against the city. Emotions start to run high as Pops grows defensive and doubts Audrey’s concern for him, which leads Dave to insist that “no[t] everything in this world, Walter, is about being fuckin’ black” (31). Pops shares deeply personal information with Dave and Audrey, explaining how the shooting took away his masculinity, while Dave and Audrey try to point out the pragmatic realities of Pops’s financial situation and the fact that they will “arrest your son, that’s definite” (33), no matter that “some incompetent white-rookie-Justin Bieber motherfucker [shot Pops] six times” (33). Dave and Pops continue to argue, and Dave forces Pops to face the fact that the night of the shooting, Pops’s “blood alcohol level was one for the record books” (33). Dave and Audrey finally leave the apartment after Dave reveals that his father “ate his gun” (35) because he couldn’t cope with the pressure of policing, either. Though Dave and Audrey try one more time to encourage Pops to sign the agreement proposed by the city, Pops refuses.  

Scene 4 concerns Junior and Lulu, who are on the roof immediately after leaving the dinner. When Lulu complains that she wants to go to Baltimore with Junior, he explains that he “just need[s] a coupla days alone” (36). She doesn’t accept his explanation, and accuses him of not caring about her “pregnant condition” (37) and wanting her to “get an abortion and kill our baby” (37). Junior gives in to Lulu, after he says that he is “already taking care of one impossible goddamn child […] but I got no space to take care of two” (38), referring to Lulu, and she goes with Junior to catch the bus to Baltimore. 

Scene 5 closes Act 1. Oswaldo comes home to greet Pops, who is very drunk after his dinner party. Oswaldo is also heavily intoxicated; he vomits on the floor and then apologizes for doing so. Oswaldo’s visit with his father has been a disaster: “He told me I was a weak addict just circling the drain” (40). Oswaldo tries to borrow money from Pops, then accuses Pops of hitting him. The scene closes with Oswaldo demanding Pops’s credit card.