Scene Seven

FLACA and CAKEHEAD hug CALLADITA. The SOCIAL WORKER and BILL O’NEILL enter.

BILL:

Comrades. Pat good news.

FLACA:

Good news?

BILL:

Very much good news.

CAKEHEAD:

Tell us what the good news is already.

CALLADITA:

Yeah!

BILL:

Okay—Oh, God me. (to CALLADITA) You speak.

CAKEHEAD:

Yes! Now tell us what the good news is!

BILL:

Okay. We find job at Fat Jorge. Steel mill. Work all night. Maintenance work. Job at you, Flaca, fish cannery, work all day. We find you home. Projects in Strathcona. That Chinatown.

FLACA:

Okay, okay. When do we start?

SOCIAL WORKER:

Have you told them about the school for the kids?

BILL:

Oh, yeah. We find school for kids. In Strathcona too. You move tomorrow.

FLACA:

Tomorrow?

BILL:

Yeah. Interfaith Church donate furniture, bed, table, and chairs, things more. You and Fat Jorge work next week.

FLACA:

Sounds good. Very good. Thank you. Thank you very much.

BILL:

Cakehead. Work all night on a bakery. Bake bread.

CAKEHEAD:

Okay. Okay. I can bake bread. Sure. I can do that.

BILL:

And you and Calladita live on top Condor Passes and Juan. In projects also—

SOCIAL WORKER:

Tell them about the other jobs—

RECEPTIONIST:

Wait a minute. You got them jobs?

SOCIAL WORKER:

Yes—

RECEPTIONIST:

Because Kaladeeda has a job. I told her she could be the new cleaning lady here.

SOCIAL WORKER:

Really?

RECEPTIONIST:

Yup. She’s hired.

BILL:

(to  CALLADITA) You work here as cleaning lady?

CALLADITA:

I am? That’s great!

SOCIAL WORKER:

Well, that’s settled. Okay, have you told them about Manuel?

BILL:

You mean Condor Passes?

SOCIAL WORKER:

Uh—

BILL:

Condor Passes—incidentally, where is the men?

JOSELITO:

On a job search.

BILL:

Shit. Why lose time in that? Nobody give them job that way. Okay. Job for Condor Passes. Gardener at UBC garden botanical. Father of Pat member of Forestry School and get Condor job—

CAKEHEAD:

Excellent. Excellent.

BILL:

And Juan: two paper routes and cleaning a daycare—

The men enter. JUAN is wearing a chicken costume.

FAT JORGE:

Comrade Bill! Our respected social worker! Please! Make yourselves at home! Have we got news for you! (pointing to JUAN in the chicken costume) This one is literally fresh off the boat and look at him! We got here before him and he’s the one that gets a job! Son of a bitch.

JOSELITO:

Is that Uncle Juan in there?

JUAN:

Yes! It’s me! Look, you can see my face through the beak!

JOSELITO:

I wanna wear one of those!

MANUELITA:

Me too!

JOSELITO:

Copycat.

MANUELITA:

Show off!

SOCIAL WORKER:

What’s going on?

BILL:

It would seem that Juan already got a job that involves wearing that degrading costume.

FAT JORGE:

So he’s like literally fresh off the boat and we walk by this fried chicken place and Juan goes in there and says, “Me job,” and before you know it they’ve got him in this chicken costume and all he has to do is dance cumbia on the corner there.

BILL:

Juan, you not do that job: (enunciating every syllable) Humiliation—

JUAN:

Are you kidding? Getting paid to dance on a corner all day? I gotta go back. My new boss will think I stole the uniform.

JUAN exits.

BILL:

Uniform?

FLACA:

(to FAT JORGE and CONDOR PASSES) We’re all getting out of here tomorrow. They’ve found us all homes and jobs. We’re leaving the refugee hotel.

Everyone looks at each other, in silence. They look around the hotel.