Purple Knuckles

ACT TWO, SCENE THREE

Sam, Anna and Kingston are providing Kingston with company as he prepares for his fight in the same setting as Act One. While Sam is wrapping Kingston's hands, Anna is keeping herself at a distance, leaning against a corner locker with her arms folded.

SAM: Hold still, will you?

KINGSTON: I'm trying. It's harder than you think! I haven't felt this rush in a long time...welcome back!

SAM: You'll be just fine.

Sam finishes wrapping his brother's hands. Kingston grunts.

KINGSTON (fiercely): Ach! This is mine! The audience won't know what hit them when I enter...I'm a menace, I'll put his head through a wall, I'll make him slump over!

SAM: That's right! Unsedated pitbull!

KINGSTON: That crown, it's for me...!

Nearby, Anna is silent, vehemently shaking her head.

SAM: Remember all that we practiced, discussed and thought of -- ever since you picked up your first pair of gloves. Remember that moment when we were kids? Decades of experience have led to this moment! You've been waiting for this moment your whole life, Kingston. You've been working towards this type of success since you threw your first jab. This is for your life, brother...and ours, too. And I know the necessity of the situation will make you excel in the ring. It's time to execute.

Sam slides a boxing glove over each wrapped hand.

KINGSTON (slapping each cheek of his with a glove and baring his teeth): This is mine! Mine, you hear me? I need the gold! Ach! I won't let anyone embarrass me. When my life is on the line, I'm a Beelzebub! Call me a Beelzebub!

SAM: You're a Beelzebub!

Kingston clenches his teeth and lunges for Sam to hug him, crushing his insides like mortar and pestle. After a long three seconds, Kingston steps back and exchanges strong eye contact with Sam, who maintains his composure despite struggling for air. Kingston snarls -- not at Sam, but at the tiny shred of self-doubt deeply embedded in his heart.

KINGSTON: I assume you're not watching me ringside?

SAM (regrettably): You know how I get when I watch you fight. As soon as things get tense, you know how I see red! I'd hop in that ring and start swinging endlessly until either I'm shot dead or drop cold in fatigue. And when it comes to your safety, the first option is always more likely.

KINGSTON: Understood. But your presence would be appreciated.

SAM: You have plenty of coaches there, already. When it comes to technique like that, they're better than me, anyways --

KINGSTON: That's not true, you --

SAM: Look! Go get your gold, brother, and let's put this whole problem behind us. When you return to this very locker room where I'll be waiting. And when you do, I expect you to lead us back home, where we'll all eat and drink and laugh all night like gluttonous nobility.

KINGSTON: Understood. I'm heading out, then.

Kingston gives Sam one last jab of strong eye contact before saying goodbye to his wife with a kiss on the cheek, and then exiting the locker room. She hardly kisses him back. Her expression remains stone cold.

SAM (turning to Anna): Are you going to go with him?

ANNA (gravely): I am.

Then, she follows Kingston to the ring, on his way exiting the locker room, her heels thundering on the ground.

SAM: Oh, brother, I need you to win...because not all of us can...

Sam sits back down on the bench. His fingers are crossed and his head bent low in hopes that life will finally be different when his brother reemerges into this locker room.