Topdog/Underdog

It is Friday. Booth enters, “looking like he is bundled up against the cold” (29). He takes off his coat and then begins to remove layers of clothing and other items that he has stolen, including two nice suits. Booth lays one suit on Lincoln’s chair. Lincoln enters, wearing his own clothes rather than the Lincoln costume. It is payday, and they are both excited about the money that Lincoln brought home. Lincoln pours some of the whiskey that Booth shoplifted, and Booth suggests that they budget. Lincoln notices the new suit and is appreciative and touched. They both try on their suits. Lincoln praises Booth’s shoplifting skills, saying, “They say clothes make the man. All day long I wear that getup. But that dont make me who I am” (33). The Lincoln costume was worn by the previous performer, who left it hanging there one day and didn’t come back. Lincoln remembers how their father’s clothes used to hang, and Booth reminds him that Lincoln burned their father’s clothes. 

The brothers decide to trade the ties that go with their new suits, and they budget out loud. Booth convinces Lincoln that they need to save some money to turn the phone back on because if Lincoln tries to meet a woman, she won’t be interested if he has no phone number. They set money aside for rent, electricity, and “med-sin” (37), or bottles of liquor. Booth continues to push Lincoln about the phone, and Lincoln tells him that the arcade is talking about cutbacks, and he might lose his job since he has only been there for eight months. Booth tries to tell his brother that they will manage, but Lincoln asserts that he doesn’t want to lose a job that allows him to sit and think. Booth asks about Lincoln’s “Best Customer,” a man who comes in regularly to shoot “Honest Abe” and often talks to Lincoln while he does it. This time, the man said, “Does thuh show stop when no ones watching or does thuh show go on?” (38). Another time, he said, “Yr only yrself when no ones watching” (39). 

Lincoln is pretty sure that the man is black but doesn’t know if the man knows that he is also black under the white makeup. Booth says, “Thats a fucked-up job you got” (39). But Lincoln counters that he is alive, unlike someone named Lonny who was killed next to him while he was playing cards in the street. Since Lincoln is concerned about losing his job, Booth suggests that he play up the drama when Lincoln dies to make it more fun for tourists. Lincoln asks Booth to help him rehearse, but Booth is going out with Grace. Booth asks Lincoln for $5 since “it’s the biggest night of [his] life” (41). Lincoln gives him the money, and Booth leaves, promising to practice with him when he gets back. Lincoln puts on his Abraham Lincoln costume, deciding to skip the makeup. He practices once and then pours himself a drink. 

Later the same evening, Booth returns from his date with Grace. He is ecstatic that she has agreed to take him back and pretend that their breakup never happened. Lincoln asks if Grace let Booth have sex with her, and Booth asserts that she did. Lincoln presses Booth for details about their sexual encounter, and Booth obliges, reluctantly at first. Booth claims that Grace let him have sex with her without a condom and asks Lincoln what kind of condom he used when cheating on his ex-wife, since Grace expects him to use one next time. Booth goes on about Grace, who is beautiful and training to be a cosmetologist. Lincoln offers Booth a drink and asks him to practice assassinating him. Booth wants to wait until tomorrow, and Lincoln gets annoyed, accusing Booth of making up the sex stories. Booth calls his brother jealous, and Lincoln reveals that he found a huge stash of pornography under Booth’s bed. 

Booth asserts that he uses the pornography because he needs sexual release or he will have to go out and find women, unlike Lincoln, who Booth insinuates isn’t as masculine. Booth claims that Lincoln’s wife left him because his sex drive was too low and reiterates, “I gave it to Grace good tonight. So goodnight” (50). Booth lays down in his bed. After a moment, he comes back. The brothers talk about Booth’s three-card monte hustle, and Lincoln suggests that he could hook Booth up with his old crew. However, Booth would need a better gun. Booth accuses Lincoln of knowing nothing about guns, but Lincoln replies that the guns at the arcade are real, just altered so they only shoot blanks. Booth asks if Lincoln is worried that someone will actually shoot and kill him, perhaps his Best Customer, but Lincoln says, “I cant be worrying about the actions of miscellaneous strangers” (53). 

Lincoln describes what it is like to be shot as Lincoln. The shooters approach from behind, so Lincoln only sees them inverted in the reflection of a fuse box. They choose a gun when they pay for the experience, and they press the gun against the back of his head. Then they shoot. Booth suggests that Lincoln ought to “scream or something” (55) to show that he can do things that a wax dummy could not. They practice a few times, and Lincoln screams, then curses, and then writhes on the ground. Booth keeps giving suggestions and then suddenly stops, saying, “I dunno, man. Something about it. I dunno. It was looking too real or something” (57). Lincoln gets upset and accuses Booth of sabotaging him and trying to get him fired, which Booth denies. Lincoln explains that playing Lincoln as a black man is a strange experience. But before this job he was hustling on the streets, and he doesn’t want to lose the job. Booth asks Lincoln to show him a trick with the cards, but Lincoln refuses. Lincoln falls asleep, and Booth covers him with a blanket before reaching under his bed for a pornographic magazine.