An Excerpt from My Good Name

Act Two. Scene One: A little later that Monday RACHEL and HARRY are dancing to a different tune. The music stops. HE goes to change the tape. SHE stands there for a moment. RACHEL: But wasn't what you did the same as what they did? HARRY: Similar, not the same. Any requests? RACHEL: But basically, was it insider trading? HARRY: I was waiting for you to say "whatever that is". RACHEL: Whatever it is, it's illegal. I know that much. (MUSIC from the new tape HARRY has chosen. HE is humming along with it.) Is there anything Celeste Magowan might ferret out? HARRY: Will you please not worry? Ambitious people are easy to handle. (Holds out his arms, inviting her to dance, but SHE doesn't move.) RACHEL: Muriel thought she was easy. How similar was what you did to inside trading? HARRY: (Smiles) There are those who might say that's what it was. Rachel, it was very popular in all of its forms until Dennis Levine got himself arrested. You know what stunned me when we first dated? What a marvelous dancer you were. It didn't go with the rest of you. RACHEL: Until we went to bed. HARRY: Yes. Come on. Stun me. (Holds out his arms again.) RACHEL: Are you in danger of going to jail? HARRY: No. RACHEL: Because you didn't do exactly what they did? HARRY: (Drops his arms. A moment.) Because they didn't do what I did. RACHEL: (After a moment.) Could we do without the music? (HE turns it off.) What did you do, Harry? HARRY: (A moment.) I provided evidence against Michael Milken. RACHEL: To whom? HARRY: The Feds. RACHEL: Why? HARRY: I didn't want to go to jail. RACHEL: Ivan Boesky provided evidence against Milken. It didn't keep him out of jail. HARRY: Ivan Boesky was fined a hundred million dollars. Imagine how much he made. RACHEL: And kept. HARRY: He was a catch. RACHEL: Milken was an even bigger catch. HARRY: Oh, much. That's what the Feds go after. RACHEL: You're not a big catch, Harry. They went after you. But then they gave you a choice. At least, I suppose they did. HARRY: They did. RACHEL: Why? Because you're Harrison Beaumont? HARRY: Meaning what? RACHEL: Dennis Levine isn't in the big catch class with Boesky and Milken. HARRY: No. RACHEL: But he is in another class all the Yeshiva boys are in. Outsiders go to jail for insider trading, insiders don't. HARRY: Ever hear of Boyd Jefferies? RACHEL: An inside trader? HARRY: Until Boesky included him our. RACHEL: Alright, he was the token goy. You have your amused look. HARRY: I'm not amused and you're wrong. RACHEL: The old boys are smart. It's smart to include a token. They always do. HARRY: You ran this into the ground with Celeste Magowan. What are you after, Rachel? Not for her, for yourself? What is it you want? RACHEL: I don't know. I'm fishing. Like Celeste. HARRY: I'd rather have music and dance. RACHEL: I'll rake a rain check. (A moment.) Please, Harry. HARRY: I forgot you read your publishing contracts. You want the fine print. RACHEL: All of it. HARRY: You have your serious look. It is serious but nor that serious. RACHEL: Good. I could use a laugh. HARRY: When I began on Wall Street, insider trading wasn't a crime. It's a victimless one, anyway. RACHEL: Nobody loses? HARRY: Oh, money, yes. But we're a get rich quick country. Money is our national product, and making money from money is our number one business. A little knowledge can make a lot of Muriel's moolah. …