Three Plays (18 page)

[Mae rises, looks out]

GOOPER
: That boy's gone t' pieces—he's just gone t' pieces.

DOCTOR BAUGH
: Y'know, in my day they used to have somethin' they called the Keeley cure for drinkers.

BIG MAMA
: Shoot!

DOCTOR BAUGH
: But nowadays, I understand they take some kind of tablets that kill their taste for the stuff.

GOOPER
[turns to Dr Baugh]
: Call 'em anti-bust tablets.

BIG MAMA
: Brick don't need to take nothin'. That boy is just broken up over Skipper's death. You know how poor Skipper died. They gave him a big, big dose of that sodium amytal stuff at his home an' then they called the ambulance an' give him another big, big dose of it at th' hospital an' that an' all the alcohol in his system fo' months an' months just proved too much for his heart an' his heart quit beatin'. I'm scared of needles! I'm more scared of a needle than th' knife—

[Brick has entered the room to behind the wicker seat. He rests his hand on Big Mama's head. Gooper has moved a bit facing Big Mama.]

BIG MAMA
: Oh! Here's Brick! My precious baby!

BRICK
: Take it, Gooper!

MAE
[rising]
: What?

BRICK
: Gooper knows what. Take it, Gooper!

[Mae turns to Gooper. Margaret, who has followed Brick, now enters room, to behind wicker seat.]

BIG MAMA
[to Brick]
: You just break my heart.

BRICK
[at bar]
: Sorry—anyone else?

MARGARET
: Brick, sit with Big Mama an' hold her hand while we talk.

BRICK
: You do that, Maggie. I'm a restless cripple. I got to stay on my crutch.

BIG MAMA
: Why're you all
surroundin'
me?—like this? Why're you all starin' at me like this an' makin' signs at each other?

[Brick hobbles out hall door.]

I don't need nobody to hold my hand. Are you all crazy? Since when did Big Daddy or me need anybody—?

[Reverend Tooker moves behind wicker seat.]

MAE
: Calm yourself, Big Mama.

BIG MAMA
: Calm you'self
you'self
, Sister Woman! How could I calm myself with everyone starin' at me as if big drops of blood had broken out on m'face? What's this all about Annh! What?

GOOPER
: Doc Baugh—

[Mae rises.]

Sit down, Mae—

[Mae sits.]

—Big Mama wants to know the complete truth about th' report we got today from the Ochsner Clinic!

[Dr Baugh buttons his coat, faces group.]

BIG MAMA
: Is there somethin'—somethin' that I don't know?

DOCTOR BAUGH
: Yes—well...

BIG MAMA
[rises]
: I—want to—
knowwwww!

—Somebody must be lyin'!
I want to know!

[Mae, Gooper, Reverend Tooker surround Big Mama.]

MAE
: Sit down, Big Mama, sit down on this sofa!

MARGARET
: Brick! Brick!

BIG MAMA
:
What is it, what is it?

DOCTOR BAUGH
: I never have seen a more thorough examination than Big Daddy Pollitt was given in all my experience at the Ochsner Clinic.

GOOPER
: It's one of th' best in th' country.

MAE
: It's
THE
best in th' country—bar none!

DOCTOR BAUGH
: Of course they were ninety-nine and nine-tenths per cent certain before they even started.

BIG MAMA
: Sure of what, sure of what, sure of what—
what!?

MAE
: Now, Mommy, be a brave girl!

BRICK
[on gallery, covers his ears, sings]
:
'By the light, by the light, of the silvery moon!'

GOOPER
[calls out to Brick]
: Shut up, Brick!

[Returns to group]

BRICK
: Sorry...

[Continues singing.]

DOCTOR BAUGH
: But now, you see, Big Mama, they cut a piece off this growth, a specimen of the tissue, an'—

BIG MAMA
: Growth? You told Big Daddy—

DOCTOR BAUGH
: Now, wait—

BIG MAMA
: You told me an' Big Daddy there wasn't a thing wrong with him but—

MAE
: Big Mama, they always—

GOOPER
: Let Doc Baugh talk, will yuh?

BIG MAMA
: —little spastic condition of—

REVEREND TOOKER
[throughout all this]
:
Shh! Shh! Shh!

[Big Mama breaks, they all follow.]

DOCTOR BAUGH
: Yes, that's what we told Big Daddy. But we had this bit of tissue run through the laboratory, an' I'm sorry t'say the test was positive on it. It's malignant.

[Pause.]

BIG MAMA
:
Cancer! Cancer!

MAE
: Now now, Mommy—

GOOPER
[at the same time]
: You had to know, Big Mama.

BIG MAMA
:
Why didn't they cut it out of him? Hanh? Hannh?

DOCTOR BAUGH
: Involved too much, Big Mama, too many organs affected.

MAE
: Big Mama, the liver's affected, an' so's the kidneys, both. It's gone way past what they call a—

GOOPER
: —a surgical risk.

[Big Mama gasps.]

REVEREND TOOKER
: Tch, tch, tch.

DOCTOR BAUGH
: Yes, it's gone past the knife.

MAE
: That's why he's turned yellow!

[Brick stops singing, turns away on gallery.]

BIG MAMA
[pushes Mae]
: Git away from me, git away from me, Mae! I want Brick! Where's Brick!
Where's my only son?

MAE
[a step after Big Mama]
: Mama! Did she say 'only' son?

GOOPER
[following Big Mama]
: What does that make me?

MAE
[above Gooper]
: A sober responsible man with five precious children—
six!

BIG MAMA
: I want Brick! Brick! Brick!

MARGARET
[a step to Big Mama above couch]
: Mama, let
me
tell you.

BIG MAMA
[pushing her aside]
: No, no, leave me alone, you're not my blood!

[She rushes on to the gallery.]

GOOPER
[to Big Mama on gallery]
: Mama! I'm your son! Listen to me!

MAE
: Gooper's your son, Mama, he's your first-born!

BIG MAMA
: Gooper never liked Daddy!

MAE
: That's not true!

REVEREND TOOKER
: I think I'd better slip away at this point. Good night, good night everybody, and God bless you all—on this place.
[Goes out through hall.
]

DOCTOR BAUGH
: Well, Big Mama—

BIG MAMA
[leaning against Gooper]
: It's all a mistake, I know it's just a bad dream.

DOCTOR BAUGH
: We're gonna keep Big Daddy as comfortable as we can.

BIG MAMA
: Yes, it's just a bad dream, that's all it is, it's just an awful dream.

GOOPER
: In my opinion Big Daddy is havin' some pain but won't admit that he has it.

BIG MAMA
: Just a dream, a bad dream.

DOCTOR BAUGH
: That's what lots of 'em do, they think if they don't admit they're havin' the pain they can sort of escape th' fact of it.

[Margaret watches Brick.]

GOOPER
: Yes, they get sly about it, get real sly about it.

MAE
: Gooper an' I think—

GOOPER
: Shut up, Mae!—Big Mama, I really do think Big Daddy should be started on morphine.

BIG MAMA
[pulling away from Gooper]
: Nobody's goin' to give Big Daddy morphine!

DOCTOR BAUGH
: Now, Big Mama, when that pain strikes it's goin' to strike mighty hard an' Big Daddy's goin' t'need the needle to bear it.

BIG MAMA
[to Dr Baugh]
: I tell you, nobody's goin' to give him morphine!

MAE
: Big Mama, you don't want to see Big Daddy suffer, y' know y'—

DOCTOR BAUGH
[crosses to bar]
: Well, I'm leavin' this stuff here.

[Puts packet of morphine, etc., on bar.]

So if there's a sudden attack you won't have to send out for it.

[Big Mama hurries to side of bar.]

MAE
: I know how to give a hypo.

BIG MAMA
: Nobody's goin' to give Big Daddy morphine!

GOOPER
: Mae took a course in nursin' durin' th' war.

MARGARET
: Somehow I don't think Big Daddy would want Mae t'give him a hypo.

MAE
[to Margaret]
: You think he'd want you to do it?

DOCTOR BAUGH
: Well—

GOOPER
: Well, Doc Baugh is goin'—

DOCTOR BAUGH
: Yes, I got to be goin'. Well, keep your chin up, Big Mama.

GOOPER
[as he and Mae follow Dr Baugh into the hall]
: She's goin' to keep her ole chin up, aren't you, Big Mama?

[They go out.]

Well, Doc, we sure do appreciate all you've done. I'm telling you, we're obligated—

BIG MAMA
: Margaret!

MARGARET
[meeting Big Mama in front of wicker seat]
: I'm right here, Big Mama.

BIG MAMA
: Margaret, you've got to cooperate with me an' Big Daddy to straighten Brick out now—

GOOPER
[returning with Mae]
: I guess that Doctor has got a lot on his mind, but it wouldn't hurt him to act a little more human—

BIG MAMA
: —because it'll break Big Daddy's heart if Brick don't pull himself together an' take hold of things here.

MAE
[overhearing]
: Take hold of what things, Big Mama?

BIG MAMA
[sits in wicker chair, Margaret standing behind chair]:
The place.

GOOPER
: Big Mama, you've had a shock.

MAE
: Yais, we've all had a shock, but—

GOOPER
: Let's be realistic—

MAE
: Big Daddy would not, would
never
, be foolish enough to—

GOOPER
: —put this place in irresponsible hands!

BIG MAMA
: Big Daddy ain't goin' t'put th' place in anybody's hands, Big Daddy is
not
goin' t'die! I want you to git that into your haids, all of you!

[Mae sits above Big Mama, Margaret turns to door.]

MAE
: Mommy, Mommy, Big Mama, we're just as hopeful an' optimistic as you are about Big Daddy's prospects, we have faith in prayer—but nevertheless there are certain matters that have to be discussed an' dealt with, because otherwise—