Three Plays (20 page)

BIG DADDY
[off on gallery]
: Looks like the wind was takin' liberties with this place.

[Lacey appears in lawn area; Brightie and Small appear on lawn.]

LACEY
: Evenin', Mr. Pollitt.

BRIGHTIE and SMALL
: Evenin', Cap'n. Hello, Cap'n.

MARGARET
: Big Daddy's on the gall'ry.

BIG DADDY
: Stawm crossed th' river, Lacey?

LACEY
: Gone to Arkansas, Cap'n.

[Big Mama has turned toward the hall door at the sound of Big Daddy's voice on the gallery. Now she crosses to door on to the gallery.]

BIG MAMA
: I can't stay here. He'll see somethin' in my eyes.

BIG DADDY
[on upper gallery, to the boys]
: Stawm done any damage around here?

BRIGHTIE
: Took the po'ch off ole Aunt Crawley's house.

BIG DADDY
: Ole Aunt Crawley should of been settin' on it. It's time fo' th' wind to blow that ole girl away!

[Field-hands laugh, exit. Big Daddy enters room.]

Can I come in?

[Puts his cigar in ash tray on bar. | Mae and Gooper hurry along the upper gallery and stand behind Big Daddy in hall door.]

MARGARET
: Did the storm wake you up, Big Daddy?

BIG DADDY
: Which stawm are you talkin' about—th' one outside or th' hullaballoo in here?

[Gooper squeezes past Big Daddy.]

GOOPER
[crosses toward bed, where legal papers are strewn]
: 'Scuse me, sir...

[Mae tries to squeeze past Big Daddy to join Gooper, but Big Daddy puts his arm firmly around her.]

BIG DADDY
: I heard some mighty loud talk. Sounded like somethin' important was bein' discussed. What was the powwow about?

MAE
[flustered]
: Why—nothin', Big Daddy...

BIG DADDY
: What is that pregnant-lookin' envelope you're puttin' back in your briefcase, Gooper?

GOOPER
[at foot of bed, caught, as he stuffs papers into envelope]
: That? Nothin', suh—nothin' much of anythin' at all...

BIG DADDY
: Nothin'? It looks like a whole lot of nothing!

[Turns to group:]

You all know th' story about th' young married couple—

GOOPER
: Yes, sir!

BIG DADDY
: Hello, Brick—

BRICK
: Hello, Big Daddy.

[The group is arranged in a semi-circle above Big Daddy.]

BIG DADDY
: Young married couple took Junior out to th' zoo one Sunday, inspected all of God's creatures in their cages, with satisfaction.

GOOPER
: Satisfaction.

BIG DADDY
: This afternoon was a warm afternoon in spring an' that ole elephant had somethin' else on his mind which was bigger'n peanuts. You know this story, Brick?

[Gooper nods.]

BRICK
: No, sir, I don't know it.

BIG DADDY
: Y'see, in th' cage adjoinin' they was a young female elephant in heat!

BIG MAMA
[at Big Daddy's shoulder]
: Oh, Big Daddy!

BIG DADDY
: What's the matter, preacher's gone, ain't he? All right. That female elephant in the next cage was per-meatin' the atmosphere about her with a powerful and excitin' odour of female fertility! Huh! Ain't that a nice way to put it, Brick?

BRICK
: Yes, sir, nothin' wrong with it.

BIG DADDY
: Brick says the's nothin' wrong with it!

BIG MAMA
: Oh, Big Daddy!

BIG DADDY
: So this ole bull elephant still had a couple of fornications left in him. He reared back his trunk an' got a whiff of that elephant lady next door!—began to paw at the dirt in his cage an' butt his head against the separatin' partition and, first thing y'know, there was a conspicuous change in his
profile
—very
conspicuous!
Ain't I tellin' this story in decent language, Brick?

BRICK
: Yes, sir, too ruttin' decent!

BIG DADDY
: So, the little boy pointed at it and said, 'What's that?' His Mam said, 'Oh, that's nothin'!'—His Papa said, 'She's spoiled!'

[Field-hands sing off. Big Daddy crosses to Brick.]

BIG DADDY
: You didn't laugh at that story, Brick.

[Big Mama crying. Margaret goes to her.]

BRICK
: No, sir, I didn't laugh at that story.

[Big Mama sobs. Big Daddy looks toward her.]

BIG DADDY
: What's wrong with that long, thin woman over there, loaded with diamonds? Hey, what's-your-name, what's the matter with you?

MARGARET
[toward Big Daddy]
: She had a slight dizzy spell, Big Daddy.

BIG DADDY
: You better watch that, Big Mama. A stroke is a bad way to go.

MARGARET
: Oh, Brick, Big Daddy has on your birthday present to him, Brick, he has on your cashmere robe, the softest material I have ever felt.

BIG DADDY
: Yeah, this is my soft birthday, Maggie.... Not my gold or my silver birthday, but my soft birthday, everything's got to be soft for Big Daddy on this soft birthday.

[Maggie kneels before Big Daddy. As Gooper and Mae speak, Big Mama hushing them with a gesture.]

GOOPER
: Maggie, I hate to make such a crude observation, but there is somethin' a little indecent about your—

MAE
: Like a slow-motion football tackle—

MARGARET
: Big Daddy's got on his Chinese slippers that I gave him, Brick. Big Daddy, I haven't given you my big present yet, but now I will, now's the time for me to present it to you! I have an announcement to make!

MAE
: What? What kind of announcement?

GOOPER
: A sports announcement, Maggie?

MARGARET
: Announcement of life beginning! A child is coming, sired by Brick, and out of Maggie the Cat! I have Brick's child in my body, an' that's my birthday present to Big Daddy on this birthday!

[Big Daddy looks at Brick.]

BIG DADDY
: Get up, girl, get up off your knees, girl.

[Big Daddy helps Margaret rise. He bites off the end of a fresh cigar, taken from his bathrobe pocket, as he studies Margaret.]

Uh-huh, this girl has life in her body, that's no lie!

BIG MAMA
: BIG DADDY'S DREAM COME TRUE!

BRICK
: JESUS!

BIG DADDY
: Gooper, I want my lawyer in the mornin'.

BRICK
: Where are you goin', Big Daddy?

BIG DADDY
: Son, I'm goin' up on the roof to the belvedere on th' roof to look over my kingdom before I give up my kingdom—twenty-eight thousand acres of th' richest land this side of the Valley Nile!

[Exit through doors, to gallery.]

BIG MAMA
[following]
: Sweetheart, sweetheart, sweetheart—can I come with you?
[Exits.]

GOOPER
: Brick, could you possibly spare me one small shot of that liquor?

BRICK
: Why, help yourself, Gooper boy.

GOOPER
: I will.

MAE
: Of course we know that this is a lie!

GOOPER
[drinks]
: Be still, Mae!

MAE
: I won't be still! I know she's made this up!

GOOPER
: God damn it, I said to shut up!

MAE
: That woman isn't pregnant!

GOOPER
: Who said she was?

MAE
: She did!

GOOPER
: The doctor didn't. Doc Baugh didn't.

MARGARET
: I haven't gone to Doc Baugh.

GOOPER
: Then who'd you go to, Maggie?

[Offstage song finishes.]

MARGARET
: One of the best gynaecologists in the South.

GOOPER
: Uh-huh, I see—May we have his name please?

MARGARET
: No, you may not, Mister—Prosecutin' Attorney!

MAE
: He doesn't have any name, he doesn't exist!

MARGARET
: He does so exist, and so does my baby, Brick's baby!

MAE
: You can't conceive a child by a man that won't sleep with you unless you think you're—

[She forces Margaret on to couch. Brick starts for Mae.]

He drinks all the time to be able to tolerate you! Sleeps on the sofa to keep out of contact with you!

GOOPER
: Don't try to kid us, Margaret—

MAE
: How can you conceive a child by a man that won't sleep with you? How can you conceive? How can you? How can you!

GOOPER
[sharply]
:
MAE!

BRICK
: Mae, Sister Woman, how d'you know that I don't sleep with Maggie?

MAE
: We occupy the next room an' th' wall between isn't soundproof.

BRICK
: Oh...

MAE
: We hear the nightly pleadin' and the nightly refusal. So don't imagine you're goin' t'put a trick over on us, to fool a dyin' man with—a—

BRICK
: Mae, Sister Woman, not everybody makes much noise about love. Oh, I know some people are huffers an' puffers, but others are silent lovers.

GOOPER
: This talk is pointless, completely.

BRICK
: How d'y' know that we're not silent lovers? Even if y'got a peep-hole drilled in the wall, how can y'tell if sometime when Gooper's got business in Memphis an' you're playin' scrabble at the country club with other ex-queens of cotton, Maggie and I don't come to some temporary agreement? How do you know that—?

MAE
: Brick, I never thought that you would stoop to her level, I just never dreamed that you would stoop to her level.

GOOPER
: I don't think Brick will stoop to her level.

BRICK
[sits with Margaret on couch]
: What is your level? Tell me your level so I can sink or rise to it.

[Rises.]

You heard what Big Daddy said. This girl has life in her body.

MAE
: That is a lie!

BRICK
: No, truth is something desperate, an' she's got it. Believe me, it's somethin' desperate, an' she's got it. An' now if you will stop actin' as if Brick Pollitt was dead an' buried, invisible, not heard, an' go on back to your peep-hole in the wall—I'm drunk, and sleepy—not as alive as Maggie, but still alive....

[Pours drink, drinks.]

GOOPER
[picks up brief case from foot of bed]
: Come on, Mae. We'll leave these love birds together in their nest.

MAE
: Yeah, nest of lice! Liars!

GOOPER
: Mae—Mae, you jes' go on back to our room—

MAE
: Liars!

[Exits through hall.]

GOOPER
[above Margaret]
: We're jest goin' to wait an' see. Time will tell. Yes, sir, little brother, we're just goin' to wait an' see!

[Exits to hall. | The clock strikes twelve. | Maggie and Brick exchange a look. He drinks deeply, puts his glass on the bar. Gradually, his expression changes. He utters a sharp exhalation. | The exhalation is echoed by the singers, who commence vocalizing with 'Gimme a Cool Drink of Water Fo' I Die', and continue till end of act.]