Three Plays (43 page)

BLANCHE
: You are not too heavy.

MITCH:
You don't think I am?

BLANCHE
: You are not the delicate type. You have a massive bone-structure and a very imposing physique.

MITCH:
Thank you. Last Christmas I was given a membership to the New Orleans Athletic Club.

BLANCHE
: Oh, good.

MITCH:
It was the finest present I ever was given. I work out there with the weights and I swim and keep myself fit. When I started there, I was getting soft in the belly but now my belly is hard. It is so hard now that a man can punch me in the belly and it don't hurt me. Punch me! Go on! See?

[She pokes lightly at him.]

BLANCHE
: Gracious.

[Her hand touches her chest.]

MITCH:
Guess how much I weigh, Blanche?

BLANCHE
: Oh, I'd say in the vicinity of—one hundred and eighty?

MITCH:
Guess again.

BLANCHE
: Not that much?

MITCH:
No. More.

BLANCHE
: Well, you're a tall man and you can carry a good deal of weight without looking awkward.

MITCH:
I weigh two hundred and seven pounds and I'm six feet one and one-half inches tall in my bare feet—without shoes on. And that is what I weigh stripped.

BLANCHE
: Oh, my goodness, me! It's awe-inspiring.

MITCH
[embarrassed]
: My weight is not a very interesting subject to talk about…

[He hesitates for a moment]

What's yours?

BLANCHE
: My weight?

MITCH:
Yes.

BLANCHE
: Guess!

MITCH:
Let me lift you.

BLANCHE
: Samson! Go on, lift me.

[He comes behind her and puts his hands on her waist and raises her lightly off the ground]

Well?

MITCH:
You are light as a feather.

BLANCHE
: Ha-ha!

[He lowers her but keeps his hands on her waist. Blanche speaks with an affectation of demureness]

You may release me now.

MITCH:
Huh?

BLANCHE
[giddly]
: I said unhand me, sir.

[He fumblingly embraces her. Her voice sounds gently reproving]

Now, Mitch. Just because Stanley and Stella aren't at home is no reason why you shouldn't behave like a gentleman.

MITCH:
Just give me a slap whenever I step out of bounds.

BLANCHE
: That won't be necessary. You're a natural gentleman, one of the very few that are left in the world. I don't want you to think that I am severe and old maid school teacherish or anything like that. It's just—well—

MITCH:
Huh?

BLANCHE
: I guess it is just that I have—old-fashioned ideals!

[She rolls her eyes, knowing he cannot see her face. Mitch goes to the front door. There is a considerable silence between them. Blanche sighs and Mitch coughs self-consciously.]

MITCH
[finally]
: Where's Stanley and Stella tonight?

BLANCHE
: They have gone out With Mr. and Mrs. Hubbell upstairs.

MITCH:
Where did they go?

BLANCHE
: I think they were planning to go to a midnight prevue at Loew's State.

MITCH:
We should all go out together some night

BLANCHE
: No. That wouldn't be a good plan.

MITCH:
Why not?

BLANCHE
: You are an old friend of Stanley's?

MITCH:
We was together in the Two-forty-first.

BLANCHE
: I guess he talks to you frankly?

MITCH:
Sure.

BLANCHE
: Has he talked to you about me?

MITCH:
Oh—not very much.

BLANCHE
: The way you say that, I suspect that he has.

MITCH:
No, he hasn't said much.

BLANCHE
: But what he
has
said. What would you say his attitude toward me was?

MITCH:
Why do you want to ask that?

BLANCHE
: Well—

MITCH:
Don't you get along with him?

BLANCHE
: What do you think?

MITCH:
I don't think he understands you.

BLANCHE
: That is putting it mildly. If it weren't for Stella about to have a baby, I wouldn't be able to endure things here.

MITCH:
He isn't—nice to you?

BLANCHE
: He is insufferably rude. Goes out of his way to offend me.

MITCH:
In what way, Blanche?

BLANCHE
: Why, in every conceivable way.

MITCH:
I'm surprised to hear that.

BLANCHE
: Are you?

MITCH:
Well, I—don't see how anybody could be rude to you.

BLANCHE
: It's really a pretty frightful situation. You see, there's no privacy here. There's just these portieres between the two rooms at night. He stalks through the rooms in his underwear at night. And I have to ask him to close the bathroom door. That sort of commonness isn't necessary. You probably wonder why I don't move out. Well, I'll tell you frankly. A teacher's salary is barely sufficient for her living expenses. I didn't save a penny last year and so I had to come here for the summer. That's why I have to put up with my sister's husband. And he has to put up with me, apparently so much against his wishes.... Surely he must have told you how much he hates me!

MITCH:
I don't think he hates you.

BLANCHE
: He hates me. Or why would he insult me? The first time I laid eyes on him I thought to myself, that man is my executioner! That man will destroy me, unless—

MITCH:
Blanche—

BLANCHE
: Yes, honey?

MITCH:
Can I ask you a question?

BLANCHE
: Yes. What?

MITCH:
How old are you?

[She makes a nervous gesture.]

BLANCHE
: Why do you want to know?

MITCH:
I talked to my mother about you and she said, "How old is Blanche?" And I wasn't able to tell her.

[There is another pause.]

BLANCHE
: You talked to your mother about me?

MITCH:
Yes.

BLANCHE
: Why?

MITCH:
I told my mother how nice you were, and I liked you.

BLANCHE
: Were you sincere about that?

MITCH:
You know I was.

BLANCHE
: Why did your mother want to know my age?

MITCH:
Mother is sick.

BLANCHE
: I'm sorry to hear it. Badly?

MITCH:
She won't live long. Maybe just a few months.

BLANCHE
: Oh.

MITCH:
She worries because I'm not settled.

BLANCHE
: Oh.

MITCH:
She wants me to be settled down before she—

[His voice is hoarse and he clears his throat twice, shuffling nervously around with his hands in and out of his pockets.]

BLANCHE
: You love her very much, don't you?

MITCH:
Yes.

BLANCHE
: I think you have a great capacity for devotion. You will be lonely when she passes on, won't you?

[Mitch clears his throat and nods.]

I understand what that is.

MITCH:
To be lonely?

BLANCHE
: I loved someone, too, and the person I loved I lost.

MITCH:
Dead?

[She crosses to the window and sits on the sill, looking out. She pours herself another drink.]

A man?

BLANCHE
: He was a boy, just a boy, when I was a very young girl. When I was sixteen, I made the discovery—love. All at once and much, much too completely. It was like you suddenly turned a blinding light on something that had always been half in shadow, that's how it struck the world for me. But I was unlucky. Deluded. There was something different about the boy, a nervousness, a softness and tenderness which wasn't like a man's, although he wasn't the least bit effeminate looking—still—that thing was there.... He came to me for help. I didn't know that. I didn't find out anything till after our marriage when we'd run away and come back and all I knew was I'd failed him in some mysterious way and wasn't able to give the help he needed but couldn't speak of! He was in the quicksands and clutching at me—but I wasn't holding him out, I was slipping in with him! I didn't know that. I didn't know anything except I loved him unendurably but without being able to help him or help myself. Then I found out. In the worst of all possible ways. By coming suddenly into a room that I thought was empty—which wasn't empty, but had two people in it... the boy I had married and an older man who had been his friend for years....

[A locomotive is heard approaching outside. She claps her hands to her ears and crouches over. The headlight of the locomotive glares into the room as it thunders past. As the noise recedes she straightens slowly and continues speaking.]

Afterwards we pretended that nothing had been discovered. Yes, the three of us drove out to Moon Lake Casino, very drunk and laughing all the way.

[Polka music sounds. In a minor key faint with distance.]

We danced the Varsouviana! Suddenly in the middle of the dance the boy I had married broke away from me and ran out of the casino. A few moments later—a shot!

[The polka stops abruptly.]

[Blanche rises stiffly. Then, the polka resumes in a major key.]

I ran out—all did!—all ran and gathered about the terrible thing at the edge of the lake! I couldn't get near for the crowding. Then somebody caught my arm. "Don't go any closer! Come back! You don't want to see!" See? See what! Then I heard voices say—Allan! Allan! The Grey boy! He'd stuck the revolver into his mouth, and fired—so that the back of his head had been—blown away!

[She sways and covers her face.]

It was because—on the dance-floor—unable to stop myself—I'd suddenly said—"I saw! I know! You disgust me..." And then the searchlight which had been turned on the world was turned off again and never for one moment since has there been any light that's stronger than this—kitchen—candle...

[Mitch gets up awkwardly and moves toward her a little. The polka music increases. Mitch stands beside her.]

MITCH
[drawing her slowly into his arms]
: You need somebody. And I need somebody too. Could it be—you and me, Blanche?

[She stares at him vacantly for a moment. Then with a soft cry huddles in his embrace. She makes a sobbing effort to speak but the words won't come. He kisses her forehead and her eyes and finally her lips. The polka tune fades out. Her breath is drawn and released in long, grateful sobs.]

BLANCHE
: Sometimes—there's God—so quickly!

SCENE SEVEN

It is late afternoon in mid-September. The portieres are open and a table is set for a birthday supper, with cake and flowers. Stella is completing the decorations as Stanley comes in.

STANLEY
: What's all this stuff for?

STELLA
: Honey, it's Blanche's birthday.

STANLEY
: She here?

STELLA
: In the bathroom.

STANLEY
[mimicking]
: "Washing out some things"?

STELLA
: I reckon so.

STANLEY
: How long she been in there?

STELLA
: All afternoon.

STANLEY
[mimicking]
: "Soaking in a hot tub"?

STELLA
: Yes.

STANLEY
: Temperature 100 on the nose, and she soaks herself in a hot tub.

STELLA
: She says it cools her off for the evening.

STANLEY
: And you run out an' get her cokes, I suppose? And serve 'em to Her Majesty in the tub?