A One Act Play for Five African American Women.
By
Tony Devaney Morinelli
This piece examines alcoholism and the barriers it creates
in an African American family.
Two maiden daughters are trapped at home with their
alcoholic mother where
bitterness and
resentment replace love and understanding.
Inheritors of their grandmothers sin the two daughters seek their
redemption.
Language: Language may be the most difficult part of this
piece. Among the African-American population there are distinct speech
patterns.
The older women in this piece
may speak with a dialect closer to North Carolina.
The two younger women will have Northern
influences in their speech.
Pink, the
elder daughter will make every effort to speak in the most unaccented way. This
text makes no pretense as to the exact distinctions in African-American
language but there are passages where the instructions are "with
attitude."
Such passages assume an
understanding on the part of the actor and director. The essential necessity is
how these distinctions are used and the intrinsic value they have within the
community.
Contact:
Tony Devaney Morinelli
tmorinelli@verizon.net
610 - 348 - 4669
610 - 642 - 3782
The Sins of the Mother
Mariah (the mother)
Pink (the elder daughter)
Rose (the younger daughter)
Aunt Bessie (Mariah’s sister)
Grandmother (a vision)
THE SET: A faded living room. A large worn armchair center
stage.
The chair has a pillow and a
coverlet.
In front of
the chair, a small coffee table.
To one side a small couch to the other a
small chair.
A sideboard with side
cabinets is to the left. There is a 1950's (or earlier) style record
player.
Near it a table
To the right is a dark area with a chair
where the GRANDMOTHER remains throughout.
(the GRANDMOTHER may also be placed far
upstage behind a black scrim.)
IMPORTANT STAGING NOTE: All soliloquies are delivered out to
the audience.
_____________________________________________________________________
The Scene
The row homes of
South Philadelphia,
1956
Interior
(Pink is about the room puffing pillows, fixing things. On the sideboard are a birthday cake and a
present. Pink finishes the wrapping on a package as she looks in the side board
drawer for a box of candles she calls:)
PINK
: (to herself)
Where are those candles?
(to Rose) Rose!
Rose!
(to herself) I
know I put them in here somewhere.
(again, to Rose.) Hey!
Rose!
ROSE: (
In the vestibule[1]
at the door.) Just a minute I can’t hear you!
PINK: What?
ROSE: I can’t hear you!
I’m getting
the mail.
PINK: Rose!
(To herself) Where did they get to?
(Pause)
Rose!
Rose!
I know I
put them in here.
Rose,
Rose?
(Pink unlocks one of the side doors
of the cabinet.
She moves out some liquor bottles,
puts them on top of the sideboard.)
I bet she moved them.
(She
rummages in the cabinet then returns the bottles and relocks the cabinet.)
ROSE: I said I can’t hear you.
(Coming in from the hall.)
Why must
you always shout from the other room?
You’re just
like
her.
Always shouting.
Can't you
speak in a normal voice?
You're not
on the farm.
PINK:
(with disdain.) The
farm.....
(semi beat)
I wasn’t
shouting.
I just
wanted you to hear me.
ROSE: You're just like
her.
Always
shouting.
Some tar-heel
farm hand,,,
PINK: I wasn't shouting,
And,
I’m not like her.
And we're
not on a farm....
(beat)
(Composing herself.)
I didn’t know where you were.
(semi beat - changes the topic.)
Have you
seen the box of candles
The box of
candles I put in here?
ROSE: Did you look under the table cloths?
I was
getting the mail.
PINK: The mail ...
Did
anything come for me?
(
She pokes her fingers into the mail that
Rose carries.)
ROSE:
(thumbing
through.)
Water bill,
(semi beat)
(examining a piece of junk mail.)
Junk!
(Semi-beat)
here ...
this is
yours.
(beat)
Have you
been payin' the waterbill?
PINK: It's taken care of.
ROSE:
(She holds the
letter with curiosity.)
(with attitude)
This sure ain't no bill..
What's
this?
(semi beat)
"Westchester
Teachers' College?"
(semi)
What's
this?
PINK: Nothing.
(She grabs the letter)
It’s for
me.
ROSE: (
with attitude)
What you doin' with some college?
PINK: It doesn’t concern you.
(Beat)
Where are those candles?
ROSE: (
repeating with
emphasis and attitude.)
What you mean- "doesn't
concern me?"
PINK: You heard me.
It doesn't
concern you.
ROSE:
(with more
attitude.)
Well,
pardon me, miss college girl...
PINK: Where are the candles?
ROSE: Did you look under the table cloths?
(semi beat)
You still
haven't answered my question.
PINK: And I'm not going to.
(semi beat.)
They’re not
in here.
(Flustered, annoyed.)
Are you
sure you didn’t move them?
(As she rummages through the cabinet she
leaves the letter on the sideboard.)
ROSE: (
Rose looks in
the drawer, lifts the table cloths and pulls out the box of candles.)
(Almost to herself but enough for her sister
to hear.)
You are
just like her.
(beat)
(aloud)
Whaddaya
call these?
(semi)
Things
don’t go your way and you get all hyper.
PINK: I’m not hyper.
You just
can’t seem to keep anything in order around here.
ROSE: (
with attitude.)
What you talkin'
'bout with them
candles...
(reverting
to standard language.)
They were right
where they always are.
PINK: But this drawer is such a mess
you can’t
find anything.
ROSE: Don’t look at
me.
I didn’t leave it that way.
You know
who’s always rummaging through the cabinets.
Looking for
her key.
Told you
not to hide the key.
She'd wreck
the whole room to find it.
More
trouble than it’s worth.
(beat)
And I still
want to know what that college business is.
PINK:
None of your business....!
ROSE:
(crossing her
arms across her chest and raising her nose
She takes on an "attitude"..)
Well, ok, - "none of my
business..." Miss college!
(semi-beat)
And anyway,
I didn't leave this drawer like this.
When she
gets on a binge
She can
ransack the whole room.
PINK:
Don't start
with that ROSE.
(
Pink breaths her annoyance and redirects the
subject.)
Do you want to call her in now?
ROSE:
(folding to her
sister.) I suppose.
I'll get
her,
But, I
really don’t see the purpose.
PINK: Ya know,
For once ....
Just for
once,
can you
just do something without a comment?
ROSE: Well, she messed up those drawers.
PINK:
Who am I
talking to....?
Did you
hear what I just said?
(semi-beat)
Just do
what I asked you,....
(Beat)
ROSE:
Why do you keep
it in the house anyway?
PINK:
Whaddya mean,
why do I keep it in the house?
ROSE: Exactly what I said.
Why do you
keep it in the house?
PINK: For company.
ROSE: Company?
(semi-beat)
What
company?
PINK: You never know.
You should
always be ready to offer something to company.....
ROSE: Company?
You
expecting someone?
(semi beat)
Oh, ..... you
mean like the guy you had here couple weeks ago?
(semi- beat)
He coming
back for another visit?
Still
expecting him?
PINK: That’s not necessary....
ROSE: Neither is having
...
PINK: Why must you make an argument of everything?
ROSE: I’m not arguing,
I’m just
saying.
PINK: Well, don’t say.
And
besides,
Sometimes,
Sometimes, it
helps sometimes to keep her home.
ROSE: Only in a snowstorm.
And the
boys down the Big Bamboo wouldn’t know what to do without her.
PINK: Can you have a little respect, please.
And instead
of spending your time with useless comments you could be helping me
get things
together.
ROSE: I don’t know why you bother.
You know
she’s going to make a fuss.
PINK: And she'd make a worse fuss if we don’t.
ROSE: Some fusses are worse than others.
(beat)
You didn’t answer my question.
(She picks up the letter from the
sideboard.)
What’s in this letter?
PINK: It’s addressed to me.
Not
you.
(She grabs the letter back.)
ROSE: OK,
take
it.
I was just
curious.
PINK: You don’t have to know everything.
ROSE: I was just asking a simple question.
PINK: And I’m giving you a simple answer.
ROSE: Touchy aren’t we.
Must be
important.
PINK: Can we just drop this please?
(
Beat)
Is she
awake?
ROSE: Don't know.
PINK:
What time did
she come back?
ROSE: She was home just before you came in.
Just before six.
(Points
to the letter in Pink’s hand.)
And I’m
just curious, that’s all.
PINK: Will you stop with the letter?
Was she feeling
well when she came in?
ROSE: Feeling well?
PINK: Was she?
ROSE: Was she what?
PINK: Feeling well.
ROSE: Well enough to find her way home.
Better than
last Thursday.
PINK: No need to bring that up again.
ROSE: It’s a long walk from The Big Bamboo.
PINK: Why must you be so sarcastic?
ROSE: It’s not sarcasm.
It’s an
honest appraisal.
PINK: There you go again.
ROSE: Come off it, Pinky.
PINK: See if she’s awake yet.
ROSE: (
to herself) Little Miss Perfect.
Livin in
her Happy Town dreams.
(Rose picks
up a little vase with a plastic flower and moves it to the small table in front
of the chair.)
(Goes to the bedroom door and
listens.)
I hear
moving around in there.
She’s
awake.
(Pause)
PINK: Should we wait until Aunt Bessie is here?
(Pink fusses about the table settings.)
I wanted to
wait for her.
ROSE: Why?
All she’ll
do is talk about aches and pains and tell mom how bad she looks.
PINK: She’s still her sister.
ROSE: Who keeps telling her that she looks like death?
PINK: That’s just her way.
ROSE: She’s annoying.
Always
pushin Ma around.
Always one
uppin her.
PINK: It’s just her way.
ROSE: Just her way?
PINK: Just the way some people are.
ROSE:
Ya know, you
got a lot of her in you too.
PINK: Aunt Bessie..
ROSE: Who'm I talkin' about?
PINK: I do not.
ROSE: Yeh, you do.
PINK: I’m not like her at all.
ROSE: She’ll come trippin in here with her little hat,
and little
white gloves
and little
purse
like she’s
miss society.
Who she
think she’s kidding?
PINK: What are you talking about?
I don’t
wear gloves.
ROSE: That’s not the point.
You’re
always trying to be something your not.
Always puttin' on airs.
Tryin' to
be one a' them High Tones.
Like you're
some blue-eye light-skin......
PINK:
(Interrupts
her - Putting candles on the cake.)
There’s a
difference between putting on airs and just trying to do things nicely.
I'm just
trying to ...
to do
things nicely....
I'm not
putting in airs.
ROSE:
(sarcastic)
Nicely,
Sure.
Whatever.
PINK: Trying to do things nicely makes what you already have
better.
Putting on
airs is pretending to be something you’re not.
ROSE: Have you ever looked in the mirror?
Have you
ever seen where we live?
Have you
ever looked at what’s outside that front door?
PINK: What goes on outside has nothing to do with what goes
on inside.
ROSE: Yeh, until you try to step outside
and you
trip over a drunk
a drunk passed
out on the front step.
PINK: Why do you always have to see the dark side?
ROSE: Dark side?
Dark side?
Just look
around you girl.
Just look
around.
(semi beat)
I just try
to make sense.
That’s
all.
Just try to
make sense.
PINK: Sense?
If
everything we did made sense..
ROSE: You don’t have to explain to me.
I’ve been
your sister too long not to know.
So what’s
in the letter?
PINK: I told you more than once.
It’s for
me.
(Trying to change the subject.)
Aunt Bessie’s
late.
She should
have been here a half hour ago.
(Pink starts looking through the drawers
again.)
Now where
are the matches?
ROSE: She’s always late.
No sense in
waiting.
PINK: We should wait for Aunt Bessie.
(
Continuing to rummage through the drawers.)
Where did
those matches get to?
ROSE: They should be right there with the candles.
(
Shouting over her shoulder towards the
bedroom as she walks toward the sideboard.)
Mamma,
Mamma.
Come on in
here a minute.
PINK: You tell me I yell.
Listen to
you.
Now who’s yelling?
You
see.
You’re not
so different either.
(
Beat)
And I said,
wait for Aunt Bessie.
(At the
sideboard.)
They’re not
here.
ROSE: I’m not yellin'.
She’s
half deaf.
(Rose goes to the sideboard.)
Did you
look in the drawer?
PINK: And you’re not.
ROSE: What?
PINK: Deaf.
ROSE: Sometimes I wish I were.
It might be
a lot easier.
(Rose stops searching for the candles in the
sideboard.
All lights dim. Rose is lit in a single beam. This is a
private thought.)
A lot
easier to be deaf.
Deaf
to everything in this house
Deaf as the
walls.
Hard like
the walls.
Dark like
the closets.
The
closets.
A little
girl behind the coats
The coats and
the dresses
smelling of
camphor and smoke and drink.
Curled into
my knees tight under my chin;
buried;
my hands
between my legs.
Hiding from
the shouts,
hiding from
the fights,
hiding from
the men,
from the
slaps,
hearing her
scream,
hearing her
cry.
Afraid to
be found.
Afraid of
the light when she opened the door.
Afraid of
her kisses,
of his
kisses
And who he
would be.
Afraid
Of the
hands
Of the
fingers
The unknown
face
The sour smell
from dragging lips.
The gin smelly
air
fogged with
meaningless words
words mumbled
and twisted
and
slurred.
(beat)
I am deaf.
I’ve had to
be deaf.
Deaf from
childhood,
deaf from
infancy,
deaf from
my birth.
Alone in
closets of camphor
and wool
and smoke
and gin.
Waiting in
the dark.
Waiting for
what?
For the
screams to stop?
For the
beatings to stop?
Waiting for
the silence where I could fall into sleep
among the
boxes
and shoes
and tossed
off stockings.
(beat)
Easier to
be deaf.
(The Lights return to normal full stage)
ROSE: (
Rose finds the
matches beneath the table cloths in the drawer)
Here's your
matches.
Mamma!
Mamma!
You awake
in there?
Mamma?
Mamma?
MARIAH:
(Emerging from
her room in night gown and robe. She is disheveled
from sleep.)
What’s all
the yelling?
Stop all
the yelling.
PINK: I told you not to yell.
MARIAH: I’m not dead
yet.
ROSE: Cut me a break, will ya Pinky?
(Rose goes over to her mother.)
ROSE: Need a hand?
MARIAH: Think I’m a cripple too?
PINK:
(going up behind
Mariah and covering her eyes)
Can’t look.
Can’t look
yet.
MARIAH: What’s all this nonsense?
(She breaks away and moves toward the
sideboard.)
PINK: Not nonsense.
It’s your
birthday.
MARIAH:
(Mariah moves
toward the sideboard. She fingers the
cabinet with the key.)
Who locked
this?
You lock
this?
ROSE: Not now, Mom.
Not now.
MARIAH: Why you lock this?
ROSE: Mom,
it’s your
birthday.
MARIAH: How you know it’s my birthday?
PINK: Because it’s the twenty fifth.
Your
birthday is on the twenty fifth.
MARIAH: The twenty fifth.
How you
know it’s the twen'y fifth.
I don even
know if it’s the twen'y -fifth.
ROSE: (
under her breath) Here we go.
Not in the
room two minutes and already she starts.
PINK:
The twenty
fifth is good because that the day of your baptismal certificate.
It must be
close enough.
Besides,
you could
make it any day
any day you
want it to be.
MARIAH: What’s a birthday anyway?
Bein' born
Born for
what?
You’re born
to grow old.
Born to grow
old.
Born to die.
Born to put
you in that box.
They put
you
in the box an' let you on down.
Down in the
dirt
Down with
the worms
That's
where it ends.
It ends in
the dirt.
PINK: Mamma!
Where'd you
get crazy ideas like that?
Don't be so
silly.
It's your
birthday.
Everyone
likes their birthday, Mamma.
MARIAH: Yeh,
Birthday
If you
gotta go may as well ....
(she moves towards the sideboard again.)
ROSE: (
interrupting) You should have let her stay
asleep.
She’s
probably not slept it off yet.
PINK:
(continuing to
her mother and ignoring ROSE)
You have
presents
presents and
a cake.
(PINK walks her mother to the large
armchair.)
And Aunt Bessie
will be here.
MARIAH: Bessie.
What’s she
comin for?
PINK: She’s your sister isn’t she?
MARIAH: Bessie
That ol'
Bessie
Always
bossin' me around.
Alway tellin'
me what I should do.
Always
comin' by.
Always tellin'
me what ta do.
(beat)
And her
younger ‘an me.
Thinks
she’s somebody.
Thinks
she's some Jack and Jill.
PINK: Aunt Bessie’s family
and family
needs to stay together.
And
besides,
I invited
her
Invited her
for your birthday.
MARIAH: My birthday?
I don’t
care 'bout no birthday.
It's just
another day.
An other
day,
an other
nail in my coffin.
Just
another day.
They jus'
put you in the ground
in the
ground with the worms
and you's
six feet under
six feet
under
pushin up
daisies.
PINK: Mamma.
Now don’t
be talking that way.
MARIAH: (
mumbling)
You dream
when y'er dead?
'M I gonna
see Jesus?
Or he just
in my drems?
You dream?
(beat)
Maybe
better if ya didn't.
Just turn
the whole thing off.
Turn it off
No
more noise.
Like
turnin' off the radio.
Nothin more
to hear
Nothin more
ta listen to.
(beat)
Know what?
It be
easier.
Be a whole lot
easier
A lot
easier if you could take a little somethin
A little
somthin to put ya in dream
Put ya in a
dream that ya jus' keep dreamin'
No mornin'
ta wake ya up
Nothin to bother
ya
Jus' leave
ya alone.
ROSE:
(quietly to herself))
Leave you alone?
PINK: (but PINK hears it).
Rose !
(beat)
Now,
Ma,
I want you
to stop talking that way.
Don't talk
that way.
(beat)
Look, Ma,
Look!
We have a
cake and a present....
and as soon
as Aunt Bessie gets here ...
MARIAH:
(Still in her
stupor.)
Birthdays.
What’s the
point?
What's the
point of all the fuss?
Come tomorrow
you forget all about it
and the
next day you’re dead.
Birthday’s
is kids’ stuff.
They’re for
kids.
An’ I ain’t
no kid no more.
MARIAH
:(Aside. The lights dim except for a single beam on Mariah.
We are back in time with Mariah who speaks to her mother. Mariah’s mother is on
her hands and knees with bucket and floor brush. She speaks with a heavy
Carolina accent. Mariah speaks ormally, an innocent child. Each speaks directly
to the audience.)
Sally May
at school
invited me to her birthday
party, Mamma.
She said she's
having a cake and ice cream
She's asked
the all the girls
Cake and
ice cream.
Can I go, Mamma?
Please, can
I go?
GRANDMOTHER:
Can ya go?
Go to that
Sally May....!
Some high
tone yellow thinks she's better than anybody else.
Well
you can just get that idea out of your head.
'Cause ya
ain't
Ya ain’t
goin.
MARIAH:
Oh, Please, Mamma?
Please,
can’t I go?
GRANDMOTHER: No you can't go and
Don’t ask
again
Don't ask
again
Or you’ll
get the back a my hand.
MARIAH: But Mamma,
The other
girls are going.
GRANDMOTHER: Them other girls maybe got dresses to wear
And
presents to bring.
They got dresses.
They got
presents.
What
you gonna wear?
What you
gonna bring?
What?
(
beat)
(to herself)
'Cause her
daddy' on the Pullman,
(semi beat)
Thinks he's
god'a mighty
He don't
know what his woman's doin'
when he's up
on them North bound trains.
(beat)
(To MARIAH)
No!
you ain't
goin'.
You out
there workin and making any money?
Get out to
work the way I did and make yourself a penny
and then you can think about it.
(long beat)
Look at
you.
look at you
girl....
you Black
An' you
ugly.
An' ain't
got nothin to wear.
Ain't no
party dress gonna make no diff'rence.
You ain't
goin' noplace
MARIAH: Yes, Mamma?
(long beat)
(MARIAH changes the subject.)
Mamma?
GRANDMOTHER: Now what?
MARIAH: When is it my birthday Mamma?
When is it
mine?
(semi beat)
The other
girls have birthdays.
They wear
dresses,
dresses in
pink
in pink with
ribbons
ribbons and
lace
and fancy
bows.
When is it
my birthday?
When is it
mine?
The baby
will have a birthday.
I know when
she was born.
Don’t you
know when was mine?
Can I have
a party like the other girls?
GRANDMOTHER: So,
you want a party.
(
Beat)
A party.
you some greedy
little thing ain't ya.
Like your ol’man.
Always
takin.
Always
thinkin of you-self.
(beat)
You want a
party.
(beat)
A party?!
Some high
tone colored-girl party....
And where
yo think the money come from to pay for yo party?
You's
want a party?
A party!!!\
(semi beat)
Here's a
party !
(She slaps
her in pantomime.
MARIAH reacts in
pantomime.)
(beat)
A
party.
(beat)
Where you
get these ideas?
You want a
party?
You take
this here pail and this ol' rag and you gets on your hands and knees.
You scrub
this here floor.
(semi)
Do some
work girl.
Y'all can have
a party with the soap and the water.
(The lights return. We
are back in the present.)
MARIAH: Birthday’s is for kids and I ain’t no kid no more.
PINK: Oh, Ma, everybody’s still a kid on their birthday.
(She hands Mariah the
present)
MARIAH: What’s this?
ROSE: You’re not gonna wait for Aunt Bess?
PINK: Mamma can open this while were waiting.
PINK:
(
to MARIAH) This is for you.
It’s from
both of us.
Go ahead,
open it.
Open it.
MARIAH: Now don’t yah'l
go rushin me.
PINK: We’re not rushing.
Take your
time.
MARIAH:
(takes the
package and turns it about)
Now, what do you
expect me to do with this?
PINK: Open it mom.
You don’t
even know what it is.
ROSE: (
Aside to PINK.) What did you buy her?
PINK: You’ll see.
ROSE :
(Cynically and
with disbelief as she sees the present in its wrappings.)
Is that a
record?
PINK: Be quiet.
ROSE
:( enervated) I can tell by the shape.
You bought
her a record.
(Beat)
(with exasperation!.)
Pink!
PINK:
(
To MARIAH:)
Open the card first.
Open the
card.
MARIAH:
( puts the
still unopened package on her lap and pulls the card from the ribbon.
She tries to open the envelope.)
My fingers
don’t work so good.
ROSE: Let me, Ma.
(
Rose opens the envelope, looks at the card.
The card is hand made.
Rose
holds the card up to PINK, gives
her a look of disbelief then hands the
card to her mother.)
PINK: You like it?
MARIAH: What you call this?
(Examining a home-made card)
What’s
this?
Paint?
Crayon?
PINK: I made for you Ma.
I made it myself.
ROSE: (
to PINK) Still the kid in school, Pink?
MARIAH: Looks last minute to me.
You forgot,
I bet, and made the last minute.
PINK: No, Mom.
I didn’t
forget.
MARIAH: Looks like somethin you slapped together at the last
minute.
PINK: It wasn’t last minute, Ma.
I made it
last week.
I had it
all ready for you.
ROSE: (
To PINK.) Why do you bother?
MARIAH: If you didn’t forget,
why’d you
make up this thing?
PINK: Because I wanted to make it.
ROSE:
(to PINK) When are you ever going to grow up?
PINK:(
to ROSE) She really appreciates it.
She just
has to make some noise.
ROSE: Still in your day dreams, Pink.
MARIAH: You couldn’t even take the time to buy your mother a
card?
What would
it cost?
A few
pennies?
PINK: It’s not a question of money or forgetting.
MARIAH: A few pennies for a lousy card….
ROSE: (
To PINK) You never cease to amaze me.
This isn’t
the Saturday Evening Post, Pink.
This isn’t
a Norman Rockwell picture.
Hell, this
ain't even the cover of Ebony.
PINK: Not everything has to be ugly.
MARIAH: What’s all this scribble stuff?
ROSE: You know what I think?
I think you
set yourself up for these things.
PINK: (
to MARIAH) Flowers, Mom.
(
To ROSE)
I'm just trying..
ROSE: Trying what?
We go
through this every holiday.
Christmas,
Easter,
birthdays.
(The door bell rings/
or there is a knock)
PINK:(
TO MARIAH)
I’m just trying to make things a little nicer, that's all.
(
To ROSE)
A little nicer.
They’re
flowers, Mama.
ROSE: But she doesn’t want a little nicer.
Can’t you
get that through your head?
(The door bell rings
(or there is a knock) again..
This time with impatience)
PINK:
(ruffled) Can’t you answer the door?
ROSE: Yeh,
Here comes
the other half.
(Rose opens the
door. Aunt Bessie enters. She is plain.
She wears a hat as would a lady, also gloves. She carries her handbag in front of her and
keeps it on her lap.)
AUNT BESSIE:
(To ROSE
with a kiss on the cheek. )
What takes
you so long to answer the door.
What?
You think
I’m the insurance man?
Or them
people wanna sell you their bible?
ROSE: Sorry, Aunt Bessie,
We were
right in the middle ……
BESSIE:
(cutting her
off.)
Hi,
Baby.
I don't
listen to none a them folk
I got my
own bible
Don't need
nobody else's
I couldn't
get your uncle off the couch to drive me over.
(To PINK
with a quick wave.)
Hi, Pinky.
Sos I took the bus.
PINK: That's OK Aunt Bessie.
Were glad
you could make it.
Uncle Beau
not coming then?
AUNT BESSIE: His leg's botherin him, Baby.
ROSE: His leg?
AUNT BESSIE: Yeh,
ya know, Baby,
he go
the mis'ries in his leg
He can’
hardly get from the couch to the kitchen.
So, I jus'
tol' him,
Beau Baby,
you jus'
lay there with the fights
Lay with the
fights
an' I’ll get
ya yer beer.
I just tol'
'im to stay where 'e was.
I ken take
the bus, I said.
PINK: How are you feeling?
AUNT BESSIE: What can you expect?
ROSE: The usual, I suppose.
AUNT BESSIE: What’s that Baby?
PINK:
(covering ROSE)
Still
having trouble sleeping?
AUNT BESSIE: You know, I seen that doctor twiced this week.
I even call him on da phone.
Them pills
he gave me don’t work for nothin.
And you
know what they charge you.
They charge
you fifty cents a piece for them things.
Fiftyy
cents a piece
and I can’t
get a decent night sleep.
(She
meanders over to her sister and gives her a poke)
How you
doin Mariah?
(To the
girls.) Two a clock in the mornin I's layin there starin at the ceilin.
(to Mariah)
You don’t look so good.
MARIAH: I don’t sleep neither.
PINK: Let me take your coat Aunt Bess.
BESSIE:
(Ignores Pinks
offer.)
An my
bladder keeps me goin too.
Ya know
what I mean.
Yous
is
young.
Ya get
older ya get a weak bladder.
MARIAH: I get so tired I can’t sleep.
BESSIE:
(patting MARIAH on the hand.)
We’re all
gonna sleep long enough pretty soon.
ROSE: You’ve been asleep all afternoon.
BESSIE: You should let her be, Rose.
Your
mother’s not well.
She needs
to rest.
ROSE: She doesn’t do so bad.
BESSIE:
You know,
she’s
always been a high strung kinda person.
You
know.
High
strung.
Things
bother her.
She gets
upset.
Not like
me.
Nothin
bothers me.
PINK: Aunt Bess, let me take your coat.
BESSIE:
I’ll jus'
keep my coat Baby.
It’s cold
in here.
It gets my
bladder.
The cold
does that.
Ain’t that
right Mariah?
Nothin
bothers me.
MARIAH: You were the baby.
You had it
easy.
BESSIE: I had it easy?
Who you
kiddin easy?
I went to
work over at the plant when I was fourteen.
Fourteen I
was.
That’s
where I met your uncle Beau,
he was a
stoker.
Shovlin'
in that coal.
Shoulda
seen him
Face all
black
All black
with that coal.
(beat)
'Cause you
know he's high tone yellow
High tone
Carolina
high tone
Says his
gran'pa was a house servant.
Never knew
no field work
But
that coal dust
That coal
dust
Made him a
real Black man.
Didn't fool
nobody.
(To the girls)
Ya know I
never even finished high-school.
Went to
work in that plant every day.
All them
people who went out a work when they shut it down.
But you two
are too young ta remember.
But your
mother remembers.
Don’t ya Mariah?
MARIAH: Yeh, I remember, Bess.
BESSIE: Then the next year the fire took the whole
place.
Nothin
left.
Every fire
truck in the city.
You could
see smoke from everywhere.
That’s when
we lived over on Second.
Then they
fixed up the place
and all
them rich people moved in.
Fourteen
when I went to work.
Fourteen
I knew just
how to handle myself.
How to
shake it off.
Don’t let
‘em get to me.
Push me
aroun'.
You was
always too high strung,
Mariah.
Too high
strung.
PINK:
(trying to change the subject).
Show Aunt Bess
what we got you for your birthday, Ma.
BESSIE: What the girls give you for your birthday, Mariah?
You know
what your uncle give me for my birthday?
A night
gown.
A flannel
night gown.
Real
nice.
He give me
a night gown, Mariah.
A night
gown.
Nice flannel.
Real
warm.
You
know.
But it
didn’t fit
Too small
Thinks I's
still eighteen
so it had
to go back.
Who wants
to be eighteen no more?
I was
smaller than you then.
Wouldn’t
you think that after forty five years he’d know?.
But men
don't know.
What can
you do?
PINK: Show Aunt Bess, Ma.
BESSIE: Go ahead.
Show me,
Show me, Mariah.
MARIAH: Look what they give me for my birthday, Bess.
(She
lifts the package)
BESSIE
:(continuing on
her story.) Forty five years an’ he don’t even know my size.
( She looks
at the present.)
Yeh, that’s
nice.
Nice
paper.
Real
pretty.
Don't throw
it out.
Save
it.
Can come in
handy.
(beat)
What is it?
MARIAH: I don’t know.
I gotta
open it yet.
BESSIE: Got a nice ribbon.
MARIAH: And look.
Look.
They call
this a card.
BESSIE: You gonna save the ribbon, Mariah?
Pretty
color.
(MARIAH opens the gift)
BESSIE: Save the ribbon.
(
She snatches up the ribbon.)
Use it
Christmas.
(
She puts the ribbon in her purse)
I
don’t throw nothin' out.
BESSIE: What’s that Mariah?
MARIAH: Some kin' a record.
BESSIE: Yeh, a record, eh?
(Pause)
That's nice.
PINK: It's Marian Anderson, Mamma.
Marian
Anderson at the Metropolitan Opera.
MARIAH:
Yeh, she gives
me a record, Bess.
A record.
(beat)
Least you
gotta night gown.
PINK:
Ma, she sang
last year at the Metropolitan Opera.
the first
colored woman...
Look
( she show her the picture on the record
jacket.)
The
opera.....
MARIAH:
(Referring to PINK.)
Where’d I
get this one?
BESSIE:
Lady I used
to clean for
She used to
have records
all kinds
a' records
She played
them records to make me crazy
All them people
screamin' and yellin'
Couldn't
tell you nothin'
What they
was sayin'.
PINK: Ma,
Just listen
to a little at a time
This is
Marian Anderson....
(beat)
Here,
Let me put
it on for you.
(Pink takes the record from the jacket and
puts it on the record player. The piece
begins with Marian Anderson's "Ave Maria.")
BESSIE:
(
straining to listen to the music.) What
she sayin'?
You know
what she's sayin'?
(beat)
Sounds like
she needs prunes!
MARIAH:
( makes a hearty guffaw at BESSIE'S remark.)
She sound
like the chickens back on the farm in Charlotte.
I ain't
heared nothin' scream like that since they shoe-d the mule.
BESSIE: Or when Mama took the broom to your behind when you
didn't want to do no work.
(
MARIAH and BESSIE burst out laughing together.)
(The lights dim and we
see GRANDMOTHER The music fades.)
GRANDMOTHER:
Jus'
'member why you's
here girl.
The missus pays
you ta clean and nothin else.
Y'er
gonna work up the third floor.
Make the
beds.
Bring me
down the cleanin'.
and use
this rag to wet mop the floors ..
Wrench it
good.
(wrench = ring out, twist)
Don't be
leavin no spots.
An' while
y'er up there
don’t be touchin
nothin.
Specially
nothin in the girl's room.
She
don’t want you foolin with her books and
things.
Keep y'er
han's to youself
and
your
mouth shut.
Y'er gettin
more for a day’s work
than I did
when I first come here.
MARIAH: I'll work hard, mamma.
I
will.
I won't
touch anything.
I promise.
(Beat)
Mamma?
GRANDMOTHER: What?
MARIAH: If I work hard?
If I work
hard,
can I go
back to school?
GRANDMOTHER:
Back ta
school.
Back ta
school?
There ya go
again.
Always
puttin it on.
Yeh can
read can’t yeh?
Yeh kin
write yer name.
What else
ya need?
I never
knowd no readin'
No writin'
neither.
An not my
mamma
She born a
slave
Now you
think yous better
But you
ain't!
(beat)
'fraid ta
do a bit a work
Doin' works
the problem.
Too good ta
stoop
Too good ta
stoop an' clean.
Think yous
better than the rest of us,
Think yous
better, don't ya.
Well, let
me tell ya.
Count yo
blessins for what yous got
Cause it's
always worse someplace else.
Always
worse.
I kin tell
yeh
I kin tell
yeh that.
(The music returns The lights return..)
PINK: It's music Mamma.
I got the record for you to enjoy.
Just
listen.
Listen how
pretty....
MARIAH: Ain't no Besse Smith.
BESSIE: Ain't no Ethel Waters...
MARIAH:
(beat)
Hell, she
ain't even Mabel Jefferson at church.
(MARIAH AND BESSIE
burst into a loud laugh.)
ROSE: Like she goes to church!
(Rose moves to the sideboard, Pink follows)
MARIAH: you want to make me a nice birthday... Put on that
nice Ethel Waters...
(semi- beat)
That
"Stormy Weather."
PINK: But Mamma....
ROSE:
Pink, put it
on.
Make her
happy.
(The following
exchanges run simultaneously)
______________________________________
BESSIE: Ya
know,
Mariah.
I love the
church singin'
Can't get
there every week like I should
(beat)
You know
with Beau
But I reads
my scripture.
(semi-beat)
Reads my
scripture.
MARIAH: (
to Bessie)
Look at this, Bess.
PINK: At least I tried.
What did
you get her?
BESSIE: Yeh, nice Mariah..
What is it, Baby?
ROSE: Nothing.
What
should I buy her?
MARIAH: She made 'is here card.
Couldn't buy one.
BESSIE:
(to MARIAH) Beau always buys me a card.
(To the girls) Your uncle Beau always
buys me a card.
I don't
PINK: You didn't have to
buy anything.
BESSIE:
I don't care
what you say.
Beau always remembers. He
always buys me a card.
ROSE: Buy her a bottle , ...that's what she wants.
____________________________________
BESSIE: What can ya do, Mariah?
(beat)
What are
yous two doin' over there?
Get your
aunt Besssa some coffee.
I thought
you were going to have a cake.
MARIAH: Get your aunt some coffee.
An' turn
off that noise, girl.
(
ROSE find the Ethel
Waters record in the cabinet. She hands
it to Pink.)
ROSE: Pink, put it on.
PINK: No.
You do it.
(
ROSE puts on the record. We hear "Stormy Weather.")
(A moment where all
are listening to Ethel Waters.)
(In the meantime, PINKlights
the candles and brings the cake to the coffee table)
(lights return to all
four)
(
ROSE, PINK, AUNT BESSIE
all sing Happy Birthday as the
volume of Stormy Weather subsides.).
PINK: Blow out the candles, Mamma.
Blow ‘em
out.
(Mariah blows out the candles.)
ROSE: She’ll set the place on fire.
PINK: Stop it, Rose.
(The following must
move very rapidly. Everyone talks and no
one listens. The lines should almost
overlap.)
BESSIE: (
to Mariah)
Ya got a
cake, Mariah.
(As she fingers the icing)
All that
sweet stuff ain't good for ya.
PINK: A piece won't hurt Aunt Bess.
(Pink cuts the cake.)
BESSIE:
Ya know, Mariah,
I was tellin'
these kids
they don't know how lucky they got it.
They don’t
know.
They got
everything when they got their health.
Where'd you
buy the cake?
PINK: I didn't buy it, Aunt Bessie, I made it.
MARIAH: Why you waste all them eggs and make all that mess
in the kitchen?
BESSIE: You think this is a little dry,
baby?
PINK. It wasn't a waste.
BESSIE: Seems a little dry.
PINK: And the kitchen's all cleaned up.
I made it
last night after you went to bed.
BESSIE: I need a little coffee to break up the dry.
I don't
wanna eat too much.
.
ROSE: You look like you're doin all right, Aunt Bess.
BESSIE: (
To PINK)
Get me some
coffee,
will ya Baby?
(
To ROSE)
I'll just eat half.
MARIAH: (
To PINK) Get your aunt some coffee.
BESSIE: I don't bake
no more for Beau.
He don't need it.
All that sugar.
Ya know.
All that sugar
and the diabetes an' all.
(beat)
You made this cake Pink?
PINK: Yeh, Aunt Bess.
(Bessie talks even
more quickly now.
Pink and Rose are almost unheard)
BESSIE:
It's good to
have daughter like that at home.
But I can't
eat none.
The doctor
says too much sugar ain't good for me.
Maybe even
diabetes.
An' you
know Beau with his leg.
Won't see
no doctor.
And he's
got the diabetes in the family.
Brother lost his leg from the knee
down.
PINK: (
trying to
participate)
Diabetes?
BESSIE:
You should
watch too, Mariah.
In your
condition.
You don't
want all 'at sugar stuff.
Can't be
too careful.
ROSE: Condition?
PINK:
(trying to
silence her sister's remarks.) Rose.
BESSIE:
But you go
ahead
I suppose
it can't hurt.
It’s good
you got these two girls, Mariah.
(Whispers to Mariah).
Good thing
none of 'ems married.
You know,
sometimes I
think I got married too young.
Don't get
me wrong.
Beau’s been
good ta me.
Always
brought home his pay.
I give him
a little back for goin' to The Big Bamboo.
For goin’
to Big Bamboo couple times a week.
Likes bein'
with the boys.
You
know.
I ain't
complainin'.
But don't
ya ever wonder sometimes?
They could
leave you any time Mariah.
They're
here one day and gone the next.
BESSIE: (
Back in time)
(
Lights dim on all except BESSIE and
GRANDMOTHER. Each speaks out to
the audience.)
BESSIE: I don’t care no more, Ma.
I’m
leavin.
You hear
me.
I’m
leavin.
I have a
chance , a chance with Beau.
He's good
to me.
He takes me
out.
He takes
care of me.
He treats
me good.
GRANDMOTHER:
( to the
audience. She is ironing)
You think
when you marry that man he's going to stay with you?
You don’t
think he's gonna be like your ol' man, Bessie?
You think
you found something better.
Well I’m telling
you,
there ain’t
nothin better.
He’s a bastard like the rest of
‘em.
What kind
of job you call what he's got?
What kind a job is that shovlin coal
in a furnace,
Like
shovlin shit in a cow barn
And the
penny he makes
Goes flat
on the gin room bar.
You’re
trying to put on airs like your sister Mariah.
Well, she
ain't come to nothin
Runs off
with some two-timer...
And what it
get her?
Pregnant
with a kid
and he goes
off
Off
to Chicago
(beat)
And where
does she go?
Back to her
mother,
Back to
me.
Well I
ain't takin you back
Takin you
back
The way I
done her.
I raised
you.
I gave you
everything I never had.
Takin in
the laundry,
Washing
floors,
Cleanin
White peoples crap.
And this is
how you pay me back?
(beat)
I'm tellin
you,
Bessie,
you
leave
you leave
and you ain't comin back.
I ain't got no room for tramps in my
house.
You go out
and the door gets locked.
.
BESSIE
(She speaks to
the audience - as though to her Mother)
Well I am
leavin.
And I don’t
care if I never come back.
What have
you ever done for me.
You think
you're gonna trap me here
Trap me
here like you done to Mariah?
I'm gettin
out
You're a
gin whore.
nothin but a gin whore.
And you got
no room to talk.
At least I
got a man,
a good man
And he
won’t leave me the way yours left you.
(semi-beat)
You
You callin'
me a tramp....!?
Why
you.....
(beat)
I don't
even know if he was my ol' man.
You
probably don’t either.
But I’m
gonna know who my husband is.
You're not chainin
me here the way you done to my sister.
I’m gonna
have children.
I’m gonna
have a home.
I
’m gonna
have real life.
GRANDMOTHER: Then go ahead.
Go!
I still got
Mariah
Mariah.
She love
her mamma.
And you,
You can go
to hell.
To hell with
the devils, I say....
You’re
don't love your mamma.
You don't
care nothin'.
For nobody
'ceptin' you.
(semi-beat)
Well,
I won’t forget it.
(Lights return to
full).
(
The following
exchanges become quicker and quicker. Everyone shouts. No one listens.)
BESSIE:
(lights back
up on the family)
Ya know,
ya can’t help but wonderin sometimes.
Ya know what I mean Mariah?
PINK: You're not eating your cake, Mamma.
Just try a
little.
MARIAH: I don’t eat cake Pink,
you know
that.
I don’t like that sweet stuff.
BESSIE: Too much sweet stuff.
MARIAH:
All this
commotion in here.
It’s
late.
There’s a
draft.
PINK: There’s no draft mom.
BESSIE: Your mother feels a draft.
MARIAH: I said I feel a draft.
Where my
sweater Rose?
You got a
window open somewhere.
Where's my
sweater?
PINK: Mom, the heat’s on seventy.
It’s warm
in here.
MARIAH: I said I’m cold.
Can’t you
listen to your mother?
BESSIE: The woman’s cold Rose…..
You don’t
want it to get to her kidneys.
ROSE:
(Taking the
coverlet from the back of the chair and putting it over her mother.)
Here you go, Mom.
BESSIE: Ya know, ya gotta watch.
Doctor told
me to eat lots a bananas.
Helps the
kidneys.
Potassium
he says.
MARIAH:
Keep that
cold air from outside comin in here.
All that
cold air
That cold
air from outside.
Can’t you
keep the heat up in this place?
ROSE: The heats on seventy, Mom.
You want it
like an oven?
BESSIE: Ya know,
Baby.
It’s
your heatin
bill an all,
but I still
feel a little chill.
MARIAH: I feel like I'm gettin a headache.
ROSE: You gettin
a
headache Mamma?
MARIAH: Yeh, my heads startin to hurt.
You know
how my head starts to hurt
starts to
hurt when it gets like this.
ROSE: How did I guess?
BESSIE: Too much sugar in that cake.
MARIAH: You wanna get a little somethin for me, Baby?
Somethin
to make my head feel better.
ROSE: How about some coffee, Mom?
MARIAH: No coffee.
Keeps me
up.
ROSE: But coffee..
MARIAH: Somethin to help me sleep.
I'm so
tired.
Don't make
me get up.
ROSE: Has it been an hour already?
(With
frustration if not disgust)
Can’t hold out for more than an hour.
(
Beat).
BESSIE: Rose, you don’t talk nice to your mother Rose.
ROSE: Aunt Bessie. .
BESSIE:
You don’t
talk nice.
She's not a
well woman.
ROSE: Aunt Bessie you know as well as I do…
BESSIE: It don’t matter.
You still
talk nice to your mother.
You know
this woman's not well
ROSE: I'm just trying…
BESSIE: (
Poking Mariah
with the end of her dessert fork.)
It’s good
you got one good daughter at home Mariah.
ROSE: And what am I?
Don't I
live here too?
BESSIE: It’s respect,
I'm talking
about, respect.
PINK: Please, Rose, please
not tonight.
BESSIE: Respect.
ROSE: Rose,
Always
Rose.
BESSIE: You know, Mariah,
I don't
care what you say
MARIAH: My heads going to explode.
Isn’t it
time for bed yet?
(
She stands and goes to the side cabinet)
BESSIE: Your mother needs a daughter like Pink at home.
MARIAH: What are you talkin, Bessie? .
BESSIE: Not like us, Mariah.
Not like
us.
We always
shared everything.
MARIAH: Life was different.
BESSIE: Ain't nothin different.
It’s
respect.
ROSE: Respect?
PINK: Rose..
BESSIE: Ya take care of your mother.
Bible
says," Honor your father and your mother..."
MARIAH: My head is hurtin.
BESSIE:
(To MARIAH)
Not like us Mariah.
Not like
us.
(Lights dim.
MARIAH and BESSIE step
out of the setting into their own tableau. They do not face each other.
They speak out to the
audience.
It is the past)
MARIAH: What do you think you're doing Bessie?
You can’t
leave her like this?
BESSIE: Oh no, just watch.
MARIAH: And you’re gonna leave me alone to take care of her
To take care
of her myself:
BESSIE: Let her take care of herself.
MARIAH: She can’t.
You know
she can’t.
BESSIE: No.
She can't
stand to see any of us have anything good,
anything
better than what she had.
Face it Mariah,
she never
took care of me,
not you
either for that matter.
All that
fightin at night.
All those
men who came and went.
When a gun
went off
or a knife
went flying
When the
cops came.
How many
times did they take us away?
How many
times?
How many
families did we live with?
How many
times we got beat?
How many
times we got ..
MARIAH: Stop it!
Ya hear me?
..
Stop
it!
Don't say
it.
BESSIE: Jody-boy
made
it out of here
He made his
way out
And so will
I.
MARIAH: The war took Jody-boy away.
He
had to go.
BESSIE: Well, this is my war.
A war where
I win.
There’s a
man who cares about me,
No, he
ain’t rich
He ain't
even good lookin'
And he just
works at the plant like the rest of us
But he’s
the first person who ever even thought about me.
Who thought
about me!
He treats
me good.
Treats me
nice.
(beat)
Ya know,
Ya know,
There’s this
bible story
A bible
story I heard wonced
in church
Heard it
once and it always stayed with me
Know what
it said?
It said,
‘Leave the dead
to bury the dead,”
The dead to
bury the dead.
Never made
sense to me then.
But, now I
see it.
She’s dead.
She’s
always been dead
But, she’s
not buryin me with her!
MARIAH: Bible also says, "Honor your father and your
mother..."
BESSIE: Our mother.
Our mother?
A stray
cat's a better mother....
She’s a gin
soaked rummy who let herself get knocked up
Get knocked
up
by god knows who
and we get
the blame.
Who was he?
Who was my
daddy?
Who was
your daddy?
I don't
even know if we have the same daddy.
She prob'ly
don't know neither.
She had 'em
open for anything that passed.
You know
you saw the difference.
Look in the
mirror.
Look at
your face.
(beat)
Look at my
face.
(beat)
Why one so
dark
One so
light?
(beat)
You wanna
stay,
Stay.
That's
your problem.
Go ahead.
Crawl in
there with her.
Crawl in.
Crawl in
that box.
Get buried
with her.
MARIAH: Bessie..
BESSIE: Damn it, Mariah.
Same father
or not you’ll always be my sister.
I’ll be there for you,
but not for
her..
not for
her.
(
The scene changes.
MARIAH and BESSIE go
back to their former places.
We are back in the
present.)
ROSE: That’s alright Mamma,
Aunt Bessie
never liked me so much.
BESSIE: I never said nothin like that, Rose.
I never
said I don’t like you.
You’re my
sister’s kid.
I never
said nothin like that.
I only said
you should talk with more respect.
ROSE: Sure, Aunt Bess.
BESSIE: You hear what I said,
Didn’t you Mariah?
You heard
what I said.
I didn’t say
nothin like that.
I just mean
that Rose could be more like.
PINK: Please,
Let’s not
start.
BESSIE: I ain’t startin nothin Baby.
I was only
sayin …
PINK: Fine,
Aunt Bess.
Let's just
forget it.
There's
something I want to talk about.
Something I
want to ask mom.
(She goes
to her mother and holds her back from the cabinet)
Mamma,
please.
Not
now.
It’s your
birthday.
Have some
of your cake.
MARIAH: I'm too tired.
I think I
need to go back to sleep.
PINK:
Not now.
There's
something I want to tell you.
MARIAH: My head.
PINK:Mom, please..
MARIAH: My head feels like....
ROSE: (
to Pink)
What did I tell you?
PINK: Mamma,
please.
(she moves her back to the chair)
MARIAH: Why don't you do your mother a favor and get her a
little something.
PINK: Not now, Mom.
Just sit a
minute,
I need you
to listen.
BESSIE: What are talkin Pink.
You're not
gonna give this woman trouble are ya?
PINK: No,
Aunt Bess.
Just
listen.
(
Beat)
Mom,
I've been
saving my money.
I've
working over time
Working
over time
and saving
my money.
BESSIE: You're a good girl, Pink.
Smart to
save your money.
PINK: I have an idea.
I've
thought about it for a long time now.
MARIAH: What are you talkin, girl?
PINK: An idea.
MARIAH: What kinna idea?
PINK: Something I wanna do.
Mamma.
(beat)
I'd like to
go back to school.
ROSE: So that's what's in the letter.
PINK: Yes,
that's
what's in the letter.
BESSIE: Go back to school?
(She licks cake crumbs from her fingers.)
PINK: You know what I mean.
Go to
college.
Get a
degree.
BESSIE: A degree!
What you
gonna do with a degree?
ROSE: A degree?!
MARIAH: Stop
talkin
nonsense
PINK: It's not nonsense, Ma.
MARIAH: Ya talk ridiculous.
ROSE:
(sarcastically)
This is a
good one Pink.
A real good
one.
PINK:
Why not?
In the long
run we'd all benefit.
MARIAH: School?
Whadda ya
mean school?
Who put
these ideas in your head?
Ya talk
ridic'lus
You don't
need no school
What makes
you think....?
(Lights dim. Grandmother appears. She speaks out to the audience.)
Grandmother:
Where'd
you get ideas like that?
From them
people those social workers
put you
with, right?
(beat)
Them people
they put you with Christmas
Christmas
When they
take you away from your own mother
Puttin you
with some strangers
(beat)
Them damned
social workers,
comin round
here to check on everything.
Comin round
all the time
Askin me
questions
Askin 'bout
everything
Askin
where....
(beat)
Don't even
know
and they go
around
go around tellin
everybody else how to live.
Stickin my
kids in some rich folks house for Christmas
Like they's
a Christmas gift for some White folks.
(
mimicking )
Here's your chocalate drop
babies for your stockin's.
(semi beat)
Them social workers..
Always
around snoopin
putting
their noses in other people's business.
Tryin to
make your own mother look bad.
Like they
come from families made in heaven
families that
never saw gin on the table.
Takin you
away
Away from
yer mother
Makin you
somethin you ain't.
Just to
cause trouble.
That's who
got you up to this.
MARIAH:
( to the
audience but addressing her mother.)
I was just wondering, Mamma.
What if I
was to go to the secretary school.
Suppose I
could do it?
GRANDMOTHER:
Secretary
school?
Secretary
school?
How you
goin to secretary school?
You even
got the nickel for the trolley up town?
Lazy
That's all
you are
Lazy.
You think
you're better than us?
You think
just because they put you in some big house
some big
place with parlors
and maids
and golden
mirrors
you think
you can be like them?
Well, go
back again
Go back
again
and this
time look in them golden mirrors.
Look at
them mirrors
look at
'em.
Take a look
and see what's in em.
Whadda ya
see?
What?
Take a look
Take a good
look and see
See that
you ain't nothin but a serving girl.
And it's
your job to wash them mirrors
and make
them shine.
Make them
shine.
You un'ertstand?
(beat)
Tryin to
put on airs
Just like
your ol' man
Always
think you're better than everybody else.
Well life
don't work that way.
(
The image dissolves.)
BESSIE: You go off to school and who's gonna take care of
your mother?
PINK: Going to school doesn't mean I can't take care of
you.
ROSE: How can you be doing school and work?
How we
gonna pay the bills?
PINK: I'll still be here.
I'll start
out part time.
ROSE: Part time?
We can't
even manage with both of us full time
Not even
full time.
Between the
regular bills
and the
cost of keeping her supplied.
PINK: We can do it.
We can cut
corners a bit.
ROSE: Cut corners?
Where we
gonna find rent lower than this?
And what
you gonna do for her?
Ration her
out?
MARIAH:
(
in a
panic)
I don't
give a damn what the hell you do.
I'll move
out.
I'll get my
own place.
I don't
need none of you.
ROSE: No one said you have to move out, Mom.
No one's
leavin you alone.
MARIAH:
I don t care
what the hell you do.
ROSE: I don't want to listen to this.
Pink,
you're doing it again.
MARIAH: Get the hell out of my way.
(MARIAH
goes back to the cabinet)
I don't wanna see none of you.
ROSE: I told you Pink.
I told you
you would start her up.
(Even louder and more
confused)
BESSIE: You're gonna kill that woman.
She's a
sick woman.
MARIAH: I'm goin back to bed.
BESSIE: You're gonna kill her.
First your
father walks out on her and now you.
BESSIE: They put her away once when your father walked
out.
ROSE:
My father?
My father?
He wasn't
my father.
Not Pink's
either.
You ougta
know.
How many
times did you remind her of it.
BESSIE: Go ahead
..
Keep talkin
like
that.
You got no
respect.
She's a
sick woman...
MARIAH:
(aside)
Go ahead,
leave me.
All a ya,
leave me.
BESSIE: They ain't gonna leave you Mariah.
They ain't
gonna leave.
MARIAH: They'll put me in that place.
Back in
that place again.
(At the sideboard.)
Open the
damn cabinet!
BESSIE: Where
you get
these ideas?
Stay home
with your mother.
ROSE: You know Aunt Bessie,
she could
stay with you now and then,
even during
part if the day.
She
is
your sister.
(The following
continues in a kind of verbal violence.
Overlapping - no one listening.)
MARIAH: I don't need nobody.
Not none of
you.
(She pounds the cabinet.)
Open this
cabinet, I said.
BESSIE:
(burst of
nervous anger)
And she's
your
mother.
A sick
woman.
Don't try
to put your responsibility on somebody else.
PINK: We wouldn't think of it Aunt Bess.
MARIAH: You hear me..
I said open
it...
!
ROSE: And you wouldn't think of helping.
She's your
sister, remember.
BESSIE: Don't be a smart mouth Rose...
PINK: Rose, don't start trouble.
Mom, you
don't need that.
ROSE: The trouble started long before me.
MARIAH: You gonna listen to your mother?
BESSIE: You should be ashamed of yourself.
ROSE: For what?
BESSIE: For not carin' for that sick woman.
MARIAH: Don't nobody care about me.
(
violently)
Open the
damn cabinet
!
ROSE: That sick woman?
That sick
woman?
She's a
drunk,
a drunk and
the two of you keep her there.
BESSIE: Why, I never
...
ROSE: You never what
...?
You never
what?
(beat)
You come
here every day,
day in and day out
and all you
do is tell her how sick she is.
You gloat
on it.
You live on
it.
You thrive
on it.
(To Pink)
And you,
you keep
her in a constant drunk
A constant
drunk
just so you can feel like some
wounded martyr.
She's not
the one they should put away.
It's you two!
BESSIE: I should smack your face.
How dare
you talk to me like that?
PINK: Rose, Rose, stop it.
Stop it!
MARIAH: (
backing against the sideboard)
I won't go
back.
You can't make me go back.
Go back to
that place.
All them
women.
Women
walkin in circles.
Women like
ghosts.
All day
sewin buttons.
Women with
their tongues hangin,
Spit
droolin down their chins.
Clothes
fallin offa them
Starin at the
wall
Talkin to
the air
They give
em string
String and
beads.
Sewin buttons.
Buttons and beads.
(beat)
(Mariah starts arguing
with an unseen person.)
I won't.
You can't
make me.
I won't.
I won't.
The GRANDMOTHER
becomes part of the scene but only MARIAH sees her and speaks to her. The others participate in the conversation
without realizing what MARIAH sees. The
scene culminates in the GRANDMOTHERS monologue.)
GRANDMOTHER (
appearing):
You do as you're told or Ill call them social
workers.
They'll
come to take you away.
They'll
take you back to the home.
Back to the
home.
That's
where they'll take you!
MARIAH: Don't let them take me, Mamma.
I'll be
good.
I'll be
good.
Don't let
them take me....
GRANDMOTHER: You don't deserve the home ya got.
MARIAH: I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.
(
The image fades. She sees PINK.)
(To Pink)
Get me a
little somethin. Baby.
Get me a
little somthin.
ROSE: Mom. Stop it.
Stop
it.
MARIAH. Leave me alone
PINK: Get her to sit down.
ROSE : You satisfied Pink.
You
satisfied now?
PINK: Stop it Rose.
(MARIAH'S mother
appears again.)
GRANDMOTHER: You're a spoiled ingrate.
MARIAH: I don't wanna go
.
BESSIE: Look what you're doin to your mother.
ROSE
:(trying to
restrain her mother.)
How long do
we wait till you back out of this one?
PINK: I'm not backing out.
I'm going
to school.
GRANDMOTHER: You don't deserve nothin.
MARIAH: (
out of
control.)
Open the
damn cabinet !!!
(She slaps Rose across the face.)
The following should move very deliberately
- a full scene without words.
ROSE goes abruptly to the drawer,
takes out the key, unlocks the cabinet, takes out a glass, fills it and hands
it to her mother.
MARIAH drinks the first one fast,
holds out the glass.
ROSE goes back and slowly pours again.
This one she drinks a bit more
slowly.)
MARIAH: I don't care what the hell you do. You can all go to
the devil.
(Lights dim. We see the GRANDMOTHER)
GRANDMOTHER: (
to the
audience.)
(semi beat)
You clean
for the White folk
And take
what they give you,
You scrub
and you
wash
and you
sweep
and you
tote.
Three years
on your knees and every penny you save.
And so you buy
that ticket
That bus
trip ticket
That ticket
North.
And you sit
in the back
And get off
when then tell you.
'Cause some
times the white folks
Fill
up
the bus.
And the
colored folks get off
And you
stay where they can.
In towns
without names
Where you
sleep on the road
And wait
for
the next one..
So twelve
long days'
It Takes
for the ride
Twelve long
days
To Take you
up North.
"Cause
there life is better.
(semi beat)
And you get
off
the bus and they line you all up...
And the
p'lice man he asks you...
"Where
you goin', nigger?"
"You
got a job up here, nigger?"
And they poke
you
and prod
you
"cause
they want you to know
That this
is their country
And you
don' belong.
And then
when they told you
And expect
you to know\
They set
you off walkin'
and so let
you go.
(beat)
They set
you free walkin
But where
do ya walk?
Ya walk in
the filth and the garbage along tenement houses
And they're
full of dark faces that chase you away
Them Jews
and them Dagoes
That jibber
and jabber
Like the
monkeys in the trees.
And they
ain't even Americans
(beat)\
And where can you work?
And how do
ya pay?
So,
you go back to your knees.
Back to the
floors
Back to the
scrubbin'
Back the
washin'
And what do
you find but more of the same
More of the
same
That you
left behind.
And none of its better.
All of its
worse.
Even your
own kind.
Even the
coloreds
treat you
worse than
The White
folks at home.
(imitative)
"get
along girl...
No Tar
Heels here...
Put yo'self
back on the bus..
Get back
where you come from..."
(semi-beat)
And so
you're
a maid.
A servant,
a slave
You clean
out the dust bins and wash all the crap
buckets
and for two dollars a week they allow you to
stay.
And so when a man,
on your one
after noon,
shows you a kindness
You take
any at all.
So you know what it means.
But even at that,
It don't
make no matter
What else can
you hope for?
You take what comes.
And soon it's no different.
Your face in the mud.
(beat)
Then drop
by drop you learn it from them.
First you have a sip from his glass
and you do
it to be cute,
then you
let him buy you one
and you feel
like a woman.
Then you
start buyin for yourself
and when
you do
it's the only thing that brings a bit
of comfort
It takes
you to a new world
where you
see no crap,
no dirty streets,
no parlor floors.
(beat)
And so
you're free,
the only
bus trip that can take you away.
(Lights return)
MARIAH: I'm tired, Rose.
I need to rest. Help me rest. (
She holds up the empty glass.)
ROSE: Not now ma.
I'll take
you to your room.
You can lie
down.
Aunt Bessie,
I think you should go home.
Pink, why
don't you help Aunt Bessie?
Take her
down to the corner for a cab.
BESSIE: What? What are you sayin? I got no money for a cab.
(
ROSE goes to the
sideboard, opens a draw and takes out some cash. Goes to BESSIE and pushes into her hand still
closed around her purse.)
ROSE: You heard me.
I think
it's time for you to go.
This night
has been long enough.
BESSIE: That how you talk to your aunt.
To your
mothers sister.
ROSE: Do you wanna take mom with you?
(
ROSE walks her mother towards her room.)
MARIAH: Just somethin to help me sleep.
BESSIE: Don't let em be rude to you Mariah.
You hear
me.
Don't be
rude to your mother.
ROSE: Good night Aunt Bess.
(BESSIE Leaves in a
huff without a word .Pink sees her out.)
MARIAH
: You won't leave me will you Rose.
You still
need your mother, don't you?
You're not
like Pink.
You never
thought you was better than everybody.
Never
pranced around with all them books
tryin to
make a show a yourself.
You un'erstood
your mother.
You still
need me, don't you Rose.
Don't you.
(Rose has led Mariah
to the door of her room.)
ROSE:
No,
ma.
I won't
leave you.
Go lie down
now.
MARIAH: I need to sleep, Rose.
I'm tired
of wakin up.
ROSE: I know, ma.
I know.
MARIAH: Tired.
ROSE: Lie down.
Lie down.
(Rose goes back to the
chair.
She picks up the glass
and studies it.
Slowly, she lowers herself
into Mariah's chair.
She sees herself in the same position.
Rose picks up the
pillow and cradles it, then buries her face in it.
Pink returns and
startles Rose.)
PINK: Did you get her back to sleep?
ROSE: She's in the bed but she's not asleep.
PINK : She won't sleep now.
She slept
all afternoon.
ROSE: So are you satisfied?
PINK: I'm sure she expected something
and I'm
sure there's something inside her that appreciates it.
(
PINK starts clearing
the coffee table and begins returning napkins and dishes to the sideboard.)
ROSE: Yeh, sure.
PINK: In fact, I think there's something that enjoys it,
She just
doesn't know how to say it.
The only
trouble is your fault.
Getting on
Aunt Bessie the way you did.
ROSE: She had it coming.
I don't
like the way she gets on Ma.
Uses her to
make herself feel good.
PINK: you could still be a bit more patient with her.
No need to
get her all in a mood.
ROSE: You know as well as I do
she'll be
right back here tomorrow.
I don't
know why, but she will.
Can't get
rid of her if you try.
PINK: That because there is something inside her that is
fundamentally good, Rose.
That what
you don't understand.
It's just
her way to be catty.
But inside,
underneath .
ROSE: Inside,
underneath.
Who you
kidding?
The only
reason she keeps coming back is to play it over mom
Because she
has no place else to go.
Uncle Beaus
passed out on the couch
and who else
does she know who would put up with her.
Aunt Bessie's
stuck here the same as us.
It's either
here or the bar or Uncle Beau
and that's
as good as the bad in either case.
Kills me
the way she keeps talkin about his bad leg.
The only
thing bad about his leg is that its hollow.
Phlebitis?
It's
Seagram's that lays him out on the couch.
PINK: Why do you keep going on about that Rose?
Can you not
once talk about anything
without
talking about drinking?
ROSE: Because that's all there is to talk about around
here.
What else does
anybody do that we know.
PINK: But it's the way it creeps into every
conversation.
Don't you
do other things don't you know other people?
ROSE: Frankly no.
Why
bother?
It all
comes home.
It all ends
up right here.
You go out
and the
whole time your away you think that she might be out cold on the front
step.
You meet
someone and instead of seeing them all you can see is the look on her bleary
eyes
The look in
her eyes finding fault with anyone or anything you may bring home.
But I can
live with it.
I don't expect anything else.
PINK: Well, I can't be that way.
I think
there can be more.
I think ....
ROSE: When are you going to grow up Pink?
PINK: Rose, that's enough.
ROSE: Tough to face isn't it but that's the truth and you
know it.
PINK: That still doesn't mean you have to.
ROSE: Have to what?
Have to
what?
PINK: Be crude about it.
ROSE: Crude?
Crude?
You think
that guy you brought in here is coming back after the show he got.
Talk about
crude.
PINK: I'm sure he just thought mom was not feeling well.
ROSE: Not feeling well?
Wake up Pinky!
Snaking
around the living room.
Singing
"Saint Louis Blues.."
Trying to
be something between Ethel Water and Josephine Baker...
She
practically took her dress off in front of him.
PINK: Her age.
He could
have thought she was senile.
ROSE: Senile?
When are
you gonna face it Pink?
She made a
pass at him.
PINK: I'm sure he didn't notice.
ROSE: Then why hasn't he called back?
PINK: Hess been busy.
I know he
had to go away for a while.
ROSE: Away for a while?
Like your
other friends?
None of em
come back.
Why do you
bring em here in the first place?
PINK: It's our home.
Why
shouldn't I?
ROSE: Because it's not a home.
PINK: Enough, Rose
.
ROSE: Was it our home when she brought in her strays from
the bar?
Was it our home every time she locked us out
in the yard while they were in here with
her?
Was it our home
when them folks from social services came to take us away?
PINK: The ugly side.
You always
see the ugly side.
ROSE: Who are you kidding.
It's all
game all part of your act.
You need
her to be on a
drunk
You need
her so that she needs you.
That why
you bring your friends here.
And you
need her to scare away your friends
Scare away
the men
That you're
too scared to deal with.
You bring
them here so that she can scare them all away for you.
PINK: That not true
!
ROSE: Who you kiddin'?
She's your
excuse.
She's your
excuse for being afraid to find someone.
For being
afraid of every man you ever met.
You think
you have to find some guy,
some prince
for your fairy tale
because
that's how it reads in your little book.
PINK: Things just don't work out for me.
ROSE: Oh, they work.
They work
just the way you want them to.
(long beat. ROSE closes in on Pink.)
It's not a
man you want, is it Pink?
It's not a
man.
I know.
I know
because I'm your sister.
I know
because I smell them too.
They stand
within a foot of me and I can smell it on them.
They all smell
of it.
And it
sickens my stomach.
They smell
like her bedroom when we were kids.
They smell
like the kitchen table where she gave them their morning coffee,
They smell
like the sofa where she put us to sleep.
Their smell
was all over
All over
the rooms.
PINK: You're talking like a fool.
Who
remembers those days?
ROSE: Who remembers?
Who remembers?
(beat)
Who
forgets?
PINK: I do.
I
forget.
I forget
because I don't need that in my life anymore.
I don't
need to keep going over it the way you do.
(violently)
I don't
need it!
I don't
want it!
ROSE: You
do need
it!
You do!
You need it
because that's all you know.
You need
the shouts and screams to know where you are.
You want
the hysteria
You want
the chaos.
You want it
because that's the real world for you.
Yes,
it's the ugly side.
Because the
ugly side is what we got.
The ugly
side is where we live.
The ugly
side is what we are.
And no
music of opera....
no hand
painted card ......
No world
somewhere else
is going to
change it.
We're not
free
As long as
she's not free.
And she has
us bolted in.
PINK: But you can change if you want to.
(Pink fingers the record. She holds it in
front of her like a shield.)
You can
try,
You can
make it better.
ROSE: But that's just it Pinky, you really don't try.
PINK: And what have you done?
What have
you done ?
ROSE: I face who I am,
what we
are,
where we
live
and what we
have to live with.
You're
colored Pink.
You're a
colored woman in white world'
A negro.
And this
ain't no Paradise.
No
Paradise, no matter how many records of angel voices you bring 'round here.
No matter
how loud you play your 'Ave Marias."
It don't
drown it out.
(beat)
I know who
I am.
PINK: And I know who I am
and there's
more than this.
There can
be more!
ROSE: More than what?
You
couldn't last five minutes outside this house.
PINK: Don't be ridiculous.
I'm a
working woman
and I can
take care of myself in this world.
ROSE: A
Colored
working
girl.
Directory
assistance and a ten minute bus ride.
PINK: It pays the bills.
ROSE: And I don't help.
PINK: Of course you do.
I didn't
say..
ROSE: A least I don't pretend standing behind a lingerie
counter is more than what it is.
I'm a shop
girl
A Black shop
girl who never finished high school
(beat)
Stop
pretending Pink.
Grow up and
stop pretending.
PINK: I'm not pretending.
Trying to
see the good side is not pretending.
ROSE: Your whole life is pretending.
Even
keeping her here and not sending her off to where she belongs is part of your
pretending.
PINK: Stop talking nonsense
ROSE: Nonsense?
Nonsense?
-
What would
you do without her Pinky?
What would
you do?
She gives
you all the parts you need to play.
You love
being the martyr,
you love
the theatrics,
the
suffering.
You swallow
it down like she does gin.
And that's
not all you need.
That's not
all.
(beat)
You think I
don't hear you in the kitchen at night?
You think I
don't notice the extra glass you leave in the sink,
you think
the small isn't on you just like it's on her?
PINK
:(violently angry)
That not
true and you know it.
I don't
drink.
I'll never
drink.
ROSE: Then what's that you've been sipping at night?
PINK: I don't drink.
I don't.
It's not
the same as drinking.
It just
sometimes she makes me so worried I have a little something to help me sleep.
It's to help
me sleep that's all.
ROSE: Something to sleep.
(
Rose goes to the sideboard and holds the key
in Pink's face.)
That why
you keep the bottle locked up.
Why's it
even in the house?
For company?
What
company?
Who ever
comes here?
Whets the
key for Pink?
What's it
for?
To keep it
away from her or to save it just for you?
PINK: How can you say....?.
ROSE: Go ahead,
buy your
silly records,
make your
little cards and set your birthday tables.
But you're
not fooling me.
You may be
fooling yourself.
Fooling
yourself because you have to .
But,,
you're not fooling me.
It's in
your blood and in mine too.
PINK: You're cruel.
You're cruel.
(Pink cradles the record and starts crying over- emotionally)
ROSE:
In your blood, Pink.
In your
blood.
You're goin
the same road, Pink.
Bubblin'
booze.
Jumpin'
gin.
in you just
like me
(beat)
just like
her.
And you
know what?
She knows
it.
She knows
it and she's waiting.
Waiting to
see you slumped in that chair beside her,
waiting for
you to mumble your half words to hers.
You'll be
her company.
Her
companion in the bottle.
You know
she doesn't like to drink alone.
become just
like her.
And that's
what will make her happy.
That's what
will satisfy her,
knowing
that you're right there with her.
PINK: Cruel.
Cruel.
Just like
her.
Every word
from your mouth.
Small and
mean,
always
finding fault.
Nothing but
meanness.
You cut and
you stab just like she does.
ROSE: Meanness.
How can you
call me mean?
You want
her to be this way.
It gives
you something to pay attention to.
We coulda
had a life.
We coulda
done something different.
But we
didn't did we?
Not
you.
Not
me.
We shoulda
left her in that place but we didn't.
Were took
her back.
Took her
home because we wanted to
because
you
wanted whatever sick thing it is that she makes you feel.
(Brandishing the bottle.)
And you
just keep locking yourself deeper inside it,
covering it
over with paper cards and pretty roses.
But you've
never
done anything.
Anything to
get us out.
PINK: I do try.
I do.
ROSE: You wanna get out.
Here.
Take it!
take it!
(Pushing
the bottle in her face and then pouring out a drink.)
You feed
off each other like roaches feed off their own shit.
(Rose flings the
liquor at the record album.)
(Mariah appears from her room)
MARIAH: What's the racket out here?
Can't get
no sleep with all this racket out here.
PINK: It's nothing,
Ma.
ROSE: I don't know why I bother.
It just
keeps goin on.
And you
won't get within a mile of the school.
You set her
up with another of your impossible ideas.
You work
her into a state and once you've got her all worked up
you back
out of
you plans
back out of
whatever you're gonna do with some half baked excuse.
MARIAH:
(pointing to PINK)
She's gonna
leave me, Rose.
She's gonna go off.
I know it.
Jus'
like your ol' man.
Jus' like
him.
PINK: Get her to be quiet.
(beat)
Can't you
get her to be quiet?
(beat)
Things happen,
Rose.
Things
happen that don't always let your plans go the way you want them to.
MARIAH: I'm cold,
Rose.
I'm
cold.
Help me sit
down
(Rose helps Mariah to
her chair but continues speaking to Pink.)
ROSE: They go
just the way you want them to.
(
semi beat)
Get Mamma a
blanket.
On the bed..
in my room.
PINK: Fine.
Fine
Just get her
to be quiet.
(as she exits for the blanket)
I just want
things to be nice.
just for
five minutes.
five
minutes.
And I don't
see you doing anything to make it better.
ROSE
: (For once, ROSE
is silenced. Then)
Nice.
Everything
nice.
(beat)
Quiet.
Just for
once.
Quiet.
(Pause)
ROSE (
aside)
Once I saw a little girl in the park.
A little white girl.
I saw her fall from the swing
She fell and hurt her arms and knees.
There was blood on her.
Blood washing around black rings of gravel and mud.
Red blood and black rings of gravel on her pale white skin.
Her mother was there.
And ran to her in an instant.
She held the little girl and covered her in kisses.
Again and again she kissed her face
and her elbows
and her knees.
Her little white face.
And when the little girl stopped crying
she carried her to the water fountain
And with the edge of her yellow summer dress,
the mother washed off the little girls cuts and bruises.
And her arms and knees were all white again.
When they went home I went to the same swing
I pumped myself as high as I could.
My feet raised above my head
and blocked the clouds and the sun
Then my face turned down and skimmed past the black mud
beneath the swing.
Again and again ,
back and forth ,
up and down
And then in complete dizziness I flung myself forward.
Flung myself free
Flung myself into arms that were not waiting
Blood covered the ground where my head struck
the pain passed through my nose
and into my mouth
and throat
and lungs
I tasted the hurt in the core of my heart.
And the blood and the gravel covered my knees
My little brown
knees.
And scraped across my brow.
But no one came to me.
No one saw me.
And so I sat alone and huddled
Curled into my knees
My little brown knees
And folded myself into my own arms.
(ROSE goes to her
mother: She pours her a drink. MARIAH
Takes it and swallows fast. There is a
brief moment of exhilaration. )
MARIAH:I count on you, Rose.
I count on
you to keep me goin.
You've
always been the good one Rose.
If you
wasn't there, what would I do?
(Pause)
(Looks at her glass.)
Its empty
Rose.
It always
gets empty so fast.
You don't
wanna make your poor ma get up.
Will you
take care of me Rose?
Don't make
me get up no more.
( She holds out the glass.)
ROSE: Sure, Ma.
MARIAH: I'm so tired Rose, ya know.
If you
could just take somethin to go to sleep.
I jus'
wanna sleep.
ROSE: Yeh, ma.
MARIAH:
I jus' wanna
sleep,
but I keep
wakin up.
(Beat)
Fix my chair first, will ya, baby?
(Beat)
Fix this
pillow.
Ya got a
blanket?
Cover me.
Cover me.
I got a
chill.
Something
so that I could go to sleep.
I jus'
wanna sleep
I's so
tired.
(ROSE draws the pillow
from behind her mother.)
ROSE: You tired, ma?
MARIAH: Yeh, Baby.
I need to
get some sleep.
I get so
tired wakin up.
Wakin up
Why?
For what?
I jus'
wanna sleep.
A good
night of sleep;
(beat)
Help me get
some sleep.
(She holds out the glass.)
I'm tired
of waking up.
Tired.
(beat)
I let me
hear that song again..
You
know....
(she sings)
"don't know why,
there are
clouds up in the sky...
stormy
weather......"
(
ROSE still has the pillow in her hand.
She takes the glass
and walks with the pillow to the sideboard.
She puts the pillow
down on the sideboard and next to it the glass.
ROSE fills the glass.
She picks up the glass
then puts it down.
She goes to the record
player and resets the arm. The music
begins softly. It is Marian Anderson's
"Ave Maria."
ROSE goes back to the
glass.
She fills it.
She drinks.
ROSE picks up the pillow and returns to the chair.
There is a coverlet on
the chair.
ROSE puts the coverlet over her mother.
As MARIAH mumbles
something inaudible, ROSE puts the pillow over MARIAH's face.
MARIAH struggles but
only for a moment.
ROSE removes the
pillow.
ROSE kisses her mother
on the forehead.
PINK enters.
She sees that MARIAH
is still.)
PINK: Did she fall asleep already?
ROSE: (
Very softly as
she strokes her mother's hair)
Yeh.
She's
asleep.
(beat)
Asleep.
(PINK sits silently in
the chair next to her mother. )
(Lights dim slowly as
the music continues.)
[1]
In Philadelphia row homes there is a small entry way at the front door that has
another door before you enter the parlor of the house.
It was used to keep the cold from
entering.
In our time, where the floors
of row homes have been divided into individual apartments, it is the entry
space where you find the individual mailboxes and the entry buzzer.)