The Sins of the Mother
In TheaterWords Plays for Women and One Act Plays series
A One Act Play for five woman.
By
Tony Devaney Morinelli
This piece examines alcoholism and the barriers it creates in an Irish American family.
Two maiden daughters are trapped at home with their alcoholic mother where Irish born bitterness and
resentment replace love and understanding. Inheritors of their grandmother's sin the two daughters seek their
redemption.
Duration 45 minutes
Please advise the author of any plans to produce this piece.
There is no royalty fee for this piece when produced in an academic venue.
Contact:
Tony Devaney Morinelli
36ardlyn@comcast.net
610- 348 - 4669 cell
610 - 642 - 3782 home
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The Sins of the Mother
Marie (the mother)
Ellen (the elder daughter)
Rose (the younger daughter)
Aunt Theresa (Marie's sister)
Grandmother ( a vision)
THE SET: A large worn armchair center stage. In front of it, 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. Near it a table. To the right is a dark area
with a chair where the GRANDMOTHER remains throughout.
Ellen is about the room puffing pillows, fixing things. On the sideboard is a birthday cake and a present. Ellen
finishes the wrapping on a package as She looks in the side board drawer for a box of candles she calls:
ELLEN: Where are those candles?
Rose, Rose.
I know I put them in here somewhere.
Yo, Rose!
ROSE: (In the hall at the door.) Just a minute I can't hear you.
ELLEN: What?
ROSE: I can't hear you. I'm getting the mail.
ELLEN: Rose!.
(To herself) Where did they get to?
(Pause)
Rose! Rose!
I know I put them in here. Rose, Rose?
(Ellen 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.
ELLEN: I wasn't shouting and I'm not like her. (Composing herself.) I didn't know where you were. Have you
seen the box of candles I put in here?
ROSE: Did you look under the table cloths? I was getting the mail.
ELLEN: The mail! Did anything come for me? (She pokes her fingers into the mail that Rose carries.)
ROSE: (thumbing through.) Water bill, junk, ... here this is yours. (She holds the letter with curiosity.)
Westchester Teachers College? What's this?
ELLEN: Nothing.(She grabs the letter) It's for me.
ROSE: What's in the letter?
ELLEN: It doesn't concern you. (Beat)
Where are those candles?
ROSE: (repeating with emphasis) Did you look under the table cloths?
ELLEN: 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.) You are just like her.
Whadda ya call these? Things don't go your way and you get all hyper.
ELLEN: I'm not hyper. You just can't seem to keep anything in order around here.
ROSE: They were right where they always are.
ELLEN: 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
its worth.
ELLEN: Is that really necessary?
ROSE: Well, it's true. When she gets on a binge she can ransack the whole room.
ELLEN: Rose, ..... that's enough. (Ellen breaths her annoyance and redirects the subject.) Do you want to call
her in now?
ROSE: I suppose. I really don't see the purpose.
ELLEN: Rose, for once can't you just do something without a comment?
ROSE: Why do you keep it in the house anyway?
ELLEN: For company.
ROSE: Company? What company?
ELLEN: You never know. Suppose.....
ROSE: Suppose what? You expecting someone? Maybe the guy you had here last month? Still expecting him
to come back?
ELLEN: That's not necessary.
ROSE: Neither is having ........
ELLEN: Why must you make an argument of everything?
ROSE: I'm not arguing, I'm just saying.
ELLEN: Well, don't say. And besides, it helps sometimes to keep her home.
ROSE: Only in a snowstorm. And the boys down Kelly's wouldn't know what to do without her.
ELLEN: 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.
ELLEN: And she'd make a worse fuss if we don't.
ROSE: Some fusses are worse than others. (Pause) You didn't answer my question. (She picks up the letter
from the sideboard.) What's in this letter?
ELLEN: It's addressed to me. Not you. (She grabs the letter back.)
ROSE: OK, take it. I was just curious.
ELLEN: You don't have to know everything.
ROSE: I was just asking a simple question.
ELLEN: And I'm giving you a simple answer.
ROSE: Touchy aren't we. Must be important.
ELLEN: Can we just drop this please? (Beat) Is she awake?
ROSE: Dunno. (She slurs"I don't know.")
ELLEN: What time did she come back?
ROSE: She was home just before you came in. Just before six. (Points to the letter in Ellen's hand. ) And I'm
just curious, that's all.
ELLEN: Will you stop with the letter? Was she feeling well when she came in?
ROSE: Feeling well?
ELLEN: Was she......?
ROSE: Was she what?
ELLEN: Feeling well.
ROSE: Well enough to find her way home. Better than last Thursday.
ELLEN: No need to bring that up again.
ROSE: It's a long walk from Kelley's.
ELLEN: Why must you be so sarcastic?
ROSE: It's not sarcasm. It's an honest appraisal.
ELLEN: There you go again.
ROSE: Come off it El.
ELLEN: 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)
ELLEN: Should we wait until Aunt Theresa here? (Ellen 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.
ELLEN: She's still her sister.
ROSE: Who keeps telling her that she looks like death?
ELLEN: That's just her way.
ROSE: She's annoying. Always pushin' Ma around. Always one uppin' her.
ELLEN: It's just her way.
ROSE: Just her way.
ELLEN: Just the way some people are.
ROSE: Ya know, you got a lot of her in you too.
ELLEN: Aunt Th'resa -
ROSE: Who'm I talkin' about?
ELLEN: I do not.
ROSE: Yeh, you do.
ELLEN: 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?
ELLEN: What are you talking about? I don't wear gloves.
ROSE: That's not the point. You're always trying to be somethin you're not. Always puttin' on airs.
ELLEN: (Putting candles on the cake.) There's a difference between putting on airs and just trying to do things
nicely.
ROSE: Sure. Whatever.
ELLEN: 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 at what's outside that front door? Do you know where we live?
ELLEN: 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 passed out on the front step.
ELLEN: Why do you have to be so sarcastic?
ROSE: I just try to make sense. That's all.
ELLEN: 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?
ELLEN: I told you more than once. It's for me. (Trying to change the subject.) Aunt Theresa's late. She
should have been here a half hour ago. (Ellen starts looking through the drawers again.) Now where are the
matches?
ROSE: She's always late. No sense in waiting.
ELLEN: We should wait for Aunt Theresa. (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.)
Mom, Mom! Come on in here a minute.
ELLEN: 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 Theresa." (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?
ELLEN: And you're not.
ROSE: What?
ELLEN: Deaf.
ROSE: Sometimes I wish I were. It may 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. A little girl behind the coats and 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
their kisses. The sour smell from dragging lips. The gin smelly air fogged with meaningless words mumbled
and twisted and slurred.
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.
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 you matches.
Mom. Mom. You awake in there? Mom? Mom?
MARIE: (Emerging from her room. She is disheveled from sleep.)What's all the yelling? Stop all the yelling.
ELLEN: I told you not to yell.
MARIE: I'm not deaf yet.
ROSE: Cut me a break, will you El? (Rose goes over to her mother.)
ROSE: Need a hand?
MARIE: Think I'm a cripple too?
ELLEN: (going up behind Marie and covering her eyes) Can't look. Can't look yet.
MARIE: What's all this nonsense? (She breaks away and moves toward the sideboard.)
ELLEN: Not nonsense. It's your birthday.
MARIE: (Marie moves toward the sideboard. She fingers the cabinet with the key.)
Who locked this? You lock this?
ROSE: Not now mom. Not now.
MARIE: Why you lock this?
ROSE: Mom, it's your birthday.
MARIE: How you know it's my birthday?
ELLEN: Because it's the twenty fifth. Your birthday is on the twenty fifth.
MARIE: The twenty fifth. How you know it's the twenty fifth. I don' even know if it's the twen'y fith.
ROSE: (under her breath) Here we go. Not in the room two minutes and already she starts.
ELLEN: The twenty fifth is good because that's the day of your baptismal certificate. It must be close enough.
Besides, you could make it any day you want it to be.
ROSE: (to ELLEN) Wanna try for Alice in Wonderland and do an "unbirthday"?
MARIE: What's a birthday anyway? You're born to grow old. You grow old. You die. We're all gonna die
anyway.
ELLEN: Everyone likes their birthday, mom.
MARIE: 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.
ELLEN: (continuing to her mother and ignoring ROSE) You have presents and a cake. (ELLEN walks her
mother to the large armchair.) And Aunt Theresa will be here.
MARIE: What's she comin' for?
ELLEN: She's your sister isn't she.
MARIE: Always bossin' me around. And her younger ‘an me. Thinks she's somebody.
ELLEN: Aunt Theresa's family and family needs to stay together. And besides, I invited her for your birthday.
MARIE: My birthday? I don't care about no birthday. Another day, another nail in my coffin. Just another
day. They put you in the ground and your six feet under pushin' up daisies.
ELLEN: Now don't be talking that way.
MARIE: Be a lot easier if you could take a little somethin' to put ya in dream and ya just don't wake up no more.
ROSE: There's a thought.
ELLEN: Rose ! (beat) Now, Ma, I want you to stop talking that way. We have a cake and a present and as
soon as Aunt Theresa gets here ......
MARIE: Birthdays. What's the point of all the fuss?
Tomorrow you forget all about it and the next day you're dead. Birthday's are kids' stuff. They're for kids.
And I ain't no kid no more.
MARIE:(Aside. The lights dim except for a single beam on Marie. We are back in time with Marie who speaks
to her mother. Marie's mother is on her hands and knees with bucket and floor brush. She speaks with an Irish
brogue. Marie speaks normally, an innocent child.)
Margaret invited me to her birthday party mommy. She's having cake and ice cream and all the girls at school.
Can I go mommy? Please, can I go?
GRANDMOTHER: You can just get that idea out of your head. You ain't goin'.
MARIE: Why , why can't I go?
GRANDMOTHER: Cause I says so, that's why.
MARIE: Please mommy?
GRANDMOTHER: Don't ask again or you'll get the back o' my hand.
MARIE: The other girls are going.
GRANDMOTHER: The other girls got dresses to wear and presents to bring. What you gonna bring? What?
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.
MARIE: Mommy?
GRANDMOTHER: Now what?
MARIE: When is it my birthday mommy? When is it mine?
The other girls have birthdays. They wear dresses, dresses in pink with 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?
GRANDMOTHER: So, you want a party. (Beat) A party. Greedy little thing ain't ya. Like your ol'man. Always
takin. Always thinkin' of hisself. You want a party. And where dya think the money comes from to pay for
yer party? Here's a party (she hits her)
A party. Where you get these ideas. You want a party? Take this pail and rag and get on your hands and
knees. You can have a party with the soap and the water.
(The lights return. We are back in the present.)
MARIE: Birthday's is for kids and I ain't no kid no more.
ELLEN: Oh, Mom, everybody's still a kid on their birthday.
(She hands Marie the present)
MARIE: What's this?
ROSE: You're not gonna wait for Aunt Tree?
ELLEN: Mom can open this while we're waiting.
ELLEN: This is for you. It's from both of us.
Go ahead, open it. Open it.
MARIE: Now don't go rushin' me.
ELLEN: We're not rushing. Take your time.
MARIE: (takes the package and turns it about)
Now, what do you expect me to do with this?
ELLEN: Open it mom. You don't even know what it is.
ROSE: (Aside to ELLEN.) What did you buy her?
ELLEN: You'll see.
ROSE : (cynically and with disbelief) Is that a book?
ELLEN: Be quiet!
ROSE: I can tell by the shape. You bought her a book! (Beat, with a huff.) Ellen!
ELLEN: (To MARIE:) Open the card first. Open the card.
MARIE: ( 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 ELLEN, gives her a look of disbelief then hands the card to her mother.)
ELLEN: You like it?
MARIE: What you call this? (Examining a home-made card) What's this.... paint? Crayon....?
ELLEN: I made for you mom. I made it myself.
ROSE: (to ELLEN) Still the kid in school, Ellen?
MARIE: Looks last minute to me. You forgot, I bet, and made this at the last minute.
ELLEN: No, mom. I didn't forget.
MARIE: Looks like somethin' you slapped together at the last minute.
ELLEN: It wasn't last minute, Ma. I made it last week. I had it all ready for you.
ROSE: (To ELLEN.) Why do you bother?
MARIE: If you didn't forget, why'd you make up this thing?
ELLEN: Because I wanted to make it.
ROSE: (to ELLEN) When are you ever going to grow up?
ELLEN:(to ROSE) She really appreciates it. She just has to make some noise.
ROSE: Still in your day dreams Ellen.
MARIE: You couldn't even take the time to buy your mother a card? What would it cost? A few pennies?
ELLEN: It's not a question of money or forgetting....
MARIE: A few pennies for a lousy card..
ROSE: (To ELLEN) You never cease to amaze me. This isn't the Saturday Evening Post, Ellen. This isn't a
Norman Rockwell cover page.
ELLEN: Not everything has to be ugly.
MARIE: What's all this scribble stuff?
ROSE: You know what I think? I think you set yourself up for these things.
ELLEN: (to MARIE) 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)
ELLEN:(TO MARIE) I'm just trying to make things a little nicer, that's all.(To ROSE) A little nicer. They're
flowers, Mom.
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)
ELLEN: (ruffled) Can't you answer the door?
ROSE: Here comes the other half.
(Rose opens the door. Aunt Theresa 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 THERESA: (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?
ROSE: Sorry Aunt Theresa, we were right in the ......
THERESA: Hi hon. I couldn't get your uncle off the couch to drive me over. (To ELLEN with a quick wave.)
Hi, El. So I took the bus.
ELLEN: That's OK Aunt Theresa. We're glad you could make it. Uncle Jack not coming?
AUNT THERESA: His leg's botherin' him hon.
ROSE: His leg?
AUNT THERESA: Yeh, ya know hon, the phlebitis, he can't hardly get from the couch to the kitchen. So I
just told him, "Jack hon, you just lay there with the game and I'll get ya your beer." I just tol him to stay where
he was. "I can take the bus", I said.
ELLEN: How are you feeling?
AUNT THERESA: What can you expect?
ROSE: The usual, I suppose.
AUNT THERESA: What's that hon?
ELLEN: (covering ROSE) Still having trouble sleeping?
AUNT THERESA: You know I saw that doctor twiced this week. I even called him on the 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. Fifty 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 Marie? (To the girls.) Two a clock in the mornin' I'm layin' there starin at the
ceilin'. You don't look so good.
MARIE: I don't sleep neither.
ELLEN: Let me take your coat Aunt Tree.
THERESA: (Ignores Ellen's offer.) An' my bladder keeps me goin' too. You know what I mean. Yous are
young. Ya get older ya get a weak bladder.
MARIE: I get so tired I can't sleep.
THERESA: (patting MARIE on the hand.) We're all gonna sleep long enough pretty soon.
ROSE: You've been asleep all afternoon.
THERESA: You should letter be, Rose. Your mother's not well.. She needs to rest.
ROSE: She doesn't do so bad.
THERESA: 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.
ELLEN: Aunt Tree, let me take your coat.
THERESA: I'll just keep my coat hon'. It's cold in here. It gets my bladder. The cold does that.
Ain't that right Marie? Nothin' bothers me.
MARIE: You were the baby. You had it easy.
THERESA: I had it easy? Who you kiddin' easy. I went to work over the refinery when I was fourteen.
Fourteen I was. That's where I met your uncle Jack, he was a stoker.
(To the girls) Ya know I never even finished high-school. Went to work in that refinery every day. All them
people who went out a work when they shut it down. But you two are too young to remember. But your
mother remembers. Don't ya Marie?
MARIE: Yeh, I remember Tree.
THERESA: 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. I just knew 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 Marie. Too high strung.
ELLEN: (trying to change the subject). Show Aunt Tree what we got you for your birthday, Ma.
THERESA: What the girls give you for your birthday Marie?
Ya know what your uncle give me for my birthday? A flannel night gown. Real nice. He gay (slurred for
‘gave') me a night gown Marie. A night gown. Nice flannel. Real warm. You know. But it didn't fit so it had
to go back. Wouldn't ya think that after forty five years he'd know?.
ELLEN: Show Aunt Tree, Ma.
THERESA: Geh head (go ahead), show me, Marie.
MARIE: Look what they give me for my birthday, Tree. (She lifts the package)
THERESA: Forty five years an' he don't even know my size. Yeh, that's nice. Nice paper. Real pretty. Don't
throw it out. Save it. Can come in handy. (Looks at the present.) What is it?
MARIE: I don't know. I gotta open it yet.
THERESA: Got a nice ribbon.
MARIE: And look. They call this a card.
THERESA: You gonna save the ribbon Marie? Pretty color.
(MARIE opens the gift)
THERESA: Save the ribbon. (She takes the ribbon.) Use it Christmas. (She puts the ribbon in her purse) I don't
throw nothin' out.
THERESA: What's that Marie?
MARIE: Some kind a book.
THERESA: Yeh, a book eh? (Pause) That's nice.
ELLEN: It's a book of rose gardens, Mom. Pictures of all the most famous rose gardens in the world.
MARIE: Yeh, she gives me a book Tree. Least you gotta night gown.
ELLEN: It's a coffee table book mom. You leave it out so you can look at it when you feel like it. See you sit it
right here.
MARIE: (Referring to ELLEN.) Where'd I get this one?
THERESA: Lady I used to clean for used to have all kinds of books layin on the end tables. So much trouble
to move every time you dust.
ELLEN: You can open it to a different page every day. And look. (She flips through.) Here's a picture of a
garden in Donegal where you said your mother came from. Look. Isn't that just beautiful?
THERESA: (Quoting with a singing lilt.) ‘Me mother she came from Donegal, where they et their potatoes
(pronouced as pah-tay-thas) skin ‘n all.'
MARIE: Fancy books on coffee tables. One o' them uppity half cuts ma used to work for. A dust collector.
Just another thing ta clean. Another thing ta clean.
(The lights dim and we see GRANDMOTHER .)
GRANDMOTHER: Remember why you're here girl. The missus pays you to clean and nothin' else. You're
gonna work up the third floor. Make the beds. Bring me down the laundry and use this rag to wet mop the
floors .. Wrench it good. Don't be leavin' no spots. While you're up there don't touch nothin'. Specially
nothin' in the girl's room. She don't want you foolin'' with her books and things. Keep your hands to yourself
and your mouth shut. You're gettin' more for a day's work than I did when I come here.
MARIE: I'll work hard, mamma. I will. I won't touch anything. I promise.
(Beat)
Mamma?
GRANDMOTHER: What?
MARIE: If I work hard, can I go back to school?
GRANDMOTHER: Back ta school. There ya go again. Always puttin' on airs. Yeh can read can't yeh? Yeh
kin write your name. What else ya need? Afraid ta do a bit a work's the problem. Too good to stoop and
clean. Think yer better than the rest of us, don't ya. Well, let me tell ya. Count yer blessin's for what yeh got
cause its always worse someplace else. I kin tell yeh that.
(The lights return.)
ELLEN: You don't have to worry about cleaning. I got the book for you to enjoy. Just look how pretty all the
pictures are.
MARIE: Another dust collector.
ROSE: Like she's ever kept house. (Rose moves to the sideboard, Ellen follows)
THERESA: You know Marie. You just can't keep stuff around. You gotta get rid of it or it just sits around
collecting dust. I don't keep nothin' around no more. Get rid of all of it.
(The following exchanges run simultaneously)
______________________________________
MARIE: (to Theresa) Look at this, Tree.
ELLEN: At least I tried. What did you get her.
THERESA: Yeh, nice Marie.. What is it, hon?
ROSE: Nothing. What should I buy her?
MARIE: She made a card. Couldn't buy one.
THERESA: (to MARIE) Jack always buys me a card. (To the girls) Your uncle Jack always buys me a card. I
don't
ELLEN: You didn't have to buy anything.
care what you say. Jack always remembers. He always buys me a card.
ROSE: Buy her a bottle that's what she wants.
____________________________________
THERESA: What are you two doing over there? Get your aunt Theresa some coffee. I thought you were
going to have a cake.
MARIE: Get your aunt some coffee.
ELLEN: Rose, please. Let's not argue. It's mom's birthday and I want her to be in a good mood.
(Ellen lights the candles and brings the cake to the coffee table)
(lights return to all four)
(ROSE, ELLEN, AUNT THERESA all sing Happy Birthday).
ELLEN: Blow out the candles mom. Blow ‘em out.
(Marie blows out the candles.)
ROSE: She'll set the place on fire.
ELLEN: Stop it Rose.
(The following must move very rapidly. Everyone talks and no one listens. The lines should almost overlap.)
THERESA: (to Marie) You got a cake Marie. (As she fingers the icing) All that sweet stuff ain't good for you.
ELLEN: A piece won't hurt Aunt Tree. (Ellen cuts the cake.)
THERESA: You know Marie I was tellin these kids they don't know how lucky they got it.
They got everything when they got their health. Where'd you buy the cake?
ELLEN: I didn't buy it Aunt Theresa, I made it.
THERESA: I like them cakes you get from the bread man. You know they got that little pink carnation on ‘em.
ROSE: That's for Mother's Day Aunt Tree.
THERESA: They make good cake. Not dry. I used to save that carnation. Wear it on my coat to church.
ROSE: And we haven't had a bread man for years.
THERESA: Remember that Marie?
MARIE: Why you waste all them eggs and make all that mess in the kitchen?
THERESA: You think this is a little dry hon?
ELLEN. It wasn't a waste. And the kitchen's all cleaned up. I made it last night after you went to bed.
THERESA: 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 Tree.
THERESA: (To ELLEN) Get me some coffee, will ya hon? (To ROSE) I'll just eat half.
MARIE: (To ELLEN) Get your aunt some coffee.
THERESA: I don't bake no more for Jack. He don't need it.
You made this cake Ellen?
ELLEN: Yeh, Aunt Tree.
(Theresa talks even more quickly now. Ellen and Rose are almost unheard)
THERESA: 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 Jack 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.
ELLEN: (trying to participate) Diabetes?
THERESA: You should watch too, Marie. In your condition.
ROSE: Condition?
ELLEN: Rose!
THERESA: But you go ahead I suppose it can't hurt. It's good you got theses two girls Marie. (Whispers to
Marie). Good thing none of ‘ems married. You know, sometimes I think I got married too young. Don't get
me wrong. Jack's been good ta me. Always brought home his pay. I give him a little back for goin' to
McGinty's couple times a week. Likes being with the boys. You know. I ain't complainin. But don't ya ever
wonder sometimes? They could leave you any time Marie. They're here one day and gone the next.
THERESA: (Back in time)
Lights dim on all except THERESA and GRANDMOTHER who appears, perhaps through a scrim.
THERESA: I don't care no more, Ma. I'm leavin. You hear me. I'm leavin. I have a chance , a chance with
Jack. He's good to me. He takes me out. He takes care of me. He treats me good.
GRANDMOTHER: ( she is ironing) You think when you marry that louse he's gonna stay with you?
You don't think he's gonna be like your father, Theresa?
You think you found something better.
We'll I'm telling you, there ain't nothing better. He's a louse like the rest of them.
What kind of job you call what he's got? What kind a job is that shov'lin' coal in a furnace, like shov'lin' shit in
a cow barn and the penny he makes goes flat on the tap room bar.
You're trying to put on airs like your sister Marie. Well, she ain't come to nothin' Runs off with some gigolo.
And what it get her? Pregnant with a kid and he goes off to Australia. And where does she go? Back to her
mother, back to me.
Well I ain't takin you back the way I done her.
I raised you. I gave you everything I never had. Takin' in laundry, washing floors, cleanin' rich people's
crap. And this is how you pay me back?
I'm tellin' you Theresa, you leave and you ain't comin back in.
I ain't got no room for tramps in my house.
You go out and the door gets locked.
.
THERESA (to the image of 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 like you done to Marie?
I'm gettin out!
You're a rummy, nothin' but a rummy
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.
I don't even know if he was my father.
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.
GRANDMOTHER: Then go ahead. Go. I still got Marie and you can go to hell. You're an ingrate. An ingrate
and I won't forget it.
(Lights return to full).
The following exchanges become quicker and quicker. Everyone shouts. No one listens.
THERESA: (lights back up on the family)
Ya know, ya can't help but wonderin sometimes. Ya know what I mean Marie?
ELLEN: You're not eating your cake mom. Just try a little.
MARIE: I don't eat cake Ellen, you know that.
I don't like that sweet stuff.
THERESA: Too much sweet stuff.
MARIE: All this commotion in here. It's late. There's a draft.
ELLEN: There's no draft mom.
THERESA: Your mother feels a draft.
MARIE: I said I feel a draft.
Where' my sweater Rose? You got a window open somewhere. Where's my sweater?
ELLEN: Mom, the heat's on seventy. It's warm in here.
MARIE: I said I'm cold. Can't you listen to your mother?
THERESA: The woman's cold Rose! You don't want it to get to her kidneys.
ROSE: (fetching the sweater from the back of the chair) Here you go mom.
THERESA: Ya know, ya gotta watch. Doctor told me to drink lots a cranberry juice. Helps the kidneys.
Potassium he says.
MARIE: Keep that cold air from outside comin' in here.
Can't you keep the heat up in this place?
ROSE: The heat's on seventy, Mom. You want it like an oven?
THERESA: Ya know hon. It your heatin' bill an' all, but I still feel a little chill.
MARIE: I feel like I'm gettin a headache.
ROSE: You gettin' a headache mom?
MARIE: Yeh, my head's startin' to hurt. You know how my head starts to hurt when it gets like this.
ROSE: How did I guess?
THERESA: Too much sugar in that cake.
MARIE: You wanna get a little somethin for me hon? Somethin' to make my head feel better.
ROSE: How about some coffee, Mom?
MARIE: No coffee. Keeps me up.
ROSE: But coffee.....
MARIE: 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).
THERESA: Rose, you don't talk nice to your mother Rose.
ROSE: Aunt Theresa....... .
THERESA: You don't talk nice. She's not a well woman.
ROSE: Aunt Theresa you know as well as I do....
THERESA: It don't matter. You still talk nice to your mother. You know this woman isn't well
ROSE: I'm just trying.....
THERESA: (poking Marie with the end of her dessert fork) It's good you got one good daughter at home Marie.
ROSE: And what am I? Don't I live here too?
THERESA: It's respect, I'm talking about, respect.
ELLEN: Please, Rose, please not tonight.
THERESA: Respect.
ROSE: Rose, Always Rose.
THERESA: You know Marie, I don't care what you say ......
MARIE: My head's going to explode. Isn't it time for bed yet? ( she stands and goes to the side cabinet)
THERESA: Your mother needs a daughter like Ellen at home.
MARIE: What are you talkin' Th'resa? .
THERESA: Not like us Marie. Not like us. We always shared everything.
MARIE: Life was different.
THERESA: Ain't nothin' different. It's respect.
ROSE: Respect?
ELLEN: Rose.....
THERESA: Ya take care of your mother.
MARIE: My head is hurtin'.
THERESA: (To MARIE) Not like us Marie. Not like us.
(Lights dim. MARIE and THERESA step out of the setting into their own tableau. it is the past)
MARIE: What do you think you're doing Th'resa? You can't leave her like this?
THERESA: Oh no, just watch.
MARIE: And you're gonna leave me alone to take care of her myself:
THERESA: Let her take care of herself.
MARIE: She can't. You know she can't.
THERESA: No! She just makes you think she can't. She wants you here. Stay here to rot with her.
She can't stand to see any of us have anything good, anything better than what she had.
Face it Marie, 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 .....
MARIE: Stop it! Ya hear me! Stop it ! Don't say it.
THERESA: Jimmy made it out of here And so will I.
MARIE: The war took Jimmy away. He had to go.
THERESA: Well this is my war. A war where I win. There's a man who cares about me,
the first person who ever even thought about me.
MARIE: But she's our mother.
THERESA: Our mother. Our mother, she's a gin soaked rummy who let herself get knocked up by god knows
who and we get the blame. I don't even know if we have the same father. She prob'bly don't know neither.
You wanna stay, that's your problem.
MARIE: Theresa.....
THERESA: Damn it Marie. 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, we are back in the present.
ROSE: That's alright mom. Aunt Theresa never liked me so much.
THERESA: 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 Tree.
THERESA: You hear what I said, didn't you Marie? You heard what I said. I didn't say nothin' like that. I just
mean that Rose could be more like.......
ELLEN: Please, Let's not start.
THERESA: I ain't startin nothin' hon'. I only was sayin'......
ELLEN: Fine Aunt Tree. 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)
Mom, please. Not now. It's your birthday. Have some of your cake.
MARIE: I'm too tired. I think I need to go back to sleep.
ELLEN: Not now. There's something I want to tell you.
MARIE: My head.
ELLEN: Mom, please.....
MARIE: My head feels like......
ROSE: (to Ellen) What did I tell you?
ELLEN: Mom, please. ( she moves her back to the chair)
MARIE: Why don't you do your mother a favor and get her a little something.
ELLEN: Not now, Mom. Just sit a minute, I need you to listen.
THERESA: What are talkin' Ellen. You're not gonna give this woman trouble are ya?
ELLEN: No Aunt Tree. Just listen. (Beat) Mom, I've been saving my money. I've working over time and
saving my money.
THERESA: You're a good girl Ellen. Smart to save your money.
ELLEN: I have an idea. I've thought about it for a long time now.
MARIE: What are you talkin, girl?
ELLEN: An idea.
MARIE: What kinna idea?
ELLEN: Something I wanna do.
MARIE: Your not thinkin' about then damn nuns again ........
ELLEN: No mom. It's not that at all. That was a mistake.
THERESA: Good god girl. You don't wanna be thinkin' about that again. (To ROSE) Nearly killed her. It's still
cold in here.
MARIE: Them damn nuns, thinkin' they's better than everybody else; always puttin ideas in your head...Tryin'
to trick you into some convent.
ELLEN: No mom, it's not the nuns. Mom. I'd like to go back to school.
ROSE: So that's what's in the letter.
ELLEN: Yes, that's what's in the letter.
MARIE: Them nuns always makin' themselves out to be so perfect.....
THERESA: Go back to school?
MARIE: Makin life miserable for everybody else....
THERESA: I'm a good church goer when I can get Jack to take me, but them nuns. God bless ‘em but you
know, somethin' ain't right.
ELLEN: You know what I mean. Go to college. Get a degree.
THERESA: A degree.... what you gonna do with a degree?
ROSE: A degree!
MARIE: Stop talkin' nonsense
ELLEN: It's not nonsense, Ma.
MARIE: Ya talk ridiculous.
ROSE: (sarcastically) This is a good one Ellen. A real good one.
ELLEN: Why not? In the long run we'd all benefit.
MARIE: School. Whadda ya mean school? Who put these ideas in your head?
Lights dim. Grandmother appears
Grandmother: Where'd you get ideas like that
from those people they put you with, right?
Those damned nuns, comin' ‘round here to check on everything.
They don't even know what a man is and they go around tellin everybody else how to live. Stickin' my kids
in some rich folks house for the holiday. Always around snoopin' putting their noses in other people's
business. Tryin' to make your own mother look bad. Like they come from families that never saw gin on
the table. Makin you somethin' you ain't. Just to cause trouble.
That's who got you up to this.
MARIE: I was just wondering Mamma. What if I was to go to the secretary school.
Suppose I could do it?
Grandmother: 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 and this time look in them golden mirrors
take a look and see what's in ‘em
Take a look and see that you ain't nothin' but a servant girl
And it's your job to wash those mirrors and make them shine
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.
THERESA: You go off to school and who's gonna take care of your mother?
ELLEN: Going to school doesn't mean I can't take care or you.
ROSE: How can you be doing school and work? How we gonna pay the bills?
ELLEN: 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 between the regular bills and the cost of
keeping her supplied.
ELLEN: 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?
MARIE: (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.
MARIE: I don' t care what the hell you do.
ROSE: I don't want to listen to this. Ellen, you're doing it again.
MARIE: get the hell out of my way.
(MARIE goes back to the cabinet)
I don't wanna see none of you.
ROSE: I told you Ellen. I told you you would start her up.
(Even louder and more confused)
THERESA: You're gonna kill that woman. She's a sick woman.
MARIE: I'm goin' back to bed.
THERESA: You're gonna kill her. First your father walks out on her and now you.
THERESA: They put her away once when your father walked out.
ROSE: My father? He wasn't my father. Not Ellen's either. You ougta know. How many times did you
remind her of it.
THERESA: Go ahead! Keep talkin' like that. You got no respect. She's a sick woman!
MARIE: (aside)Go ahead, leave me. All a ya, leave me.
THERESA: They ain't gonna leave you Marie. They ain't gonna leave.
MARIE: They'll put me in that place. Back in that place again.(At the sideboard.) Open this damn cabinet!
THERESA: Where you get these ideas? Stay home with your mother.
ROSE: You know Aunt Theresa, 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.)
MARIE: I don't need nobody. Not none of you! (She pounds the cabinet.) Open this cabinet, I said.
THERESA: (burst of nervous anger) And she's your mother:.A sick woman. Don't try to put your
responsibility on somebody else.
ELLEN: We wouldn't think of it Aunt Tree.
MARIE: You hear me..... I said open it!
ROSE: And you wouldn't think of helping. She's your sister, remember.
THERESA: Don't be a smart mouth Rose!
ELLEN: Rose, don't start trouble! Mom, you don't need that.
ROSE: The trouble started long before me.
MARIE: You gonna listen to your mother?
THERESA: You should be ashamed of yourself.
ROSE: For what?
THERESA: For not carin' for that sick woman!
MARIE: Don't nobody care about me. 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.
THERESA: Why I never!
ROSE: You never what! 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 thrive on it. (To Ellen) And you, you keep her in 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!
THERESA: I should smack your face. How dare you talk to me like that!
ELLEN: Rose, Rose, stop it. Stop it!
MARIE: (backing against the sideboard) I won't go back. You can't make me go back. Women walkin in
circles. All day sewin buttons. Women with their tongues hangin', spit droolin down their chins. They give
‘em string and beads. Sewin buttons. Buttons and beads.
(Marie starts arguing with an unseen person. The GRANDMOTHER becomes part of the scene. Only MARIE
sees her and speaks to her. The others participate in the conversation without realizing what MARIE sees. The
scene culminates in the GRANDMOTHER'S monologue.)
GRANDMOTHER (appearing): You do as you're told or I'll call them nuns. They'll come to take you away.
They'll take you back to the home.
MARIE: Don't let them take me, mommy. I'll be good. I'll be good. Don't let them take me!
GRANDMOTHER: You don't deserve the home ya got.
MARIE: I'm sorry. I'm sorry.
(To Ellen) Get me a little somethin'.
ROSE: Mom. Stop it. Stop it.
MARIE. Leave me alone
ELLEN: Get her to sit down.
ROSE : You satisfied Ellen. You satisfied now?
ELLEN: Stop it Rose.
GRANDMOTHER: You're a spoiled ingrate.
MARIE: I don't wanna go!
THERESA: 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?
ELLEN: I'm not backing out. I"m going to school.
GRANDMOTHER: You don't deserve nothin'.
MARIE: 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. MARIE drinks the
first one fast, holds out the glas. ROSE goes back and slowly pours again. This one she drinks a bit more
slowly.)
MARIE: I don't care what the hell you do. You can all go to the devil.
(Lights dim. We see the GRANDMOTHER)
GRANDMOTHER:
You can all go to the devil and may you all rot in hell.
You think you have it rough. You think its all unfair.
Do you know what it is to sleep on the dirt?
To have your father come into the house reelin' with the drink
And push your face into the mud?
You talk to a lad and he makes you smile
You make him smile
And the priest calls you whore
And the people where you live drive you out with sticks and stones?
And you run off to the city
To walk day and night in the black streets of Cork
Hidin' in alleyways so the drunks don't grab ya
Sleepin under back steps to keep off the rain.
America they tell ya. America will give ya the chance.
And so ya do what ya can in an honest way to pay your way across.
You clean for the English and the high born Irish.
You scrub and you wash and you sweep and you tote.
Three years on your knees and every penny you save.
And so you sail on the ship. And you sit in a black hole
a black hole filled with dark Jews and dagos,
Greeks and Pollacks
who babble and jabber like the monkeys in the trees
and you stink and sweat and puke up your guts
For ten long days. But you're goin' to America and there life is better.
And you get off the boat and they line you all up
And the poke you and prod you and they mark you with chalk
Like the cows in the field they give you mark.
Then they set you free walkin'
Walkin in the filth and the garbage and the tenement boxes.
And you go back to your knees. And what do you find but more of the same that you left behind. And none
of its better. All of its worse. Even your own kind. Even your own kind treat you worse than English at
home. You're a maid. A servant. 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 its no different. Your face in the mud. 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 or your own 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 but where you see no crap, no dirty streets,
no parlor floors. And so you're free, the only ship that can take you away.
(Lights return)
MARIE: 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 Theresa, I think you should go
home. Ellen, why don't you help Aunt Theresa? Take her down to the corner for a cab.
THERESA: 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 THERESA 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.
THERESA: That's how you talk to your aunt. To your mother's sister.
ROSE: Do you wanna take mom with you? (ROSE walks her mother towards her room.)
MARIE: Just somethin' to help me sleep.
THERESA: Don't let ‘em be rude to you Marie. Yous hear me. Don't be rude to your mother.
ROSE: Good night Aunt Tree.
(THERESA Leaves in a huff without a word .Ellen sees her out.)
MARIE: You won't leave me will you Rose. You still need your mother, don't you? You're not like Ellen. 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 Marie to the door of her room.)
ROSE: No, ma. I won't leave you. Go lie down now.
MARIE: I need to sleep, Rose. I'm tired of wakin' up.
ROSE: I know, ma. I know.
MARIE: 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 Marie's
chair. Rose "sizes up" the chair. She sees herself in the same position. Rose picks up the pillow and cradles it,
then buries her face in it. Ellen returns and startles Rose.)
Ellen: Did you get her back to sleep?
Rose: She's in the bed but she's not asleep.
Ellen: She won't sleep now. She slept all afternoon.
Rose: So are you satisfied?
Ellen: I'm sure she expected something and I'm sure there's something inside her that appreciates it.
(Ellen starts clearing the coffee table and begins returning napkins and dishes to the sideboard.)
Rose: Yeh, sure.
Ellen: In fact, I think there's a something that enjoys it, She just doesn't know how to say it. The only trouble is
your fault. Getting on Aunt Theresa 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.
Ellen: 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.
Ellen: That's because there is something inside her that is fundamentally good, Rose. That's 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
and because she has no place else to go. Uncle Jack's passed out on the couch and who else does she know
who would put up with her. Aunt Th'resa's stuck he the same as us. It's either here or the bar or Uncle Jack
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 it's hollow. Phlebitis! It's rum that lays him out on the couch.
Ellen: 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.
ELLEN: 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 you think the
whole time your away 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 finding fault with anyone or anything you may bring home.
But I can live with it. I don't expect anything else.
ELLEN: Well, I can't be that way. I think there can be more. I think ......
ROSE: When are you going to grow up Ellen? (Affecting a brogue) We're two darlin' maiden sisters who
have taken the goodness to care for their ailin' mother. = Ah me mother she came from Donegal where they et
the pataytahs skins an' all" ( back to normal ) and we're the potatoes.
She's a drunk, Ellen, a rummy through and through and we're gonna shrivel up and waste away fermented in
her gin.
ELLEN: Rose, that's enough.
ROSE: Tough to face isn't it but that's the truth and you know it.
ELLEN: That still doesn't mean you have to....
ROSE: Have to what? Have to what?
ELLEN: 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!
ELLEN: I'm sure he just thought mom was not feeling well.
ROSE: Not feeling well? Wake up El! Dancing around the living room. Singing "My Wild Irish Rose". She
practically took her dress off in front of him.
ELLEN: Her age. He could have thought she was senile.
ROSE: Senile? When are you gonna face it Ellen? She made a pass at him.
ELLEN: I'm sure he didn't notice.
ROSE: Then why hasn't he called back?
ELLEN: He's 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?
ELLEN: It's our home. Why shouldn't I?
ROSE: Because it's not a home.
ELLEN: Stop it 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 the nuns from social services came
to take us away?
ELLEN: 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 so that she needs you. That's why you bring your friends here. You bring
them here so that she can scare them all away for you.
ELLEN: That's not true!
ROSE: She's your excuse. She's your excuse for being afraid to find someone. You think you have to find
some guy, some prince for your fairy tale because that's how it reads in your little book. But it's not a man
you want. It's just a part you need in your picture books.
ELLEN: Thing's just don't work out for me.
ROSE: Oh, they work. They work just the way you want them to. It's not a man you want, is it Ellen? 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'd put us to sleep. Their smell was all over the apartment.
ELLEN: You're talking like a fool. Who remembers those days?
ROSE: Who remembers? .......Who forgets?
ELLEN: 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.
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, the ugly side. Because the ugly side is what we got. And no book of roses, no hand painted card is going
to change it.
ELLEN: But you can change if you want to. (Ellen fingers the Book Of Gardens) You can try, you can make it
better.
ROSE: But that's just it El, you really don't try.
ELLEN: 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. This is no paradise Ellen,
no matter how many flower books you bring around here. I know who I am.
ELLEN: And I know who I am and it's more than this.
ROSE: More than what? You couldn't last five minutes outside this house.
ELLEN: Don't be ridiculous. I'm a working woman and I can take care of myself in this world..
ROSE: A working woman. Directory assistance and a ten minute bus ride.
ELLEN: It pays the bills.
ROSE: And I don't help.
ELLEN: 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.
Stop pretending Ellen. Grow up and stop pretending.
ELLEN: 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 the State Hospital where
she belongs is part of your pretending.
ELLEN: Stop talking nonsense...
ROSE: Nonsense? Nonsense? - What would you do without her El, 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. 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 smell isn't on you just like it's on her?
ELLEN:(violently angry) That's 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?
ELLEN: 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 Ellen's face.) That's why you keep
the bottle locked up. Company! .... What's the key for Ellen? To keep it away from her or to save it just for
you?
ELLEN: Stop it Rose.
ROSE: Go ahead, buy your pretty books, make your little cards and set your birthday tables. But you're not
fooling me. It's in you blood and in mine too.
ELLEN: You're cruel. You're cruel. (Ellen cradles the book and starts crying over emotionally)
ROSE: You're goin the same road, Ellen. 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 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.
ELLEN: Cruel. Cruel. Just like her. Every word from your mouth. Small and mean, always finding fault.
Nothing but meanness. You stab and to cut 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. We're 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.
ELLEN: 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 Book of Gardens.)
(Marie appears from her room)
MARIE: What's the racket out here? Can't get no sleep with all this racket out here.
ELLEN: 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 you back out of whatever you're gonna do with some half baked
excuse.
ELLEN: (pointing to ELLEN) She's gonna leave me Rose. She's gonna go off. I know it. Just like your ol'
man. Jus' like him.
ELLEN: Things happen Rose. Things happen that don't always let your plans go the way you want them to.
MARIE: I'm cold Rose. I'm cold. Help me sit down
(Rose helps Marie to her chair but continues speaking to Ellen.)
ROSE: They go just the way you want them to. Get Ma a blanket. On the bed in my room.
ELLEN: (as she exits for the blanket) I just want things to be nice. And I don't see you doing anything to make
it better.
ROSE: (For once, ROSE is silenced. Then) Nice. Everything nice.
ROSE (aside)
Once I saw a little girl in the park.
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.
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.
And when the little girl stopped crying she carried her to the water fountain
And with the edge of her summer dress, the mother washed off the little girl's cuts and bruises.
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.
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.
But no one came to me. No one saw me.
And so I sat alone and huddled
Curled into my knees and folded into my own arms.
(ROSE goes to her mother: She pours her a drink. MARIE Takes it and swallows fast. There is a brief
moment of exhilaration. )
MARIE: 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.) It's 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.
MARIE: I'm so tired Rose, ya know. If you could just take somethin' to go to sleep.
ROSE: Yeh, ma.
MARIE: But I keep wakin' up. (Beat) Fix my chair first, will ya, hon?
(Beat) Something so that you could go to sleep.
ROSE draws the pillow from behind her mother.
ROSE: You tired, ma.
MARIE: Yeh, honey. I need to get some sleep. I get so tired wakin' up. Help me get some sleep. (She holds
out the glass.)
Rose still has the pillow in her hand. She takes the glass and walks with the pillow to the sideboard. She put the
pillow down on the sideboard and next to it the glass. Rose fills the glass then picks it up, then puts it down.
She picks up the pillow, moves to the chair and puts the pillow over MARIE's face.
MARIE struggles but only for a moment. ROSE kisses her mother on the forehead and then makes the sign of
the cross over herself.
Ellen enters. She sees that MARIE is still.
ELLEN: Did she fall asleep already?
ROSE: (Very softly as she strokes her mother's hair) Yeh. She's asleep.
(Ellen sits silently in the chair next to her mother. )
Blackout