Three Plays Read Free

us so often, lest we forget, well, that's one honour that I don't envy her for!—Sit on a brass throne on a tacky float an' ride down Main Street, smilin', bowin', and blowin' kisses to all the trash on the street—
    [She picks out a pair of jewelled sandals and rushes to the dressing-table.]
    Why, year before last, when Susan McPheeters was singled out fo' that honour, y'know what happened to her? Y'know what happened to poor little Susie McPheeters?
     
    BRICK [absently] : No. What happened to little Susie McPheeters?
     
    MARGARET : Somebody spit tobacco juice in her face.
     
    BRICK [dreamily] : Somebody spit tobacco juice in her face?
     
    MARGARET : That's right, some old drunk leaned out of a window in the Hotel Gayoso and yelled, 'Hey, Queen, hey, hey there, Queenie!' Poor Susie looked up and flashed him a radiant smile and he shot out a squirt of tobacco juice right in poor Susie's face.
     
    BRICK : Well, what d'you know about that.
     
    MARGARET [gaily] : What do I know about it? I was there, I saw it!
     
    BRICK [absently] : Must have been kind of funny.
     
    MARGARET : Susie didn't think so. Had hysterics. Screamed like a banshee. They had to stop th' parade an' remove her from her throne an' go on with—
    [She catches sight of him in the mirror, gasps slightly, wheels about to face him. Count ten.]
    Why are you looking at me like that?
     
    BRICK [whistling softly, now] : Like what, Maggie?
     
    MARGARET [intensely, fearfully] : The way y' were lookin' at me just now, befo' I caught your eye in the mirror and you started t' whistle! I don't know how t' describe it but it froze my blood!—I've caught you lookin' at me like that so often lately. What are you thinkin' of when you look at me like that?
     
    BRICK : I wasn't conscious of lookin' at you, Maggie.
     
    MARGARET : Well, I was conscious of it! What were you thinkin'?
     
    BRICK : I don't remember thinking of anything, Maggie.
     
    MARGARET : Don't you think I know that—? Don't you—?—Think I know that—?
     
    BRICK [coolly] : Know what , Maggie?
     
    MARGARET [struggling for expression] : That I've gone through this— hideous!—transformation , become— hard! Frantic!
    [Then she adds, almost tenderly:]
    —cruel!!
    That's what you've been observing in me lately. How could y' help but observe it? That's all right. I'm not—thin-skinned any more, can't afford t' be thin-skinned any more.
    [She is now recovering her power.]
    —But Brick? Brick?
     
    BRICK : Did you say something?
     
    MARGARET : I was goin' t' say something—that I get—lonely. Very!
     
    BRICK : Ev'rybody gets that...
     
    MARGARET : Living with someone you love can be lonelier—than living entirely alone!—if the one that y' love doesn't love you....
     
    [There is a pause. Brick hobbles downstage and asks, without looking at her:]
     
    BRICK : Would you like to live alone, Maggie?
     
    [Another pause: then—after she has caught a quick, hurt breath:]
     
    MARGARET : No!—God!—I wouldn't!
    [Another gasping breath. She forcibly controls what must have been an impulse to cry out. We see her deliberately, very forcibly going all the way back to the world in which you can talk about ordinary matters.]
    Did you have a nice shower?
     
    BRICK : Uh-huh.
     
    MARGARET : Was the water cool?
     
    BRICK : No.
     
    MARGARET : But it made y' feel fresh, huh?
     
    BRICK : Fresher....
     
    MARGARET : I know something would make y' feel much fresher!
     
    BRICK : What?
     
    MARGARET : An alcohol rub. Or cologne, a rub with cologne!
     
    BRICK : That's good after a workout but I haven't been workin' out, Maggie.
     
    MARGARET : You've kept in good shape, though.
     
    BRICK [indifferently] : You think so, Maggie?
     
    MARGARET : I always thought drinkin' men lost their looks, but I was plainly mistaken.
     
    BRICK [wryly] : Why, thanks, Maggie.
     
    MARGARET : You're the only drinkin' man I know that it never seems t' put fat on.
     
    BRICK : I'm gettin' softer, Maggie.
     
    MARGARET :