her coolly over his fresh drink.]
BRICK : It just hasn't happened yet, Maggie.
MARGARET : What?
BRICK : The click I get in my head when I've had enough of this stuff to make me peaceful.... Will you do me a favor?
MARGARET : Maybe I will. What favor?
BRICK : Just, just keep your voice down!
MARGARET [in a hoarse whisper] : I'll do you that favor, I'll speak in a whisper, if not shut up completely, if you will do me a favor and make that drink your last one till after the party.
BRICK : What party?
MARGARET : Big Daddy's birthday party.
BRICK : Is this Big Daddy's birthday?
MARGARET : You know this is Big Daddy's birthday!
BRICK : No, I don't, I forgot it.
MARGARET : Well, I remembered it for you....
[They are both speaking as breathlessly as a pair of kids after a fight, drawing deep exhausted breaths and looking at each other with faraway eyes, shaking and panting together as if they had broken apart from a violent struggle.]
BRICK : Good for you, Maggie.
MARGARET : You just have to scribble a few lines on this card.
BRICK : You scribble something, Maggie.
MARGARET : It's got to be your handwriting; it's your present, I've given him my present; it's got to be your handwriting!
[The tension between them is building again, the voices becoming shrill once more.]
BRICK : I didn't get him a present.
MARGARET : I got one for you.
BRICK : All right. You write the card, then.
MARGARET : And have him know you didn't remember his birthday?
BRICK : I didn't remember his birthday.
MARGARET : You don't have to prove you didn't!
BRICK : I don't want to fool him about it.
MARGARET : Just write 'Love, Brick!' for God's—
BRICK : No.
MARGARET : You've got to!
BRICK : I don't have to do anything I don't want to do. You keep forgetting the conditions on which I agreed to stay on living with you.
MARGARET [out before she knows it] : I'm not living with you. We occupy the same cage.
BRICK : You've got to remember the conditions agreed on.
MARGARET : They're impossible conditions!
BRICK : Then why don't you—?
MARGARET : HUSH! Who is out there? Is somebody at the door?
[There are footsteps in hall.]
MAE [outside] : May I enter a moment?
MARGARET : Oh, you! Sure. Come in, Mae.
[Mae enters bearing aloft the bow of a young lady's archery set.]
MAE : Brick, is this thing yours?
MARGARET : Why, Sister Woman—that's my Diana Trophy. Won it at the intercollegiate archery contest on the Ole Miss campus.
MAE : It's a mighty dangerous thing to leave exposed round a house full of nawmal rid-blooded children attracted t'weapons.
MARGARET : 'Nawmal rid-blooded children attracted t'weapons' ought t'be taught to keep their hands off things that don't belong to them.
MAE : Maggie, honey, if you had children of your own you'd know how funny that is. Will you please lock this up and put the key out of reach?
MARGARET : Sister Woman, nobody is plotting the destruction of your kiddies.—Brick and I still have our special archers' license. We're goin' deer-huntin' on Moon Lake as soon as the season starts. I love to run with dogs through chilly woods, run, run, leap over obstructions—
[She goes into the closet carrying the bow.]
MAE : How's the injured ankle, Brick?
BRICK : Doesn't hurt. Just itches.
MAE : Oh, my! Brick—Brick, you should've been downstairs after supper! Kiddies put on a show. Polly played the piano, Buster an' Sonny drums, an' then they turned out the lights an' Dixie an' Trixie puhfawmed a toe dance in fairy costume with spahkluhs! Big Daddy just beamed! He just beamed!
MARGARET [from the closet with a sharp laugh] : Oh, I bet. It breaks my heart that we missed it!
[She re-enters.]
But Mae? Why did y'give dawgs' names to all your kiddies?
MAE : Dogs' names?
[Margaret has made this
BRICK : It just hasn't happened yet, Maggie.
MARGARET : What?
BRICK : The click I get in my head when I've had enough of this stuff to make me peaceful.... Will you do me a favor?
MARGARET : Maybe I will. What favor?
BRICK : Just, just keep your voice down!
MARGARET [in a hoarse whisper] : I'll do you that favor, I'll speak in a whisper, if not shut up completely, if you will do me a favor and make that drink your last one till after the party.
BRICK : What party?
MARGARET : Big Daddy's birthday party.
BRICK : Is this Big Daddy's birthday?
MARGARET : You know this is Big Daddy's birthday!
BRICK : No, I don't, I forgot it.
MARGARET : Well, I remembered it for you....
[They are both speaking as breathlessly as a pair of kids after a fight, drawing deep exhausted breaths and looking at each other with faraway eyes, shaking and panting together as if they had broken apart from a violent struggle.]
BRICK : Good for you, Maggie.
MARGARET : You just have to scribble a few lines on this card.
BRICK : You scribble something, Maggie.
MARGARET : It's got to be your handwriting; it's your present, I've given him my present; it's got to be your handwriting!
[The tension between them is building again, the voices becoming shrill once more.]
BRICK : I didn't get him a present.
MARGARET : I got one for you.
BRICK : All right. You write the card, then.
MARGARET : And have him know you didn't remember his birthday?
BRICK : I didn't remember his birthday.
MARGARET : You don't have to prove you didn't!
BRICK : I don't want to fool him about it.
MARGARET : Just write 'Love, Brick!' for God's—
BRICK : No.
MARGARET : You've got to!
BRICK : I don't have to do anything I don't want to do. You keep forgetting the conditions on which I agreed to stay on living with you.
MARGARET [out before she knows it] : I'm not living with you. We occupy the same cage.
BRICK : You've got to remember the conditions agreed on.
MARGARET : They're impossible conditions!
BRICK : Then why don't you—?
MARGARET : HUSH! Who is out there? Is somebody at the door?
[There are footsteps in hall.]
MAE [outside] : May I enter a moment?
MARGARET : Oh, you! Sure. Come in, Mae.
[Mae enters bearing aloft the bow of a young lady's archery set.]
MAE : Brick, is this thing yours?
MARGARET : Why, Sister Woman—that's my Diana Trophy. Won it at the intercollegiate archery contest on the Ole Miss campus.
MAE : It's a mighty dangerous thing to leave exposed round a house full of nawmal rid-blooded children attracted t'weapons.
MARGARET : 'Nawmal rid-blooded children attracted t'weapons' ought t'be taught to keep their hands off things that don't belong to them.
MAE : Maggie, honey, if you had children of your own you'd know how funny that is. Will you please lock this up and put the key out of reach?
MARGARET : Sister Woman, nobody is plotting the destruction of your kiddies.—Brick and I still have our special archers' license. We're goin' deer-huntin' on Moon Lake as soon as the season starts. I love to run with dogs through chilly woods, run, run, leap over obstructions—
[She goes into the closet carrying the bow.]
MAE : How's the injured ankle, Brick?
BRICK : Doesn't hurt. Just itches.
MAE : Oh, my! Brick—Brick, you should've been downstairs after supper! Kiddies put on a show. Polly played the piano, Buster an' Sonny drums, an' then they turned out the lights an' Dixie an' Trixie puhfawmed a toe dance in fairy costume with spahkluhs! Big Daddy just beamed! He just beamed!
MARGARET [from the closet with a sharp laugh] : Oh, I bet. It breaks my heart that we missed it!
[She re-enters.]
But Mae? Why did y'give dawgs' names to all your kiddies?
MAE : Dogs' names?
[Margaret has made this
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