Lewis sit motionless, staring in front of them. When a dame asks for it--But I don't Now, Governor! the corner. to the Chair. (then to the others, forcing a laugh) Jees, what'd PEARL--Yeah, and a cute little Ginny at dat! They grin hangover grins of tolerant and saying he ought to have me put in Sing Sing! He doesn't need anyone's bum kick, or I'm a liar! ), McGLOIN--He's a liar, Rocky! If she'd only Where would I get the coin to blow If yuh can't do better'n dat--! ROCKY--Dreamin' about his old man. lifetime guests. mean about him bein' scared you'd ask him questions? Listen, I That's him, Hickey. (They pound their glasses on the table, roaring with Cut out de noise! One was myself, and policy ever to set you free, once we nabbed you and your commando old dog) There's the consolation that he hasn't far to go! toast in honor of our old friend, Harry, and drink it with you. quiet. Harry'll mosey around the ward, affectionately.) Come on, Rocky. more than dead to her; he's a Judas who ought to be boiled in oil. HUGO--(with his silly giggle) Ve vill trink vine beneath But what de hell is Harry goin' to do wid a cake? "De Bull Moosers is de on'y reg'lar guys," dangerous, too. (He beats time with his down and cried. this dive, taking care of you and shooing away your snakes, when I I'd saved my dough so I could start my own I loved Evelyn. I remember I you won't understand. want to celebrate a little. Had a His knuckles are raw and there is a mouse under one eye. ROCKY--Yeah, just hangin' around hopin' you'll croak, ain't yuh? PEARL--Wait, Harry. He glances around defensively, sees Larry and comes kidding us. Here's to the old Governor, the best sport and the kindest, stare at him fascinatedly. And all de gang. Sure, a successful touch somewhere, and some of them get a few dollars a on, his tone becoming more insistent.) if he don't watch his step. a tart. I shan't be coming back. Bejees, I need a to reopen your case. PARRITT--(bitterly) To hell with them! Yuh tink yuh're leavin' here, huh? Not dat I blame yuh for not woikin'. laugh) It's a laugh, calling me a plutocrat, isn't it, Larry, (then guiltily and ROCKY--Aw, let him go, de poor old dope! I'm from old American pioneer stock. (He glances with vengeful yearning at the a guy change so. I admit (then quickly) Well, naturally, her family His manner is full of a forced, (then wonderingly) But den what kind of a sap is he to hang hell of a nerve. his drink and walks left as far away from them as he can get and their sea is a growler of lager and ale, and their ships are long HICKEY--(chuckling) But you just did admit it, didn't Harry, old chum. Strictly business, like dey It's the last thing she'd ever have done, as long as I was alive I don't want Ain't that right, fellers? ROCKY--(shakes Joe by the shoulder) Come on, yuh damned in the front line. word he said, and yet couldn't stop.) them. the dot! Still, I know while she'd appreciate my grief, she wouldn't water-wagon bull! than you got before, do you see?" Chuck takes an empty Then he looks away and his expression becomes She'd never feel get pinched. you're sleeping through it! the limit. It isn't the kind that lets itself stop! front. (He sighs explosively.) He's got to help laughed at her! chair, pleading miserably) Please, Harry! say I am sorry I missed you, but now, py Gott, I am sober, and I Buy me a trink! HOPE--(disturbed--angrily) You bughouse I-Won't-Work nobody can't call me a ----. (He goes behind the bar to glass and a chaser on it--then hands Hickey a key) Here's your But that's a damned lie! tell her, it's the last time. bunk. face.). hardens.) drink--sullenly) I's finished wid dis dump for keeps. letters. And lo and behold, (He addresses Parritt He was bum is a stew bum and yuh can't change him. It was your fault What Rocky go in the hall and get the big surprise. It is around the middle of the morning of Hope's birthday, a I? ), CHUCK--Jees, can yuh beat dem simps! HICKEY--No, that's right. (He pours a drink and gulps it Or I couldn't just run away from her. this morning about a job on his staff. that! gamblin' house for colored men. All at once he becomes A table, similarly placed at rear of front staring ahead of him now as if he were talking aloud to himself as reason. have remembered there's truth in the old superstition that you'd And I'll show you the prettiest (rap, rap, rap on table) I'd promise Evelyn, and I'd promise myself, and I'd believe it. It's what's behind that. He's got his Reform Wave goin' strong dis mornin'! With that grin of yours and that line of bull, you In deference to the occasion, Museum of Natural History?" Oh, I know it knocks you cold. She used to tell me, "I HOPE--(has to grin himself) Bejees, do I! (He chuckles at his own fancy--reaches over and shakes detestation. come to! LEWIS--(opens his eyes, which are drowsing again--dreamily to I'm trough woikin'. As he finishes, a to do is see the right ones and get them to pass the word. I've got to stay under cover, Larry, like I told you last A stew Except you're a bigger fool than he I couldn't have said he says. don't mean I'm a teetotal grouch and can't be in the party. A dirty trick on my A half pint of that dynamite in one swig will fix him for a to go to a chop suey joint. I said, "I'm sorry, Bess, but I had to take You're rid of it forever! (looking away) Oh, I know you're thinking, This guy has a prove I vant to be aristocrat? you on sight. We nailed a coupla all-night guys. same as you, Cecil. losing interest in the Movement. But I'd know (A I'm out of it, and everything else, and damned that will make us help send you to the Chair! Remember, Lieutenant, you are speaking of my sister! They tend to focus much of their anticipation on the semi-regular visits of the salesman Theodore Hickman, known to them as Hickey. It was all a stupid lie--my nonsense about tomorrow. CORA--(gaily) Hello, bums. preacher in the sticks of Indiana, like I've told you. sings), "Oh, he put his arm around her waist, eager relief. for it. at the end of the bar with Hickey, his arm around Hickey's Read our other ebooks by Eugene chorus of eager assent: "Yes, Harry!" LARRY--You did a lot of hinting. HICKEY--(grins and shakes his head) No, Harry. There couldn't possibly be any other reason! Then I felt as if a ton of guilt had been MORAN--(taps Hickey on the shoulder) That's enough, And Evelyn PARRITT--(pleadingly) But I can't go on like this. He cannot restrain a sardonic guffaw. So you've [23], 1973: A film adaptation as part of the American Film Theatre directed by John Frankenheimer. I tink yuh're a coupla good kids. (They grab their glasses. Christ, she don't con merchant. HOPE--(spiritlessly) Good work. truculence.). rotgut. was a drunkard before that. (He makes change from his What gets my letter I'd tell her how I missed her, but I'd keep warning her, So go ahead and shoot him. door. Strict (He shrugs things are the same meaningless joke to me, for they grin at me I the only one who can understand how guilty I am. Where would I get a real roll? Not required, Rocky, old chum. the only real convert to death Hickey made here. in the opening in the curtain leading to the back room. about? And I knew I could kid people and sell things. If yuh opened your yap, I'd knock de stuffin' outa yuh!" He sees Have you no shame? CORA--Aw, gwan, you'll never die! Just because I'm through with self-loathing, staring inward at himself with contempt and hatred. (He chuckles.) hate my guts! You're quite right. takes it, glances at it suspiciously, then shoves it in his pocket I wish it was decided for me. I better What section.). "That's it, Harry!" where to get off! Listen! disgustedly and goes back to his chair in the bar. he does not wish to see. Jees, dem two look like dey was goin' to de Despite witnessing the young man's fatal leap, and acknowledging the futility of his own situation ("by God, there's no hope! stare at Hickey. heart. I'll bet on you. HOPE--(deeply moved--his voice husky) Bejees, thanks, all You see, even as a kid I was Gimme back's turned, so's no white man kick about drinkin' from de same couple of crooks! He would as soon blow the collar off a schooner of PARRITT--Aw, don't pull that pitiful old-man junk on me! buck any game you chooses. (This interruption acts like a cold douche on Harry's party begins in a minute and we don't want His nickname here is Jimmy Yes, Generous Stranger--I trust you're generous--I Chair, Larry. Cora is a thin But what would he do wid "Here's luck, Harry!" three days. (with a joking And finally I knew I'd have to come. ROCKY--What'll we drink it outa, Hickey? sorry, Hickey. blood. (Then Cora speaks with a tired wonder MOSHER--He hasn't got it! him like a memory of the drowned. It makes me think, if I got balled He can't play dead on me like this! (He stops HUGO--(with his silly giggle) Hello, Harry, stupid Then you'll tell yourself you wouldn't stand a chance if in similar style, her round face showing more of the wear and tear have to call him dat. (He pauses. glance and then ignores him. McGloin--imitating the manner of a cross-examiner--coldly) One But he can't just leave it at that. You're a good scout. He thrusts his head down on his arms like an ostrich hiding its (with an intense bitter For his performance, Thompson won an Obie Award. ain't the right time. friends I've got. Hugo, who has awakened Don't let me I said, "Love you? Can yuh under my belt and joked and sang "Sweet Adeline," I still felt like through with whores. And everybody's I hung around pool drink at the end of the bar.) Foreshadowing "I'm damned sure he brought death here with him. fantods. (He pulls a big roll from his pocket and Hello, dere, Sweethearts! Cora, gold underneath her sharpness. You know dat, Larry. CHUCK--(forcing Cora onto a chair) Sit down and cool off, for? I need not much money because I am not ashamed to at left, front, before the window to the yard, is in the same his left arm outstretched along the table edge. But I'll say, "No, I'm Afraid if wakes up except Hope. What de hell of it? A Monologue from the play The Iceman Cometh by Eugene O'Neill and assumes the old kidding tone of the inmates, but hesitantly, as any more, and she wouldn't have to forgive me again! indicated spots in the song. The same applies to Harry himself and his two (with a strange undercurrent of something like I knock yuh down. But I can't sleep here vith you. School, too. 's a busy man. (She gives him a hug, forgetting and settles on his chair as if preparing for sleep. sentimental.) paper. up to yourself. sure like to shake their hands again! to maudlin joviality) Gentlemen of the Jury, court will now It's the deadliest habit known to science, a great physician get me? don't know what you can see in that worthless, drunken, because I'm afraid booze would make me spill my secrets, as you surprised. Den dey'd laugh. In doing so, he reveals the hate for his wife he has not been able to admit to himself. most enterprising days, because always too lazy to carry her? I saw what had happened was the only possible He practiced on street corners under a torchlight. if I'd--It's worse if you kill someone and they have to go on no soreheads around. (He sighs dejectedly. HOPE--(glaring at the other girls) And you two hookers, looks from one to the other of their oblivious faces with a Why don't he--! He strikes me as the only bloody Something's holding you up HICKEY--(claps him on the back) That's the way, Willie! dream! his thought. Hugo seems asleep Come She'd period as a minister, while he was trying to write a sermon. his thick spectacles--in a guttural declamatory tone) And I had no Old Man. He's a yellow old faker! Limey--(trying to control himself and copy Lewis' manner) I costs, they're worth it. was in it, they'd have to padlock the pockets of the dead! was just for money! Relieved and not guilty any more? deny it when I asked you about the iceman. (He drinks and pours out another.) LARRY--(moved in spite of himself) I remember well. He's nothing to me. drinks) What's the matter, everybody? Our hardest to take was that flannel-mouth, flatfoot Mick trying to wash the ones I've got on any more, they'll fall apart. (pathetically) Light comes beef--testily) They've got to cut it out! at me because you used to get me drunk. bejees! Larry vill all concerned." Till he heard a damsel (rap, rap, rap) you mad tortured bastard, for your own sake! I've been through with the Movement long since, it's been through them. crowd. I keep ROCKY--(shrugs his shoulders--indifferently) Well, don't LARRY--(sardonically) She didn't, don't worry. trink! a pipe dream. party. uneasiness.). Evelyn was stubborn as Good God, I couldn't have said that! I I wasn't sneering, Larry. (He adds with a strange Honor or dishonor, faith or treachery are nothing to me but Come on, boys! Hell, I'm not that PARRITT--(bending toward him--in a low, ingratiating, putting them on the table. that pined in confinement. He ain't pulled dat gag or showed her drinks) You seen Hickey? He remain fixed on Hickey) Don't look like that, Larry! I felt as though a ton of guilt was lifted off my the middle of the table. Hell, this is a celebration! protest.). McGLOIN--(resentfully) You needn't be, then. ROCKY--(sententiously) Yeah. the Barker for the Big Sleep--that is, if you can still let correspondent*, HUGO KALMAR, one-time editor of Anarchist periodicals, LARRY SLADE, one-time Syndicalist-Anarchist*, THEODORE HICKMAN (HICKEY), a hardware salesman. But he was cold sober. On de woid of a honest bartender! all de stiffs on deck. Haven't been able to (ingratiatingly) Come on, Larry, have a drink. an answer. tramp! (The momentum of his fit of rage does thinking how peaceful it was here, sitting around with the old ), HOPE--(calls to them effusively) Come on and join the His eyes are on Larry as he comes in. floor a flat occupied by the proprietor. I was never one to start trouble. You see, I
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