Night, Mother《晚安，媽媽》 (1983)
Marsha Norman (1947- )
Night, Mother(English version)@1-30
Characters
JESSIE CATES -- Jessie is in her late thirties or early forties, pale and vaguely unsteady, physically. It is only in the last year that Jessie has gained control of her mind and body, and tonight, she is determined to hold onto that control. She wears pants and a long black sweater with deep pockets one of which contains a notepad and there may be a pencil behind her ear or a pen clipped to one of the pockets of the sweater.
As a rule, Jessie doesn't feel much like talking. Other people have rarely found her quirky sense of humor amusing. She has a peaceful energy on this night, a sense of purpose, but is clearly aware of the time passing moment by moment. Oddly enough, Jessie has never been as communicative or as enjoyable as she is on this evening, but we must know she has not always been this way. There is a familiarity between these two women that comes from having lived together for a long time. There is a shorthand to the talk and a sense of routine comfort to the way they relate to each other physically. Naturally, there are also routine aggravations.
THELMA CATES – “ Mama”, is Jessie's mother, in her late fifties or early sixties. She has begun to feel her age and so takes it easy when she can, or when it serves her purposes to let someone help her. But she speaks quickly and enjoys talking. She believes that things are what she says they are. Her sturdiness is more a mental quality than a physical one, finally. She is chatty and nosy and this is her house.
The play takes place in a relatively new house built way out a country road, with a living room and connecting kitchen and a center hall that leads off to the bedrooms. A pull cord in the hall ceiling releases a ladder which leads to the attic. One of the bedrooms opens directly onto the hall and its entry should be visible by everyone in the audience. It should be, in fact, the focal point of the entire set and the lighting should make it disappear completely at times and draw the entire set into it at others. It is a point of both treat and promise. It is an ordinary door that opens onto absolute nothingness. That door is the point of all the action and the utmost care should be given its design and construction.
The living room is cluttered with magazines and needlework catalogues, ashtrays and candy dishes. Examples of Mama's needlework are everywhere -- pillows, Afghans and quilts, doilies and rugs, and they are quite nice examples. The house is more comfortable than messy, but there is quite a lot to keep in place here. It is more personal than charming. It is not quaint. Under no circumstances should the set and its dressing make a judgment about the intelligence or taste of Jessie and Thelma. It should simply indicate that they are very specific real people who happen to live in a particular part of the country. Heavy accents, which would further distance the audience from Jessie and Thelma, are also wrong.
The time is the present, with the action beginning about 8:15. Clocks onstage in the kitchen and on a table in the living room should run throughout the performance and be visible by the audience.
There will be no intermission.
Mama stretches to reach the cupcakes in a cabinet in the kitchen. She can't see them, but she can feel around for them, and she's eager to have one, so she's working pretty hard at it. this may be the most serious exercise Mama ever gets. She finds a cupcake, the coconut covered, raspberry and marshmallow filled kind known as a snowball, but sees that there's one missing from the package. She calls to Jessie, who is apparently somewhere else in the house.
THELMA
(Unwrapping the cupcake.) Jessie, it's the last snowball, sugar. Put it on the list, O. K.? And we're out of Hershey bars and where's that peanut brittle? I think maybe Dawson's been in it again. I ought to put a big mirror on the refrigerator door. That'll keep him out of my treats, won't it? You hear me, honey?
(Then more to herself.)
I hate it when the coconut falls off. Why does the coconut fall off?
(Jessie enters from her bedroom, carrying a stack of newspapers.)
JESSIE We got any old towels?
THELMA There you are!
JESSIE (Holding a towel that was on the stack of newspapers.) Towels you don't want any more. (And picking up Mama's snowball wrapper.)How about this swimming towel Loretta gave us? Beach towel, that's the name of it. You want it? (Mama shakes her head No.)
-- 3 --
THELMA What have you been doing in there?
JESSIE And a big piece of plastic like a rubber sheet or something. Garbage bags would do if there's enough.
THELMA Don't go making a big mess, Jessie. It's eight o'clock already.
JESSIE Maybe an old blanket or towels we got in a soap box sometime?
THELMA I said don't make a mess. Your hair is black enough, hon.
JESSIE (Continues to search the kitchen cabinets, finding two or three more towels to add to her stack.) It's not for my hair, Mama. What about some old pillows anywhere or a foam cushion out of a yard chair would be real good.
THELMA You haven't forgot what night it is, have you? (Holding up her fingernails.) They're all chipped, see? I've been waiting all week, Jess. It's Saturday night, sugar.
JESSIE I know. I got it on the schedule.
THELMA (Crossing to the living room.) You want me to wash, em now or are you making your mess first?
(Looking at the snowball.)
We're out of these. Did I say that already?
JESSIE There's more coming tomorrow. I ordered you a whole case.
-- 4 --
THELMA (Checking the TV Guide.) A whole case will go stale, Jessie.
JESSIE They can go in the freezer til you're ready for them. Where's Daddy's gun?
THELMA In the attic.
JESSIE Where in the attic? I looked you whole nap and couldn't find it anywhere.
THELMA One of his shoeboxes, I think.
JESSIE Full of shoes. I looked already.
THELMA Well, you didn't look good enough, then. there's that box from the ones he wore to the hospital. When he died, they told me I could have them back, but I never did like those shoes.
JESSIE (Pulling them out of her pocket.) I found the bullets. They were in an old milkcan.
THELMA (As Jessie starts for the hall.) Dawson took the shotgun, didn't he? Hand me that basket, hon.
JESSIE (Gets the basket for her.) Dawson better not've taken that pistol.
THELMA (Stopping her again.) Now my glasses, please. (Jessie returns to get the glases.)I told him to take those rubber boots too, but he said they were for fishing. I told him to take up fishing. (Jessie reaches for the cleaning spray, and cleans Mama's glasses for her.)
-- 5 --
JESSIE He's just too lazy to climb up there, Mama. Or maybe he's just being smart. That floor's not very steady.
THELMA (Getting out a piece of knitting.) It's not a floor at all, hon, it's a board now and then. Measure this for me. I need six inches.
JESSIE (As she measures.) Dawson could probably use some of those clothes up there. Somebody should have them. You ought to call the Salvation Army before the whole thing falls in on you. Six inches exactly.
THELMA It's plenty safe! As long as you don't go up there.
JESSIE (Turning to go again.) I'm careful.
THELMA What do you want the gun for, Jess?
JESSIE (Not returning this time. Opening the ladder in the hall.) Protection.
(She steadies the ladder as Mama talks.)
THELMA You take the TV way too serious, hon. I've never seen a criminal in my life. This is way too far to come for what's out here to steal. Never seen a one.
JESSIE (Taking her first step up.) Except for Ricky.
-- 6 --
THELMA Ricky is mixed up. That's not a crime.
JESSIE Get your hands washed. I'll be right back. And get 'em real dry. You dry your hands til I get back or it's no go, all right?
THELMA I thought Dawson told you not to go up those stairs.
JESSIE (Going up.) He did.
THELMA I don't like the idea of a gun, Jess.
JESSIE (Calling down from the attic.) Which shoebox, do you remember?
THELMA Black.
JESSIE The box was black?
THELMA The shoes were black.
JESSIE That doesn't help much, Mother.
THELMA I'm not trying to help, sugar. (No answer.) We don't have anything anybody'd want, Jessie. I mean, I don't even want what we got, Jessie.
JESSIE Neither do I. Wash your hands. (Mama gets up now and crosses to stand under the ladder.)
THELMA You come down from there before you have a fit. I can't come up and get you, you know.
-- 7 --
JESSIE I know.
THELMA We'll just hand it over to 'em when they come, how's that? Whatever they want, the criminals.
JESSIE That's good idea, Mama.
THELMA Ricky will grow out of this and be a real fine boy, Jess. But I have to tell you, I wouldn't want Ricky to know we had a gun in the house.
JESSIE Here it is. I found it.
THELMA It's just something Ricky's going through. Maybe he's in with some bad people. He just needs some time, sugar. He'll get back in school or get a job or one day you'll get a call and he'll say he's sorry for all the trouble he's caused and invite you out for supper someplace dressup.
JESSIE (Coming back down the stairs now.) Don't worry. It's not for him, it's for me.
THELMA I didn't think you would shoot your own boy, Jessie. I know you've felt like it, well, we've all felt like shooting somebody, but we don't do it. I just don't think we need…
JESSIE (Interrupting.) Your hands aren't washed. Do you want a manicure or not?
THELMA Yes I do, but…
JESSIE (Crossing to the chair.) Then wash your hands and don't talk to me any more about Ricky. Those two rings he took were the last valuable things I had so now he's started in on other people, door to door. I hope they put him away sometime. I'd turn him in, myself, if I knew where he was.
-- 8 --
THELMA You don't mean that.
JESSIE Every word. Wash your hands and that's the last time I'm telling you. (Jessie sits down with the gun and starts cleaning it, pushing the cylinder out, checking to see that the chambers and barrel are empty, then putting some oil on a small patch of cloth and pushing it through the barrel with the push rod that was in the box. Mama goes to the kitchen and washes her hands, as instructed, trying not to show her concern about the gun.)
THELMA I shoulda got you to bring down that milk can. Agnes Fletcher sold hers to somebody with a flea market for forty dollars apiece.
JESSIE I'll go back and get it in a minute. There's a wagon wheel up there too. There's even a churn. I'll get it all if you want.
THELMA (Coming over now, taking over now.) What are you doing?
JESSIE The barrel has to be clean, Mama. Old powder, dust gets in it…
THELMA What for?
JESSIE I told you.
THELMA (Reaching for the gun.) And I told you, we don't get criminals out here.
JESSIE (Quickly pulling it to her.) And I told you … (Then trying to be calm.)The gun is for me.
-- 9 --
THELMA Well you can have it if you want. When I die, you'll get it all anyway.
JESSIE I'm going to kill myself, Mama.
THELMA (Returning to the sofa.) Very funny. Very funny.
JESSIE I am.
THELMA (Quickly, irritated.)You are not! Don't even say such a thing, Jessie.
JESSIE How would you know if I didn't say it? You want it to be a surprise? You're lying there in your bed or maybe you're just brushing your teeth and you hear this … noise down the hall?
THELMA Kill yourself.
JESSIE Shoot myself. In a couple of hours.
THELMA It must be time for your medicine.
JESSIE Took it already.
THELMA Then what's the matter with you?
JESSIE Not a thing. Feel fine.
THELMA You feel fine. You're just going to kill yourself.
JESSIE Waited until I felt good enough, in fact.
THELMA Don't make jokes, Jessie. I'm too old for jokes.
-- 10 --
JESSIE It's not a joke, Mama. (Mama watches for a moment in silence.)
THELMA That gun's no good, you know. He broke it right before he died. He dropped it in the mud one day.
JESSIE Seems O. K. (Jessie spins the chamber, cocks the pistol and pulls the trigger. The gun is not yet loaded, so all we hear is the click, but it will definitely work. It's also obvious that Jessie knows her way around a gun. Mama cannot speak.) I had Cecil's all ready in there, just in case I couldn't find this one, but I'd rather use Daddy's.
THELMA Those bullets are at least 15 years old.
JESSIE (Pulls out another box.) These are from last week.
THELMA Where did you get those?
JESSIE Freed store Dawson told me about.
THELMA Dawson!
JESSIE I told him I was worried about prowlers. He said he thought it was a good idea. He told me what kind to ask for.
THELMA If he had any idea …
JESSIE He took it as a compliment. He thought I might be taking an interest in things. He got through telling me all about the bullets and then he said we ought to talk like this more often.
-- 11 --
THELMA And where was I while this was going on?
JESSIE On the phone with Agnes. About the milk can, I guess. Anyway, I asked Dawson if he thought they'd send me some bullets and he said he's just call for me, because he knew they'd send them if he told them to. And he was absolutely right. Here they are.
THELMA How could he do that?
JESSIE Just trying to help, Mama.
THELMA And then I told you where the gun was.
JESSIE (Smiling, enjoying this joke.) See? Everybody's doing what they can.
THELMA You told me it was for protection!
JESSIE It is! I'm still doing your nails, though. Want to try that new Chinaberry color?
THELMA Well, I'm calling Dawson right now. We'll just see what he has to say about this little stunt.
JESSIE Dawson doesn't have any more to do with this.
THELMA He's your brother.
JESSIE And that's all.
THELMA (Stands up, moves toward the phone.) Dawson will put a stop to this. Yes he will. He'll take the gun away.
-- 12 --
JESSIE If you call him, I'll just have to do it before he gets here. Soon as you hang up the phone, I'll just walk in the bedroom and lock the door.
THELMA You will not! This is crazy talk, Jessie!
JESSIE Dawson will get here just in time to help you clean up. Go ahead, call him. Then call the police. Then call the funeral home. Then call Loretta and see if she'll do your nails.
(Mama goes directly to the telephone and starts to dial, but Jessie is fast, coming up behind her and taking the receiver out of her hand, putting it back down. Jessie, firm and quiet.) I said No. This is private. Dawson is not invited.
THELMA Just me.
JESSIE I don't want anybody else over here. Just you and me. If Dawson comes over it'll make me feel stupid for not doing it ten years ago.
THELMA I think we better call the doctor. Or how about the ambulance. You like that one driver. I know. What's his name, Timmy? Get you somebody to talk to.
JESSIE (Going back to her chair.) I'm through talking, Mama. You're it. No more.
THELMA We're just going to sit around like every other night in the world and then you're going to kill yourself? (Jessie doesn't answer.) You'll miss. (Again, there is no response.)You'll just wind up a vegetable. How would you like that? Shoot your car off? You know what the doctor said about getting excited. You'll cock the pistol and have a fit.
-- 13 --
JESSIE I think I can kill myself, Mama.
THELMA You're not goint to kill yourself, Jessie. You're not even upset!
(And Jessie smiles, or laughs quietly, and Mama tries a different approach.) People don't really kill themselves, Jessie. No, Mam, doesn't make sense, unless you're retarded or deranged and you're as normal as they come, Jessie, for the most part. We're all afraid to die.
JESSIE I'm not, Mama. I'm cold all the time anyway.
THELMA That's ridiculous.
JESSIE It's exactly what I want. It's dark and quiet.
THELMA So is the back yard, Jessie! Close your eyes. Stuff cotton in your ears. Take a nap! It's quiet in your room. I'll leave the TV off all night.
JESSIE So quiet I don't know it's quiet. So nobody can get me.
THELMA You don't know what dead is like. It might not be quiet at all. What if it's like an alarm clock and you can't wake up so you can't shut it off. Ever.
JESSIE Dead is everybody and everything I ever knew, gone. Dead is dead quiet.
THELMA It's a sin. You'll go to hell.
JESSIE Uh-huh.
-- 14 --
THELMA You will!
JESSIE Jesus was a suicide, if you ask me.
THELMA You'll go to hell just for saying that. Jessie!
JESSIE (Genuine surprise.) I didn't know I thought that.
THELMA Jessie! (Jessie doesn't answer. She puts the now loaded gun back in the box and crosses to the kitchen. But Mama is afraid she is headed for the bedroom. Mama, in panic.) You can't use my towels! They're my towels. I've had them for a long time. I like my towels.
JESSIE I asked you if you wanted that swimming towel and you said you didn't.
THELMA And you can't use your father's gun either. It's mine now too. And you can't do it in my house.
JESSIE Oh come on.
THELMA No. You can't do it. I won't let you. The house is in my name.
JESSIE I have to go in the bedroom and lock the door behind me so they won't arrest you for killing me. They'll probably test your hands for gunpowder anyway, but you'll pass.
THELMA Not in my house!
JESSIE If I'd known you were going to act like this. I wouldn't have told you.
-- 15 --
THELMA How am I supposed to act? Tell you to go ahead? O. K. by me, sugar. Might try it myself. What took you so long?
JESSIE There's just no point in fighting me over it, that's all. Want some coffee?
THELMA Your birthday's coming up, Jessie. Don't you want to know what we got you?
JESSIE You got me dusting powder, Loretta got me a new housecoat, pink probably and Dawson got me new slippers, too small, but they go with the robe, he'll say.
(Mama cannot speak.) Right?
(Apparently Jessie is right.)Be back in a minute. (Jessie takes the gun box, puts it on top of the stack of towels and garbage bags and takes them into her bedroom. Mama, alone for a moment, goes to the phone, picks up the receiver, looks toward the bedroom, starts to dial and then replaces the receiver in its cradle as Jessie walks back into the room. Jessie wonders, silently. They have lived together for so long, there is very rarely any reason for one to ask what the other was about to do.)
THELMA I started to, but I didn't. I didn't call him.
JESSIE Good. Thank you.
THELMA (Starting over, a new approach.) What's this all about, Jessie?
-- 16 --
JESSIE About? (Jessie now begins the next task she had "on the schedule, "which is refilling all the candy jars, taking the empty papers out of the boxes of chocolates, etc. Mama generally snitches when Jessie does this. Not tonight, though. Nevertheless, Jessie offers.)
THELMA What did I do?
JESSIE Nothing. Want a caramel?
THELMA (Ignoring the candy.) You're mad at me.
JESSIE Not a bit. I am worried about you, but I'm going to do what I can before I go. We're not just going to sit around tonight. I made a list of things.
THELMA What things?
JESSIE How the washer works. Things like that.
THELMA Did you grow up wearing dirty clothes?
JESSIE No.
THELMA I know how the washer works. You put the clothes in. You put the soap in. You trun it on. You wait.
JESSIE You do something else. You don't just wait.
THELMA Whatever else you find to do you're still mainly waiting. The waiting's the worst part of it. The waiting's what you pay somebody else to do, if you can.
-- 17 --
JESSIE (Nodding.) O. K. Where do we keep the soap?
THELMA I could find it.
JESSIE See?
THELMA If you're mad about doing the wash, we can get Loretta to do it.
JESSIE Oh now, that might be worth staying to see.
THELMA She'd never in her life, would she?
JESSIE Nope.
THELMA What's the matter with her?
JESSIE She thinks she's better than we are. She's not.
THELMA Maybe if she didn't wear that yellow all the time.
JESSIE The washer repair number is on a little card taped to the side of the machine.
THELMA Loretta doesn't ever have to come over here again. Dawson can just leave her at home when he comes. And we won't ever see Dawson either if he bothers you. Does he bother you?
JESSIE Sure he does. Be sure you clean out the lint tray every time you use the dryer. But don't ever put your house shoes in, it'll melt the soles.
THELMA What does Dawson do, that bothers you?
-- 18 --
JESSIE He just calls me Jess like he knows who he's talking to. He's always wondering what I do all day. I mean, I wonder that myself, but it's my day, so it's mine to wonder about, not his.
THELMA Family is just accident, Jessie. It's nothing personal, hon. They don't mean to get on your nerves. They don't even mean to be your family, they just are.
JESSIE They know too much.
THELMA About what?
JESSIE They know things about you, and they learned it before you had a chance to say whether you wanted them to know it or not. They were there when it happened and it don't belong to them, it belongs to you, only they got it. Like my mail order bra got delivered to their house.
THELMA By accident!
JESSIE All the same … they opened it. They saw the little rosebuds on it.
(Offering her another candy.) Chewy mint?
THELMA (Shaking her head no.) What do they know about you? I'll tell them never to talk about it again. Is it Ricky or Cecil or your fits or your hair is falling out or you drink too much coffee or you never go out of the house or what?
JESSIE I just don't like their talk. The account at the grocery is in Dawson's name when you call. The number's on a whole list of numbers on the back cover of the phone book.
-- 19 --
THELMA Well! Now we're getting somewhere. They're none of them ever setting foot in this house again.
JESSIE It's not them. Mother. I wouldn't kill myself just to get away from them.
THELMA You leave the room when they come over, anyway.
JESSIE I stay as long as I can. Besides, it's you they come to see.
THELMA That's because I stay in the room when they come.
JESSIE It's not them.
THELMA Then what is it?
JESSIE (Checking the list on her notepad.) The grocery won't deliver on Saturday any more. And if you want your order the same day, you have to call before 10. And they won't deliver less than 15 dollars worth. What I do is tell them what we need and tell them to add on cigarettes until it gets to 15 dollars.
THELMA It's Ricky. You're trying to get through to him.
JESSIE If I thought I could do that, I would stay.
THELMA Make him sorry he hurt you, then. That's it, isn't it?
JESSIE He's hurt me, I've hurt him. We're about even.
THELMA You'll be telling him killing is O. K. with you, you know. Want him to start killing next? Nothing wrong with it. Mom did it.
-- 20 --
JESSIE Only a matter of time anyway, Mama. When the call comes, you let Dawson handle it.
THELMA Honey, nothing says those calls are always going to be some new trouble he's into. You could get one that he's got a job, that he's getting married, or how about he's joined the army, wouldn't that be nice?
JESSIE If you call The Sweet Tooth before you call the grocery, that Susie will take your fudge next door to the grocery and it'll all come out together. Be sure you talk to Susie, though. She won't let them put it in the bottom of a sack like that one time, remember?
THELMA Ricky could come over, you know. What if he calls us?
JESSIE It's not Ricky, Mama.
THELMA Or anybody could call us, Jessie.
JESSIE Not on Saturday night, Mama.
THELMA Then what is it? Are you sick? If your gums are swelling again, we can get you to the dentist in the morning.
JESSIE No. Can you order your medicine or do you want Dawson to? I've got a note to him. I'll add that to it if you want.
THELMA Your eyes don't look right. I thought so yesterday.
JESSIE That was just the ragweed. I'm not sick.
-- 21 --
THELMA Epilepsy is sick, Jessie.
JESSIE It won't kill me. (A pause.) If it would. I wouldn't have to.
THELMA You don't have to.
JESSIE No, I don't. That's what I like about it.
THELMA Well I won't let you!
JESSIE It's not up to you.
THELMA Jessie!
JESSIE I want to hang a big sign around my neck, like Daddy's on the barn. Gone Fishing.
THELMA You don't like it here.
JESSIE (Smiles.) Exactly.
THELMA I meant here in my house.
JESSIE I know you did.
THELMA You never should have moved back in here with me. If you'd kept your little house or found another place when Cecil left you, you'd have made some new friends at least. Had a life to lead. Had your own things around you. Give Ricky a place to come see you. You never should've come here.
JESSIE Maybe.
THELMA But I didn't force you, did I?
-- 22 --
JESSIE If it was a mistake, we made it together. You took me in. I appreciate that.
THELMA You didn't have any business being by yourself right then, but I can see how you might want a place of your own. You could be as close or as far away as you wanted. A grown woman should… .
JESSIE Mama … I'm just not having a very good time and I don't have any reason to think it'll get anything but worse. I'm tired. I'm hurt. I'm sad. I feel used.
THELMA Tired of what?
JESSIE It all.
THELMA What does that mean?
JESSIE I can't say it any better.
THELMA Well, you'll have to say it better because I'm not letting you alone til you do. What were those other things. Hurt … (Before Jessie can answer.) You had this all ready to say to me, didn't you? Did you write this down? How long have you been thinking about this?
JESSIE Off and on, ten years. On all the time, since Christmas.
THELMA What happened at Christmas?
JESSIE Nothing.
THELMA So why Christmas?
-- 23 --
JESSIE That's it. On the nose. (A pause. Mama knows exactly what Jessie means. She was there, too, after all, Jessie, putting the candy sacks away.) See where all this is? red hots up front, sour balls and horehound mixed together in this one sack. New packages of toffee and licorice right in back there.
THELMA Go back to your list. You're hurt by what?
JESSIE (Mama knows perfectly well.) Mama …
THELMA O. K. Sad about what? There's nothing real sad going on right now. If it was after your divorce or something, that would make sense.
JESSIE (Looks at her list, them opens the drawer.) Now, this drawer has everything in it that there's no better place for. Extension cords, batteries for the radio, extra lighters, sand paper, masking tape, Elmer's glue, thumbtacks, that kind of stuff. The mousetraps are under the sink, but you call Dawson if you've got one and let him do it.
THELMA Sad about what?
JESSIE The way things are.
THELMA Not good enough. What things?
JESSIE Oh, everything from you and me to Red China.
-- 24 --
THELMA I think we can leave the Chinese out of this.
JESSIE (Crosses back into the living room.) There's extra lightbulbs in a box in the hall closet. And we've got a couple of packages of fuses in the fuse box. There's candles and matches in the top of the broom closet, but if the lights go out, just call Dawson and sit tight. But don't open the refrigerator door. Things will stay cool in there as long as you keep the door shut.
THELMA I asked you a question.
JESSIE I read the paper. I don't like how things are. And they're not any better out there than they are in here.
THELMA If you're doing this because of the newspapers, I can sure fix that!
JESSIE There's just more of it on TV.
THELMA (Kicks the television.) Take it out then!
JESSIE You wouldn't do that.
THELMA Watch me.
JESSIE What would you do all day?
THELMA (Desperate.) Sing. (Jessie laughs.)I would too. You want to watch? I'll sing til morning to keep you alive, Jessie, please!
-- 25 --
JESSIE No (Then affectionately.) It's a funny idea, though. What do you sing?
THELMA (Has no idea how to answer this.) We've got a good life here!
JESSIE (Going back into the kitchen.) I called this morning and cancelled the papers, except for Sunday, for your puzzles, you'll still get that one.
THELMA Let's get another dog, Jessie! You liked a big dog, didn't you, that King dog, didn't you?
JESSIE (Washing her hands.) I did like that King dog, yes.
THELMA I'm so dumb. He's the one run under the tractor.
JESSIE That makes him dumb, not you.
THELMA For bringing it up.
JESSIE It's O. K. Handi-wipes and sponges under the sink.
THELMA We could get a new dog and keep him in the house. Dogs are cheap!
JESSIE (Now getting big pill jars out of the cabinet.) No.
THELMA Something for you to take care of.
JESSIE I've had you, Mama.
-- 26 --
THELMA (Frantically starts filling pill bottles.) You do too much for me. I can fill pill bottles all day, Jessie, and change the shelf-paper and wash the floor when I get through. You just watch me. You don't have to do another thing in this house if you don't want to. You don't have to take care of me, Jessie.
JESSIE I know that. You've just been letting me do it so I'll have something to do, haven't you?
THELMA (Realizing this was a mistake.) I don't do it as well as you, I just meant if it tires you out or makes you feel used …
JESSIE Mama, I know you used to ride the bus. Riding the bus and it's hot and bumpy and crowded and too noisy and more than anything in the world you want to get off and the only reason in the world you don't get off is it's still 50 blocks from where you're going? Well, I can get off right now if I want to, because even if I ride 50 more years and get off then, it's the same place when I step down to it. Whenever I feel like it, I can get off. As soon as I've had enough, it's my stop. I've had enough.
THELMA You're feeling sorry for yourself!
JESSIE The plumber's helper is under the sink, too.
THELMA You're not having a good time! Whoever promised you a good time? Do you think I've had a good time?
-- 27 --
JESSIE I think you're pretty happy, yeah. You have things you like to do.
THELMA Like what?
JESSIE Like crochet.
THELMA I'll teach you to crochet.
JESSIE I can't do any of that nice work, Mama.
THELMA Good time don't come looking for you, Jessie. You could work some puzzles or put in a garden or go to the store. Let's call a taxi and go to the A & P.
JESSIE I shopped you up for about two weeks already. You're not going to need toilet paper til Thanksgiving.
THELMA (Interrupting.) You're acting like some little brat, Jessie. You're mad and everybody's boring and you don't have anything to do and you don't like me and you don't like going out and you don't like staying in and you never talk on the phone and you don't watch TV and you're miserable and it's your own sweet fault.
JESSIE And it's time I did something about it.
THELMA Not something like killing yourself. Something like … buying us all new dishes! I'd like that. Or maybe the doctor would let you get a driver's license now, or I know what let's do right this minute, let's rearrange the furniture
-- 28 --
JESSIE I'll do that. If you want. I always thought if the TV was somewhere else, you wouldn't get such a glare on it during the day. I'll do whatever you want before I go.
THELMA (Badly frightened by those words.) You could get a job!
JESSIE I took that telephone sales job and I didn't even make enough money to pay the phone bill, and I tried to work at the gift shop at the hospital and they said I made people real uncomfortable smiling at them the way I did.
THELMA You could keep books. You kept your Dad's books.
JESSIE But nobody ever checked them.
THELMA When he died, they checked them.
JESSIE And that's when they took the books away from me.
THELMA That's because without him there wasn't any business, Jessie!
JESSIE (Puts the pill bottles away now.) You know I couldn't work. I can't do anything. I've never been around people my whole life except when I went to the hospital. I could have a seizure any time. What good would a job do? The kind of job I could get would make me feel worse.
THELMA Jessie!
-- 29 --
JESSIE It's true!
THELMA It's what you think is true!
JESSIE (Struck by the clarity of that.) That's right. It's what I think is true.
THELMA (Hysterical.) But I can't do anything about that!
JESSIE (Quietly.) No. You can't. (Mama slumps, if not physically, at least emotionally.)
And I can't do anything either, about my life, to change it, make it better, make me feel better about it. Like it better, make it work. But I can stop it. Shut it down, turn it off like the radio when there's nothing on I want to listen to. It's all I really have that belongs to me and I'm going to say what happens to it. And it's going to stop. And I'm going to stop it. So. Let's just have a good time.
THELMA Have a good time.
JESSIE We can't go on fussing all night. I mean, I could ask you things I always wanted to know and you could make me some hot chocolate. The old way.
THELMA (In despair.) It takes cocoa, Jessie.
JESSIE (Gets it out of the cabinet.) I bought cocoa, Mama. And I'd like to have a caramel apple and do your nails.
-- 30 --
THELMA You didn't eat a bite of supper.
JESSIE Does that mean I can't have a caramel apple?
THELMA Of course not. I mean, (Smiling a little.) of course you can have a caramel apple.
JESSIE I thought I could.
THELMA I make the best caramel apples in the world.
JESSIE I know you do.
THELMA Or used to. And you don't get cocoa like mine anywhere any more.
JESSIE It takes time, I know, but …
THELMA The salt is the trick.
JESSIE Trouble and everything.
THELMA (Backing away toward the stove.) It's no trouble. What trouble? You put it in the pan and stir it up. All right. Fine. Caramel apples. Cocoa. O. K.
(Jessie walks to the counter to retrieve her cigarettes as Mama looks for the right pan. There are brief near smiles and maybe Mama clears her throat. We have a truce, for the moment. A genuine, but nevertheless uneasy one. Jessie, who has been in constant motion since the beginning, now seems content to sit. Mama starts looking for a pan to make the cocoa, getting out all the pans in the cabinets in the process. It looks like she's making a mess on purpose so Jessie will have to put them all away again. Mama is buying time, or trying to, and entertaining.)
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