Broken Glass (7 page)

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Authors: Arthur Miller

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GELLSURG: I don't know; I'm not sure what they do, though.
 
HYMAN
: I know a very good man at the hospital, if you want me to set it up.
GELLBURG: Well maybe not yet, let me let you know.
 
HYMAN: Sure.
 
 
GELLBURG: Your wife says I sigh a lot. Does that mean something?
 
HYM
A
N
: Could just be tension. Come in when you have a little time, I'll look you over.... Am I wrong?—you sound like something's happened...
 
GELLBURG : This whole thing is against me ...
Attempting a knowing grin.
But you know that.
 
HYMAN: Now wait a minute...
 
 
GELLBURG: She knows what she's doing, you're not blind.
 
HYMAN: What happened, why are you saying this?
 
GELLBURG: I was late last night—I had to be in Jersey all afternoon, a problem we have there—she was sound asleep. So I made myself some spaghetti. Usually she puts something out for me.
 
HYMAN
: She has no problem cooking.
 
GELLBURG: I told you—she gets around the kitchen fine in the wheelchair. Flora shops in the morning—that's the maid. Although I'm beginning to wonder if Sylvia gets out and walks around when I leave the house.
HYMAN: It's impossible.-She is paralyzed, Phillip, it's not a trick—she's suffering.
 
GELLBURG,
a sideways glance at Hyman:
What do you discuss with her?—You know, she talks like you see right through her.
 
HYMAN,
a laugh:
I wish I could! We talk about getting her to walk, that's all. This thing is not against you, Phillip, believe me. Slight
laugh.—
I wish you could trust me, kid!
 
GELLBURG,
seems momentarily on the edge of being reassured and studies Hyman's face for a moment, nodding very slightly: I
would never believe I could talk this way to another person. I do trust you.
 
Pause.
 
 
HYMAN: Good!—I'm listening, go ahead.
 
GELLBURG: The first time we talked you asked me if we ... how many times a week.
 
HYMAN: Yes.
 
 
GELLBURG,
nods:
... I have a problem sometimes.
 
HYMAN
: Oh.—Well that's fairly common, you know.
 
GELLBURG,
relieved:
You see it often?
HYMAN: Oh very often, yes.
 
GELLBURG,
a tense challenging smile :
Ever happen to you?
 
HYMAN
,
surprised:
... Me? Well sure, a few times. Is this something recent?
 
GELLBURG: Well ... yes. Recent and also ...
breaks off, indicating the past with a gesture of his hand.
 
HYMAN: I see. It doesn't help if you're under tension, you know.
 
 
GELLBURG: Yes, I was wondering that.
 
HYMAN: Just don't start thinking it's the end of the world because it's not—you're still a young man. Think of it like the ocean-it goes out but it always comes in again. But the thing to keep in mind is that she loves you and wants you.
 
Gellburg looks wide-eyed.
 
You know that, don't you?
 
GELLBURG,
silently nods for an instant:
My sister-in-law Harriet says you were a real hotshot on the beach years ago.
 
HYMAN: Years ago,
yes.
GELLBURG: I used to wonder if it's because Sylvia's the only one I was ever with.
 
 
HYMAN: Why would that matter?
 
GELLBURG: I don't know exactly—it used to prey on my mind that ... maybe she expected more.
 
HYMAN
: Yes. Well that's a common idea, you know. In fact, some men take on a lot of women not out of confidence 
but because they're afraid to lose it.
 
GELLBURG,
fascinated:
Huh! I'd never of thought of that. —A doctor must get a lot of peculiar cases, I bet.
 
HYMAN,
urith utter intimacy:
Everybody's peculiar in one way or another but I'm not here to judge people. Why don't you try to tell me what happened?
His grin; making light
of it. Come on, give it a shot.
 
GELLBURG : All right...
Sighs.
I get into bed. She's sound asleep ...
Breaks off. Resumes; something transcendent seems to enter him.
Nothing like it ever happened to me, I got a ... a big yen for her. She's even more beautiful when she sleeps. I gave her a kiss. On the mouth. She didn't wake up. I never had such a yen in my life.
 
Long pause.
 
HYMAN: And?
Gellburg silent.
 
Did you make love?
 
GELLBURG,
an incongruous look of terror, he becomes rigid as though about to decide whether to dive into icy water or flee:
... Yes.
 
HYMAN,
a quickening, something tentative in Gellburg mystifies:
How did she react? -It's been some time since you did it, you say.
 
G
ELL
B
U
RG: Well yes.
 
HYMAN: Then what was the reaction?
 
 
GELLBURG: She was ...
Searches for the word.
Gasping. It was really something. I thought of what you told me—about loving her now; I felt I'd brought her out of it. I was almost sure of it. She was like a different woman than I ever knew.
 
 
HYMAN: That's wonderful. Did she move her legs?
 
GELLBURG,
unprepared for that question:
... I think so.
 
HYMAN: Well did she or didn't she?
 
 
GELLBURG: Well I was so excited I didn't really notice, but I guess she must have.
HYMAN: That's wonderful, why are you so upset?
 
GELLBURG: Well let me finish, there's more to it.
 
HYMAN
: Sorry, go ahead.
 
GELLBURG:—I brought her some breakfast this morning and—you know-started to—you know-talk a little about it. She looked at me like I was crazy. She claims she doesn't remember doing it. It never happened.
 
Hyman is silent, plays with a pen. Something evasive in this.
 
How could she not remember it?
 
HYMAN: You're sure she was awake?
 
 
GELLBURG : How could she not be?
 
HYMAN: Did she say anything during the ... ?
 
GELLBURG: Well no, but she's never said much.
 
HYMAN: Did she open her eyes?
 
GELLBURG: I'm not sure. We were in the dark, but she usually keeps them closed.
Impatiently:
But she was ... she was groaning, panting ... she had to be awake! And now to say she doesn't remember?
Shaken, Hyman gets up and moves; a pause.
 
HYMAN
: So what do you think is behind it?
 
GELLBURG: Well what would any man think? She's trying to turn me into nothing!
 
HYMAN: Now wait, you're jumping to conclusions.
 
GELLBURG: Is such a thing possible? I want your medical opinion-could a woman not remember?
 
HYMAN,
a moment, then: ...
How did she look when she said that; did she seem sincere about not remembering?
 
GELLBURG: She looked like I was talking about something on the moon. Finally, she said a terrible thing. I still can't get over it.
 
HYMAN: What'd she say?
 
GELLBURG : That I'd imagined doing it.
 
Long pause. Hyman doesn't move.
 
What's your opinion? Well ... could a man imagine such a thing? Is that possible?
 
HYMAN,
after a moment:
Tell you what; supposing I have another talk with her and see what I can figure out?
GELLBURG,
angrily demanding:
You have an opinion, don't you?—How could a man imagine such a thing!
 
HYMAN: I don't know what to say ...
 
GELLBURG: What do you mean you don't know what to say! It's impossible, isn't it? To invent such a thing?
 
HYMAN,
fear of being out of his depth:
Phillip, don't cross-examine me, I'm doing everythig I know to help you! —Frankly, I can't follow what you're telling me—you're sure in your own mind you had relations with her?
 
GELLBURG: How can you even ask me such a thing? Would I say it unless I was sure?
Stands shaking with fear and anger.
I don't understand your attitude! He starts out.
 
HYMAN: Phillip, please!
In fear he intercepts Gellburg.
What attitude, what are you talking about?
 
GELLBURG: I'm going to vomit, I swear—I don't feel well ...
 
HYMAN: What happened ... has she said something about me?
 
GELLBURG: About you? What do you mean? What could she say?
 
HYMAN: I don't understand why you're so upset with me!
GELLBURG: What are you doing!
 
HYMAN,
guiltily:
What am
I
doing! What are you talking about!
 
 
GELLBURG: She is trying to destroy me! And you stand there! And what do you do! Are you a doctor or what!
He goes right up to Hyman'sface.
Why don't you give me a straight answer about anything! Everything is in-and-out and around-the-block!—Listen, I've made up my mind; I don't want you seeing her anymore.
 
HYMAN: I think she's the one has to decide that.
 
GELLBURG: I am deciding it! It's decided!
 
He storms out. Hyman stands there, guilty, alarmed. Margaret enters.
 
MARGARET: Now what?
Seeing his anxiety:
Why are you looking like that?
 
He evasively returns to his desk chair.
 
Are
you
in trouble?
 
HYMAN: Me! Cut it out, will you?
 
MARGARET: Cut what out? I asked a question-are you?
 
HYMAN: I said to cut it out, Margaret!
MARGARET: You don't realize how transparent you are. You're a pane of glass, Harry.
 
HYMAN
,
laughs:
Nothing's happened.
Nothing has happened!
Why are you going on about it!
 
MARGARET: I will never understand it. Except I do, I guess; you believe women. Woman tells you the earth is flat and for that five minutes you're swept away, helpless.
 
HYMAN
: You know what baffles me?
 
MARGARET: ... And it's irritating.—What is it—just new ass all the time?
 
H
YMA
N
: There's been nobody for at least ten or twelve years ... more! I can't remember anymore! You know that!
 
MARGARET: What baffles you?
 
HYMAN: Why I take your suspicions seriously.
 
MARGARET: Oh that's easy.—You love the truth, Harry.
 
HYMAN,
a deep sigh, facing upward:
I'm exhausted.
 
MARGARET: What about asking Charley Whitman to see her?
 
HYMAN: She's frightened to death of psychiatry, she thinks it means she's crazy.
MARGARET: Well, she is, in a way, isn't she?
 
HYMAN: I don't see it that way at all.
 
MARGARET: Getting this hysterical about something on the other side of the world is sane?
 
HYMAN: When she talks about it, it's not the other side of the world it's on the next block.
 
MARGARET: And that's sane?
 
HYMAN: I don't know what it is! I just get the feeling sometimes that she
knows
something, something that ... It's like she's connected to some ... some wire that goes half around the world, some truth that other people are blind to.
 
MARGARET: I think you've got to get somebody on this who won't be carried away, Harry.
 
HYMAN: I am not carried away!
 
MARGARET: You really believe that Sylvia Gellburg is being threatened by these Nazis? Is that real or is it hysterical?
 
HYMAN: So call it hysterical, does that bring you one inch closer to what is driving that woman? It's not a word that's driving her, Margaret—she
knows
something! I don't know what it is, and she may not either-but I tell you it's real.
A moment.
 
 
MARGARET: What an interesting life you have, Harry.
 
Blackout.
 
Intermission.
Act Two
SCENE ONE
The cellist plays, music fades away.
 
Stanton Case is standing with hands clasped behind his back as though staring out a window. A dark mood. Gellburg enters behind him but he doesn't turn at once.
 
 
GELLBURG: Excuse me ...
 
 
CASE,
turns:
Oh, good morning. You wanted to see me.
 
GELLBURG: If you have a minute I'd appreciate...
 
CASE,
as he sits:
-You don't look well, are you all right?
 
GELLBURG: Oh I'm fine, maybe a cold coming on ...
 
Since he hasn't been invited to sit he glances at a chair then back at Case, who still leaves him hanging-and he sits on the chair's edge.
 
I wanted you to know how bad I feel about 611 Broadway. I'm very sorry.
CASE: Yes. Well. So it goes, I guess.
 
GELLBURG: I know how you had your heart set on it and I ... I tell you the news knocked me over; they gave no sign they were talking to Allan Kershowitz or anybody else...

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