Death of a Salesman (6 page)

BIFF: Yeah, but you just said—

HAPPY: I gotta show some of those pompous, self-important executives over there that Hap Loman can make the grade. I want to walk into the store the way he walks in. Then I’ll go with you, Biff. We’ll be together yet, I swear. But take those two we had tonight. Now weren’t they gorgeous creatures?

BIFF: Yeah, yeah, most gorgeous I’ve had in years.

HAPPY: I get that any time I want, Biff. Whenever I feel disgusted. The only trouble is, it gets like bowling or something. I just keep knockin’ them over and it doesn’t mean anything. You still run around a lot?

BIFF: Naa. I’d like to find a girl—steady, somebody with substance.

HAPPY: That’s what I long for.

BIFF: Go on! You’d never come home.

HAPPY: I would! Somebody with character, with resistance! Like Mom, y’know? You’re gonna call me a bastard when I tell you this. That girl Charlotte I was with tonight is engaged to be married in five weeks. [
He tries on his new hat.
]

BIFF: No kiddin’!

HAPPY: Sure, the guy’s in line for the vice-presidency of the store. I don’t know what gets into me, maybe I just have an overdeveloped sense of competition or something, but I went and ruined her, and furthermore I can’t get rid of her. And he’s the third executive I’ve done that to. Isn’t that a crummy characteristic? And to top it all, I go to their weddings! [
Indignantly, but laughing
] Like I’m not supposed to take bribes. Manufacturers offer me a hundred-dollar bill now and then to throw an order their way. You know how honest I am, but it’s like this girl, see. I hate myself for it. Because I don’t want the girl, and, still, I take it and—I love it!

BIFF: Let’s go to sleep.

HAPPY: I guess we didn’t settle anything, heh?

BIFF: I just got one idea that I think I’m going to try.

HAPPY: What’s that?

BIFF: Remember Bill Oliver?

HAPPY: Sure, Oliver is very big now. You want to work for him again?

BIFF: No, but when I quit he said something to me. He put his arm on my shoulder, and he said, “Biff, if you ever need anything, come to me.”

HAPPY: I remember that. That sounds good.

BIFF: I think I’ll go to see him. If I could get ten thousand or even seven or eight thousand dollars I could buy a beautiful ranch.

HAPPY: I bet he’d back you. ’Cause he thought highly of you, Biff. I mean, they all do. You’re well liked, Biff. That’s why I say to come back here, and we both have the apartment. And I’m tellin’ you, Biff, any babe you want . . .

BIFF: No, with a ranch I could do the work I like and still be something. I just wonder though. I wonder if Oliver still thinks I stole that carton of basketballs.

HAPPY: Oh, he probably forgot that long ago. It’s almost ten years. You’re too sensitive. Anyway, he didn’t really fire you.

BIFF: Well, I think he was going to. I think that’s why I quit. I was never sure whether he knew or not. I know he thought the world of me, though. I was the only one he’d let lock up the place.

WILLY [
below
]: You gonna wash the engine, Biff?

HAPPY: Shh!

HAPPY: You hear that?

[
They listen.
WILLY
laughs warmly.
]

BIFF [
growing angry
]: Doesn’t he know Mom can hear that?

WILLY: Don’t get your sweater dirty, Biff!

[
A look of pain crosses
BIFF’S
face.
]

HAPPY: Isn’t that terrible? Don’t leave again, will you? You’ll find a job here. You gotta stick around. I don’t know what to do about him, it’s getting embarrassing.

WILLY: What a simonizing job!

BIFF: Mom’s hearing that!

WILLY: No kiddin’, Biff, you got a date? Wonderful!

HAPPY: Go on to sleep. But talk to him in the morning, will you?

BIFF [
reluctantly getting into bed
]: With her in the house. Brother!

HAPPY [
getting into bed
]: I wish you’d have a good talk with him.

[
The light on their room begins to fade.
]

BIFF [
to himself in bed
]: That selfish, stupid . . .

HAPPY: Sh . . . Sleep, Biff.

WILLY: Just wanna be careful with those girls, Biff, that’s all. Don’t make any promises. No promises of any kind. Because a girl, y’know, they always believe what you tell ’em, and you’re very young, Biff, you’re too young to be talking seriously to girls.

WILLY: Too young entirely, Biff. You want to watch your schooling first. Then when you’re all set, there’ll be plenty of girls for a boy like you. [
He smiles broadly at a kitchen chair.
] That so? The girls pay for you? [
He laughs.
] Boy, you must really be makin’ a hit.

WILLY: I been wondering why you polish the car so careful. Ha! Don’t leave the hubcaps, boys. Get the chamois to the hubcaps. Happy, use newspaper on the windows, it’s the easiest thing. Show him how to do it, Biff! You see, Happy? Pad it up, use it like a pad. That’s it, that’s it, good work. You’re doin’ all right, Hap. [
He pauses, then nods in approbation for a few seconds, then looks upward.
] Biff, first thing we gotta do when we get time is clip that big branch over the house. Afraid it’s gonna fall in a storm and hit the roof. Tell you what. We get a rope and sling her around, and then we climb up there with a couple of saws and take her down. Soon as you finish the car, boys, I wanna see ya. I got a surprise for you, boys.

BIFF [
offstage
]: Whatta ya got, Dad?

WILLY: No, you finish first. Never leave a job till you’re finished—remember that. [
Looking toward the “big trees”
] Biff, up in Albany I saw a beautiful hammock. I think I’ll buy it next trip, and we’ll hang it right between those two elms. Wouldn’t that be something? Just swingin’ there under those branches. Boy, that would be . . .

BIFF [
pointing in the direction of the car offstage
]: How’s that, Pop, professional?

WILLY: Terrific. Terrific job, boys. Good work, Biff.

HAPPY: Where’s the surprise, Pop?

WILLY: In the back seat of the car.

HAPPY: Boy! [
He runs off.
]

BIFF: What is it, Dad? Tell me, what’d you buy?

WILLY [
laughing, cuffs him
]: Never mind, something I want you to have.

BIFF [
turns and starts off
]: What is it, Hap?

HAPPY [
offstage
]: It’s a punching bag!

BIFF: Oh, Pop!

WILLY: It’s got Gene Tunney’s signature on it!

[HAPPY
runs onstage with a punching bag.
]

BIFF: Gee, how’d you know we wanted a punching bag?

WILLY: Well, it’s the finest thing for the timing.

HAPPY [
lies down on his back and pedals with his feet
]: I’m losing weight, you notice, Pop?

WILLY [
to
HAPPY]: Jumping rope is good too.

BIFF: Did you see the new football I got?

WILLY [
examining the ball
]: Where’d you get a new ball?

BIFF: The coach told me to practice my passing.

WILLY: That so? And he gave you the ball, heh?

BIFF: Well, I borrowed it from the locker room. [
He laughs confidentially.
]

WILLY [
laughing with him at the theft
]: I want you to return that.

HAPPY: I told you he wouldn’t like it!

BIFF [
angrily
]: Well, I’m bringing it back!

WILLY [
stopping the incipient argument, to
HAPPY]: Sure, he’s gotta practice with a regulation ball, doesn’t he? [
To
BIFF] Coach’ll probably congratulate you on your initiative!

BIFF: Oh, he keeps congratulating my initiative all the time, Pop.

WILLY: That’s because he likes you. If somebody else took that ball there’d be an uproar. So what’s the report, boys, what’s the report?

BIFF: Where’d you go this time, Dad? Gee, we were lonesome for you.

WILLY [
pleased, puts an arm around each boy and they come down to the apron
]: Lonesome, heh?

BIFF: Missed you every minute.

WILLY: Don’t say? Tell you a secret, boys. Don’t breathe it to a soul. Someday I’ll have my own business, and I’ll never have to leave home any more.

HAPPY: Like Uncle Charley, heh?

WILLY: Bigger than Uncle Charley! Because Charley is not—liked. He’s liked, but he’s not—well liked.

BIFF: Where’d you go this time, Dad?

WILLY: Well, I got on the road, and I went north to Providence. Met the Mayor.

BIFF: The Mayor of Providence!

WILLY: He was sitting in the hotel lobby.

BIFF: What’d he say?

WILLY: He said, “Morning!” And I said, “You got a fine city here, Mayor.” And then he had coffee with me. And then I went to Waterbury. Waterbury is a fine city. Big clock city, the famous Waterbury clock. Sold a nice bill there. And then Boston—Boston is the cradle of the Revolution. A fine city. And a couple of other towns in Mass., and on to Portland and Bangor and straight home!

BIFF: Gee, I’d love to go with you sometime, Dad.

WILLY: Soon as summer comes.

HAPPY: Promise?

WILLY: You and Hap and I, and I’ll show you all the towns. America is full of beautiful towns and fine, upstanding people. And they know me, boys, they know me up and down New England. The finest people. And when I bring you fellas up, there’ll be open sesame for all of us, ’cause one thing, boys: I have friends. I can park my car in any street in New England, and the cops protect it like their own. This summer, heh?

BIFF and HAPPY [
together
]: Yeah! You bet!

WILLY: We’ll take our bathing suits.

HAPPY: We’ll carry your bags, Pop!

WILLY: Oh, won’t that be something! Me comin’ into the Boston stores with you boys carryin’ my bags. What a sensation!

[BIFF
is prancing around, practicing passing the ball.
]

WILLY: You nervous, Biff, about the game?

BIFF: Not if you’re gonna be there.

WILLY: What do they say about you in school, now that they made you captain?

HAPPY: There’s a crowd of girls behind him every time the classes change.

BIFF [
taking
WILLY’S
hand
]: This Saturday, Pop, this Saturday—just for you, I’m going to break through for a touchdown.

HAPPY: You’re supposed to pass.

BIFF: I’m takin’ one play for Pop. You watch me, Pop, and when I take off my helmet, that means I’m breakin’ out. Then you watch me crash through that line!

WILLY [
kisses
BIFF]: Oh, wait’ll I tell this in Boston!

BERNARD: Biff, where are you? You’re supposed to study with me today.

WILLY: Hey, looka Bernard. What’re you lookin’ so anemic about, Bernard?

BERNARD: He’s gotta study, Uncle Willy. He’s got Regents next week.

HAPPY [
tauntingly, spinning
BERNARD
around
]: Let’s box, Bernard!

BERNARD: Biff ! [
He gets away from
HAPPY.] Listen, Biff, I heard Mr. Birnbaum say that if you don’t start studyin’ math he’s gonna flunk you, and you won’t graduate. I heard him!

WILLY: You better study with him, Biff. Go ahead now.

BERNARD: I heard him!

BIFF: Oh, Pop, you didn’t see my sneakers! [
He holds up a foot for
WILLY
to look at.
]

WILLY: Hey, that’s a beautiful job of printing!

BERNARD [
wiping his glasses
]: Just because he printed University of Virginia on his sneakers doesn’t mean they’ve got to graduate him, Uncle Willy!

WILLY [
angrily
]: What’re you talking about? With scholarships to three universities they’re gonna flunk him?

BERNARD: But I heard Mr. Birnbaum say—

WILLY: Don’t be a pest, Bernard! [
To his boys
] What an anemic!

BERNARD: Okay, I’m waiting for you in my house, Biff.

[BERNARD
goes off. The
LOMANS
laugh.
]

WILLY: Bernard is not well liked, is he?

BIFF: He’s liked, but he’s not well liked.

HAPPY: That’s right, Pop.

WILLY: That’s just what I mean, Bernard can get the best marks in school, y’understand, but when he gets out in the business world, y’understand, you are going to be five times ahead of him. That’s why I thank Almighty God you’re both built like Adonises. Because the man who makes an appearance in the business world, the man who creates personal interest, is the man who gets ahead. Be liked and you will never want. You take me, for instance. I never have to wait in line to see a buyer. “Willy Loman is here!” That’s all they have to know, and I go right through.