Death of a Salesman (8 page)

WILLY [
hesitantly
]: All right. You got cards?

CHARLEY [
taking a deck from his pocket
]: Yeah, I got them. Someplace. What is it with those vitamins?

WILLY [
dealing
]: They build up your bones. Chemistry.

CHARLEY: Yeah, but there’s no bones in a heartburn.

WILLY: What are you talkin’ about? Do you know the first thing about it?

CHARLEY: Don’t get insulted.

WILLY: Don’t talk about something you don’t know anything about.

[
They are playing. Pause.
]

CHARLEY: What’re you doin’ home?

WILLY: A little trouble with the car.

CHARLEY: Oh. [
Pause.
] I’d like to take a trip to California.

WILLY: Don’t say.

CHARLEY: You want a job?

WILLY: I got a job, I told you that. [
After a slight pause
] What the hell are you offering me a job for?

CHARLEY: Don’t get insulted.

WILLY: Don’t insult me.

CHARLEY: I don’t see no sense in it. You don’t have to go on this way.

WILLY: I got a good job. [
Slight pause.
] What do you keep comin’ in here for?

CHARLEY: You want me to go?

WILLY [
after a pause, withering
]: I can’t understand it. He’s going back to Texas again. What the hell is that?

CHARLEY: Let him go.

WILLY: I got nothin’ to give him, Charley, I’m clean, I’m clean.

CHARLEY: He won’t starve. None a them starve. Forget about him.

WILLY: Then what have I got to remember?

CHARLEY: You take it too hard. To hell with it. When a deposit bottle is broken you don’t get your nickel back.

WILLY: That’s easy enough for you to say.

CHARLEY: That ain’t easy for me to say.

WILLY: Did you see the ceiling I put up in the living-room?

CHARLEY: Yeah, that’s a piece of work. To put up a ceiling is a mystery to me. How do you do it?

WILLY: What’s the difference?

CHARLEY: Well, talk about it.

WILLY: You gonna put up a ceiling?

CHARLEY: How could I put up a ceiling?

WILLY: Then what the hell are you bothering me for?

CHARLEY: You’re insulted again.

WILLY: A man who can’t handle tools is not a man. You’re disgusting.

WILLY: I’m getting awfully tired, Ben.

[BEN’S
music is heard.
BEN
looks around at everything.
]

CHARLEY: Good, keep playing; you’ll sleep better. Did you call me Ben?

[BEN
looks at his watch.
]

WILLY: That’s funny. For a second there you reminded me of my brother Ben.

BEN: I only have a few minutes. [
He strolls, inspecting the place.
WILLY
and
CHARLEY
continue playing.
]

CHARLEY: You never heard from him again, heh? Since that time?

WILLY: Didn’t Linda tell you? Couple of weeks ago we got a letter from his wife in Africa. He died.

CHARLEY: That so.

BEN [
chuckling
]: So this is Brooklyn, eh?

CHARLEY: Maybe you’re in for some of his money.

WILLY: Naa, he had seven sons. There’s just one opportunity I had with that man . . .

BEN: I must make a train, William. There are several properties I’m looking at in Alaska.

WILLY: Sure, sure! If I’d gone with him to Alaska that time, everything would’ve been totally different.

CHARLEY: Go on, you’d froze to death up there.

WILLY: What’re you talking about?

BEN: Opportunity is tremendous in Alaska, William. Surprised you’re not up there.

WILLY: Sure, tremendous.

CHARLEY: Heh?

WILLY: There was the only man I ever met who knew the answers.

CHARLEY: Who?

BEN: How are you all?

WILLY [
taking a pot, smiling
]: Fine, fine.

CHARLEY: Pretty sharp tonight.

BEN: Is Mother living with you?

WILLY: No, she died a long time ago.

CHARLEY: Who?

BEN: That’s too bad. Fine specimen of a lady, Mother.

WILLY [
to
CHARLEY]: Heh?

BEN: I’d hoped to see the old girl.

CHARLEY: Who died?

BEN: Heard anything from Father, have you?

WILLY [
unnerved
]: What do you mean, who died?

CHARLEY [
taking a pot
]: What’re you talkin’ about?

BEN [
looking at his watch
]: William, it’s half past eight!

WILLY [
as though to dispel his confusion he angrily stops
CHARLEY’S
hand
]: That’s my build!

CHARLEY: I put the ace—

WILLY: If you don’t know how to play the game I’m not gonna throw my money away on you!

CHARLEY [
rising
]: It was my ace, for God’s sake!

WILLY: I’m through, I’m through!

BEN: When did Mother die?

WILLY: Long ago. Since the beginning you never knew how to play cards.

CHARLEY [
picks up the cards and goes to the door
]: All right! Next time I’ll bring a deck with five aces.

WILLY: I don’t play that kind of game!

CHARLEY [
turning to him
]: You ought to be ashamed of yourself!

WILLY: Yeah?

CHARLEY: Yeah! [
He goes out.
]

WILLY [
slamming the door after him
]: Ignoramus!

BEN [
as
WILLY
comes toward him through the wall-line of the kitchen
]: So you’re William.

WILLY [
shaking
BEN’S
hand
]: Ben! I’ve been waiting for you so long! What’s the answer? How did you do it?

BEN: Oh, there’s a story in that.

LINDA: Is this Ben?

BEN [
gallantly
]: How do you do, my dear.

LINDA: Where’ve you been all these years? Willy’s always wondered why you—

WILLY [
pulling
BEN
away from her impatiently
]: Where is Dad? Didn’t you follow him? How did you get started?

BEN: Well, I don’t know how much you remember.

WILLY: Well, I was just a baby, of course, only three or four years old—

BEN: Three years and eleven months.

WILLY: What a memory, Ben!

BEN: I have many enterprises, William, and I have never kept books.

WILLY: I remember I was sitting under the wagon in—was it Nebraska?

BEN: It was South Dakota, and I gave you a bunch of wildflowers.

WILLY: I remember you walking away down some open road.

BEN [
laughing
]: I was going to find Father in Alaska.

WILLY: Where is he?

BEN: At that age I had a very faulty view of geography, William. I discovered after a few days that I was heading due south, so instead of Alaska, I ended up in Africa.

LINDA: Africa!

WILLY: The Gold Coast!

BEN: Principally diamond mines.

LINDA: Diamond mines!

BEN: Yes, my dear. But I’ve only a few minutes—

WILLY: No! Boys! Boys! [YOUNG BIFF
and
HAPPY
appear.
] Listen to this. This is your Uncle Ben, a great man! Tell my boys, Ben!

BEN: Why boys, when I was seventeen I walked into the jungle, and when I was twenty-one I walked out. [
He laughs.
] And by God I was rich.

WILLY [
to the boys
]: You see what I been talking about? The greatest things can happen!

BEN [
glancing at his watch
]: I have an appointment in Ketchikan Tuesday week.

WILLY: No, Ben! Please tell about Dad. I want my boys to hear. I want them to know the kind of stock they spring from. All I remember is a man with a big beard, and I was in Mamma’s lap, sitting around a fire, and some kind of high music.

BEN: His flute. He played the flute.

WILLY: Sure, the flute, that’s right!

[
New music is heard, a high, rollicking tune.
]

BEN: Father was a very great and a very wild-hearted man. We would start in Boston, and he’d toss the whole family into the wagon, and then he’d drive the team right across the country; through Ohio, and Indiana, Michigan, Illinois, and all the Western states. And we’d stop in the towns and sell the flutes that he’d made on the way. Great inventor, Father. With one gadget he made more in a week than a man like you could make in a lifetime.

WILLY: That’s just the way I’m bringing them up, Ben—rugged, well liked, all-around.

BEN: Yeah? [
To
BIFF] Hit that, boy—hard as you can. [
He pounds his stomach.
]

BIFF: Oh, no, sir!

BEN [
taking boxing stance
]: Come on, get to me! [
He laughs.
]

WILLY: Go to it, Biff! Go ahead, show him!

BIFF: Okay! [
He cocks his fists and starts in.
]

LINDA [
to
WILLY]: Why must he fight, dear?

BEN [
sparring with
BIFF]: Good boy! Good boy!

WILLY: How’s that, Ben, heh?

HAPPY: Give him the left, Biff!

LINDA: Why are you fighting?

BEN: Good boy! [
Suddenly comes in, trips
BIFF,
and stands over him, the point of his umbrella poised over
BIFF’S
eye.
]

LINDA: Look out, Biff!

BIFF: Gee!

BEN [
patting
BIFF’S
knee
]: Never fight fair with a stranger, boy. You’ll never get out of the jungle that way. [
Taking
LINDA’S
hand and bowing
] It was an honor and a pleasure to meet you, Linda.

LINDA [
withdrawing her hand coldly, frightened
]: Have a nice—trip.

BEN [
to
WILLY]: And good luck with your—what do you do?

WILLY: Selling.

BEN: Yes. Well . . . [
He raises his hand in farewell to all.
]

WILLY: No, Ben, I don’t want you to think . . . [
He takes
BEN’S
arm to show him.
] It’s Brooklyn, I know, but we hunt too.

BEN: Really, now.

WILLY: Oh, sure, there’s snakes and rabbits and—that’s why I moved out here. Why, Biff can fell any one of these trees in no time! Boys! Go right over to where they’re building the apartment house and get some sand. We’re gonna rebuild the entire front stoop right now! Watch this, Ben!

BIFF: Yes, sir! On the double, Hap!

HAPPY [
as he and
BIFF
run off
]: I lost weight, Pop, you notice?

[CHARLEY
enters in knickers, even before the boys are gone.
]

CHARLEY: Listen, if they steal any more from that building the watchman’ll put the cops on them!

LINDA [
to
WILLY]: Don’t let Biff . . .

[BEN
laughs lustily.
]

WILLY: You shoulda seen the lumber they brought home last week. At least a dozen six-by-tens worth all kinds a money.

CHARLEY: Listen, if that watchman—

WILLY: I gave them hell, understand. But I got a couple of fearless characters there.

CHARLEY: Willy, the jails are full of fearless characters.

BEN [
clapping
WILLY
on the back, with a laugh at
CHARLEY]: And the stock exchange, friend!

WILLY [
joining in
BEN’S
laughter
]: Where are the rest of your pants?

CHARLEY: My wife bought them.

WILLY: Now all you need is a golf club and you can go upstairs and go to sleep. [
To
BEN] Great athlete! Between him and his son Bernard they can’t hammer a nail!

BERNARD [
rushing in
]: The watchman’s chasing Biff!

WILLY [
angrily
]: Shut up! He’s not stealing anything!

LINDA [
alarmed, hurrying off left
]: Where is he? Biff, dear! [
She exits.
]

WILLY [
moving toward the left, away from
BEN]: There’s nothing wrong. What’s the matter with you?

BEN: Nervy boy. Good!

WILLY [
laughing
]: Oh, nerves of iron, that Biff!

CHARLEY: Don’t know what it is. My New England man comes back and he’s bleedin’, they murdered him up there.

WILLY: It’s contacts, Charley, I got important contacts!

CHARLEY [
sarcastically
]: Glad to hear it, Willy. Come in later, we’ll shoot a little casino. I’ll take some of your Portland money. [
He laughs at
WILLY
and exits.
]

WILLY [
turning to
BEN]: Business is bad, it’s murderous. But not for me, of course.

BEN: I’ll stop by on my way back to Africa.

WILLY [
longingly
]: Can’t you stay a few days? You’re just what I need, Ben, because I—I have a fine position here, but I—well, Dad left when I was such a baby and I never had a chance to talk to him and I still feel—kind of temporary about myself.

BEN: I’ll be late for my train.

[
They are at opposite ends of the stage.
]

WILLY: Ben, my boys—can’t we talk? They’d go into the jaws of hell for me, see, but I—

BEN: William, you’re being first-rate with your boys. Outstanding, manly chaps!

WILLY [
hanging on to his words
]: Oh, Ben, that’s good to hear! Because sometimes I’m afraid that I’m not teaching them the right kind of—Ben, how should I teach them?