The Field (6 page)

William:
I'll be back when you open in the morning.

Bull:
That field is mine! Remember that! I'll pay a fair price. God Almighty! 'Tis a sin to cover grass and clover with concrete.

[Maggie Butler rises and moves towards doorway]

Maggie:
[To Maimie]
I'll have to be goin'. There's no one in the house but myself.

Bull:
You should remember that!

[Maggie looks back, startled. William acknowledges Maggie's exit]

Bull:
[To William]
Get out while you're clean!

William:
I'll be back in the morning … and this time I'll be with my solicitor.

[William exiting]

Bull:
You might be back with more than your solicitor.

[William exits. Bull, Tadhg and Mick go into a huddle at the counter. The lights fade]

[Action takes place in the pub late that evening. Leamy is at the door looking out, Maimie is outside bar, watching him]

Maimie:
[To Leamy after opening pause]
It's quiet, Leamy. You could have gone out with the boys.

Leamy:
I'd rather be here with you, Muddy. You go out for a walk and I'll be OK. There won't be anybody in for a while.

Maimie:
A funny thing, Mister, I'd rather be here with you, too. Give my back a rub like a good boy.
[Leamy does so]
Oh, that's lovely!

Leamy:
I wish it was always like this.

Maimie:
Sit down, Leamy, and we'll treat ourselves to a drink.

Leamy:
You stay there and I'll get it.
[He seats his mother]
Now, what'll it be? The sky's the limit!

Maimie:
I'll have a drop of brandy. Are they asleep upstairs?

Leamy:
All sound! … A small brandy it'll be.

[He goes behind counter]

Maimie:
I haven't sat down since morning. It's like a holiday having a stretch.
[She yawns]
I wonder what it's like to have a job that ends at six with Saturdays and Sundays free and holidays. Can you imagine, Leamy … holidays. Sure, if we had holidays we wouldn't know what to do with 'em.

Leamy:
[Places drink on table and sits down]
Would you like a cigarette?

Maimie:
Aye, they're over there by the register. You're a great boy!
[Lifts her glass]
Long life, Leamy!

Leamy:
And the same to you, Muddy!
[They drink!]
Do you feel it, too?

Maimie:
Feel what?

Leamy:
The fear! I'm getting afraid already. I'll bolt the door and put up the shutters and let nobody in. Let's just sit here and never open that old door again.

Maimie:
I know what you mean, Leamy.

[Someone approaches from outside]

Maimie:
Take the glasses, quick!

Mrs McCabe:
Ah, wait for me, will you!

Dandy:
C'mon. C'mon.

[Leamy takes the glasses and hurries behind the counter. Enter Dandy McCabe and his Wife. His Wife trails behind him, wearing a shawl]

Dandy:
Good evening, Maimie!

Maimie:
Dandy, Mrs McCabe.

Mrs McCabe:
Hello, Maimie.

Maimie:
What can I do for you?

Dandy:
Give us a gargle first.
[To Wife]
What do you want?

Mrs McCabe:
A tint of peppermint.

Dandy:
Give her a peppermint and give me a half o' rum.

Leamy:
I'll get them, Muddy.

Maimie:
Good boy, Leamy.

Dandy:
Is the boss in?

Maimie:
He should be back shortly.

Dandy:
You'll do, just as nicely. I want to pay him for that acre of bog. Will you see if he has it in the books?

Maimie:
Sit down, I won't be a minute.

[Exit Maimie]

Dandy:
[To Wife]
C'mon, c'mon, c'mon, c'mon! Sit down there you, in a place where I can be admiring you.

[Leamy emerges with drinks and places them on table]

Dandy:
You're the oldest boy, aren't you?

Leamy:
Yes sir!

Dandy:
Call me Dandy, man. They all call it to me. Them that don't do it to my face, do it behind my back. What's your name?

Leamy:
Leamy!

Dandy:
Leamy, Dandy!

Leamy:
Leamy, Dandy!

Dandy:
You're called after your grandfather, Leamy Flanagan. A decent man he was. Too fond of his drop. A good man's case. How much is due to you?

Leamy:
Three shillings.

Dandy:
[Locates money]
A horse and a hound is three shillings and a tanner for yourself.

Leamy:
Thanks very much.

Dandy:
Thanks very much, Dandy.

Leamy:
Thanks very much, Dandy.

Dandy:
Simple, isn't it?
[Indicates Wife]
You know this one?

Leamy:
Yes, Dandy.

Dandy:
Married twenty-four years and never a cross word between us.

Leamy:
[Beginning to enjoy himself]
That must be a record.

Dandy:
Say ‘Dandy'.

Leamy:
That must be a record, Dandy.

Dandy:
[Conspiratorially]
And I'll tell you something else. To go no further.
[Leamy nods]
If she liked she could be married to the Aly Khan.

[Wife hits him on the arm and nearly collapses with laughter]

Dandy:
Met her when I was in the army. Love at first sight. Bet you can't guess why I brought her to town tonight … go on, guess.

Leamy:
I couldn't guess, Dandy.

Dandy:
[Looks around mysteriously]
Word of a man. Shake hands on it. To go no further.
[Leamy shakes his hand … conspiratorially …]
I'm buying an aeroplane for her.

[Wife hits him on arm and laughs to her heart's content. So does Leamy]

Dandy:
She has one weakness though, only the one …

Leamy:
What's that, Dandy?

Dandy:
She won't eat canaries. I boiled a canary for her yesterday and stuffed him with ginger. Wouldn't look at it …
[Laughter] …
had to give it to her mother.

[Enter Maimie with a ledger. Leamy goes behind counter and puts money in cash register]

Maimie:
[Reading from ledger]
One acre of turbary purchased last January, including fees, thirty-six pounds ten. It's here all right, Dandy.

Dandy:
And I'm here, too.
[Takes wallet from inside pocket and extracts money]
Here's your money, Maimie. Three tenners, a fiver, pound note, ten shillings, that's thirty-six pounds ten.

Maimie:
[Accepts money and counts it]
It's all here, Dandy.

Dandy:
And I'm all there!

Maimie:
I'll cross it off the book and get your receipt.

[Maimie goes behind counter to cash register and ledger. Dandy rises to his feet, finds Mick's auctioneering hammer and fondles it briefly]

Dandy:
Will I have another?
[To Mrs McCabe]
Will you have one?

Mrs McCabe:
Not for me.

Dandy:
I'll have the same again, Leamy.
[Lifts hammer]
There's a hammer that never drove a nail. Ladies and gentlemen. I have here for sale, one prime farmer's wife, fifteen hands high, sound in wind and limb and steady as a butcher's table. Do I hear a bid … Do I hear a bid for this prime specimen of womanhood …
[To Leamy]
You, sir! You look a decent sort of a man. Do I hear a bid …? She has two medals for making toast and four for making pancakes. She has a gold cup for drinking sour milk and a certificate for snoring.

[Suddenly Dandy stops dead and looks towards the doorway. Enter the Bull McCabe, followed by Tadhg, followed by the Bird O'Donnell. Dandy's Wife gets up immediately and stands near her husband]

Bull:
You came, Dandy. Blood is thicker than water.

Dandy:
[Subdued, cautious]
How's the Bull? How are you, Tadhg … Bird?

[Leamy quietly withdraws a little behind grocery counter. Maimie comes from behind counter]

Maimie:
Your receipt, Dandy.

Dandy:
Thanks, Maimie.

Bull:
You got the word?

Dandy:
Yes, Bull.

Bull:
You know there's a man in the village who's here to wrong me?

Dandy:
Yes, Bull! Yes!

Bull:
Sit down! … All of you, sit down! Where's himself, Maimie?

[Enter Mick Flanagan]

Mick:
Right behind you, Bull. Sorry I'm late.

Bull:
[Generously]
A good man is never late, Mick.

[All sit … Mick, the Bird, Tadhg, Dandy and his Wife. Maimie goes forward and sits a little apart independently. Bull sees Leamy behind the counter]

Bull:
What's he doin' up? Shouldn't he be in bed?

Maimie:
He's just going.

Bull:
No … No … Let him up. He's no fool. He knows enough. Sit down, boy …
out here,
boy.

[Leamy takes a seat near his mother]

Bull:
I'm a fair man and I want nothing but what's mine! I won't be wronged in my own village, in my own country by an imported landgrabber. The sweat I've lost won't be given for nothing. A total stranger has come and he wants to bury my sweat and blood in concrete. It's ag'in' God an' man an' I was never the person to bow the head when trouble came and no man is goin' to do me out of my natural-born rights. Now this robber comes from nowhere and he's nothing less than a robber … And you all know the cure for a robber … he must be given a fright and a fright he's goin' to get. But people forgets old friends when there's danger and if this man gets a fright and a bit of a beatin', we'll have the civic guards goin' around askin' questions. Now, you know the kind civic guards is … What is friends for, I ask, unless 'tis to pull one another out of hoults. What is neighbours and relations for unless 'tis to ‘love ye one another' says the Gospel. So, when the civic guards come with their long noses, all of you will remember that Tadhg and myself were in this pub at the time that robbin' gazebo got his dues … We'll give him just enough to teach him a lesson. Now, I'll want a promise, won't I, to show we can trust one another. Dandy, you'll take an oath on the Holy Ghost.

Dandy:
Sure, Bull. Sure. And don't worry about the Missus.

Bull:
Sound man, Dandy. I knew I could trust you. What about you, Bird?

Bird:
OK, but I'm not swearing by the Holy Ghost.

Bull:
And what have you got against the Holy Ghost, you little caffler, you?

Bird:
'Tis wrong! 'Tis wrong!

Bull:
Did he ever give you a fright?

Bird:
A fright?

Bull:
Yes, a fright. Any other ghost you'll meet will frighten the life outa you. But the Holy Ghost never gave anyone a fright. Come on, swear!

Bird:
Sure, Bull. Sure.

Bull:
Mick?

Mick:
OK, Bull, but don't overdo it.

Bull:
A good fright and no more. Put up a bottle of whiskey for my friends. Maimie … Maimie! I'm talkin' to you.

Maimie:
And I hear you, Bull.

Bull:
Maimie, what do you say?

Maimie:
This man has done no harm.

Bull:
Not yet … not yet … but he will.

Maimie:
It isn't right to beat a man up. He's alone here.

Bull:
He don't belong here.

Maimie:
The guards will hear of it.

Bull:
Of course they will, but that's the end of it as far as they are concerned, if we all keep our mouths shut.

Maimie:
This can lead to nothing but trouble.

Bull:
There will be real trouble if you don't swear to keep your trap shut. I know enough about you to cause a right plateful of trouble. Your husband might be blind but the Bull McCabe knows your comings and goings like the back of his hand.

[Leamy looks curiously at his mother and then gets off stool and tries to run past Bull. Bull stops him]

Bull:
And you, boy? You'll be all right, won't you? You don't want your mother to be hurt, do you?

Maimie:
Leamy won't say a word.

Bull:
Of course he won't. There's men around here would think nothing of puttin' a bomb up ag'in' a public house door. 'Twas done before, the time of the land division. Who's to say what people will do?

[He pats Leamy and dismisses him]

Maimie:
All right! All right! We get the message.