Thirty Pieces of Silver: A Play in Three Acts (2 page)

I'll see you to-night, won't I? You're not really angry?

JANE
No, I'm not really angry.

MILDRED
Thank the Lord. You're the one friend I've got. The rest belong to that louse, Andrews.

(
She takes a quick step to
JANE,
kisses the top of her head, and then exits.
JANE
remains for a moment, kneeling by the chair. Then she gets up and stares at the door for a moment. Then she gathers the slip covers together, shrugs, and exits up the staircase.
)

(
She is just gone when
LORRY GRAHAM
enters through the archway from the dining-room. She is a healthy-looking little girl of five and a half or so, in overalls and braids. She wanders in, singing lightly to herself, drifts around the room and spies the tractor. She sits down next to it, trying to fit on a loose rubber tread, holding the toy in her lap and working seriously.
)

LORRY
The damn thing keeps losing this tread, no matter what I do.

HILDA
(
entering from the dining-room to hear this. She is a Negro woman of about thirty. She wears a maid's uniform.
) That's no way to talk.

LORRY
What way?

HILDA
Damn.

LORRY
There. You said it yourself.

HILDA
I didn't say it. I just told you not to say it.

LORRY
Why?

HILDA
You know why. My goodness, Lorry, you know a good word from a bad word.

LORRY
I always hear you say it. It's just that this damn tractor keeps losing a tread. It always keeps losing a tread.

HILDA
(
getting down next to her
) There again. Let's see that tractor. And just let me tell you this. If my mother heard me talk like that when I was your size, I'd be whupped good. Right now, I'm old enough to say what I please and I intend to, so you just get that into your little head. A tractor's a boy's toy, anyway.

LORRY
Where's your mother now, Hilda?

HILDA
Dead.

LORRY
What's dead?

HILDA
(
putting down the toy and staring at the child
) Give me a kiss, honey—and I should have my head examined for getting to love you so much.

LORRY
(
holding back
) What's dead, Hilda?

HILDA
Now I'm in something, ain't I? Dead's quiet, honey. Dead's just still, still as the whole night long, but it don't stop. Like going to sleep and not waking up and no more struggle or crying.

(
During this
, JANE
enters, coming down the stairs from above
.)

LORRY
Will I get dead?

HILDA
Sometime, honey—yes, sometime, there's no getting away from that.

JANE
Hilda! Hilda, how can you?

HILDA
(
rising
) That's no harm, Mrs. Graham. She asked me. They're all going to ask sooner or later, and sooner or later, you got to tell them.

JANE
But not like that.

HILDA
You just going to make a cushion for her? For how long?

JANE
That's enough! That's my affair, not yours, Hilda.

(
HILDA
looks at her.
)

I
'm sorry, Hilda, I'm sorry. Lorry, take the tractor upstairs.

LORRY
Why can't I play with it here?

JANE
Because you can't. Anyway, it's time for your dinner, so take it upstairs and wash your hands.

(
LORRY
picks up the toy and goes up the stairs.
)

Hilda——

H
ILDA
I'll try to be a maid, Mrs. Graham. Sometimes I forget, Mrs. Graham. My mother used to tell me—never forget, never for one second. Well—I forgot.

JANE
(
coming over to her
) Hilda—you've been with us long enough to know me a little. I forget myself sometimes. Do you know anyone who doesn't, Hilda?

HILDA
It doesn't matter, Mrs. Graham.

JANE
It does matter. You're burning up inside. Well, I'm sorry. I was born and raised in Charleston. I guess I've told you that a hundred times. This is a hundred and one, then. I try to act like a human being, which isn't easy. Not for me. Not for anyone, I sometimes think.

(
They stand there, looking at each other, and
LORRY
comes down the stairs. Then
HILDA
nods slightly.
)

(
to
LORRY
)

Did you wash your hands?

LORRY
Uh-huh.

HILDA
I'll wash them again in the kitchen. Come along, Lorry.

(
They go out through the dining-room archway, and
JANE
stands looking after them for a moment. Then she shakes her head, goes to the tray bar, and makes the proportions for a martini. While she is doing this, the outside door opens. This we can partly see.
DAVID GRAHAM
lets himself in, pocketing his keys
.)

(
He is fairly tall, decently dressed in a grey suit and white shirt. A round, small-nosed, even-featured face is without particular distinction: it is honest insofar as it is obvious, overflowing college campuses and billboards and magazine ads, omnipresent and speaking for America. It gives evidence of good feeding and a certain amount of thought, and is saved from being wholly negative by a pair of glasses. A pleasant-looking young man, only reasonably complicated.
)

DAVID
(
tossing his paper on to a chair
) Hello, Janey.

JANE
Oh?

(
She throws him a glance, then pours the drinks.'
)

DAVID
Just oh? What in hell are you so burned up over?

JANE
Nothing—want a drink?

DAVID
Yes, I want a drink. I want a kiss. I want the whole Hollywood production that comes to a man who's not as unhappily married as most and sitting on his can all day, too. What did I do now?

JANE
(
walking over to him, handing him a drink and kissing him lightly
) Nothing that you did. I just had a little run-in with Hilda and I'm upset. It's my fault. It has nothing to do with you, Dave, and I'll be over it in a moment or two. Here's mud in your lovely blue eyes.

DAVID
(
tasting the drink
) To you. What happened?

JANE
Nothing—just silly stuff, and I snapped at her. I treated her like a servant, that's it. No, it isn't, either. (
Shakes her head.
) It was just something foolish. Let's forget it.

DAVID
The whole rigmarole you indulge in with her beats the hell out of me. You can't make a friend out of a servant.

JANE
I don't make a friend out of her. I just keep reminding myself that she's a human being. Or I try to. Oh, let's forget the whole thing.

DAVID
(
walking over to a chair and dropping into it
) Sure. But it's only natural, Janey. As an intelligent Southerner, you have an excess of guilt. Some kind of atonement, I guess, or something. I can be a lot more natural with ni——

JANE
Don't do that!

DAVID
What?

JANE
(
slowly and deliberately
) Don't use that word. It's a filthy word.

DAVID
(
shaking his head
) You're off to-night. All right—if you don't want me to, I won't use it. But I don't have the kind of associations with it that you do. I don't have to overcome the things you——

JANE
Don't be such a damn fool!

DAVID
(
pitting his glass down and looking at her curiously. He speaks slowly.
) I should be sore as hell at that.

JANE
But you're going to be patient and understanding.

DAVID
That's right. I'm going to be patient and understanding. I came home feeling warm and good for a change. I'm going to stay that way. Those are my small pleasures.

(
HILDA
enters now.
)

Hello, Hilda.

HILDA
Good evening, Mr. Graham.

DAVID
Where's my beautiful daughter?

HILDA
Having her supper. But she won't eat.

DAVID
That's no daughter of mine. Let me try. I'll be back.

(
He takes his drink and goes out through the dining-room.
HILDA
hesitates a moment, then starts to follow
DAVID
.)

JANE
Wait a minute, Hilda.

HILDA
Yes, Mrs. Graham?

JANE
(
without warmth
) Try calling me Jane, just for once.

HILDA
Yes, Mrs. Graham.

JANE
You're not going to try, are you? You're going to ride that little bit of hurt right into the ground, aren't you?

HILDA
I don't know what you want from me, Mrs. Graham.

JANE
The trouble is, you do. What's wrong with me, Hilda?

(
HILDA
stands there, without reacting particularly, without answering.
)

Or what's right with me—or with David—or with Lorry? Are you as uncomfortable as I am, Hilda? The trouble isn't that I'm superior to you, but that you can convince me that you're so superior to me. Why? That's what I want to know, Hilda. We're Americans. I want to do what's right; so does David. What's wrong with us?

HILDA
I'm sorry, Mrs. Graham.

JANE
(
suddenly angry
) Like hell you are.

(
The doorbell rings.
)

All right. See who it is, Hilda.

(
HILDA
goes to the door. Offstage
,
FULLER'S
voice asks if
MR. DAVID GRAHAM
lives here.
HILDA
brings him in, a middle-sized, youngish man, middle thirties, well-groomed, quietly dressed, unimpressive and not too unusual. In all points of origin, he is vaguely similar to
DAVID GRAHAM
,
yet there is a subtle though consistent difference. It might be said that a trained shrewdness has substituted for intelligence
—
a somewhat laboured control for whatever spontaneity
DAVID GRAHAM
exhibits. He wears saddle shoes and carries a soft Panama.
)

FULLER
(
to
JANE) HOW
do you do. My name's Fuller. Are you Mrs. Graham?

JANE
That's right.

FULLER
I'd like to see Mr. Graham, if it's no trouble. If he's home now?

JANE
Is he expecting you?

FULLER
(
smiling apologetically
) I don't think so, Mrs. Graham. I'll explain to him, if he's home.

JANE
All right. Sit down. I'll get him. Do you want a drink? Hilda, will you give Mr. Fuller a martini or something?

FULLER
(
He remains standing.
) Thank you, no.

JANE
(
pausing as she turns to leave
) Nothing? Well, won't you sit down? What did you say your name was?

FULLER
Fuller. F-U-L-L-E-R. Mr. Fuller.

JANE
I see. Thank you, Mr.… Fuller. I'll call my husband.

(
JANE
goes out. Fuller stands there, turning his hat in his hands.
),

HILDA
May I take your hat?

FULLER
You're the maid?

HILDA
You guessed that, didn't you? I'm the maid. How did you guess?

FULLER
I'll hold the hat, if you don't mind. This is fine weather, isn't it? I mean, for June, it's cool.

(
His speech is precise and emotionless. He ignores
HILDA'S
sarcasm. Now
DAVID GRAHAM
enters
,
JANE
after him.
LORRY
trails them with a piece of bread.
)

JANE
Take her inside, will you, Hilda? David, this is Mr. Fuller.

FULLER
How do you do, Mr.Graham.

LORRY
How old are you, Mr. Fuller?

JANE
Will you finish your supper, Lorry—please.

(
HILDA
leads
LORRY
out.
JANE
picks up her drink now, and
DAVID
looks at
FULLER
inquiringly.
)

FULLER
This is a very nice house—nice family, too, Mr. Graham. Nice little girl. You got a lot to be thankful for.

DAVID
What can I do for you, Mr. Fuller?

FULLER
(
There is a fussy, almost womanish quality in his speech.
) I will sit down, thank you. I come into a fine, nice American home like this—I will say it always makes me a little uneasy.

JANE
Would you like me to go?

DAVID
(
with some annoyance
) Why should it make you uneasy? You'll have to forgive me, Mr. Fuller—but we have an appointment this evening and dinner before then, so I wish you'd get down to what you have to say, whatever it is.

FULLER
(
to
JANE
) Please don't go, Mrs. Graham. I'd like to talk to both of you, if you'll permit me.

(
He is very polite, somewhat abashed.
)