Three Plays Read Online Free Page B
Author: Tennessee Williams
ask Brick if it hurts much still or not.
SOOKEY [ in the hall ]: It's Memphis, Mizz Polly, it's Miss Sally in Memphis.
BIG MAMA : Awright, Sookey.
[Big Mama rushes into the hall and is heard shouting on the phone:]
Hello, Miss Sally. How are you, Miss Sally?—Yes, well, I was just gonna call you about it. Shoot!—
[She raises her voice to a bellow.]
Miss Sally? Don't ever call me from the Gayoso Lobby, too much talk goes on in that hotel lobby, no wonder you can't hear me! Now listen, Miss Sally. They's nothin' serious wrong with Big Daddy. We got the report just now, they's nothin' wrong but a thing called a—spastic! SPASTIC! —colon...
[She appears at the hall door and calls to Margaret.]
— Maggie, come out here and talk to that fool on the phone. I'm shouted breathless!
MARGARET [goes out and is heard sweetly at phone] : Miss Sally? This is Brick's wife, Maggie. So nice to hear your voice. Can you hear mine? Well, good! —Big Mama just wanted you to know that they've got the report from the Ochsner Clinic and what Big Daddy has is a spastic colon. Yes. Spastic colon, Miss Sally. That's right, spastic colon. G'bye Miss Sally, hope I'll see you real soon!
[Hangs up a little before Miss Sally was probably ready to terminate the talk. She returns through the hall door.]
She heard me perfectly. I've discovered with deaf people the thing to do is not shout at them but just enunciate clearly. My rich old Aunt Cornelia was deaf as the dead but I could make her hear me just by sayin' each word slowly, distinctly, close to her ear. I read her the Commercial Appeal ev'ry night, read her the classified ads in it, even, she never missed a word of it. But was she a mean ole thing! Know what I got when she died? Her unexpired subscriptions to five magazines and the Book-of-the-Month Club and a LIBRARY full of ev'ry dull book ever written! All else went to her hellcat of a sister... meaner than she was, even!
[Big Mama has been straightening things up in the room during this speech.]
BIG MAMA [closing closet door on discarded clothes] : Miss Sally sure is a case! Big Daddy says she's always got her hand out fo' something. He's not mistaken. That poor ole thing always has her hand out fo' somethin'. I don't think Big Daddy gives her as much as he should.
[Somebody shouts for her downstairs and she shouts:] I'm comin'!
[She starts out. At the hall door, turns and jerks a forefinger, first towards the bathroom door, then towards the liquor cabinet, meaning: 'Has Brick been drinking?' Margaret pretends not to understand, cocks her head and raises her brows as if the pantomimic performance was completely mystifying to her. Big Mama rushes back to Margaret.]
Shoot! Stop playin' so dumb!— I mean has he been drinkin' that stuff much yet?
MARGARET [with a little laugh] : Oh! I think he had a highball after supper.
BIG MAMA : Don't laugh about it!—Some single men stop drinkin' when they git married and others start! Brick never touched liquor before he — !
MARGARET [crying out] : THAT'S NOT FAIR!
BIG MAMA : Fair or not fair I want to ask you a question, one question—D'you make Brick happy in bed?
MARGARET : Why don't you ask if he makes me happy in bed?
BIG MAMA : Because I know that—
MARGARET : It works both ways!
BIG MAMA : Something's not right! You're childless and my son drinks!
[Someone has called her downstairs and she has rushed to the door on the line above. She turns at the door and points at the bed.]
— When a marriage goes on the rocks, the rocks are there , right there!
MARGARET : That's—
[Big Mama has swept out of the room and slammed the door.]
— not— fair...
[Margaret is alone, completely alone, and she feels it. She draws in, hunches her shoulders, raises her arms with fists clenched, shuts her eyes tight as a child about to be stabbed with a vaccination needle. When she opens her eyes again, what she sees is the long
SOOKEY [ in the hall ]: It's Memphis, Mizz Polly, it's Miss Sally in Memphis.
BIG MAMA : Awright, Sookey.
[Big Mama rushes into the hall and is heard shouting on the phone:]
Hello, Miss Sally. How are you, Miss Sally?—Yes, well, I was just gonna call you about it. Shoot!—
[She raises her voice to a bellow.]
Miss Sally? Don't ever call me from the Gayoso Lobby, too much talk goes on in that hotel lobby, no wonder you can't hear me! Now listen, Miss Sally. They's nothin' serious wrong with Big Daddy. We got the report just now, they's nothin' wrong but a thing called a—spastic! SPASTIC! —colon...
[She appears at the hall door and calls to Margaret.]
— Maggie, come out here and talk to that fool on the phone. I'm shouted breathless!
MARGARET [goes out and is heard sweetly at phone] : Miss Sally? This is Brick's wife, Maggie. So nice to hear your voice. Can you hear mine? Well, good! —Big Mama just wanted you to know that they've got the report from the Ochsner Clinic and what Big Daddy has is a spastic colon. Yes. Spastic colon, Miss Sally. That's right, spastic colon. G'bye Miss Sally, hope I'll see you real soon!
[Hangs up a little before Miss Sally was probably ready to terminate the talk. She returns through the hall door.]
She heard me perfectly. I've discovered with deaf people the thing to do is not shout at them but just enunciate clearly. My rich old Aunt Cornelia was deaf as the dead but I could make her hear me just by sayin' each word slowly, distinctly, close to her ear. I read her the Commercial Appeal ev'ry night, read her the classified ads in it, even, she never missed a word of it. But was she a mean ole thing! Know what I got when she died? Her unexpired subscriptions to five magazines and the Book-of-the-Month Club and a LIBRARY full of ev'ry dull book ever written! All else went to her hellcat of a sister... meaner than she was, even!
[Big Mama has been straightening things up in the room during this speech.]
BIG MAMA [closing closet door on discarded clothes] : Miss Sally sure is a case! Big Daddy says she's always got her hand out fo' something. He's not mistaken. That poor ole thing always has her hand out fo' somethin'. I don't think Big Daddy gives her as much as he should.
[Somebody shouts for her downstairs and she shouts:] I'm comin'!
[She starts out. At the hall door, turns and jerks a forefinger, first towards the bathroom door, then towards the liquor cabinet, meaning: 'Has Brick been drinking?' Margaret pretends not to understand, cocks her head and raises her brows as if the pantomimic performance was completely mystifying to her. Big Mama rushes back to Margaret.]
Shoot! Stop playin' so dumb!— I mean has he been drinkin' that stuff much yet?
MARGARET [with a little laugh] : Oh! I think he had a highball after supper.
BIG MAMA : Don't laugh about it!—Some single men stop drinkin' when they git married and others start! Brick never touched liquor before he — !
MARGARET [crying out] : THAT'S NOT FAIR!
BIG MAMA : Fair or not fair I want to ask you a question, one question—D'you make Brick happy in bed?
MARGARET : Why don't you ask if he makes me happy in bed?
BIG MAMA : Because I know that—
MARGARET : It works both ways!
BIG MAMA : Something's not right! You're childless and my son drinks!
[Someone has called her downstairs and she has rushed to the door on the line above. She turns at the door and points at the bed.]
— When a marriage goes on the rocks, the rocks are there , right there!
MARGARET : That's—
[Big Mama has swept out of the room and slammed the door.]
— not— fair...
[Margaret is alone, completely alone, and she feels it. She draws in, hunches her shoulders, raises her arms with fists clenched, shuts her eyes tight as a child about to be stabbed with a vaccination needle. When she opens her eyes again, what she sees is the long
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