America Finding Her Way
Page 2
(Hugs Dave)
Dave: ...Then you better start swimming or you'll sink like a stone. For the times they are a changin'. (Ending song)
Beth: See? You didn’t forget us.
Dave: Your Days-of-Rage action was a giant step backwards.
Anne: No argument.
Dave: All your trashing did was convince Mr. and Mrs. America you're out of your fucking minds.
Anne: Not quite all.
Beth: We've restructured.
Anne: We misjudged. It was too early for a mass action.
Beth: But it proved we’re serious.
Dave: Take a bash at Chicago plate-glass ‑ Crushed cranium guaranteed.
Anne: It was a mistake!
Beth: So you were right to split, Dave, but you still care. (Beat) Or did you retire?
Dave: Where to, Angel? (Mock-sings) "How you gonna keep ‘em down on the farm after they've seen...the South Bronx."
Anne: We want you back, Dave, and at the top.
Dave: How 'bout on top. With my pick of you two. That's how cell socializing works, isn't it?
Beth: It has to be mutual. But in your condition, you'd make the wrong pick.
Dave: Oh yes?
Beth: You'd pick me, but you'd want Anne.
Dave: Then why wouldn’t I pick Anne?
Beth: Afraid for your masculinity.
Dave: Hoohoo! (Strums "Blowing in the Wind,” challenged, he bites– ) So what do you want with the station wagon? I'm driving it down the shore tonight. Going to sit there and watch that sun rise up to black noon.
(Beth looks at Anne, comes back to table. Anne says quietly– )
Anne: There's a load of dynamite.
Dave: (Abrupt chord) Geez, you want me for an in-house physician!
Anne: No more shouting. No more kiddy riots…
Dave: Ooo, you’ll make the 6 o’clock news now.
Anne: ...it’s metaphoric language. What they understand.
Dave: Maybe I’ll hire out to the CIA.
Anne: Will you make the pick up?
Beth: (Beat) He doesn't have to decide all at once.
Dave: (Looks at Beth. Pause) Where's the stuff.
Anne: It's ordered. At a construction place in Bridgeport. In the name Park Slope landscaping. (Beat) You pick up Barton from the Third Street place. They’d ask questions if a woman shows up to move it. Then deliver it back to Third Street.
Dave: Barton. The Green Beret Josy hooked, right? He knows how to handle the stuff?
Anne: Cool and dry. Just like you, Davey. That's all you need to know.
Dave: (Tension; looks at both intent women; stands) You sure can break into a man's nature walks. (Beat) One drive. I'll get the load, then I’m gone. I can't hack your lock-step crap.
Anne: You mean discipline? You never saw a decent army without it.
Dave: It's anti-thought.
Anne: We don't have time to play Hamlet. (Kisses Dave) Get the stuff.
Dave: (Stands, giving a half-salute) Royal Dames. Barton at East Third? You I see later.
Anne: Know what's kept you away, Davey? (Beat) You're scared.
Dave: (Stops as he exits) If that's true, I'm still thinking for myself.
(He flips them a grin and leaves. They stand watching him)
Beth: He's in.
Anne: Sticking his neck out, anyway.
Beth: Will you move him in here?
Anne: (Moves to pick up dishes) Yup. We figure five is optimum for a cell, six maximum. Soon as the training’s set, Ned’ll take off to lead the Denver cell.
Beth: (Moving to dishes) Here, I'll get that.
Anne: You sure? You look half dead. (Begins paper work) My study's perfect for communications to headquarter. Soon as Dave gets his head screwed on, I’ll get him writing columns, press releases. It’ll free me for organizational thinking.
(Suzy appears in dressing room (top level) as bride. She’ll check her makeup, veil, and leave a bridesmaid's dress hanging)
Beth: What’d the Blacks say?
Anne: Hmm?
Beth: The Panthers. Did you offer to split the dynamite with them?
Anne: Gotta phone Fred Hampton in Chicago. Been trying to get through all morning.
Beth: He is superb – got the whole South Side organized.
Anne: They’re drawn to him like a soft silver lightening rod. I want him to intercede. Blacks here won't touch us with a ten foot club.
Beth: Why? The briefs you wrote for Martin Luther King should be...
Anne: I don't talk about that. The King was a fool.
Beth: Oh. I thought you said he...
Anne: (Sharp) He's dead, isn't he. Walked right into it.
(Beth looks at Anne oddly; Anne concentrated in work)
Beth: My sister and I sang.
Anne: (Looks up at Beth) Go up for a nap. You’re going to fall over.
Beth: Know what was the hardest thing? At home?
Anne: (Back at work) Uhmhmh?
(Beth speaks as she climbs. Anne will dial long distance several times and get no answer)
Beth: Their bewilderment. They look at me bewildered, and I look back, all the way to Guatemala. That's when I walked out of the circle of sweet Miss Americas so far that I could see it was a glass bubble in never-never land. But I'm still in isolation, and what I've seen has made me old. (Beat) In Guatemala they were just so...poor, it made me angry how much I had. I knew right away I'd live as they did – no electricity, no furniture, potatoes at night – not only so they'd trust me, but so I'd understand their life. My peers hated me. I worked too hard; I gave up too much; when I got sick they said I "willfully undermined the work." (Beat) When the Guatemalans rebelled just to get enough food, we petitioned, we begged, but the corruption... Even our own ambassador’s tight face behind his air-conditioned window, the danger if he unrolled it, of a rush, an immersion in the heat of humanity. But oh my god, all these barriers are glass; they'll implode; they must! Because I'm in the dead space between panes unable to breathe with no strength to crash through, to free myself, and those on either side.
(Beth's speech has become "public," like a rally, but, in fact, she’s climbed into a memory, and is startled, arriving suddenly in the dressing room. A dress hangs amid flower boxes, tissue, makeup. Beth looks at it doubtfully; Suzy, the bride, bursts in)
Suzy: Beth, Beth, Beth. I knew you'd come!
(Suzy embraces Beth, crunching her gown. Below, phone rings, Anne answers– )
Anne: Hello. ... What?
Suzy: You had to!
Beth: 'Course I did.
Anne: All right, Jack, I heard you: "Shut down".
Suzy: (Hugging Beth) Oooh, thank you!
Anne: Why? What happened? Jack?
Beth: I'm late, aren't I?
Suzy: They can’t start without me.
(Below, Anne looks at receiver, unhooks the phone, sits alarmed)
Suzy: (Calls out) Beth is here! We'll come as soon as she's dressed.
Beth: (Looks skeptically at hanging dress) That's it?
Suzy: Yup. Chose it to go with your eyes. Mint green. The bridesmaids are pink.
Beth: (Hates it) Lovely.
Suzy: I hope it fits. You're so skinny now, I hate you. (Lifting dress)
Beth: Look, I better get a little...cleaned up before I put it on.
Suzy: In there's the wash room.
(Beth goes off. Suzy talks to her)
Suzy: Mom kept warning me not to count on you. Cause we hadn't heard, and couldn’t find out where you were. Aunt Ramona's here. Remember when we broke off her rose bush, and hid in the garage loft scared to death?
Beth: (Off) You wouldn't come down till I promised I'd say I did it.
Suzy: And T-dore's here! He still adores you. And Mrs. Merchons from the choir. Beth, do you think... Could we sing?
B
eth: (Re-entering with towel, carrying jeans, shirt) What would we do? "Side by Side?"
Suzy: I wanted us to do... Sit down. I'll lend you some makeup.
Beth: I don't want...
Suzy: Come on. You're pale as a ghost. (Leans to apply "blush") We could do something anyway. That's a good blush for you. See?
Beth: What do we still know?
Suzy: Here, this shadow’ll match. You mean, what do we know that we can do in church.
Beth: (Applying shadow, eyes Suzy) Listen, are you sure about this?
Suzy: Ooooo, don't start. I got jitters.
Beth: It's a sideshow, Suzy.
Suzy: We've been playing wedding since we were three.
Beth: Since you were three. I was older.
Suzy: Don't you like Jeff?
Beth: Sure, but...
Suzy: How about "Open Our Eyes?"
(They giggle at irony of title. Suzy suddenly grabs Beth, holds her)
Suzy: I was so scared watching the news from Chicago that I'd see a cop smashing his club, and the bloody face would be yours.
Beth: (Holding her) I know.
Suzy: And Daddy just...
Beth: Hush. (Beat) "Open Our Eyes" is for Easter.
Suzy: (Recovering) Yeah... Maybe "God So Loved The World." That's sort of Christmas, but...
Beth: We don't know any wedding songs. (Beat) You're really going to do this?
Suzy: Sure. I'll just jump. (Test, singing– ) "God so loved the world..."
Beth: (Picking up hair brush) Jump?
Suzy: Shut my eyes and... Let me do your hair. (Takes brush, brushes Beth’s hair)
Beth: …hold your breath and jump. No wonder you're jittery.
Suzy/Beth: (Harmonizing on second line) "God so loved the world..." (Knock)
Suzy: Almost ready! You haven't even got enough hair for a ribbon.
Beth: (Singing) "...that he gave his only begotten son..." Leave it. (Stands) Better get this on. (Reaches for dress. Suzy helps her into it)
Suzy/Beth: (Fastening dress, they sing in harmony, unself-consciously, intent on dressing) "...that whoso believeth, believeth in him, should not perish, should not perish, but have everlasting life, everlasting, ev–er–la–asting life." (They face each other, testing pitch, holding hands)
Suzy: (Pulling Beth quickly off) Come on.
(Lights out above. Door bell. Anne sits mid-level, with paperwork. At bell, she’s startled, looks down. Jack enters, at edge of stage, carrying wooden crate)
Anne: God. (Goes to meet Jack. When she’s close, tense, low– ) Bringing it here?
Jack: Change of plan.
(Silent, Anne guides Jack over rubble and in to set crate on table. Then they look at each other across it, tension drops, a little laugh of relief)
Anne: Hi, Jack.
Jack: Good to see you. (Light kiss as they move back to door)
Anne: How come it’s you?
(Jack is looking out at street, cautiously)
Anne: Why’d you order a shut down?
Jack: Anything strange happen?
Anne: No. But why did you...?
Jack: (As he leaves for another load) Tell you on the inside.
(As Jack goes, Dave enters with a crate, carefully stepping over rubble. Jack and Dave pass without a glance. Anne stands at door, waiting. Distance is long – "entry of dynamite” dynamic)
Dave: (Passing Anne) Like stealing a baby's rattle. Now, about my reward?
Anne: (Sharp, low) Button it; I've got neighbors. On the kitchen table. Carefully.
(Dave, chastened, sets down crate, hurries out. Jack enters with two crates)
Anne: (At door) Sure you can handle that much?
Jack: Yup. Got the terrain charted. (Sets down, exits as Dave enters) The sooner we're finished, the fewer see us.
(Anne shoots out ahead to carry in crates too. All three in and out. Jack out again. Dave coming behind Anne, now carrying two at once)
Dave: (Breathing a second) Where's Beth?
Anne: (Leaving) Sleeping. She's whacked from the wedding trip.
Dave: (As he exits) I'll bet.
Jack: (To Dave as they cross each other) This'll be it.
Dave: OK, I'll lock up.
(Jack inside, collapses, extremely on edge in spite of exhaustion, beside crates)
Anne: (Bringing her last crate) Rough?
Jack: Sure.
(Dave enters with last two crates. All in kitchen)
Dave: (Exploding) My god god god, look at that.
(Anne silent. They stand looking at crates, each aware of the danger)
Jack: Getting it was nothing, but thinking about what you've got... Like, one backfire on the bridge, and no more bridge.
Anne: Why