She is looking pointedly at MARLOWE. MR BURKE comes in with ELIAS. They have a fishing rod.
MARLOWE. You going fishing? Looks cold out there!
MR BURKE. Elias likes to try. We hardly ever catch anything. Once or twice we had some supper out of it.
One of the guides on the rod is missing. MR BURKE finds a little wire in a bowl to fix it.
MARLOWE. That’s a fine boy you got there, Mr Burke.
MR BURKE. Thank you. He’s a handful. Aren’t you?
ELIAS. You gotta ah, ah, ah, put seaweed in the jar so the fish can breathe.
MR BURKE. That’s right. It’s what we do anyway. Bits of grass, you know.
MARLOWE. Sweet. That’s very sweet. You plan on putting some roots down here or you just passing through?
MR BURKE. I guess we’ll be moving on. I came down here chasing a debtor gave me the runaround. Everybody chasing everybody else. You know how it is.
MARLOWE. You have creditors on your heels too?
MR BURKE. Everybody got to wait in line, just like everybody else.
MARLOWE. I spent time up in your neck of the woods.
MR BURKE. Uh-huh?
MARLOWE. Wasn’t much hunger for the word, but by Christ were they ravenous for something just the same!
MR BURKE. I guess.
Through the following, we hear underscore for ‘Blind Willie McTell’.
MARLOWE. Yes it was last spring. I heard a terrible story. About a poor girl’s getting attacked up in the woods. Suspicion fell here and there. Some said this, some said that. Someone even said maybe it was a man or child didn’t know their own strength. Maybe was a little feeble in his mind. Who can say? You know how it is with rumors. A family by the name of Shepherd. You hear anything about that?
MR BURKE. No, can’t say I have.
MARLOWE. These things can happen so easily. I once officiated at a funeral for an infant whose own mother had crushed him to death with an overly fervent embrace. Can you imagine?
MR BURKE. That’s terrible.
MARLOWE. Life is terrible.
MR BURKE. It sure can be.
MARLOWE. But you and your wife seem united. And that’s the main thing, I guess.
MR BURKE. What you driving at?
MARLOWE. I ain’t out to cause trouble. World’s already full of trouble. But like they say there’s a man going round with his wife and his grown son saying he lost his business. Maybe that’s just what he’s saying. Maybe he’s been moving round ’cause he’s got something to hide.
MR BURKE. You’re in the wrong garden, preacher.
MARLOWE. Maybe. But I got to be where I am. Just like the next man. Five hundred dollars should do it. Say five o’clock. You meet me here, fine. If not, I’ll call by the precinct. Just tell ’em what I know. Look at that! The sun’s coming out.
MR BURKE grabs MARLOWE.
MR BURKE. Now you listen to me, you son of a bitch. You want to threaten people, you want to get your due, I’ll give it to you. You so much as say a goddamn word about me to anyone, I’ll cut your fucking throat. You keep your lies to yourself. I don’t know a damn thing what you’re talking about.
MARLOWE extricates himself.
MARLOWE. Then what you getting so riled up about? Huh? If you’re unable to hold a decent conversation in a public place maybe you shouldn’t have a vulnerable individual in your charge. Maybe you need to think about that till tomorrow. Before you go throwing aspersions around.
Good day. I’m famished. Five o’clock tomorrow. You enjoy your fishing, Elias.
MARLOWE puts on his hat and leaves. MR BURKE angrily takes the fishing rod from ELIAS.
MR BURKE. What you doing? Gimme that! Look! You took ’em all off! Goddamn…
ELIAS sits quietly for a moment, then his face contorts and he silently cries. MR BURKE sees him.
Hey, that’s alright. Daddy didn’t mean to shout. That’s alright.
He holds ELIAS. ELIZABETH just watches, then switches on the wireless. A big band play a version of ‘Like A Rolling Stone’.
I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I love you. I love you. Come on, we go fishing, huh?
ELIAS nods silently like a child.
Come on.
BURKE leads ELIAS out. ELIZABETH sings.
Like A Rolling Stone
Once upon a time you dressed so fine
You threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn’t you?
People’d call, say, “Beware doll, you’re bound to fall”
You thought they were all kiddin’ you
You used to laugh about
Everybody that was hangin’ out
Now you don’t talk so loud
Now you don’t seem so proud
About having to be scrounging for your next meal
How does it feel
How does it feel
To be without a home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?
You’ve gone to the finest school all right, Miss Lonely
But you know you only used to get juiced in it
And nobody has ever taught you how to live on the street
And now you find out you’re gonna have to get used to it
You said you’d never compromise
With the mystery tramp, but now you realize
He’s not selling any alibis
As you stare into the vacuum of his eyes
And ask him do you want to make a deal?
How does it feel
How does it feel
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?
We are in night-time. ELIZABETH is at the radio. The music is now only in the radio. MARIANNE is making the room right for morning.
SCOTT. How far are you along?
She looks at him. Looks away.
MARIANNE. Four and a half months. Say five.
SCOTT. Where’s the daddy?
MARIANNE. Working the boats.
SCOTT. You gonna get married?
She shakes her head.
It’s not too late to… I mean… You don’t have to have it.
MARIANNE. At five months?
SCOTT. Depends who you ask. Where you go.
MARIANNE. No.
SCOTT (weighs the situation up). You raise it. Someone else raise it.
He turns away, dropping the subject.
MARIANNE. When you going to Chicago?
SCOTT. Tomorrow. Day after. Soon as I get me some dough. You do a deal with the pier man. He’ll find you somewhere on board. You just stay out of the way. It’s alright.
MARIANNE. You think I’d like Chicago, huh?
SCOTT. Chicago rises up off the plain like a magical kingdom when you see it first, I swear. And then… well, you go inside and they’ll rob you kill you if you don’t mind your business. But stay with someone who knows what they’re doing? Then it’s all just fine. I’ll show you who to ask down on the pier, you want to go.
Pause.
You think about it. You let me know.
MARIANNE. Are you married, Mr Scott?
SCOTT. Yes I am. I got me a wife and two children. But I ain’t seen ’em for a long time. My wife is with another man. I don’t want to cause ’em all no trouble.
He hides his pain around this issue, but MARIANNE has seen it.
MARIANNE. Alright. Goodnight.
SCOTT. Goodnight.
MARIANNE. You know, you wouldn’t believe me if I told you the truth.
SCOTT. About what?
MARIANNE. About my baby.
SCOTT. You don’t have to tell me a damn thing.
She’s taken aback. She stands there for a moment.
NICK comes in. He senses the intimacy between SCOTT and MARIANNE.
NICK. Watcha doin’?
MARIANNE. Cleaning up.
NICK. Get your momma some supper.
MARIANNE. Come on, Momma.
ELIZABE
TH. We going to the movies?
MARIANNE. Sure.
NICK looks at SCOTT.
NICK. You okay?
SCOTT. Yes, sir.
NICK. Ha?
SCOTT (his back to NICK, ignoring the bad vibe). I’m fine.
NICK. Alright.
SCOTT goes.
(To MARIANNE.) You speak with Mr Perry last night?
MARIANNE continues her work, coming in and out of the kitchen.
You know he came all the way up here for that talk.
MARIANNE does her best to stay out of it.
You talk with him?
MARIANNE. Sure.
NICK. What did he say? He say anything?
MARIANNE. Sure.
NICK. Well that’s… Did you… what did you…
MARIANNE. Nothin’.
NICK. Nothin’. What do you mean, nothin’? He brought you up them nice flowers, you didn’t say nothing to him?
MARIANNE. Were those flowers for me?
NICK. Yeah!
MARIANNE. Well he took ’em with him.
NICK. What you mean?
MARIANNE. If they were for me he never said. He took them with him.
NICK. Well that’s… Were you civil to him?
MARIANNE (affronted). What do you think I am?
NICK. That’s a question! I’m not sure I rightly know! Stand still for one second. What you discuss? You didn’t discuss nothing?
MARIANNE. Looks like all the discussin’s already been done.
NICK. What are you talkin’ about?
MARIANNE. He told me you and him already got it all planned out.
NICK. We may have… spoken. I may have answered some… I spoke with him, but it’s… No one is saying you ain’t got to want this for yourself.
MARIANNE. What could possibly make you think this is something I want? What you want make me go for?!
NICK. We all gotta go. It’s just a question how we do it. When I went back down to Bakersfield for my uncle’s funeral? All along the road? People living in tents. In tents! In the United States of America! Kids with no clothes on. All along the whole street into the town. There ain’t no net to catch us, Marianne. You get it? You get it?
MARIANNE. Why don’t you let me help you?
NICK. When I needed your help was when I needed you to be a good girl. That was when you coulda helped me.
MARIANNE. Daddy, I didn’t…
NICK. Don’t give me that cock-and-bull story. You gotta go carrying on with some goddamn boatman?! Like some little whore?!
MRS NEILSEN has come through.
MARIANNE goes up through the kitchen.
You okay?
MRS NEILSEN smiles and nods.
What you wanna waste your life away in here for?
MRS NEILSEN. I gotta waste it somewhere.
NICK can’t help smiling. He comes to MRS NEILSEN and takes her hand.
ELIZABETH is singing…
Like A Rolling Stone
How does it feel
How does it feel
To be on your own
With no direction home
The band coming in softly underneath her. Over this the rest of the cast are harmonizing with…
I Want You
I want you
I want you
I want you
So bad
Honey I want you…
MARIANNE comes on to the landing. Seeing NICK, she stops. They stand looking at each other for a moment.
Black.
ACT TWO
The company sings.
You Ain’t Goin’ Nowhere
Clouds so swift
Rain won’t lift
Gate won’t close
Railings froze
Get your mind off wintertime
You ain’t goin’ nowhere
Whoo-ee! Ride me high
Tomorrow’s the day
My bride’s gonna come
Oh, oh, are we gonna fly
Down in the easy chair!
I don’t care
How many letters they sent
Morning came and morning went
Pick up your money
And pack up your tent
You ain’t goin’ nowhere
Whoo-ee! Ride me high
Tomorrow’s the day
My bride’s gonna come
Oh, oh, are we gonna fly
Down in the easy chair!
Buy me a flute
And a gun that shoots
Tailgates and substitutes
Strap yourself
To the tree with roots
You ain’t goin’ nowhere
Whoo-ee! Ride me high
Tomorrow’s the day
My bride’s gonna come
Oh, oh, are we gonna fly
Down in the easy chair!
Genghis Khan
He could not keep
All his kings
Supplied with sleep
We’ll climb that hill no matter how steep
When we get up to it
Whoo-ee! Ride me high
Tomorrow’s the day
My bride’s gonna come
Oh, oh, are we gonna fly
Down in the easy chair!
It segues into ‘Jokerman’.
Jokerman
Standing on the waters casting your bread
While the eyes of the idol with the iron head are glowing
Distant ships sailing into the mist
You were born with a snake in both of your fists while a hurricane was blowing
Freedom just around the corner for you
But with the truth so far off, what good will it do?
Jokerman dance to the nightingale tune
Bird fly high by the light of the moon
Oh, oh, oh, Jokerman
Some shadowy figures are upstage in the lamplight, maybe singing or dancing or talking. ELIZABETH is dancing with ELIAS. Further downstage, MR BURKE is drinking and playing cards with MRS NEILSEN.
Furthest downstage, DR WALKER is dancing with MRS BURKE. He addresses us.
DR WALKER. Today is Wednesday November 21st 1934. The night before Thanksgiving. The last one we ever celebrated together.
MRS BURKE. You got any more drops?
He gives her a little bottle, she takes some.
DR WALKER. Keep it.
MRS BURKE. You sure?
DR WALKER. Six drops a day maximum.
MRS BURKE. Thank you.
DR WALKER. You don’t want to become addicted.
MRS BURKE. Why not?
He looks at her.
It’s something to do, isn’t it? I’m kidding! Of course not. Six drops. You must have a nice house, Doctor.
DR WALKER. I have a nice house, but I only live in two rooms. I eat in one I sleep in the other.
MRS BURKE. We had a house bigger than this one, you know.
DR WALKER. I’m sure you did.
MRS BURKE. How would it be, do you think, if I came to your house some day?
He looks at her.
I only say this for talk.
DR WALKER. Well I’m sure that would be very pleasant.
MRS BURKE. You think? I think it would be really sad. If we coupled, I mean. We’d be like two lonely beasts in the field. And yet…
DR WALKER. Yes.
ELIZABETH. Yes!
They laugh.
MRS BURKE is attending to ELIAS.
DR WALKER. This time of year, a lost soul could always find a welcome up here. Suicide had increased by nearly one hundred per cent in the years after the crash. Single men led the way, followed closely by divorced women. My own marriage had failed in the years before. I say it failed, but really I failed. Failed to spark my wife’s interest for very long. I saw her with the man she left me for one night. They were standing by the rail down on Michigan Street looking out on the water. And boy could he make her laugh. I’d never seen her eyes light up like that. Never seen them hide such dark promise. A little morphine h
elped. You just glide on by. You got your little secret trick. Then it turns and you realize it’s got teeth and boy are they buried in your flesh. I weaned myself off of it.
Girl from the North Country Page 5