He is pressed against her, trapping her, reaching into the pockets of her skirt.
MRS NEILSEN. Let me go.
ELIZABETH goes to the dresser. She finds a revolver in behind books on an upper shelf. She points it at MARLOWE.
ELIZABETH. Hey, preacher.
MARLOWE sees the gun. He cowers.
MARLOWE. Jesus Christ!
ELIZABETH. That’s right.
She shoots, once, twice, three times, four times, five times, emptying the gun, trying to hit MARLOWE, who dodges away on the far side of the room. Bullets shatter crockery, lamps, pictures hanging on the walls, but somehow, miraculously, he is unharmed. The revolver starts to click, click, click as ELIZABETH keeps trying to fire the empty weapon. MRS NEILSEN stands frozen, her hands over her ears.
MARLOWE. Stop it! Stop!
He pulls the dollars from his pocket and throws them on the ground.
ELIZABETH. Thank you! You see? Good manners will always trump a scoundrel.
She retrieves her money as GENE comes in.
MARLOWE. This is a fucking madhouse.
ELIZABETH. Then get out, right?
MARLOWE. I’m getting out.
ELIZABETH. Well then go.
MARLOWE. I am.
ELIZABETH. Well go then.
MARLOWE. I’m going.
GENE. Mom.
NICK comes in, breathless, wet and dirty from being up on the roof in the rain.
NICK. What the hell is going on? (To MRS NEILSEN.) What happened?
MRS NEILSEN. Ask him.
MARLOWE. I have been accused and degraded, sir. Here in this very room.
NICK. We’ve all been degraded in this very room. Who was shooting?
MRS NEILSEN. It doesn’t matter.
MARLOWE (leaving). With ye prayers will ye seek ye repentance.
ELIZABETH. That’s right.
MARLOWE stalks out.
NICK (to GENE). See to your mother.
GENE tries to sort ELIZABETH out. She knocks him away with a shout. MRS NEILSEN steps in and takes
ELIZABETH out gently. NICK and GENE are alone. GENE is holding his mother’s money box.
GENE. You can’t…
NICK. What?
GENE. She’s gonna kill someone.
NICK. Mm. Water’s pouring in up there. Goddamn pipes have burst. Only hope now is they’ll freeze.
GENE. Right. You gonna go down the pier?
NICK. For what?
GENE. Marianne just told me that’s where she’s going. You have any opinion about that?
NICK (shrugs). That guy seems like a…
GENE. Like a what?
NICK (sniffs and wipes his nose while he tidies up). He seems strong.
GENE. Well that’s alright then. Too bad she didn’t feel like saying goodbye I guess.
NICK. Well, that’s… [a pity.]
NICK is looking at some broken crockery.
GENE. It’s what?
NICK. Well that’s a pity.
GENE. That’s a pity, huh?
NICK. I think so.
GENE. Yeah?
NICK. Yeah.
GENE. You don’t give a damn.
NICK. I did my best.
GENE. You did your best.
NICK. What did you want me to do? What would you do? Kick her in the street?
GENE. Well she’s in the street now! Why couldn’t ya just let her stay here?
NICK. There is no here! I don’t own a ‘here’! I only ever borrowed it, Gene! You got a job and that’s… it’s gonna be okay.
GENE. I don’t have a job.
NICK. But you had the letter.
GENE. I was too late. Job was gone.
NICK. And you just took that?!
GENE. Well what else could I do?
NICK. You coulda said something… Jesus Christ, you shoulda said something to me! What are you doing? Instead you lied to me about it?
GENE. I didn’t want to embarrass you!
NICK. Embarrass me?
GENE. ’Cause you were all, ‘This guy is my buddy. And she’s my old girlfriend and this is all gonna be great.’
NICK. Aw, Gene!! Jesus Christ!
GENE. What are you so worried about? My plans don’t work out, they don’t work out, what do you care?
NICK. Because I needed you to just do this one thing for me.
GENE. Why? Why is it so important?
NICK. Because I needed you to… I don’t have anything to give you.
GENE. Why do you have to give me anything?
NICK. What kinda question is that?
GENE. It’s a… what? Don’t worry about it.
NICK. Look, me and your mother…
The band gently play underscore, the weeping descending phrase that opens ‘Lay Lady Lay’…
GENE. What…
NICK. We’re not gonna be here.
GENE. Where are you going?
NICK. We’re going all the way.
GENE. All the way where?
NICK. All the way.
GENE. Dad, don’t joke like that.
NICK. It’s no joke. Your mother will go first, and…
Pause. GENE sees that NICK is holding the revolver.
GENE. Don’t say this to me, Pa.
NICK. It’s alright. It’s okay. It would happen some time, right?
GENE. Don’t say this to me.
NICK. It’s alright! It’s like when you were always scared of the carousel at the Christmas fair? The lights and the music, it was all just too much? No one could understand why you were crying and you wanted to get off. All the other kids laughing and trying to get on. But I understood it. I know. Sometimes you just have to get off. (Laughs.) I know!
GENE. This is crazy!
NICK. That’s right. It is. It’s crazy. I been flailing around, Gene. I gotta stop.
GENE takes ELIZABETH, putting her behind him, standing in front of her protectively.
GENE. Dad. Don’t… don’t do that. I’ll get a job. I’ll get one.
NICK. Yeah, get a job. A few dollars ain’t gonna get us out of this one.
GENE. Give me a chance.
NICK. Whatcha gonna do? Suddenly write a masterpiece all of a sudden?
GENE. Maybe. Maybe I will.
ELIZABETH. Just go, Gene.
NICK. I’m sorry, son.
Silence. GENE doesn’t know what to say.
GENE. Where am I gonna go?
NICK puts his hand in his pocket.
NICK. Go wherever you… this is twenty-two dollars… it’s everything I got.
GENE looks at the money.
I love you, son.
GENE. I’m… gonna go.
NICK. That’s right. You do that.
As GENE goes, MRS NEILSEN, MRS BURKE, KATE and MARIANNE are singing the second verse and chorus of ‘Jokerman’.
Jokerman
So swiftly the sun sets in the sky
You rise up and say goodbye to no one
Fools rush in where angels fear to tread
Both of their futures, so full of dread, you don’t show one
Shedding off one more layer of skin
Keeping one step ahead of the persecutor within
Jokerman dance to the nightingale tune
Bird fly high by the light of the moon
Oh, oh, oh, Jokerman
DR WALKER addresses us. ELIZABETH is playing ‘Clair de Lune’ on the piano.
DR WALKER. Last time I saw Nick Laine was the morning of Friday November 30th 1934. Why’d I call by? Christ knows. Just a feeling somewhere. And a strange idea – and maybe it was the truth, and if it was maybe it mighta cheered him up, I don’t know. He seemed good when I saw him. He seemed alright. That’s the… That’s something I’ve come to recognize. Once the decision is made. Hardest thing in life, right? Making up your mind?
Daylight. Time has passed. MRS NEILSEN comes in to find NICK, MR BURKE and MRS BURKE in the dining room. MRS BURKE is making lists. NICK is helping her. DR WALKER stands with
MR BURKE near the window. MRS NEILSEN is in her best clothes, a jacket, and a hat. THE BURKES are both wearing formal mourning attire. ELIZABETH also stands in the room
MRS NEILSEN. I’m sorry. I don’t want to intrude. There’s a taxi outside.
MR BURKE. Not at all! Mrs Neilsen.
DR WALKER nods a hello to MRS NEILSEN.
MRS BURKE. Oh, Mrs Neilsen, we are going to miss you, you know.
MRS NEILSEN. I will miss you. I’m only sorry I won’t be able to be with you for the ceremony.
MRS BURKE. We could never ask you to come all the way up north with us! We’d never expect it.
MRS NEILSEN. Is there anything I can do?
MRS BURKE. Oh no. When we get home it’s … it’s only going to be small – of necessity – but we’ll… it’s a pretty cemetery, Mrs Neilsen, it’s… (Fights back tears.) Good and evil – it’s all beyond them, isn’t it?
MRS NEILSEN. Oh, entirely.
MR BURKE. Well we better… They said to us, you know, that slipway is notorious where he… You turn round, someone is gone, and the current just…
DR WALKER. It’s not the first time.
MRS BURKE. They really need to…
MR BURKE. It’s crazy!
MRS NEILSEN. Yes, it’s terrible.
MR BURKE. You’ve been a good friend to us, Mrs Neilsen. You make sure and write. We should stay in touch.
MRS NEILSEN. Absolutely.
MRS BURKE kisses MRS NEILSEN. MR BURKE shakes her hand.
Let me walk you out.
MRS BURKE. Thank you, Mrs Neilsen.
MR BURKE. George.
They shake hands.
Nick.
DR WALKER is alone with NICK and ELIZABETH.
NICK. You okay, Doc? You want some coffee?
DR WALKER. No, I better go.
DR WALKER pauses at the door.
I’ve always admired you, Nick.
MRS NEILSEN comes in.
NICK. Are you fucking crazy?
DR WALKER. No, I… You just keep on that road, alright? (Goes.)
NICK (to MRS NEILSEN). What time is your bus?
MRS NEILSEN. Eleven.
NICK. You want something to eat?
MRS NEILSEN shakes her head.
MRS NEILSEN. How did it go? Down at the bank this morning?
NICK. Oh, the bank! They got some new guy in charge of the loans. New hotshot. Looks fifteen years old. Talked some crazy talk. Says there’s a tide coming is gonna lift all boats. Says let’s keep talking. Talk again in the New Year.
MRS NEILSEN. Well that’s great.
NICK. You look very pretty.
MRS NEILSEN. I got a child inside me, Nick.
NICK. What? How did that happen?
MRS NEILSEN. The way it usually happens.
NICK. I thought you was too old.
MRS NEILSEN. Why thank you. I guess not.
NICK. Well, Jesus Christ, this is… this is… you can’t go now.
MRS NEILSEN. Why not?
MRS NEILSEN comes to him. Too much to be said. Can’t be said.
Goodbye, Elizabeth.
ELIZABETH. You’re too good for him, Mrs Neilsen.
MRS NEILSEN smiles. She silently goes out. NICK stands there.
What was that crock of shit you just told her?
NICK. She don’t need to know.
He goes to the dresser, takes out the revolver and loads it.
ELIZABETH. What they really say?
NICK. We gotta get out. We gotta be out by the third of next month.
ELIZABETH. When is that?
NICK. Monday. You wanna do that? Go walkin’ the roads? Sleepin’ in a ditch?
ELIZABETH. Not really! Well, mister. You done it. You got ’em all out. I don’t know how. But you did it.
She comes to him and takes the revolver. She looks at it.
I know. You start off – it’s a love story. You wait outside the drug store where you said you’d meet her, searchin’ in the eyes of everyone passing by. You can’t believe it when she steps out of the crowd. Her face, perhaps plain to everybody else, well it uncloaks its beauty just for you. And you know you’re gone. You’re her hostage. And she takes you down into a world of plans and dreams you could never have sustained on your own.
And then one day in the midst of the exhilaration and the worry and the children and the fighting and the whole damn shebang, one day you realize you’re just about scraping through. And you look up and you see her again and you may as well be looking at a baby giraffe in the zoo.
She’s alive and she sees you but her world is not your world. You don’t want to live in her world and she doesn’t want you there anyhow. But you know you’re too weak on your own. The children look to you. ‘What are you looking at me for?’ you say. And they hate you and you’re glad they hate you. ’Cause they stop coming to you.
And then one day she turns round and says, ‘I don’t love you any more either,’ and you think, ‘What the hell does that have to do with anything?!’ Except you know she’s just knocked you out cold. And you realize, ‘Oh shit, I’m really on my own here now. Okay, okay, that’s alright. I can drink myself to death in some room somewhere – it’s alright.’
She opens the revolver.
Until she loses her mind. And then you have her for ever.
She empties the bullets on to the floor.
You have her for ever. So what do you say we live a little longer?
ELIZABETH sings.
Forever Young
May God bless and keep you always
May your wishes all come true
May you always do for others
And let others do for you
May you build a ladder to the stars
And climb on every rung
May you stay forever young
Forever young, forever young
May you stay forever young
May you grow up to be righteous
May you grow up to be true
May you always know the truth
And see the lights surrounding you
May you always be courageous
Stand upright and be strong
May you stay forever young
The cast join her, quietly at first, perhaps building to an unexpected strength.
Forever young, forever young
May you stay forever young
DR WALKER is before us.
DR WALKER. Word was Nick headed south, took Elizabeth with him, took care of her best he could. Made it down as far at Sioux City till bronchitis got her in a flophouse down there. They took her into a home for women on the banks of the Missouri. Nick stayed nearby in a hostel for men. Came down to see her every day. He was with her the morning she passed. Held her hand at the end, I heard. I don’t know where he went after that. Word was he kept on heading south, maybe down towards Oklahoma, but nobody really knew.
We see NICK and ELIZABETH having dinner – happy and healthy. GENE joins them.
Old Mr Perry gave Gene a place to stay, a job and working in his store. He tried his hand at reporting for a local paper then took the plunge and went down to New York City. He met a girl there, it didn’t work out. When the war came he enlisted in the Marines, saw action in Italy and then at Okinawa where he stood on a mine and was declared missing in action June of ’45.
MARIANNE comes and sits. The family are happy together.
I left this world eleven years earlier, on Christmas Eve 1934. Set it all up. It was just like stepping through a glass wall. I could still see everything. Saw the time come and go. Saw Marianne and her Joseph come by the following winter. And damn if she didn’t have a baby in her arms! Yes, she had a baby. They were well dressed in warm coats. Came up and stood outside the old inn with that baby in their arms. They looked up at the windows a while, then I watched them walk away.
Girl from the North Country Page 9