He breaks off as Ann’s voice comes out loud from the house where she is still talking on phone.
ANN: Simply because when you get excited you don’t control yourself. . . . Mother comes out of house. Well, what did he tell you for God’s sake? Pause. All right, come then. Pause. Yes, they’ll all be here. Nobody’s running away from you. And try to get hold of yourself, will you? Pause. All right, all right. Goodbye. There is a brief pause as Ann hangs up receiver, then comes out of kitchen.
CHRIS: Something happen?
KELLER: He’s coming here?
ANN: On the seven o’clock. He’s in Columbus. To Mother: I told him it would be all right.
KELLER: Sure, fine! Your father took sick?
ANN, mystified: No, George didn’t say he was sick. I . . . Shaking it off: I don’t know, I suppose it’s something stupid, you know my brother . . . She comes to Chris. Let’s go for a drive, or something . . .
CHRIS: Sure. Give me the keys, Dad.
MOTHER: Drive through the park. It’s beautiful now.
CHRIS: Come on, Ann. To them: Be back right away.
ANN, as she and Chris exit up driveway: See you. Mother comes down toward Keller, her eyes fixed on him.
KELLER: Take your time. To Mother: What does George want?
MOTHER: He’s been in Columbus since this morning with Steve. He’s gotta see Annie right away, he says.
KELLER: What for?
MOTHER: I don’t know. She speaks with warning. He’s a lawyer now, Joe. George is a lawyer. All these years he never even sent a postcard to Steve. Since he got back from the war, not a postcard.
KELLER: So what?
MOTHER, her tension breaking out: Suddenly he takes an airplane from New York to see him. An airplane!
KELLER: Well? So?
MOTHER, trembling: Why?
KELLER: I don’t read minds. Do you?
MOTHER: Why, Joe? What has Steve suddenly got to tell him that he takes an airplane to see him?
KELLER: What do I care what Steve’s got to tell him?
MOTHER: You’re sure, Joe?
KELLER, frightened, but angry: Yes, I’m sure.
MOTHER—she sits stiffly in a chair: Be smart now, Joe. The boy is coming. Be smart.
KELLER, desperately: Once and for all, did you hear what I said? I said I’m sure!
MOTHER—she nods weakly: All right, Joe. He straightens up. Just . . . be smart. Keller, in hopeless fury, looks at her, turns around, goes up to porch and into house, slamming screen door violently behind him. Mother sits in chair downstage, stiffly, staring, seeing.
CURTAIN
ACT TWO
As twilight falls, that evening.
On the rise: Chris is discovered at right, sawing the broken-off tree, leaving stump standing alone. He is dressed in good pants, white shoes, but without a shirt. He disappears with tree up the alley when Mother appears on porch. She comes down and stands watching him. She has on a dressing-gown, carries a tray of grape juice drink in a pitcher, and glasses with sprigs of mint in them.
MOTHER, calling up alley: Did you have to put on good pants to do that? She comes downstage and puts tray on table in the arbor. Then looks around uneasily, then feels pitcher for coolness. Chris enters from alley brushing off his hands. You notice there’s more light with that thing gone?
CHRIS: Why aren’t you dressing?
MOTHER: It’s suffocating upstairs. I made a grape drink for Georgie. He always liked grape. Come and have some.
CHRIS, impatiently: Well, come on, get dressed. And what’s Dad sleeping so much for? He goes to table and pours a glass of juice.
MOTHER: He’s worried. When he’s worried he sleeps. Pauses. Looks into his eyes. We’re dumb, Chris. Dad and I are stupid people. We don’t know anything. You’ve got to protect us.
CHRIS: You’re silly; what’s there to be afraid of?
MOTHER: To his last day in court Steve never gave up the idea that Dad made him do it. If they’re going to open the case again I won’t live through it.
CHRIS: George is just a damn fool, Mother. How can you take him seriously?
MOTHER: That family hates us. Maybe even Annie. . . .
CHRIS: Oh, now, Mother . . .
MOTHER: You think just because you like everybody, they like you!
CHRIS: All right, stop working yourself up. Just leave everything to me.
MOTHER: When George goes home tell her to go with him.
CHRIS, noncommittally: Don’t worry about Annie.
MOTHER: Steve is her father, too.
CHRIS: Are you going to cut it out? Now, come.
MOTHER, going upstage with him: You don’t realize how people can hate, Chris, they can hate so much they’ll tear the world to pieces. . . . Ann, dressed up, appears on porch.
CHRIS: Look! She’s dressed already. As he and Mother mount porch: I’ve just got to put on a shirt.
ANN, in a preoccupied way: Are you feeling well, Kate?
MOTHER: What’s the difference, dear. There are certain people, y’know, the sicker they get the longer they live. She goes into house.
CHRIS: You look nice.
ANN: We’re going to tell her tonight.
CHRIS: Absolutely, don’t worry about it.
ANN: I wish we could tell her now. I can’t stand scheming. My stomach gets hard.
CHRIS: It’s not scheming, we’ll just get her in a better mood.
MOTHER, offstage, in the house: Joe, are you going to sleep all day!
ANN, laughing: The only one who’s relaxed is your father. He’s fast asleep.
CHRIS: I’m relaxed.
ANN: Are you?
CHRIS: Look. He holds out his hand and makes it shake. Let me know when George gets here.
He goes into the house. She moves aimlessly, and then is drawn toward tree stump. She goes to it, hesitantly touches broken top in the hush of her thoughts. Offstage Lydia calls, “Johnny! Come get your supper!” Sue enters from left, and halts, seeing Ann.
SUE: Is my husband . . . ?
ANN, turns, startled: Oh!
SUE: I’m terribly sorry.
ANN: It’s all right, I . . . I’m a little silly about the dark.
SUE, looks about: It is getting dark.
ANN: Are you looking for your husband?
SUE: As usual. Laughs tiredly. He spends so much time here, they’ll be charging him rent.
ANN: Nobody was dressed so he drove over to the depot to pick up my brother.
SUE: Oh, your brother’s in?
ANN: Yeah, they ought to be here any minute now. Will you have a cold drink?
SUE: I will, thanks. Ann goes to table and pours. My husband. Too hot to drive me to beach.—Men are like little boys; for the neighbors they’ll always cut the grass.
ANN: People like to do things for the Kellers. Been that way since I can remember.
SUE: It’s amazing. I guess your brother’s coming to give you away, heh?
ANN, giving her drink: I don’t know. I suppose.
SUE: You must be all nerved up.
ANN: It’s always a problem getting yourself married, isn’t it?
SUE: That depends on your shape, of course. I don’t see why you should have had a problem.
ANN: I’ve had chances—
SUE: I’ll bet. It’s romantic . . . it’s very unusual to me, marrying the brother of your sweetheart.
ANN: I don’t know. I think it’s mostly that whenever I need somebody to tell me the truth I’ve always thought of Chris. When he tells you something you know it’s so. He relaxes me.
SUE: And he’s got money. That’s important, you know.
ANN: It wouldn’t matter to me.
SUE: You’d be surprised. It makes all the difference, I married an intern. On my salary
. And that was bad, because as soon as a woman supports a man he owes her something. You can never owe somebody without resenting them. Ann laughs. That’s true, you know.
ANN: Underneath, I think the doctor is very devoted.
SUE: Oh, certainly. But it’s bad when a man always sees the bars in front of him. Jim thinks he’s in jail all the time.
ANN: Oh . . .
SUE: That’s why I’ve been intending to ask you a small favor, Ann . . . it’s something very important to me.
ANN: Certainly, if I can do it.
SUE: You can. When you take up housekeeping, try to find a place away from here.
ANN: Are you fooling?
SUE: I’m very serious. My husband is unhappy with Chris around.
ANN: How is that?
SUE: Jim’s a successful doctor. But he’s got an idea he’d like to do medical research. Discover things. You see?
ANN: Well, isn’t that good?
SUE: Research pays twenty-five dollars a week minus laundering the hair shirt. You’ve got to give up your life to go into it.
ANN: How does Chris—?
SUE, with growing feeling: Chris makes people want to be better than it’s possible to be. He does that to people.
ANN: Is that bad?
SUE: My husband has a family, dear. Every time he has a session with Chris he feels as though he’s compromising by not giving up everything for research. As though Chris or anybody else isn’t compromising. It happens with Jim every couple of years. He meets a man and makes a statue out of him.
ANN: Maybe he’s right. I don’t mean that Chris is a statue, but . . .
SUE: Now darling, you know he’s not right.
ANN: I don’t agree with you. Chris . . .
SUE: Let’s face it, dear. Chris is working with his father, isn’t he? He’s taking money out of that business every week in the year.
ANN: What of it?
SUE: You ask me what of it?
ANN: I certainly do ask you. She seems about to burst out. You oughtn’t cast aspersions like that, I’m surprised at you.
SUE: You’re surprised at me!
ANN: He’d never take five cents out of that plant if there was anything wrong in it.
SUE: You know that.
ANN: I know it. I resent everything you’ve said.
SUE, moving toward her: You know what I resent, dear?
ANN: Please, I don’t want to argue.
SUE: I resent living next door to the Holy Family. It makes me look like a bum, you understand?
ANN: I can’t do anything about that.
SUE: Who is he to ruin a man’s life? Everybody knows Joe pulled a fast one to get out of jail.
ANN: That’s not true!
SUE: Then why don’t you go out and talk to people? Go on, talk to them. There’s not a person on the block who doesn’t know the truth.
ANN: That’s a lie. People come here all the time for cards and . . .
SUE: So what? They give him credit for being smart. I do, too, I’ve got nothing against Joe. But if Chris wants people to put on the hair shirt let him take off his broadcloth. He’s driving my husband crazy with that phony idealism of his, and I’m at the end of my rope on it!
Chris enters on porch, wearing shirt and tie now. She turns quickly, hearing. With a smile: Hello, darling. How’s Mother?
CHRIS: I thought George came.
SUE: No, it was just us.
CHRIS, coming down to them: Susie, do me a favor, heh? Go up to Mother and see if you can calm her. She’s all worked up.
SUE: She still doesn’t know about you two?
CHRIS, laughs a little: Well, she senses it, I guess. You know my mother.
SUE, going up to porch: Oh, yeah, she’s psychic.
CHRIS: Maybe there’s something in the medicine chest.
SUE: I’ll give her one of everything. On porch: Don’t worry about Kate; couple of drinks, dance her around a little . . . she’ll love Ann. To Ann: Because you’re the female version of him. Chris laughs. Don’t be alarmed, I said version. She goes into house.
CHRIS: Interesting woman, isn’t she?
ANN: Yeah, she’s very interesting.
CHRIS: She’s a great nurse, you know, she . . .
ANN, in tension, but trying to control it: Are you still doing that?
CHRIS, sensing something wrong, but still smiling: Doing what?
ANN: As soon as you get to know somebody you find a distinction for them. How do you know she’s a great nurse?
CHRIS: What’s the matter, Ann?
ANN: The woman hates you. She despises you!
CHRIS: Hey . . . what’s hit you?
ANN: Gee, Chris . . .
CHRIS: What happened here?
ANN: You never . . . Why didn’t you tell me?
CHRIS: Tell you what?
ANN: She says they think Joe is guilty.
CHRIS: What difference does it make what they think?
ANN: I don’t care what they think, I just don’t understand why you took the trouble to deny it. You said it was all forgotten.
CHRIS: I didn’t want you to feel there was anything wrong in you coming here, that’s all. I know a lot of people think my father was guilty, and I assumed there might be some question in your mind.
ANN: But I never once said I suspected him.
CHRIS: Nobody says it.
ANN: Chris, I know how much you love him, but it could never . . .
CHRIS: Do you think I could forgive him if he’d done that thing?
ANN: I’m not here out of a blue sky, Chris. I turned my back on my father, if there’s anything wrong here now . . .
CHRIS: I know that, Ann.
ANN: George is coming from Dad, and I don’t think it’s with a blessing.
CHRIS: He’s welcome here. You’ve got nothing to fear from George.
ANN: Tell me that . . . just tell me that.
CHRIS: The man is innocent, Ann. Remember he was falsely accused once and it put him through hell. How would you behave if you were faced with the same thing again? Annie, believe me, there’s nothing wrong for you here, believe me, kid.
ANN: All right, Chris, all right.
They embrace as Keller appears quietly on porch. Ann simply studies him.
KELLER: Every time I come out here it looks like Playland! They break and laugh in embarrassment.
CHRIS: I thought you were going to shave?
KELLER, sitting on bench: In a minute. I just woke up, I can’t see nothin’.
ANN: You look shaved.
KELLER: Oh, no. Massages his jaw. Gotta be extra special tonight. Big night, Annie. So how’s it feel to be a married woman?
ANN, laughs: I don’t know, yet.
KELLER, to Chris: What’s the matter, you slippin’? He takes a little box of apples from under the bench as they talk.
CHRIS: The great roué!
KELLER: What is that, roué?
CHRIS: It’s French.
KELLER: Don’t talk dirty. They laugh.
CHRIS, to Ann: You ever meet a bigger ignoramus?
KELLER: Well, somebody’s got to make a living.
ANN, as they laugh: That’s telling him.
KELLER: I don’t know, everybody’s gettin’ so Goddam educated in this country there’ll be nobody to take away the garbage. They laugh. It’s gettin’ so the only dumb ones left are the bosses.
ANN: You’re not so dumb, Joe.
KELLER: I know, but you go into our plant, for instance. I got so many lieutenants, majors, and colonels that I’m ashamed to ask somebody to sweep the floor. I gotta be careful I’ll insult somebody. No kiddin’. It’s a tragedy: you stand on the street today and spit, you’re gonna hit a college man.
CHRIS: Well, don
’t spit.
KELLER, breaks apple in half, passing it to Ann and Chris: I mean to say, it’s comin’ to a pass. He takes a breath. I been thinkin’, Annie . . . your brother, George. I been thinkin’ about your brother George. When he comes I like you to brooch something to him.
CHRIS: Broach.
KELLER: What’s the matter with brooch?
CHRIS, smiling: It’s not English.
KELLER: When I went to night school it was brooch.
ANN, laughing: Well, in day school it’s broach.
KELLER: Don’t surround me, will you? Seriously, Ann . . . You say he’s not well. George, I been thinkin’, why should he knock himself out in New York with that cut-throat competition, when I got so many friends here; I’m very friendly with some big lawyers in town. I could set George up here.
ANN: That’s awfully nice of you, Joe.
KELLER: No, kid, it ain’t nice of me. I want you to understand me. I’m thinking of Chris. Slight pause. See . . . this is what I mean. You get older, you want to feel that you . . . accomplished something. My only accomplishment is my son. I ain’t brainy. That’s all I accomplished. Now, a year, eighteen months, your father’ll be a free man. Who is he going to come to, Annie? His baby. You. He’ll come, old, mad, into your house.
ANN: That can’t matter any more, Joe.
KELLER: I don’t want that hate to come between us. Gestures between Chris and himself.
ANN: I can only tell you that that could never happen.
KELLER: You’re in love now, Annie, but believe me, I’m older than you and I know—a daughter is a daughter, and a father is a father. And it could happen. He pauses. I like you and George to go to him in prison and tell him. . . . “Dad, Joe wants to bring you into the business when you get out.”
ANN, surprised, even shocked: You’d have him as a partner?
KELLER: No, no partner. A good job. Pause. He sees she is shocked, a little mystified. He gets up, speaks more nervously. I want him to know, Annie . . . while he’s sitting there I want him to know that when he gets out he’s got a place waitin’ for him. It’ll take his bitterness away. To know you got a place . . . it sweetens you.
All My Sons Page 7