The dining room at the farmhouse. There is a long dining room table and chairs, an antique sideboard. The table is partly cleared and Mama enters and takes up more plates and carries them out to the kitchen. Ben is sitting at the head of the table and Maven and Mason are sitting at the table and Carlotta enters and takes up some dishes to carry them to the kitchen. She is about seven months pregnant. The telephone rings and Maven starts to get up but Ben motions to her to sit down.
BEN I'll get it, Babe.
He comes to the telephone and picks it up and says hello and then listens.
BEN (To telephone) No. No. You stay where you are. I'll be down there in twenty minutes.
He pauses and listens.
BEN Listen to me. Stay where you are. I'll be there in twenty minutes.
He hangs up the phone and returns to the table. He bends and kisses Maven.
MAVEN What is it, Ben?
BEN Got to go, Babe. I'll be back in a couple of hours.
MAVEN Oh Ben...
BEN (Holding up his hand to Mason, his other hand on Maven's shoulder) Mason.
MAVEN (Turning) What is it?
BEN Just something that's come up. Somebody in trouble. It's nothing really. But I have to go.
MAVEN Are they in jail?
BEN Not yet. (He smiles) I'll call you if I need your services.
He exits.
SCENE IV
A cheap hotel room in the central city at stage right. A nineteen year old black youth is lying on an old fashioned bed with an iron bedstead. He is dressed in cheap flashy clothes. He has a thin moustache and he is smoking a cigarette. Street sounds from below. There is a knock at the door and he gets up and goes to the door and opens it. Ben is standing at the door.
BEN Hello Soldier.
SOLDIER What say, Ben. Long time no see. Come in. Come in.
Ben enters and looks around. Soldier shuts the door and motions him to a straight back chair sitting opposite the bed. Soldier sits on the bed and stubs out the cigarette in an ashtray on the night table.
SOLDIER Set down, Ben, set down.
Ben sits in the chair.
SOLDIER I went by the house. I seen they was other people livin there.
He looks up at Ben.
SOLDIER Don't worry. I wasn't comin in. You out at the farm now.
BEN We've been out there about two years.
SOLDIER Yeah, well.
Ben studies Soldier.
BEN You've been in jail.
SOLDIER Shit. Put me in no jail.
BEN It's been about a year. I knew what had happened when the checks started coming back.
SOLDIER Well, I see you ain't changed. Still know everthing.
BEN Everything you've got on is new.
SOLDIER Shit.
BEN I guess that's why you're here.
SOLDIER Why's that?
BEN To collect your checks.
SOLDIER Afraid I need a little more than them checks.
Ben looks at him.
SOLDIER I'm gettin married.
BEN Getting married.
SOLDIER Yeah.
Ben shakes his head. He looks around the room. He looks at Soldier.
BEN Does she know you kill people?
SOLDIER I ain't never killed nobody.
BEN You were involved in it.
SOLDIER That was a long time ago. You don't know.
BEN How much does she know about you?
Soldier laughs and shakes his head.
SOLDIER You somethin, ain't you? What, you think you goin to blackmail me back? She knows all about me, sucker. She knows shit they don't nobody know.
BEN What's her name?
SOLDIER You don't need to know her name.
BEN How old is she?
SOLDIER Old enough.
BEN Where's she from?
SOLDIER She ain't from here.
Ben studies Soldier.
BEN How much money do you want?
SOLDIER I need about three thousand dollars to see me right.
BEN All right.
SOLDIER Should of asked for more.
BEN I knew about what it was going to cost me.
SOLDIER Yeah. I keep forgettin bout all this shit you know.
BEN I'll bring you the money in the morning. As soon as the banks open.
He rises.
SOLDIER You don't have a little advance on that, do you?
Ben reaches in his side pocket and takes out a money clip and peels off some bills and lays them on the night table.
BEN I'll see you here at ten in the morning.
He opens the door. Soldier rises.
SOLDIER What's this dude like that Mama married?
BEN You wouldn't like him.
SOLDIER Yeah?
BEN (Shaking his head) You wouldn't like him. He pulls the door shut after him.
SCENE V
The farmhouse dining room at night. Ben and Maven are sitting at the table.
MAVEN I wish you hadn't told me.
BEN I know.
MAVEN Why did you?
BEN I don't know. You told me you wanted to know.
MAVEN I did?
BEN A long time ago.
MAVEN I don't remember.
BEN I do.
MAVEN But you did hide it from me.
BEN I was wrong.
MAVEN Why did you wait till now?
BEN I knew what you'd say.
MAVEN Do you think you have to tell me everything?
BEN Yes.
MAVEN Why?
BEN Because. Because the smallest crumb can devour us.
MAVEN Is the world really such a hostile place?
BEN I don't know. I know that I see failure on every side and I'm determined not to fail.
MAVEN Do you think it's fair to Carlotta? You can't think that.
BEN I don't. I think it's merciful.
MAVEN Why is it up to you?
BEN Isn't it up to him?
MAVEN You have an answer for everything.
Ben doesn't answer.
MAVEN Is he really so bad?
BEN I don't know. Yes. He is. I try to give him the benefit of the doubt but there isn't any doubt.
MAVEN Maybe he'll change.
BEN I don't rule that out. I just think he should do it somewhere else.
MAVEN Somewhere else is where he got the way he is now.
BEN (Shaking his head) No he didn't. He got that way right here. In this family. Nowhere else.
They sit.
MAVEN If that were true wouldn't it be all the more reason...
BEN All the more.
MAVEN But you won't change your mind, will you?
BEN I don't feel wrong. I just feel guilty.
They sit.
MAVEN What about Mama, Ben?
BEN What indeed.
SCENE VI
The hotel room. Soldier is lying on the bed in his underclothes. He has his mouth open and he is dead. A syringe and a length of small rubber tubing lie on the night table. A burned out book of matches. A spoon. Street sounds. The cooing of a pigeon. There is repeated knocking at the door. Finally the door opens and Ben enters. He comes in very slowly and surveys the scene. He comes to the bed and puts a hand to Soldier's neck. He picks up the spoon, the syringe. He lets them fall again. His mouth is compressed in anger and in sorrow. He pulls the chair up to the bed and sits down and holds his face in his hands. The pigeon calls. After a while Ben gets up. He looks down at Soldier. He takes the paraphernalia from the night table and puts the items in the side pocket of his jacket. He looks around the room. Then he takes Soldier's trousers from off the foot rail of the bed and goes through them and takes out his billfold and puts that in his jacket pocket. He stands looking down at Soldier. Then he turns off the bedside lamp. There is just the light from the window. The pigeon calls. He turns and leaves the room.
SCENE VII
A telephone booth at stage left. Ben is talking behind the glass.
BEN Yes.
The Fairfax hotel. No. I don't know. I opened the door and there was a dead man on the bed. Yes. Room two twelve. It's not a joke. Well call the hotel. Have the clerk check. Yes. No, I opened a wrong door.
He hangs up the telephone.
SCENE VIII
The farmhouse dining room. Ben alone at the table with his cup of tea before him. Maven comes in in her robe. She bends and kisses him.
BEN Good night Maven.
MAVEN Are you sicklied o'er with the pale cast?
BEN What?
MAVEN (Smiling) Are you deep in thought?
BEN That's not what I'm deep in.
MAVEN Is it about Soldier?
BEN Yes.
She stands rubbing his shoulders.
MAVEN Do you want to tell me about it?
BEN I don't want to.
Maven sits down. Ben shakes his head. He looks at her.
BEN I lied to you. God, look at me. I didn't tell you everything.
MAVEN Tell me now.
BEN He's dead.
MAVEN (Softly) Oh God.
BEN I don't know what to do.
MAVEN What happened?
BEN He was dead when I got to the room.
He reaches in his side pocket. He takes out the syringe. He takes out the spoon. The tubing.
BEN Here. Here are some of his toys. His last effects.
MAVEN Oh Ben...
BEN I don't know what to do, Maven.
MAVEN They'll know who he is... They'll...
BEN I took his billfold too.
MAVEN Oh Baby.
BEN When I saw him I just... I've never known such sadness. It was like I couldn't breathe. And then it just made me mad. I sat there in the room with him. And I just... I was in a rage.
MAVEN What are you going to do?
BEN I don't know.
MAVEN You can't just let them...
BEN Why can't I?
They sit in silence. Maven shakes her head.
MAVEN He's still part of this family, Ben.
BEN He's dead.
MAVEN That's not good enough.
BEN So it's not good enough.
MAVEN If he's dead why can't he come home, Ben?
BEN What am I supposed to tell Carlotta?
MAVEN (Echoing Ben's phrase) What indeed.
BEN And Mama.
MAVEN And Mama.
BEN I can't change anything, Maven. There's nothing I can do. It won't make anything better for anybody. It will just make everything worse. A lot worse.
MAVEN You intend to take all this to the grave with you?
BEN Why not?
MAVEN I don't think you can.
BEN Alive I can manage to keep him from wrecking this family but now that he's dead I'm helpless against him?
MAVEN Something like that.
BEN God, Maven.
MAVEN I'm not going to tell you what you want to hear.
BEN I know.
MAVEN I think it's all on the line, Ben. Right here.
BEN Don't tell me that.
MAVEN You told me that principles were absolute or they weren't principles. That it couldn't have to do with other people because other people change. You said there could be no exclusion clauses. That if you gave your word to someone you had to keep it even if that person were to turn against you. You had to keep it no matter what they did.
BEN I said. I said.
MAVEN Yes. You said, Ben.
BEN How am I supposed to tell her this, Maven? How?
MAVEN Don't you see what you're doing? You're getting to say, Ben. And it's not up to you. You can't know another person's torment. You of all people. Things come easy to you.
He starts to speak.
MAVEN No. They do. You cant judge, Ben. You can't get to say.
BEN I just don't think I can do it.
MAVEN Everything you worked for, Ben. It was all because you didn't think it was fair. You didn't think it was fair that people should not have what they'd worked for. You didn't think it was fair that people were left outside looking in. You didn't think it was fair that people should be singled out for dispossession or condemned to ignorance or that they should be robbed because they had no recourse or insulted because they had no rebuttal. You said there were some things that people didn't have to deserve. You said there were some things you couldn't deserve. Things so sweet or so precious or even just so common to all humanity that there was no deserving them they just were given and you couldn't question them whether they fell to you or to someone else you couldn't question them. Maybe that dead boy doesn't deserve to be buried with his family. But Ben does he have to? Does he have to?
Ben looks up at her.
BEN Why are you crying? Is it because of Soldier?
MAVEN No.
He leans and takes her face in his hands and kisses her eyes.
BEN When Melissa was born I walked into the room and I was... I guess I was crying and I looked at you and I didn't know what to say and I said thank you. And you laughed. Do you remember?
MAVEN Yes.
He kisses her again.
BEN Let me call. Before I lose my nerve.
He rises and goes to the telephone and dials.
BEN Yes. For Louisville. Do you have the number for the police. No. It's not an emergency. Thank you.
He pushes down the receiver and dials the number.
BEN Hello. Yes. My name is Telfair and I'm calling in regard to... in regard to a man who was found dead at the Fairfax Hotel this morning. Yes. I have an identification. Yes.
He waits. He looks at Maven.
BEN Yes. Black male. Nineteen. Yes. He was nineteen. He was my nephew. Telfair. His name. Benjamin. His name was Benjamin.
SCENE IX
At stage right, the family cemetery with the stone farmhouse in the background. There are a number of stone markers and part of an iron paling fence. All the family are present and dressed in mourning and the minister is reading the service over the casket.
MINISTER Fearfulness and trembling are come upon me. And horror hath overwhelmed me. And I said, Oh that I had wings like a dove, then would I fly away and be at rest. Lo then would I wander far off. I would lodge in the wilderness. I would hast me to a shelter from the stormy wind and tempest.
A wind is blowing across the little cemetery and Carlotta who is standing next to her husband turns away and goes stage left a few steps and stands looking out away from the service. She takes off her hat and veil and shakes out her hair. Her mouth is set and her face is hard.
MINISTER Destroy, O Lord, and divide their tongue: For I have seen violence and strife in the city. Day and night they go about it upon the walls thereof. Iniquity also and mischief are in the midst of it
He breaks off and looks up.
MINISTER For it was not an enemy that reproached me. Then I could have borne it.
SCENE X
Night, the farmhouse dining room. Ben is sitting alone with his elbows on the table and his forehead against his fists. A light comes on in the kitchen behind him and Carlotta enters the room. She comes forward and stands looking down at him. She is still dressed in black. Ben raises his head. Then he turns and looks up at her.
CARLOTTA We're leaving tomorrow. As soon as we've found a place we'll send out for the furniture and things. I'm going to let you and Mason make whatever sort of agreement he thinks is fair about the house. I'm sorry it's on your land. We can't move it.
BEN I'm sorry, Carly.
CARLOTTA I don't think you are.
BEN I know. But I am. I don't know what else to say.
He looks away. She is standing looking down at him. She shakes her head. He turns and looks at her again.
BEN What about Mama?
CARLOTTA Mama's not going anywhere.
He looks away again.
CARLOTTA Tell me one thing.
BEN Anything.
CARLOTTA Did he mean to do it? Ben looks at her.
BEN No. I don't think he did.
CARLOTTA Bu
t I'll never know. Will I?
He looks away.
BEN No.
CARLOTTA I thought you were different, Ben.
BEN So did I.
CARLOTTA Well.
She half turns to go.
BEN I can't undo it Carly. I was wrong and I'll be sorry for it the rest of my life.
CARLOTTA So will I, Ben.
She exits.
SCENE XI
The little cemetery, stage right. It is evening and Ben is standing among the stones. The light comes on at the podium where Ben speaks.
BEN In the fall of that year when the weather had begun to turn I thought of him more and more. I remembered his pipe. I remembered a fox we saw on the hill behind the house in the snow and I remembered small things about him. His gloves. The knees in his trousers. The way he turned the pages of his bible. I saw him here twice in the evening just at dusk and I tried small tricks to make him appear again. I'd turn my head aside and then look back quickly. Or I'd close my eyes. Or maybe it was a dream. I saw him with a great stone that he carried with much labor and I thought it was like a boundary stone and I looked for some mark or inscription on the stone but there was none. It was just a stone. Nothing is finally understood. Nothing is finally arrived at.
Grace I know is much like love and you cannot deserve it. It is freely given, without reason or equity. What could you do to deserve it? What?
I've questioned the tightness of loving that old man beyond all other souls.
What I need most is to learn charity. That most of all.
I know that small acts of valor may be all that is visible of great movements of courage within.
For we are all the elect, each one of us, and we are embarked upon a journey to something unimaginable. We do not know what will be required of us, and we have nothing to sustain us but the counsel of our fathers.
It has grown darker in the little cemetery. A wind has sprung up.
The Stonemason Page 7