CASSIUS: Joinin’ the damn Union ain’t gonna bring your brother back!
SURETA: No, it ain’t! But I got a fool husband who goes down into them mines ever day and a ten-year-old boy who wants to be just like his daddy, and if joinin’ the Union keep them alive, that’d be enough for me.
Beat. Cassius holds her.
CASSIUS: Lord, what’d I do to get stuck with you.
SURETA: You just a lucky man, Cassius Biggs. You are a lucky man.
SCENE ELEVEN
Night. A tent city set up outside the town. There is a fire. Mary Anne stands in a pool of light.
MARY ANNE: And so Cassius and Sureta joined us . . .
Cassius and Sureta enter and sit.
. . . and Silus and Lucy . . .
Silus and Lucy enter.
. . . and the word spread like a fever, and every man and woman in that camp joined us . . .
All the other actors enter. Music starts; there is singing and laughing.
. . . and the mines shut down and the steam whistle went rusty. We moved into a holler near the tracks and people put up tents or just slept out in the open, like a big church meetin’. And at night, I lay on my back lookin’ up at the sky and I put the moon and the stars back up again, one by one.
Spot out on Mary Anne. Abe crosses to where Joshua is sitting by himself and squats down beside him.
ABE: Don’t feel like singin’ tonight?
Joshua shrugs.
What ya thinkin’ on?
JOSHUA: I’m scared.
ABE: Yeah?
Tommy enters and stands nearby, listening.
JOSHUA: We gonna win, ain’t we?
Abe hesitates.
ABE: You look around you, Joshua—look at all these people together like one big family. You feel the power in that? (Beat.) Well, family just ain’t your own kin, now, Joshua. It’s everybody there is—everybody there ever was, everybody there ever will be. That’s Union.
TOMMY: Joshua, you s’pose to be in bed.
JOSHUA: Oh, Daddy, I’m just—
TOMMY: Get yourself in that tent right now and go to sleep. Go on!
JOSHUA: G’night, Abe. Night, Daddy.
He exits.
TOMMY: You didn’t answer his question, did ya? We gonna win?
ABE: If not this time, then the next.
TOMMY: That’s real easy for you to say, innit?
ABE: I’m scared, too, Tommy, but I ain’t gonna quit.
TOMMY: Hell, your courage don’t cost you nothin’, Abe. You ain’t got nothin’ to lose.
ABE: I wouldn’t say that.
TOMMY: This strike don’t work, you ain’t gonna have to bury your family, are ya?
The sound of a train approaching.
ABE: They usually load those trains this time of night?
TOMMY: No.
ABE: Silus, douse that light! Get down! Everybody get down!
Silus leaps up from the circle and throws a blanket over the fire. The train is very close now. As its whistle blows, a machine gun opens up and rakes the camp. People scatter, falling and screaming. Abe throws himself at Tommy and knocks him to the ground. Chaos. The train passes. Mary Anne runs in.
MARY ANNE: Tommy?
TOMMY: Joshua okay?!
MARY ANNE: I thought he was with you!
TOMMY: In the tent. Stay with ’im!
Mary Anne exits.
MARY ANNE: Joshua!
Abe and Tommy are joined by Cassius, Silus, and the other Miners.
ABE: How bad?
SILUS (shaking his head): Armored train with a goddamn machine gun!
ABE: How many we got hurt?
SILUS: Two down, at least one dead.
SECOND MINER: How the hell we gonna fight that!
FIRST MINER: They gonna kill us all!
CASSIUS: Abe, you get me a couple of men with picks and shovels and I’ll take care of that damn train.
TOMMY: Picks and shovels against machine guns?!
CASSIUS: You can’t run a train without tracks, Tommy.
ABE: Easy.
SECOND MINER: We need guns, real guns! I ain’t gonna fight no machine gun with some damn squirrel rifle.
CASSIUS: We’re gettin’ guns.
TOMMY: When?
CASSIUS: Saturday night
ABE: Okay. Silus, you and Tommy make sure everybody’s okay and then post some more guards. Cassius, let’s you and I go wreck us a train.
The men disperse, leaving Tommy alone on stage. The lights change as Andrew appears.
SCENE TWELVE
The tipple office.
ANDREW: What do you want, Jackson?
TOMMY: I want my family safe. I want my job back.
ANDREW: There’s a strike on, Tommy, dint you notice?
TOMMY: Strike wasn’t my idea. . . .
ANDREW: Whose idea was it?
TOMMY: Look, I just want my job back. That’s all.
ANDREW: I’m afraid it ain’t gonna be that easy.
Beat.
TOMMY: I don’t wanta hurt nobody else.
ANDREW: Me neither. I think this whole thing was just a local problem got blown outta shape by a buncha outsiders. Take them people outta the picture and things get a lot more reasonable. These agitators come in here, talkin’ that talk, promisin’ you people this and that and pie in the sky. I heard’em—sure, butter wouldn’t melt in their mouths. Meanwhile, you lost your job, they eatin’ ya outta house and home and probly puttin’ a pair of horns on you in the bargain. And then, when push comes to shove, they just gonna walk away, leavin’ you holdin’ the bag. You been suckered, Tommy. I got the fuckin’ army comin’ in.
TOMMY: The army?
ANDREW: You think that little railroad visit last night was somethin’, wait’ll they roll those tanks in here. (Beat.) This is a waste of time. Russ!
TOMMY: Everybody gets their job back.
ANDREW: I can’t promise that . . .
TOMMY: That’s the deal! Everybody gets their job back.
ANDREW: I need a name.
TOMMY: I don’t want nobody to get hurt.
ANDREW: I need a name and a place.
TOMMY: Your word nobody gets hurt.
Beat.
ANDREW: Okay.
Beat.
TOMMY: Cassius Biggs.
ANDREW: He the only one?
Tommy hesitates.
TOMMY: Abe Steinman.
ANDREW: I need a place.
TOMMY: Up on the Shilling, where the old Treaty Oak usta stand. We s’posed to buy some guns.
ANDREW: When?
TOMMY: Tomorrow night.
ANDREW: Tomorrow night.
Andrew exits. The lights fade down, isolating Tommy. A quiet whistle from offstage and the lights shift. We are in the woods near the Treaty Oak. Cassius and Abe join Tommy. Everyone is nervous, tense.
CASSIUS: This is my show, gentlemen. Ever’body does exactly what I tell’em to. Ever’body got that? You got that, Tommy?
TOMMY: I got it.
Again, the quiet whistle. Cassius whistles back. A MAN walks out of the woods.
MAN: Evening.
CASSIUS: Where’s Carver?
MAN: Couldn’t make it.
ABE: Problems?
CASSIUS: This ain’t who I usually deal with.
MAN: Guns is guns, gentlemen. And cash is cash. If you got one, I got a shitload of the other.
CASSIUS: I don’t like this. Let’s go.
ABE: Let’s see what he’s got.
CASSIUS: Abe!
The man pulls a pistol out of his coat as other men, also armed, step out of the shadows. Abe grabs the pistol, and as he and the man fall to the ground, the gun goes off. In the confusion, Cassius escape
s. Abe is subdued. Andrew enters.
ANDREW: Where’s Biggs?
MAN: He got away.
ANDREW: Okay, you’re free, Jackson—now get the fuck out of here.
Tommy turns to Abe.
TOMMY: Abe . . . ?
Abe just stares at Tommy.
ANDREW: I want him on his knees.
The man hands his revolver to Andrew as Abe is forced to kneel.
TOMMY: There wasn’t s’posed to be no killin’. That was the deal.
ANDREW: Any last words?
ABE: They say over in Carolton, ’fore he died, your brother wept like a woman and pissed himself.
Andrew shoots Abe in the back of the head. The men exit. Tommy stares down at Abe’s body. He reaches down and touches Abe. He starts to move the body. He stops and then pulls the watch out of Abe’s vest and looks at it. Beat. Joshua steps out of the shadows.
TOMMY: Joshua?
JOSHUA: You kilt him.
TOMMY: What’re you . . . ? You s’pose to . . .
JOSHUA: I heard’im.
TOMMY: No.
JOSHUA: I heard what he said.
TOMMY: They lied to me.
JOSHUA: You killed him!
Joshua starts to run away. Tommy grabs him.
TOMMY: Look here. Look at me!
He pins Joshua’s arms.
We was gonna lose the strike. You hear me? They was bringin’ in the army! They woulda kilt us all, you and your mama both, and I wasn’t gonna let that happen!
JOSHUA: No!
TOMMY: I love you, Joshua. You hear me?
JOSHUA (crying): No.
Tommy rocks him in his arms.
TOMMY: I love you. I know . . . I know, it’s hard. But that’s just the way it gotta be.
He rocks Joshua in his arms. Light shift. Cassius, Mary Anne, and all the Miners enter. Tommy and Joshua rise and join them. It is morning in the tent city. The group stands silent and suspicious.
SURETA: Somebody sold us out.
Beat.
TOMMY: I got hit in the head with an ax handle or somethin’—they musta figured I was dead. Prob’ly woulda been if Joshua hadn’t found me, brought me back.
Beat.
CASSIUS: Only a few of us knew the particulars ’bout the deal.
Beat.
TOMMY: Yeah. You, for one. But who saw you come back to camp after we got jumped, Cassius?
CASSIUS: Meanin’?
TOMMY: Kinda odd, don’t you think?
SILUS: Now hold on a minute.
TOMMY: They were his rifles. And now he’s got our money and his rifles. Plus whatever them Pinkertons paid him.
CASSIUS: You son of a bitch!
Cassius jumps at Tommy, and they struggle. Silus pulls out a pistol and fires it.
SILUS: That’s enough!
The men are pulled apart. Joshua steps forward.
JOSHUA: He’s lyin’.
Beat.
They kilt Abe. I saw it. They let my daddy go.
TOMMY: What’re you sayin’, boy?
JOSHUA: We buried Abe together. He made me promise not to say nothin’.
Beat.
MARY ANNE: Tommy?
TOMMY: He’s lyin’.
Joshua crosses to Tommy and pulls the watch out of his pocket.
JOSHUA: How’d you get this?
MARY ANNE: Tommy.
Beat.
TOMMY: They’re bringin’ in the army.
The Crowd murmurs.
That’s right, the army! We was all gonna get killed—and for what? I talked to ’em ’bout gettin’ our jobs back.
SURETA: You dint have no right to make a deal for us.
TOMMY: I gotta right to protect my family. Cain’t nobody tell me different.
Mary Anne walks over and faces Tommy.
MARY ANNE: I ’member when you was courtin’ me, how mean my folks was to you and how you just stood there and took it ’cause you loved me, and even my daddy had to admit, “That Tommy Jackson, he ain’t no quitter.” And I thought, no he ain’t. When they tore my stars down, I’da give up right then, but you wouldn’t let me. I dint love you, but I thought, “They can tear these mountains apart, but Tommy Jackson won’t quit on me.”
I know you loved our boys, and I loved you for that. I put up with the drinkin’ and you hittin’ me ’cause I knew you grieved in your heart like I did and I reckon I dint think I deserved any better. You wasn’t never kind, Tommy, and you weren’t never wise, but I never thought you was a quitter.
And then you quit on me.
My name is Rowen. Mary Anne Rowen. I got one son, Joshua Rowen, and this man is a stranger to me.
Beat. All the men save Cassius gather around Tommy.
TOMMY: Joshua?
The men drag Tommy off.
TOMMY: Jooooooossssshhhhhuuuuaaa!
Beat.
CASSIUS: I’m prepared to fight Andrew and his gun thugs, with or without rifles, but I ain’t ready to fight the whole damn U.S. Army. Strike’s over.
Cassius leaves, and the women huddle disconsolately.
JOSHUA: What we gonna do, Ma?
MARY ANNE: I don’t know.
JOSHUA: We ain’t gonna give up, are we?
MARY ANNE: I don’t know!
Mary Anne moves away from the group. Joshua follows, but at a distance.
SURETA (bitterly): Well, I guess we could always pray for a miracle.
WOMAN: Like what?
SURETA: For a plague of frogs and locusts . . .
LUCY: For the water in the Shilling to turn to blood . . .
SURETA: And for the Angel of Death to come flyin’ in low over Blue Star . . .
WOMAN: . . . and carry off ever last one of them goddamn guards!
Beat.
MARY ANNE: No. Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!!!!!
Silence. The women stare at Mary Anne, unnerved.
JOSHUA: Mama?
MARY ANNE: I come too far for this! Get up. I give up too much! Get up. What are you doin’ sittin’ there? Get up!
SURETA: What’re you think you gonna do without the men, Mary Anne? The men give up!
MARY ANNE: I think if we always waited for the men to do somethin’ we still be livin’ in caves.
LUCY: What about the army?!
MARY ANNE: They wouldn’t’ve called them in ’less they was scared. You hear me! We scare them!
WOMAN: It’s hard!
MARY ANNE: What’s hard—dyin’?! I’ll tell you what’s hard: waitin’ for that knock on the door and some long face from the Company sayin’ they’re sorry, ma’am, but there’s been an accident—that’s hard. Watchin’ your son go down into the dark mine in the mornin’ and not knowin’ whether you’ll ever see him again—that’s hard. Buryin’ a baby you just . . . I buried four children in this ground, you hear me, four babies, and I didn’t have no choice about it. But I got a choice now, and I ain’t buryin’ another one! They can bring in a hundred goddamn armies and it cain’t be nothin’ worse than what we’ve known. It won’t never stop unless we say it stops, and I say it stops now. Right now. Right here. Stand up!
Mary Anne hits the set. Again. Sureta joins her, establishing a rhythm. The other women join them, beating the set, the scaffolding, with their hands, their shoes, sticks, pots and pans—whatever they have. The men join them one by one, hitting the stage with ax handles. The rhythm builds under and through Joshua’s speech as the light shifts.
There is a single spot up on Joshua.
JOSHUA: And my mama rolled the rock off their hearts and pulled them back into life and we marched, all the women and me, banging pots and pans and singing songs until the men, shamefaced, joined us. And then we marched in thousands outta that camp, holding hands, and the ea
rth trembled under my feet and the sun stood still in the sky and Abe and Mother Jones danced together and we marched on that coal tipple and they threw down their guns in fear and fled before us like Pharaoh’s army before the ocean! I felt sorry for ’em all! Hell, I even felt sorry for Mr. Winston that day!
The drumming stops abruptly. Andrew and armed Guards appear. Beat.
ANDREW: I want you people off this property.
MARY ANNE: We want us a Union, cash wages ’stead of scrip, and we want to see them gun thugs of Blue Star on the first train outta here.
ANDREW: I’ll give you ten minutes to clear the tipple.
MARY ANNE: We only gonna need five.
She gestures, and Sureta and Lucy carry out a case of dynamite. Joshua follows with a burning carbide lamp. Mary Anne puts the list of demands on top of the case.
MARY ANNE: We don’t get us a contract, we gonna blow your operation to hell.
Beat.
ANDREW: You’re not serious.
MARY ANNE: Joshua?
Joshua puts the burning lamp on the case. Beat.
ANDREW: I sign this today, it won’t mean nothin’ tomorrow.
MARY ANNE: That’s all right. You change your mind, we can always change ours.
Beat. Andrew walks over stiffly and scrawls his signature on the paper. He exits. Mary Anne picks the paper up. People smile and look at each other. And then chaos erupts. The successful strikers are cheering and crying and hugging each other. People start singing and dancing. Joshua stands off to one side of the festivities. Mary Anne comes over to him.
MARY ANNE: You all right, honey?
JOSHUA: I guess.
Mary Anne hugs Joshua.
MARY ANNE: Me too. Don’t know whether I’m comin’ or goin’.
JOSHUA (crying): I miss my daddy.
MARY ANNE (fiercely): Ssshhh now. You cain’t be thinkin’ about him no more. Hmm? Not ever agin. The Union gonna be your daddy now. And your mama and your brothers and your sisters. That’s the truth, and you hold on to that. You remember what we done here and what it cost, and you tell people, Joshua! You tell’em the story, and don’t you leave nothin’ out! You make’em remember! (Relenting:) Sssshhhh, baby. I know. I know. But there ain’t no need to feel lonely, Joshua, not ever again! Just look around you, Joshua—look at all your family!
Two men hoist Joshua up onto their shoulders. Mary Anne calls out to him.
MARY ANNE: Ain’t Union grand! Ain’t Union grand!
Mary Anne backs upstage, away from Joshua, as the Crowd builds the chant of “Union!” to a roar and then suddenly freezes. The lights come down in twin spots on Joshua and Mary Anne. Joshua looks directly at the audience.
The Kentucky Cycle Page 17