Tea and Sympathy
Page 7
STEVE
Well, if you won't . . . why should I?
RALPH
Two bits nobody will.
(They slam out the front door. TOM has shut the door quickly again when he has heard RALPH and STEVE start down. Now stands against the door listening.)
AL
(Comes out from his door, pulling on his jacket. Calls)
Tom . . . Tom!
(Getting no answer, he goes down the stairs and out.)
LAURA
Tom . . .
TOM (Opens the study door)
I'll bet my father thinks I'm . . .
(stops.)
LAURA
Now, Tom! I thought I'd call Joan Harrison and ask her to come over for tea tomorrow. I want you to come too. I want you to ask her to go to the dance with you.
TOM (Turns in anguish and looks at her for several moments. Then)
You were to go with me.
LAURA
I know, but . . .
TOM
Do you think so too, like the others? Like my father?
LAURA
Tom!
TOM
IS that why you're shoving me off on Joan?
LAURA (Moving towards him)
Tom, I asked her over so that we could lick this thing.
TOM (Turns on her)
What thing? What thing?
(He looks at her a moment, filled with indignation, then he bolts up the stairs. But on the way up, PHIL is coming down. TOM feels like a trapped rat. He starts to turn down the stairs again, but he doesn't want to face LAURA, as he is about to break. He tries to hide his face and cowers along one side going up.)
PHIL
What's the matter with you?
(TOM doesn't answer. Goes on up and into the study door. PHIL shrugs his shoulders and goes on down the stairs and out. TOM comes into his own bedroom and shuts the door and leans against the doorjamb. LAURA goes to the partly opened door. Her impulse is to go up to TOM to comfort him, but she checks herself, and turns in the doorway and closes the door, then walks back to her chair and sits down and reaches out and touches the teapot, as though she were half-unconsciously rubbing out a spot. She is puzzled and worried. Upstairs we hear the first few sobs from TOM as the lights dim out, and
THE CURTAIN FALLS
ACT TWO
Scene I
The scene is the same.
The time is two days later.
As the curtain rises, AL is standing at the public telephone fastened to the wall on the first landing. He seems to be doing more listening than talking.
AL
Yeah . . .
(He patiently waits through a long tirade)
Yeah, Dad. I know, Dad . . . No, I haven't done anything about it, yet . . . Yes, Mr. Hudson says he has a room in his house for me next year . . . But I haven't done anything about it here yet . . . Yeah, okay, Dad . . . I know what you mean . . .
(Gets angry)
I swear to God I don't . . . I lived with him a year, and I don't . . . All right, okay, Dad . . . No, don't you call. I'll do it. Right now.
(He hangs up. He stands and puts his hands in his pocket and tries to think this out. It's something he doesn't like.)
RALPH (Comes in the house door and starts up the steps)
Hey, Al?
AL
Yeah?
RALPH
The guys over at the Beta house want to know has it happened yet?
AL
Has what happened?
RALPH
Has Tom made a pass at you yet?
AL (Reaches out to swat RALPH)
For crying out loud!
RALPH
Okay, okay! You can borrow my chastity belt if you need it.
AL
That's not funny.
RALPH (Shifting his meaning to hurt AL)
No, I know it's not. The guys on the ball team don't think it's funny at all.
AL
What do you mean?
RALPH
The guy they're supposed to elect captain rooming with a queer.
AL (Looks at him for a moment, then rejects the idea)
Aw . . . knock it off, huh!
RALPH
So you don't believe me . . . Wait and see.
(Putting on a dirty grin)
Anyway, my mother said I should save myself for the girl I marry. Hell, how would you like to have to tell your wife, "Honey, I've been saving myself for you, except for one night when a guy -- "
(AL roughs RALPH up with no intention of hurting him)
Okay, okay. So you don't want to be captain of the baseball team. So who the hell cares. I don't, I'm sure.
AL
Look. Why don't you mind your own business?
RALPH
What the hell fun would there be in that?
AL
Ralph, Tom's a nice kid.
RALPH
Yeah. That's why all the guys leave the shower room at the gym when he walks in.
AL
When?
RALPH
Yesterday . . . Today. You didn't hear about it?
AL
No. What are they trying to do?
RALPH
Hell, they don't want some queer looking at them and --
AL
Oh, can it! Go on up and bury your horny nose in your Art Models magazine.
RALPH
At least I'm normal. I like to look at pictures of naked girls, not men, the way Tom does.
AL
Jeeze, I'm gonna push your face in in a --
RALPH
Didn't you notice all those strong man poses he's got in his bottom drawer?
AL
Yes, I've noticed them. His old man wants him to be a muscle man, and he wrote away for this course in muscle building and they send those pictures. Any objections?
RALPH
Go on, stick up for him. Stick your neck out. You'll get it chopped off with a baseball bat, you crazy bastard.
(Exits upstairs. AL looks at the phone, then up the way RALPH went. He is upset. He throws himself into a few push-ups, using the bannisters. Then still not happy with what he's doing, he walks down the stairs and knocks on the study door.)
LAURA (Comes from inside the house and opens the door)
Oh, hello, Al.
AL
Is Mr. Reynolds in?
LAURA
Why, no, he isn't. Can I do something?
AL
I guess I better drop down when he's in.
LAURA
All right. I don't really expect him home till after supper tonight.
AL (Thinks for a moment)
Well . . . well, you. might tell him just so's he'll know and can make other plans . . . I won't be rooming in this house next year. This is the last day for changing, and I want him to know that.
LAURA (Moves into the room to get a cigarette)
I see. Well, I know he'll be sorry to hear that, Al.
AL
I'm going across the street to Harmon House.
LAURA
Both you and Tom going over?
AL
No.
LAURA
Oh.
AL
Just me.
LAURA
I see. Does Tom know this?
AL
No. I haven't told him.
LAURA
You'll have to tell him, won't you, so he'll be able to make other plans.
AL
Yes, I suppose so.
LAURA
Al, won't you sit down for a moment, please?
(AL hesitates, but comes in and sits down. Offers AL a cigarette)
Cigarette?
(Reaches for one automatically, then stops)
No, thanks. I'm in training.
(He slips a pack of cigarettes from his shirt pocket to his trousers pocket.)
LAURA
That's right. I'm going to watch you play Saturday afternoon.
(AL smiles at her)
You're not looking forward to telling Tom, are you, Al?
(AL shakes his head, "No")
I suppose I can guess why you're not rooming with him next year.
(AL shrugs his shoulders)
I wonder if you know how much it has meant for him to room with you this year. It's done a lot for him too. It's given him a confidence to know he was rooming with one of the big men of the school.
AL (Embarrassed)
Oh . . .
LAURA
You wouldn't understand what it means to be befriended. You're one of the strong people. I'm surprised, Al.
AL (Blurting it out)
My father's called me three times. How he ever found out about Harris and Tom, I don't know. But he did. And some guy called him and asked him, "Isn't that the boy your son is rooming with?" . . . and he wants me to change for next year.
LAURA
What did you tell your father?
AL
I told him Tom wasn't so bad, and . . . I'd better wait and see Mr. Reynolds.
LAURA
Al, you've lived with Tom. You know him better than anyone else knows him. If you do this, it's as good as finishing him so far as this school is concerned, and maybe farther.
AL (Almost whispering it)
Well, he does act sort of queer, Mrs. Reynolds. He . . .
LAURA
YOu never said this before. You never paid any attention before. What do you mean, "queer?"
AL
Well, like the fellows say, he sort of walks lightly, if you know what I mean. Sometimes the way he moves . . . the things he talks about . . . long hair music all the time.
LAURA
All right. He wants to be a singer. So he talks about it.
AL
He's never had a girl up for any of the dances.
LAURA
Al, there are good explanations for all these things you're saying. They're silly . . . and prejudiced . . . and arguments all dug up to suit a point of view. They're all after the fact.
AL
I'd better speak to Mr. Reynolds.
(He starts for the door.)
LAURA
Al, look at me.
(She holds his eyes for a long time, wondering whether to say what she wants to say.)
AL
Yes?
LAURA (She decides to do it)
Al, what if I were to start the rumor tomorrow that you were . . . well, queer, as you put it.
AL
No one would believe it.
LAURA
Why not?
AL
Well, because . . .
LAURA
Because you're big and brawny and an athlete. What they call a top guy and a hard hitter?
AL
Well, yes.
LAURA
You've got some things to learn, Al. I've been around a little, and I've met men, just like you -- same setup -- who weren't men, some of them married and with children.
AL
Mrs. Reynolds, you wouldn't do a thing like that.
LAURA
No, Al, I probably wouldn't. But I could, and I almost would to show you how easy it is to smear a person, and once I got them believing it, you'd be surprised how quickly your . . . manly virtues would be changed into suspicious characteristics.
AL (Has been standing with his hands on his hips. LAURA looks pointedly at this stance. AL thrusts his hands down to his side, and then behind his back)
Mrs. Reynolds, I got a chance to be captain of the baseball team next year.
LAURA
I know. And I have no right to ask you to give up that chance. But I wish somehow or other you could figure out a way . . . so it wouldn't hurt Tom.
(TOM comes in the hall and goes up the stairs. He's pretty broken up, and mad. After a few moments he appears in his room, shuts the door, and sits on the bed, trying to figure something out.)
AL (As TOM enters house)
Well . . .
LAURA
That's Tom now.
(AL looks at her, wondering how she knows)
I know all your footsteps. He's coming in for tea.
(AL starts to move to door)
Well, Al?
(AL makes a helpless motion)
You still want me to tell Mr. Reynolds about your moving next year?