Baby Doll & Tiger Tail (13 page)

ARCHIE
[
standing in front of her and gripping her neck with both hands
]: Look here! Listen to what I tell you!

BABY DOLL
: HEY!! OWW Cut it out!!

ARCHIE
: Listen to what I tell you. I went up to bed with my bottle after supper—

BABY DOLL
: What bed! OW!

ARCHIE
: And passed out dead to the world. You got that in your head?? Will you remember that now?

BABY DOLL
: Let go!

ARCHIE
: What did I do after supper?

BABY DOLL
: You know what you did. You jumped in the Chevy an’ disappeared after supper and didn’t get back till just—OWWWWWWW!! Will you quit. . .

ARCHIE
: I’m trying to wake you up. You’re asleep, you’re dreaming! What did I do after supper?

BABY DOLL
: I don’t know. OW! Went to bed! Leggo! Went to bed. Leggo! Leggo!

ARCHIE
: That’s right. Make sure you remember. I went to bed after supper and didn’t wake up until I heard the fire whistle blow and I was too drunk to git up and drive the car. Now, go on inside and go to bed.

BABY DOLL
: Go to what bed? I ain’t got no bed to go to!

ARCHIE
: You will tomorrow. The furniture is coming back tomorrow.

[
Baby Doll whimpers
.]

Did I hurt my little baby’s arm?

BABY DOLL
: Yais.

ARCHIE
: Where I hurt little baby’s arm?

BABY DOLL
: Here. . .

ARCHIE
[
putting a big wet kiss on her arm
]: Feel better?

BABY DOLL
: No. . .

ARCHIE
[
another kiss—this travelling up her arm
]: Oh, now, Baby Doll! My sweet baby doll. My sweet little baby doll.

BABY DOLL
[
sleepily
]: You hurt. . . MMMmmmmmmmmm! Hurt.

ARCHIE
: Hurt?

BABY DOLL
: Mmmm!

ARCHIE
: Kiss?

BABY DOLL
: MMMMMMMMMMMM.

ARCHIE
: Baby sleepy?

BABY DOLL
: Mmmmmmmmmm.

ARCHIE
: Kiss good. . .?

BABY DOLL
: Mmmmmmmmm. . .

ARCHIE
: Make little room. . . good. . .

BABY DOLL
: Too hot.

ARCHIE
: Make a little room, go on. . .

BABY DOLL
: Mmmmm.

ARCHIE
: Whose baby? Big sweet. . . whose baby?

BABY DOLL
: You hurt me. . . . Mmmmmmm. . .

ARCHIE
: Kiss. . .

[
He lifts her wrist to his lips and makes a gobbling sound. We get an idea of what their courtship—such as it was—was like. Also how
passionately he craves her, willing to take her under any conditions, including fast asleep
.]

BABY DOLL
: Stop it. . . . Silly. . . . Mmmmmm. . .

ARCHIE
: What would I do if you was a big piece of cake?

BABY DOLL
: Silly.

ARCHIE
: Gobble! Gobble!

BABY DOLL
: Oh you. . .

ARCHIE
: What would I do if you was angel food cake? Big white piece with lots of nice thick icin’?

BABY DOLL
[
giggling now, in spite of herself, also sleepy
]: Quit.

ARCHIE
[
as close as he’s ever been to having her
]: Gobble! Gobble! Gobble!

BABY DOLL
: Archie!

ARCHIE
: Hmmmmmmmm. . .

[
He’s working on her arm
.]

Skrunch, gobble, ghrumpt. . . etc.

BABY DOLL
: YOU tickle. . .

ARCHIE
: Answer little question. . .

BABY DOLL
: What?

ARCHIE
[
into her arm
]: Where I been since supper?

BABY DOLL
: Off in the Chevy—

[
Instantly he seizes her wrist again. She shrieks. The romance is over
.]

ARCHIE
: Where I been since supper?

BABY DOLL
: Upstairs. . . Upstairs!

ARCHIE
: Doing what?

BABY DOLL
: With your bottle. Archie, leggo. . .

ARCHIE
: And what else. . .

BABY DOLL
: Asleep. Leggo. . . asleep! ASLEEP!

ARCHIE
[
letting go
]: Now you know where I been and what I been doing since supper. In case anybody asks. An’ you was aw’fly surprised w’en the Syndicate fire broke out!

BABY DOLL
: Okay.

ARCHIE
: Now take your things into that house and go on to bed. . .

BABY DOLL
: Okay!

[
She goes inside
.]

ARCHIE
: Furniture’s comin’ back tomorrow.

BABY DOLL
: O-kay!

[
She climbs stairs punctuating each step with whimpered “Okay!” She curls up in crib and sucks her thumb
.]

ARCHIE
: Okay.

[
Archie Lee stands on the front porch. He listens and hears only the cicadas and nighthawk
.]

ARCHIE
[
sings
]: “My baby don’ care fo’ rings

Or other expensive things—

My baby just cares—fo’—me!”

[
As lights begin to fade. . .
]

Nice quiet night. Real nice and quiet.

FADE OUT

The sky is the color of the satin bows on the window curtains—a translucent, innocent blue. Heat devils are shimmering over the flat Delta country and the white front of the house is like a shrill exclamation. Baby Doll dresses in the nursery; her radio is playing, “Shame, Shame, Shame” through its tinny speaker. Aunt Rose putters about the kitchen singing. Archie Lee lumbers from back of house, semi-dressed. He stops in the hall and bellows up the stairs
.

ARCHIE
: Will you turn that thing down!

BABY DOLL
: Aw, shut-tup!

ARCHIE
: I said turn that thing down!

[
She turns it up and joins in singing
.]

Git outta my way, Aunt Rose!

[
He moves to the mirror over the sink to finish his early morning dressing
—
talcum, aftershave. Aunt Rose scuttles out of his way at his bark; she busies herself with repetitive table wiping, etc. Archie then creeps upstairs to peek through the door to Baby Doll’s room; he slips in and eventually announces his arrival by turning down the radio
.]

BABY DOLL
: Archie Lee, you’re a mess in them glasses that make your eyes big as a hoot-owl’s, always peekin’ an’ peerin’.

ARCHIE
: Without ’em I couldn’t see you to admire you.

BABY DOLL
: Too had they don’t improve your appearance as much as your sight, you fat ole thing. No, Siree, you’re not exactly a young girl’s dream come true! less she was havin’ a nightmare—OWWWWWW!

[
Archie Lee has quickly come up behind her and whacks her bottom
.]

Cut that out. . .

ARCHIE
: You better quit sayin “fat ole thing” about me!!!

BABY DOLL
: Well, you get young and thin and I’ll quit calling you a fat old thing—

ARCHIE
: You goin’ around like that today? For a woman of your modest nature that squawks like a hen if her
husband
dast to put his hand on her, you sure do seem to be advertising your—

BABY DOLL
[
drowning him out
]: My figure has filt out a little since I bought my trousseau
AND
paid for it with m’daddy’s insurance money. I got two choices, wear clo’se skintight or go naked, now which do you want me t’—

ARCHIE
: Aw, now hell—

[
The phone rings downstairs. This sound is instantly followed by an outcry even higher and shriller
.]

BABY DOLL
: Aunt Rose Comfort screams ever time the phone rings.

ARCHIE
: What does she do a damn fool thing like that for?

[
The phone rings again. Aunt Rose Comfort screams again. The scream is followed by high breathless laughter
.]

BABY DOLL
: She says a phone ringing scares her.

ARCHIE
[
shouting
]: Aunt Rose Comfort, why don’t you answer the phone?

AUNT ROSE
[
coming out of the kitchen and walking toward the hall telephone, withered hand to her breast
]: I cain’t catch m’ breath, Archie Lee. Phone give me such a fright.

ARCHIE
:
Answer
it!

AUNT ROSE
[
has recovered some now and gingerly lifts the receiver
]: Hello? This is Miss Rose Comfort McCorkle speaking, but the lady of the house is Mrs. Archie Lee Meighan, who is the daughter of my brother that passed away. . .

ARCHIE
: They don’t wanta know that! Who in hell is it talking and what do they want?

AUNT ROSE
: I’m hard of hearing. Could you speak louder please?

ARCHIE
[
storming over
]: Gi’me that damn phone.

AUNT ROSE
: Archie Lee, honey. . .

[
Baby Doll’s radio is blaring by this time
.]

ARCHIE
: . . .and turn off that goddamn radio music.

[
Baby Doll slops over to the radio, pouting all the while and turns it off
.]

AUNT ROSE
: Archie Lee, honey. . .

ARCHIE
: Will you shut up and git back in the kitchen and don’t speak a word. And don’t holler no more in this house, and don’t cackle no more in it either, or by God I’ll pack you up and haul you off to th’ county home at Sunset.

AUNT ROSE
: What did you say, Archie Lee, did you say something to me?

ARCHIE
: Yeah, I said shoot. [
Into receiver
.] Hello? HELLO! [
He slams down the receiver
.] Damn fools’ve hung up!

[
Aunt Rose cackles uneasily and enters the kitchen. Suddenly, we hear another scream from her. Lights come up in the kitchen to reveal Old Fussy, the hen, slipping into the kitchen
.

[
Silva Vacarro and his partner Rock enter the yard, talking quietly to each other. Silva’s a handsome, cocky young Italian. He has a way of darting glances right and left which indicates a certain watchfulness, a certain reserve. He wears whipcord breeches, laced boots, and a white undershirt. He has a Roman Catholic medallion on a chain about his neck. In his belt he carries a whip, a small riding crop
.]

ROCK
[
in a hoarse whisper
]: Maybe it figures. But it sure puzzles me why you want to bring cotton to the guy that burned down your gin. . .

SILVA
: You don’t know the Christian proverb about how you turn the other cheek when one has been slapped. . .

ROCK
: When both cheeks has been kicked, what are you gonna turn then?

SILVA
: You just got to turn and keep turning. Go on back and stop the wagons. Lemme go up to his house.

[
Rock turns to go, spots the gas can in the rubble, picks it up, with a sly grin turns to Silva
.]

ROCK
: Hey, his initials are stamped right here on the can.

SILVA
: S. R.?

ROCK
: Yeah. Sears and Roebuck!

[
Rock pitches the can which makes a loud noise. Both laugh heartily
,
especially Rock
.

[
Silva walks toward the house with a disgusted look on his face at the garbage in the yard. He whistles
.

[
The sound of the laughter and the can hanging to the ground, Silva’s whistling and walking through the rubble has Archie bounding out of the house and onto the porch
.]

ARCHIE
: Don’t say a word. A little bird already told me that you’d be bringing those twenty-seven wagons full of cotton straight to my door, and I want you to know that you’re a very lucky fellow.

SILVA
[
dryly
]: How come?

ARCHIE
: I mean that I am in a position to hold back other orders and give you a priority. Well, come on in and have some coffee.

SILVA
: What’s your price?

ARCHIE
: You remember my price. It hasn’t changed.

[
Silence. There is the sense that Silva is inspecting him
.]

Hey, now looka here. Like you take shirts to a laundry. You take them Friday and you want them Saturday. That’s special. You got to pay special.

SILVA
: How about your equipment? Hasn’t changed either?

ARCHIE
: A-1 shape! Always was! You ought to remember.

SILVA
: I remember you needed a new saw cylinder. You got one?

ARCHIE
: Can’t find one on the market to equal the old one yet. Come on and have a cup of coffee. We’re all ready for you.

SILVA
: I guess when you saw my gin burning down last night you must’ve suspected that you might get a good deal of business thrown your way in the morning.

ARCHIE
: You want to know something?

SILVA
: I’m always glad to know something when there’s something to know.

[
Rock laughs wildly
.]

Go on back to the wagons. Wait for me there.

ARCHIE
: I never seen that fire of yours last night! Now come on in and have some coffee. No, sir, I never seen that fire of yours last night. We hit the sack right after supper and didn’t know till breakfast time this morning that your cotton gin had burned down.

[
They go up onto the porch
.]

Yes, sir, it’s providential. That’s the only word for it. Hey, Baby Doll!! It’s downright providential. Baby Doll!! Come out here, Baby Doll!!

[
Baby Doll enters
.]

BABY DOLL
: Whu-ut?

ARCHIE
: You come right over here and meet Mr. Vacarro from the Syndicate Plantation.

BABY DOLL
: Oh, hello. Has something gone wrong, Archie Lee?

ARCHIE
: What do you mean, Baby Doll?

BABY DOLL
: I just thought that maybe something went—

ARCHIE
: What is your first name, Vacarro?

SILVA
: Silva.

ARCHIE
: How do you spell that?

[
Silva spells it “Capital S-I-L-V-A
. ”
Meanwhile
,
his eyes are on Baby Doll
.]

Oh, like every cloud has a silver lining.

BABY DOLL
: What’s that from? The Bible?

SILVA
: No, the Mother Goose book.

BABY DOLL
: Sounds foreign.

SILVA
: It is, Mrs. Meighan. I’m known as the wop that runs the Syndicate Plantation.

ARCHIE
: Don’t call yourself names. Let other folks call you names! I’ll tell you! Gold, silver, or nickel-plated, you’re a mighty lucky little fellow that I can take a job of this size right now. Of course it means cancellations. Fitting you in ahead of Baugh and Pollitt, yep, and the Sheltons, but when misfortune hits your closest neighbor, you got to accommodate him first, that’s the good neighbor policy, boy! I believe in the good neighbor policy, Mr. Vacarro. You do me a good turn and I’ll do you a good turn. Tit for tat. Tat for tit is the policy we live on.
AUNT ROSE COMFORT!
Baby Doll, git your daddy’s sister to break out a fresh pot of coffee for Mr. Vacarro.

BABY DOLL
: You get her.

SILVA
: You sound like your business is holding up pretty good.

ARCHIE
: Holding up, hell, it’s expanding, it’s booming, almost too much to handle! You see, when you’ve built up a reputation over the years as the most honest, dependable type you can deal with in a particular line, why, then, it’s not a question of how much trade you can git but how much you can take care of!

SILVA
: That is surprisingly good news.

ARCHIE
: Surprising
how?

SILVA
: I didn’t think I’d noticed much activity at the Meighan gin lately.

ARCHIE
: I reckon you been absorbed too much in affairs of your own to notice mine.

SILVA
: Well, now I’ll have more chance to notice, won’t I?

[
He is looking at Baby Doll who fans herself a bit self-consciously with a movie mag. She emits an enormous yawn
.]

BABY DOLL
: Excuse my yawn. We went to bed kinda late last night.

[
Silva and Archie both notice the discrepancy
.]

ARCHIE
: AUNT ROSE COMFORT!

[
Archie snaps his fingers in Baby Doll’s face
.]

I said git your ole maid aunt to break out some coffee! You hear!?

BABY DOLL
: Don’t snap your fingers at me like I was a house-nigger here.

ARCHIE
: Ha, ha, shoot! AUNT ROSE!

[
The volume of his call makes her scream. Archie envelops Baby Doll in an unwelcome embrace then exits into the house, calling “Aunt Rose.”
]

BABY DOLL
[
if she were talking of a title of great distinction
]: So. You’re a wop?

SILVA
: I’m a Sicilian, Mrs. Meighan. A very ancient people. . .

BABY DOLL
: Sish! Sish!

SILVA
: No ma’am. Siss! Sicilian.

BABY DOLL
: Oh, how unusual.

[
Archie bursts back out on the porch
.]

ARCHIE
: Sometimes my baby feels neglected because I got to give so much time to my work. But this baby is my own little girl, every precious ounce of her is mine, all mine. [
Uncontrollable laughter
.] Now, Baby Doll, you entertain this young fella here while I’m ginnin’ out his cotton. At noon, at noon? You take him in town to the Kotton King Hotel and buy him a chicken dinner and sign my name on the check. Yeh, I’m tellin’ you—

SILVA
:
What?

ARCHIE
: All right. Let’s get GOING! Baby, knock me a kiss!

BABY DOLL
: What’s the matter with you? Have you got drunk before breakfast?

ARCHIE
: Hahaha.

BABY DOLL
: Somebody say something funny?

ARCHIE
: Offer this young fellow here to a cup of coffee. I got to get busy ginning that cotton.

[
He extends his great sweaty hand to Vacarro
.]

Glad to be able to help you out of this bad situation. It’s the good neighbor policy.

SILVA
: What is?

ARCHIE
: You do me a great turn and I’ll do you a good turn sometime in the future.

SILVA
: I see.

ARCHIE
: Tit for tat, tat for tit, as they say. Hahaha. Well, make yourself at home here. Baby Doll, I want you to make this gentleman comfortable in the house.

BABY DOLL
: You can’t make anyone comfortable in this house. Lucky if you can find a chair to sit in.

ARCHIE
[
offstage
]: Alright! Let’s move those wagons. We got us some cotton to gin today.