Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (12 page)

[
Whoever has answered the hall phone lets
out a high, shrill laugh; the voice becomes audible saying: “No, no, you
got it all wrong. ’Upside down.’ Are you crazy?"

[
Brick suddenly catches his breath as he
realized that he has made a shocking disclosure. He hobbles a few paces, then
freezes, and without looking at his father's shocked face,
says:
]

Let's, let's—go out, now, and—

[
Big Daddy moves suddenly forward and grabs
hold of the boy's crutch like it was a weapon for which they were
fighting for possession.
]

BIG DADDY:

Oh, no, no! No one's going out! What did you start to
say?

BRICK:

I don't remember.

BIG DADDY:

“Many happy returns when they know there won't be any"?

BRICK:

Aw, hell, Big Daddy, forget it. Come on out on the gallery and look at the fireworks
they're shooting off for your birthday . . . .

BIG DADDY:

First you finish that remark you were makin’ before you cut off. “Many
happy returns when they know there won't be any"?—Ain't
that what you just said?

BRICK:

Look, now. I can get around without that crutch if I have to but it would be a lot
easier on the furniture an’ glassware if I didn’ have to go swinging
along like Tarzan of th'—

BIG DADDY:

FINISH! WHAT YOU WAS SAYIN!

[
An eerie green glow shows in sky behind
him.
]

BRICK
[
sucking
the ice in his glass, speech becoming thick
]:

Leave th’ place to Gooper and Mae an’ their five little same little
monkeys. All I want is—

BIG DADDY:

“LEAVE TH’ PLACE,” did you say?

BRICK
[
vaguely
]:

All twenty-eight thousand acres of the richest land this side of the valley
Nile.

BIG DADDY:

Who said I was “leaving the place” to Gooper or anybody? This is
my sixty-fifth birthday! I got fifteen years or twenty years left in
me! I'll outlive
you!
I'll
bury you an’ have to pay for your coffin!

BRICK:

Sure. Many happy returns. Now let's go watch the fireworks, come on,
let's—

BIG DADDY:

Lying, have they been lying? About the report from
th'—clinic? Did they, did they—find
something?—Cancer.
Maybe?

BRICK
;

Mendacity is a system that we live in. Liquor is one way out an’
death's the other . . . .

[
He takes the crutch from Big Daddy's
loose grip and swings out on the gallery leaving the doors open.

[
A song, “Pick a Bale of
Cotton,’’ is heard.
]

MAE
[
appearing in
door
]:

Oh, Big Daddy, the field hands are singin’ fo’
you!

BIG DADDY
[
shouting hoarsely
]:

BRICK! BRICK!

MAE:

He's outside drinkin’, Big Daddy.

BIG DADDY:

BRICK!

[
Mae retreats, awed by the passion of his
voice. Children call Brick in tones mocking Big Daddy. His face crumbles like
broken yellow plaster about to fall into dust.

[
There is a glow in the sky. Brick swings
back through the doors, slowly, gravely, quite soberly.
]

BRICK:

I'm sorry, Big Daddy. My head don't work any more and it's hard
for me to understand how anybody could care if he lived or died or was dying or
cared about anything but whether or not there was liquor left in the bottle and so I
said what I said without thinking. In some ways I'm no better than the
others, in some ways worse because I'm less alive. Maybe it's
being alive that makes them lie, and being almost
not
alive makes me sort of accidentally truthful—I
don't know but—anyway— we've been friends . . .

—And being friends is telling each other the truth. . .

[
There is a pause.
]

You told
me!
I told
you!

[
A child rushes into the room and grabs a
fistful of fire-crackers and runs out again.
]

CHILD
[
screaming
]:

Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!

BIG DADDY
[
slowly
and passionately
]:

CHRIST—DAMN—ALL—LYING SONS OF—LYING BITCHES!

[
He straightens at last and crosses to the
inside door. At the door he turns and looks back as if he had some desperate
question he couldn't put into words. Then he nods reflectively and says
in a hoarse voice:
]

Yes, all liars, all liars, all lying dying liars!

[This is said slowly, slowly, with a fierce
revulsion. He goes on out.
]

—Lying! Dying! Liars!

[
His voice dies out. There if the sound of a
child being slapped. It rushes, hideously bawling
,
through room and out the hall door.

[
Brick remains motionless as the lights dim
out and the curtain falls.
]

CURTAIN

ACT THREE

There is no lapse of time.

Mae enters with Reverend Tooker.

MAE:

Where is Big Daddy! Big Daddy?

BIG MAMA
[
entering
]:

Too much smell of burnt fireworks makes me feel a little bit sick at my
stomach.—Where is Big Daddy?

MAE:

That's what I want to know, where has Big Daddy gone?

BIG MAMA:

He must have turned in, I reckon he went to baid . . . .

[
Gooper enters.
]

GOOPER:

Where is Big Daddy?

MAE:

We don't know where he is!

BIG MAMA:

I reckon he's gone to baid.

GOOPER:

Well, then, now we can talk.

BIG MAMA:

What
is
this talk,
what
talk?

[
Margaret appears on gallery, talking to Dr.
Baugh.
]

MARGARET
[
musically
]:

My family freed their slaves ten years before abolition, my
great-great-grandfather gave his slaves their freedom five years
before the war between the States started!

MAE:

Oh, for God's sake! Maggie's climbed back up in her family
tree!

MARGARET
[
sweetly
]:

What, Mae?—Oh, where's Big Daddy?!

[
The pace must be very quick. Great Southern
animation.
]

BIG MAMA
[
addressing
them
all]:

I think Big Daddy was just worn out. He loves his family, he loves to have them
around him, but it's a strain on his nerves. He wasn't himself
tonight, Big Daddy wasn't himself, I could tell he was all worked up.

REVEREND TOOKER:

I think he's remarkable.

BIG MAMA:

Yaisss! Just remarkable. Did you all notice the food he ate at that
table? Did you all notice the supper he put away? Why, he ate like a
hawss!

GOOPER:

I hope he doesn't regret it.

BIG MAMA:

Why, that man—ate a huge piece of cawn-bread with molasses on
it! Helped himself twice to hoppin’ john.

MARGARET:

Big Daddy loves hoppin’ john.—We had a real country dinner.

BIG MAMA
[
overlapping Margaret
]:

Yais, he simply adores it! An’ candied yams? That man put away
enough food at that table to stuff a nigger
field
hand!

GOOPER
[
with grim
relish
]:

I hope he don't have to pay for it later on . . . .

BIG MAMA
[
fiercely
]:

What's
that,
Gooper?

MAE:

Gooper says he hopes Big Daddy doesn't suffer tonight.

BIG MAMA:

Oh, shoot, Gooper says, Gooper says! Why should Big Daddy suffer for
satisfying a normal appetite? There's nothin’ wrong with that
man but nerves, he's sound as a dollar! And now he knows he is
an’ that's why he ate such a supper. He had a big load off his mind,
knowin’ he wasn't doomed t'—what he thought he was
doomed to . . . .

MARGARET
[
sadly
and sweetly
]:

Bless his old sweet soul. . . .

BIG MAMA
[
vaguely
]:

Yais, bless his heart, where's Brick?

MAE:

Outside.

GOOPER:

—Drinkin’ . . .

BIG MAMA:

I know he's drinkin’. You all don't have to keep tellin’
me
Brick is drinkin’. Cain't I see
he's drinkin’ without you continually tellin’ me that
boy's drinkin'?

MARGARET:

Good for you, Big Mama!

[
She applauds.
]

BIG MAMA:

Other people
drink
and
have
drunk an’ will
drink,
as long as they make that
stuff an’ put it in bottles.

MARGARET:

That's the truth. I never trusted a man that didn't drink.

MAE:

Gooper never drinks. Don't you trust Gooper?

MARGARET:

Why, Gooper, don't you drink? If I'd known you didn't
drink, I wouldn't of made that remark—

BIG MAMA:

Brick?

MARGARET:

—at least not in your presence.

[
She laughs sweetly
.]

BIG MAMA:

Brick!

MARGARET:

He's still on the gall'ry. I'll go bring him in so we can
talk.

BIG MAMA
[
worriedly
]:

I don't know what this mysterious family conference is about.

[
Awkward silence. Big Mama looks from face
to face, then belches slightly and mutters, “Excuse me .
. . .
“
She opens an ornamental fan suspended about her
throat, a black lace fan to go with her black lace gown and fans her wilting
corsage, sniffing nervously and looking from face to face in the uncomfortable
silence as Margaret calls “Brick?” and Brick sings to the
moon on the gallery.
]

I don't know what's wrong here, you all have such long
faces! Open that door on the hall and let some air circulate through here,
will you please, Gooper?

MAE:

I think we'd better leave that door dosed, Big Mama, till after the talk.

BIG MAMA:

Reveren’ Tooker, will
you
please open that
door?!

REVEREND TOOKER:

I sure will, Big Mama.

MAE:

I just didn't think we ought t’ take any chance of Big Daddy
hearin’ a word of this discussion.

BIG MAMA:

I swan!
Nothing's going to be said in Big
Daddy's house that he cain't hear if he wants to!

GOOPER:

Well, Big Mama, it's—

[
Mae gives him a quick, hard poke to shut
him up. He glares at her fiercely as she circles before him like a burlesque
ballerina, raising her skinny bare arms over her head, jangling her bracelets,
exclaiming:
]

MAE:

A breeze! A breeze!

REVEREND TOOKER:

I think this house is the coolest house in the Delta. Did you all know that
Halsey Banks’ widow put air-conditioning units in the church and
rectory at Friar's Point in memory of Halsey?

[
General conversation has resumed; everybody
is chatting so that the stage sounds like a big
bird-cage.
]

GOOPER:

Too bad nobody cools your church off for you. I bet you sweat in that pulpit these
hot Sundays, Reverend Tooker.

REVEREND TOOKER:

Yes, my vestments are drenched.

MAE
[
at the same
time to Dr. Baugh
]:

You think those vitamin B
₁₂
injections are what they're cracked up
t’ be, Doc Baugh?

DOCTOR BAUGH:

Well, if you want to be stuck with something I guess they're as good to be
stuck with as anything else.

BIG MAMA
[
at
gallery door
]:

Maggie, Maggie, aren't you comin’ with
Brick?

MAE
[
suddenly and
loudly, creating a silence
]:

I have a strange feeling, I have a peculiar
feeling!

BIG MAMA
[
turning
from gallery
]:

What feeling?

MAE:

That Brick said somethin’ he shouldn't of said t‘ Big Daddy.

BIG MAMA:

Now what on earth could Brick of said t’ Big Daddy that he shouldn't
say?

GOOPER:

Big Mama, there's somethin'—

MAE:

NOW, WAIT!

[
She rushes up to Big Mama and gives her a
quick hug and kiss. Big Mama pushes her impatiently off as the Reverend
Tooker's voice rises serenely in a little pocket of
silence:
]

REVEREND TOOKER:

Yes, last Sunday the gold in my chasuble faded into th’ purple . . . .

GOOPER:

Reveren’ you must of been preachin’ hell's fire last
Sunday!

[
He guffaws at this witticism but the
Reverend is not sincerely amused. At the same time Big Mama has crossed over to
Dr. Baugh and is saying to him:
]

BIG MAMA
[
her
breathless voice rising high-pitched above the
others
]:

In my day they had what they call the Keeley cure for heavy drinkers.
But now I understand they just take some kind of tablets, they call them
“Annie Bust” tablets. But
Brick
don't need to take
nothin’.

[
Brick appears in gallery doors with
Margaret behind him.
]

BIG MAMA
[
unaware
of his presence behind her
]:

That boy is just broken up over Skipper's death. You know how poor Skipper
died. They gave him a big, big dose of that sodium amytal stuff at his home and then
they called the ambulance and give him another big, big dose of it at the hospital
and that and all of the alcohol in his system fo’ months an’ months
an’ months just proved too much for his heart . . . . I'm scared of
needles! I'm more scared of a needle than the knife, . . . I think
more people have been needled out of this world than—

[
She stops short and wheels
about.
]

OH!
-here's Brick! My precious
baby—

[
She turns upon Brick with short, fat arms
extended, at the same time uttering a loud, short sob, which is both comic and
touching.

[
Brick smiles and bows slightly, making a
burlesque gesture of gallantry for Maggie to pass before him into the room. Then
he hobbles on his crutch directly to the liquor cabinet and there is absolute
silence, with everybody looking at Brick as everybody has always looked at Brick
when he spoke or moved or appeared. One by one he drops ice cubes in his glass,
then suddenly, but not quickly, looks back over his shoulder with a wry,
charming smile, and says:
]

BRICK:

I'm sorry! Anyone else?

BIG MAMA
[
sadly
]:

No, son. I
wish
you wouldn't!

BRICK:

I wish I didn't have to, Big Mama, but I'm still waiting for that click
in my head which makes it all smooth out!

BIG MAMA:

Aw, Brick, you—BREAK MY HEART!

MARGARET
[
at the
same time
]:

Brick, go sit with Big Mama!

BIG MAMA:

I just cain't
staiiiiiiiii-nnnnnd—it.
. . .

[
She sobs.
]

MAE:

Now that we're all assembled—

GOOPER:

We kin talk. . . .

BIG MAMA:

Breaks my heart. . . .

MARGARET:

Sit with Big Mama, Brick, and hold her hand.

[
Big Mama sniffs very loudly three times,
almost like three drum beats in the pocket of silence.
]

BRICK:

You do that, Maggie. I'm a restless cripple. I got to stay on my crutch.

[
Brick hobbles to the gallery door; leans
there as if waiting.

[
Mae sits beside Big Mama, while Gooper
moves in front and sits on the end of the couch, facing her. Reverend Tooker
moves nervously into the space between them; on the other side, Dr. Baugh stands
looking at nothing in particular and lights a cigar. Margaret turns
away.
]

BIG MAMA:

Why're you all
surroundin’
me—like
this? Why're you all starin’ at me like this an’
makin’ signs at each other?

[
Reverend Tooker steps back
startled.
]

MAE:

Calm yourself, Big Mama.

BIG MAMA:

Calm you'self,
you'self,
Sister Woman. How
could I calm myself with everyone starin’ at me as if big drops of blood had
broken out on m'face’ What's this all about, annh!
What?

[
Gooper coughs and takes a center
position.
]

GOOPER:

Now, Doc Baugh.

MAE:

Doc Baugh?

BRICK
[
suddenly
]:

SHHH!—

[
Then he grins and chuckles and shakes his
head regretfully.
]

—Naw!—that wasn't th’ click.

GOOPER:

Brick, shut up or stay out there on the gallery with your liquor! We got to
talk about a serious matter. Big Mama wants to know the complete truth about the
report we got today from the Ochsner Clinic.

MAE
[
eagerly
]:

—on Big Daddy's condition!

GOOPER:

Yais, on Big Daddy's condition, we got to face it.

DOCTOR BAUGH:

Well. . . .

BIG MAMA
[
terrified, rising
]:

Is there? Something? Something that I?
Don't—Know?

[
In these few words, this startled, very
soft, question, Big Mama reviews the history of her forty-five years with
Big Daddy, her great, almost embarrassingly true-hearted and
simple-minded devotion to Big Daddy, who must have had something Brick
has, who made himself loved so much by the “simple expedient” of
not loving enough to disturb his
charming detachment, also once coupled, like Brick's,
with virile beauty.