Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (14 page)

MARGARET
[
returning alone
]:

Who are you talking about, now? Brick? A football player? He
isn't a football player and you know it. Brick is a sports announcer
on TV and one of the best-known ones in the country!

MAE:

I'm talking about what he was.

MARGARET:

Well, I wish you would just stop talking about my husband.

GOOPER:

I've got a right to discuss my brother with other members of MY OWN family
which don't include
you.
Why don't you go
out there and drink with Brick?

MARGARET:

I've never seen such malice toward a brother.

GOOPER:

How about his for me? Why, he can't stand to be in the same room with
me!

MARGARET:

This is a deliberate campaign of vilification for the most disgusting
and sordid reason on earth, and I know what it is! It's
avarice, avarice, greed, greed!

BIG MAMA:

Oh, I'll scream! I will scream in a moment unless
this stops!

[
Gooper has stalked up to Margaret with
clenched fists at his sides as if he would strike her. Mae distorts her face
again into a hideous grimace behind Margaret's back.
]

MARGARET:

We only remain on the place because of Big Mom and Big Daddy. If it is true what they
say about Big Daddy we are going to leave here just as soon as it's over. Not
a moment later.

BIG MAMA
[
sobs
]:

Margaret. Child. Game here. Sit next to Big Mama.

MARGARET:

Precious Mommy. I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I—!

[
She bends her long graceful neck to press
her forehead to Big Mama's bulging shoulder under its black
chiffon.
]

GOOPER:

How beautiful, how touching, this display of devotion!

MAE:

Do you know why she's childless? She's childless because that
big beautiful athlete husband of hers won't go to bed with her!

GOOPER:

You jest won't let me do this in a nice way, will yah? Aw
right—Mae and I have five kids with another one coming! I don't
give a goddam if Big Daddy likes me or don't like me or did or never did or
will or will never! I'm just appealing
to a sense
of common decency and fair play. I'll tell you the truth. I've
resented Big Daddy's partiality to Brick ever since Brick was born, and the
way I've been treated like I was just barely good enough to spit on and
sometimes not even good enough for that. Big Daddy is dying of cancer, and
it's spread all through him and it's attacked all his vital organs
including the kidneys and right now he is sinking into uremia, and you all know what
uremia is, it's poisoning of the whole system due to the failure of the body
to eliminate its poisons.

MARGARET
[
to
herself, downstage, hissingly
]:

Poisons, poisons! Venomous thoughts and words! In
hearts and minds!—That's poisons!

GOOPER
[
overlapping her
]:

I am asking for a square deal, and I expect to get one. But if I don't get
one, if there's any peculiar shenanigans going on around here behind my back,
or before me, well, I'm not a corporation lawyer for nothing, I know how to
protect my own interests.—
OH! A late
arrival!

[
Brick enters from the gallery with a
tranquil, blurred smile, carrying an empty glass with him.
]

MAE:

Behold the conquering hero comes!

GOOPER:

The fabulous Brick Pollitt! Remember him?—Who could forget
him!

MAE:

He looks like he's been injured in a game!

GOOPER:

Yep, I'm afraid you'll have to warm the bench at the Sugar Bowl this
year, Brick!

[
Mae laughs shrilly.
]

Or was it the Rose Bowl that he made that famous run in?

MAE:

The punch bowl, honey. It was in the punch bowl, the cut-glass punch
bowl!

GOOPER:

Oh, that's right, I'm getting the bowls mixed up!

MARGARET:

Why don't you stop venting your malice and envy on a sick boy?

BIG MAMA:

Now you two hush, I mean it, hush, all of you,
hush!

GOOPER:

All right, Big Mama. A family crisis brings out the best and the worst in every
member of it.

MAE:

That's
the truth.

MARGARET:

Amen!

BIG MAMA:

I said, hush!
I won't tolerate any more
catty talk in my house.

[
Mae gives Gooper a sign indicating
briefcase.

[
Brick's smile has grown both
brighter and vaguer. As he prepares a drink, he sings
softly:
]

BRICK:

Show me the way to go home,
I'm tired and I wanta go to bed,

I had a little drink about an hour ago—

GOOPER
[
at the
same time
]:

Big Mama, you know it's necessary for me t'go back to Memphis in
th’ mornin’ t'represent the Parker estate in a lawsuit.

[
Mae sits on the bed and arranges papers she
has taken from the briefcase.
]

BRICK
[
continuing
the song
]:

Wherever I may roam,

On land or sea or foam.

BIG MAMA:

Is it, Gooper?

MAE:

Yaiss.

GOOPER:

That's why I'm forced to—to bring up a problem that—

MAE:

Somethin’ that's too important t’ be put off!

GOOPER:

If Brick was sober, he ought to be in on this.

MARGARET:

Brick is present; we're here.

GOOPER:

Well, good. I will now give you this outline my partner, Tom Bullitt, an’ me
have drawn up—a sort of dummy—trusteeship.

MARGARET:

Oh, that's it! You'll be in charge an’ dole out
remittances, will you?

GOOPER:

This we did as soon as we got the report on Big Daddy from th’ Ochsner
Laboratories. We did this thing, I mean we drew up this dummy outline with the
advice and assistance of the Chairman of the Boa'd of Directors of th’
Southern Plantahs Bank and Trust Company in Memphis, C. C. Bellowes, a man who
handles estates for all th’ prominent fam'lies in West Tennessee and
th’ Delta.

BIG MAMA:

Gooper?

GOOPER [
crouching
in front of Big Mama
]:

Now this is not—not final, or anything like it. This is just a preliminary
outline. But it does provide a basis—a design—a—possible,
feasible—
plan!

MARGARET:

Yes, I'll bet.

MAE:

It's a plan to protect the biggest estate in the Delta from irresponsibility
an'—

BIG MAMA:

Now you listen to me, all of you, you listen here! They's not
goin’ to be any more catty talk in my house! And Gooper, you put that
away before I grab it out of our hand and tear it right up! I don't
know what the hell's in it, and I don't want to know what the
hell's in it. I'm talkin’ in Big Daddy's language now;
I'm his
wife,
not his
widow,
I'm still his
wife!
And
I'm talkin’ to you in his language an'—

GOOPER:

Big Mama, what I have here is—

MAE:

Gooper explained that it's just a plan. . . .

BIG MAMA:

I don't care what you got there. Just put it back where it came from,
an’ don't let me see it again, not even the outside of the envelope of
it! Is that understood? Basis! Plan! Preliminary!
Design! I say—what is it Big Daddy always says when he's
disgusted?

BRICK [
from the
bar
]:

Big Daddy says “crap” when he's disgusted.

BIG MAMA
[
rising
]:

That's right—
CRAP!
I say
CRAP
too, like Big Daddy!

MAE:

Coarse language doesn't seem called for in this—

GOOPER:

Somethin’ in me is
deeply outraged
by
hearin’ you talk like this.

BIG MAMA:

Nobody's goin’ to take
nothin'!
—till Big Daddy lets go of it, and maybe,
just possibly, not—not even then! No, not even then!

BRICK:

You can always hear me singin’ this song,

Show me the way to go home.

BIG MAMA:

Tonight Brick looks like he used to look when he was a little boy, just like he did
when he played wild games and used to come home all sweaty and pink-cheeked
and sleepy, with his—red curls shining. . . .

[
She comes over to him and runs her fat
shaky hand through his hair. He draws aside as he does from all physical contact
and continues the song in a whisper, opening the
ice bucket and dropping in the ice cubes one by one as if he
were mixing some important chemical formula.
]

BIG MAMA [
continuing
]:

Time goes by so fast. Nothin’ can outrun it. Death commences too
early—almost before you're half acquainted with life—you meet
with the other. . . .

Oh, you know we just got to love each other an’ stay together,
all of us, just as close as we can, especially now that such a
black
thing has come and moved into this place without invitation.

[
Awkwardly embracing Brick, she presses her
head to his shoulder.

[
Gooper has been returning papers to Mae who
has restored them to briefcase with an air of severely tried
patience.
]

GOOPER:

Big Mama? Big Mama?

[
He stands behind her, tense with sibling
envy.
]

BIG MAMA
[
oblivious of Gooper
]:

Brick, you hear me, don't you?

MARGARET:

Brick hears you, Big Mama, he understands what you're saying.

BIG MAMA:

Oh, Brick, son of Big Daddy! Big Daddy does so love you! Y'know
what would be his fondest dream come true? If before he passed on, if Big
Daddy has to pass on, you gave him a child of yours, a grandson as much like his son
as his son is like Big Daddy!

MAE [
zipping
briefcase shut: an incongruous sound
]:

Such a pity that Maggie an’ Brick can't
oblige!

MARGARET [
suddenly and quietly but forcefully
]:

Everybody listen.

[
She crosses to the center of the room,
holding her hands rigidly together.
]

MAE:

Listen to what, Maggie?

MARGARET:

I have an announcement to make.

GOOPER:

A sports announcement, Maggie?

MARGARET:

Brick and I are going to
—have a child!

[
Big Mama catches her breath in a loud
gasp.
]

[
Pause. Big Mama rises.
]

BIG MAMA:

Maggie! Brick! This is too good to believe!

MAE:

That's right, too good to believe.

BIG MAMA:

Oh, my, my! This is Big Daddy's dream, his dream come true!
I'm going to tell him right now before he—

MARGARET:

We'll tell him in the morning. Don't disturb him now.

BIG MAMA:

I want to tell him before he goes to sleep, I'm going to tell
him his dream's come true this minute! And Brick! A child
will make you pull yourself together and quit this drinking!

[
She seizes the glass from his
hand.
]

The responsibilities of a father will—

[
Her face contorts and she makes an excited
gesture; bursting into sobs, she rushes out, crying.
]

I'm going to tell Big Daddy right this
minute!

[
Her voice fades out down the
hall.

[
Brick shrugs slightly and drops an ice cube
into another glass. Margaret crosses quickly to his side, saying something under
her breath, and she pours the liquor for him, staring up almost fiercely into
his face.
]

BRICK
[
coolly
]:

Thank you, Maggie, that's a nice big shot.

[
Mae has joined Gooper and she gives him a
fierce poke, making a low hissing sound and a grimace of
fury.
]

GOOPER
[
pushing
her aside
]:

Brick, could you possibly spare me one small shot of that liquor?

BRICK:

Why
,
help yourself, Gooper boy.

GOOPER:

I will.

MAE
[
shrilly
]:

Of course we know that this is—

GOOPER:

Be still, Mae!

MAE:

I won't be still! I know she's made this up!

GOOPER:

God damn it, I said to shut up!

MARGARET:

Gracious! I didn't know that my little announcement was going to
provoke such a storm!