Authors: Lorraine Hansberry
Les Blancs (27 page)
(
He jumps up as if to leave the room
)
HIRAM
Where are you going?
EVERETT
I am going to find John Robley and his brother and—
HIRAM
—drink and gamble the night away! Is that the way you would be master here! Sit down!
EVERETT
halts with his mouth open to speak to his father in outrage
.
MACON
interrupts with a deliberately quiet note
.
BULLETT
(
TO
MARIA
) Get him to take these four times a day, if you can, Maria. (
To
HIRAM
) Not three times and not five times—
four
.
MARIA
(
Taking the bottle and going out with it
) I will try, Macon, I will try. (
To
EVERETT
as she passes him
) Do try not to upset your father so, darling.
(
She kisses him lightly and pats his cheek and exits with the bottle
)
EVERETT
moves to a window and stands looking out at the darkness in irritation
.
BULLETT
clearly waits for
MARIA
’s
distance and then looks at his patient as he starts to put his things away
.
BULLETT
Well, Hiram—it’s all over.
From the finality of his tone
,
EVERETT
turns slowly to listen and stare at them and
HIRAM
,
who also understands the opening remark, at once also winds up for a great and loud protest
.
No, I mean it. There’s nothing left to joke about and no more trusting to luck. It’s that bad.
HIRAM
stares hard at him and the protest starts to fall away as the gravity of his friend penetrates
.
As much as you hate reading, you have got to buy all the books you can and spend the rest of your life doing very little else. That’s all. I absolutely insist that you stay out of the fields.
HIRAM
Well, now, just a minute, Macon—
BULLETT
I’m sorry, Hiram—
HIRAM
Well, your being sorry doesn’t help me one bit!
EVERETT
Papa!
BULLETT
That’s all right, son.
HIRAM
What do you expect me to do with my plantation? Turn it over to
him
so he can turn it over to a pack of overseers?
BULLETT
Well, I hadn’t intended to get into that, Hiram, but since you ask me, I think it would be the best thing that could happen to the Sweet plantation. (
Seeing that the remark has cut the man deeply, he tries to amplify in the most impartial and reasonable tone
) You and I have to face the fact that this is a new era, Hiram. Cotton is a big business in a way it never was before. It you treat it any other way, you’re lost. You just have to adjust to that, Hiram. For the good of yourself and for the good of the South.
HIRAM
(
Bitterly
) That’s easy talk for a blue blood, Macon! We all know that you came from a long line of lace-hankied Bordeaux wine-sniffers, but I think you forget that I don’t.
EVERETT
(
Hating most of all that he should raise the question
) Papa, please!
BULLETT
(
Coolly
) I cannot imagine what makes you think I have forgotten. Certainly not your manners.
EVERETT
(
Obligatory
) Sir, I must remind you this is my father’s house.
HIRAM
(
To
EVERETT
) Don’t you ever hush? I’m sorry, Macon, I was a little insulting and a little—
EVERETT
(
Almost to himself, involuntarily
) —common.
This is clearly
EVERETT
’s anguish. all three men suffer a moment of extreme discomfort and
MACON
stirs himself for departure
.
BULLETT
Well, that was an extraordinary meal as usual. That Rissa of yours is an eternal wonder.
HIRAM
Macon, tell me something. Don’t you have the gray hours, too?
BULLETT
The what?
HIRAM
The gray hours—you know what I mean, don’t sit there looking dumb. I call them the gray hours, you probably call them
something else. That doesn’t matter. I know perfectly well you have them, whatever you call them. I think every man that draws breath on this earth has those hours when—well—when, by God, he wonders why the stars hang out there and this planet turns and rivers run—and what he’s here for.
BULLETT
Yes, I suppose we all do.
HIRAM
Then what happens, Macon, if it’s all a lie—the way we live, the things we tell ourselves?
BULLETT
Oh, come now, Hiram …
HIRAM
N
O
, I mean it—what happens if there really is some old geezer sitting up there, white beard and all—
BULLETT
I don’t think I’m so unready to meet my Maker, Hiram. I haven’t been the worst of men on this earth—
HIRAM
Macon—
you own slaves
.
BULLETT
Well, that’s not a sin. It was meant to be that way. That’s why He made men different colors.
HIRAM
Is it? I hope so, Macon, I truly hope so.
BULLETT
(
Rising
) Hiram, I really must get on. No, don’t call Maria. Harry can see me out. Good night, Everett.
EVERETT
Good night, sir.
BULLETT
(
Touching his friend on his shoulder as he exits
) Books and long afternoon naps. Good night, Hiram.
HIRAM
(
Having become strangely quiet
) Good night, Macon.
(
The doctor exits
)
EVERETT
(
Turning on him savagely as soon as the man is out of sight
) Papa, why must you insist upon eternally bringing up your “humble beginnings”—
HIRAM
(
Sighing
) Good night, son. I want to be alone. I am tired.
EVERETT
(
Concerned
) Are—you all right?
HIRAM
Yes. Good night.
EVERETT
does not say another word and exits quietly from the room as the planter sits on. Presently a stir in the shadows behind him makes him turn his head
.
That you, Rissa? You there.
RISSA
(
Coming out of the shadows as all of the servants seem to do when they are called or needed
) Yessah.
HIRAM
(
Himself
) There wasn’t enough salt in the greens.
RISSA
There was all you gona get from now on.
HIRAM
N
OW
, Rissa—
RISSA
If you aimin’ on killin’ yourself, Marster Hiram, don’t be askin’ Riss’ to hep you none ’cause she ain’t gona do it.
HIRAM
One thing about always listening to other people’s conversations, Rissa, is that you hear a lot of blasted nonsense.
RISSA
I don’t have to listen to no other folks’ conversations to see h’you ailin’. You sittin’ there now, white as cotton, sweatin’ like you seen the horseman comin’. (
She stands behind him and forces him to sit back in the chair with comforting gestures
) Lord, you one stubborn man. I ’spect you was allus the most stubborn man I ever come across.
HIRAM
Took a stubborn man to do the things I had to. To come into the wilderness and make a plantation. Came here with four slaves and fifty dollars and made one of the finest plantations in this district.
RISSA
(
Attending to him, gently, patiently, mopping his brow as she stands behind his chair
) Yessah. Jes you and me and old Ezra and Zekial who run off and poor old Leo who died last year.
HIRAM
(
Shaking his head
) You ever expect that Ezekial would run off from me after all those years?
RISSA
Sprise me just as much as you. Reckon I don’t know what gets into some folks.
HIRAM
(
Suddenly breaking into laughter
) Remember that time when we were building the old barn and Zeke fell from the loft straight
into that vat of molasses you had put in there to cool the day before? By God, he was a sticky boy that day!
(
He roars and she does also
)
RISSA
—Come flyin’ to me in the kitchen screamin’; “Rissa, Rissa, I’se kilt, I’se kilt!” Me and Ezra had to tie him down to wash him he was so scared. (
A new surge of laughter
) Finally had to shave his head like a egg, ’member?
HIRAM
And the time the wild hogs went after the corn in the south fields and I had to go after them with the gun and Farmer Burns thought I was shooting at him!
RISSA
Do I remember?—Why we had po’k ’round here for months after that!
HIRAM
(
Feeling festive
) Fetch the gun, Rissa, go ahead let’s have a look at it—
RISSA
(
Fussing good-naturedly as she obeys, reaching for a key hanging among a dozen or so keys on her belt
) I knew it! Every time you get to thinkin’ ’bout them days I have to get out that old gun so’s you kin look at it.
She opens a long drawer and pulls the old weapon out. It is wrapped in a cloth and has been kept in excellent repair
.
HIRAM
(
Reaching out for it eagerly as she brings it to him
) Ah! … And still shoots true as an arrow … (
He caresses it a little
) My father gave me this gun and I remember feeling—I was fourteen—I remember feeling, “I’m a man now. A true man. I shall go into the wilderness and not seek my fortune—but
make
it!” Hah! What a cocky boy I was! …
(
Hiram is smiling happily
)
RISSA
(
Clearly getting ready to remind him of something. Placing both fists on her hips
) Speakin’ of boys, Marster Sweet, ain’t you forgot about a certain promise in the last couple of months?
HIRAM
(
Frowning like a boy being reprimanded
) Oh, Rissa, Maria says she won’t have it. She put up a terrible fuss about it …
RISSA
(
Just as childishly—they are, in fact, very much alike
) Marster, a
promise is a promise! And you promise me when that boy was born that he wasn’t never gona have to be no field hand …
HIRAM
But we need all the hands in the fields we’ve got and Maria says there is absolutely nothing for another house servant to do around here.
As he is saying this
,
MARIA
has reentered with a single pill and a glass of water. She stands where she is and watches the two of them
.
RISSA
He kin do a little bit of everything. He kin hep me in the kitchen and Harry some in the house. He’s gettin’ so unruly, Marster Hiram. And you promised me—
HIRAM
All right, for God’s sake! Anything for peace in this house! Soon as pickin’s over, Hannibal is a house servant—
RISSA
sees
MARIA
and becomes quite still
.
HIRAM
follows her eyes and turns to see
MARIA
as she advances toward him with the medicine and water, her face set in silent anger
.
HIRAM
shouts at her suddenly
.
Because I say so, that’s why! Because I am master of this plantation and every soul on it. I am master of those fields out there and I am master of this house as well. (
She is silent
) There are some men born into this world who make their own destiny. Men who do not tolerate the rules of other men or other forces.
He is angry at his illness and goes into a mounting rage as the camera pans away from him to the slightly nodding
RISSA
who is cut of the same cloth in her individualism; to his wife who feels in the moment only clear despair for her husband; across the floor through the open door where
EVERETT
stands listening in half-shadow
.
I will not die curled up with some book! When the Maker wants me, let him come for me in the place where He should know better than all I can be found …
EVERETT
’s
face turns intently as if for the first time he is hearing the essence of his father
.
I have asked no man’s permission for the life I have lived—and I will not start now!
Fade out
End of Act One
FADE IN:
INTERIOR. EVERETT’S BEDROOM—
AFTERNOON
.
He is sitting dejectedly alone. Drinking. The door bursts open and his mother stands there with urgency in her face
.
MARIA
You had better come, son!
EVERETT
(
With concern
) An attack?
MARIA
Yes, I’ve sent for Macon.
He rushes to her and steadies her
.
EVERETT
It’s all right, Mother. It’s going to be all right.
CUT TO:
INTERIOR. HIRAM’S BEDROOM
.
The shades have been pulled and
HIRAM
lies stretched out on his back, fully dressed. A male house servant is trying to gently remove his clothes
.
EVERETT
and
MARIA
enter and go directly to his bedside
.