The Old Neighborhood (4 page)

(Pause)

BOBBY
: You remember the Sleepy Time Motel?

JOEY
: Yes.

BOBBY
: Is it still there?

JOEY
: Yes, it is.

BOBBY
: You remember when Joan Carpenter threw up?

JOEY
: Yes.

BOBBY
: Those girls.
(Pause)

JOEY
: Yeah, I remember …

BOBBY
:
(Pause)
Joan … Deeny.

JOEY
: Deeny. I see her now and then. She works at Fields.

BOBBY
: She does?

JOEY
: She got divorced.

BOBBY
: I didn’t even know that she was married.

JOEY
: She got married million years ago.

BOBBY
: When did she get divorced?

JOEY
: Not too long, maybe a year ago. Two years.

BOBBY
: And how is she?

JOEY
: Yeah. She’s fine.

BOBBY
: Did she get fat?

JOEY
: No.
(Pause)
She’s selling cosmetics on the first floor.

BOBBY
: She is?

JOEY
: Yeah.

BOBBY
: She ever ask about me?

JOEY
: Yeah.

BOBBY
: What does she say?

JOEY
: How were you.

BOBBY
: What did you tell her?

JOEY
: That you’re fine.
(Pause)

BOBBY
: She works at the place downtown or on Michigan?

JOEY
: Michigan.

BOBBY
: Cosmetics.

JOEY
: Yeah.

BOBBY
: What does she look like?

JOEY
: She looks the same.

BOBBY
: She does?

JOEY
: Yeah. I’m struck by that sometimes. I mean you look the same to me.

BOBBY
: Isn’t that funny, ’cause you look the same to me.

JOEY
: You think that’s funny?

BOBBY
: Yeah.

JOEY
: I think it’s funny, too. I wish I had a cigarette.

BOBBY
: Yes. I do, too.
(Beat)

JOEY
: You wanna go get some?

BOBBY
: I almost do, but I shouldn’t.

JOEY
: No, I shouldn’t either.
(Pause)
Isn’t that something?

BOBBY
: Yes. It is, Joe.

JOEY
: Isn’t that something?

BOBBY
: It’s one for the books.

CHARACTERS

SCENE

Jolly’s home

JOLLY
: … and he said, “I disapprove of you.” “Of what?” I said. “Of, well, I don’t know if I want to go into it …” “Of something I’ve done …?” I said, “Yes.” “To you?” “No.” “To
whom?
” I said. He said he would much rather not take it up. “Well, I wish you
would
take it up,” I said, “because it’s important to me.” “It’s the way,” he said. “It’s the way that you are with your children.”

BOB
:
(Pause) What? (Pause)

JOLLY
: “It’s the way that you are with your children.”

BOB
: Oh, Lord …

JOLLY
: I …

BOB
: … how long can this go …

JOLLY
: I …

BOB
: … how long can this go
on?

JOLLY
: I wanted to, you know, I stayed on the pho—

BOB
: How long can this go on?
Wait a
minute.
Wait
a minute: You should call all …

JOLLY
: … I know …

BOB
: … you should cease …

JOLLY
: … I know.

BOB
: … all
meetings, dialogue …

JOLLY
: … but the children …

BOB
: You should never … listen to me, Jolly:

JOLLY
: I’m …

BOB
: You sh—

JOLLY
: Yes, I know.

BOB
: You should take an oath never to
talk
to,
meet
with …

JOLLY
: … but the children …

BOB
: And the children most especially. How can this, are
we going to expose another generation to this … this …

JOLLY
: And the thing of it is, is …

BOB
: He said
what? What
did he say …?

JOLLY
: He …

BOB
: He didn’t like the way you raise your children …

JOLLY
: … he said that he’d been in
therapy …

BOB
: … hu.

JOLLY
: … and he’d, he’d come to … 
what
was it …?

CARL
: “See.”

JOLLY
: … he was a different
man
. From the man we knew.

CARL
: He’d come to “realize” that he had “changed.”

JOLLY
: … to realize that he had changed, yes, and the things which, in a prior life, he might have “suppressed” …

BOB
: … that’s their way. That’s their way. That’s their
swinish, selfish,
goddam
them. What
treachery
have they not done, in the name of …

JOLLY
: … I know …

BOB
: … of “honesty.” God
damn
them. And always “telling” us we …

JOLLY
: … yes.

BOB
: … we were the bad ones …

JOLLY
: Well, we were.

BOB
: … 
we
were the bad ones.

JOLLY
: And when he said it, I heard his father’s voice.

BOB
:
Well, fuck
him …

JOLLY
: And I saw. He’d turned into his father.

BOB
: … he didn’t like the way you raise your kids …

JOLLY
: And so, you know, I knew, I
remembered
. Way back. They were …

BOB
: … they were sweet kids.

JOLLY
:
He
was a sweet kid.

BOB
: … she …?

JOLLY
:
He
was a sweet kid, Buub. You weren’t there …

BOB
: I was there for part of it.

JOLLY
: NO. You weren’t there, you know. You weren’t there,
I
was there. I see where it all comes from. Both of them, the traits …

BOB
: … Yes.

JOLLY
: … and they had … I don’t mean to excuse them. I don’t want to
excuse
them.

BOB
: … there’s no excuse for them.

JOLLY
: No. I believe that. And I am not a vindictive person.

BOB
: No.

JOLLY
: I’m not, Buub. I’ve been thinking of this …

BOB
: I know that you’re not.

JOLLY
: And I think about all those years …

BOB
: They treated you like filth.
(Pause)

JOLLY
: Yes. They did. They treated me like filth. Do you know, you don’t know, ’cause you weren’t there—when they first came.
Mother
told me, I was ten. So she was, what eight; she was going to sleep in my bed. She took up the bed, as she was a “creeper,” you know. I’m a rock. You put me in a bed. And unmoving. Morning. She was all over the place. And I went in and told Mom that I couldn’t sleep. She said, “She is his daughter, and this is the case. If you can’t sleep, sleep on the floor.”

BOB
: No.

JOLLY
: … and … yes. And she wouldn’t let me take the covers.
(Pause)

CARL
: … and she wanted to call him back.

BOB
: Call him back.

CARL
: Yes.

BOB
:
And say what?

JOLLY
: I was so … 
astonished
. By the phone call …

BOB
: Someone calls me up, says, “I don’t like the way you raise your kids …”

JOLLY
: I was, you know, like sometimes when you are in
shock …
?

BOB
: … yes.

JOLLY
: The most bizarre events seem “commonplace.”

BOB
: … yes.

JOLLY
: I was … because you know, I called HIM. He didn’t call
me
, I called him.
This was the thing of it:
The kids. My kids. They were
close
to him. When he and Susan first got married …

BOB
: … yes …

JOLLY
: They used to, they’d say: “What do your kids like to do? What are a list of their favorite …”

CARL
: … activities.

JOLLY
: … and we would write them
down
 … and they would come over and take the kids, and take the
list
and do all of them.

BOB
: Hm.

JOLLY
: Do
all
of them. Five things in a day and they’d do
all
of ’em … and
loved
the kids. So. Since we’ve
moved. And we had not
heard
from them. For six months. So I picked up the phone …

BOB
: … that was your mistake.

JOLLY
: I picked up the phone. And I called them. “How are you? Sorry we haven’t … ‘called’ you” … and the stress of
moving
 … “pause.” Is there something
wrong?
Is something the
matter?
No. He doesn’t want to talk about it. “What is it?” and then …

BOB
: And then you have to wrench it from him … Please
tell
me …”

JOLLY
: The “counseling.” He’s
“changed.”
 … He’s come to see.

BOB
: … uh huh …

JOLLY
: How he was re—

BOB
: He was repressing his feelings.

JOLLY
: Yes. He was repressing his—

BOB
: About the way you raise your kids …?

JOLLY
: Well, you know, and the
counseling
, and
she
is in the counseling and all this psychobabble. And they
never took “responsibility” for any aspect of the things, you know, the things that they were “feeling.” … It’s all … “I.” “Me.” “What I feel.” Oh, oh, he said he’s learning—you’re going to love this: He’s learning to live “facing his past.”

BOB
: Facing his past.

JOLLY
: Facing his past.

BOB
: Well, of course. Of course. That’s how they
all
live. Facing the past. Facing the past. Looking at the past.
Fuck
him. AND fuck “counseling,” is the thing I’m saying …

JOLLY
: … I’m with you.

BOB
: Fucking leeches.

JOLLY
: “Counseling.”

BOB
: Hey? Y’don’t need a
roofing
counselor. You need, you may need a
roofer
, tell you “get a new roof.” You don’t need,
sit
there, five years, five hours a week,
talking
about “Do we need a roof. Do we need a roof.”
(Pause)

CARL
: Tell him.
(Pause)

JOLLY
: You know, he told me, when he did Mom’s estate …?

BOB
: Her estate? She never had a thing of her own, her whole life.

JOLLY
: Hold on. I went to him, you know, all her antiques …?

BOB
: He’s selling them. I know.

JOLLY
: He
sold
them.

BOB
: … he sold them?

JOLLY
: He
sold
them. He kept saying, “Anything you want, just
tell me …
”

BOB
: … he sold them …?

CARL
: Yes.

JOLLY
: So I
told
him. Everything I said …

BOB
: … oh, no.

JOLLY
: You know, and anything I’d ask for …

BOB
: … yes.

JOLLY
: He’d say, “Waaaaalll …, that’s a very special
piece
 … uh. Huh huh.” What do I get? NOTHING. NOTHING. Nothing. Some cheap … and it doesn’t
matter. (Pause)
But she was my mother. And I was there while she was dying.
I
was there.
I
was there. He’d drop her off, and I was left, an infirm woman. Fourteen hours a day. And when she’d wake up at night, and my two kids, and no “Nurse,” no. And he could afford it … 
I
couldn’t …

BOB
: … no …

JOLLY
:
He
could. And just drop her off. And sonofabitch that
cunt
that
cunt
that
Carol
DIDN’T EVEN COME TO THE …

BOB
: … I know …

JOLLY
: … the
funeral
. And who gets the armoire?

BOB
: Which?

JOLLY
: In the hallway. And who gets the mink coat?
(Pause)

BOB
: … I know …

JOLLY
: Couldn’t spare the time …

BOB
: … yes …

JOLLY
: … from her
counselors
 … who are, what, going to teach her how to Lead a Good Life …? Fuck HER. And all the married
men
she’s screwing. As her way. Of expressing herself, and could not even come to Mom’s
funeral
. And he says, “What do you want, Jolly …? And I
tell
him.

BOB
: … yes …

JOLLY
: Nothing very valuable, God forbid, except that it had a meaning for me. AND EVERY PIECE, Buuby, that I say …

BOB
: … I know …

JOLLY
: He tells me
why I cannot have it
. Until …

BOB
: … of course …

JOLLY
: I stop asking.

BOB
: … I know …

JOLLY
: … because …

BOB
: … I know, Jol …

JOLLY
: … because, because … 
(Pause)
So … so … he sold them.
(Pause)

CARL
: Tell him about the money.

JOLLY
: I don’t care about the money.

CARL
: Tell him.

JOLLY
:
(Sighs)
So he says. So he says …

CARL
: He’s “sold” the stuff …

JOLLY
: So he says the proceeds are in an “estate.”

CARL
: A trust.

BOB
: A trust, I know.

JOLLY
: So he says … 
I
say, you know, we are having some tight times, we could really
use
some of the money …

BOB
: … uh huh …

JOLLY
: “It’s in a trust.” Uh huh. Round and round. Then he says, “I could, you know, perhaps I could
invade
the trust …”

BOB
: … invade the trust …

JOLLY
: Yes. “If it’s … if it’s truly …”

BOB
: … why did it have to be “truly” …?

JOLLY
: Wait. It gets worse.
(Sighs)
So. Round and round. I call. You know. This and that. The
kids
. “I really could
use
the money. We are really—you know … 
‘moving’ …
”

BOB
: … yes.

JOLLY
: … when we thought we were moving …

BOB
: I know.

JOLLY
: “And we’re really
tight
now …”
(Pause)
“And we could use some help.”

BOB
: … I know what it cost. To ask him.

JOLLY
: For “ten thousand dollars” … 
(Pause)
the way he lives. “Ten thousand dollars” … Long long pause. “Waal …” I jump in. Whatever it took, that it took, out of the “will,” I don’t mean the will, what do I mean, the …?

CARL
: … estate.

JOLLY
: The “estate.” “Whatever it took, out of the estate. From …”

BOB
: … God damn him.

JOLLY
: … from Bill and Carol …

BOB
:
(Softly)
God damn him …