fort the old
man. In the ensuing, uncomfortable silence,_ KEN, MARTIN _and_
LAURA _come in_. KEN _is drunk and boisterous_, MARTIN _is trying
to hold him back,_ KEN _backs into the room, dragging_ MARTIN _with
him_. LAURA _follows._]
KEN. I got to go in. Got to find Ted. I got to 'pologize to Ted.
[MARTIN, _seeing_ BISHOP, _lets go of_ KEN _who nearly falls_, KEN
_does not see his father._] I got to shake hands with him and say,
Ted, ol' boy, you're right. We're in the same boat. We're brothers
under the skin. We are both kept men.
BISHOP. My son!
KEN. [_Turns slowly and sees his father._] Hi, dad! [_Gestures to_
LAURA.] Meet the wife. She got the job. You paid for it. [_Silence.
Gestures to_ MARTIN.] Meet Martin. He's a god-damned Communist. But
I like him.
BISHOP. My son, you have been drinking.
KEN. Drinking? [_Laughs--to_ MARTIN.] He thinks I have been
drinking. [_To_ TIPPY.] Hi! Good old Tippy. Washes dogs.--Kept
dogs. Kept women. Kept men.
TIPPY. [_Taking him by the arm._] Come on, Ken. Come out in the
kitchen and have some coffee.
KEN. I don't want coffee. Makes you 'member what you got drunk to
forget.
TIPPY. All right, then. I'll give you some more whiskey.
BISHOP. [_In horror._] I forbid. Please, no more liquor.
KEN. That's right. No more liquor. Might forget too much.
TIPPY. Then come in and go to sleep and forget everything.
KEN. [_Shaking him off._] I don't want to forget. I want to
explain. [_Looking around at each._] Dad--Laura---Tippy--Martin.
Whole god-damn Class of '29. Class of '29.... Six years. Hi,
Martin, member the speeches? 'Member the Bac-ca-laurit address?
[_Struts and gestures._] Young men of the Class of '29. [_Gestures
left._] This is your god-damn old alma mater. [_Gestures right._]
And out there's the goddamn old world. [_Gestures left._] In there
you studied four years like sons-o'-guns, stuffing your empty heads
full of useless knowledge. [_Gestures right._] So you could go out
there and get a job. And make money. And get a house. And a car.
And a woman to sleep with. And have a baby, and vote the Republican
ticket.... And so what happens? Depressions and Democrats. And
Hoover--'member Hoover?--Hoover had to go back to Leland Stanford
libr'y to read a book to tell him why there's jobs for everybody in
Russia. [_He stops, looks at his father_.'] 'Scuse me. Hoover's all
wet. [To MARTIN, _belligerently_.'] My father's a bishop, see?
Russia's hell on bishops. T
|