Baby Doll & Tiger Tail (10 page)

BABY DOLL
[
with unaccustomed hilarity
]: HEIGH-HO SILVER. . . HaHa!!

[
Archie Lee stops dead in his tracks
.]

ARCHIE
: Him?! Still on the place?

BABY DOLL
: Give me another drink of that sweet well water, will yuh, Mistuh Vaccaro? You’re the first person could draw it.

ARCHIE
[
advancing
]: YOU STILL HERE?

BABY DOLL
: Archie Lee, Mr. Vacarro says he might not put up a new cotton gin, but let you gin cotton for him all the time,
now. Ain’t you pleased about that? Tomorrow he plans to come with lots more cotton, maybe another twenty-seven wagonloads. And while you’re ginning it out, he’ll have me to entertain him, make lemonade for him. It’s going to go on and on! Maybe even next fall.

SILVA
[
through the water
]: Good neighbor policy in practice.

[
Having wetted himself down he now drinks from the gourd
.]

I love well water. It tastes as fresh as if it never was tasted before. Mrs. Meighan, would you care for some, too?

BABY DOLL
: Why thank you, yes, I would.

[
There is a grace and sweetness and softness of speech about her, unknown before
. . . .]

SILVA
: Cooler nights have begun.

[
Archie Lee has been regarding the situation, with its various possibilities, and is far from content
.]

ARCHIE
: How long you been on the place?

SILVA
[
drawling sensuously with eyes on girl
]: All this unusually long hot fall afternoon I’ve imposed on your hospitality. You want some of this well water?

ARCHIE
[
with a violent gesture of refusal
]: Where you been here???

SILVA
: Taking a nap on your only remaining bed. The crib in the nursery with the slats let down. I had to curl up on it like a
pretzel, but the fire last night deprived me of so much sleep that almost any flat surface was suitable for slumber.

[
Winks impertinently at Archie Lee, then turns to grin sweetly at Baby Doll, wiping the drippings of well water from his throat. Then turns back to Archie
.]

But there’s something sad about it. Know what I mean?

ARCHIE
: Sad about what??

SILVA
: An unoccupied nursery in a house, and all the other rooms empty. . . .

ARCHIE
: That’s no problem of yours!

SILVA
: The good neighbor policy makes your problems mine—and vice versa. . . .

AUNT ROSE
[
violent and high and shrill, from the back steps
]: SUPPER! READY! CHILDREN. . . .

[
She staggers back in
.

[
Now there’s a pause in which all three stand tense and silent about the water pump. Baby Doll with her slow, new smile speaks up first
. . . .]

BABY DOLL
: You all didn’t hear us called in to supper?

ARCHIE
: You gonna eat here tonight?

SILVA
: Mrs. Meighan asked me to stay for supper but I told her I’d better get to hear the invitation from the head of the house before I’d feel free to accept it. So. . . What do you say?

[
A tense pause. . . then, with great difficulty
. . .]

ARCHIE
: Stay!. . . fo’ supper.

BABY DOLL
: You’ll have to take potluck.

SILVA
: I wouldn’t be putting you out?

[
This is addressed to Baby Doll, who smiles vaguely and starts toward the house, saying
. . .]

BABY DOLL
: I better get into mu’ clo’se. . . .

ARCHIE
: Yeah. . . hunh. . . .

[
They follow her sensuous departure with their eyes till she fades into the dusk
.]

ARCHIE
: Did I understand you to say you wouldn’t build a new gin but would leave your business to me?

SILVA
: If that’s agreeable with you. . . .

ARCHIE
[
turning from his wife’s back to Vacarro’s face
]: I don’t know yet, I’ll have to consider the matter. . . . Financing is involved such as—new equipment. . . . Let’s go in and eat now. I got a pain in my belly, I got a sort of heartburn. . . .

102] INTERIOR. HOUSE.

They enter the kitchen and then to the dining room. Archie Lee’s condition is almost shock. He can’t quite get with the situation. He numbly figures that he’d better play it cool till the inner fog clears. But his instinct is murder. His cowardly caution focuses his malice on the old woman and the unsatisfactory supper she’s prepared
.

ARCHIE
: Hey! Hey! One more place at the table! Mr. Vacarro from the Syndicate Plantation is stayin’ to supper.

AUNT ROSE
[
with a startled outcry, clutching her chest
]: Oh—I had no idea that company was expected. Just let me—change the silver and. . .

ARCHIE
: Another place is all that’s called for. Have you been here all day?

AUNT ROSE
: What was that, Archie Lee?

ARCHIE
: HAVE YOU BEEN IN THE HOUSE ALL AFTERNOON OR DID YOU LIGHT OUT TO THE COUNTY HOSPITAL TO EAT SOME CHOCOLATE CANDY????

[
Aunt Rose gasps as if struck, then she cackles
. . .]

AUNT ROSE
: I—I—visited!—an old friend in a—coma!

ARCHIE
: Then you was out while I was—.

[
He turns to Vacarro—fiercely
.]

I work like the hammers of hell! I come home to find the attic floor has fell through, my wife bad-tempered, insulting! and a supper of hog slops—. Sit down, eat. I got to make a phone call.

[
He crosses somewhat unsteadily into the hall and picks up the telephone as Baby Doll descends the grand staircase and goes past him with face austerely averted. She is clad in a fresh silk sheath and is adjusting an earring as she passes through the hall. We go with her into the dining room
.]

BABY DOLL
: He’s at the phone about something and if I was you, I wouldn’t hang around long.

SILVA
: I think I’ve got the ace of spades in my pocket.

[
He pats where he’s stashed the confession by Baby Doll
.]

BABY DOLL
: Don’t count on a law court. Justice is deaf and blind as that old woman!

[
Aunt Rose Comfort rushes out to cut roses for a vase to set on the table
.]

BABY DOLL
: I’m advising you, go! —while he’s on the phone.

SILVA
: I find you different this evening in some way.

BABY DOLL
: Never mind, just go! Before he gits off the phone.

SILVA
: Suddenly grown up!

BABY DOLL
[
looking at him gratefully
]: I feel cool and rested, for the first time in my life. I feel that way, rested and cool.

[
A pause
.]

Are you going or staying???

[
They are close together by table. Suddenly she catches her breath and flattens her body to his. The embrace is active. She reaches above her and pulls The beaded chain of the light, plunging the room in dark. We hear two things: The breath of the embracing couple and the voice of Archie Lee on the phone
.]

ARCHIE
: A bunch of men from the Syndicate Plantation are out frog-giggin’ on Tiger Tail Bayou and I thought we all might join the party. How’s about meeting at the Brite Spot in halfn hour? With full equipment.

[
A few more indistinct words, he hangs up. The light is switched back on in the dining room. Aunt Rose rushes in
.]

AUNT ROSE
: Roses! Poems of nature. . .

[
Archie Lee enters from the hall. His agitation is steadily mounting
.]

ARCHIE
: Never mind poems of nature, just put food on th’ table!

AUNT ROSE
: If I’d only known that company was expected, I’d. . .

[
Her breathless voice expires as she scuttles about putting roses in a vase
.]

AUNT ROSE
: Only take a minute.

ARCHIE
: We ain’t waitin’ no minute. Bring out the food. . . .

[
Baby Doll smiles, rather scornfully, at Archie Lee bullying the old woman
.]

ARCHIE
: Is that what they call a Mona Lisa smile you got on your puss?

BABY DOLL
: Don’t pick on Aunt Rose. . . .

ARCHIE
[
shouting
]: Put some food on the table!! [
Then muttering dangerously
.] I’m going to have a talk with that old woman, right here tonight. She’s outstayed her welcome.

SILVA
: What a pretty blue wrapper you’re wearing tonight, Mrs. Meighan.

BABY DOLL
[
coyly
]: Thank you, Mr. Vacarro.

SILVA
: There’s so many shades of blue. Which shade is that?

BABY DOLL
: Just baby blue.

ARCHIE
: Baby blue, huh!

SILVA
: It brings out the blue of your eyes.

ARCHIE
[
screaming
]: Food! Food!

AUNT ROSE
: Immediately! This instant!

[
She comes through the door from the kitchen, holding a big plate of greens, which she sets on the table with great apprehension. They are not really cooked. Archie stares at them
.]

103] CLOSE SHOT OF GREENS, WHICH ARE ALMOST RAW.

104] CLOSE SHOT OF ARCHIE SWEARING UNDER HIS BREATH.

105] GROUP SCENE.

BABY DOLL
: This wrapper was part of my trousseau, as a matter of fact. I got all my trousseau at Memphis at various departments where my daddy was known. Big department stores on Main Street.

ARCHIE
: WHAT IS THIS STUFF??!! GRASS??!!

BABY DOLL
: Greens! Don’t you know greens when you see them?

ARCHIE
: This stuff is greens?!!

[
Aunt Rose comes nervously from the pantry
.]

AUNT ROSE
: Archie Lee dotes on greens, don’t you, Archie Lee?

ARCHIE
: No, I don’t.

AUNT ROSE
: You don’t? You don’t dote on greens?

ARCHIE
: I don’t think I ever declared any terrible fondness for greens in your presence.

AUNT ROSE
: Well, somebody did.

ARCHIE
: Somebody did—sometime, somewhere, but that don’t mean it was me!

[
He lurches back in his chair and half rises, swinging to face Vacarro—who has taken Baby Doll’s hand under the table
.

[
Vacarro smiles blandly
.]

BABY DOLL
: Sit back down, Big Shot, an’ eat your greens. Greens puts iron in the system.

AUNT ROSE
: I thought that Archie Lee doted on greens! —All those likes and dislikes are hard to keep straight in your head. But Archie Lee’s easy to cook for. Jim’s a complainer, oh, my, what a complainer Jim is, and Susie’s household, they’re nothing but complainers.

ARCHIE
:
Take this slop off th’ table!!

AUNT ROSE
[
terrified
]: I’ll—cook you some—eggs Birmingham! —These greens didn’ cook long enough. I played a fool trick with my stove. I forgot to light it! Ha ha! When I went to the store—I had my greens on the stove. I thought I’d left ’em boilin’. But when I got home I discovered that my stove wasn’t lighted.

ARCHIE
: Why do you say “my” stove? Why is everything “my”?

BABY DOLL
: Archie Lee, I believe you been drinkin’!

ARCHIE
: You keep out of this! Set down, Aunt Rose.

AUNT ROSE
: —Do what, Archie Lee?

ARCHIE
: Set down here. I want to ask you a question.

[
Aunt Rose sits down slowly and stiffly, all atremble
.]

What sort of—plans have you made?

AUNT ROSE
: Plans, Archie Lee? What sort of plans do you mean?

ARCHIE
: Plans for the future!

BABY DOLL
: I don’t think this kind of discussion is necessary in front of company.

SILVA
: Mr. Meighan, when a man is feeling uncomfortable over something, it often happens that he takes out his annoyance on some completely innocent person just because he has to make somebody suffer.

ARCHIE
: You keep outa this, too. I’m askin’ Aunt Rose a perfectly sensible question. Now, Aunt Rose. You been here since August and that’s a mighty long stay. Now, it’s my honest opinion that you’re in need of a rest. You been cookin’ around here and cookin’ around there for how long now? How long have you been cookin’ around people’s houses?

AUNT ROSE
[
barely able to speak
]: I’ve helped out my—relatives, my—folks—whenever they—
needed me to!
I was always—
invited!
Sometimes—
begged
to come! When
babies
were expected or when somebody was
sick
, they called for Aunt
Rose, and Aunt Rose was always—ready. . . . Nobody
ever
had
to—put me
—
out!
—If you—gentlemen will excuse me from the table—I will pack my things! If I hurry I’ll catch the nine o’clock bus to—

[
She can’t think “where to
.”
Vacarro seizes her hand, pushing back from table
.]

SILVA
: Miss Rose Comfort. Wait. I’ll drive you home.

AUNT ROSE
: —I don’t!—have nowhere to!—go. . . .

SILVA
: Yes, you do. I need someone to cook for me at my place. I’m tired of my own cooking and I am anxious to try those eggs Birmingham you mentioned. Is it a deal?