Broken Glass (10 page)

 
CASE: I understand you wish to see me.

 
GELLBURG: There was just something I felt I should say.

 
CASE: Certainly. He
goes to a chair and sits.
Yes?

 
GELLBURG: It's just that I would never in this world do anything against you or Brooklyn Guarantee. I don't have to tell you, it's the only place I've ever worked in my life. My whole life is here. I'm more proud of this company than almost anything except my own son. What I'm trying to say is that this whole business with Wanamaker's was only because I didn't want to leave a stone unturned. Two or three years from now I didn't want you waking up one morning and Wanamaker's is gone and there you are paying New York taxes on a building in the middle of a dying neighborhood.

 
Frankly, I don't even remember what this whole thing was about. I feel I've lost some of your confidence, and it's... well, it's unfair, I feel.

 
CASE: I understand.

 
GELLBURG,
he waits, but that's it:
But... but don't you believe me?

 
CASE: I think I do.

 
 
GELLBURG: But... you seem to be ... you don't seem...

 
CASE: The fact remains that I've lost the building.

 
GELLBURG: But are you ... I mean you're not still thinking that I had something going on with Allan Kershowitz, are you?

 
CASE: Put it this way—I hope as time goes on that my old confidence will return. That's about as far as I can go, and I don't think you can blame me, can you.
He stands.

 
GELLBURG,
despite himself his voice rises:
But how can I work if you're this way? You have to trust a man, don't you?

CASE,
begins to indicate he must leave:
I'll have to ask you to...

 
 
GELLBURG,
shouting:
I don't deserve this! You can't do this to me! It's not fair, Mr. Case, I had nothing to do with Allan Kershowitz! I hardly know the man! And the little I do know I don't even like him, I'd certainly never get into a deal with him, for God's sake! This is ... this whole thing is ...
Exploding:
I don't understand it, what is happening, what the hell is happening, what have I got to do with Allan Kershowitz, just because he's also a Jew?

 
CASE,
incredulously and angering:
What? What on earth are you talking about!

 
GELLBURG: Excuse me. I didn't mean that.

 
CASE: I don't understand... how could you say a thing like that!

 
GELLBURG: Please. I don't feel well, excuse me ...

 
CASE,
his resentment mounting:
But how could you say such a thing! It's an outrage, Gellburg!

 
CASE: What is it? Gellburg?
He springs up and goes to the periphery.
Call an ambulance! Hurry, for God's sake!
He
rushes out, shouting:
Quick, get a doctor! It's Gellburg! Gellburg has collapsed!

 
Blackout.

SCENE FOUR

 
 
 
HARRIET: He's really amazing, after such an attack.

 
MARGARET: The heart is a muscle; muscles can recover sometimes.

 
 
HARRIET: I still can't understand how they let him out of the hospital so soon.

 
MARGARET: He has a will of iron. But it may be just as well for him here.

 
SYLVIA: He wants to die here.

 
 
MARGARET: No one can know, he can live a long time.

 
SYLVIA,
handing her the cup:
Thanks. I haven't drunk cocoa in years.

 
MARGARET: I find it soothes the nerves.

SYLVIA,
with a slight ironical edge:
He wants to be here so we can have a talk, that's what it is.
Shakes her head.
How stupid it all is; you keep putting everything off like you're going to live a thousand years. But we're like those little flies-born in the morning, fly around for a day till it gets dark-and bye-bye.

 
HARRIET: Well, it takes time to learn things.

 
SYLVIA: There's nothing I know now that I didn't know twenty years ago. I just didn't say it.
Grasping the chair wheels.
Help me! I want to go to him.

 
MARGARET: Wait till Harry says it's all right.

 
HARRIET: Sylvia, please-let the doctor decide.

 
MARGARET: I hope you're not blaming yourself.

 
HARRIET: It could happen to anybody—
To Margaret.
Our father, for instance-laid down for his nap one afternoon and never woke up. To
Sylvia.
Remember?

 
SYLVIA, a
wan smile, nods:
He was the same way all his life —never wanted to trouble anybody.

 
HARRIET: And just the day before he went and bought a new bathing suit. And an amber holder for his cigar.
To Sylvia
—She's right, you mustn't start blaming yourself.

SYLVIA,
a shrug:
What's the difference?
Sighs tiredly-stares. Basically to Margaret.
The trouble, you see-was that Phillip always thought he was supposed to be the Rock of Gibraltar. Like nothing could ever bother him. Supposedly. But I knew a couple of months after we got married that he ... he was making it all up. In fact, I thought I was stronger than him. But what can you do? You swallow it and make believe you're weaker. And after a while you can't find a true word to put in your mouth. And now I end up useless to him...
starting to weep,
just when he needs me!

 
 
HARRIET,
distressed, stands:
I'm making a gorgeous pot roast, can I bring some over?

 
SYLVIA: Thanks, Flora's going to cook something.

 
HARRIET: I'll call you later, try to rest.
Moves to leave, halts, unable to hold back.
I refuse to believe that you're blaming yourself for this. How can people start saying what they know?—there wouldn't be two marriages left in Brooklyn!
Nearly overcome.
It's ridiculous!—you're the best wife he could have had!—better!
She hurries out. Pause.

 
MARGARET: I worked in the pediatric ward for a couple of years. And sometimes we'd have thirty or forty babies in there at the same time. A day or two old and they've already got a personality; this one lays there, stiff as a mummy ...
mimes a mummy, hands closed in fists,
a regular banker. The next one is throwing himself all over the place ...
wildly flinging her arms,
happy as a young horse. The next one is Miss Dreary, already worried about her hemline drooping. And how could it be otherwise-each one has twenty thousand years of the human race backed up behind him ... and you expect to change him?

 
SYLVIA: So what does that mean? How do you live?

 
MARGARET: You draw your cards face down; you turn them over and do your best with the hand you got. What else is there, my dear? What else can there be?

 
SYLVIA,
staring ahead:
... Wishing, I guess... that it had been otherwise. Help me!
Starts the chair rolling.
I want to go to him.

 
MARGARET: Wait. I'll ask Harry if it's all right.
Backing away.
Wait, okay? I'll be right back.

 
Blackout.

SCENE FIVE

 
 
HYMAN: I can only tell you again, Phillip,—you belong in the hospital.

 
GELLBURG: Please don't argue about it anymore! I couldn't stand it there, it smells like a zoo; and to lay in a bed where some stranger died... I hate it. If I'm going out I'll go from here. And I don't want to leave Sylvia.

 
HYMAN: I'm trying to help you.
Chuckles.
And I'm going to go on trying even if it kills both of us.

 
GELLBURG: I appreciate that. I mean it. You're a good man.

 
HYMAN: You're lucky I know that. The nurse should be here around six.

 
 
GELLBURG: I'm wondering if I need her—I think the pain is practically gone.

HYMAN: I want her here overnight.

 
GELLBURG: I ... I want to tell you something; when I collapsed... it was like an explosion went off in my head, like a tremendous white light. It sounds funny but I felt a ... happiness... that funny? Like I suddenly had something to tell her that would change everything, and we would go back to how it was when we started out together. I couldn't wait to tell it to her... and now I can't remember what it was.
Anguished, a rushed quality; suddenly near tears.
God, I always thought there'd be time to get to the bottom of myself!

 
HYMAN: You might have years, nobody can predict.

 
GELLBURG: It's unbelievable-the first time since I was twenty I don't have a job. I just can't believe it.

 
HYMAN: You sure? Maybe you can clear it up with your boss when you go back.

 
GELLBURG: How can I go back? He made a fool of me. It's infuriating. I tell you—I never wanted to see it this way but he goes sailing around on the ocean and meanwhile I'm foreclosing Brooklyn for them. That's what it boils down to. You got some lousy rotten job to do, get Gellburg, send in the Yid. Close down a business, throw somebody out of his home.... And now to accuse me...

HYMAN: But is all this news to you? That's the system, isn't it?

 
 
GELLBURG: But to accuse me of double-crossing the
company
! That is absolutely unfair... it was like a hammer between the eyes. I mean to me Brooklyn Guarantee—for God's sake, Brooklyn Guarantee was like... like...

 
HYMAN: You're getting too excited, Phillip... come on now.
Changing the subject:
—I understand your son is coming back from the Philippines.

 
GELLBURG,
he catches his breath for a moment:
... She show you his telegram? He's trying to make it here by Monday.
Scared eyes and a grin.
Or will I last till Monday?

 
HY
_M
AN: You've got to start thinking about more positive things—seriously, your system needs a rest.

 
GELLBURG: Who's that talking?

 
HYMAN,
indicating upstage:
I asked Margaret to sit with your wife for a while, they're in your son's bedroom.

 
GELLBURG: Do you always take so much trouble?

 
HYMAN: I like Sylvia.

 
GELLBURG,
his little grin:
I know... I didn't think it was for my sake.

HYMAN: You're not so bad. I have to get back to my office now.

 
GELLBURG: Please if you have a few minutes, I'd appreciate it.
Almost holding his breath.
Tell me—the thing she's so afraid of... is me isn't it?

 
HYMAN: Well... among other things.

 
GELLBURG,
shock:
It's me?

 
HYMAN: I think so ... partly.

 
GELLBURG: How could she be frightened of me! I worship her!
Quickly controlling:
How could everything turn out to be the opposite—I made my son in this bed and now I'm dying in it ...
Breaks off, downing a cry.
My thoughts keep flying around-everything from years ago keeps coming back like it was last week. Like the day we bought this bed. Abraham & Straus. It was so sunny and beautiful. I took the whole day off. (God, it's almost twenty-five years ago!) ... Then we had a soda at Schrafft's—of course they don't hire Jews but the chocolate ice cream is the best. Then we went over to Orchard Street for bargains. Bought our first pots and sheets, blankets, pillowcases. The street was full of pushcarts and men with long beards like a hundred years ago. It's funny, I felt so at home and happy there that day, a street full of Jews, one Moses after another. But they all turned to watch her go by, those fakers. She was a knockout; sometimes walking down a street I couldn't believe I was married to her. Listen...
Breaks off, with some diffidence:
You're an educated man, I only went to high school—I wish we could talk about the Jews.

 
HYMAN: I never studied the history, if that's what you...

 
GELLBURG: ... I don't know where I am ...

 
 
HYMAN: You mean as a Jew?

 
GELLBURG: Do you think about it much? I never... for instance, a Jew in love with horses is something I never heard of

 
 
HYMAN: My grandfather in Odessa was a horse dealer.

 
GELLBURG: You don't say! I wouldn't know you were Jewish except for your name.

 
HYMAN: I have cousins up near Syracuse who're still in the business-they break horses. You know there are Chinese Jews.

 
GELLBURG: I heard of that! And they look Chinese?

 
HYMAN: They are Chinese. They'd probably say you don't look Jewish.

GELLBURG: Ha! That's funny.
His laugh disappears; he stares.
Why is it so hard to be a Jew?