Broken Glass (6 page)

 
You feel this at all?

 
SYLVIA: Well ... not really.

 
HYMAN: I'm going to pinch your toe. Ready?

 
S
_YLVIA
: All right.

HYMAN: Your skin feels a little too cool. You're going to lose your muscle tone if you don't move. Your legs will begin to lose volume and shrink ...

 
SYLVIA,
tears threaten:
I know ... !

 
HYMAN: And look what beautiful legs you have, Sylvia. I'm afraid you're getting comfortable in this condition ...

 
SYLVIA: I'm not. I keep trying to move them ...

 
HYMAN: But look now—here it's eleven in the morning and you're happily tucked into bed like it's midnight.

 
SYLVIA: But I've tried ... ! Are you really sure it's not a virus of some kind?

 
 
HYMAN: There's nothing. Sylvia, you have a strong beautiful body ...

 
SYLVIA: But what can I do, I can't feel anything!

 
 
_HYMAN
: I really should find someone else for you.

 
SYLVIA: Why!—I don't want anyone else!

HYMAN: You're a very attractive woman, don't you know that?

 
Deeply excited, Sylvia glances away shyly.

 
HYMAN: Sylvia, listen to me ... I haven't been this moved by a woman in a very long time.

 
SYLVIA: ... Well, you mustn't get anyone else.

 
Pause.

 
 
HYMAN: Tell me the truth, Sylvia. Sylvia? How did this happen to you?

 
SYLVIA,
she avoids his gaze: I don't know. Sylvia's anxiety rises as he speaks now.

 
HYMAN: ... I'm going to be straight with you; I thought this was going to be simpler than it's turning out to be, and I care about you too much to play a game with your health. I can't deny my vanity. I have a lot of it, but I have to face it—I know you want to tell me something and I don't know how to get it out of you.
Sylvia covers her face, ashamed.
You're a responsible woman, Sylvia, you have to start helping me, you can't just lie there and expect a miracle to lift you to your feet. You tell me now -what should I know?

 
 
SYLVIA: I would tell you if I knew!
Hyman turns away defeated and impatient.
Couldn't we just talk and maybe I could ... Breaks
off.
I like you. A lot. I love when you talk to me ... couldn't we just... like for a few minutes....

 
HYMAN: Okay. What do you want to talk about?

 
SYLVIA: Please. Be patient. I'm ... I'm trying.
Relieved;
a
fresher mood:
-Harriet says you used to take out our cousin Roslyn Fein.

 
HYMAN,
smiles, shrugs:
It's possible, I don't remember.

 
SYLVIA: Well you had so many, didn't you.

 
HYMAN: When I was younger.

 
SYLVIA: Roslyn said you used to do acrobatics on the beach? And all the girls would stand around going crazy for you.

 
HYMAN: That's a long time ago....

 
SYLVIA: And you'd take them under the boardwalk. Laughs.

 
_HYMAN
: Nobody had money for anything else. Didn't you used to go to the beach?

 
_SYLVIA
: Sure. But I never did anything like that.

 
HYMAN: You must have been very shy.

 
SYLVIA: I guess. But I had to look out for my sisters, being the eldest ...

_HYMAN
: Can we talk about Phillip?

 
Caught unaware, her eyes show fear.

 
I'd really like to, unless you ...

 
SYLVIA,
challenged:
No!-It's all right.

 
HYMAN: ... Are you afraid right now?

 
SYLVIA: No, not... Yes.

 
Picks up the book beside her.

 
Have you read Anthony Adverse?

 
HYMAN: No, but I hear it's sold a million copies.

 
SYLVIA: It's wonderful. I rent it from Womraths.

 
_HYMAN
: Was Phillip your first boyfriend?

 
SYLVIA: The first serious.

 
HYMAN: He's a fine man.

 
SYLVIA: Yes, he is.

 
HYMAN: Is he interesting to be with?

 
SYLVIA: Interesting?

HYMAN: Do you have things to talk about?

 
SYLVIA: Well... business, mostly. I was head bookkeeper for Empire Steel in Long Island City ... years ago, when we met, I mean.

 
HYMAN: He didn't want you to work?

 
SYLVIA: No.

 
 
HYMAN: I imagine you were a good businesswoman.

 
SYLVIA: Oh, I loved it! I've always enjoyed ... you know, people depending on me.

 
_HYMAN
: Yes. -Do I frighten you, talking like this?

 
SYLVIA: A little. -But I want you to.

 
HYMAN: Why?

 
SYLVIA: I don't know. You make me feel ... hopeful.

 
_HYMAN
: You mean of getting better?

 
SYLVIA: -Of myself. Of getting ...
Breaks off.

 
HYMAN: Getting what?

 
She shakes her head, refnsing to go on.

... Free?

 
HYMAN: I want you to raise your knees.

 
She doesn't move.

 
 
Come, bring up your knees.

 
SYLVIA,
she tries:
I can't!

 
HYMAN: You can. I want you to send your thoughts into your hips. Tense your hips. Think of the bones in your hips. Come on now. The strongest muscles in your body are right there, you still have tremendous power there. Tense your hips.

 
She is tensing.

 
Now tense your thighs. Those are long dense muscles with tremendous power. Do it, draw up your knees. Come on, raise your knees. Keep it up. Concentrate. Raise it. Do it for me.

Your body strength must be marvelous. The depth of your flesh must be wonderful. Why are you cut off from yourself? You should be dancing, you should be stretching out in the sun.... Sylvia, I know you know more than you're saying, why can't you open up to me? Speak to me. Sylvia? Say anything.

 
She looks at him in silence.

 
I promise I won't tell a soul. What is in your mind right now?

 
 
A pause.

 
SYLVIA: Tell me about Germany.

 
HYMAN, surprised: Germany. Why Germany?

 
SYLVIA: Why did you go there to study?

 
HYMAN: The American medical schools have quotas on Jews, I would have had to wait for years and maybe never get in.

 
SYLVIA: But they hate Jews there, don't they?

 
HYMAN: These Nazis can't possibly last—Why are you so preoccupied with them?

 
_SYLVIA
: I don't know. But when I saw that picture in the
Times
—with those two old men on their knees in the street ... Presses her ears. I swear, I almost heard that crowd laughing, and ridiculing them. But nobody really wants to talk about it. I mean Phillip never even wants to talk about being Jewish, except—you know-to joke about it the way people do ...

 
HYMAN: What would you like to say to Phillip about it?

 
SYLVIA,
with an empty laugh, a head shake:
I don't even know! Just to talk about it ... it's almost like there's something in me that ... it's silly ...

 
HYMAN: No, it's interesting. What do you mean, something in you?

 
SYLVIA: I have no word for it, I don't know what I'm saying, it's like ...
She presses her chest.—
something alive, like a child almost, except it's a very dark thing ... and it frightens me!

 
HYMAN: That was hard to say, wasn't it. Sylvia nods. You have a lot of courage.—We'll talk more, but I want you to try something now. I'll stand here, and I want you to imagine something. Sylvia turns to him, curious. I want you to imagine that we've made love.

I've made love to you. And now it's over and we are lying together. And you begin to tell me some secret things. Things that are way down deep in your heart. Slight pause. Sylvia-

 
Tell me about Phillip.

Sylvia is silent, does not grasp his head to hold him. He straightens up.
Think about it. We'll talk tomorrow again. Okay?

 
Blackout.

 
GELLBURG: Cocoa?

 
 
MARGARET: I drink a lot of it, it calms the nerves. Have you lost weight?

 
_GELLBURG
,
impatience with her prying:
A little, I think.

 
MARGARET: Did you always sigh so much?

 
GELLBURG: Sigh?

 
MARGARET: You probably don't realize you're doing it. You should have him listen to your heart.

 
GELLBURG: No-no, I think I'm all right.
Sighs.
I guess I've always sighed. Is that a sign of something?

MARGARET: Not necessarily; but ask Harry. He's just finishing with a patient.—There's no change, I understand.

 
GELLBURG: No, she's the same.
Impatiently hands her the cup.
I can't drink this.

 
 
MARGARET: Are you eating at all?

 
GELLBURG,
suddenly shifting his mode:
I came to talk to
him.

 
MARGARET,
sharply:
I was only trying to be helpful!

 
GELLBURG: I'm kind of upset, I didn't mean any ...

 
Hyman enters, surprising her. She exits, insulted.

 
HYM
_AN
: I'm sorry. But she means well.

 
Gellburg silently nods, irritation intact.

 
_HYMAN
: It won't happen
again. He takes his seat.
I have to admit, though, she has a very good diagnostic sense. Women are more instinctive sometimes ...

 
 
GELLBURG: Excuse me, I don't come here to be talking to her.

 
 
HYMAN,
a kidding laugh:
Oh, come on, Phillip, take it easy. What's Sylvia doing?

_GELLBURG
,
it takes him a moment to compose himself:
... I don't know what she's doing.

 
HYMAN: ... Yes?

 
 
GELLBURG: So I decided to try to do it with her.

 
HYMAN: ... Sex?

 
 
GELLBURG: What then, handball? Of course sex.

 
_HYMAN
: ... Well, do you mean you've done it or you're going to?

 
GELLBURG,
long pause; he seems not to be sure he wants to continue. Now he sounds reasonable again:
You see, we haven't been really ... together. For ... quite a long time.
Correcting:
I mean specially since this started to happen.

 
_HYMAN
: You mean the last two weeks.

GELLBURG: Well yes.
Great discomfort.
And some time before that.

 
_HYMAN
: I see.
But he desists from asking how long a time before that. A pause.

 
GELLBURG: So I thought maybe it would help her if ... you know.

 
HYMAN: Yes, I think the warmth would help. In fact, to be candid, Phillip—I'm beginning to wonder if this whole fear of the Nazis isn't because she feels ... extremely vulnerable; I'm in no sense trying to blame you but ... a woman who doesn't feel loved can get very disoriented you know? -lost. He has noticed a
strangeness.
—Something wrong?

 
GELLBURG : She says she's not being loved?

 
_HYMAN
: No-no. I'm talking about how she may feel.

 
GELLBURG: Listen...
Struggles for a moment; now farmly.
I'm wondering if you could put me in touch with somebody.

 
_HYMA
N: You mean for yourself?