Death of a Salesman (11 page)

WILLY [
smiling
]: Mmm—

LINDA: Biff was very changed this morning. His whole attitude seemed to be hopeful. He couldn’t wait to get downtown to see Oliver.

WILLY: He’s heading for a change. There’s no question, there simply are certain men that take longer to get—solidified. How did he dress?

LINDA: His blue suit. He’s so handsome in that suit. He could be a—anything in that suit!

WILLY: There’s no question, no question at all. Gee, on the way home tonight I’d like to buy some seeds.

LINDA [
laughing
]: That’d be wonderful. But not enough sun gets back there. Nothing’ll grow any more.

WILLY: You wait, kid, before it’s all over we’re gonna get a little place out in the country, and I’ll raise some vegetables, a couple of chickens . . .

LINDA: You’ll do it yet, dear.

[WILLY
walks out of his jacket.
LINDA
follows him.
]

WILLY: And they’ll get married, and come for a weekend. I’d build a little guest house. ’Cause I got so many fine tools, all I’d need would be a little lumber and some peace of mind.

LINDA [
joyfully
]: I sewed the lining . . .

WILLY: I could build two guest houses, so they’d both come. Did he decide how much he’s going to ask Oliver for?

LINDA [
getting him into the jacket
]: He didn’t mention it, but I imagine ten or fifteen thousand. You going to talk to Howard today?

WILLY: Yeah. I’ll put it to him straight and simple. He’ll just have to take me off the road.

LINDA: And Willy, don’t forget to ask for a little advance, because we’ve got the insurance premium. It’s the grace period now.

WILLY: That’s a hundred . . . ?

LINDA: A hundred and eight, sixty-eight. Because we’re a little short again.

WILLY: Why are we short?

LINDA: Well, you had the motor job on the car . . .

WILLY: That goddam Studebaker!

LINDA: And you got one more payment on the refrigerator . . .

WILLY: But it just broke again!

LINDA: Well, it’s old, dear.

WILLY: I told you we should’ve bought a well-advertised machine. Charley bought a General Electric and it’s twenty years old and it’s still good, that son-of-a-bitch.

LINDA: But, Willy—

WILLY: Whoever heard of a Hastings refrigerator? Once in my life I would like to own something outright before it’s broken! I’m always in a race with the junkyard! I just finished paying for the car and it’s on its last legs. The refrigerator consumes belts like a goddam maniac. They time those things. They time them so when you finally paid for them, they’re used up.

LINDA [
buttoning up his jacket as he unbuttons it
]: All told, about two hundred dollars would carry us, dear. But that includes the last payment on the mortgage. After this payment, Willy, the house belongs to us.

WILLY: It’s twenty-five years!

LINDA: Biff was nine years old when we bought it.

WILLY: Well, that’s a great thing. To weather a twenty-five-year mortgage is—

LINDA: It’s an accomplishment.

WILLY: All the cement, the lumber, the reconstruction I put in this house! There ain’t a crack to be found in it any more.

LINDA: Well, it served its purpose.

WILLY: What purpose? Some stranger’ll come along, move in, and that’s that. If only Biff would take this house, and raise a family . . . [
He starts to go.
] Good-bye, I’m late.

LINDA [
suddenly remembering
]: Oh, I forgot! You’re supposed to meet them for dinner.

WILLY: Me?

LINDA: At Frank’s Chop House on Forty-eighth near Sixth Avenue.

WILLY: Is that so! How about you?

LINDA: No, just the three of you. They’re gonna blow you to a big meal!

WILLY: Don’t say! Who thought of that?

LINDA: Biff came to me this morning, Willy, and he said, “Tell Dad, we want to blow him to a big meal.” Be there six o’clock. You and your two boys are going to have dinner.

WILLY: Gee whiz! That’s really somethin’. I’m gonna knock Howard for a loop, kid. I’ll get an advance, and I’ll come home with a New York job. Goddammit, now I’m gonna do it!

LINDA: Oh, that’s the spirit, Willy!

WILLY: I will never get behind a wheel the rest of my life!

LINDA: It’s changing, Willy, I can feel it changing!

WILLY: Beyond a question. G’bye, I’m late. [
He starts to go again.
]

LINDA [
calling after him as she runs to the kitchen table for a handkerchief
]: You got your glasses?

WILLY [
feels for them, then comes back in
]: Yeah, yeah, got my glasses.

LINDA [
giving him the handkerchief
]: And a handkerchief.

WILLY: Yeah, handkerchief.

LINDA: And your saccharine?

WILLY: Yeah, my saccharine.

LINDA: Be careful on the subway stairs.

WILLY: Will you stop mending stockings? At least while I’m in the house. It gets me nervous. I can’t tell you. Please.

LINDA: Remember, Frank’s Chop House.

WILLY [
passing the apron
]: Maybe beets would grow out there.

LINDA [
laughing
]: But you tried so many times.

WILLY: Yeah. Well, don’t work hard today. [
He disappears around the right corner of the house.
]

LINDA: Be careful!

LINDA: Hello? Oh, Biff! I’m so glad you called, I just . . . Yes, sure, I just told him. Yes, he’ll be there for dinner at six o’clock, I didn’t forget. Listen, I was just dying to tell you. You know that little rubber pipe I told you about? That he connected to the gas heater? I finally decided to go down the cellar this morning and take it away and destroy it. But it’s gone! Imagine? He took it away himself, it isn’t there! [
She listens.
] When? Oh, then you took it. Oh—nothing, it’s just that I’d hoped he’d taken it away himself. Oh, I’m not worried, darling, because this morning he left in such high spirits, it was like the old days! I’m not afraid any more. Did Mr. Oliver see you? . . . Well, you wait there then. And make a nice impression on him, darling. Just don’t perspire too much before you see him. And have a nice time with Dad. He may have big news too! . . . That’s right, a New York job. And be sweet to him tonight, dear. Be loving to him. Because he’s only a little boat looking for a harbor. [
She is trembling with sorrow and joy.
] Oh, that’s wonderful, Biff, you’ll save his life. Thanks, darling. Just put your arm around him when he comes into the restaurant. Give him a smile. That’s the boy . . . Good-bye, dear . . . You got your comb? . . . That’s fine. Good-bye, Biff dear.

WILLY: Pst! Pst!

HOWARD: Hello, Willy, come in.

WILLY: Like to have a little talk with you, Howard.

HOWARD: Sorry to keep you waiting. I’ll be with you in a minute.

WILLY: What’s that, Howard?

HOWARD: Didn’t you ever see one of these? Wire recorder.

WILLY: Oh. Can we talk a minute?

HOWARD: Records things. Just got delivery yesterday. Been driving me crazy, the most terrific machine I ever saw in my life. I was up all night with it.

WILLY: What do you do with it?

HOWARD: I bought it for dictation, but you can do anything with it. Listen to this. I had it home last night. Listen to what I picked up. The first one is my daughter. Get this. [
He flicks the switch and “Roll out the Barrel” is heard being whistled.
] Listen to that kid whistle.

WILLY: That is lifelike, isn’t it?

HOWARD: Seven years old. Get that tone.

WILLY: Ts, ts. Like to ask a little favor if you . . .

HIS DAUGHTER: “Now you, Daddy.”

HOWARD: She’s crazy for me! [
Again the same song is whistled.
] That’s me! Ha! [
He winks.
]

WILLY: You’re very good!

HOWARD: Sh! Get this now, this is my son.

HIS SON: “The capital of Alabama is Montgomery; the capital of Arizona is Phoenix; the capital of Arkansas is Little Rock; the capital of California is Sacramento . . .” [
and on, and on.
]

HOWARD [
holding up five fingers
]: Five years old, Willy!

WILLY: He’ll make an announcer some day!

HIS SON [
continuing
]: “The capital . . .”

HOWARD: Get that—alphabetical order! [
The machine breaks off suddenly.
] Wait a minute. The maid kicked the plug out.

WILLY: It certainly is a—

HOWARD: Sh, for God’s sake!

HIS SON: “It’s nine o’clock, Bulova watch time. So I have to go to sleep.”

WILLY: That really is—

HOWARD: Wait a minute! The next is my wife.

[
They wait.
]

HOWARD’S VOICE: “Go on, say something.” [
Pause.
] “Well, you gonna talk?”

HIS WIFE: “I can’t think of anything.”

HOWARD’S VOICE: “Well, talk—it’s turning.”

HIS WIFE [
shyly, beaten
]: “Hello.” [
Silence.
] “Oh, Howard, I can’t talk into this . . .”

HOWARD [
snapping the machine off
]: That was my wife.

WILLY: That is a wonderful machine. Can we—

HOWARD: I tell you, Willy, I’m gonna take my camera, and my bandsaw, and all my hobbies, and out they go. This is the most fascinating relaxation I ever found.

WILLY: I think I’ll get one myself.

HOWARD: Sure, they’re only a hundred and a half. You can’t do without it. Supposing you wanna hear Jack Benny, see? But you can’t be at home at that hour. So you tell the maid to turn the radio on when Jack Benny comes on, and this automatically goes on with the radio . . .

WILLY: And when you come home you . . .

HOWARD: You can come home twelve o’clock, one o’clock, any time you like, and you get yourself a Coke and sit yourself down, throw the switch, and there’s Jack Benny’s program in the middle of the night!

WILLY: I’m definitely going to get one. Because lots of time I’m on the road, and I think to myself, what I must be missing on the radio!

HOWARD: Don’t you have a radio in the car?

WILLY: Well, yeah, but who ever thinks of turning it on?

HOWARD: Say, aren’t you supposed to be in Boston?

WILLY: That’s what I want to talk to you about, Howard. You got a minute? [
He draws a chair in from the wing.
]

HOWARD: What happened? What’re you doing here?

WILLY: Well . . .

HOWARD: You didn’t crack up again, did you?

WILLY: Oh, no. No . . .

HOWARD: Geez, you had me worried there for a minute. What’s the trouble?

WILLY: Well, tell you the truth, Howard. I’ve come to the decision that I’d rather not travel any more.

HOWARD: Not travel! Well, what’ll you do?

WILLY: Remember, Christmas time, when you had the party here? You said you’d try to think of some spot for me here in town.

HOWARD: With us?

WILLY: Well, sure.

HOWARD: Oh, yeah, yeah. I remember. Well, I couldn’t think of anything for you, Willy.

WILLY: I tell ya, Howard. The kids are all grown up, y’know. I don’t need much any more. If I could take home—well, sixty-five dollars a week, I could swing it.

HOWARD: Yeah, but Willy, see I—

WILLY: I tell ya why, Howard. Speaking frankly and between the two of us, y’know—I’m just a little tired.

HOWARD: Oh, I could understand that, Willy. But you’re a road man, Willy, and we do a road business. We’ve only got a half-dozen salesmen on the floor here.

WILLY: God knows, Howard, I never asked a favor of any man. But I was with the firm when your father used to carry you in here in his arms.

HOWARD: I know that, Willy, but—

WILLY: Your father came to me the day you were born and asked me what I thought of the name of Howard, may he rest in peace.

HOWARD: I appreciate that, Willy, but there just is no spot here for you. If I had a spot I’d slam you right in, but I just don’t have a single solitary spot.

WILLY [
with increasing anger
]: Howard, all I need to set my table is fifty dollars a week.

HOWARD: But where am I going to put you, kid?

WILLY: Look, it isn’t a question of whether I can sell merchandise, is it?

HOWARD: No, but it’s a business, kid, and everybody’s gotta pull his own weight.

WILLY [
desperately
]: Just let me tell you a story, Howard—