The Iceman Cometh (14 page)

Christ, Chuck, are yuh lettin’ dat bughouse louse Hickey kid yuh into—

CORA

Turns on him angrily
.

Nobody’s kiddin’ him into it, nor me neider! And Hickey’s right. If dis big tramp’s goin’ to marry me, he ought to do it, and not just shoot off his old bazoo about it.

ROCKY

Ignoring her
.

Yuh can’t be dat dumb, Chuck.

CORA

You keep outa dis! And don’t start beefin’ about crickets on de farm drivin’ us nuts. You and your crickets! Yuh’d tink dey was elephants!

MARGIE

Coming to
ROCKY’S
defense
—
sneeringly
.

Don’t notice dat broad, Rocky. Yuh heard her say “tomorrow,” didn’t yuh? It’s de same old crap.

CORA

Glares at her
.

Is dat so?

PEARL

Lines up with
MARGIE
—
sneeringly
.

Imagine Cora a bride! Dat’s a hot one! Jees, Cora, if all de guys you’ve stayed wid was side by side, yuh could walk on ’em from here to Texas!

CORA

Starts moving toward her threateningly
.

Yuh can’t talk like dat to me, yuh fat Dago hooker! I may be a tart, but I ain’t a cheap old whore like you!

PEARL

Furiously
.

I’ll show yuh who’s a whore!

They start to fly at each other, but
CHUCK
and
ROCKY
grab them from behind
.

CHUCK

Forcing
CORA
onto a chair
.

Sit down and cool off, Baby.

ROCKY

Doing the same to
PEARL.

Nix on de rough stuff, Poil.

MARGIE

Glaring at
CORA
.

Why don’t you leave Poil alone, Rocky? She’ll fix dat blonde’s clock!

Or if she don’t, I will!

ROCKY

Shut up, you!

Disgustedly
.

Jees, what dames! D’yuh wanta gum Harry’s party?

PEARL

A bit shamefaced
—
sulkily
.

Who wants to? But nobody can’t call me a—.

ROCKY

Exasperatedly
.

Aw, bury it! What are you, a voigin?

PEARL
stares at him, her face growing hard and bitter. So does
MARGIE
.

PEARL

Yuh mean you tink I’m a whore, too, huh?

MARGIE

Yeah, and me?

ROCKY

Now don’t start nuttin’!

PEARL

I suppose it’d tickle you if me and Margie did what dat louse, Hickey, was hin tin’ and came right out and admitted we was whores.

ROCKY

Aw right! What of it? It’s de truth, ain’t it?

CORA

Lining up with
PEARL
and
MARGIE
—
indignantly
.

Jees, Rocky, dat’s a fine hell of a ting to say to two goils dat’s been as good to yuh as Poil and Margie!

To
PEARL
.

I didn’t mean to call yuh dat, Poil. I was on’y mad.

PEARL

Accepts the apology gratefully
.

Sure, I was mad, too, Cora. No hard feelin’s.

ROCKY

Relieved
.

Dere. Dat fixes everyting, don’t it?

PEARL

Turns on him
—
hard and bitter
.

Aw right, Rocky. We’re whores. You know what dat makes you, don’t you?

ROCKY

Angrily
.

Look out, now!

MARGIE

A lousy little pimp, dat’s what!

ROCKY

I’ll loin yuh!

He gives her a slap on the side of the face
.

PEARL

A dirty little Ginny pimp, dat’s what!

ROCKY

Gives her a slap, too
.

And dat’ll loin you!

But they only stare at him with hard sneering eyes
.

MARGIE

He’s provin’ it to us, Poil.

PEARL

Yeah! Hickey’s convoited him. He’s give up his pipe dream!

ROCKY

Furious and at the same time bewildered by their defiance
.

Lay off me or I’ll beat de hell—

CHUCK

Growls
.

Aw, lay off dem. Harry’s party ain’t no time to beat up your stable.

ROCKY

Turns to him
.

Whose stable? Who d’yuh tink yuh’re talkin’ to? I ain’t never beat dem up! What d’yuh tink I am? I just give dem a slap, like any guy would his wife, if she got too gabby. Why don’t yuh tell dem to lay off me? I don’t want no trouble on Harry’s boithday party.

MARGIE

A victorious gleam in her eye
—
tauntingly
.

Aw right, den, yuh poor little Ginny. I’ll lay off yuh till de party’s over if Poil will.

PEARL

Tauntingly
.

Sure, I will. For Harry’s sake, not yours, yuh little Wop!

ROCKY

Stung
.

Say, listen, youse! Don’t get no wrong idea—
But an interruption comes from
larry
who bursts into a sardonic laugh. They all jump startledly and look at him with unanimous hostility
. rocky
transfers his anger to him
.

Who de hell yuh laughin’ at, yuh half-dead old stew bum?

CORA

Sneeringly
.

At himself, he ought to be! Jees, Hickey’s sure got his number!

LARRY

Ignoring them, turns to
HUGO
and shakes him by the shoulder
—
in his comically intense, crazy whisper
.

Wake up, Comrade! Here’s the Revolution starting on all sides of you and you’re sleeping through it! Be God, it’s not to Bakunin’s ghost you ought to pray in your dreams, but to the great Nihilist, Hickey! He’s started a movement that’ll blow up the world!

HUGO

Blinks at him through his thick spectacles
—
with guttural denunciation
. You, Larry! Renegade! Traitor! I vill have you shot!

He giggles
.

Don’t be a fool! Buy me a trink!

He sees the drink in front of him, and gulps it down. He begins to sing the Carmagnole in a guttural basso, pounding on the table with his glass
. “Dansons la Carmagnole! Vive le son! Vive le son! Dansons la Carmagnole! Vive le son des canons!”

ROCKY

Can dat noise!

HUGO

Ignores this
—
to
LARRY
,
in a low tone of hatred
.

That bourgeois svine, Hickey! He laughs like good fellow, he makes jokes, he dares make hints to me so I see what he dares to think. He thinks I am finish, it is too late, and so I do not vish the Day come because it vill not be my Day. Oh, I see what he thinks! He thinks lies even vorse, dat I—

He stops abruptly with a guilty look, as if afraid he was letting something slip
—
then revengefully
.

I vill have him hanged the first one of all on de first lamppost!

He changes his mood abruptly and peers around at
rocky
and the others
—
giggling again
.

Vhy you so serious, leedle monkey-faces? It’s all great joke, no? So ve get drunk, and ve laugh like hell, and den ve die, and de pipe dream vanish!

A bitter mocking contempt creeps into his tone
.

But be of good cheer, leedle stupid peoples! “The days grow hot, O Babylon!” Soon, leedle proletarians, ve vill have free picnic in the cool shade, ve vill eat hot dogs and trink free beer beneath the villow trees! Like hogs, yes! Like beautiful leedle hogs!

He stops startledly, as if confused and amazed at what he has heard himself say. He mutters with hatred
.

Dot Gottamned liar, Hickey. It is he who makes me sneer. I want to sleep.

He lets his head fall forward on his folded arms again and closes his eyes
.
LARRY
gives him a pitying look, then quickly drinks his drink
.

CORA

Uneasily
.

Hickey ain’t overlookin’ no bets, is he? He’s even give Hugo de woiks.

LARRY

I warned you this morning he wasn’t kidding.

MARGIE

Sneering
.

De old wise guy!

PEARL

Yeah, still pretendin’ he’s de one exception, like Hickey told him. He don’t do no pipe dreamin’! Oh, no!

LARRY

Sharply resenful
.

I—!

Then abruptly he is drunkenly good-natured, and you feel this drunken manner is an evasive exaggeration
.

All right, take it out on me, if it makes you more content. Sure, I love every hair of your heads, my great big beautiful baby dolls, and there’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you!

PEARL

Stiffly
.

De old Irish bunk, huh? We ain’t big. And we ain’t your baby dolls!

Suddenly she is mollified and smiles
.

But we admit we’re beautiful. Huh, Margie?

MARGIE

Smiling
.

Sure ting! But what would he do wid beautiful dolls, even if he had de price, de old goat?

She laughs teasingly
—
then pats
LARRY
on the shoulder affectionately
.

Aw, yuh’re aw right at dat, Larry, if yuh are full of bull!

PEARL

Sure. Yuh’re aces wid us. We’re noivous, dat’s all. Dat lousy drummer—why can’t he be like he’s always been? I never seen a guy change so. You pretend to be such a fox, Larry. What d’yuh tink’s happened to him?

LARRY

I don’t know. With all his gab I notice he’s kept that to himself so far. Maybe he’s saving the great revelation for Harry’s party.

Then irritably
.

To hell with him! I don’t want to know. Let him mind his own business and I’ll mind mine.

CHUCK

Yeah, dat’s what I say.

CORA

Say, Larry, where’s dat young friend of yours disappeared to?

LARRY

I don’t care where he is, except I wish it was a thousand miles away!

Then, as he sees they are surprised at his vehemence, he adds hastily
.

He’s a pest.

ROCKY

Breaks in with his own preoccupation
.

I don’t give a damn what happened to Hickey, but I know what’s gonna happen if he don’t watch his step. I told him, “I’ll take a lot from you, Hickey, like everyone else in dis dump, because yuh’ve always been a grand guy. But dere’s tings I don’t take from you nor nobody, see? Remember dat, or you’ll wake up in a hospital—or maybe worse, wid your wife and de iceman walkin’ slow behind yuh.”

CORA

Aw, yuh shouldn’t make dat iceman crack, Rocky. It’s aw right for him to kid about it but—I notice Hickey ain’t pulled dat old iceman gag dis time.

Excitedly
.

D’yuh suppose dat he did catch his wife cheatin’? I don’t mean wid no iceman, but wid some guy.

ROCKY

Aw, dat’s de bunk. He ain’t pulled dat gag or showed her photo around because he ain’t drunk. And if he’d caught her cheatin’ he’d be drunk, wouldn’t he? He’d have beat her up and den gone on de woist drunk he’d ever staged. Like any other guy’d do.

The girls nod, convinced by this reasoning
.

CHUCK

Sure! Rocky’s got de right dope, Baby. He’d be paralyzed.

While he is speaking, the Negro
,
JOE
,
comes in from the hallway. There is a noticeable change in him. He walks with a tough, truculent swagger and his good-natured face is set in sullen suspicion
.

JOE

To
ROCKY
—
defiantly
.

I’s stood tellin’ people dis dump is closed for de night all I’s goin’ to.

Let Harry hire a doorman, pay him wages, if he wants one.

ROCKY

Scowling
.

Yeah? Harry’s pretty damned good to you.

JOE

Shamefaced
.