Thirty Pieces of Silver: A Play in Three Acts (6 page)

CARMICHAEL
(
with controlled anger
) Don't let your thoughts run away with you, Fred. Suppose you have Graham in now.

SELWIN
You really look forward to it, don't you?

CARMICHAEL
It interests me, I'll admit that. The high moments of life are usually unpleasant for someone. They are still high moments. That's why men kill each other. That's why I can sit here so calmly and watch you hate me. You spend too many hours planning how to get rid of me. You won't, Fred. I have better staying power. I have also been in this rat race longer. Bureaucracy is a technique, and there is always someone hating someone else and planning to get rid of him. But it's a technique you will never be good at, Fred—because behind it are certain prime forces you understand in only the most primitive fashion.

SELWIN
I see. Thank you, Mr. Carmichael. Do you want me to be here while you inform Graham?

CARMICHAEL
I think you should. After all, you're the personnel department.

SELWIN
(
He nods picks up one of the phones on Carmichael's
desk and talks quickly and flatly.
) Will you send David Graham in here.

(
He replaces the phone and stares at
CARMICHAEL,
who is reading in the file folder.
)

CARMICHAEL
(
without looking up
) The whole thing is a semantic trap. It's not a question of loyalty. It's a question of relative strength.

SELWIN
Yes?

CARMICHAEL
(
still without looking up
) And I don't believe you feel any sorrier for Graham than I do. You're sorry for yourself, Fred. You anticipate danger.

SELWIN
(
unemotionally
) That may be.

CARMICHAEL
And you suffer anxiety. You participate vicariously.

SELWIN
(
His voice becomes cold and insinuating.
) Possibly. But I think you will suffer some anxiety yourself, Mr. Carmichael. That can be, you know.

(
There is a knock on the door.
)

CARMICHAEL
(
looking up and smiling
) Let him in, Fred.

(
SELWIN
goes to the door and opens it.
DAVID GRAHAM
enters, his attitude one of mingled respect and uncertainty. He walks over to the desk.
)

DAVID
You sent for me, Mr. Carmichael?

CARMICHAEL
That's right, Graham.

(
SELWIN
walks over to the window and parts two slats of the blind, looking out. For a long moment
CARMICHAEL
studies the file folder. Then he closes it and looks up at
DAVID
,
his face impassive.
)

There is a little unpleasantness, Graham. I suppose you anticipated it?

DAVID
What—sir?

CARMICHAEL
Let me be a little more specific. You know, of course, that every bureau in Washington is under certain pressures. Ours not excluded. That is only to be expected within the context of present world events, and the approaching election doesn't make it any better. There are bound to be many victims of such circumstances, and unfortunately you are one of them.

DAVID
(
puzzled and troubled
) I still don't follow you, Mr. Carmichael.

CARMICHAEL
(
smiling patiently
) You know a man called Agronsky?

DAVID
Yes——

CARMICHAEL
As a matter of fact, it was through him that Phillips hired you.

DAVID
Yes—but I don't see——

CARMICHAEL
(
with the first note of impatience in his voice
) I think you do, Graham. I called you in here to ask you to offer your resignation.

DAVID
(
with complete bewilderment
) What?

SELWIN
(
turning away from the window and taking a few steps toward them
) For God's sake, Carmichael—we owe him a little more explanation than that.

CARMICHAEL
(
smiling again
) By all means.

SELWIN
(
rubbing his face uneasily
) It comes down to this, Graham. You've been seeing this Leonard Agronsky. The axe is going to fall on him—and on his friends, too. It's better for you to resign than to go through the whole wretched business of a loyalty hearing and a forced dismissal. Better for you and better for the Department.

DAVID
(
still unable to assimilate the fact
) But my work—my work's been satisfactory. I never heard any complaints.

SELWIN
This has nothing to do with your work, Graham.

DAVID
Then what are you accusing me of? What have I done?

CARMICHAEL
For all we know, Graham, you haven't done anything. This is not a case of what
you've
done. This is a case of what you've allowed to be done to you.

DAVID
But what? That's all I'm asking—what? What are you accusing me of? What am I supposed to be? What crime have I committed?

CARMICHAEL
(
gently, with a note of patient tolerance
) We're not accusing you of any crime, Graham. We are simply stating the fact of your relationship with Agronsky.

DAVID
But what was my relationship with Agronsky?

CARMICHAEL
That we don't know, Graham. We're not a loyalty board. We're just two people caught in a part of the same circumstances that surround you.

DAVID
(
with deep earnestness
) Mr. Carmichael, do you think I'm a Communist?

CARMICHAEL
(
spreading his hands gravely
) What difference does it make, Graham?

DAVID
I think it makes some difference. I'm being fired for being a Communist without anyone asking me if I'm a Communist and without being given any chance to deny that I'm a Communist.

CARMICHAEL
You're not being fired, Graham; you're being asked to resign. And you're not being asked to resign because anyone considers you to be a Communist.

DAVID
Then why on earth——

SELWIN
(
interrupting
) Graham, we're none of us children. I don't think you're a Communist; I don't think Mr. Carmichael considers you to be a Communist. Speaking for myself, I don't consider you to be disloyal. I've never seen any evidence of disloyalty on your part. You were in the service, and you've got a good record. So there's no use of us bickering about that like a pack of children. The truth of the matter is that in one way or another you're mixed up with Agronsky. Your relationship with him may be of the most casual kind. I suspect it is. Unfortunately that makes no difference. It's the fact of the relationship, not the nature of it, that becomes the determining thing here. I don't even know if Agronsky is a Communist; I have no thoughts at all on that subject and I don't know Agronsky personally. But I do know that Agronsky is coming up before a Congressional Committee on charges of being a Communist and of being mixed up with the Soviets or the party here or whatever it is. That means inevitably that every friend of Agronsky's will be checked and will come up before a loyalty board if he's a government worker. The choice to us—and to you—is whether you go before the board or resign. We think it will be better for everyone concerned if you resign.

DAVID
But I've got nothing to, hide. That's what I'm trying to get across to you. Even if I went before a loyalty board, I could prove that I've got nothing to hide and that I did nothing disloyal.

CARMICHAEL
We're trying to be reasonable and sane, Graham. Do you know what will happen if you go up before a loyalty board and they recommend you for discharge?

DAVID
Why should they? That's just what I'm trying to find out.

CARMICHAEL
(
smiling sympathetically
) They have found out all they need, you know. You might have trouble ever working again—anywhere.

SELWIN
(
to whom
DAVID
turns incredulously
) That's right, Graham. That's something we can't close our eyes to. It would be a hell of a thing to go out of here
disloyal
, but it would be almost inevitable. The facts cannot be avoided. It's not what you are, but what your associates are.

DAVID
But don't you see—they came to me about Agronsky.

CARMICHAEL
(
with sudden interest
) Who did?

DAVID
The Department of Justice. I even helped them—all I could help them.

CARMICHAEL
They don't seem to look at it that way, Graham.

DAVID
(
with sudden earnestness, leaning over the desk, his palms on it
) Look, Mr. Carmichael, I don't like to plead any more than anyone else does …

(
SELWIN
watches a moment, then turns abruptly and goes to the window.
)

… but I think I deserve a break in this thing. Maybe I've lived to the last dollar I made and maybe that was wrong, but I'm broke now. I have a wife and a kid. Look—I was an infantryman, Mr. Carmichael. How could I be disloyal? I love my country as much as anyone does. My ancestors came over here in 1659 on my mother's side, and even earlier on my father's side. I'm not a Communist. I can give you my word of honour on that, my oath if you want it——

CARMICHAEL
(
with sudden harshness
) You don't have to go into all that, Graham. I told you this isn't something we decide. If you won't accept our advice, if you prefer a board hearing—well, go to it. That's all.

DAVID
(
straightening up and looking at
CARMICHAEL
,
the final realization of defeat having sunk home
) I see. (
He turns and walks slowly toward the door.
SELWIN
makes as to approach and say something, takes a few steps, then stops and watches
DAVID
exit in silence. Then
SELWIN
turns to
CARMICHAEL,
who is leaning back in his swivel chair, looking at the Jar wall reflectively.
)

CARMICHAEL
Not well done, was it? You look sick, Selwin.

SELWIN
Do I?

CARMICHAEL
You have the most peculiar conscience, you know.

SELWIN
I'm beginning to think that any conscience is peculiar.

CARMICHAEL
You're not the type for cynicism, Fred. Anyway, I can't share your concern. That's not a very admirable character. When the department came to him, he helped them, didn't he? No great solicitude for Agronsky. Now it's his turn. This is not an age for heroes, Fred. This is not an age for morality. We have only one measure.

SELWIN
What is that? I'm eager to learn.

CARMICHAEL
Power.

SELWIN
That's not a very new concept, is it?

CARMICHAEL
But the form changes to fit new circumstances.

SELWIN
How are we changing it, Mr. Carmichael? I. find the pattern recognizable—highly so, and——

CARMICHAEL
(
interrupting
) I wouldn't go on in that vein.

SELWIN
(
He stares at
CARMICHAEL
for a moment, then smiles bitterly.
) I understand perfectly, Mr. Carmichael.

Curtain
—
End of Scene One
—
Act II

Scene Two

The same as Scene One, Act I, the living-room of the
GRAHAM
home; and the time is late afternoon, the same day as Scene One, Act II. As the curtain rises
,
HILDA
comes down the stairs
,
LORRY
trailing her.
HILDA
puts on two of the lamps, and then stands for a moment, irresolute, as if undecided as to her next step
.

LORRY
(
holding out a book she is carrying
) Read me this, Hilda.

HILDA
What?

LORRY
You promised before to read this later. You said you would.

HILDA
(
impatiently
) Well, I can't. I don't have time. I got other things to do.

LORRY
Well, you promised me. You promised me.

HILDA
(
angrily
) Stop that—just stop that whining!

(
LORRY
stares at her; the child's face wrinkles and then she starts to cry.
)

Stop crying!

LORRY
I don't like that face.

HILDA
What face?

LORRY
That face you got. Why can't you have a happy face? Why can't you?

HILDA
I just got damn little to be happy about.

LORRY
There—you said it. You said damn, and you're mad at me, too. Why can't you be happy at me?

HILDA
I'm not mad at you.

(
She gets down and takes
LORRY
in her arms.
)

Don't you understand? I'm not mad at you—I'm mad at myself. I'm sick with myself. Anyway, I got to work. I got two years of stuff I been accumulating down in the cellar, and I got to sort it out and see what I want to keep and what I want to throw away.

LORRY
Let me help you, Hilda.

HILDA
(
rising and looking at
LORRY
speculatively
) All right. Come along.