Vieux Carre (12 page)
Authors: Tennessee Williams
WRITER
: He always whistles down
stairsâ
it's habitual to
himâ
you mustn't attach a special meaning to it.
[
The clarinet music is closer; the sound penetrates the shut windows
.]
JANE
: At night the Quarter's so full of jazz music, so many entertainers. Isn't it now your move?
WRITER
[
embarrassed
]: It's your move, Jane.
JANE
[
relinquishing her game
]: No
yoursâ
your vagrant musician is late but you're not forgotten.
WRITER
: I'll call down, ask him to wait till midnight when Tye said he'll be back.
JANE
: With tamales and vino to
celebrateâ
[
She staggers to
the window, shatters a pane of glass, and shouts
.] âYour friend's coming right down, just picking up his luggage!
[
She leans against the wall, panting, her bleeding hand behind her
.]
Now go, quick. He might not wait, you'd regret it.
WRITER
: Can't I do something for you?
JANE
: Pour me three fingers of bourbon.
[
She has returned to the table. He pours the shot
.]
Now hurry, hurry. I know that Tye will be back early tonight.
WRITER
: Yes, of course he will . . . [
He crosses from the studio light
.]
JANE
[
smiling somewhat bitterly
]: Naturally, yes, how could I possibly doubt it. With tamales and vino . . . [
She uncloses her fist; the blood is running from palm to wrist. The writer picks up a cardboard laundry box and the typewriter case
.]
WRITER
: As I left, I glanced in Jane's door. She seemed to be or was pretending to
beâ
absorbed in her solitary chess game. I went down the second flight and on the cot in the dark passage-way
wasâ
[
He calls out
.] Beret?
[
For the first time the cat is visible, white and fluffy as a piece of cloud. Nursie looms dimly behind him, a dark solemn fact, lamplit
.]
NURSIE
: It's the cat Miss Sparks come runnin' after.
WRITER
: Take it to her, Nursie. She's alone up there.
MRS. WIRE
: Now watch out, boy. Be careful of the future. It's a long ways for the young. Some makes it and others git lost.
WRITER
: I know . . . [
He turns to the audience
.] I stood by the door uncertainly for a moment or two. I must have been frightened of it . . .
MRS. WIRE
: Can you see the door?
WRITER
:
Yesâ
but to open it is a desperate undertaking . . . !
[
He does, hesitantly. Transparencies close from either wing. Dim spots of light touch each character of the play in a characteristic position
.
[
As he first draws the door open, he is forced back a few steps by a cacophony of sound: the waiting storm of his
futureâ
mechanical racking cries of pain and pleasure, snatches of song. It fades out. Again there is the urgent call of the clarinet. He crosses to the open door
.]
They're disappearing behind me. Going. People you've known in places do that: they go when you go. The earth seems to swallow them up, the walls absorb them like moisture, remain with you only as ghosts; their voices are echoes, fading but remembered.
[
The clarinet calls again. He turns for a moment at the door
.]
This house is empty now.
THE END
Copyright © 1977, 1979 by The University of the South.
Introduction © 2000 by Robert Bray
INSCRIBED TO KEITH HACK
All rights reserved. Except for brief passages quoted in a newspaper, magazine, radio, or television review, no part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying and recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the Publisher.
CAUTION: Professionals and amateurs are hereby warned that
Vieux Carré
, being fully protected under the copyright laws of the United States of America, the British Commonwealth including the Dominion of Canada, and all other countries of the Copyright Union, are subject to royalty. All rights, including professional, amateur, motion picture, recitation, lecturing, public reading, radio and television broadcasting, and the rights of translation into foreign languages, are strictly reserved. Particular emphasis is laid on the question of readings, permission for which must be secured from the agent for The University of the South, Casarotto Ramsay & Associates Limited, National House, 60-66 Wardour St., London WIV 4ND, England.
Inquiries concerning the amateur acting rights should be directed to The Dramatists' Play Service, Inc. 440 Park Avenue South, New York, NY 10016, without whose permission in writing no amateur performance may be given.
Vieux Carré
is published by arrangement with The University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee.
First published clothbound and as New Directions Paperbook 482 in 1979; an introduction by Robert Bray was added to the paper edition, reissued as NDP911, in 2000.
eISBN 978-0-8112-2593-9
New Directions Books are published for James Laughlin
by New Directions Publishing Corporation,
80 Eighth Avenue, New York, NY 10011
