just don't want you to worry about it.
M AVEN I worry anyway.
B EN Do you want me to tell you?
M AVEN Yes.
B EN It's around eleven thousand dollars.
Maven sits looking at her cup.
B EN Well?
She shakes her head. She looks up at Ben.
M AVEN Has business been that bad?
B EN No.
M AVEN Does he underbid the jobs?
B EN All black contractors underbid the jobs. If they didn't they wouldn't get the work. But that's not it.
M AVEN Well what does he do with the money?
B EN I don't know.
M AVEN If you got paid for the work you do you could hire somebody out at the farm. You mix your own mud out there.
B EN I have no argument against you.
M AVEN Well I don't think you should let him take advantage of you just because he's your father.
B EN I know. Every Friday is a shoot—out. You don't know. If you think you hear a lot of poor mouthing around here you ought to hear him on the job.
Maven gets up and takes her cup and saucer to the sink. She comes back to the table and kisses Ben on the forehead and takes her coat off the chair.
B EN Is that it?
M AVEN ( Taking up her briefcase from the chair ) That's it, Babe.
Ben shakes his head, smiling. She starts for the door and then turns.
M AVEN Ben.
He juts his chin at her to say yes.
M AVEN What do you think has happened to Soldier?
B EN I don't know.
M AVEN If it was something terrible and you didn't want me to know and I wanted to know would you tell me?
B EN Yes.
M AVEN I want to know.
B EN I don't know what's happened to him. I just don't know. He may come back. He may be dead. I just don't know.
M AVEN Would you tell Carlotta? If it was something terrible and there was nothing anyone could do about it?
B EN I don't know. I don't think so. Maybe I'd be wrong. I don't think I could.
She bends and kisses him.
M AVEN Bye.
B EN Bye, Lady.
— CURTAIN —
ACT IV
SCENE I
Night, the kitchen. Ben at the table drinking tea. The light comes on at the podium and Ben takes his place there.
B EN He didn't come back. Mama walked around the house like a Roman stoic for weeks just as if she'd not a worry in the world and then one night she woke from a dream or from I don't know what and she cried straight through till breakfast and she would not be consoled and we brought her down to the kitchen and Maven wanted to call the doctor and my father tried to give her whiskey and all she would say was that poor child, that poor child. And Maven was right. It's worse than a death. More vengeful than a suicide. His absence is like a pall of guilt and humiliation. People would say He'll come back. Or He'll turn up. Then they stopped saying anything. Then they stopped coming around. Carlotta for a long time would not come to the dinner table and we ate in silence and then she did come and we ate in more silence. His birthday is in two more weeks. He would be sixteen. Will be sixteen? In what tense do you speak of those who have vanished? You don't speak of them. You are simply enslaved to them. And Carlotta was right. I think I can fix everything. The simplest word of consolation sounds like a lie. She was right about Landry too. He did get married.
— INTERMISSION —
SCENE II
The light is on in the front room and in the kitchen. It is evening and Ben comes in the kitchen door and puts the kettle on and goes through and into the front room to get the paper. A young man is sitting rather formally in the front room waiting for Carlotta. He is dressed in a suit and tie. Ben goes through and gets the paper and shuts the outer door offstage and returns with the paper. The visitor stands up. His name is MASON FERGUGSON .
M ASON Hello. I'm Mason Ferguson.
He holds out his hand and he and Ben shake hands.
M ASON I met you once before.
B EN Mason, what are you doing silting in here all by yourself?
M ASON I'm waiting for Carlotta.
B EN Well you better come on in the kitchen.
Mason follows him into the kitchen. Ben throws the paper on the table and goes to the stove.
B EN Sit
M AVEN I worry anyway.
B EN Do you want me to tell you?
M AVEN Yes.
B EN It's around eleven thousand dollars.
Maven sits looking at her cup.
B EN Well?
She shakes her head. She looks up at Ben.
M AVEN Has business been that bad?
B EN No.
M AVEN Does he underbid the jobs?
B EN All black contractors underbid the jobs. If they didn't they wouldn't get the work. But that's not it.
M AVEN Well what does he do with the money?
B EN I don't know.
M AVEN If you got paid for the work you do you could hire somebody out at the farm. You mix your own mud out there.
B EN I have no argument against you.
M AVEN Well I don't think you should let him take advantage of you just because he's your father.
B EN I know. Every Friday is a shoot—out. You don't know. If you think you hear a lot of poor mouthing around here you ought to hear him on the job.
Maven gets up and takes her cup and saucer to the sink. She comes back to the table and kisses Ben on the forehead and takes her coat off the chair.
B EN Is that it?
M AVEN ( Taking up her briefcase from the chair ) That's it, Babe.
Ben shakes his head, smiling. She starts for the door and then turns.
M AVEN Ben.
He juts his chin at her to say yes.
M AVEN What do you think has happened to Soldier?
B EN I don't know.
M AVEN If it was something terrible and you didn't want me to know and I wanted to know would you tell me?
B EN Yes.
M AVEN I want to know.
B EN I don't know what's happened to him. I just don't know. He may come back. He may be dead. I just don't know.
M AVEN Would you tell Carlotta? If it was something terrible and there was nothing anyone could do about it?
B EN I don't know. I don't think so. Maybe I'd be wrong. I don't think I could.
She bends and kisses him.
M AVEN Bye.
B EN Bye, Lady.
— CURTAIN —
ACT IV
SCENE I
Night, the kitchen. Ben at the table drinking tea. The light comes on at the podium and Ben takes his place there.
B EN He didn't come back. Mama walked around the house like a Roman stoic for weeks just as if she'd not a worry in the world and then one night she woke from a dream or from I don't know what and she cried straight through till breakfast and she would not be consoled and we brought her down to the kitchen and Maven wanted to call the doctor and my father tried to give her whiskey and all she would say was that poor child, that poor child. And Maven was right. It's worse than a death. More vengeful than a suicide. His absence is like a pall of guilt and humiliation. People would say He'll come back. Or He'll turn up. Then they stopped saying anything. Then they stopped coming around. Carlotta for a long time would not come to the dinner table and we ate in silence and then she did come and we ate in more silence. His birthday is in two more weeks. He would be sixteen. Will be sixteen? In what tense do you speak of those who have vanished? You don't speak of them. You are simply enslaved to them. And Carlotta was right. I think I can fix everything. The simplest word of consolation sounds like a lie. She was right about Landry too. He did get married.
— INTERMISSION —
SCENE II
The light is on in the front room and in the kitchen. It is evening and Ben comes in the kitchen door and puts the kettle on and goes through and into the front room to get the paper. A young man is sitting rather formally in the front room waiting for Carlotta. He is dressed in a suit and tie. Ben goes through and gets the paper and shuts the outer door offstage and returns with the paper. The visitor stands up. His name is MASON FERGUGSON .
M ASON Hello. I'm Mason Ferguson.
He holds out his hand and he and Ben shake hands.
M ASON I met you once before.
B EN Mason, what are you doing silting in here all by yourself?
M ASON I'm waiting for Carlotta.
B EN Well you better come on in the kitchen.
Mason follows him into the kitchen. Ben throws the paper on the table and goes to the stove.
B EN Sit
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