SILVA: But even if it is painful to continue the subject, it would be better than not to.
[He is very close to her, now, and her agitation increases.]
BABY DOLL: Why? Better how?
SILVA: I am sympathetic to your story and could offer you some advice.
BABY DOLL: Well, the long and short of it is, that Archie Lee offered to fly this doctor and the ape down here for this, this—
SILVA: Operation. I think I’ve heard of such an operation performed somewhere, but it was the kidney of a chimpanzee.
BABY DOLL: Yeah? Well, whatever. I think Archie Lee fooled Daddy so he could get hold of me in marriage. You see, Archie Lee did not bring down the doctor like he promised and I don’t think he even brought down the chim—chim—
SILVA: Panzee?
BABY DOLL: That’s my suspicion. I think he just put Daddy in the Veterans’ Hospital upstate and pretended the rest.
SILVA: The rest being what, Mrs. Meighan?
BABY DOLL [sniffling ]:The rest being Daddy just—died there. . .
SILVA: Now let’s consider this fairly, giving Mr. Meighan the benefit of some doubt. Isn’t it just possible that the chimpanzee refused to sign this paper permitting the transplant?
BABY DOLL [slow, indignant take]: —Mr. Vacarro, I believe that you are mistaking me for a fool!
SILVA: No, no, no, I just wanted to cheer you up.
BABY DOLL: By pretending you think I don’t know a chimpanzee can’t read or write!
SILVA: I’ve seen many remarkable things in my life!
BABY DOLL: Not monkeys signin’ papers, you ain’t! But my Daddy did sign a paper! Under false pretenses! And he give me to Archie Lee in marriage before the doctor and the chimpanzee got down here! My daddy, he didn’t want to but in the face of death—
SILVA: I know. Compromises are made—when you’re influenced—by terror. . .
BABY DOLL: —I tole you this long, awful story because you said you could offer advice. What is the advice? None? You got none to offer?
SILVA: I’ve got advice to offer but it takes some consideration and—Hey!
[He indicates a derelict Pierce Arrow in the yard]
Is this limousine retired from service?
BABY DOLL: That old automobile belonged to the widow lady that owned this place till she died and they say she still haunts it now. Sometimes I like to set in the back seat and pretend I’m a young widow and my showfer drives me wherever I want.
SILVA: Why don’t we play that game, games can be fun, get in, Madam, be seated.
[She smiles shyly and seats herself on the rear seat. He climbs in beside her.]
BABY DOLL [ambiguously discomfited by his proximity]: Why don’t you set in the front seat an’ play show-fer?
SILVA: I’d rather play your escort. You give me directions where you want to be driven and I’ll give them to the sbow-fer.
BABY DOLL: Tell him to drive us along the levee to cach the breeze off the river, fast as he can drive to cool us off.
[She fans herself rapidly, then averting her face, sneezes.]
—’Scuse me! The air is so full of cotton lint.
[She sniffles.]
—You’re grinning at me like I tole you a joke!
SILVA: Not grinning, just smiling because I noticed your bracelet with all of these gold bangles.
BABY DOLL: That’s what’s called a charm bracelet. My daddy give it to me. There’s a charm for each birthday.
SILVA: How many charming birthdays have you had?
BABY DOLL: As many as I got charms hanging on this bracelet. . .
SILVA: Mind if I count them?
[He moves in—slowly and sensuously.]
. . .11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19. . . and. . .
BABY DOLL: That’s all! I don’t want another birthday charm on that bracelet.
SILVA: You wish to end your existence at the age of nineteen.
BABY DOLL: Better than—keepin’ the bargain with Archie Lee. You see, we married with the agreement that he would not—that he would leave me alone—till I was twenty. And I’ll be twenty tomorrow. I don’t wanna be twenty. . . ever.
SILVA: Understandable. —Don’t you have garbage collectors on Tiger Tail Road?
BABY DOLL: It costs a little bit extra to git them to come out here and Archie Lee Meighan claimed it was highway robbery! Refused to pay! Now the place is swarming with flies an’ mosquitoes and—oh, I don’t know, I almost give up sometimes.
SILVA: And did I understand you to say that you’ve got a bunch of unfurnished rooms in the house?
BABY DOLL: Five complete sets of furniture hauled away! By the Ideal Pay As You Go Plan Furniture Company.
SILVA: When did this misfortune—fall upon you?
BABY DOLL: Why yestiddy! Ain’t that awful?
SILVA: Both of us had misfortunes on the same day.
BABY DOLL: Huh?
SILVA: You lost your furniture. My cotton gin burned down.
BABY DOLL [not quite with it]: Oh.
SILVA: Quite a coincidence!
BABY DOLL: Huh?
SILVA: I said it was a coincidence of misfortune.
BABY DOLL: Well, sure—after all, what can you do with a bunch of unfurnished rooms.
SILVA: You could play hide and seek.
BABY DOLL: Not me. I’m not the athletic type.
SILVA: I take it you’ve not had this place long, Mrs. Meighan.
BABY DOLL: No, we ain’t had it long.
SILVA: When I arrived to take over the management of the Syndicate Plantation. . .
[He chops at the grass with his crop.]
this place was empty. I was told it was haunted. Then you all moved in.
BABY DOLL: Yes it was haunted, and that’s why Archie Lee bought it for almost nothing.
[She pauses in the sun as if dazed.]
Sometimes I don’t know where to go, what to do.
SILVA: That’s not unusual. People enter this world without instruction.
BABY DOLL [losing the thread again]: Huh?
SILVA: I said people come into this world without instructions of where to go, what to do, so they wander a little and. . . then go away. . .
[Now, Baby Doll gives him a quick look, almost perceptive and then. . .]
BABY DOLL: Yah, well. . .
SILVA: And so make room for newcomers! Old goers, new comers! Back and forth, goings and comings, rush, rush. . . Drift—for a while and then. . . VANISH. Anything living!. . . Last long enough to take it serious.
BABY DOLL: And that’s all. . .
[Silence. Possibly a mutual understanding.]
SILVA: You’re a lady to respect, Mrs. Meighan.
BABY DOLL [sadly and rather touchingly]: Me? Oh, no—I never got past the fourth grade.
SILVA: Why’d you quit?
BABY DOLL: I had a great deal of trouble with long division. . .
SILVA: Yeah?
BABY DOLL: The teacher would tell me to go to the blackboard and work out a problem in long division and I would go to the blackboard and lean my head against it and cry and cry and—cry. . . Whew! I think the porch would be cooler. Mr. Vacarro, I can’t get over your legs.
SILVA: You can’t get over my legs?
BABY DOLL: I tole you. . . I’m not athletic.
SILVA: You want me to move my legs.
BABY DOLL: Yes, otherwise I can’t get out of the car. . .
SILVA: Okay.
[He raises his legs so she can get out. Which she does, and continues. . .]
BABY DOLL: YES, I would cry and cry. . . Well. . . soon after that I left school. A girl without education is—without education. . . Whew. . . feel kind of dizzy. Hope I’m not gettin’ a SUN stroke—I better sit in the shade.
[Vacarro follows her casually into the shade of a pecan tree. Suddenly he leaps into the branches and then down with a pecan. He cracks it in his mouth and hands her the kernels. . .]
BABY DOLL: Mr. Vacarro! I wouldn’t dream! —Excus
e me, but I just wouldn’t dream! of eating a nut that a man had cracked in his mouth. . .
SILVA: You’ve got many refinements. I don’t think you need to worry about your failure at long division. I mean, after all, you got through short division, and short division is all that a lady ought to cope with. . .
BABY DOLL: Well, I—ought to go in, but I get depressed when I pass through those empty rooms. . .
SILVA: All the rooms empty?
BABY DOLL: All but the nursery. And the kitchen. The stuff in those rooms was paid for. . .
SILVA: You have a child in the nursery?
BABY DOLL: Me? No. I sleep in the nursery myself. Let down the slats on the crib. . .
SILVA: Why do you sleep in the nursery?
BABY DOLL: Mr. Vacarro, that’s a personal question. [There is a pause.] I ought to go in. . . but. . . you know there are places in that house which I have never been in. I mean the attic for instance. Most of the time I’m afraid to go into that house by myself. Last night when the fire broke out I sat here for hours and hours till Archie Lee got home, because I was scared to enter this old house by myself.
[Vacarro has caught this discrepancy.]
SILVA: It musta been kinda scary here without your husband to look after you.
BABY DOLL: I’m tellin’ you! The fire lit up the whole countryside and it made big crazy shadows and we didn’t have a Co-Cola in the house and the heat and the mosquitoes and—I was mad at Archie Lee!
SILVA: Mad at Meighan? What about?
BABY DOLL: . . .that he went off and left me settin’ here without a Coke in the place.
SILVA: Went off and left you, did he?!!
BABY DOLL: Well, he certainly did. Right after supper and when he got back, the fire’d already broke out. I got smoke in my eyes and my nose and throat. I was in such a worn-out nervous condition it made me cry. Finally I took two teaspoons of paregoric.
SILVA: Sounds like you passed a very uncomfortable night.
BABY DOLL: Sounds like? Well it was!
SILVA: So Mr. Meighan—you say—disappeared after supper.
BABY DOLL [after a pause]: Huh?
SILVA: You say Mr. Meighan left the house for a while after supper?
[Something in his tone makes her aware that she has spoken indiscreetly.]
BABY DOLL: Oh—uh—just for a moment.
SILVA: Just for a moment, huh? How long a moment?
BABY DOLL: What are you driving at, Mr. Vacarro?
SILVA: Driving at? Nothing.
BABY DOLL: You’re looking at me so funny.
SILVA: How long a moment did he disappear for? Can you remember, Mrs. Meighan?
BABY DOLL: What difference does that make? What’s it to you, anyhow?
SILVA: Why should you mind my asking?
BABY DOLL: You make this sound like I was on trial for something.
SILVA: Don’t you like to pretend like you’re a witness?
BABY DOLL: Witness of what, Mr. Vacarro?
SILVA: Why—for instance—say—a case of arson!
BABY DOLL: Case of—? What is—arson?
SILVA: The willful destruction of property by fire.
[He slaps his boots sharply with the riding crop.]
BABY DOLL: Oh!
[She moves to the swing and nervously fingers her purse.]
SILVA: You know, there’s one thing I always notice about you ladies.
BABY DOLL: What’s that?
SILVA: Whenever you get nervous, you always like to have something in your hands to hold on to—like that big white purse.
BABY DOLL: This purse?
SILVA: Yes, it gives you something to hold on to, isn’t that right?
BABY DOLL: Well, I do always like to have something in my hands.
SILVA: Sure you do. You feel what a lot of uncertain things there are. Gins burn down. No one knows how or why. Volunteer fire departments don’t have decent equipment. They’re no protection. The afternoon sun is too hot. The trees! They’re no protection! The house—it’s haunted! It’s no protection! Your husband! He’s across the road and busy. He’s no protection! The goods that dress is made of—it’s light and thin—it’s no protection. So what do you do, Mrs. Meighan? You pick up that white kid purse. It’s something to hold on to.
BABY DOLL: Now, Mr. Silva. Don’t you go and be getting—any—funny ideas.
SILVA: Ideas about what?
BABY DOLL: My husband disappearing—after supper. I can explain that.
SILVA: Can you?
BABY DOLL: Sure I can.
SILVA: Good! How do you explain it?
[He stares at her. She looks down.]
What’s the matter? Can’t you collect your thoughts, Mrs. Meighan?
[Pause.]
Your mind’s a blank on the subject?
BABY DOLL: Look here, now. . .
SILVA: You find it impossible to remember just what your husband disappeared for after supper? You can’t imagine what kind of errand he went out on, can you?
BABY DOLL: No! No! I can’t!
SILVA: But when he returned—let’s see—the fire had just broken out at the Syndicate Plantation.
BABY DOLL: Mr. Vacarro, I don’t have the slightest idea what you could be driving at.
SILVA: You’re a very unsatisfactory witness, Mrs. Meighan.
BABY DOLL: I never can think when people—stare straight at me.
SILVA: Okay, I’ll look away then.
[He turns his back to her.]
Now, does that improve your memory any? Now are you able to concentrate on the question?
BABY DOLL: Huh?
SILVA: No? You’re not?
[He grins evilly.]
Well—should we drop the subject?
BABY DOLL: I sure do wish you would!
SILVA: Sure, there’s no use crying over a burnt-down gin. And besides, like your husband says—this world is built on the principle of tit for tat.
BABY DOLL: What do you mean?
SILVA: Nothing at all specific. Mind if I. . .?
BABY DOLL: What?
SILVA [approaching the swing where she sits]: You want to move over a little and make some room?
BABY DOLL [shifting slightly]: Is that room enough for you?
SILVA: Enough for me. How about you?
BABY DOLL: Is it strong enough to support us both?
SILVA: I hope. Let’s swing a bit. You seem all tense. Motion relaxes people. It’s like a cradle. A cradle relaxes a baby. They call you “Baby,” don’t they?
BABY DOLL: That’s sort of a pet name.
SILVA: Well in the swing you can relax like a cradle. . .
BABY DOLL: Not if you swing it so high. It shakes me up.
SILVA: Well, I’ll swing it low then. Are you relaxed?
BABY DOLL: I’m relaxed enough. As much as necessary.
SILVA: No, you’re not. Your nerves are all tied up.
BABY DOLL: You make me nervous.
SILVA: Just swinging with you?
BABY DOLL: Not just that.
SILVA: What else then?
BABY DOLL: All them questions you asked me about the fire.
SILVA: I only inquired about your husband—about his leaving the house after supper.
BABY DOLL: Why should I have to explain why he left the house? Besides, I did. I think I explained that to you.
SILVA: You said that he left the house before the fire broke out.
BABY DOLL: What about it?
SILVA: Why did he leave the house? What was the explanation? I forgot it.
[Baby Doll’s face is beaded with sweat. To save her life she can’t think, can’t think at all.]
BABY DOLL [just to gain a moment]: Oh. You’re talking about my husband?
SILVA: That’s who I’m talking about.
BABY DOLL: How should I know!!!
SILVA: You mean where he went after supper.
BABY DOLL: Yes!! How should I know where he went.
SILVA: I thought you said
you explained that to me.
BABY DOLL: I did! I explained it to you!
SILVA: Well, if you don’t know, how could you explain it to me?
BABY DOLL [turning]: There’s no reason why I should explain anything to you.
SILVA: Then just relax.
[They swing.]
As I was saying, that was a lovely remark your husband made.
BABY DOLL: What remark did he make?
SILVA: The good neighbor policy. I see what he means by that now. There’s a lot of fine cotton lint floating around in the air.
BABY DOLL: I know there is. It irritates my sinus.
SILVA: Well, you’re a delicate woman.
[Silva removes a piece of lint with his crop.]
There now!
BABY DOLL: Thanks. Delicate? Me? Oh, no.
SILVA: Oh, yes, every bit of you is delicate. Choice. Delectable, I might say.
BABY DOLL: Huh?
SILVA [running his finger lightly over her skin]: You’re fine fibered. And smooth. And soft.
BABY DOLL: Our conversation is certainly taking a personal turn!