Thanksgiving I - 2

Scene Two

Resentments

After dinner, 4 p.m.

The set is the same. The family has eaten, the table has not been fully cleared, and everyone is coming back from the kitchen to retire to the living room. Anne and Martin enter first.

Anne: I don’t like this. They’re being too civilised, you know what I mean?

Martin: I’m just glad we got through it without a major crisis—although it was rough going for a few minutes, there. Reminded me of the old days.

Anne: Whatever you do, don’t let them start in on that, ok?

(The others re-enter. Rob is finishing an anecdote.)

Rob: so he goes up to see what all the racket is about, and lo and behold, sixteen wholesome-looking students from the Midwest are crammed into a rather small double, holding an orgy---with the door wide open.

Georg: They were not so many. I did not count them.

Rob: I know, you shut your eyes, but you peeked a bit anyway, right? Well, let’s just say there were ten. (They sit. To the others.) So he goes in and says, ‘This is Amerika, the be-autiful? It is four o’clock in the morning. In Austria, the people are sleeping.” So that’s how it became a catch word with us: In Austria, the people are sleeping. Then he told them to at least shut the door.

Louise: (slightly amused) Well, what happened then?

Rob: They shut the door and went right on with it. Except for one little runt who had a conscience attack and kept saying ‘Sorry Sir...’ And the next day we all acted as if nothing had happened. I guess you had to have been there.

Terry: Well, I think it’s a funny story anyway.

Louise:
You would!/I think it’s sick.
John::

Rob: (to John) Society is sick, you should know that. (to Martin) I’m sure you see enough of it in your line of work.

Terry: (to Louise) Just knock it off, will you?

Rob: We just get confronted with the more personal aspects of it in the hotel, is all.

Georg: Yes, that’s the different.

Rob: Differencccce.

Georg: (grins) Ssssss!

Anne: I’m just glad I’m in Mali most of the time.

Louise: If only it weren’t so far off!

Anne: Nothing could be too far off from… all this.

Louise: Huh. You act as if we all treated you badly. I miss you the most you know. You were the biggest help to me of all my children.

John: (has been fidgeting) I have something to say.

Rob: Well hallelujah! I’ve been wondering all through dinner if I were going to have to learn sign in my old age.

John: (contemptuous) You’ve out-done yourself this time, Rob. I’m going out for a walk. (takes them all in) My family! You make me feel…dirty. (exits, slamming the door)

Louise: (smug) See what you’ve accomplished, dear? I dare say it was a mistake to be so public in your announcement.

Rob: You think it would have been better to let you all think what you thought anyway so you could feel superior about it? It’s better out in the open. John will get used to the idea in time, just like he got over my taking Austrian citizenship.

Louise: (Pursuing it) I still would have preferred it if you had come to me beforehand, is all.

Terry: Oh boy, the great keeper of secrets, guardian of the skeletons.

Louise: (saccharine) You have enough of the latter to fill a warehouse, dear. At least now I understand what’s been going on between you two.

Terry: Then we needn’t go into that, either.

Ginnie: (small laugh) Hey, how many taboo subjects have we got going here?

Terry: I’m not sure, but I do know that you would fly off the handle if yours were up for discussion.

Ginnie: (flaring) I don’t like the tone of that. Compared to you all, I’m leading a very normal life!

Georg: Nothing is ever normal.

Ginnie: Who asked you, anyway?! (to Rob) How much does he know about us? What have you been telling him?

Rob: Enough to keep him on his toes.

Anne: Huh. Can’t nobody be too careful, right? Listen, Ginnie, I’ve had enough for the moment. Come on and help me clear away the dishes.

Ginnie: (rising) All right. Relax, Terry we won’t ask you to help. We all know how energetic you are.

Terry: I’m a damned sight better housekeeper than you’ll ever be, Ms Career Woman.

(Ginnie and Anne keep passing back and forth from the dining area to the kitchen, nudging one another at different points in the ensuing dialogue.)

Martin: Will you all please stop bickering? We made it through dinner without hacking at anything except the turkey, which was excellent, by the way, so let’s just take it easy. We had enough of the other way back when.

Louise: Well I’m glad somebody tasted what they ate!

Georg: It was very good. Rob makes it differently, though.

Louise: (ignoring him) All that work and for what? It was like a funeral in there. And I especially went and made a Southern-style meal, Robert, none of that heavy New England stuff you pride yourself on. Most people take it for granted that I come from the South.

Rob: I don’t know why you always pride yourself on that. All I can remember about the South is that it was infested with insects.

Terry: What insects? Roaches?

Rob: No, ants, crocodiles, weevils—ha! Every time I heard Theresa Brewer later on it made my flesh creep.

Ginnie: Crocodiles are reptiles, college boy!

Rob: Well, they slither, or is it sidle?

Louise: (uneasy) I didn’t think you remembered that trip.

Rob: How could I forget? You were like a hurricane in reverse. You bickered and bellowed and howled from Hartford to Miami.

Louise: The hell I did!

(John re-enters)

Terry: Hey John, they’re talking about that time you were in Florida. Remember anything about ants?

Louise: What do you want to be running on about them ants for, now? I don’t remember nothing about no ants.

John: Well I do. You took what had to be the poshest cottage in town. (to Rob) I’d hoped to speak to you alone out there.

Rob: (ignoring it) Martin, if you think the roaches in New Jersey were bad, you should have seen the West Palm Beach ant colonies. They were everywhere. Five minutes after dinner was on the table, we’d have to eat standing up. They’d come marching up the table legs. They were even in the toilet.

Martin: Oh, gross.

Louise: It wasn’t like that at all.

John: I remember you making a game out of shaking them out of your pajamas in the mornings.

Rob: (quietly) I didn’t want you to feel scared so I made a joke out of it. Just like my arrival here today.

John: It worked, you know….. back then.

Rob: Well, we weren’t there all that long. Dad came to get us after three weeks. You were sick with the croup.

Ginnie: (to Louise) Doesn’t sound like you nursed them through it too well, does it?

Louise: You’ve got some nerve! I was nearly out of my mind because I was about to lose my babies!

Rob: And lovingly belted us when we cried.

Louise: I most certainly did not!

John: Oh yes you did.

Ginnie: The perfect mother does not admit to violent acts. She has blackouts. It’s written down somewhere. Emily Post? Doctor Spock? Freud?

Terry: You should know best.

Georg: (very uncomfortable now) Why are you all being so morbid? In Austria, one never discusses such things. I think it is better to forget the past.

Louise: Well thank you, George. He is right, Robert. Why harp on the past? We had some good times too, you know.

Rob: Really? I don’t remember any.

Louise: (explodes) YOU SHOULD BE GRATEFUL THAT I KEPT YOU CLEAN AND FED! JUST LET IT GO, DAMN IT!

Rob: The past is never ‘over.’ It colours your whole outlook, you know? I mean, it doesn’t really get to me any more, but when I think about it….

Terry: Then take your own advice, and don’t brother dear. Frown lines, you know.

Martin: At least you didn’t have to battle the rats and the junkies. Ma never tired of telling us how good you had it with your father.

Rob: Were you poisoning a few minds in your spare time way back when, Ma?

Ginnie: (quickly, to cover) Once I nearly cornered a rat. I must have been four or five at the time. (to Louise) That was the only time you were justified in beating on me!

Louise: I can’t believe the turn this discussion is taking! I NEVER beat on you all that much! Have you ever stopped to consider how difficult it was for me alone, a white woman with all you children in a black ghetto?

Terry: (a smirk) You sure were successful in finding protective males, though, weren’t you.

Martin: Come on, let’s keep it civilised, here…

Anne: (mocking) We are civilised, brother. Here the day is almost over and no one’s gotten knifed yet.

Louise: (barely in control) I just don’t deserve the kind of contempt you are showing me here. Our life together wasn’t all that bad. I tried to keep the worst things from affecting you all.

Georg: (trying to change the subject) Anne, aren’t things worse in Mali? I have been meaning to ask you what things are like there.

Rob: (also wanting to avoid an all-out confrontation) Yeah, didn’t you have trouble adjusting?

Anne: (suspicious of their motive) Uh-uh.

Rob: I find that hard to believe, but then again, maybe you haven’t really noticed the difference yet.

Anne: People are the same all over.

Rob: (facetiously) If that’s the case, there’s no sense gallivanting about, is there? (feigns a double-take) Did you say all over?

Anne: All right, that’s enough. You want the low-down? I can’t understand why you are all carrying on about the so-called bad conditions we had. You make it sound as if we were alays at death’s door or something. Sure we got on for weeks on collard greens when the money was short….

Louise: You tell it like it is, girl!

John: In our day it was hot dogs week in, week out.

Anne: And so what? You think that was poverty? You want to come to Africa and see what real poverty is, babies. People drop like flies over there every day.

Terry: Get a load of Flo Nightengale! Opening up a computer company is your contribution to allevieating all that misery and suffering, is it?

Martin: hey, be fair, now.

Terry: The folks out there may be starving, but give ‘em computer culture and American know-how. Let them bite the dust, but at least playing Pac Man, the while.

John: Just a minute! You mean to tell me you and Michael went to Africa to open up a computer company? Why?

Anne: For your information, the poverty there may be great, but they are hardly living in the Stone Age. (open contempt) Your idea of the continent stood still in the Fifties with Johnny Weissmüller.

Rob: Not to mention Cheetah.

Anne: how come you’re so flip, huh? Most people think you’re mucking about in the Alps in short leather pants, and doing those slap dances, or whatever they are called.

Georg: Schuhplattler.

Anne: Say what?

Georg: The dance. It is called a Schuhplattler.

Ginnie: (Laughs). Where did you find this guy, Rob? Under a rock?

Rob: (annoyed.) He was like Everest. I turned around one day, and he was just there. (to Anne) But as I recall, your world view isn’t very solid. You thought that Mali was only an hour’s flight from Vienna. Come to think of it, it might be possible at mach five.

Anne: You know damned well that was Ma’s idea!

Rob: But you believed it. And that’s why I sent her an atlas for Christmas.

Terry: Oh, no! Did you really?

Louise: I’ll say. It was one of the less cruel things he sent me.

John: Are you going to start in on the photo again?

Ginnie: Somebody want to fill me in?

Louise: The last picture I had of your brother was his high school graduation picture. So I asked him to send me something more recent. And what do I get? An x-ray!

Martin: (laughing) That’s great!

Ginnie: (to Rob) You always think you’re so smart, don’t you.

Rob: (grinning) I really didn’t have anything else at the time, and was getting aseries of rather unpleasant check-ups. So they were the most recent things I had.

John: Our dad thought it was hilarious.

Louise: He would, the bastard. You certainly do take after him, Robert.

Rob: (indifferent) We buried the hatchet on that long ago. Besides, you got your revenge. You sent me a fruit cake—without the nuts. Very symbolic.

John: Well, I haven’t and I won’t

Louise: Be that as it may, today you’ve proven I was right about you, Rob.

Rob: But at the time, you weren’t. That is the point. Your ‘concern’ only served to upset me.

Georg: (to Rob) I told you I should not have come with you.

Louise: Oh, don’t worry about it, George. You seem to be an all right sort of person. I mean, you got good manners and everything. I noticed that at dinner. Seeing your age difference, I suspect you’re sort of a father figure for him. God knows his own was weak enough.

Rob: (irate) Ten years ago the age difference wasn’t an issue, so don’t start in on the psychological crap, ok?

Terry: I just knew it! Look out, gang, here come all those worn-out clichés and name tags. You’ve just been dying to haul them out, haven’t you?

Louise: Well, I was right, wasn’t I? I warned you too, but did you listen?

Terry: (guarded) I loved him.

Louise: Oh yes, and didn’t you pay the price, girl?

Terry: You’ll never understand. I only suffered when you put my private life on display among your alcoholic friends, as if it were a soap opera.

Louise: You objected to my being open in public, and after he died so horribly, you went and spilled your guts in print. And landed a best-seller! Love? I dare say I don’t understand.

Terry: I needed to ease the grief. I wanted to warn other women in my situation. You weren’t about to listen to me. And I contacted Rob much later. You only objected to the money I made---and didn’t give you.

Louise: No. Whatever I’ve done in my life, money was always secondary. A least I can say I loved real men.

Ginnie: (losing patience) And devoured them, just like a spider.

Louise: Well get you! And where’s your wedding ring, Miss High and Mighty? You know, I’ve kept my mouth shut for a long time, but it doesn’t look like Cal’s going to get that divorce, does it? You let him dump all over you till you decide you have had enough and then you go at him with a knife! Am I to blame for that too? Did I teach you those kind of manners?

Martin: Don’t you think we’re going a bit too far, here? Why don’t we just drop all this?

Louise: (attacking) Martin the peace-maker! You were born old, you know that? You have no goals, no drive. Just like your father.

Martin: You drove him off in a hurry, didn’t you! And used a knife to do it, as I remember.

Louise: he was a drunkard! It was his fault I ended up in AA! He was a weakling.!

Martin: Like me, I suppose….

Louise: Yes! Oh, I know you try to compensate. You play the macho and have one girlfriend after the other, but basically, you’re trying to get back at me. And you take unnecessary risks at work, then get yourself into the papers. On page 47. Some hero! Sometimes I think you were my biggest mistake.

Rob: Like Anne was an ‘accident’?

Louise: You shut your mouth! I was always fair with you and you’ve given me the most pain of all my children.

Anne: What do you mean, an accident, Robert?

Rob: (shrugs) Something she told me a million years ago.

Louise: I said shut up and I mean it! When I think of how much it meant to me to have you all together after so many years, I don’t know, I must have been off my rocker! I worked so hard to have this week-end come about, and all I get for my trouble is a lot of animosity and a constant barrage of accusations against me. As if I were a monster or something!

Well let me tell you one thing! This is your mother speaking! I did the best I could for you all my life. Even now I can hardly make ends meet! But I put the food on the table today, and no one is going hungry here! You all gorged! And it’s damned cold out, but I paid for the heat and it’s damned near ruined me, prices being what they are. And you take it for granted. That’s what mothers are for, right?

Now, I went to the doctor’s last week, and he said that if I take it easy, I can last another ten years, and….

Terry: Here it comes, you guys!

Louise: You have always been just plain evil!

Terry: (false cheer) Just living up to your expectations, dear.

Louise: Stop interrupting me. (to the others, pacing) They say I could last another ten years, but when I look around this room, all I can do is ask myself ‘for what’? You call this a family?

John: All we have in common are your genes.

Louise: The oracle speaks! With you, I always had the feeling I’d given birth to a clam. And since you aren’t coming up with any pearls of wisdom, shut up.

Terry: Can we finally get to the end of this bullshit? You’re fishing for something. Spit it out, hey.

Louise: One more word, and I’m going to gag you, girl.

Terry: (to the others) You know, recently I’ve come to realise that she uses the word ‘girl’ in the sense that a racist would use ‘boy’. Our mother, the racist.

Louise: How dare you!

Terry: Need I remind you of what you said when I married Mark?

Louise: Admit I was right!

Terry: You weren’t. He loved me. How often do I have to say it?

Louise: Then I would hate to find out what the opposite of that much over-rated emotion is. Look at you all! My children! You know, I’d hoped today that I would find out that one of my children loves me. Not too much to hope for, right? I mean, there should exist the odds that one out of six would, right? One who would love me enough to help me in my sickness and old age…..

Anne: I try to do the best I can, Mother.

Louise: You have a family! And most of the time you’re thousands of miles away. You have a right to your personal life. And you others? You all sit there looking like I’ve just asked for the crown jewels of England. (long pause) Nobody has anything to say? All right, I’ll get by, and on next to nothing if I have to. Just like I survived the hell of AA and came out a person.

Rob: You were never an alcoholic, mother. None of us ever saw you take a drink.

Louise: I was a dry drunk! How often do I have to explain that to you!

Rob: You were in need of a sympathetic ear, and chose some pretty odd people to talk to, if you ask me.

Louise: And where were you, may I ask? You chose the fastest way out, didn’t you? Didn’t want to hurt your father’s feelings. What I felt was immaterial. You talk about odd friends? You come in here with this lame-brain, and I’m supposed to be happy?

Rob: Yes, God damn it! He’s damned intelligent, and I love him.

Louise: Well good for you. I put a lot of hope in you, even though I knew what would become of you. (R. makes a move as if to protest. Louise stops him with a gesture.) No, I did. You’ve made your choice and if you’re happy, I’m glad. At least you were smart enough to find a man with a lot of money. I take my hat off to you.

Rob: Foul, dear. It’s his money, he only got it recently, and it’s a problem, although I doubt you can understand that.

Louise: Don’t try to bluff me. You send me post cards from Italy and Teneriffe, and I sit up here in the cold and am supposed to be thrilled for you, or what? You’re selfish, Robert. You even hated your brother when he was born.

Rob: (groan) Are you going to drag out that old chestnut? It was normal, Louise.

Louise: Don’t you ‘Louise’ me!

Rob : You wanted me to be abnormal, so that you could go right on being paranoid.

Louise: That’s a lie! I was happy when you came along. The last thing in my mind was that I’d given birth to a monster. (pause) Yes, a monster of ingratitude. But you don’t even come close to John in that department.

John: Me?

Louise: Yes, you! You are the only one of my children who is even half-way normal. You’re married, have a good job, a child you won’t let me see, and you reject me totally. And it wouldn’t put that big a dent in your bank balance to help me out a bit, but you too, are selfish.

Terry: Leave him alone, Mother. He was only three years old when you dumped him.

Louise: You stay out of this!

John: You know, you’re the monster, Louise. The only thing I owe you is gratitude that you left us with our father as soon as you did….

Georg: I think I should go now….

Rob & Terry: Stay where you are!

Louise: You think you’re so smart, don’t you? You’re nothing! Zeros! I never wanted to have any of you! I brought you into this world and what do I get? An X-ray. Forbidden to see my grandchildren!

Rob: Ergo….

Louise: Don’t come at me with your damned German! (clutches at her chest, a visible effore to try to regain some calm) To tell you the truth, I gave up on you both years ago.

John: A sensible decision.

Louise: And when I think of my girls!

Terry: Do me a favour and don’t, ok

Louise: You’re my greatest disappointment there, Theresa.

Terry: Do tell.

Louise: I tried so hard to give you the right values but you rejected me from the day one.

Terry: You know the reason why.

Louise: And I tried to tell you what the score was with Mark, that he was like your brother. You ignored me and went ahead with your marriage. And suffered a lot of pain. I’m not as blind as you’d like me to be. But I did try to help!

Terry: You and help! You only made me sick with your preaching about how only an African American man could make me happy. All you were interested in was the myth of the big dick!

Louise: THERESA!

Terry: ADMIT IT! You always told me that whites were bad, evil, and that I’d only be sorry if I let myself in for an affair with one. Well, I had a marriage with one, and he may have been bisexual, but he made me happy! And that is more than I can say for the men in your life, all those ‘fathers’ we had!

Louise: (dead quiet) How dare you compare yourself to me, you tramp?

Ginnie: You want to be careful with your accusations, mother. You hardly set us an example.

Louise: Are you taking your sister’s side?

Ginnie: Yes. Because in one thing, she’s right. Your main gripe was that she was too interested in whites. And everything you ever told us only served to confuse us as to where we belonged. You had a good time watching her suffer when she really needed you. You just practiced reverse racism. I mean, do you think I’m better off with Cal than she was with Mark?

Louise: Only you can answer that. And only you can answer to your child one day for the neglect you’ve shown him. I never neglected any of you.

Ginnie: I never said I was a good mother. I didn’t want my child. I was too young. You forced me to have him.

Martin: Ginnie!

Louise: Shut up! (to Ginnie) I forced you to face the fact that if you undertake an adult action, then you have to face very adult consequences.

Ginnie: Adults have more choices that you gave me! You accuse me of being an incapable mother. Well if I am, I have you to thank for it. And if you aren’t satisfied with the job I’m doing, you’re welcome to take custody of him. Maybe by the time he’s working, he’ll be grateful enough to want to support you, which was the only reason you got us out here to this shindig.

Louise: (pale, short of breath) How dare you blame me! I set you all an example! I didn’t run away from my responsibilities, and I won’t stand for any child of mine doing that either. Whenever I was pregnant, it usually wasn’t convenient for me, but I faced the music.. And I could have taken the easy way out and done away with the lot of you! (gasps) You are all failures in my eyes! (clutches at her chest) Did you hear me? Failures! (collapses)

Ginnie: (shocked) Ma!

(the others gape not yet grasping)

Martin: Call a doctor, somebody. I’ll go! (runs out the door)

Terry: (surprised) Well whaddaya know?! (pause, then flat) Shit….

Blackout

Curtain


Graz May-Dec. 1989
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