A Tree Grows in Brooklyn Page #5

We only borrowed them

for just a minute. Honest.

That's right. There

wasn't nobody using them.

And a little fun and frolic on

a Saturday never hurt nobody.

Bet you know all about that, don't ya?

If you think you're gonna get out of it

making eyes at the law...

I don't know what

the world's coming to!

Get back a little bit,

buddy, huh?

This lady

is my sister.

She didn't mean any harm,

I'm quite sure she didn't.

Well, as far as I can see,

there's been no harm done.

Now, just break it up. Run

along. Go to your homes.

Go on. You, too. Go

on, buddy. Run along.

Now, suppose I see

you women to your home?

Thanks, handsome.

My sister's always trying

to be funny, Officer.

She don't mean

nothin' by it.

I'd like you to know

this is the first time

that any of my family ever got

into any trouble on the street.

And I'll see to it

that it don't happen again.

I guess I know a lady

when I see one, ma'am.

I'm glad I've been of

service to you, ma'am.

He sure took a shine

to you, Katie.

Go on.

Who'd look at me?

He would.

Funny. Sometimes you kinda

forget you are a woman.

He wasn't gonna

arrest us, Mama.

Aunt Sissy

talked him out of it.

And we got to skate on them

anyway, didn't we, Aunt Sissy?

You go inside and tell Sheila

and her mama you're sorry.

Do I have to, Mama?

I don't like to say to you

what I'm going to, Sissy.

Golly, are we gonna

start that again?

You're the only

sister I got.

I don't care what people

say about you for myself,

but I got the kids

to worry about,

and if I don't worry about

them, nobody else will.

Well, you're bad

for them, Sissy.

What are you

trying to say, kid?

I don't want you to

come around here no more.

My mind's made up,

so don't try to change it

with any of that

soft talk of yours.

Why, I won't, Katie,

not if you mean it.

But let's keep on

talking about you.

Soft's one thing,

but hard's another.

All right, it ain't nice to be hard.

But my kids

is gonna be somebody

if I gotta turn into

granite rock to make 'em!

I wish you hadn't

said that, kid.

Bye, Katie.

"And Nahor lived nine and

20 years and begat Terah.

"And Nahor lived after

he begat Terah 119 years."

Boy. That's older

than Grandma, ain't it?

"And begat sons

and daughters."

Okay. That's the end

of the page. "Troilus.

"'And dreaming night will

hide our joys no longer,

"'I would not from thee.'

"Cressida. 'Night hath been too brief.'

"Troilus. 'Beshrew the

witch! With venomous..."'

That ain't even English!

It is, too!

Shakespeare wrote the

best English of anybody!

All right, then you tell me

what it means, you're so smart.

I didn't say I know what

it means. I said I liked it.

That'll do.

Okay, but I bet you don't

know what it means, either.

Maybe not, but I do know

it's good for you.

"Beshrew the witch!

With venomous..."

She don't know

what it means.

Mom don't know what it means.

Grandma can't even read.

And gosh knows

I don't know what it...

Mama,

I can't read if he...

Just wasting time

every night reading stuff

nobody knows

what it's all about.

Now, listen. Your Aunt

Sissy brought that Bible

all the way from

Sheepshead Bay,

and your papa blew in all his

tips one time on that Shakespeare

'cause Grandma said

they was the greatest book

and you should read from 'em every

night, so ya ain't gonna waste them.

I don't know. Sometimes it

does seem kind of foolish,

but it might

get you somewhere.

Might even get you a job

someday, who can tell?

This reading will not

stop. I say this thing.

To this new land, your grandfather

and I came very long ago now

because we heard that here

is something very good.

Hard we worked, very hard, but

we could not find this thing.

For a long time, I do not

understand, and then I know.

When I am old, I know.

In that old country,

a child can rise no higher

than his father's state.

But here,

in this place,

each one is free to go as far

as he's good to make of himself.

This way, the child can

be better than the parent

and this is the true way

things grow better.

And this has to do

something with the learning,

which is here

free to all people.

I, who am old,

miss this thing.

My children

miss this thing.

But my children's children

shall not miss it.

This reading

will not stop.

And, you, Katie.

It is not only for the job

that this is good,

but for the true things

inside of us.

You don't think

well about this,

nor about what you do

with your sister.

You have forgotten

to think with your heart.

There is a coldness

growing in you, Katie.

"Beshrew the witch! With

venomous wights she stays

"As tediously as hell, but

flies the grasps of love"

In Dublin's fair city

Where the girls are so pretty

I first set my eyes

on sweet Molly Malone

As she wheeled

her wheelbarrow

Through streets

broad and narrow

Crying cockles and mussels,

alive, alive-O

Alive, alive-O

Alive, alive-O

Crying cockles and mussels,

alive, alive-O

It's all right, Mama.

I don't think he's sick.

Alive, alive-O

Alive, alive-O

Papa!

Well, what do you know?

If it ain't my beauty.

Hey. What are you doing up

this time of night?

I just made up my mind

to wait up for you.

I guess I ain't used

to the hours anymore.

No. Leave it.

It's nice.

Go on.

Francie, coffee.

Is it something

to eat, Papa?

And what else, with me

coming from a grand banquet?

I got some

French rolls,

a whole half a broiled lobster

from the shores of Maryland,

fried oysters,

caviar from far-off,

sunny Russia,

and cheese from the mountain

fastnesses of la belle France.

What do you know about the

mountain fastnesses of France?

Is it better coming

from there, Papa?

Well, it's supposed

to be mighty good,

but coming home like this,

I know that's good.

Well, let's eat it. No reason we

shouldn't have a party of our own.

I'm hungry.

Is that all you got to say

to your papa?

Hello, Pop.

His stomach's like the

Irish Sea, no bottom to it.

Mama,

your wedding comb!

Well, ain't this

a kind of weddin' party?

You bet it is.

I wish I could have

swiped some champagne.

Oh, no, I don't.

Coffee's better.

But, look who's

telling me

I don't know about them

mountain fastnesses of France.

That. Yeah, that.

Imagine you forgetting.

Well, I didn't forget, not

exactly. It was a long time ago.

What do you think of

a mama that forgets

where she went

on her honeymoon?

Did you really

go there, Mama?

Of course not.

Your papa's joking.

Sure we did,

or just the same as.

We spent our honeymoon in a

school. It was as big as a palace.

We just worked there nights,

the two of us, cleaning.

It was right here in

Brooklyn, before you was born.

That ain't what you

told me then.

You mean to say when we was

having our supper there alone

and I used to

pull down them maps

and take

the teacher's pointer

and pick out the places we'd

pretend we was that night,

you mean to say

we really wasn't there?

You mean you forgot that sunny

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