Desire Under the Elms Page #2

Till he comes, let's not do a lick of work.

Let's eat, sleep and drink liquor,

and let the farm go to blazes!

We earned a rest.

We're aiming to be lilies of the field.

We toil not and neither do we spin.

Sole owner until he comes,

and sole hand, too.

The cows are bellowing.

You'd better hustle to the milking.

- You'd better get to work.

- It's Ma's farm again. It's mine now.

I'd work my hands off

for a farm that's mine.

He's like his Pa. Hard and crazy.

- Dead spittin' image.

- Let dog eat dog.

This is solid comfort, for once.

- Get the jug, let's have a drink.

- Good idea.

To the she-devil.

Well, here we are, Anna. Home.

Home. Com' bella.

Beautiful.

It's hard to believe it's really mine.

Yours? It's mine.

Well, ours.

It's been Ionesome too long.

A home's got to have a woman.

A woman's got to have a home.

Yes.

Now, where is everyone?

Nobody out, workin' or nothin'?

Simeon?

Peter?

Eben?

Where are you?

- Why ain't you working?

- Waiting to welcome you home.

Give you our parting curse

and see what our new ma looks like.

- Well, this is her, boys.

- I see her.

Howdy. Ma.

I go look at my house.

Her house?

Eben's inside.

Better not tell him it's your house.

I will tell Eben what must be told.

Needn't pay any heed to Eben.

He's a fool.

Soft and simple like his ma.

What? He's a chip of you, spittin' image.

Hard and bitter as a hickory tree.

Dog'll eat dog. He'll eat you, old man.

You get to work.

So that's our new ma?

Where'd you dig her up?

Put her in with the other sows.

What's come over you? Are you drunk?

We're free of you

and this whole damned farm.

We're off to the California gold fields.

You can take this place and burn it.

- Bury it, for all we care.

- We're free as Indians.

- Lucky we don't scalp you.

- Burn the barn, kill the stock.

Drag your woman

by the hair into the woods.

Lust! Lust for gold!

The sinful gold of California.

It's drove you mad.

Want some gold, you old sinner?

- We'll be voyaging on the sea.

- Living free.

- I'll have you in the asylum.

- Goodbye, skinflint!

- You old bloodsucker, goodbye!

- Go, before I horsewhip you.

Let's let some air in the parlour.

One, two, three...

If I get my hands on you,

I'll break your bones!

- What're you doing with the gate?

- We hereby abolish all gates.

We'll take it with us for luck

and set it sailing free down some river.

Ephraim, are they gone now, for good?

We see them no more?

This is nice.

This bedroom, the pretty bed,

it's my room?

Ours.

Si. Yes, Ephraim.

They must have poisoned the stock

or something.

Blankets. They are musty. Grey.

They need sun.

You Eben?

I'm Anna. I wanted so much to meet you.

Maybe you help me?

Your father told me a lot about you.

Don't mind him. He's an old man.

It's nature. The old man

leaning down hard on the young one.

In Naples, where I come from,

I've seen fathers

draw knives against their sons,

when the sons grow old enough

to stand against them.

There will be no knives here, Eben.

I don't like to play-act mother to you.

You... You're too big and strong for that.

If possible, I want to be friends with you.

Maybe with me for a friend

you'll like living here better.

I know how to make it

easy for you with him.

He's ready to do pretty near anything

to please the young wife.

Get one thing straight.

I'm not making any bargains.

Not with you, not with him,

not with anybody.

All right. I'll prepare myself

to have you against me in the beginning.

I don't blame you. I'd feel the same.

If a young girl came,

took my mother's place...

You're not taking my mother's place.

Understand, please.

I've come a long way.

I've had a hard life.

Some time, when you're ready,

I'll tell you. I need a home.

Is that a crime, to need a home?

Why else would I marry an old man?

- I'll tell him you said that.

- I'll say you're lying.

And he will drive you off this place.

Understand one thing.

The lady of the house arrived today,

for good.

This is my farm, my home.

Inside is my kitchen.

I put out these blankets

and I sleep on them myself at night.

And upstairs is my bedroom.

And my bed.

I am not bad, Eben,

except against an enemy.

I have to fight in my life,

or else I'll get nothing.

You and me, let us be friends.

- We're going to be a long time together.

- We could never be friends.

I'll go wash my dishes now.

- Stop that! Stop it, I said.

- Ephraim!

- I'm trying to make it nice.

- Put everything back, close the shutters.

Do what you want with the rest

but this room stays the way it was,

door closed. Understand?

- It's so cold and dusty.

- It stays that way.

This was Eben's mother's room.

She was weak, she was no good for me.

This is where she hid,

taught him to read, sang him songs.

Taught him everlasting rebellion.

It's a woman's room.

I never was welcome in it.

When she died, I closed it for good.

It's not going to be open now.

Is that plain enough?

There are plenty of other rooms,

now stay in 'em.

What are you cackling about?

- You.

- What about me?

You're all shiny for Sunday

like a prize bull at the fair.

I'll put flowers in your hair.

- You're not so beautiful.

- You don't mean that.

Ever since I came here

you've been fighting nature,

trying to tell yourself I'm not pretty.

Isn't the sun strong and hot?

Burning.

Burning into the earth.

Making things to grow.

Burning inside of you.

I'm from a country

that knows about the sun.

I have the sun inside me.

You're from here, from these stony hills.

But you know about the sun, too.

The people who live with the sun

know that they cannot win against it.

Nature will beat you.

You might as well

confess to it now as later.

If Pa heard you, he'd beat you.

You've made such a dreamy idiot

out of the old devil.

Isn't it easier for you

with him changed and soft?

No. I'll still fight him and you too.

I'm on to you.

You're aiming to take everything.

You can't own me.

- Eben.

- What do you want?

- Eben! Where are you going?

- Just down the road a spell.

- To the village?

- Maybe.

To see that woman, I suppose.

What's her name?

What woman?

The village is full of women.

You know the one I mean. The widow.

Oh, Min. Yes, I might drop in on her.

Sunday afternoon's

a good time for visiting.

- Why do you waste time on her?

- You said it, didn't you?

- Can't beat nature.

- She's ugly and old.

- Some say she's prettier than you.

- Every no-good drunk.

Maybe. But she's better than you.

She owns up to what she does.

- Do not compare me with her.

- She don't steal what's mine.

- Yours! You mean my farm.

- The farm you sold yourself for.

Look. Simeon and Peter signed

their shares over to me, all legal.

You'll never see

even a stone belong to you.

Go to the village.

Go to your fat, ugly, old...

Go on, say it. You know the word.

Get out.

I'll get your father to drive you away.

You're only living here

because I let you. Go!

- I hate the sight of you.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes