Desire Under the Elms Page #5

I want to introduce him to his

brothers while they're still rich.

Next time he sees them

they won't have a penny,

they'll be whining and grovelling

for a meal and a place to sleep.

- Don't worry about us.

- Ain't he a funny man?

I don't hold with ladies drinkin',

but I guess you're not ladies.

- To our brother.

- I'll drink to that.

What are you standing around for?

Fiddle up.

Are you an ornament?

Ain't this a celebration?

Then grease your elbow and get to it.

Here goes.

Come on! Get in there and dance.

What's the matter with you?

Come on, dance!

What are you here for?

Anna...

- He looks like you.

- Does he? I can't tell.

Exactly.

I don't like pretending what's

mine is his. I've done it all my life.

Eben, we're doing the best we can.

We've got to wait.

They want you to come down.

Your brothers are here.

I saw them, dressed up like monkeys

with their fancy women.

Aren't you going to say hello?

They're only staying a while.

I don't want to see them.

I bought them out. Let them stay away.

What will I tell them? I have to go back.

Tell them you couldn't find me.

I can't stand it with the fiddle-playing

and the laughing.

Don't be afraid. I love you.

I won't let any harm come to you.

Go it, boys. Go it, girls.

Go it!

Out of my way. You're a bunch of cows.

- I'll show you dancing.

- Go it, Ephraim!

Look at me! 76 if I'm a day.

I'd invite you to my 100th birthday,

only you'll all be dead by then.

I'm the only man in the county.

I'm an Indian!

I killed Indians before you were born,

and scalped them too.

Ten eyes for an eye, that's my motto.

I took vengeance on 'em!

Look, I can kick

the branches off the trees.

Well, I beat you. I beat you all.

I told you he was a lovin' old man.

You all right?

- I don't know.

- Put your hat on.

The father, the new father.

- What a family!

- Keep your hands off me.

- The old boy sure can dance.

- He sure can dance.

- But... know what I heard?

- What?

Where's Anna?

She came and watched you dance

and she went in again.

Maybe I shouldn't have danced.

What are you guffawing about?

It's your fault.

She remembers the way you behaved

the day she came.

Why are you here

with your fancy women?

- Get off my land.

- Now, Pa...

Don't "Pa" me. I don't recognise you.

You're buzzards at a feast.

Get out of here.

I won't stay any place

where I'm not welcome.

- Come on, Lucinda.

- Fancy women, our wives?

- Why for two cents, I'd tell...

- Keep quiet, Sim.

We got revenge enough.

We don't need any more.

Come on.

If thy right eye offend thee,

pluck it out and cast it from thee.

If thy right hand offend thee,

cut if off and cast it from thee.

Why are you all so quiet?

Go ahead, fiddle up.

Even the music can't drive it out.

There's something dark

in the corners of this house.

There's no peace and no rest.

- Where you going?

- I'll be back.

I'm going to the barn to rest a spell.

The party's young yet and there's

plenty of liquor in the keg.

No sense in spoiling it all

because the old fool's out of breath.

- Here you are.

- Yeah.

- Your brothers were here.

- I saw.

Why didn't you say hello

to the prodigal sons?

Maybe they'd have given you a nugget

of gold and let you see their wives.

- I'm quits with them.

- Me too. I drove 'em off.

Might be a good thing

to put on your tombstone.

"Here lies Ephraim Cabot.

He drove everybody off."

You can put worse things

on tombstones.

Come up to the dance.

They're asking for you.

- Yeah? Let 'em ask.

- Pretty girls up there.

- I don't care.

- You ought to marry one soon.

- I'm not marrying anybody.

- Might earn a share of a farm.

The way you did?

Your mother's folks

aimed to steal from me.

That's not what I heard.

- It don't matter. I got me a farm.

- Where?

- Here.

- You have, have you?

- That's a good one.

- You'll see.

Yeah, I'll see. So will you.

- Why are you laughing?

- You.

Your farm? If you weren't a donkey

you'd know you'll never own it.

Especially now that he's born.

I'll live to 100 and fool you all.

He'll be grown by then.

Think you can get around that?

It'll be Anna's too.

She's not like the others,

she's hard like me.

She'll be too much for you.

She wants the farm.

She was afraid of you.

She said you were trying to make

love to her, win her over to your side.

- You're lying. Anna never said that.

- She did.

I said, "I'll blow his brains out."

She said, "That don't make sense.

Who'll help you farm?"

Then she said we ought to have a son.

I said, "If we do,

you can have anything I own."

She said, "I want Eben cut off

so this farm'll be mine when you die."

That's what happened. The farm's hers.

You know what's yours?

The dust in the road.

Gonna laugh now?

I'll kill her.

Eben!

Let go, you'll kill him.

I wasn't aiming to kill him.

He's not worth hanging for.

Look where he ended up

by thinking his father was easy.

By God's will, I ain't easy.

Him upstairs I'll raise to be like me.

I'm going back to sing

and dance and celebrate.

I don't think there's more mischief in him.

But if he gets pesky, I'll turn him

across my knee and spank him.

- Get away from me!

- It's me, Anna. Don't you know me?

- I know you now.

- What's happened to you?

- You look as if you hated me.

- You're black and rotten.

You don't know what you're saying.

Nothing but a stinking bunch of lies,

every word you ever told me.

- Telling me you loved me.

- I do. It wasn't a lie.

You made a fool out of me.

You wanted a son

so he'd give you my farm.

I got the dust in the road.

Must be a devil in you, to be bad as that.

- He told you.

- It's true, ain't it?

There's no sense lying any more.

Eben, you have to listen.

It was long ago, before we touched.

You hated me.

I said it to get revenge on you.

I wish you were dead

and I was dead, too.

- But I'll get my revenge now.

- Don't.

- Forgive me.

- I'll get square with you both.

I'll tell him the truth about his son

and leave you to poison each other.

- You won't leave me. You can't.

- Can't I?

I'll get rich like my brothers and

come back and fight him for the farm.

I'll kick you both out to beg,

and your son, to starve and die.

- He's your son.

- I'm sorry he was born.

I wish he'd die this minute.

I wish I'd never set eyes on him.

He's changed everything.

Eben, answer me a question.

Did you believe I loved you

before he came?

Yeah, like a dumb ox.

- You don't believe me any more?

- No.

- Did you really love me before?

- Yes, and I thought you loved me.

- And you don't love me now?

- I hate you.

You're truly going to leave me

on account of his being born?

I'm going in the morning.

Well, if that's what his coming

has done to me,

killing your love, taking you away,

the only good thing I ever had,

then I hate him, too,

even if I am his mother.

Lies. You love him.

He'll steal the farm for you.

The farm doesn't mean anything

to me any more, it's you.

Lying to me, getting me to love you,

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes