Marty Page #26

THOMAS:

What girl, what does she know?

(he whirls on his

wife again)

Why don't you let her hold the baby

once in a while?! Your mother, boy,

she wantsa take the kid for a day,

that's fine!

VIRGINIA:

(her temper flaring

again)

Your mother handles the kid like he

was a yoyo!

Marty stands, watching the young couple yakking at each other.

The little baby starts to cry again.

KITCHEN.

The two old sisters sit at the kitchen table, two untouched

cups of coffee in front of them.

MRS. PILLETTI

Hey, I come home from your house

last night, Marty was here with a

girl.

CATHERINE:

Who?

MRS. PILLETTI

Marty.

CATHERINE:

Your son Marty?

MRS. PILLETTI

Well, what Marty you think is gonna

be here in this house with a girl?

CATHERINE:

Were the lights on?

MRS. PILLETTI

Oh sure.

(frowns at her sister)

This girl is a college graduate.

CATHERINE:

They're the worst. College girls are

one step from the streets. They smoke

like men inna saloon. My son Joseph,

his wife, you know, she types onna

typewriter. One step from the streets,

I tell you. Mrs. Pilletti ponders

this philosophy for a moment.

MRS. PILLETTI

That's the first time Marty ever

brought a girl to this house. She

seems like a nice girl. I think he

has a feeling for this girl. You

heard him sing. He been singing like

that all morning.

Catherine nods bleakly.

CATHERINE:

Well, that's all. You will see. Today,

tomorrow, inna week, he's gonna say

to you, "Hey, Ma, it's no good being

a single man. I'm tired-a running

around." Then he's gonna say, "Hey,

Ma, wadda we need this old house?

Why don't we sell this old house,

move into a nicer parta town? A nice

little apartment?"

MRS. PILLETTI

I don't sell this house, I tell you

that. This is my husband's house. I

had six children in this house.

CATHERINE:

You will see. A coupla months, you

gonna be an old lady, sleeping onna

couch in her daughter-in-law's house.

MRS. PILLETTI

Catherine, you are a blanket of gloom.

Wherever you are, the rain follows.

Someday, you gonna smile, and we

gonna declare a holiday.

Marty comes in from the living room, a little down after his

session with Thomas and Virginia.

MARTY:

Hello, Ma, waddaya say, it's getting

a little late.

MRS. PILLETTI

Sure.

Marty goes to the sink to get himself a glass of water. He

examines a piece of plaster that has fallen from the ceiling.

MARTY:

Boy, this place is really coming to

pieces.

(turning to his mother)

You know, Ma, I think we oughta sell

this place. The whole joint's going

to pieces. The plumbing is rusty.

Everything. I'm gonna have to

replaster the whole ceiling now. You

know what we oughta do? We oughta

get one of those new apartments

they're building down on Southern

Boulevard. A nicer parta town, you

know?...You all set, Ma?

Mrs. Pilletti exchanges a brief frightened glance with her

sister.

MRS. PILLETTI

I'm all set.

She sends another frightened look at her sister and follows

Marty out into the living room.

MARTY'S PORCH.

Marty, his mother, Thomas and Virginia with the baby file

down the porch to the street on their way to church. Marty

and his mother are both troubled. The anger has left both

Thomas and Virginia, but they are both silent. At the far

end of the alleyway, as they reach the street, Virginia puts

her free arm through her husband's elbow. Thomas looks briefly

at her and they exchange a look of commiseration. Everyone

turns and disappears off into the street.

CHURCH.

A HIGH, WIDE ANGLE SHOT of the church establishes that stage

of Sunday morning between the nine and ten o'clock masses.

People flock around the doors of the church.

INSIDE THE CHURCH.

The parishioners are making their ways to the door. A few

silent penitents still kneel here and there in the long empty

rows of pews. The large, almost empty church is filled now

with organ MUSIC.

Both Marty and his mother seem a little depressed as they

stand at the doorway just inside the church, as the nine

o'clock mass people flow out, and the first of the ten o'clock

mass people file in.

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