Marty Page #6

THE LIVING ROOM.

He closes the sliding doors that separate the living and

dining rooms. He extracts a small black address book from

his hip pocket, flips through it, finds the page he wants,

studies it intently.

He sits on the chair by the phone, dials.

MARTY:

(with a vague pretense

at good diction)

Hello, is this Mary Feeney?... Could

I speak to Miss Mary Feeney?... Just

tell her an old friend...

He waits again. With his free hand he wipes the gathering

sweat on his brow.

MARTY:

...Oh, hello there, is this Mary

Feeney? Hello there, this is Marty

Pilletti. I wonder if you recall

me... Well, I'm kind of a stocky

guy. The last time we met was in a

movie, the RKO Chester. You was with

another girl, and I was with a friend

of mine named Angie. This was about

a month ago...

The girl apparently doesn't remember him. A sort of panic

begins to seize Marty. His voice rises a little.

MARTY:

The RKO Chester in Westchester Square.

You was sitting in front of us, and

we was annoying you, and you got

mad, and... I'm the fellow who works

in a butcher shop... Come on, you

know who I am!... That's right, we

went to Howard Johnson's and we had

hamburgers. You hadda milkshake...

Yeah, that's right. I'm the stocky

one, the heavy-set feller... Well,

I'm glad you recall me, because I

hadda swell time that night, and I

was just wondering how everything

was with you. How's everything?...

That's swell... Yeah, well, I'll

tell you why I called...I was figuring

on taking in a movie tonight, and I

was wondering if you and your friend

would care to see a movie tonight

with me and my friend...

(his eyes are closed

now)

Yeah, tonight. I know it's pretty

late to call for a date, but I didn't

know myself, till... Yeah, I know,

well how about... Yeah, I know, well

maybe next Saturday night. You free

next Saturday night?... Well, how

about the Saturday after that?...

Yeah, I know... Yeah... Yeah... Oh,

I understand, I mean...

He hangs up, sits for a moment, then rises, opens the sliding

doors, enters...

THE DINING ROOM.

He sits at the heavy, wooden table with its white-on-white

table cloth.

THE KITCHEN.

Mrs. Pilletti ladles portions of food from the steaming

kettles onto a plate that she brings into...

THE DINING ROOM.

...and sets it down before her son. Without a word, he picks

up his fork and spoon and plunges into the mountain of

spaghetti, adds cheese, eats away. Mrs. Pilletti takes her

seat, folds her hands on the table, and sits watching Marty

eat.

MRS. PILLETTI

So what are you gonna do tonight,

Marty?

MARTY:

I don't know, Ma. I'm all knocked

out. I may just hang arounna house.

Mrs. Pilletti nods a couple of times. A moment of silence.

MRS. PILLETTI

Why don't you go to the Stardust

Ballroom?

This gives Marty pause. He looks up.

MARTY:

What?

MRS. PILLETTI

I say, why don't you go to the

Stardust Ballroom? It's loaded with

tomatoes.

Marty regards his mother for a moment.

MARTY:

It's loaded with what?

MRS. PILLETTI

Tomatoes.

MARTY:

Ha! Who told you about the Stardust

Ballroom?

MRS. PILLETTI

Thomas. He told me it was a very

nice place.

MARTY:

Oh, Thomas. Ma, it's just a big dance

hall, and that's all it is. I been

there a hundred times. Loaded with

tomatoes. Boy, you're funny, Ma.

MRS. PILLETTI

Marty, I don't want you hang arounna

house tonight. I want you to go take

a shave and go out and dance.

MARTY:

Ma, when are you gonna give up? You

gotta bachelor on your hands. I ain't

never gonna get married.

MRS. PILLETTI

You gonna get married.

MARTY:

Sooner or later, there comes a point

in a man's life when he gotta face

some facts, and one fact I gotta

face is that whatever it is that

women like, I ain't got it. I chased

enough girls in my life. I went to

enough dances. I got hurt enough. I

don't wanna get hurt no more. I just

called a girl just now, and I got a

real brush-off, boy. I figured I was

past the point of being hurt, but

that hurt. Some stupid woman who I

didn't even wanna call up. She gave

me the brush. I don't wanna go to

the Stardust Ballroom because all

that ever happened to me there was

girls made me feel like I was a bug.

I got feelings, you know. I had enough

pain. No, thank you.

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