On the Waterfront Page #8

TERRY:

(quickly)

Aah, he's a bottlebaby, he talks to

himself, the joke of the neighborhood.

EDIE:

(glancing at him and then hurrying her steps)

I better get home.

She gives Terry as wide a berth as possible.

TERRY:

Don't be afraid of me. I ain't going to bite

you.

She continues to walk apart from him.

What's the matter, they don't let you walk with

fellers where you've been?

EDIE:

You know how the Sisters are.

TERRY:

You training to be a nun or something?

EDIE:

(smiles)

It's a regular college. It's just run by

the nuns. The Sisters of St. Anne.

TERRY:

And you spend all your time just learning

stuff, huh?

EDIE:

(smiling at the way he puts it)

I want to be a teacher.

TERRY:

A teacher! Dong!!!

(He's impressed)

You know I admire brains. Take my brother Charley.

He's very brainy. Very.

EDIE:

(quietly)

It isn't brains. It's how you use them.

TERRY:

(increasingly impressed, almost awestruck)

Yeah.

Yeah. I get your thought. You know I seen you

lots of times before. Parochial school on Pulaski

Street? Seven, eight years ago? Your hair come down in—

EDIE:

In braids? That's right.

TERRY:

Looked like two pieces of rope. And your

teeth were—

EDIE:

(smiling)

I know. I thought I'd never get those

braces off.

TERRY:

(laughs)

Man, you were a mess!

EDIE:

I can get home all right from here—

TERRY:

The thought I'm tryin' to get over is you

grew up beauteeful. Remember me?

EDIE:

(nodding)

The moment I saw you.

TERRY:

(strutting)

Some people got faces that stick in your mind.

EDIE:

(tenderly)

I remember you were in trouble all the time.

TERRY:

Now you got me! It's a wonder I wasn't punchy by

the time I was twelve. The rulers those Sisters used

to whack me with!

(cracks himself on the head and laughs)

They thought they could beat an education into me—I foxed

'em.

EDIE:

Maybe they just didn't know how to handle

you.

TERRY:

(warming to the subject)

How would you've done it?

EDIE:

With a little more patience and kindness.

That's what makes people mean and difficult.

Nobody cares enough about them.

Terry plays "Hearts and Flowers" on an imaginary violin. Edie watches

curiously.

EDIE:

What's that?

TERRY:

Pardon me while I reach for my beads.

EDIE:

What?

TERRY:

What-what? Where you been the last four

five years? Outer space?

EDIE:

When Mother died Pop sent me out to

school in the country. He was afraid with no one

home I'd— get into bad company.

TERRY:

(righteously)

Well he played it smart. Too many good-for-nothin's

around here. All they got on their mind's a little beer,

a little pool, a little—

(looks at her and catches himself, his face

registering:
I'm

with a Nice Girl)

I better get you home.

DISSOLVE:

EXT TENEMENT SUNDAY AFTERNOON

Overhead a flock of pigeons sweep by, close enough for the flapping of

their wings to be heard.

Terry and Edie approach the stoop.

TERRY:

(looking up)

Boy, they sure fly nice, don't they?

EDIE:

(surprised)

Do you like pigeons?

TERRY:

That's my own flock up there, getting

their evening workout. I won plenty of races with 'em.

(impulsively)

Listen, you want to see them?

Come up on the roof with me and I'll show 'em to you.

They have reached the stoop of Edie's tenement.

EDIE:

I'd better go in.

TERRY:

(not wanting to let go of her)

I only live up there and across the roof.

EDIE:

(going in)

Thanks anyway.

TERRY:

(following her)

Listen, Edie, am I going to see you again?

EDIE:

(simply)

What for?

TERRY:

(suddenly bewildered)

I don't know.

EDIE:

I really don't know.

Then she goes in abruptly. Terry is left standing there, staring after

her, confused by the unfamiliar emotion he is feeling for her. Suddenly

his thoughts are interrupted by—

MEDIUM CLOSE—MRS. COLLINS

The sound of a lower- floor window opening as Mrs. Collins sticks her

head out.

MRS. COLLINS

You got some nerve.

TERRY:

What do you mean?

CLOSE SHOT—EDIE

Overhearing, as she enters the house.

MEDIUM CLOSE—TERRY AND MRS. COLLINS

MRS. COLLINS

You know what I mean. Leave her alone.

TERRY:

(apologetically)

I was only talkin' to her.

MRS. COLLINS

She's off limits for bums like you. Leave her alone.

TERRY:

I can look at her, can't I? It's a free country.

MRS. COLLINS

(as she goes)

Not that free.

She closes window.

EDIE—INTERIOR—ON STAIRS

She mounts the stairs, thinking about what she has just heard. We are

close on her face, as she approaches the door to their place.

INT—EDIE'S BEDROOM—EVENING

As Edie enters, Pop, in his undershirt, favorite attire, is just

putting the last articles into Edie's suitcase. He snaps the suitcase

shut. There is an old cat on the bed.

POP:

You're all packed.

(reaches into his pocket)

And here's your bus ticket. You're on your way back to

St. Anne's.

EDIE:

Pop, I'm not ready to go back yet.

POP:

Edie, for years we pushed quarters into a

cookie jar, to keep you up there with the Sisters,

and to keep you from things like I just seen out

the window. My own daughter arm-in-arm with

Terry Malloy. You know who Terry Malloy is?

EDIE:

(simply)

Who is he, Pop?

POP:

(mimics)

Who is he! Edie, you're so softhearted

and soft-headed you wouldn't recognize

the devil if he had you by the throat. You know

who this Terry Malloy is? The kid brother of Charlie

the Gent, Johnny Friendly's right hand, a

butcher in a camel hair coat.

EDIE:

Are you trying to tell me Terry is too?

POP:

(shouting)

I'm not trying to tell you he's Little

Lord Fauntleroy.

EDIE:

He tries to act tough, but there's a look in

his eyes that... .

POP:

A look in his eyes! Hold your hats, brother,

here we go again. You think he's one of those

cases you're always draggin' in and feelin' sorry

for. Like the litter of kittens you had—the only

one she wants to keep has six toes and it's cockeyed

to boot. Look at him. The bum! And the

crush you had on that little Abyssinian... .

EDIE:

He wasn't Abyssinian, Pop, Assyrian... .

POP:

Six-toed cats. Assyrians. Abyssinians. It's

the same difference. Well don't think this Terry

Malloy is any six-toed cockeyed Assyrian. He's a

bum. Charley and Johnny Friendly owned him

when he was a fighter and when they ring the bell

he still goes into action.

EDIE:

(musing)

He wanted to see me again.

POP:

You think we kept you out in Tarrytown just

to have you go walkin' with a corner saloon

hoodlum like Terry Malloy? Now get back to Tarrytown,

before I put a strap to you.

EDIE:

(flaring)

And learn about charity and justice

and all the other things people would rather talk

about than practice?

Pop goes up to her and holds out his two

arms, his right one closer to Edie; he trembles

with emotion.

POP:

See this arm? It's two inches longer 'n the

other one. That's years of workin' and sweatin',

liftin' and swingin' a hook. And every time I heisted

a box or a coffee bag I says to myself—this is

for Edie, so she can be a teacher or somethin'

decent. I promised your mother. You better not

let her down.

Suddenly touched, Edie goes up to Pop and kisses him.

EDIE:

Pop, don't think I'm not feeling grateful for

all you've done to get me an education and shelter

me from this.

(becoming aroused)

But now my eyes are open. I see things I know are

so wrong how can I go back and keep my mind on things

that are only in books and that people aren't living?

I'm staying, Pop. And I'm going to keep on

trying to find out who's guilty for Joey. I'd walk

home with a dozen Terry Malloys if I thought they

could help me. I tell you I'm staying, Pop.

Pop starts to pull his belt out of his trousers.

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