The Iceman Cometh Page #12

"Larry's getting

wise to himself.

"I think you can rely on his

help in the end.

"He's gonna have to choose

between living and dying,

"and he'll never

choose to die

while there's a breath

left in the old bastard!"

Then he laughs

like it's a joke on you.

Well, what do you say

to that, Larry?

I've got nothing to say.

Except you're a bigger fool

than he is

to listen to him.

Oh, is that so?

Well, he's no fool

where you're concerned.

He's got your number,

all right.

(piano playing continues)

You know

I don't mean that.

Larry, you know what I want most

is to be friends with you.

I haven't a single friend

left in the world.

I hoped...

I hoped you'd...

And you could, too,

without it hurting you.

You ought to,

for mother's sake, Larry.

She really loved you.

You loved her, too,

didn't you?

Leave what's dead

in its grave.

Oh, I suppose

because I was only a kid

you don't think I was

wise about you and her, uh?

Well, I've been wise

ever since I can remember

to all the guys

she's had.

Although she used to try

to kid me along

it wasn't so.

That's a silly stunt

for a free

Anarchist woman, isn't it?

To be ashamed

of being free!

Shut your damned trap!

Yes, I know I shouldn't

say that now.

I keep forgetting

she isn't free anymore.

You know, Larry,

you're the one of them all

she cared most about.

Anybody else who left

the Movement

would've been

more than dead to her,

but she couldn't forget you.

She used to make

excuses for you.

I used to try to get

her goat about you.

I'd say,

"Larry's got brains

and yet thinks the Movement's

a crazy pipe dream."

She'd blame it

on the booze getting you.

She'd kid herself that you'd

give up booze

and come back to

the Movement, tomorrow.

She used to say,

"Larry can't kill in himself

"a faith he's given

his life to,

not without

killing himself."

How about that, Larry,

what she right?

(Cora singing)

I suppose what she meant by that

was to come back to her.

She was always getting

the Movement

mixed up with herself.

(dishes rattling)

But I'm sure she really

must've loved you, Larry.

As much as she could love

anyone besides herself.

No, she wasn't even faithful

to you at that though, was she?

That's why you walked out

on her, isn't it?

I remember that last fight

you had with her.

I was listening.

I was on your side,

even if she was my mother,

because I liked you

so much.

I remember

she was putting on her

high-and-mighty

free-woman stuff,

telling you

you were still a slave

to bourgeois morality

and jealousy.

And that you thought

that the woman you loved

was a piece of

private property you owned.

And I remember you got mad,

you told her, "I don't like"

living with a whore,

if that's what you mean!"

You lie,

I never called her that!

And that's why

she still respects you!

See, 'cause you

walked out on her.

She got sick

of the others.

She just had to keep on having

lovers to prove to herself

how free she was.

Made home a lousy place.

I felt like you

did about it.

It was like living in

a whorehouse, only worse,

because she didn't have to make

her living at it, you know.

You bastard!

She's your mother.

Have you no shame?

No.

She brought me up to believe

that family-respect stuff

is all bourgeois,

property-owning crap.

Why should I be ashamed?

I've had enough of this!

No, Larry!

Please don't leave me!

Larry, I promise,

I only mentioned her name

to make you

understand better.

Why didn't you

come up to my room

like I asked you to?

I kept waiting...

We can talk over

everything up there.

There's nothing

to talk about.

But Larry, I gotta talk to you

or I'm gonna talk to Hickey!

I feel he knows, anyway,

and I'm sure

he'd understand all right,

but I hate his guts!

I'm scared of him, honest,

there's something not human

behind his damned grinning

and kidding.

Ah, you feel that too, eh?

But I can't go on like this,

I've gotta tell you, Larry.

I won't listen!

Okay, I won't!

Larry!

Who do you think

you're kidding?

I know damned well

you've guessed.

I guessed nothing.

No, but I want you

to guess now.

I'm glad you have.

I know now, since

Hickey's been after me,

that I meant you to guess

right from the start.

That's why I came to you.

I want you

to understand the reason.

You see,

I, I began to study

American history.

And I got admiring

Washington and Jefferson,

Jackson and Lincoln,

and I began to feel

patriotic

and love this country.

I saw it was the best

government in the world,

where everybody

was equal,

everybody had a chance.

And I saw all the ideas

behind the Movement,

they came from a lot of Russians

like Bakunin and Kropotkin.

They were all meant

for Europe.

So we didn't need them here

in a democracy,

the way we were

free already.

I didn't want this country

to be destroyed

for a damned

foreign pipe dream!

I began to feel like

I was a traitor

for helping

a lot of cranks and bums

and free women plot

to overthrow our government.

And I saw it was my,

my duty to my country...

You stinking rotten liar.

You think

you can fool me

with such hypocrite cant?

I don't give a damn

what you did!

It's on your own head,

whatever it was!

I don't know

and I don't want to know!

But Larry, I never thought

mother would be caught.

Please believe that,

I never would...

All I know is that

I am sick of living!

I'm through.

I'm drowned and contented

on the bottom of a bottle!

Honor or dishonor,

faith or treachery,

are nothing to me but opposites

of the same stupidity

that is the king

and ruler of life,

and in the end

they'll both rot into dust

in the same grave.

All things

are meaningless to me,

because they grin at me

from the one skull

of death.

So go away...

I've forgotten your mother.

You "old foolosopher," eh?

You lousy old faker!

For the love of God,

leave me in peace

the little time

that's left to me!

No!

Don't pull that pitiful

old-man junk on me!

You old bastard,

you'll never die

because there's a drink

of whiskey left!

You be careful how you

taunt me back into life,

I warn you.

Because I might remember

this thing called justice there,

and the punishment for...

You're as mad as Hickey...

just as big a liar.

Wait'll Hickey

gets through with you.

Well, hello,

"Tightwad Kid."

Hey, did you come

to join the party?

Oh, wow, boy,

don't he act bashful, Pearl?

Yeah, especially

with his dough.

(loud arguing in distance)

Hey, Rocky,

fighting in the hall!

(unintelligible shouting)

Don't touch me!

Can you beat it?

I heard you's two

call each other

every name

you can think of

but I never seen...

A swell time

to stage your first bout,

on Harry's birthday party!

What started

the scrap?

Nothing, old chap.

Our business, you know,

but that bloody ass, Hickey,

made some insinuation about me,

and the boorish Boer

had the impertinence

to agree with him!

That's a lie!

Hickey made joke about me,

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes