Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Page #11

Look, she's had a rough night...

We can't play without everybody here.

We gotta have your little wife.

Cut that!

You just get off your butt

and bring that little dip back in here.

Now be a good puppy, go fetch.

Fetch, good puppy. Go fetch.

One more game.

I don't like what's gonna happen.

Do you know what it is?

No. But I don't like it.

- Maybe you will, Martha.

- No.

It's a real fun game.

No more games.

One more, Martha. One more game

and then beddy-bye.

Everybody pack up his tools

and baggage and stuff and go home.

And you and me...

...well, we're gonna climb

them well-worn stairs.

Oh, no, George, no.

Yes, baby.

- No, George. Please, no.

- It'll all be done before you know it.

- No.

- No climb stairs with Georgie?

No more games. It's games I don't want,

George. No more games, please.

Oh, sure, you do. Original game girl

and all. Of course you do.

No, George, please. I don't...

Don't you touch me!

Keep your paws clean

for the undergraduates.

Listen to me, Martha!

You've had yourself an evening.

You've had quite a night.

You can't stop when there's enough

blood in your mouth. We're going on.

I'm having at you, and your performance

will look like an Easter pageant.

Get yourself a little alert.

- Get some life in you.

- Stop that!

Pull yourself together!

On your feet. I'm gonna knock you

around and I want you up for it.

All right, George. What do you want?

- An equal battle, baby.

- You'll get it.

- I want you mad. Get madder.

- I'm mad. Don't worry about it!

Good girl.

We'll play this one to the death.

- Yours?

- You'll be surprised.

- Here come the tots. Be ready.

- I'm ready for you.

- Hip, hop. Hip, hop. Hip, hop.

- Here we are.

- Are you a bunny, Honey?

- I'm a bunny, honey.

- Well, now, how's the bunny?

- Bunny funny.

- Bunny funny. Good for bunny.

- Come on.

Honey funny bunny.

- Oh, for chrissake.

- All right, here we go.

Last game. All sit.

Sit down, Martha.

This is a civilized game.

Just get on with it.

Now, I think we've been having a real

good evening, all things considered.

We've got to know each other,

and we've had fun and games.

- Curl Up on the Floor, for example.

- The tiles.

The tiles. Snap The Dragon.

- Peel the Label!

- Peel... Peel the what?

Label. Peel the Label.

I peel labels.

We all peel labels, sweetie.

When you get through the skin,

and through the muscle...

...and slosh aside the organs, down to

the bone, you know what you do?

- No.

- When you get down to the bone...

...you aren't all the way.

Something's inside the bone.

The marrow.

That's what you got to get at.

- Oh, I see.

- The marrow.

But bones are resilient,

especially in the young.

Now, take our son...

- Who?

- Our son. Martha's and my little joy.

- George?

- Yes, Martha?

Just what are you doing?

- Why, I'm talking about our son.

- Well, don't.

But I want to.

It's important we talk about him.

You, my dear, you want to hear about

our bouncy boy, don't you?

- Whom?

- Martha's and my son.

- You have a child?

- Oh, yes, indeed, do we ever.

- Will you talk about him or shall I?

- Don't.

Alrighty, well, now, let's see.

He's nice, in spite of his home life.

Most kids would grow up neurotic,

Martha carrying on the way she does.

Sleeping till 4 in the p.m.

Climbing all over the poor bastard...

...trying to break the bathroom door

to wash him in the tub when he's 16.

Dragging strangers

to the house at all hours.

- Okay, you.

- Martha?

- That's enough.

- Well, do you want to take over?

Why would anyone want to wash

somebody who's 16 years old?

- Oh, for chrissake, Honey.

- Well, why?

Because it's her baby-poo.

All right.

Our son, you want our son?

You'll have it.

Do you want a drink?

Yes.

We don't have to hear about it

if you don't want to.

Who says so? You in a position

to set the rules around here?

No.

Good boy. You'll go far.

All right, Martha. Your recitation, please.

What?

- Our son...

- All right.

Our son.

Our son was born in a September night,

a night not unlike tonight...

...though tomorrow...

...and 16 years ago.

See, I told you.

- It was an easy birth.

- No, you labored. How you labored.

It was an easy birth.

Once it had been...

...accepted.

- Relaxed into.

- That's better.

It was an easy birth,

once it had been accepted.

And I was young.

And he was healthy...

...a red, bawling child.

Martha thinks she saw him at delivery.

With slippery, firm limbs.

And a full head of black, fine, fine hair.

Which only later...

Later it became...

...blond as the sun.

Our son.

He was a healthy child.

And I had wanted a child.

Oh, I had wanted a child.

A son? Daughter?

A child!

A child.

I had my child.

- Our child.

- Our child.

And we raised him.

Yes, we did. We raised him.

And he had green eyes.

Such green, green eyes.

Blue, green, brown.

And he loved the sun.

And he was tan

before and after everyone.

And in the sun...

...his hair became...

...fleece.

Fleece?

Beautiful, beautiful boy.

So beautiful, so wise.

All truth being relative.

It was true.

Beautiful, wise, perfect.

There's a real mother talking.

I want a child.

- Honey.

- I want a child.

On principle?

I want a child. I want a baby.

Of course, this perfection could not last.

Not with George.

- Not with George around.

- There, you see, I knew she'd shift.

- Be still.

- Sorry, Mother.

Can't you be still?

Not with George around. A drowning man

takes down those nearest, and he tried.

And, oh, God, how I fought him.

God, how I fought him.

The one thing...

...I tried to carry pure and unscathed

through the sewer of our marriage...

...through the sick nights

and the pathetic, stupid days...

...through the derision and the laughter.

Oh, God, the laughter.

Through one failure after another.

Each attempt more numbing,

more sickening than the one before.

The one thing, the one person

I tried to protect...

...to raise above the mire of this vile,

crushing marriage...

...the one light in all this

hopeless darkness, our son!

Stop it!

Stop it!

- Just stop it.

- Why, baby? Don't you like it?

- You can't do this.

- Who says?

- I say.

- Tell us why, baby.

No.

- Is this game over?

- Yes, it's over.

Oh, no. No, not by a long shot.

I've got a surprise for you, baby.

It's about sonny Jim.

- No more, George.

- Yes.

- Leave her be.

- I'm running this show!

Sweetheart...

...I'm afraid I've got

some bad news for you.

For both of us, I mean.

Some rather sad news.

What is this?

Well, Martha, while you were busy,

while the two of you were busy...

I don't know where,

but you must have been somewhere.

While you were busy for a while...

...missy and I were having a little talk.

You know, a chaw and a talk.

And the doorbell rang.

- Chimed.

- Chimed.

And...

Well, Martha, I...

- It's hard for me to tell you.

- Tell me.

Please don't.

Tell me.

Well, what it was, it was good old

Western Union, some little boy about 70.

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