Tom at the Farm
Page 4
FRANCIS
She heard everything. Shit.
TOM picks up the red blouse, slips it on, and stands up.
You didn’t get enough yet?
+ TABLEAU SEVEN +
TOM, wearing the red blouse, is hanging upside down from a rope, swinging in the air, in the semi-darkness. FRANCIS is holding the other end of the rope.
The dead-cow ditch.
TOM
(terrified) Please, no. It’s only mud that stinks. His mother thinks we’re having fun in the village. His mother thinks we’re flirting with single mothers with beehive hairdos. It’s just mud that stinks. Even though it hasn’t rained for weeks, I’m sure it’s just mud … Red mud.
FRANCIS
You’re tough, man.
TOM
(surrendering to the horror of the situation) Cow carcasses. Rotting viscera. Guts! Intestines! Innards! Offal! Stomachs! Colons! Tripe! Organs! Now I wish I knew the synonym for “Get me out of here, you asshole!” This is a nightmare with smells. I don’t want to panic. I don’t want to throw up. No!
The rope slides down a few feet.
No!
FRANCIS imitates a coyote’s growl.
Francis says coyotes don’t attack humans. But I’m not a human. I’m a piece of meat hanging over rotting flesh. For the coyotes, I’m just another meal.
Another growl.
It’s moving down there. I know there are maggots down there. I know they’re there. I can hear them wriggling. Patchouli, Peruvian cedar, vetiver! Anything to get my mind off this …
Beat. FRANCIS can be heard imitating coyotes growling.
FRANCIS
You going to tell me when to stop?
TOM
(screaming) Let me go, Francis, let me go!
FRANCIS
A bit longer. You’re tough, man.
TOM
Let me go!
+ TABLEAU EIGHT +
Day 7. TOM is wearing a jacket and a farmer’s cap.
He is limping.
In the kitchen.
TOM
(on the phone) If you want … whatever you want … No, I can’t take my car … I’ve hurt my wrists … and one leg, too … Nothing serious, I’ll explain … I know it’s been a week … It’s not easy to reach me … This isn’t WiFi country … Yes, I told you it’s far … There’s the bus … I’ve got money. Wait a minute.
AGATHA enters.
Evening, Agatha.
AGATHA
Evening, son.
TOM
Did I wake you up?
AGATHA
No.
TOM
Was I talking too loud?
AGATHA
No.
TOM
I used the phone.
AGATHA
Okay.
TOM
I should’ve asked permission.
AGATHA
That’s okay.
TOM
I’m out of range for my cell.
AGATHA
Is it long distance?
TOM
Don’t worry. I’ll reimburse you.
AGATHA
I want to talk to her.
TOM
What?
AGATHA
Is that her?
TOM
Uhhh … Yes, it’s her.
AGATHA
Pass her to me.
TOM
Uhhhh … (into the phone) Nathalie? … His mother … sa maman … Agatha … wants to speak to you. Elle veut parler avec toi. Okay?
Frantic, he passes the receiver to AGATHA.
AGATHA
Nathalie. I know you can’t understand what I’m saying … No … I don’t speak French … I want to tell you that you are welcome. Bienvenue.
Beat.
She hung up.
AGATHA hangs up.
I didn’t think I’d ever get to speak to her.
TOM
(unsure how to reply) Me neither.
AGATHA
“Two men in shining garments stood by the two women and said unto them: ‘Why seek ye the living among the dead?’”
TOM
Amen, Agatha. Amen.
AGATHA exits. The dog can be heard barking in the distance. TOM enters the bedroom and catches FRANCIS combing his hair.
FRANCIS
(mussing his hair) Couldn’t you make some noise? Where have you been?
TOM
I went to help Baby-butt nurse.
FRANCIS
What?!
TOM
I went to help our calf!
FRANCIS
We’ve got to put him down.
TOM
Never!
FRANCIS
That’s how it works.
TOM
I’m going to call the vet tomorrow. I’ll pay for everything.
FRANCIS
Go to bed.
TOM
I lifted him up and carried him to his mother.
Beat.
He was so thirsty. I’m always afraid she’ll crush him.
FRANCIS
Go to bed!
TOM
He still can’t walk on that leg. He was trembling. Can I sleep with you?
FRANCIS
You see the size of this bed?
TOM
Please.
FRANCIS
Keep your clothes on.
TOM
Thanks.
TOM lies down, curled up against FRANCIS.
FRANCIS
You smell like the barn.
TOM
Thanks. (surprised) You smell of cologne?
FRANCIS
Not really.
TOM
(laughing) You going to a wedding?
FRANCIS
Found an old bottle lying around.
Beat.
TOM
You smell of your brother.
Beat.
FRANCIS
He couldn’t even last a minute hanging over the cow ditch. (proud of TOM) You’re crazy, man! Her name was Karen.
TOM snuggles up to FRANCIS.
TOM
You tell me when to stop.
+ TABLEAU NINE +
Day 9. SARA is sitting at the kitchen table facing AGATHA, who is visibly nervous. SARA speaks broken French.
AGATHA
Excuse the mess. We’re not ourselves these days. We weren’t expecting his death. It’s a long trip from the big city to here. By bus. If I’d known you were coming, I’d have cooked some pasta. You’re very pretty. I don’t know why, but I didn’t scream when I saw you. I should have. A woman walks into her house and finds a stranger. A strange woman who doesn’t understand a damn word of what you say to her. Tom told us a bit about you.
FRANCIS enters.
Look at this. You recognize her?
FRANCIS
Son of a bitch!
SARA
Oh, mon dieu.
AGATHA
A real shock, eh?
FRANCIS
Son of a bitch!
SARA
Tu es identical.
AGATHA
She came.
FRANCIS
Son of a bitch.
AGATHA
Stop swearing.
SARA
Mon dieu.
AGATHA
This is Francis, my oldest son.
SARA
Identical.
AGATHA
Francis, this is Nathalie.
SARA
(extending her hand) Je suis désolée.
FRANCIS
Can someone tell me what she’s doing here?
AGATHA
She was your brother’s girlfriend!
FRANCIS
She must understand a bit of what we’re saying.
SARA
Je ne parle pas anglais.
FRANCIS
(to SARA) Nothing?
SARA
Non, non, non.
&nb
sp; No one knows what to say now.
AGATHA
She hasn’t smoked yet. Maybe she’s run out of cigarettes.
FRANCIS
My little brother had good taste.
SARA
Je ne parle pas anglais.
AGATHA
Go get Tom.
SARA
Oh, oui! Tom, s’il vous plaît.
FRANCIS
He’s feeding the cows.
SARA
Tom? Avec vaches? (laughing) Le fancy Tom?
AGATHA
(trying to follow the conversation) I’ll go get him.
AGATHA pauses behind SARA and takes her into her arms. Beat. AGATHA’s sadness is palpable.
Merci. Merci.
AGATHA exits.
SARA
(nervous) Ta mama, très gentille. J’aime ferme. Cette ferme est très typical. Authentical. Je me souviens de moi petite fille. Une fois, j’ai visité la ferme de mon oncle, très nord. Mon oncle, très riche, beaucoup terre. Beaucoup équipement. Je n’aime pas le boeuf, le très gros, le roi de la vache.
FRANCIS
You’re more fuckable than your photo.
SARA
Oh!
FRANCIS
Tom told me you had bug eyes.
SARA
Oh!
FRANCIS
Can’t trust the taste of men like him. I think my little brother chose a nice lie.
SARA
Je ne parle pas anglais.
Threateningly, FRANCIS grabs a handful of SARA’s hair and holds it tight.
FRANCIS
I don’t know what you had in mind, visiting my mother like this, but she’s happy that you’re here. (pulling on her hair harder) Just make sure she stays happy that you’re here.
SARA
If you want your mother to stay happy, let go of me! Let go!
FRANCIS
Why did you come?
SARA
Tom said it would make your mother happy. That’s how Tom is. He likes to make people happy.
FRANCIS
(letting go of her) You must owe him big time.
SARA
His boyfriend just died. That’s not a debt, it’s compassion.
FRANCIS
How much do you owe him?
SARA
A couple of thousand. He told me we could forget it.
FRANCIS
You’re really fuckable.
SARA
I think we’ve just run the gamut of your compliments. By the way, I don’t smoke.
TOM enters with AGATHA. He is really happy to see SARA. He’s holding a pint of cream.
TOM
Nathalie!
SARA
(upset to see him so battered) Tom! Bonjour! Soir! Nuit …… Allô!
TOM
J’apprécie vraiment ce que tu fais pour moi. Je te serai toujours reconnaissant.
He offers her the pint of cream with a big smile.
Goûte! Pour leur faire plaisir. Goûte!
SARA tastes the cream.
SARA
C’est très, très crèmé.
TOM
C’est de la crème fraîche.
SARA
(upset by TOM’s appearance, but determined to smile) Qu’est-ce que c’est avec toi?
TOM
Rien.
SARA
Tu regarde terrible.
AGATHA
(as she enters) We haven’t had so many visitors for ages.
TOM
But don’t take anything out of the freezer, Mum. She’s just come for a little visit.
SARA
Mum?
AGATHA
What do you mean “a little visit”? She has to stay overnight. It’s strange having you here without him.
FRANCIS
(to SARA) Wait. Don’t move.
FRANCIS wipes the cream from the corner of her mouth with his finger. He licks his finger.
AGATHA
(reprimanding him) Francis!
FRANCIS
Tell her my brother had good taste.
AGATHA
This is no time for that!
FRANCIS
Can’t we give her a little compliment?
TOM
She says thank you for the compliment, Francis.
AGATHA
She didn’t say a thing and you’re translating?
Beat. Embarrassment.
Tom, tell her I was very disappointed that she didn’t come to the funeral.
SARA
Le frère c’est un chien fou.
TOM
(pretending to translate) She couldn’t come. She didn’t have the strength.
SARA
(referring to FRANCIS) J’ai peur de lui.
TOM
(still pretending to translate) Too distressed.
AGATHA
When you’re too distressed, you keep it to yourself? I guess that’s the modern way?
SARA
(to TOM) C’est quoi? Ton cou, ton visage, ton wrists?
TOM
Rien de sérieux.
AGATHA
What did she say?
TOM
She says she’s sorry.
AGATHA
Is it true that he died instantly?
SARA
Je veux trois mille dollars maintenant. Plus les taxis et la bus.
TOM
Okay, okay.
SARA
Comprend-tu, les beaucoup de stops de la bus, la route de ville a cet village? Et la taxi à ce maison …
TOM
Yes, he died instantly.
AGATHA
She said “taxi”; I heard her.
TOM
She arrived at the scene of the accident by taxi.
AGATHA
You said she ran. You don’t run in a taxi!
TOM
Aide-moi un peu, Nathalie!
SARA
Tu dis à son frère je ne suis pas belle?
TOM
She found it very hard not to be able to identify his body herself.
AGATHA
Ask her if she’d like something to drink.
SARA
Oui. Drink! Je veux tuer la crème dans ma bouche.
TOM
She doesn’t drink.
SARA
Juste un drink.
AGATHA
She wants a drink.
TOM
She doesn’t drink!
AGATHA
We can still show some hospitality. We’ll have one drink, to his memory.
SARA
La bus départ à neuffe heures.
TOM
She says thanks just the same.
AGATHA
I have some cognac in my room. Francis, you get the glasses. Our best ones.
AGATHA and FRANCIS exit.
TOM
They work from sunrise to sundown. Even Sundays. They go to mass, too. In a little while, I’ll introduce you to Baby-butt. My calf. He was named Baby-butt in my honour. He has the gentlest eyes in the world. Francis worked so hard to bring him into this world. The vet came to set his leg. It happened at birth. The cow was standing. He fell onto the ground. I have to carry him to his mother for every feeding. He’s pretty heavy. At night, I have to set the alarm. Francis thinks I’m obsessed.
SARA
Go get your suitcase.
TOM
What?
SARA
We’ll take your car. I’ll drive.
TOM
What for?
SARA
You’re covered in bruises. You can hardly move your hands. You’re telling me about a calf with tears in your eyes. You have me taste cream, grinning like a proud farmer. For God’s sake! You called her “Mum”!
TOM
To make her happy.
SARA
You don’t call someone Mum to make her happy. When I got off the bus and got into the taxi, I heard myself say: �
��At the fork in the road on Concession 4, in front of the only house that looks lived in.” I thought: “In this movie, am I the dumb broad who’s going to get her head torn off when the music stops?” What did they do to you?
TOM
(frantic) If I leave, Francis will have to sell the farm. You’ve got no idea, forty-eight cows is a lot of work. Francis will have to put his mother in a home because of her crazy stories about Jesus. Francis has no one because he tore someone’s face apart. There was this one girl Francis wanted to give a present to. He never gave it to her. I’m going to buy a laser milking machine.
SARA can’t make heads or tails out of what he’s saying.
SARA
I’m not really your friend, but you’re making me want to act like I am.
TOM
They’re like my family.
SARA
Nine days ago, you didn’t even know them.
TOM
I don’t know how to explain it. Things are real around here. There’s a dog that barks and you can hear it. There’s a priest who talks and you listen to him. There’s a calf that’s born and there’s blood.
SARA
You brought me here to make-believe I’m a dead man’s girlfriend, and you’re talking to me about what’s real? Fine. Your boyfriend lied to his mother. True! Your boyfriend lied to you. True! Big deal! Your boyfriend always lied to everyone. Some people spend their lives trying to achieve a fraction of your boyfriend’s talent for transforming truth.
Beat.
I slept with him. I’m telling you because it’s so unimportant. There’s nothing spectacular about it, because everyone had a fling with your boyfriend. If he gave you a lift, on his bike in the summer, in his car in the winter, that was the deal. Sleeping with him was like going to the corner store. Guys and girls. Yes, girls, too, Tom, because sometimes your boyfriend managed to lie to himself. That was his legacy to you. Lying. That’s what he knew how to do best!
Beat.
TOM
How many times? How many times?
Beat.
(shouting) How many times?
SARA
What?
TOM
With you?
TOM stands there, immobile, as if carrying all the sadness in the world on his shoulders. FRANCIS returns with the glasses.
FRANCIS
I’ve got the glasses.
TOM
(solemnly) We have to take her back to the station.
FRANCIS
She just got here.
SARA
(sarcastic) The station?
FRANCIS
What’s going on?
SARA
The station? Better not go to the wrong gate! The station’s a Post-it note in front of the tavern!
TOM
Not so loud!
SARA
I’m going to spend three hours standing by a Post-it note in some backwater.
TOM
Speak French!
SARA
All because of … (insinuating tone) “Francis! Francis! Francis!”
FRANCIS