Brian Friel Plays 2

by Brian Friel

  How did I get into all that? You must stop me telling these long stories. Exercise time! I’ll be back in ten minutes; and only last week it took me half an hour to do number four. You’ve done a great job with me, Kate. So please do keep nagging at me. (He moves off – then stops.) It’s not Gilbert and Sullivan, is it?

  Kate Sorry?

  Jack That quotation.

  Kate What’s that, Jack?

  Jack ‘O ruddier than the cherry / O sweeter than the berry’ – no, it’s not Gilbert and Sullivan. But it’ll come back to me, I promise you. It’s all coming back. (Again he moves off.)

  Kate Jack.

  Jack Yes?

  Kate You are going to start saying Mass again?

  Jack We’ve agreed on next Monday, haven’t we? Haven’t we, Maggie?

  Maggie Yes.

  Jack At first light. The moment Rose’s white cock crows. A harvest ceremony. You’ll have to find a big gong somewhere, Kate.

  He leaves. Pause. Kate and Maggie stare at each other in concern, in alarm. They speak in hushed voices.

  Kate I told you – you wouldn’t believe me – I told you.

  Maggie Shhh.

  Kate What do you think?

  Maggie He’s not back a month yet.

  Kate Yesterday I heard about their medicine man who brought a woman back from death –

  Maggie He needs more time.

  Kate And this morning it was ‘the spirits of the tribe’! And when I mentioned Mass to him you saw how he dodged about.

  Maggie He said he’d say Mass next Monday, Kate.

  Kate No, he won’t. You know he won’t. He’s changed, Maggie.

  Maggie In another month, he’ll be –

  Kate Completely changed. He’s not our Jack at all. And it’s what he’s changed into that frightens me.

  Maggie Doesn’t frighten me.

  Kate If you saw your face … of course it does … Oh, dear God –

  Maggie now drifts back to the range. Kate goes to the table and with excessive vigour wipes it with a damp cloth. Then she stops suddenly, slumps into a seat and covers her face with her hands. Maggie watches her, then goes to her. She stands behind her and holds her shoulders with her hands. Kate grasps Maggie’s hand in hers.

  Maggie All the same, Kitty, I don’t think it’s a sight I’d like to see.

  Kate What sight?

  Maggie A clatter of lepers trying to do the Military Two-step.

  Kate God forgive you, Maggie Mundy! The poor creatures are as entitled to –

  She breaks off because Chris’s laughter is heard off. Kate jumps to her feet.

  This must be kept in the family, Maggie! Not a word of this must go outside these walls – d’you hear? – not a syllable!

  Chris and Gerry enter left. He enters backways, pulling Chris who holds the end of his walking stick.

  Throughout the scene he keeps trying to embrace her. She keeps avoiding him.

  Gerry No false modesty. You know you’re a great dancer, Chrissie.

  Chris No, I’m not.

  Gerry You should be a professional dancer.

  Chris You’re talking rubbish.

  Gerry Let’s dance round the garden again.

  Chris We’ve done that; and down the lane and up again – without music. And that’s enough for one day. Tell me about signing up. Was it really in a church?

  Gerry I’m telling you – it was unbelievable.

  Chris It was a real church?

  Gerry A Catholic church as a matter of interest.

  Chris I don’t believe a word of it.

  Gerry Would I tell you a lie? And up at the end – in the sanctuary? – there were three men, two of them with trench-coats; and between them, behind this lectern and wearing a sort of military cap, this little chappie who spoke in an accent I could hardly understand. Naturally I thought he was Spanish. From Armagh, as it turned out.

  Chris I’m sure he couldn’t understand you either.

  Gerry He described himself as the recruiting officer. ‘Take it from me, comrade, nobody joins the Brigade without my unanimity.’

  She laughs – and avoids his embrace.

  Chris It’s a wonder he accepted you.

  Gerry ‘Do you offer your allegiance and your loyalty and your full endeavours to the Popular Front?’

  Chris What’s the Popular Front?

  Gerry The Spanish government that I’m going to keep in power. ‘I take it you are a Syndicalist?’ ‘No.’ ‘An Anarchist?’ ‘No.’ ‘A Marxist?’ ‘No.’ ‘A Republican, a Socialist, a Communist?’ ‘No.’ ‘Do you speak Spanish?’ ‘No.’ ‘Can you make explosives?’ ‘No.’ ‘Can you ride a motor-bike?’ ‘Yes.’ ‘You’re in. Sign here.’

  Chris So you’ll be a dispatch rider?

  Gerry imitates riding a motor-bike.

  And you leave on Saturday?

  Gerry First tide.

  Chris How long will you be away?

  Gerry As long as it takes to sort the place out.

  Chris Seriously, Gerry.

  Gerry Maybe a couple of months. Everybody says it will be over by Christmas.

  Chris They always say it will be over by Christmas. I still don’t know why you’re going.

  Gerry Not so sure I know either. Who wants salesmen that can’t sell? And there’s bound to be something right about the cause, isn’t there? And it’s somewhere to go – isn’t it? Maybe that’s the important thing for a man: a named destination – democracy, Ballybeg, heaven. Women’s illusions aren’t so easily satisfied – they make better drifters. (Laughs.) Anyhow he held out a pen to sign on the dotted line and it was only when I was writing my name that I glanced over the lectern and saw the box.

  Chris What box?

  Gerry He was standing on a box. The chappie was a midget!

  Chris Gerry!

  Gerry No bigger than three feet.

  Chris Gerry, I –

  Gerry Promise you! And when we were having a drink afterwards he told me he was invaluable to the Brigade – because he was a master at disguising himself!

  Chris Gerry Evans, you are –

  Gerry Let’s go down to the old well.

  Chris We’re going nowhere. Come inside and take a look at this wireless. It stops and starts whenever it feels like it.

  Gerry I told you: I know nothing about radios.

  Chris I’ve said you’re a genius at them.

  Gerry Chrissie, I don’t even know how to –

  Chris You can try, can’t you? Come on. Michael misses it badly.

  She runs into the kitchen. He follows.

  You should see Jack striding through the meadow. He looks like a new man.

  Kate (to Gerry) Were you talking to him?

  Gerry He wants to do a swap with me: I’m to give him this hat and he’s to give me some sort of a three-cornered hat with feathers that the district commissioner gave him. Sounds a fair exchange.

  Maggie Chrissie says you’re great with radios, Gerry.

  Gerry I’ll take a look at it – why not?

  Maggie All I can tell you is that it’s not the battery. I got a new one yesterday.

  Gerry Let me check the aerial first. Very often that’s where the trouble lies. Then I’ll have a look at the ignition and sparking plugs. Leave it to Gerry.

  He winks at Chris as he goes out the front door and off right.

  Maggie He sounds very knowledgeable.

  Chris It may be something he can’t fix.

  Kate I know you’re not responsible for Gerry’s decisions, Christina. But it would be on my conscience if I didn’t tell you how strongly I disapprove of this International Brigade caper. It’s a sorry day for Ireland when we send young men off to Spain to fight for godless Communism.

  Chris For democracy, Kate.

  Kate I’m not going to argue. I just want to clear my conscience.

  Chris That’s the important thing, of course. And now you’ve cleared it.

  Gerry runs on and calls through the window:
<
br />   Gerry Turn the radio on, Chrissie, would you?

  Maggie It’s on.

  Gerry Right. (He runs off again.)

  Chris Just as we were coming out of the town we met Vera McLaughlin, the knitting agent, (softly) Agnes and Rose aren’t back yet?

  Maggie They’ll be here soon.

  Chris She says she’ll call in tomorrow and tell them herself. The poor woman was very distressed.

  Kate Tell them what?

  Chris She’s not buying any more hand-made gloves.

  Maggie Why not?

  Chris Too dear, she says.

  Kate Too dear! She pays them a pittance!

  Chris There’s a new factory started up in Donegal Town. They make machine gloves more quickly there and far more cheaply. The people Vera used to supply buy their gloves direct from the factory now.

  Maggie That’s awful news, Chrissie.

  Chris She says they’re organizing buses to bring the workers to the factory and back every day. Most of the people who used to work at home have signed on. She tried to get a job there herself. They told her she was too old. She’s forty-one. The poor woman could hardly speak.

  Maggie Oh God … poor Aggie … poor Rose … what’ll they do?

  Agnes enters the garden. Kate sees her.

  Kate Shhh. They’re back. Let them have their tea in peace. Tell them later.

  They busy themselves with their tasks. Agnes is carrying two small pails of blackberries which she leaves outside the door of the house. Just as she is about to enter the kitchen a voice off calls her:

  Gerry (off) Who is that beautiful woman!

  She looks around, puzzled.

  Agnes Gerry?

  Gerry Up here, Aggie!

  Agnes Where?

  Gerry On top of the sycamore.

  Now she sees him. The audience does not see him.

  Agnes Mother of God!

  Gerry Come up and join me!

  Agnes What are you doing up there?

  Gerry You can see into the future from here, Aggie!

  Agnes The tree isn’t safe, Gerry. Please come down.

  Gerry Come up and see what’s going to happen to you!

  Agnes That branch is dead, Gerry. I’m telling you.

  The branch begins to sway.

  Gerry Do you think I could get a job in a circus? Wow-wow-wow-wow!

  Agnes Gerry –!

  Gerry (sings) ‘He flies through the air with the greatest of ease –’ Wheeeeeeeeee!

  She covers her eyes in terror.

  Agnes Stop it, Gerry, stop it, stop it!

  Gerry ‘That daring young man on the flying trapeze …’

  Agnes You’re going to fall! I’m not looking! I’m not watching! (She dashes into the house.) That clown of a man is up on top of the sycamore. Go out and tell him to come down, Chrissie.

  Maggie He’s fixing the aerial.

  Agnes He’s going to break his neck – I’m telling you!

  Maggie As long as he fixes the wireless first.

  Kate How are the bilberries, Agnes?

  Agnes Just that bit too ripe. We should have picked them a week ago.

  Chris Is that a purple stain on your gansey?

  Agnes I know. I’d only begun when I fell into a bush. And look at my hands – all scrabbed with briars. For all the sympathy I got from Rosie. Nearly died laughing at me. How is she now? (Pause.) Is she still in bed?

  Chris Bed?

  Agnes She wasn’t feeling well. She left me and went home to lie down. (Pause.) She’s here, isn’t she?

  Maggie rushes off to the bedroom.

  Kate I haven’t seen her. (to Chris) Have you?

  Chris No.

  Kate When did she leave you?

  Agnes Hours ago – I don’t know – almost immediately after we got to the old quarry. She said she felt out of sorts.

  Chris And she went off by herself?

  Agnes Yes.

  Kate To come home?

  Agnes That’s what she said.

  Maggie enters.

  Maggie She’s not in her bed.

  Agnes Oh God! Where could she –

  Kate Start at the beginning, Agnes. What exactly happened?

  Agnes Nothing ‘happened’ – nothing at all. We left here together – when was it? – just after one o’clock –

  Chris That means she’s missing for over three hours.

  Agnes We walked together to the quarry. She was chat ting away as usual. I had my two buckets and she had –

  Kate Go on – go on!

  Agnes And just after we got there she said she wasn’t feeling well. I told her not to bother about the bilberries – just to sit in the sun. And that’s what she did.

  Kate For how long?

  Agnes I don’t know – five – ten minutes. And then I fell into the bush. And that was when she laughed. And then she said – she said – I’ve forgotten what she said – some thing about a headache and her stomach being sick and she’d go home and sleep for a while. (to Maggie) You’re sure she’s not in her bed?

  Maggie shakes her head.

  Kate Then what?

  Agnes begins to cry.

  Agnes Where is she? What’s happened to our Rosie?

  Kate What direction did she go when she left you?

  Agnes Direction?

  Kate Stop snivelling, Agnes! Did she go towards home?

  Agnes I think so … yes … I don’t know … Maggie –

  Maggie She may have gone into the town.

  Chris She wouldn’t have gone into town in her wellingtons.

  Agnes She was wearing her good shoes.

  Kate Are you sure?

  Agnes Yes; and her blue cardigan and her good skirt. I said to her – I said, ‘You’re some lady to go picking bilberries with.’ And she just laughed and said, ‘I’m some toff, Aggie, amn’t I some toff?’

  Maggie Had she a bottle of milk with her?

  Agnes I think so – yes – in one of her cans.

  Maggie Had she any money with her?

  Agnes She had half-a-crown. That’s all she has.

  Maggie (softly) Danny Bradley.

  Kate What? – who?

  Maggie Danny Bradley … Lough Anna … up in the back hills.

  Chris Oh God, no.

  Kate What? – what’s this? – what about the back hills?

  Chris She has some silly notion about that scamp, Bradley. She believes he’s in love with her. He gave her a present last Christmas – she says.

  Kate (to Agnes) What do you know about this Bradley business?

  Agnes I know no more than Chris has –

  Kate I’ve often seen you and Rose whispering together. What plot has been hatched between Rose and Mr Bradley?

  Agnes No plot … please, Kate –

  Kate You’re lying to me, Agnes! You’re withholding! I want the truth!

  Agnes Honest to God, all I know is what Chris has just –

  Kate I want to know everything you know! Now! I want to –

  Maggie That’ll do, Kate! Stop that at once! (calmly) She may be in the town. She may be on her way home now. She may have taken a weak turn on her way back from the quarry. We’re going to find her. (to Chris) You search the fields on the upper side of the lane. (to Agnes) You take the lower side, down as far as the main road. (to Kate) You go to the old well and search all around there. I’m going into the town to tell the police.

  Kate You’re going to no police, Maggie. If she’s mixed up with that Bradley creature, I’m not going to have it broadcast all over –

  Maggie I’m going to the police and you’ll do what I told you to do.

  Chris There she is! Look – look! There she is!

  She has seen Rose through the window and is about to rush out to greet her. Maggie catches her arm and restrains her. The four sisters watch Rose as she crosses the garden – Chris and Kate from the window, Maggie and Agnes from the door. Rose is unaware of their anxious scrutiny. She is dressed in the ‘good’ clothes described
by Agnes and they have changed her appearance. Indeed, had we not seen the Rose of Act One, we might not now be immediately aware of her disability. At first look this might be any youngish country woman, carefully dressed, not unattractive, returning from a long walk on a summer day. She walks slowly, lethargically, towards the house. From her right hand hangs a red poppy that she plucked casually along the road. The face reveals nothing – but nothing is being deliberately concealed. She sees Agnes’s cans of fruit. She stops beside them and looks at them. Then she puts her hand into one of the cans, takes a fistful of berries and thrusts the fistful into her mouth. Then she wipes her mouth with her sleeve and the back of her hand. As she chews she looks at her stained fingers. She wipes them on her skirt. All of these movements – stopping, eating, wiping – are done not dreamily, abstractedly, but calmly, naturally. Now she moves towards the house. As she approaches the door Agnes rushes to meet her. Instead of hugging her, as she wants to, she catches her arm.

  Agnes Rosie, love, we were beginning to get worried about you.

  Rose They’re nice, Aggie. They’re sweet. And you got two canfuls. Good for you.

  Agnes leads her into the house.

  Agnes Is your stomach settled?

  Rose My stomach?

  Agnes You weren’t feeling well – remember? – when we were at the quarry?

  Rose Oh, yes. Oh, I’m fine now, thanks.

  Agnes You left me there and you said you were coming home to lie down. D’you remember that?

  Rose Yes.

  Chris But you didn’t come home, Rosie.

  Rose That’s right.

  Agnes And we were very worried about you.

  Rose Well … here I am.

  Chris Were you in the town?

  Agnes That’s why you’re all dressed up, isn’t it?

  Chris You went into Ballybeg, didn’t you?

  Pause. Rose looks from one to the other.

  Maggie (briskly) She’s home safe and sound and that’s all that matters. Now I don’t know about you girls but I can tell you this chicken is weak with hunger. Let me tell you what’s on the menu this evening. Our beverage is the usual hot, sweet tea. There is a choice between caraway-seed bread and soda bread, both fresh from the chef’s oven. But now we come to the difficulty: there’s only three eggs between the seven of us – I wish to God you’d persuade that white rooster of yours to lay eggs, Rosie.

  Chris There are eight of us, Maggie.