The Man Who Had All the Luck

by Arthur Miller

  DAVID [to GUS]: There’s a business, boy!

  GUS: A business! That’s a slot machine. What do you need with mink?

  DAVID: Oh, there’s a kick in it, Gus. When you send a load of skins to New York you know you did something, you . . .

  GUS: Why, you didn’t do something? [Indicates right.] A great big shop you built up, a tractor station, how nice you made this farm . . . ?

  DAVID [not too intensely; he enjoys this talk]: Yeh, but is a thing really yours because your name is on it? Don’t you have to feel you’re smart enough, or strong enough, or something enough to have won it before it’s really yours? You can’t bluff a mink into staying alive. [Turns to DIBBLE.] I tell you, Mr. Dibble . . .

  DIBBLE: Take your time. Think about it . . .

  DAVID: Let me call you. I’ll let you know.

  DIBBLE: Oh, I’ll bide my time. Just remember, in New York they murder people for a mink coat. Women sell their jewels for mink, they sell their . . . them New York women’ll sell damn near anything for mink!

  They laugh, as horns of two cars sound urgently outside.

  DAVID [to DIBBLE]: This is my brother!

  GUS [as DAVID opens the door]: Look, like two peacocks!

  HESTER [at the door, over her shoulder ecstatically to DIBBLE]: They’ve waited so long!

  DAVID [exuberantly, backing from the door]: Here he comes! Christy Matthewson the Second!

  Enter AMOS and PATTERSON followed by J.B.

  HESTER [grabbing AMOS’s hand]: How’s your arm, Ame! AMOS [winds up and pitches]: Wham!—He’s out!

  PAT [throwing up his arms]: God bless this day! [Suddenly.] I’m not waiting for anybody! [Threatens to go out again.]

  J.B. [to HESTER]: Shory’s waiting in the car! Let’s go!

  HESTER: Bring him in. Let’s have a drink!

  Nobody hears her.

  DAVID: What’re you lookin’ so sad about, Dad! [Suddenly hugs PAT.]

  HESTER: Get some whiskey, Dave!

  PAT [indignantly—he has broken from DAVE]: You want to suffocate in here? Open the windows in this house! [He rushes around throwing windows up.]

  DAVID [laughing]: We’re going in a minute! Where’s the telegram, Ame! [AMOS opens his mouth but PAT cuts him off.]

  PAT [busy with the windows]: Let the day come in! What a day! What a year! What a nation!

  HESTER [rushing after PAT]: Did you bring the telegram? [She corners him, laughing.] Where’s the telegram?

  PAT: I don’t need to bring it. I will never forget that telegram so long as I live. [Takes it out of his pocket.] “Western Union. Class of Service. This is a full-rate Telegram or Cablegram unless its deferred character is indicated by a suitable symbol . . .”

  HESTER: What’re you reading that part for? [Tries to grab it from him.] What did the scout say!

  PAT [grabbing it back]: I’m reading it to you just the way I read it when I got it—from the very top, to the very bottom.

  DAVID: Let him read it, Hess! They go quiet.

  PAT: I haven’t felt this way since the last time I read the Bible. “Patterson Beeves, 26 Murdock Street. Will be in Burley for the Black Giants game Sunday, July 16th. Looking forward to seeing Amos Beeves’s performance. Best regards, Augie Belfast, Detroit Tigers.” [Looks around imperiously.] Twenty-one years I have been waiting for this telegram. Training him down the cellar since he was old enough to walk. People laughed when Amos got bad marks in school. Forget the homework, I said. Keep your eye on the ball. Concentration, I said . . .

  J.B. [touched and fearing PAT’s continuing indefinitely]: For God’s sake, let’s all have a drink!

  DAVID: Comin’ up! [Goes out door.]

  HESTER [pointing outside. To J.B.]: I’ll bring Ellie in! Why don’t you come to the game with us, Mr. Dibble? [She starts across to the door.]

  J.B. [a little embarrassed, stops HESTER]: Better leave her, baby. You know how she is about alcohol. Let’s not start anything.

  GUS: Shory likes a drink. I’ll bring him in. [He goes out left.]

  PAT: Plenty of room in Dave’s car, Mr. Dibble. [He studies DIBBLE, automatically massaging AMOS’s arm.]

  J.B. [holds his hand out to HESTER]: What do you think of this?

  HESTER: A wedding ring! You’re giving Ellie a new ring?

  J.B. [warmly]: No, this is for me. Since we decided to adopt a baby I been feeling like we’re newlyweds.

  HESTER [ flings her arms around him]: You’re such a silly man! Enter SHORY, pushed in by GUS.

  SHORY [to J.B.]: Hey, Poppa, don’t start nothin’ you can’t finish.

  Enter DAVID with drinks on a tray.

  HESTER [three-quarters joking, but only that much. To SHORY]: And you’ve got a filthy mind.

  SHORY: Madam, don’t flatter me. [To DAVID, who has been watching HESTER since SHORY came in.] Hey, husband, where’s that drink?

  DAVID: Come on, everybody. Before we go! [Gives out the drinks. . . . Raises his glass.] A toast! To everybody’s luck—everybody’s!

  All raise their glasses.

  GUS [to AMOS]: And the next World Series! [Starts to drink.]

  DAVID: Wait! Make one big toast . . . to all our hearts’ desires. For Amos! For Dad . . .

  GUS: To David and Hester! To their prosperity, their shop, their tractor station, their farm . . .

  DIBBLE [suddenly struck with the idea]: And their mink!

  HESTER [quick complaint]: No . . .

  DAVID [he looks at HESTER. Her face softens toward him]: Not the mink now! From today on everything is coming true! To our children.

  GUS: To their children.

  J.B.: Their children.

  HESTER [softly]: And in this year. Say that.

  DAVID [their eyes meet for an instant, and hold]: In this year . . . everything our hearts desire . . . all of us: in this year. All drink.

  PAT [looks at watch]: Hey! We’re late! We’re getting drunk and the whole world is waiting for us out there! Come on! They all rush out yelling and laughing as . . . Curtain.

  Scene ii

  Living Room. About seven o’clock that night.

  The stage is empty. The gentle murmur and occasional laughter of the guests at the barbecue can be heard dimly.

  Presently, DAVID, followed by DAN DIBBLE, comes in through the front door. DAVID crosses to the desk and removes a large checkbook. He pauses over it, pen in hand.

  DAVID: It’s a fortune. I never wrote a check this big in my life. DIBBLE: You never got so much for so little, David. You’ll have prize stock, the finest breeding mink alive. The rest’s up to you. DAVID: Mr. Dibble, I never thought I’d see my hand shaking.

  The door at lower left opens and PAT appears. He closes the door gently behind him.

  DAVID: Still asleep?

  PAT: Shhh, I always make him take a long nap after a game. DAVID: Aren’t you going to eat anything?

  PAT: I couldn’t eat anything now. I’ll eat after Belfast gets here. [He sits on the couch.] I was watchin’ Amos just now asleep on the couch, and it suddenly struck me. Did you ever notice what a powerful face he has?

  DAVID [as he writes check]: He’s great. After that game today there ain’t a man in the world can doubt it. He’s just great.

  PAT: Didn’t he look noble out there?

  DAVID: Noble enough to vote for.

  DAVID [as he tears out check]: Here’s your check, Mr. Dibble. [DIBBLE takes it.]

  DIBBLE: You’ll never regret it, David.

  DAVID: I hope not.

  DIBBLE: Well, I’ll be runnin’ along now. You call me as soon as you get your cages ready and I’ll bring ’em over. [DAVID has walked him to the front door.] Goodnight.

  DAVID: G’night.

  DIBBLE exits. DAVID turns back into the room.

  PAT: You know why I’m extra glad? I think you were beginning to take it too hard, Dave. I was going to have a talk with you. Because I never had a doubt he’d scale the heights.

  DAVID: I just didn’t like the idea of me getting everyt
hing so steady, and him waiting around like . . . I mean you get to wondering if your own turn isn’t coming.

  PAT: Like what do you mean?

  DAVID: A loss . . . a big unhappiness of some kind. But he’s on his way now. I know it, Pop.

  The door opens and J.B. enters with a grand new valise. He is slightly drunk. In one hand he has a slip of paper.

  J.B.: Surprise! [PAT springs up with finger to his lips.]

  PAT: Shhh!

  J.B. [whispers]: Surprise! Wake him up. [Pointing to valise.] Surprise . . .

  PAT: After a game he’s got to sleep an hour or he’s peevish. [Pointing at watch.] Wait a few minutes.

  DAVID: Wait’ll he sees the initials.

  PAT [violently]: Ssh! [To J.B. . . . threatening.] If he’s peevish . . . ! The door opens and AMOS stands in the doorway.

  J.B.: Hey Amos . . . [Holding up valise.] Surprise.

  AMOS: Aw . . . ! [AMOS takes the valise and fingers it happily.]

  J.B.: It’s a token of our affection from . . . just a minute now . . . [Straightens the slip of paper.] Hester, Shory, Gus, Dave, Ellie, and me, and Belle. [Indicating upstage.]

  AMOS [fondling the valise]: Gee, you should’na done it.

  J.B. [with growing flourish and sentiment]: No, you don’t realize the traveling you’ll do. [Looks into the distance.] Shibe Park, Commiskey Field, Sportsman’s Park—Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, St. Louis. . . . And when you’re packing up after a nice no-hitter, you’ll give us a thought in the old home town. [To clinch it, he taps a buckle.] Solid brass.

  AMOS [feverish in glory]: Give me that list. [Takes it out of J.B.’s hand.] When I get my first paycheck I’m gonna send you all a big present! Say . . . ! [Starting to take PAT’s wrist to look at his watch.] What time . . . ?

  PAT [holding onto his arm]: You heard what he said in the locker room. He’s got to finish some long-distance phoning, and then he’ll be here. Come on. I’ll rub you down. HESTER enters as they start for the stairs.

  HESTER: John, you better go outside. Ellie’s going home.

  J.B. [ frightened and hurt]: Why? [To all.] Am I so drunk?

  DAVID: Hurry up, maybe you can catch her.

  J.B.: Come with me, Dave . . . tell her . . .

  DAVID: Get washed, Ame . . . you want to look nice now. Be right back.

  DAVID and J.B. go out.

  HESTER [looking at the door]: Why must he always do that? [To PAT who is rummaging in his old valise.] I’ll get you some towels. Come on up.

  PAT: Oh, no, we carry our own. You never can tell about strange towels. [He folds one over his arm. AMOS is looking out of the window.]

  HESTER [ready to laugh]: Well, I wasn’t going to give you a dirty towel, you stupid.

  PAT: For twenty-one years I’ve kept him practically sterilized. I ain’t layin’ him low with an infection now. Come on, Amos, get washed.

  AMOS and PAT exit up the stairs as J.B. enters, followed by DAVID. J.B. is drunk, unsteady but not staggering. He barges in, comes directly to HESTER and takes her hand, speaks very close to her face, as though to discern her reactions better.

  J.B.: Hester, you got to go home for me. [He goes to window helplessly.]

  DAVID: Maybe she was only fooling, John . . .

  J.B.: No! But . . . [To HESTER.] Somebody’s got to go home for me! [And suddenly he bursts into uncontrolled sobbings.]

  HESTER: What in the world . . . !

  DAVID [angrily]: John! [Shakes him, then seats him.] John! Are you going to cut that out?

  HESTER [going to J.B.]: What happened? What did she say?

  J.B. [stops sobbing, sits swaying backward and forward, very slightly in his chair]: All these years . . . we could’ve had children . . . all these weary, weary years.

  HESTER: What are you talking about?

  J.B. [pointing waywardly toward the door to the outside]: Just told me . . . she made it up about the doctor . . . made it all up. We could’ve had two kids by now. [Looks at DAVID.] She wouldn’t. She wouldn’t. Because I drink, she says. A drunkard, she says! They’ll wipe my name off my mail box like I never lived!

  HESTER: Come upstairs and lie down. You make me so mad I could choke you! You could have everything in the world and you drink it away.

  J.B.: If I had a boy . . . I wouldn’t have touched a drop.

  HESTER: Oh, push! [She tries to move him to the stairway.]

  J.B.: I’m only a failure, Dave. The world is full of failures. All a man needs is one mistake and he’s a failure.

  DAVID turns his head, a little annoyed.

  DAVID [impatiently]: I know, John. [Looks out window again.]

  J.B.: You are the only man I ever knew who never makes a mistake. You understand me. Look at me! I am saying something.

  DAVID [now turns full to him]: What are you talking about?

  J.B.: I’m not as drunk as I look, David! You’re a good man, yes. You know how to do. But you’ve had a phenomenal lot of luck in your life, Dave. Never play luck too hard. It’s like a season, and seasons go away.

  HESTER: Come up or you’ll pass away.

  Enter PAT downstairs with watch in hand.

  PAT: My watch says eight-thirty, where is he? He told you no later than eight o’clock, didn’t he?

  DAVID: Which means he’s half an hour late. That’s what it means, doesn’t it?

  PAT: I don’t know what to tell Amos. I made him take another shower.

  DAVID [with growing fear]: He pitched the greatest game of his life today, what more does he need to be told? That man’ll be here.

  PAT: Maybe he was kidding us. He looked like he might be that type.

  DAVID: Are you going to stop that?

  PAT: . . . And Amos did look a little nervous in the eighth inning with those two men on base.

  DAVID: But they didn’t score! Now will you just stop. [PAT, hurt looks at him, then goes to the stairs.] Dad, what you want me to do; I can’t grow him in my back yard, can I? SHORY enters pushed by GUS. At the stairs, PAT turns, starts to speak, then goes up and out.

  SHORY [as the door shuts]: I’m getting my aches and pains. I came in to say goodnight. . . . Party’s breakin’ up anyway out there.

  DAVID: No, wait a little. I don’t want everybody pulling out. [He goes to window as . . . ]

  SHORY: The man told you seven-thirty, what’re you making believe he said eight? You told me as he said seven-thirty, didn’t you?

  DAVID [his fury is at the scout. He keeps searching out of the window]: He could’ve got a flat maybe.

  SHORY: It don’t take an hour to change a flat, Dave.

  DAVID [tensely. He turns]: Don’t go away. Please.

  Enter HESTER.

  [To HESTER.] The folks are starting to go. [Moving her back to the door.] I want a party here when the scout leaves. Keep them here.

  HESTER: It’s not the world coming to an end. I don’t want you acting this way. It’s no fault of yours what happens to him. [She grasps him.] Why do you act this way? Davey . . .

  DAVID: I don’t get it, I swear to God I don’t get it. [Strides to the window. He seems about to burst from the room.]

  SHORY: Get what?

  DAVID: Everything is so hard for him. [Turns to them suddenly, unable to down his anxiety.] I want to ask you something. All of you, and you too, Hess. You know what I can do and what I can’t do, you . . . you know me. Everything I touch, why is it? It turns gold. Everything.

  HESTER: What’s come over you? Why . . . ?

  DAVID [with extreme urgency]: It bothers me, it . . . [To all.] What is it about me? I never . . . I never lose. Since we were kids I expected Amos to rise and shine. He’s the one, he knows something, he knows one thing perfect. Why? Is it all luck? Is that what it is?

  GUS: Nonsense. You’re a good man, David.

  DAVID: Aren’t you good?

  GUS: Yes, but I . . .

  DAVID: Then why did your shop fail? Why are you working for me now? [He moves as one in the throes of release.]

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p; GUS: They remember the war here, Dave, they don’t like to buy from a foreigner.

  DAVID: No, that’s crazy.

  GUS: Also, I had a second-rate location.

  DAVID: Gus, it was better than mine. Every car coming into town had to pass your place. And they came to me. Why is that?

  GUS: You know an engine, Dave, you . . .

  DAVID: Including Marmons? [To all.] I got fourteen thousand dollars in the bank and as much again standing on the ground. Amos? Never had a nickel. Not a bloody nickel. Why?

  A slight pause.

  HESTER [goes to him. Smiles to make him smile but he does not]: Why does it bother you? It’s good to be lucky. Isn’t it?

  DAVID [looks at her a moment]: Isn’t it better to feel that what you have came to you because of something special you can do? Something, something . . . inside you? Don’t you have to know what that thing is?

  HESTER: Don’t you know?

  DAVID: . . . I don’t, I don’t know.

  SHORY: And you’ll never know . . .

  DAVID: Damn it all, if everything drops on you like fruit from a tree, for no reason, why can’t it break away for no reason? Everything you have . . . suddenly.

  HESTER [takes DAVID’s arm]: Come, say goodbye to the folks.

  DAVID: No . . . they’re not going home till the scout comes! Now go out . . .

  HESTER [shakes his arm]: It’s his hard luck, not yours!

  DAVID: It is mine! A man has a right to get what he deserves. He does, damn it! [He goes to the window, breaking from her.]

  HESTER [angrily]: You talk like you’d stole something from him. You never got anything you didn’t deserve. You . . .

  DAVID [at the end of his patience, he turns on her]: Am I that good and he that bad? I can’t believe it. There’s something wrong, there’s something wrong! [Suddenly.] I’m going to Burley. [To HESTER, hurriedly.] Where’s the keys to the car . . . ?