SIDE G - Joe, Maggie 2

JOE.  Jesus Christ, we built the house, and before we finish, fifteen years, and it's gone.

 

MAGGIE. We didn't need it. It was more work to keep up than it was worth.

 

JOE.  Maybe ... maybe it was. But it was something, wasn't it? Something to have. You put in one more fucking tree, you fix up another room, I kept seeing grandchildren. What the hell else was it for? Not right away, but someday, you figure, kids running around, falling down under it, when it's grown big enough to climb and you can chase them down, spend some time running around the goddamn house …

 

MAGGIE. (Still detached.) The apartment is nice. It was closer to work.

 

JOE.  (Starting to get really angry.) Work? Shit. Fifty weeks a year in a flat-wire shop. Twenty-four years.

 

MAGGIE. We had the saloon in between. And the oil truck ...

 

JOE.   A bartender and & truck driver in between.

 

MAGGIE. We owned the bar. That was ours.

 

JOE.  Gone.

 

MAGGIE. And the truck, we owned 

 

JOE.   All gone. Christ, even the factory is gone.

 

MAGGIE. They couldn't get along without you.

 

JOE.   Twenty-four years. Two weeks a year at the beach. One week off for Christmas ... (Pause.) Talk to me, Maggie. Talk to me.

 

MAGGIE. What? What can I say?

 

JOE.  I don't know. Somebody walks up one day, one day, somebody walks up and tells you it's finished And me.... all I can say is 'what?' ... what's finished? What did I have that's finished? What?

 

MAGGIE. We give up too easy. We don't fight hard enough. We give up .. too easy

 

JOE.  We got to tell him, Maggie. We got to face it and tell him. Some son of a bitch walks up one day and tells you it's finished. What? What did we have that's finished?

 

MAGGIE. (Breaking down.) Us. Us. For Christ's sake, don't make me say things I don't understand. I don't want to hear them. I shake all over when I think about them. How long? Two weeks? Three? A month? And then what? What have I got then? An apartment full of furniture I can’t even keep clean for company, a closet full of some old pictures, some curtains I made out of my wedding dress that don't even fit the windows. . . What? What do I do? Sit down with the TV set every night, spill my coffee when I fall asleep on the sofa and burn holes in the carpet, dropping cigarettes?

 

JOE.   Maggie ...

 

MAGGIE. No. I want you to come home. What is this place, anyway? They make everything so nice. Why? So you forget? I can't. I can't. I want you to come home. I want you to stay out four nights & week bowling, and then come home so I can yell and not talk to you, you son of a bitch. I want to fight so you'll take me to a movie and by the time I get you to take me I'm so upset I can't enjoy the picture. I want to get up too early, too goddamn early, and I'll let you know about it, too, because I have to make you breakfast, because you never, never once eat it, because you make me get up too early just to keep you company and talk to you, and it's cold, and my back aches, and I got nothing to say to you and we never talk and it's six-thirty in the morning, every morning, even Sunday morning and it's all right . . . it's all right... it's all right because I want to be there because you need me to be there because I want you to be there because I want you to come home.

 

JOE. Maggie ...

 

MAGGIE. Come home, that's all. Come home.

 

JOE.   I can't, Maggie. You know I can't.

 

MAGGIE. No, I don't know. I don't.

 

JOE.  I can’t.

 

MAGGIE. You can. Don't believe what they tell you.What do they know? We've been  through worse than this. You look fine. I can see it.

 

JOE.   No, Maggie.

 

MAGGIE. You get stronger every day.

 

JOE.  It gets worse.

 

MAGGIE. No. I can see it.

 

JOE.   Every day, it gets worse.

 

MAGGIE. We'll go home, tomorrow. I got another ticket. We can get a plane tomorrow.

 

JOE.   Don't do this, Maggie.

 

MAGGIE. I put a new chair in the apartment. You'll like. It's red. You always said we should have a big red chair. I got it for you. It's a surprise.

 

JOE.   No! It won't work.

 

MAGGIE. We'll get dressed up. I'll get my hair done. We'll go out someplace. What do we need? A little time, that's all.

 

JOE.   It's not going to change anything.

 

MAGGIE. No. It's too fast. Too fast. What'll I do? I can't remember tomorrow. It's no good. We'll look around. Maybe we can find a little place. Something we like.

 

JOE.   No. This is all. This is all we got.

 

MAGGIE. No. Something farther out. Not big. Just a little place we like. All right, a farm, if you want. I don't care. Tomorrow.

 

JOE.  (Angry and frustrated.) Tomorrow is nothing, Maggie! Nothing! It's not going to change. You don't snap your fingers and it disappears. You don't buy a ticket and it goes away. It's here. Now.

 

MAGGIE. No.

 

JOE.   Look at me, Maggie.

 

MAGGIE. No.

 

JOE.   Look at me. You want magic to happen? Is that what you want? Go ahead. Make it happen. I'm waiting. Make it happen!

 

MAGGIE. I can’t.

 

 

JOE.   Make it happen!

 

MAGGIE. I can't. I can't.