The Shoe Box (1) ACT ONE 1. SCENE 1 It is just dawn. FANCY, her two girls, WENDY and CHARLENE are asleep. SAMMY is asleep in a corner of the big room in front of the ancient fireplace. The room’s walls are covered with pages of magazines to keep out the wind. We can hear the wind howling outside the small shack. Suddenly, we hear the sound of banging outside! MAM comes into the shack suddenly, beating a wash tub with a stick! MAM You stole my sheets! (MAM moves towards WENDY a young girl of twelve.) WENDY Mam, Mam, what are you doing up so early for? MAM Sinners shouldn’t sleep. You and your sister is bastards, you know that, don’t you. You don’t deserve to even lie on these sheets. WENDY Mommie! Mommie! (FANCY wakes up and tiredly gets out of bed, knowing that she will have a long hard day of farm work to do.) FANCY Baby, I’m up. Don’t listen to that old, crazy woman. I’ll make a good breakfast. SAMMY Flarie, will you make your good biscuits? ` FANCY I sure will. And gravy. And nice eggs. SAMMY The way I like them. WENDY All runny! Yuck! SAMMY You can dip your biscuit in it! 2. WENDY Stop Sammy, I’m getting sick. FANCY Are you feeling sick now Wendy? WENDY No, I’m fine Mommie. Don’t worry about my anemia today. FANCY No, I don’t have the time to worry about your anemia today. Rouse your lazy sister WENDY Wake up, Charlene. Wake up. CHARLENE Who the hell could be asleep through that racket. Mean old bitch. She will one day burn in hell for all her crazy meaness to us. FANCY Charlene, this is her home. We are only invited to stay. CHARLENE You work like a horse, Mommie. I saw you faint the other day. You aren’t eating enough. FANCY Don’t worry about me Charlene. We will all be fine. We are all doing fine. My girls and little Sammy there SAMMY And some bacon. Do we have any bacon Fancy? FANCY No bacon Sammy. Gotta slaughter a pig this fall for bacon. CHARLENE No, mommie. Don’t kill that pig. He is cute. I like him. FANCY The pig again. Charlene, stop worrying about the pig. I’ll tell you something to worry about. Your sister. Severe anemia. Worry about that. (MAM picks up the wash tub and stick and begins to bang the wash tub again.) MAM 3. I tell you, your mother was a slut. You are all bastards. She’ll burn in hell. You don’t deserve to sleep under this roof. (Everyone gets up and makes their beds.) WENDY Sammy, will you show me that new chord on your banjo. SAMMY Sure, Wendy. It’s easy to learn. CHARLENE Sammy, you are a simpleton, if you can learn to play the banjo, then anyone can! You can barely tie your damn shoes! Look at your face! You need a good scrubbin’. FANCY Charlene. Enough of that. WENDY You are so jealous of Sammy. All because he can play the banjo, beautifully. And you cannot carry a tune. CHARLENE And how, Miss Missy would you know that? WENDY In church. I’ve heard you sing. (She whistles). You’d charm the birds out of the trees, oh yeah. Like they been hit by a rock! FANCY Enough Wendy! Sammy has a gift. He can make music! (She has to sit down suddenly on her bed.) WENDY Mommie, what’s wrong, are you all right? FANCY I’m fine. Just need a minute. I’ll feel better with some food in me. WENDY You aren’t eating enough Mommie. And I know that you are saving your meat for me. (She puts her arms around her mother.) You’ve got to eat more Mommie. You’ll die if you don’t. 4. FANCY Say, there Sammy. Play something nice for us on your banjo. We’ll all feel the better for it. (He gets out his banjo and walks over to Fancy. He plays OH SUSANNA on his banjo.) FANCY That’s fine. Boy, that’s fine. (MAM gets out the wash tub and stick and begins to beat on the tub, making a terrible racket.) FANCY Oh, my Lord. My Savior. Will I ever find any peace for my sins? SCENE 3 17. The woods outside the shack. Mountains loom in the distance. The trees have their Fall leaves. We hear the sweet melody of a mountain stream nearby. SAMMY has his foot propped up on a tree. WENDY ties his shoes for him. WENDY You know, Sammy. Your shoes are just about worn out. SAMMY Yeah, just about. WENDY And your big toe is sticking out. See? SAMMY (Looking down to see) Yep. Sure is. WENDY I wish I could be like you Sammy. Nothing worries you. Nothing in this world at all. SAMMY Nothing at all. (Picks up his banjo and begins to play SHE’LL BE COMIN’ ‘ROUND THE MOUNTAIN.) WENDY As long as you have that banjo. SAMMY My banjo. (Suddenly, JOHNNY MILLER, from the Miller family comes out from behind a tree.) WENDY Johnny Miller! What the hell are you doing here on our land. If Mam could see you, she’d drop you dead. JOHNNY MILLER I don’t doubt that one iota. Your grandmother is crazy. That’s the God’s truth. One day Little Miss, I might just tell you why your Granny went crazy. It was about your Mommie, and.. . 18. SAMMY (Hurridly) Wendy, we got to go now. Fancy might just go crazy and kill us if we are late for dinner. WENDY Yeah, Mam is crazy all right. But, she saw you take some bacon out of the curing house. That was our food and you stole it! JOHNNY MILLER Things was bad and I was hungry. Now, things are different. (He hands her several coins) That will pay for the bacon. You are a very pretty girl. Pretty hair and all. SAMMY Wendy, we got to go now. Thanks for the money, Sir. JOHNNY MILLER Bye, now Pretty Miss. With that pretty hair. (JOHNNY looks up and sees a bird. He fires a shot from the shotgun he carries.) JOHNNY Well now, Johnny Miller, looks like you got yourself dinner tonight. Looks like them O’Briens have their supper going. Now, Johnny it is a sin to steal and a sin if you don’t share, with those that are hungry. But, Lord, upon my soul, it is a fact that we both would rather shoot each other in the back than to set down to supper. (JOHNNY picks up the bird.) You’ll be good eatin’. My Mam will clean you up good and cook you up good. See ya later Pretty Miss, with the pretty hair. . 19. SCENE 4 SAMMY is playing WHEN THE SAINTS GO MARCHING IN on the banjo in the one room shack. FANCY, WENDY, CHARLENE and MAM are clapping their hands to the music. FANCY Sammy plays just like an angel. WENDY (Jokingly) Do angels play the banjo. CHARLENE Oh, I’m sure angels play much better than that old Sammy! And they wouldn’t have to stop to get a drink of water. Or, stop because they need to rest. WENDY Stop Charlene. Sammy gets tired after a day in the tobacco. That’s all. He is a wonderful artist! CHARLENE Artist! What a fancy word from you Wendy. Been reading your fancy magazines again! That fancy lady that runs the store, of course. WENDY Yes, Mrs. Taylor saves them for me. I love her for it. CHARLENE Get those fancy notions out of your mind. You are nothing but a bastard in this world. I’ve seen your little shoe boxes, where you cut out the curtains in the fancy magazines and paste them up. And the windows. And the fancy table and chairs. WENDY Yes, so what Charlene. Don’t you have a dream in your thick and cruel head. (CHARLENE watches SAMMY play.) CHARLENE Not a dream so much as a wonderment. Why are God’s gifts given to the likes of a simpleton, like our Sammy. Now, he is dim. That’s the truth. Why aren’t any gifts saved for someone like me. Aren’t I a good girl? Or, because I am a bastard, God will never give me nothing. No kindness from others, who know I am a bastard. And nothing from God. It ain’t fair Wendy. It ain’t fair. And I feel this burning hatred inside me. Growing stronger. 2o. WENDY I know, just the walk to school. CHARLENE Those Millers taunting us. Bastards. Bastards. Even having to share their books with us. WENDY I know. CHARLENE And everyone in town knowing all about us. I can’t take it anymore Wendy. And even God seems to have his own priorities. WENDY But, Charlene, we will make our own way in life. We will work hard. CHARLENE So hard. And look how easy it is for Sammy there. He was just given a gift. Snap! WENDY Charlene, it is the only gift that he has in the world. And you are a big, strong healthy girl. God has been good to you. CHARLENE Still.. (MAM stands up and begins to do a jig. The others begin to cheer and clap their hands.) FANCY Hey there Charlene. CHARLENE Hey, Mommie. Say, Mommie, did you save a piece of that sausage for me. FANCY Yes, Charlene, I did. Don’t say anything to Wendy. She is so thin.. 21. CHARLENE I won’t, I swear. (CHARLENE kisses FANCY) CHARLENE I love you Mommie. FANCY Look at your Mam doin’ that jig! She still has some fire in her. Don’t she? CHARLENE Fire and piss! FANCY Charlene. Yeah. A lot of fire and piss! (MAM has to sit down suddenly. WENDY brings her a glass of water.) WENDY Mam, are you OK. That was a great jig. Where did you learn to dance like that? MAM Pap. He taught me, when we were both young. And he could still dance a fine jig even after he lost his leg on the Baltimore Union Pacific! (FLARIE moves towards MAM). Ain’t that right Fancy! FANCY Oh, hell. Pap could really do a jig! Mam would play the banjo and away he’d go. And after a hard day in the fields with a mule and plow, too. God rest his soul. You know, I saw Pap right after he died. MAM Shusss. WENDY You did? FANCY He was sitting in that rocker over there. I’d gotten up to get a drink of water. When I looked again, he was gone. . MAM 22. Well, heaven was too good for that no count bastard! FANCY Mam! MAM Fancy, he left me with thirteen children to raise on my own. A mortal woman would go insane. Thirteen children and a farm to run. Horses, chickens, pigs, cows, a small kitchen garden, and a field of tobacco. Calloses on my hands and the hot sun on my back! That’s all he left me in this world. FANCY All true. Though a kind and good man can’t be held accountable for what happens after he has leaves this world. MAM Or, what happened to his favorite daughter. FANCY Mam, let’s not get into that tonight. I’m happy. MAM Wouldn’t leave that Miller boy alone. And those Millers are all scum. A skunk wouldn’t piss on them! FANCY Not even a skunk! Yet, he was a fine boy. MAM (Scarcastically) A fine boy. They dug three bullets out of him, I heard. FANCY Mam, I can’t talk about Jimmy. MAM Two were in the heart. One was in the eye. FANCY Mam. I can’t speak about him. MAM I woke up that night, out of a sound sleep. I had a notion that you was gone. I checked your bed. You was. I couldn’t stop Pap. He dressed, put his boot on and grabbed his gun. I cried. I tried to stop him. I pleaded with him, Oh, Pap. Don’t go over there to those Millers. Fancy ain’t worth it. She is just a whore and that’s all she’ll ever be in this world. He wouldn’t listen. He loved you. He was going after you. He was going over there to the Miller’s land to fetch you back home. He had his gun. 23. FANCY Oh, yes, Lord, he had his gun. MAM He went right straight up to the Miller house. He knocked on the door. He demanded you come out of that damned house. Old Mr. Miller answered the door. His wife was ascared standing there beside old Mr. Miller. There was little children hanging onto her. She fretted and tried to calm old Mr. Miller down. ‘Old Mr. O’Brian ain’t worth your bullet, Lester.’ Calm down.’ She said. Pap said, ‘I have come to collect my daughter Fancy. I want to take her home now. Mr. Miller said, she ain’t here. We ain’t seen that whore. She certainly ain’t welcome in this Christian house.’ Pap suddenly bursts inside. He sees you there with that Jimmy Miller. Pap shoots Jimmy with three bullets. And Mr. Miller shoots Pap, right straight in the heart. He was dead on the spot. Fell to the floor. FANCY Pap shot my Jimmy. Then he was shot. Dead. MAM Dead. FANCY And my girl’s daddy was dead! MAM He never married you. They are bastards FANCY. FANCY Mam. They had a daddy. I loved him. MAM I had a husband and I loved him. FANCY I loved Pap. MAM And you are the reason that Pap is dead. You are the reason that Jimmy Miller is dead. FANCY Let sleeping dogs lie. I want to hear Sammy play. I am – happy tonight. 24. (MAM gets a bucket of water and throws it on the fire in the ancient fireplace. Everyone stops and looks at the smoldering fire.) 25. SCENE 5 The stage is decorated as the inside of WENDY’S shoe box. The walls, are painted as of scraps of magazine pictures, which have been cut out and pasted on the walls. The window curtains, pieces of expensive furniture, light fixtures, portraits in frames, etc. There are real tables, sofas and chairs on stage. WENDY enters right. A GUEST, a lady of refinement, stands center stage. GUEST Oh, WENDY you home is so lovely. Such lovely furniture. I love the drapes. WENDY Thank you. I ordered them special. Thank you for coming. GUEST I wouldn’t have missed one of your dinner parties. The talk of the town! Your chef is exquisite! Your champagne magnifice. Your hor derves are wonderful. Your gown is French. No? You picked it up in Paris, when you were last there? (The GUEST exits left as SAMMY enters right.) SAMMY Wendy Ugenia O’Brien, you are in your shoe box again! WENDY Oh, hush Sammy. I’m dreaming. SAMMY You spend more time in this drat shoe box than you do awake! WENDY I feel more at home here, Sammy. There are nice things here. Pretty things. Curtains on the windows, carpets on the floors. Comfortable cushins to sit in. SAMMY And me? WENDY 26. And you. You drop by from time to time. Look at your feet. SAMMY (Looking at his feet) New shoes! WENDY Your big toe isn’t hanging out Sammy O’Brien. SAMMY Whatja know about that! WENDY I like it here Sammy. SAMMY And food? WENDY Well, dear Sammy, I ain’t quite got the food thing down yet. Or water for a drink. I am so thirsty for some water, Sammy. SAMMY (disappointed) No food. Shit! WENDY Sammy! (FANCY walks on stage. She is dressed beautifully, with her hair styled beautifully as well.) WENDY Mommie! SAMMY Fancy! FANCY We are in Wendy’s shoe box again. Nice dress! WENDY You look beautiful Mommie! SAMMY Beautiful. Wow! FANCY Wow, indeed, Sammy. Nice place Wilma. Beautiful furniture. Beautiful curtains. Nice rug. 27. WENDY Oriental carpet. FANCY Whatever, baby. (FANCY touches WENDY on the face.) FANCY You still got that awful temperature, Wendy. You are burning up. I been fretting over you all night. And to think, you were happy in your shoe box all this time. SAMMY I came to get her Fancy, but I got to liking it here. FANCY It’s a nice enough place, this shoe box. But, I wouldn’t want to be buried here. (MAM, PAP and CHARLENE enter stage right.) CHARLENE Oh, Christ, we is in the damned shoe box again. Wendy O’Brien. I am gonna slug you! SAMMY You can’t slug her. She’s sick. Fancy is worried about her. FANCY Pap, what are you doing here? PAP I came to collect Wendy, if the fever doesn’t go down. MAM Oh, Pap, you always did watch out over your family and the little ones. Even if they is only bastards. PAP They are our family, Mam. MAM They is. WENDY Mommie, is that Pap? I ain’t seen Pap since I was real little. 28. FANCY Hush, Wendy. This is just a dream. You’re in the shoe box again, Honey. Nothing could harm you here. (Suddenly, JOHNNY MILLER bursts in through the door. He is drunk. He carries a bag. He also has a shot gun.) FANCY Johnny Miller, Christ on his throne! What in Sam hell are you doing here? What are you doing with that shot gun in this Christian home? JOHNNY (noticing the shotgun) Oh, I forgot I had old Betsy. I carry her everywhere with me. Didn’t mean to frighten. FANCY Just put old Betsy down by the fireplace then. JOHNNY I’m gonna. I’m gonna. (JOHNNY walks over to WENDY, who has stretched out on the sofa.) JOHNNY Hey, there little Miss. I’m your uncle Johnny Miller. I came to see you tonight. I heard you was sick enough to leave this world. I wanted to say my piece with you before you see the pearly gates. WENDY Yes, I remember you. You gave me the money for the bacon, you stole. Thanks for the money, Mister. JOHNNY Uncle Johnny. I am your uncle. Wendy. We are kin. We have the same eyes. Big, blue eyes. And we have a sense of the world, and our place in it, that these O’Briens, don’t have. FANCY That child is sick! I don’t want you upsetting her. JOHNNY This child is more than sick. I will say my piece. 29. WENDY My eyes is blue like yours Uncle Johnny. JOHNNY We are the same blood, Wendy. My brother was your Daddy. He loved your mother. He loved you and your sister, and even adopted little Sammy. And one night, your crazy grandfather decided to shoot your Daddy dead. So many bullets they had to dig out of him. PAP Only three. JOHNNY Three bullets is enough. There was enough blood. And what does your mother do. She is standing right there next to your daddy. Does she mourn him, like a wife would. No. FANCY Pap was shot in the heart. He was dead. I lost my mind. Blood was everywhere all over me. I found my way home to my girls and Sammy. JOHNNY Fancy O’Brien, you are the cause of all this grief. If you had found any one else but my brother, a Miller, to love. No grief would have ever come to you. (FANCY rushes at JOHNNY and grabs the gun, taking it away from him.) FANCY Get out of my house, Johnny Miller. Don’t ever come back, or I will shoot you, dead. JOHNNY I have some medicine for the child in the sack. A chest rub, that might help her some. FANCY Get out of here now Johnny Miller. Or, old Betsy will put a few holes through you, too. PAP Why not shoot the worthless Miller trash now, Fancy? They ain’t worth much. FANCY Quiet Pap. I seen enough blood, thanks to you. 30. CHARLENE I agree with Pap, Mommie. Shoot him, go ahead. They are the bane of our existence. FANCY The bane of our existence. Go now. (JOHNNY leaves through the door in a hurry.) WENDY The shoe box. My pretty, pretty shoe box. FANCY (checking on WENDY) You are burning up, Wendy. Oh, Lord. Quick, get me that chest rub. PAP We must sit and wait. WENDY Pap, I don’t feel so good. PAP I know just the thing to make you feel better Spunky. WENDY You always called me Spunky. (PAP dances a jig with one leg, while everyone claps. SAMMY plays DIXIE’S LAND on his banjo.) Curtain ACT TWO 31. SCENE 1 Mrs. TAYLOR’S COUNTRY STORE. Mrs. TAYLOR is a very gentile looking lady. She is nicely dressed. She is behind her counter serving a CUSTOMER. WILMA and CHARLENE enter. Mrs. TAYLOR (to customer) Nice to see you Mrs. Garrett, you come again soon. Say hi to little Rick for me. (WENDY and CHARLENE move over to the counter.) Mrs. TAYLOR Wendy and Charlene! So nice to see you two. Haven’t seen you in awhile Charlene. Are you getting shy on us all? CHARLENE Me shy, no never. Mrs. TAYLOR Wendy, I bet that you walked all this way for those magazines. Yes, I have them here for you. Just a second. I’ll get them from the back room. (CHARLENE, looking at some lipsticks suddenly steals one. WENDY notices.) WENDY Charlene! CHARLENE You shut up, you skinny runt! (Mrs. TAYLOR returns with the magazines.) Mrs. TAYLOR Here you go, little Wendy. Say, is that one of your shoe boxes. May I see it? WENDY Sure. I brought it for you to see. MRS. TAYLOR Look how fancy everything is. How precious. WENDY 32. Sometimes, I pretend I live in the shoe box. Sammy and me. And there is lots of food and candy, too. Mrs. TAYLOR You look well, now Wendy. It sure took you awhile to recover from that illness, didn’t it? WENDY Yes, it did. Sammy cheered me up. He played the banjo for me. CHARLENE That simpleton and his banjo! Mrs. TAYLOR Hush Charlene. Anyway, Wendy, I am so glad that you are well now.
Copyright © 2002 Teresa Ann Salyer |