Baby Doll & Tiger Tail by Tennessee Williams Read Free Book Online

till the fire broke out and then we drove into town.
    SILVA : To celebrate!
    BABY DOLL : No, no, no!
    SILVA : Twenty-seven wagons full of cotton’s a pretty big piece of business to fall into your lap like a gift from the gods, Mrs. Meighan.
    BABY DOLL : I thought you said we would drop the subject.
    SILVA : You brought it up that time.
    BABY DOLL : Well, please don’t try to mix me up anymore, I swear to goodness the fire had already broke out when he got back.
    SILVA : That’s not what you told me a moment ago.
    BABY DOLL : You got me all twisted up. We went in town. The fire broke out and we didn’t know about it.
    SILVA : I thought you said it irritated your sinus.
    BABY DOLL : Oh my God, you sure put words in my mouth. Maybe I’d better make us some lemonade.
    [
She starts to get up. Silva pulls her down
.]
    What did you do that for?
    SILVA : I don’t want to be deprived of your company yet.
    [
He lightly switches her legs with his crop
.]
    BABY DOLL [
twisting
]: Mr. Vacarro, you’re getting awfully familiar.
    SILVA : Haven’t you got any fun-loving spirit about you?
    BABY DOLL : This isn’t fun.
    SILVA : Then why do you giggle?
    BABY DOLL : I’m ticklish!
    SILVA : Ticklish!
    BABY DOLL : Yes, quit switching me, will you?
    SILVA : I’m just shooing the flies off.
    BABY DOLL : They don’t hurt nothing. And would you mind moving your arm?
    SILVA : Don’t be so skittish!
    BABY DOLL : All right! I’ll get up then.
    SILVA : Go on.
    BABY DOLL [
trying
]: I feel so weak.
    [
She pulls herself away from him
.]
    Oh! My head’s so buzzy.
    SILVA : Fuzzy?
    BABY DOLL : Fuzzy and buzzy. My head’s swinging around. It’s that swinging. . . . Is something on my arm?
    SILVA : No.
    BABY DOLL : Then what are you brushing?
    SILVA : Sweat off. Let me wipe it. . . .
    [
He brushes her arm with his handkerchief
.]
    BABY DOLL [
laughing weakly
]: No, please don’t. It feels funny.
    SILVA : How does it feel?
    BABY DOLL : Funny! All up and down. You cut it out now. If you don’t cut it out I’m going to call.
    SILVA : Call who?
    BABY DOLL : That nigger who’s cuttin’ the grass across the road.
    SILVA : Go on. Call then.
    BABY DOLL : Hey!
    [
Her voice is faint, weak
.]
    Hey, boy, boy!
    SILVA : Can’t you call any louder?
    BABY DOLL : I feel so funny! What’s the matter with me?
    SILVA : You’re just relaxing. You’re big. There’s a lot of you and it’s all relaxing! So give in. Stop getting yourself all excited.
    BABY DOLL : I’m not—but you. . . .
    SILVA : I!???
    BABY DOLL : Yes. You. Suspicions. The ideas you have about my husband. . . suspicions.
    SILVA : Suspicions? Such as. . .
    BABY DOLL : Such as he burnt your gin down.
    SILVA : Well?
    BABY DOLL : He didn’t.
    SILVA : Didn’t he?
    BABY DOLL : I’m going inside. I’m going in the house.
    [
She starts in. He follows close beside her
.]
    SILVA : But you’re afraid of the house! Do you believe in ghosts, Mrs. Meighan? I do. I believe in the presence of evil spirits.
    BABY DOLL : What evil spirits you talking about now?
    SILVA : Spirits of violence—and cunning—malevolence—cruelty—treachery—destruction. . . .
    BABY DOLL : Oh, them’s just human characteristics.
    SILVA : They’re evil spirits that haunt the human heart and take possession of it, and spread from one human heart to another human heart the way that a fire goes springing from leaf to leaf and branch to branch in a tree till a forest is all aflame with it—the birds take flight—the wild things are suffocated. . . everything green and beautiful is destroyed. . . .
    BABY DOLL : You have got fire on the brain.
    SILVA : I see it as more than it seems to be on the surface. I saw it last night as an explosion of those evil spirits that haunt the human heart—I fought it! I ran into it, beating it, stamping it, shouting the curse of God at it! They dragged me out, suffocating. I was defeated! When I came to, lying on the ground—the fire had won the battle, and all