Broken Glass by Arthur Miller Read Free Book Online

more, but I want you to try something now. I’ll stand here, and I want you to imagine something. Sylvia turns to him, curious. I want you to imagine that we’ve made love.
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Startled, she laughs tensely. He joins this laugh as though it is a game.
    I’ve made love to you. And now it’s over and we are lying together. And you begin to tell me some secret things. Things that are way down deep in your heart. Slight pause. Sylvia-
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Hyman comes around the bed, bends, and kisses her on the cheek.
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Tell me about Phillip.
    Sylvia is silent, does not grasp his head to hold him. He straightens up. Think about it. We’ll talk tomorrow again. Okay?
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Hyman exits. Sylvia lies there inert for a moment. Then she tenses with effort, trying to raise her knee. It doesn’t work. She reaches down and lifts the knee, and then the other and lies there that way. Then she lets her knees spread apart ...
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Blackout.

SCENE SIX
    The cellist plays, then is gone.
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Hyman’s office. Gellburg is seated. Immediately Margaret enters with a cup of cocoa and a file folder. She hands the cup to Gellburg.
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GELLBURG: Cocoa?
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MARGARET: I drink a lot of it, it calms the nerves. Have you lost weight?
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GELLBURG , impatience with her prying: A little, I think.
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MARGARET: Did you always sigh so much?
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GELLBURG: Sigh?
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MARGARET: You probably don’t realize you’re doing it. You should have him listen to your heart.
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GELLBURG: No-no, I think I’m all right. Sighs. I guess I’ve always sighed. Is that a sign of something?
    MARGARET: Not necessarily; but ask Harry. He’s just finishing with a patient.—There’s no change, I understand.
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GELLBURG: No, she’s the same. Impatiently hands her the cup. I can’t drink this.
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MARGARET: Are you eating at all?
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GELLBURG, suddenly shifting his mode: I came to talk to him.
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MARGARET, sharply: I was only trying to be helpful!
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GELLBURG: I’m kind of upset, I didn’t mean any ...
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Hyman enters, surprising her. She exits, insulted.
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HYM AN : I’m sorry. But she means well.
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Gellburg silently nods, irritation intact.
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HYMAN : It won’t happen again. He takes his seat. I have to admit, though, she has a very good diagnostic sense. Women are more instinctive sometimes ...
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GELLBURG: Excuse me, I don’t come here to be talking to her.
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HYMAN, a kidding laugh: Oh, come on, Phillip, take it easy. What’s Sylvia doing?
    GELLBURG , it takes him a moment to compose himself: ... I don’t know what she’s doing.
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Hyman waits. Gellburg has a tortured look; now he seems to brace himself, and faces the doctor with what seems a haughty air.
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I decided to try to do what you advised.—About the loving.
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HYMAN: ... Yes?
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GELLBURG: So I decided to try to do it with her.
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HYMAN: ... Sex?
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GELLBURG: What then, handball? Of course sex.
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The openness of this hostility mystifies Hyman, who becomes conciliatory.
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HYMAN : ... Well, do you mean you’ve done it or you’re going to?
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GELLBURG, long pause; he seems not to be sure he wants to continue. Now he sounds reasonable again: You see, we haven’t been really ... together. For ... quite a long time. Correcting: I mean specially since this started to happen.
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HYMAN : You mean the last two weeks.
    GELLBURG: Well yes. Great discomfort. And some time before that.
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HYMAN : I see. But he desists from asking how long a time before that. A pause.
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GELLBURG: So I thought maybe it would help her if ... you know.
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HYMAN: Yes, I think the warmth would help. In fact, to be candid, Phillip—I’m beginning to wonder if this whole fear of the Nazis isn’t because she feels ... extremely vulnerable; I’m in no sense trying to blame you but ... a woman who doesn’t feel loved can get very