The Man Who Had All the Luck by Arthur Miller Read Free Book Online Page B

DAVID]: If there’s any blood on the car will you clean it off? Please, will you? DAN goes, DAVID looks after them.
    SHORY: Get me home, will you, Dave?
    DAVID: Huh? No, I’ll stay awhile. I want to look at the car. You take him, will you, Dad?
    PAT [ taking hold of the back of SHORY ’s chair ]: Sure. Come on, Amos.
    SHORY: Well, wake up, jellyfish. A hundred and ten of the best acres in the valley. Not bad, eh?
    DAVID [ stunned ]: Just like that.
    SHORY: Never happens any other way, brother. [ Almost intones it. ] Jellyfish don’t swim. . . . It’s the tide moves him . . . out and in . . . out and in . . . and in. Keep it in mind. [ To PAT.] Let’s go, father.
    They push him out as DAVID stands there lost in a dream. Curtain.

Scene ii
    The barn near dawn.
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    DAVID is lying under the front end of the Marmon. Beside it the hood stands on end on the floor. DAVID is lying under the engine with one light near his head, hurriedly tightening a nut on the pan. There is one other light on, over the bench, but this is shaded. After a moment, DAVID hurriedly slides out from under and eagerly looking at the engine, wipes his hands. He is about to get into the car to start it when a soft knock from offstage right is heard. Startled, he peers through the darkness.
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    DAVID: Who’s that? [ Surprised. ] Hester . . .
    HESTER [ she comes out of the darkness at right ]: Aren’t you finished yet?
    DAVID [ glancing defensively at the car ]: What are you doing up? What time is it?
    HESTER: It’s almost five. I called your house, I just couldn’t sleep. Belle said you were still here. Can I watch you?
    DAVID: . . . It’s pretty cold in here, you’ll catch cold.
    HESTER [ she goes to him, takes his face in her hands, and kisses him ]: You didn’t kiss me yet.
    DAVID [ with growing ill-ease ]: Please, Hess, I gotta figure something out here. I wish . . . I wish you’d leave me alone for a while. Please.
    HESTER [ with quiet astonishment—and compassion ]: Haven’t you figured it out yet?
    DAVID: Oh, I got it just about, but not . . . [ Stops. ] Hess, please leave me alone. DAVID walks from her and pretends to study the engine.
    HESTER: Davey.
    DAVID: Ya?
    HESTER: You’re going to be able to fix it, aren’t you?
    DAVID: Don’t you think I can?
    HESTER: I know you can.
    DAVID: Then why do you ask me?
    HESTER: Because . . . in the Burley garage they didn’t know how to fix it.
    DAVID [ he straightens. Slight pause ]: How do you know?
    HESTER: J.B. told me. He’s going to tell you in the morning after you’re finished. He didn’t want to scare you about it.
    DAVID [ with growing fear ]: That can’t be. They got regular trained mechanics in the Burley garage.
    HESTER: But it’s true. Mr. Dibble said they wanted to take the whole thing apart and charge him a hundred and fifty dollars, and he wouldn’t let them because . . .
    DAVID [ comes to her anxiously ]: Why’d they want to take the whole thing apart?
    HESTER [ seeing his bewilderment clearer ]: Well, I don’t know, Davey . . .
    DAVID: Well, what’d they tell him was wrong? Don’t you remember . . . ?
    HESTER [ her sob threatening ]: Well, Davey, don’t shout at me that way, I don’t know anything about cars . . . [ She begins to cry. ]
    DAVID [ with the pain of guilt ]: Oh, Hester, don’t cry, please. I’ll fix it, I’ll find out what the matter is, please, stop it, will you? The pain it causes him makes him turn and almost march to the car. On the point of weeping himself.
    I never heard an engine make that sound. I took the pan off, I took the head off, I looked at the valves; I just don’t know what it is, Hess! It’s turning off-center somewhere and I can’t find it, I can’t!
    HESTER [ her sobbing vanishes as she senses his loss ]: That’s all right, Davey, it’ll be all right. Maybe you better go to bed. You look so tired .