"Can I help you, ma'am?" "well, they told me to take a streetcar named Desire and then transfer to one called Cemeteries and ride six blocks and get off at EIysian fields." "There's your car now." "Thank you." "When he got home, she was waiting." "Boy, you never heard nothing like that." "What's the matter, honey?" "You lost?" "I'm looking for EIysian fields." "This is EIysian fields." "What number you looking for?" "Six forty-two." "You don't need to look no further." "I'm looking for my sister, stella DuBois." "I mean, Mrs. stanley KowaIski." "Yeah, that's the party, all right." "You just did miss her, though." "Yes?" "Can this be her home?" "She got the downstairs here." "I got the up." "Oh, she's out?" "You notice that bowling alley up the street?" "I'm not sure I did." "well, that's where she's at, honey." "She's watching her husband bowl." "BIanche!" "BIanche, honey!" "stella." "Oh, stella for star!" "blanche!" "Oh, my darling." "Now, Iet me look at you." "But don't you look at me, stella." "No, no, no!" "I won't be looked at in this merciless glare." "Did you find our place?" "What are you doing in a place like that?" "Never, never, never in my worst dreams did I picture" "only Poe." "only Mr. Edgar allan Poe could do justice to it." "What are you doing in that horrible place?" "Oh, what am I saying?" "I didn't mean to say that." "I meant to be nice and say, "What a convenient location," and such." "You haven't said a word to me." "You haven't given me a chance to." "You dog, open your pretty mouth and talk." "Come say hello to stanley first." "No, not now." "Not now." "Just say hello." "Oh, which is he?" "Which one is he?" "Is he the one that's" "The one that's making all the rhubarb." "Isn't he wonderfuI-Iooking?" "stella, I can't meet him now." "Not till I've bathed and rested." "would you Iike a cold drink?" "Oh, bless you for that lovely inspiration." "Oh, my baby, my baby." "would you Iike some pop?" "Honey." "Pop?" "Not with my nerves tonight." "Scotch for me, please." "Grape." "You haven't asked me how I got away from school before the spring term ended." "I thought you'd volunteer that information if you wanted to tell me." "You thought I'd been fired?" "No." "I thought you might have resigned." "Oh, I was so exhausted by all I'd been through, my nerves broke." "I was on the verge of lunacy, almost." "So Mr. Graves" "Mr. Graves is the high school superintendent." "Thank you." "He suggested I" "I take a leave of absence." "I couldn't put all those details into the wire." "This buzzes right through me and feels so good." "would you Iike another?" "One's my limit." "You haven't said a word about my appearance." "You look just fine." "God love you for a liar." "daylight never exposed so total a ruin." "But you-- You put on some weight." "Yes." "You're just as plump as a little partridge." "It's so becoming to you too." "Oh, BIanche." "Yes, it is, it is." "Or I wouldn't say it." "You just have to watch around the hips a little." "I want you to look at my figure, you know?" "I haven't put on one ounce in 1 0 years, stella." "I weigh now what I weighed the summer you left belle Reve." "The summer Dad died and you left us." "It's just incredible, BIanche, how well you look." "Sure you wouldn't like another?" "well...." "well, maybe I will just take one tiny nip more." "Just to put the stopper on, so to speak." "Now, don't get worried." "Your sister hasn't turned into a drunkard." "She's just all shaken up and hot and dirty and tired." "Waiter." "Waiter." "You want it hot?" "ScaIding." "stella." "What is it, hon?" "There's only two rooms." "I don't see where you're gonna put me." "We'II put you right here." "What kind of a bed's this?" "One of those collapsible beds?" "feel all right?" "wonderful, honey." "I don't like a bed that gives much." "stella, there's no door between the two rooms, and StanIey" "will it be decent?" "Oh, stanley's polish, you know." "Oh, yeah." "Something like Irish, isn't it?" "well...." "I bought some nice clothes to meet all your lovely friends in." "well...." "I'm afraid you won't think they're lovely." "well, anyway, I bought nice clothes and I'II wear them." "I guess you're hoping I'II say I'II put up at a hotel." "I'm not going to put up at a hotel." "I've got to be near you, stella." "I've got to be with people." "I can't be alone because...." "Because as you must have noticed, I" "I'm not very well." "You do seem a little...." "will stanley like me or will I just be a visiting in-Iaw?" "I couldn't stand that, stella." "You'II get along fine together." "If you just try not to compare him" "Oh, he was an officer?" "He was master sergeant in the Engineers Corps, decorated four times." "He had those on when you met him?" "I assure you I wasn't just blinded by all the brass." "Oh, that's not what I" "Of course, there" "There were things to adjust myself to later on." "Such as his civilian background." "How did he take it when you said I was coming?" "Oh, he's on the road a good deal." "Oh, he travels?" "Good." "I mean, isn't it?" "I can hardly stand it when he's away for a night." "Oh, stella." "When he's away for a week, I nearly go wild." "Gracious." "When he comes back I cry in his lap like a baby." "I guess that's what's meant by being in love." "stella." "I haven't asked you the things you probably thought I was going to ask so I'II expect you to be understanding about what I have to tell you." "What, BIanche?" "You're going to reproach me." "I know you're bound to reproach me, but before you do take into consideration you left." "I stayed and struggled." "You came to New orleans and looked out for yourself." "I stayed at belle Reve and tried to hold it together." "Oh, I'm not meaning this in any reproachfuI way." "But the burden descended on my shoulders." "Best I couId do was make my own living." "But you were the one that abandoned belle Reve, not I." "I fought for it, bled for it, almost died for it." "Stop this outburst." "tell me what happened." "I knew you'd take this attitude about it." "About what?" "please!" "The loss." "The loss." "belle Reve?" "Lost, is it?" "Yes, stella." "But how did it go?" "What happened?" "You're a fine one to ask me how it went." "blanche." "You're a fine one to stand there accusing me of it." "I won't stay in this house." "blanche!" "blanche." "I, I, I took the blows on my face and my body." "AII of those deaths, the Iong parade to the graveyard." "Father, Mother, Margaret, that dreadful way...." "You just came home in time for funerals, stella." "And funerals are pretty compared to deaths." "How do you think all that sickness and dying was paid for?" "Death is expensive, Miss stella." "And I, with my pitiful salary at the school...." "Yes, accuse me." "Stand there and stare at me, thinking I let the place go." "I let the place go?" "Where were you?" "In there with your PoIack." "blanche, be still." "That's enough." "stella." "stella, you're crying?" "Does that surprise you?" "Mitch, we gonna play at your house tomorrow?" "No, not at my house." "My mother's still sick." "AII right, you bring the beer." "Break it up down there." "I made that spaghetti dish and ate it myself." "Now, honey, I told you and told you we were playing Jack's beer." "What's so funny?" "You never phoned me once." "I told you at breakfast." "I phoned you at lunch." "Why don't you get yourself in here!" "Where do you want it, in the newspapers?" "I'm sick and tired of chasing you." "You must be stanley." "I'm blanche." "Oh, you're stella's sister." "Yes." "Oh, hiya." "Yeah, where's the little woman?" "In the bathroom." "well, where you from, BIanche?" "Why, I...." "I Iive in AurioI." "In AurioI." "AurioI, huh?" "Oh, yeah, that's right." "AurioI." "That's not my territory." "Man, liquor goes fast in the hot weather." "You want a shot?" "No, I rarely touch it." "well, there's some people that rarely touch it, but it touches them often." "Mind if I make myself comfortable?" "My shirt is sticking" "please." "please do." ""Be comfortable." That's my motto, where I come from." "It's mine too." "It's hard to stay looking fresh in hot weather." "Why, I haven't washed or even powdered and here you are." "You know, you gotta be careful." "You sitting around in a damp thing, you catch a cold." "especially when you been exercising hard, Iike bowling is." "well, you're the teacher, aren't you?" "Yes." "What do you teach?" "english." "well, I never was a very good english student." "How long you here for?" "Why, I don't know yet." "You gonna shack up here?" "I thought I would, if it's not inconvenient for you all." "Good." "traveling wears me out." "well, take it easy." "What was that?" "Oh, those cats." "Hey, stella." "What did you do, fall asleep in there?" "well, I guess I'm gonna strike you as being the unrefined type, huh?" "You know, stella spoke a good deal about you." "She said you were married once, weren't you?" "Yes." "When I was quite young." "Yeah?" "What happened?" "Yeah?" "What happened?" "The boy...." "The boy died." "I'm afraid I" "I'm going to be sick." "Fresh fish!" "Fresh fish!" "Fresh fish!" "Looks like she's fixing to stay a while." "Yeah." "Hey, Stan, are we playing tonight?" "Yeah." "well, I figured maybe we" "Forget about maybe." "It's the same." "stanley!" "Oh, hi, Steve." "Put it down." "Now I'II go get the other one?" "Yes." "Thanks, darling." "stella?" "Yes?" "Is that stanley back with my trunk?" "Yes, BIanche." "Honey..." "...will you get my little blue net out for me?" "AII right, BIanche." "It was so good of stanley to call for my trunk." "He was glad to do it." "I'II see you later." "AII right." "Listen, don't forget." "Honey, I'm taking blanche to GaIatoire's for supper tonight and then to a show because it's your poker night." "How about my supper?" "I'm not going to GaIatoire's tonight." "I put you a cold plate on ice." "I'm gonna try to keep blanche out until the party breaks up..." "...because I don't know how she'II take it." "Isn't that just dandy?" "So you'd better give me some money." "Hey, where is she now?" "She's soaking in a hot tub to quiet her nerves." "She's terribly upset." "Over what?" "She's been through such an ordeal." "We lost belle Reve." "What, the place in the country?" "well, how?" "It had to be sacrificed or something." "Honey, look." "When she comes in, be sure and say something nice about her appearance." "And, oh, don't mention the baby." "I haven't said anything yet." "I'm waiting until she gets in a quieter condition." "Try to understand her and be nice to her." "AII right." "She wasn't expecting to find us in such a place." "AII right." "I tried to gloss things over a little in my letters." "Admire her dress." "tell her she's looking wonderful." "It's important to blanche." "Her little weakness." "Okay, honey, I get the idea, but...." "Now, Iet's just skip back a little, the way you said the place was disposed of." "Oh, yeah." "well, how about a few more details on that subject?" "Honey, look, it's best not to talk much about it until she's calmed down." "Is that gonna be the deal?" "Sister blanche can't be annoyed with details right now?" "well, you saw how she was last night." "I saw how she was." "Now, Iet's cop a gander at the bill of sale." "I haven't seen any." "What do you mean?" "She didn't show you papers, deed of sale, nothing like that?" "Seemed like it wasn't sold." "well, now, what was it, then?" "Giveaway to charity?" "She'II hear you." "I don't care if she hears me." "Now, Iet's see the papers." "Honey, there weren't any papers." "She didn't show any papers." "I don't care about papers." "Wait." "Now, listen, did you ever hear of the napoleonic Code, stella?" "I haven't heard of the napoleonic Code." "AII right." "Okay, then." "Let me enlighten you on a point or two." "Yes?" "Now, we got here in the state of Louisiana what's known as the napoleonic Code." "According to which, what belongs to the wife belongs to the husband also and vice versa." "will you listen." "Take, for instance, I had that piece of property" "My head is swimming." "Oh, well, all right, dear." "Okay." "We'II wait till she's through soaking in the hot tub then I'm gonna inquire if she's acquainted with the napoleonic Code." "Oh, stanley, don't be so silly." "It looks to me like you been swindled." "And when you get swindled under NapoIeonic Code, I get swindled too." "I don't like to get swindled." "Oh, stanley you've no idea how ridiculous you're being when you suggest that my sister  or I or anyone else of our family could have perpetrated a swindle on anyone." "Oh, come on, now." "Where's the money if the place was sold?" "Not sold." "Lost!" "Lost." "Come here." "stanley." "will you just open your eyes to this stuff?" "What, she got this out of teacher's pay?" "Oh, hush." "will you look at these fine feathers and furs that she comes to preen herself in here?" "What is this article?" "That's a soIid-goId dress, I believe." "Oh, honest." "This one here." "What is that, a fox piece?" "stanley!" "A genuine fur fox a half a mile long." "Where are your fox pieces?" "This is bushy snow-white ones, no less." "Where are your white fox furs?" "Those are inexpensive summer furs that blanche has had a Iong time." "I have an acquaintance who deals in this sort of merchandise." "He's coming to make an appraisal." "Don't be such an idiot, stanley." "Listen, I'm gonna bet you there's a thousand dollars invested in this stuff." "well, now, what is that?" "That's the treasure chest of a pirate?" "Oh, stanley." "would you--?" "That's pearls, stella." "Ropes of them." "What is this sister of yours, a deep-sea diver?" "bracelets, solid gold." "Where are your pearls and gold bracelets?" "Be still, stanley." "And here." "Diamonds." "A crown for an empress." "A rhinestone tiara she wore to a costume ball." "What is rhinestone?" "Next door to glass." "Yeah." "I have an acquaintance who works in a jewelry store and he's coming to make an appraisal of that stuff." "Here's your plantation fella, right here." "You know I" " Stupid and horrid." "You stay away from these things before she comes out of the bathroom." "The KowaIskis and the DuBois got a different notion on this." "Indeed they have, thank heavens." "I'm going outside." "Go ahead." "You come on out with me while blanche is getting dressed." "Now, since when are you giving me orders?" "Are you gonna stay here and insult her?" "You bet your life I'm gonna stay here." "hello, stanley." "Here I am, all freshly bathed and scented and feeling like a brand-new human being." "Oh, that's good." "will you excuse me while I put on my pretty new dress?" "Go ahead." "Thank you." "I understand there's to be a little card party here tonight to which we ladies are cordially not invited." "That's right." "Where--?" "Where is stella?" "She's out there on the porch." "I'm going to ask a favor of you in a moment." "well, now, what's that gonna be, I wonder." "Some buttons in back." "You may enter." "How do I Iook?" "You look okay." "well, thanks." "Now the button." "well, I can't do no more with them." "You men with your big, clumsy fingers." "May I have a drag on your cig?" "Yeah, have one for yourself." "Why, thank you." "It" "It looks like my trunk has exploded." "Me and stella was helping you unpack." "You certainly did a fast and thorough job of it." "well, certainly looks like you raided some stylish shops in Paris, BIanche." "clothes are my passion." "How much does it cost for a string of furs like that?" "Why, these were a tribute from an admirer of mine." "He must have had a Iot of admiration." "In my youth I excited some admiration, but look at me now." "would you think it possible that I was once considered to be attractive?" "Your looks are okay." "I was fishing for a compliment." "I don't go for that stuff." "What stuff?" "compliments to women about looks." "I never met a dame yet didn't know if she was good-Iooking or not without being told." "And some of them give themselves credit for more than they've got." "I once went out with a dame who told me, "I'm the glamorous type."" "She says, "I am the glamorous type." I says, "So what?"" "And what did she say then?" "She didn't say nothing." "That shut her up like a clam." "Did it end the romance?" "well, it ended the conversation, that was all." "There's some men that are took in by this hollywood glamour stuff..." "...and there's some men that aren't." "You belong in the second category." "That's right." "I cannot imagine any witch of a woman..." "...casting a spell over you." "That's right." "You're simple, straightforward and honest." "A little bit on the primitive side, I should think." "To interest you a woman would have to" "To lay her cards on the table." "well, I never did care for wishy-washy people." "That was why when you walked in last night, I said to myself:" ""My sister has married a man." Of course." "That was all I couId teII" "How about cutting the rebop!" "stanley!" "Come on outside with me and let blanche finish dressing." "I'm finished dressing." "Then come on out." "Your sister and I are having a talk." "Honey run to the drugstore and get me a lemon Coke with chipped ice." "will you do that for me, sweetie, please?" "please." "AII right." "Poor thing was out there listening to us." "And I have an idea she doesn't understand you as well as I do." "AII right now, Mr. KowaIski, Iet us proceed without any more digression." "I'm ready to answer all questions." "I have nothing to hide." "What is it?" "In the state of Louisiana we got here what's known as the napoleonic Code." "According to which, what belongs to the wife belongs to the husband and vice versa." "My, but you have an impressive judicial air." "You know, if I didn't know that you was my wife's sister, I would get ideas about you." "Such as what?" "Don't play so dumb." "You know what." "AII right." "Cards on the table." "I know I fib a good deal." "After all, a woman's charm is 50 percent illusion." "But when a thing is important I tell the truth." "And this is the truth:" "I never cheated my sister, or you, or anyone else on earth as long as I lived." "Where are the papers, in your trunk?" "Everything I own is in that trunk." "What are you thinking of?" "What's in the back of that little boy's mind of yours?" "Let me do that." "It'II be faster and simple." "I keep my papers mostly in this tin box." "What are those underneath?" "Those are love letters yellowing with antiquity..." "...all from one boy." "Give those back." "I'm just gonna have a look." "The touch of your hands insults them." "Now, don't pull that stuff." "Now that you've touched them, I'II burn them." "What are they?" "Poems a dead boy wrote." "I hurt him the way that you would Iike to hurt me." "But you can't." "I'm not young and vulnerable anymore, but my young husband was, and I...." "Never mind about that." "Just give them back to me." "Thank you." "What'd you mean by saying you have to burn them up?" "I'm sorry." "I must have lost my head for a moment." "Everyone has something they won't let others touch because of their" "Their intimate nature." "AmbIer and AmbIer." "Crabtree." "More AmbIer and AmbIer." "What's AmbIer and AmbIer?" "A firm that made loans on the place." "It was lost on a mortgage." "That must have been what happened." "I don't want if, ands or buts." "What's the rest of the papers?" "There are thousands of papers stretching back over hundreds of years affecting belle Reve as piece by piece, our improvident grandfathers exchanged the land for their epic debauches to put it mildly." "until finally, all that was Ieft-- And stella can verify that." "was the house itself." "And about 20 acres of ground, including a graveyard to which now all but stella and I have retreated." "Here they are, all of them." "AII papers." "I hereby endow you with them." "Take them, peruse them, commit them to memory, even." "I think it's wonderfully fitting that belie Reve should finally be this bunch of old papers in your big, capable hands." "I wonder if stella's come back with my lemon Coke." "I got a lawyer acquaintance, we'II study this out." "Present them to him with a box of aspirin tablets." "Under the napoleonic Code a man has got to take an interest in his wife's affairs." "And I mean especially now that she's gonna have a baby." "stella?" "stella, going to have a baby?" "I didn't know she was going to have a baby." "stella." "Oh, stella for star, how lovely to have a baby." "Honey, everything's all right." "We thrashed it out." "I feel a bit shaky, but I think I handled it nicely." "I laughed and treated it all as a joke." "I laughed and called him a little boy and flirted." "Here." "I was flirting with your husband, stella." "The guests are gathering for the poker party." "Hi, stella." "Hi, Steve." "I'm sorry he did that to you." "Why, I guess he's just not the type that goes for jasmine perfume." "But maybe he's what we need to mix with our blood now that we've lost belle Reve and have to go on without belle Reve to protect us." "Oh, how pretty the sky is." "I ought to go there on a rocket that never comes down." "Which way do we go now, stella?" "This way?" "No, hon, this way." "The blind are leading the blind." "Red hots!" "Are you going upstairs and tell her to cut that out?" "If I go up, I won't come down." "Let's just forget it." "Remember that night she poured boiling water through them cracks in the floor?" "I gotta go home pretty soon." "Come on, what do you say?" "No, I'm out." "Every time you win a big pot, you're out like stout." "I got a sick mother and she don't go to sleep..." "...until I get in." "What do you say?" "I'm gonna wash up." "stella?" "Yes, Eunice?" "You tell them guys the kettle's on the stove." "I'm gonna break up the game." "What did she mean by that?" "She'II pour it straight through the cracks." "stella, wait." "Wait till I powder." "I feel so hot and frazzled." "Do I Iook done in?" "You look as fresh as a daisy." "One that's been picked a few days." "Why don't someone go to the Chinaman's and bring back a load of chop suey?" "I'm losing and you want to eat." "well, I see you boys are still at it." "Where you been?" "blanche and I took in a show." "BIanche, honey, this is Mr. GonzaIez and Mr. HubbeII." "How do you do?" "please don't get up." "Nobody's getting up here, so don't get worried." "Poker is so fascinating." "could I kibitz?" "You could not." "Why don't you women go on up to Eunice's?" "How long is this game going to continue?" "till we get ready to quit." "You should call it quits after one more hand." "Go up to Eunice's." "Hey, that's my coat." "That's not fun, stanley." "It makes me so mad when he does that in front of people." "I think I'II go bathe." "Again?" "My nerves are in knots." "Is the bathroom occupied?" "I don't know." "Oh, good evening." "Oh, hello." "BIanche, this is harold mitchell." "This is my sister, BIanche DuBois." "How do you do." "How do you do, Miss DuBois." "How's your mother now, Mitch?" "Oh, she's about the same, thanks." "She appreciated your sending over that custard." "Oh, excuse me, please." "Excuse me." "That one seems superior to the others." "Does he?" "I thought he had a sort of sensitive look." "His mother's sick." "Is he married?" "No." "Is he a wolf?" "Why, BIanche." "well, no, I don't think he would be." "What does he do?" "He's on the Precision Bench in the Spare Parts Department." "The plant that stanley travels for." "Is that something much?" "No." "stanley's the only one in his crowd likely to get any work." "Hey, BIanche, you're standing in the light." "Am I?" "Gracious." "You ought to see their wives." "Oh, I can imagine." "Big, beefy things, I suppose." "Do you know that one upstairs?" "Oh, yes." "well, one night...." "And the pIaster--!" "Hey, you hens!" "Cut out that cackling in there." "You can't hear us." "well, you can hear me, and I told you to hush up." "stella." "Look, this is my house and I'II talk as much as I want to." "stella, don't start a row." "Oh, he's haIf-drunk." "I'II be out in a minute." "What do you say, Mitch?" "Come on, Mitch, are you in?" "No, I'm out." "Who turned that on in there?" "I did." "Do you mind?" "well, turn it off!" "Come on, will you?" "Let the girls have their music?" "stanley!" "There you are." "I didn't hear you name it!" "Didn't I name it, Mitch?" "I wasn't listening." "What were you doing?" "He was looking through the drapes." "I was looking through no drapes." "We're gonna play." "We're gonna deal this hand again, play cards or quit." "deal me out." "AII right, this game's gonna be Spit in the Ocean." "Yes?" "hello." "Excuse me." "The little boy's room is occupied right now." "Oh, excuse me." "Have you got any cigs?" "Oh, sure." "Oh, what a" " What a pretty case." "silver?" "Yes." "Yes, read the inscription." "Oh, there is an inscription." "Why, I can't make it out." ""And if God choose I shall but love thee better after death."" "Why, that's from my favorite sonnet by Mrs. Browning." "Why, you know it." "certainly, I do." "well, there's a story connected with this inscription." "It sounds like a romance." "No, no, it's a pretty sad one." "The girl's dead now." "She knew she was dying when she give me this." "A very strange girl, very sweet." "Very...." "She must have been very fond of you." "Sick people have such deep, sincere attachments." "That's right." "They certainly do." "Sorrow makes for sincerity, I think." "It sure brings it out in people." "The little there is belongs to people who have known some sorrow." "I believe you're right about that." "Oh, I'm positive I am." "Hey, Mitch!" "deal me out." "I'm talking to Miss--?" "DuBois." "DuBois." "It's a French name." "It means "woods," and blanche means "white"  so the two together mean "white woods"  like an orchard in spring." "You can remember it by that if you care to." "You are stella's sister, are you not?" "Yes." "stella is my precious little sister." "I call her little in spite of the fact that she's somewhat older than I am." "Oh, just slightly." "Less than a year." "will you do something for me?" "Sure." "Yes, what?" "I bought this adorable little paper lantern at a Chinese shop on Bourbon." "Put it over the light bulb." "will you, please?" "I'd be glad to." "I can't stand a naked light bulb any more than I can a rude remark or a vulgar action." "well, I guess we strike you as being a pretty rough bunch." "I'm very adaptable to circumstances." "well, that's a good way to be." "You're not--?" "Married?" "Oh, no." "No, I'm an old maid schoolteacher." "You may be a schoolteacher, but you're certainly not an old maid." "Why, thank you, sir." "I appreciate your gallantry." "So you're in the teaching profession." "Yes." "Yes." "Grade school or high schooI--?" "Hey, Mitch!" "Coming!" "Gracious, what lung power." "I teach high school in AurioI." "well, what do you teach?" "What subject?" "You guess." "well, I bet you teach art or music." "well, of course, I couId be wrong." "You might teach arithmetic." "Never arithmetic, sir." "Never arithmetic." "I don't know my multiplication tables." "Nope." "I have the misfortune of being an english instructor." "I attempt to instill a bunch of bobbysoxers and drugstore Romeos with a reverence for Hawthorne and Whitman and Poe." "well, I bet some of them are more interested in other things." "How very right you are." "Their literary heritage is not what they treasure above all else." "But they're sweet things and in the spring it's touching to notice them making their first discovery of love as if nobody had ever known it before." "Sorry." "Oh, excuse me, excuse me." "Have you finished?" "Oh, yes." "Yes, I have." "Wait, wait." "I'II turn on the radio." "Turn on the light above now." "Oh, look." "We've made enchantment." "Three bullets, mustache." "Straight!" "I gotcha!" "stanley!" "stanley!" "What are you doing with the radio?" "Drunk!" "Drunk animal thing!" "Get out!" "Hey!" "Go on, get out!" "Hey!" "Let go of her!" "My sister is gonna have a baby!" "You come on up to my place, honey." "Sister, did he hurt you, darling?" "Poker should not be played in a house with women." "AII right, take it easy, will you?" "Look out." "Get him in that shower." "Look out." "Get him in that shower, I said!" "Come on, all right." "Get his feet, will you?" "Get his feet!" "Grab his feet, come on, take it easy." "Come on, boy." "Get under there." "Come on." "Get under there." "There you go." "How do you feel, Stan?" "stanley, wake up!" "Hey, stanley!" "We ought to get his clothes off and" "Hey!" "What do you think--!" "Poker should not be played in a house with women!" "Come on!" "Hey!" "Where's Steve?" "Come on." "Wait." "Come here." "Take it easy." "stella." "stella." "Honey?" "Hey, stella?" "Honey, where are you?" "stella?" "Hey, baby...." "Look, you can sleep over here, stella." "BIanche can have Steve's place." "He ain't coming home tonight if he knows what's good for him." "Is my baby up there?" "I want her" "Look, she ain't coming down and she ain't gonna talk to you neither so you might just as well not call her!" "Hey, stella!" "You quit that howling down there and go to bed!" "Eunice, I want my girl down here!" "You shut up!" "You're gonna get the Iaw on you." "stella!" "You can't beat on a woman and then call her back." "You're gonna have a baby." "I hope they haul you in, turn a fire hose on you Iike the Iast time!" "I want my girl down here!" "You stinker!" "Hey, stella!" "Hey, stella!" "I wouldn't mix in this." "Don't ever leave me, baby." "BIanche, come back!" "Miss DuBois?" "Miss DuBois?" "AII quiet along the Potomac now?" "She ran down here and went back in there with him." "Sure she did." "I'm terrified." "Nothing to be scared of." "They're crazy about each other." "It's a shame this had to happen when you got here." "violence is so" "Sit down on the steps..." "...and have a cigarette with me." "Why I'm not properly dressed." "well, that don't make no difference in the Quarter." "Such a pretty silver case." "I showed you the inscription, didn't I?" "Yes." "So much" "So much confusion in the world." "Thank you for being so kind." "I need kindness now." "Bananas!" "Bananas!" "stella?" "stella." "Oh, my baby." "My baby sister." "Why, angel, what's the matter with you?" "He left?" "Stan?" "will he be back?" "He's gone to get the car greased, why?" "Why?" "I've been haIf-crazy, stella." "How could you come back to this place last night?" "please, BIanche." "He was as good as a lamb when I came back." "He's really very, very ashamed of himself." "And that...." "That makes it all right?" "No." "stanley's always smashed things." "On our wedding night, as soon as we came in here he snatched off one of my slippers and rushed about the place smashing the light bulbs with it." "He did what?" "He smashed all the light bulbs with the heel of my slipper." "And you let him?" "Didn't run, didn't scream?" "I was sort of thrilled by it." "Eunice and you had breakfast?" "Oh, do you suppose I wanted any breakfast?" "You're so matter-of-fact about it all, stella." "What other can I be?" "He's taken the radio to get it fixed." "It didn't land on the pavement, so only one tube was smashed." "And you standing there smiling." "What do you want me to do?" "pull yourself together." "Face the facts." "What are they in your opinion?" "In my opinion, you're married to a madman." "I've got a plan for us both, to get us both out of here." "I wish you'd stop taking it for granted I'm in something I wanna get out of." "I take it you have sufficient memory of belle Reve to find this place and these poker players impossible to live with." "You take too much for granted." "I can't believe you're in earnest." "No?" "I understand what happened a little." "You saw him first in uniform, an officer, not here." "I'm not sure it makes any difference where I saw him." "What you're talking about is desire, just brutal desire." "The name of that rattIetrap streetcar that bangs through the Quarter." "Up one old, narrow street and down another." "Haven't you ever ridden on that streetcar?" "It brought me here." "Where I'm not wanted and where I'm ashamed to be." "Don't you think your superior attitude's a little out of place?" "A man like that" "I told you I Iove him." "I tremble for you, I just tremble!" "Hi, stanley." "Hi." "May I speak plainly?" "Yes, do." "Go ahead, as plainly as you want to." "well, if you'II forgive me he's common." "Yes, I suppose he is." "Suppose?" "surely you can't have forgotten that much of our upbringing, stella that you just suppose there's any part of a gentleman in his nature." "Oh, you're hating me saying this, aren't you?" "Go on and say it all, BIanche." "He's like an animal." "Has an animal's habits." "There's even something subhuman about him." "Thousands of years have passed him right by and there he is StanIey KowaIski, survivor of the Stone Age." "Bearing the raw meat home from the kill in the jungle." "And you you here waiting for him." "Maybe he'II strike you or maybe grunt and kiss you." "That's if kisses have been discovered yet." "His "poker night," you call it." "His party of apes?" "Maybe we are a Iong way from being made in God's image." "But, stella, my sister there's been some progress since then." "Such things as art, as poetry, as music." "In some kinds of people some tenderer feelings have had some little beginning that we have got to make grow and to cling to and to hold as our flag in this dark march toward whatever it is we're approaching." "Don't, don't hang back with the brutes." "Hey, SteII?" "Hey, SteII?" "Hiya." "Hi." "Is blanche back yet?" "Yeah, she's back." "Oh, hi there, BIanche." "You look like you got under the car." "That jerk mechanic down at Fritz's doesn't know his axle grease from third base." "Hey!" "Don't throw that thing at me!" "Eunice!" "You brick redhead, I'II play with you!" "You wanna play with me, I'II play games with you!" "That's just what I gave your brother, you big redhead!" "He hit me!" "And I'm gonna call the police!" "Some of your sister's friends have stayed in the city." "Did Eunice get the police?" "No, she's getting a drink..." "...at the Four Deuces." "That's much more practical." "BIanche is making us some new slipcovers, honey." "Hey, is she here?" "She went to the Four Deuces." "That no-good, rotten...." "Hey, stella, I can't find my other pair of shoes." "We cleaned in there." "I'II get them." "I can't find nothing around this dump anymore." "Oh, stanley!" "What sign were you born under?" "What sign?" "astrological sign." "I bet you were born under Aries." "Aries people are forceful, dynamic, they dote on noise." "They love to bang things around." "stanley was born just five minutes after Christmas." "Capricorn, the goat!" "Say do you happen to know somebody named Shaw?" "Why" " Why, everybody knows someone by the name of Shaw." "well, this somebody named Shaw is under the impression that he met you in AurioI." "I figure he must have got you mixed up with some other party because this other party is somebody that he met at a hotel called the flamingo." "Why, I guess he does have me mixed up with this other party." "The hotel flamingo is not a place that I would dare to be seen in." "Oh, you know it then?" "I've seen it and smelled it." "You must've got pretty close if you could smell it." "The odor of cheap perfume is penetrating." "Is that stuff you use expensive?" "twelve dollars an ounce." "I'm nearly out." "That's just a hint if you want to remember my birthday." "I figure that he must have got you mixed up but he goes in and out of AurioI all the time so he can check and clear up any mistake." "I'II see you at the Four Deuces." "I'm going." "Hey, don't I rate a kiss?" "No, not in front of your sister." "Don't cry." "I only do that with other girls because I Iove you, baby." "Don't cry." "stella." "You still scared of thunder?" "What have you heard about me?" "What have people been telling you about me?" "telling?" "You haven't heard any unkind gossip about me?" "Why, no, BIanche." "Of course not." "Honey, there was quite a Iot of talk in AurioI." "people talk, who cares?" "I haven't been so awfully good the Iast year or so, since...." "Since belle Reve started to slip through my fingers." "Honey, all of us do things" "I never was hard or seIf-sufficient enough." "Soft peopIe" "Soft people have got to court the favor of hard ones, stella." "You've got to shimmer and glow." "I don't know how much longer I can turn the trick." "It isn't enough to be soft." "You've got to be soft and attractive." "And I...." "I'm fading now." "Have you been listening to me?" "I never listen to you when you're being morbid." "Is that Coke for me?" "Not for anyone else." "You precious lamb." "Is it just a Coke?" "You mean you want a shot in it?" "Honey, a shot never did a Coke any harm." "Oh, Iet me." "You mustn't wait on me." "I Iike to wait on you, BIanche." "It makes it seem more like home." "I have to admit, I" "I Iove to be waited on." "BIanche." "blanche, honey, what is it?" "Oh, you're so good to me, and I" "Now, BIanche." "I know you hate me to talk sentimental but believe me, honey, I feel more than I tell you." "I won't stay long, I won't." "I promise." "Now, BIanche." "I'II go." "I'II go soon." "I won't hang around till he throws me out." "Now, will you stop talking foolish?" "Yes." "only watch how you pour it!" "Heavens." "Right on my pretty..." "...pink skirt." "Here." "Use my hankie." "blot gently." "I know." "gently gently gently." "Did it stain?" "No." "No, not a bit." "Isn't that lucky?" "Why did you scream like that?" "I don't know why I screamed." "Mitch...." "Mitch is coming at 7." "I guess I'm a little nervous about our relations." "He hasn't gotten anything more than a good-night kiss." "That's all I've given him." "I want his respect." "And men don't want anything they get too easy." "On the other hand, men lose interest quickly, especially when a girl is over" "Over 30." "When I mentioned marriage they even forgot where I lived, so" "So, you see, I haven't informed him of my real age." "Honey, why are you so sensitive about your age?" "Because of hard knocks my vanity has been given." "What I mean is, he thinks I'm sort of prim and proper, you know." "I want to deceive him just enough to make him want me." "darling do you want him?" "I want to rest." "I want to breathe quietly again." "Yes, I want Mitch." "Very badly." "Just think, if it happens I can go away from here and not be anyone's problem." "BIanche, it will happen." "It will?" "It will, honey, it will." "only, don't take another drink." "Hey, Steve!" "Eunice!" "SteII!" "Oh, get away!" "Get away!" "Put me down!" "Oh, you--!" "Hiya, honey!" "Let go!" "Oh, me." "Oh, me." "Oh, me." "Come in." "Evening, ma'am." "well, well." "What can I do for you?" "well, I'm collecting for the Evening Star." "I didn't know that stars took up collections." "No, it's a paper, ma'am." "I know." "I was joking." "FeebIy." "will you--?" "will you have a drink?" "No, ma'am." "No, thank you." "I can't drink on the job." "well, now, Iet me see." "No, no." "I don't have a dime." "I'm not the lady of the house." "I'm her sister from Mississippi." "I'm one of those poor relations you've heard tell about." "Oh, that's all right, ma'am." "I'II come back later." "Hey." "Have you...?" "Have you got a light?" "Sure." "This doesn't always work." "It's temperamental." "Why, thanks." "Thank you." "Hey." "What...?" "What time is it?" "Fifteen of 7." "So late?" "Don't you love these long, rainy afternoons in New orleans when an hour isn't just an hour but a little piece of eternity dropped in our hands and who knows what to do with it?" "You" "You didn't get caught in the rain?" "No, ma'am." "I stepped inside." "In a drugstore and had a soda." "chocolate?" "No, ma'am." "Cherry." "Cherry." "Cherry." "You make my mouth water." "I guess I...." "Young man." "Young young young man." "Did anyone ever tell you, you look like a young prince out of the Arabian Nights?" "You do, honey lamb." "Come here." "Come on over here, Iike I told you." "I want to kiss you just once softly and sweetly on your mouth." "Run away now, quickly." "It'd be nice to keep you but I've got to be good and keep my hands off children." "Why, look who's here." "My Rosenkavalier." "Oh, bow to me first." "Now, présentez." "Hiya, Mitch." "I'm afraid you haven't had much fun out of this evening, BIanche." "I spoiled it for you." "No, you didn't." "I simply couldn't rise to the occasion, that was all." "I don't think I've ever tried so hard to be gay and made such a dismal mess of it." "I get ten points for trying." "I did try." "hello, moon." "I'm looking for the pleiades the Seven Sisters but these girls aren't out tonight." "Oh, yes, they are." "There they are, God bless them." "AII in a bunch, going home from their little bridge party." "May I kiss you?" "Why do you always ask me if you may?" "I don't know if you want me to or not." "Why should you be so doubtful?" "We parked by the lake, and I kissed you" "Honey, it wasn't the kiss I objected to." "I liked the kiss very much." "It was the other little familiarity that I felt obliged to discourage." "Not that I resented it, not a bit in the world." "In fact, I was somewhat flattered that you desired me." "But, honey, you know as well as I do that a single girl, a girl alone in the world has got to keep a firm hold on her emotions..." "...or she'II be lost." "Lost?" "I guess you're used to the type of girl that likes to be lost." "I Iike you to be exactly the way that you are because in all my experience, I have never known anyone like you." "Are you laughing at me?" "No." "No, honey." "I'm not laughing at you." "well, come on, Iet's finish our nightcap." "You've been so anxious and solemn all evening." "We've both been anxious and solemn." "And now for these last few remaining moments of our lives together I want to create joie de vivre." "I'm lighting this candle." "That's good." "We're going to be very bohemian." "We are gonna pretend we're sitting in a little artists' cafe on the Left Bank in Paris." "Understand French?" "No, no, I don't understand French." "well, why don't you sit down." "Take off your coat." "Loosen your collar." "No, I better leave it on." "No." "I want you to be comfortable." "No, I'm ashamed of the way I perspire." "My shirt is sticking to me." "Perspiration is healthy." "If people didn't perspire, they would die in five minutes." "Oh, this is a nice coat." "What--?" "What material is it?" "They call this stuff alpaca." "Oh, alpaca." "It's very lightweight alpaca." "Oh, lightweight alpaca." "Yes." "I don't like to wear a watch coat even in the summer because I sweat through it." "And it don't look neat on me." "A man with a heavy build has to be careful of what he puts on so he don't look clumsy." "Why, you're not too heavy." "You don't think I am?" "You're not the delicate type." "You have a massive bone structure and a very imposing physique." "I thank you." "Last Christmas, I was given a membership to the New orleans Sports club." "Oh, good." "It was the finest present I was ever given." "I work out there with the weights and I swim." "I keep myself fit." "When I started there I was soft in the belly, but now my belly is hard." "It's so hard now a man can punch me in the belly and it don't hurt me." "Punch me." "Go ahead." "Go on." "Punch." "Come on." "Gracious." "See?" "BIanche." "BIanche." "Guess how much I weigh?" "Why, I'd say in the vicinity of 1 80 pounds." "No, guess again." "Not so much?" "No, more." "well?" "I weigh 207 pounds." "I'm 6' 1 " and one-haIf inches tall in my bare feet without shoes on, and that's what I weigh stripped." "Oh, my goodness, it's awe-inspiring." "well, my weight's not a very interesting subject to talk about." "What's yours?" "My weight?" "Yes." "You guess." "Let me lift you." "Samson." "Go on, lift me!" "Why, you're light as a feather." "You may release me now." "I said unhand me, sir." "Mitch, Mitch, we're in public." "Mitch, you must behave like a gentleman." "Just give me a slap whenever I step out of bounds." "It won't be necessary." "You're a natural gentleman." "One of the few left in the world." "I don't want you to think that I'm severe or oId-maid schooIteacherish or anything." "It's just, well, I" "I guess I have oId-fashioned ideals." "Where's stanley and stella tonight?" "I think they were planning to take in a midnight preview." "We all ought to go out together some night." "That wouldn't be a good plan." "Why not?" "You are an old friend of stanley's?" "We was together in the 241 st." "I guess he talks to you pretty frankly." "Sure." "Has he talked to you about me?" "No, not much." "The way you say that..." "..." "I suspect that he has." "He hasn't said much." "well, what he has said, what would you say his attitude toward me was?" "What makes you ask that?" "WeII" "Don't you get along with him?" "What do you think?" "I think he don't understand you." "That's putting it mildly." "surely he must have told you how much he hates me." "I don't think he hates you." "He hates me, or why would he insult me?" "Of course there is such a thing as the hostility of" "Perhaps in some strange kind of way, he...." "To think of it makes me...." "blanche." "Yes, honey?" "blanche, can I ask you a question?" "Yes, what?" "How old are you?" "What do you want to know that for?" "I talked to my mother about you and she said, "How old is blanche?"" "You talked to your mother about me?" "Yes." "Why?" "Because I told her how nice you were, and I liked you." "Were you sincere about that?" "You know I was." "Why did your mother want to know my age?" "My mother is sick, and" "Oh, I'm sorry to hear it." "badly?" "She won't live long maybe just a few months, and she worries because I'm not settled." "She wants to see me settled down before she...." "You love her very much, don't you?" "You'II be lonely when she passes on, won't you?" "I know what that means." "To be lonely?" "I Ioved someone once." "And the person I Ioved, I lost." "Dead?" "He was a boy." "Just a boy, when I was a very young girl." "When I was 1 6, I made the discovery:" "Love." "AII at once, and much much too completely." "It was like you suddenly turned a blinding light on something that had always been half in shadow." "That's how it struck the world for me." "But I was unlucky." "DeIuded." "There was something about the boy." "A nervousness, a tenderness an uncertainty." "And I didn't understand." "I didn't understand why this boy, who wrote poetry didn't seem able to do anything else." "He lost every job." "He came to me for help." "I didn't know that." "I didn't know anything except that I Ioved him unendurabIy." "At night I pretended to sleep." "I heard him crying." "Crying." "Crying the way a lost child cries." "I don't understand." "No." "No, neither did I." "And that's why I...." "I killed him." "You--?" "One night we drove out to a place called Moon Lake Casino." "We danced the Varsouviana." "suddenly, in the middle of the dance floor, the boy I had married broke away from me and ran out of the casino." "A few minutes later a shot." "I ran." "AII did." "AII ran and gathered about the terrible thing at the edge of the lake." "He'd stuck a revolver into his mouth and fired." "It was because on the dance floor unable to stop myself, I'd said:" ""You're weak." "I've lost respect for you." "I despise you."" "And then the searchlight which had been turned on the world was turned off again." "And never for one moment since, has there been any light stronger than...." "Than this yellow lantern." "You need somebody." "And I need somebody too." "could it be you and me, BIanche?" "Sometimes there's God so quickly." "You wanna mess with me, sonny boy, come on!" "AII right, turn him loose!" "You're gonna kill who?" "You don't even know when you're getting wised up." "You don't have to wise me up!" "Come on, here." "Come on, get to work here." "We gotta get going." "We got some bucks to make around here." "Go ahead and marry her, but hurry it up." "She's been in my house five months and her time is up." "hello, stanley." "Some canary bird." "AII right." "please tell me quietly just what you think you found out about my sister." "You know your sister blanche is no lily, don't you?" "What have you heard, and who from?" "You should know the line that she's been feeding to Mitch." "Our supply man at the plant's been going through AurioI for years." "He knows all about her." "And everybody else in the town of AurioI knows all about her." "She's as famous in AurioI as if she was the president of the United States only she's not respected by any party." "So she moved to a hotel called the flamingo which is a second-cIass hotel and has the advantages of not interfering with the private and social life of the personalities there." "Now, the flamingo is used to all kinds of goings on." "But even the management of the flamingo was impressed by Dame blanche." "In fact, they were so impressed that they requested her to turn in her room key for permanently." "And this happened a couple of weeks before she showed here." "Honey, I know how this is gonna upset you." "But listen, she pulled the wool over your eyes just as much as Mitch's." "Pure invention." "Not a word of truth in it." "Baby, listen." "I checked on every story." "The trouble was she couldn't put on her act anymore in AurioI because they wised up." "And after two, three days they quit, so she goes on to another one." "The same old line, the same old act and the same old hooey." "And as time went by, she became the town character regarded not just as different, but downright Ioco and nuts." "Which brings us to lie number two" "stella." "Baby, now" "She didn't resign temporarily because of her nerves." "She was kicked out before the spring term ended." "And, now, I hate to tell you the reason that step was taken." "A 1 7-year-oId kid she got mixed up with." "The boy's dad learned about it and he got in touch with the high school superintendent." "And it was practically a town ordinance passed against her." "stella!" "Yes, BIanche?" "Can I have another bath towel to dry my hair with?" "I just washed it." "Yes, honey." "What's the matter, honey?" "Matter, what?" "You have such a strange expression on your face." "I guess I'm a little tired, is" "well why don't you take a hot bath as soon as I get out?" "How soon is that gonna be, BIanche?" "Not so terribly long, possess your soul in patience." "It's not my soul I'm worried about." "well?" "How many candles you sticking in the cake?" "I stopped at 25." "You got company expected?" "We asked Mitch to come over." "well, don't expect Mitch over here tonight." "Why?" "Mitch is a buddy of mine." "We was together in the 241 st Engineers." "We work in the same plant, we're on the same bowling team!" "stanley KowaIski, did you repeat what that--?" "You bet I told him." "I would have that on my conscience if I knew all that and let my best friend get caught." "Is Mitch through with her?" "I don't know..." "...but he's wised up." "Mitch was gonna marry her!" "He's not gonna marry her now!" "He's not gonna jump into a tank with a school of sharks." "What'II she do?" "What on earth will she do?" "Oh, her future is mapped out for her." "What do you mean?" "Hey, toots!" "Canary bird, will you get out of the bathroom!" "I feel so good after a Iong, hot bath." "I feel so good and cool and rested." "Do you, BIanche?" "Yes, I do." "So refreshed." "Why, a hot bath and a Iong, cold drink always gives me a brand-new outlook on life." "What's the matter?" "What's happened." "What is it?" "Nothing's happened, BIanche." "You're lying." "Something has." "stanley?" "stanley, tell us a joke." "tell us a funny little story to make us all laugh." "I don't know what's the matter, we're all so solemn." "Is it because I've been stood up by my beau?" "First time in my experience with men-- And I've had a good deal of all sorts." "that I've been stood up by anyone." "I don't know how to take it." "tell us a funny little story, stanley." "Something to help us out." "I didn't think you liked my stories, BIanche." "I Iike them when they're amusing, but not indecent." "I don't know any refined enough for your taste." "well, then." "Let me tell one." "Yes, tell one, BIanche." "You used to know a Iot of good stories." "Now, Iet me see." "I have to run through my repertoire." "Oh, yes, I Iove parrot stories." "You all like parrot stories?" "This is about the old maid and the parrot." "This old maid, she had a parrot that cursed a blue streak and knew more vulgar expressions than Mr. KowaIski." "well, the only way to hush the parrot up was to put the cover" "Must be upstairs." "well, the only way to hush the parrot up was to put...." "Go on, BIanche." "No." "I don't think Mr. KowaIski will be amused." "Mr. KowaIski is too busy making a pig of himself to think of anything else." "Your face and your fingers are disgustingly greasy." "Go wash up and then help me clear the table." "Now, that's how I'm gonna clear the table." "Don't you ever talk that way to me." "Pig, PoIack, disgusting, vulgar, greasy." "Those words have been on your tongue and your sister's tongue just too much around here." "Who do you think you are, a pair of queens?" "Remember what Huey Long said:" "That every man's a king, and I'm the king around here." "And don't you forget it." "My place is all cleared up now." "You want me to clear yours?" "stella what happened while I was bathing?" "What did he tell you?" "Nothing." "Nothing, nothing, BIanche." "I think he told you about Mitch and me." "No." "You know why Mitch didn't come, but you won't tell." "No." "I'm gonna call him." "Don't call him!" "Yes, I am." "I'II call him on the phone." "BIanche, I wouldn't call him." "Got to be given some explanation from someone." "well, I hope you're pleased with your doings." "I never had so much trouble swallowing food in my Iife looking at that girl's face and that empty chair." "hello?" "I want to talk to Mr. mitchell, please." "I'd Iike to leave a number, if I may." "Honey." "TuIane-4947." "And say it's important to call, please." "Honey, it's gonna be all right after she goes and after you have the baby." "It's gonna be all right again between you and me, the way it was." "Remember how it was?" "It's gonna be so sweet when we can get them colored lights going with nobody's sister behind the curtains to hear us." "Steve and Eunice." "Come on back in." "BIanche?" "BIanche!" "Yes?" "Oh, come on, hon." "Oh, what pretty, pretty candles." "Don't burn them, stella." "I certainly will." "No." "You ought to save them for baby's birthdays." "Oh, I hope candles are gonna glow in his life." "I hope his eyes are gonna be like candles like two blue candIes" "Lining a white cake." "What poetry." "I shouldn't have called him." "Hey, BIanche!" "You know, it's hot in there with the steam from that bathroom!" "I said I was sorry three times!" "I take hot baths for my nerves." "Hydrotherapy, they call it." "You healthy PoIack, without a nerve in your body." "How can you possibly know what anxiety feels like?" "I am not a polack!" "people from poland are poles, they are not PoIacks!" "But what I am is 1 00 percent American!" "I'm born and raised in the greatest country on earth and I'm proud of it!" "And don't you ever call me a polack!" "That's for me, I'm sure!" "Just keep your seat." "I'm not so sure." "hello." "Stanley?" "Yeah, Mac." "Listen, Stanley...." "Take your hands off me, stella." "What's the matter with you?" "Why do you look at me with a pitying look?" "will you shut up!" "No, we got a noisy woman in the place." "I told you I don't want to bowl at riley's." "I had a little trouble with riley last week." "well, I'm the team captain, ain't I?" "AII right." "Then we're not gonna bowl at riley's." "We're gonna bowl at the West Side or at the Gate, and I'II see you." "Sister blanche I got a little birthday remembrance for you." "I hope that you Iike it." "Why, it's a" "That's a ticket back to AurioI on the bus." "Tuesday." "BIanche." "You didn't need to do that." "Don't forget all that I took off of her." "You didn't need to be so cruel to someone as alone as she is." "A delicate article, she is." "She is." "She was." "You didn't know blanche as a girl." "Nobody, nobody was as tender and as trusting as she was." "But people like you abused her and forced her to change." "Do you think you're going bowling now?" "That's right." "You're not going bowling." "Why did you do this to her?" "Let go of me." "I want to know why!" "tell me why!" "Hey, cool it!" "Listen, baby, when we first met, you and me, you thought I was common." "well, how right you was." "I was common as dirt." "You showed me a snapshot of a place with columns and I pulled you down off them columns and you loved it." "Having them colored lights going." "And wasn't we happy together?" "Wasn't it all okay till she showed here?" "Huh?" "Wasn't we happy together?" "Wasn't it all okay till she showed here?" "Hoity-toity, describing me like a ape." "stella?" "What's the matter with you?" "Honey, what's the matter with you?" "Honey, did I hurt you?" "Baby, what is it?" "Take me to the hospital." "Who is it, please?" "Me." "Me, Mitch." "Mitch." "Just a minute, please." "Coming." "Coming." "hello, Mitch." "You know, I really shouldn't let you in after the treatment I received from you." "So utterly uncavaIier." "But, hello, beautiful." "Oh, my, my, what a cold shoulder." "And what uncouth apparel." "Why, you haven't even shaved." "But I forgive you, because it's a relief to see you." "You stopped that polka tune I had in my head." "Ever get anything caught in your head?" "Of course not, you never get anything awful caught in your head." "We have to have that fan on?" "No." "I don't like fans." "well, Iet's turn it off, honey." "I'm not partial to them." "I don't know what there is to drink, I haven't investigated." "I don't want Stan's liquor." "It isn't Stan's!" "Some things on the premises are actually mine." "How's your mother?" "Is your mother well?" "Why?" "Something the matter with you." "But never mind." "I won't cross-examine the witness, I'II just pretend I didn't notice anything different." "It's that music again." "What music?" "The polka tune they were playing when allan...." "Wait." "There the shot." "It always stops after that." "Yes." "Now it's stopped." "Are you boxed out of your mind?" "Oh, I'II go and see what I can find in the way of...." "By the way, forgive me not being dressed." "I'd practically given you up." "Had you forgotten your invitation?" "I wasn't going to see you anymore." "Wait, I can't hear what you're saying." "You talk so seldom, when you do say anything I don't want to miss a single syllable of it." "What am I looking for around here?" "Oh, yes." "The liquor." "We've had so much excitement, I am boxed out of my mind." "Here's something." ""Southern Cheer."" "What can that be, I wonder?" "Take your foot off the bed." "It has a clean cover on it." "You boys wouldn't notice a thing like that." "I've done so much to this place since I" "Aren't you leaving here pretty soon now?" "I wonder if this ought to be mixed with something." "It's sweet, terribly sweet." "Why, I believe it's a liqueur." "Yes, that's what it is, a liqueur." "I don't think you'II like it, but try it." "Maybe you will." "I told you before I don't want any of his liquor, and I mean it." "He says you been lapping it up all summer like a wildcat." "I won't descend to the level of such a cheap accusation to answer" "What's in your mind?" "I see something in your eyes." "It's dark in here." "I Iike the dark." "The dark is comforting to me." "I've never seen you in the light." "That's a fact." "I've never seen you in the afternoon." "I met you at the plant in the afternoon." "Not on Sunday afternoon!" "You never wanna go out till after 6, then it's always someplace not lighted much." "Some obscure meaning in this I faiI to catch." "What it means is I've never had a real good look at you." "Let's turn the light on." "Light?" "What for?" "This one here with this paper thing on it." "What did you want to do that for?" "So I can take a look at you, good and plain." "You don't really mean to be insulting." "No, just realistic." "I don't want realism." "I want magic." "Magic." "Yes, yes, magic." "I try to give that to people." "I do misrepresent things, I don't tell truth." "I tell what ought to be truth and if that is sinful, then let me be punished for it." "Don't turn the light on!" "Oh, I don't mind you being older than what I thought but all the rest of it." "Why, that pitch about your ideals being so oId-fashioned and all the malarkey that you've been dishing out all summer." "I knew you weren't 1 6 anymore, but I was fool enough to believe you was straight!" "Who told you I wasn't straight?" "My loving brother-in-Iaw?" "And you believed him?" "No!" "No, I called him a liar at first and then I checked on the story." "I talked over long distance to this merchant in AurioI." "Who is this merchant?" "Kiefaber." "The merchant Kiefaber of AurioI." "I know the man." "He whistled at me." "I put him in his place." "Now he makes up stories about me." "Didn't you stay at a hotel called the flamingo?" "flamingo?" "No!" "TarantuIa was the name of it." "I stayed at a hotel called TarantuIa Arms." "TarantuIa Arms?" "Yes, a big spider." "That's where I brought my victims." "Yes." "I have had many meetings with strangers." "After the death of allan meetings with strangers was all I seemed able to fill my empty heart with." "I think it was panic, just panic that drove me from one to another, searching for some protection." "Here, there, and then in the most unlikely places." "Even, at last, in a 1 7-year-oId boy." "But somebody wrote the superintendent:" ""This woman is morally unfit for her position."" "True?" "Yes." "Unfit somehow, anyway." "So I came here." "There was nowhere else I couId go." "I was played out." "You know what played out is?" "My youth was gone up the waterspout." "Then I met you." "You said you needed someone." "well, I needed someone too." "I thanked God for you." "You seemed gentle." "A cleft in the rock of the world that I couId hide in." "But I suppose I was asking hoping too much." "Kiefaber Harris and Shaw have tied an old tin can to the tail of the kite." "I thought you were straight." "Straight?" "What's straight?" "A line can be straight, or a street but the heart of a human being?" "You lied to me, BIanche." "Don't say I lied to you." "Lies!" "Lies!" "Inside and out, all lies!" "Never inside." "I never lied in my heart!" "What?" "From outside." "flowers." "flowers for the dead." "No." "No." "Not now." "Not now." "I lived in a house where dying old women remembered their dead men." "crumble, then fade." "Regrets, recriminations." ""If you'd done this, it wouldn't have cost me that."" "Legacies and other things such as bIoodstained piIIowsIips." "I used to sit here and she used to sit there." "And death was as close as you are." "Death." "The opposite is desire." "So how could you wonder?" "How could you possibly wonder?" "Not far from belle Reve, before we lost belle Reve was a camp where they trained young soldiers." "On Saturday nights, they would go in town to get drunk." "And on the way back, they would stagger onto my lawn and call:" ""BIanche."" ""BIanche."" "What do you want?" "Marry me, Mitch." "No, I don't think I want to marry you anymore." "No?" "No." "You're not clean enough to bring in the house with my mo" "Go, then!" "Get out of here." "Quick, before I start screaming." "Get out of here quick, before I start screaming!" "Scream!" "Scream!" "Are you all right, lady?" "What's the matter, lady?" "What's the matter, lady?" "She must be drunk." "Somebody better get a policeman." "There's a cop now." "What's the matter?" "What happened?" "I don't know." "It's a police officer." "Open up." "Open up in there." "It's a police officer, open up." "What's the matter?" "Are you hurt, lady?" "Are you all right, lady?" "Yes." "Go away." "Go on." "Are you hurt?" "Are you all right?" "I'II be good." "It's all right." "Let's break it up." "I'II be good." "I'II be good." "I'II be good." "Oh, no, my gracious." "What a thing." "How about taking a swim, a moonlight swim at the old rock quarry?" "That's if anyone's sober enough to drive a car." "The best way in the world to stop your head from buzzing." "only you have to be careful to dive where the deep pool is." "If you hit a rock, you won't come up till tomorrow." "My goodness." "They're playing "Goodnight, Ladies."" "May I rest my weary head on your shoulder?" "It's so..." "Hi, BIanche." "How's my sister?" "She's doing okay." "How's the baby?" "The baby won't come till tomorrow, so they told me to go home and get a little shuteye." "Does that mean we are to be alone in here?" "Yeah, it's just you and me, BIanche." "Hey, what do you got them fine feathers on for?" "That's right." "You left before my wire came." "What, did you get a wire?" "I received a telegram from an old admirer of mine." "Anything good?" "I think so." "An invitation." "What to?" "A cruise of the Caribbean on a yacht." "well, what do you know?" "I was never so surprised in my Iife." "It came like a bolt from the blue." "Who'd you say it was from?" "An old beau of mine." "Oh, the one that gave you the white fox fur pieces." "Shep HuntIeigh." "I wore his ATO pin my last year in college." "I hadn't seen him for a while, then just now this wire inviting me on a cruise of the Caribbean." "The problem is clothes." "I tore into my trunk to see what I had that was suitable for the tropics." "And you come up with a gorgeous diamond tiara." "This old relic?" "It's only rhinestones." "Oh, I thought it was Tiffany's diamonds." "well, anyhow, I shall be entertained in style." "well, it just goes to show you, BIanche, you never know what's coming." "When I thought my luck was beginning to fall me." "Into the picture pops this Miami millionaire." "This man is not from Miami." "This man is from dallas." "Just so he's from somewhere." "close the curtains before you undress any further." "No, this is all I'm gonna undress right now." "Hey, BIanche, you seen the bottle opener?" "You know, I used to have a cousin who could open a bottle of beer with his teeth." "And that was all he could do." "He was just a human bottIe-opener." "Then one time at a wedding party, he broke his front teeth right off." "And then after that, he was so ashamed of himself that he used to sneak out of the house when company came." "Rain from heaven." "What do you say, BIanche?" "You want to bury the hatchet and make a loving cup?" "No." "No, thank you." "Why don't you get with it?" "What are you doing in here?" "Hey, wait a second." "I want to show you something." "Here's something I always break out on special occasions:" "silk pajamas I wore on my wedding night." "When they call on that phone and say, "You got a son"  I'm gonna rip them off and wave them like a flag!" "I guess we're both entitled to put on the dog." "You're having an oil millionaire and I'm having the baby." "When I think of how divine it'II be to have such a thing as privacy once more I couId weep with joy." "This millionaire isn't gonna interfere with your privacy none?" "It won't be the sort of thing you have in mind." "This man is a gentleman." "He respects me." "What he wants is my companionship." "Having great wealth sometimes makes people lonely." "A cultivated woman, a woman of breeding and intelligence can enrich a man's life immeasurably." "I have those things to offer." "And time doesn't take them away." "physical beauty is passing, a transitory possession." "But beauty of the mind, richness of the spirit, tenderness of the heart" "I have all those things. --aren't taken away, but grow, increase with the years." "Strange that I should be called a destitute woman when I have all these treasures locked in my heart." "I think of myself as a very, very rich woman." "But I have been foolish, casting my pearls before" "Swine, huh?" "Yes." "Swine." "And I'm thinking not only of you but of Mr. mitchell." "He came here tonight." "He dared to come in his work clothes to repeat slander, vicious stories from you." "I gave him his walking papers." "But then he returned." "He returned with a box of roses to beg my forgiveness." "He implored my forgiveness." "But some things are not forgivable." "deliberate cruelty is not forgivable!" "It is one unforgivable thing, in my opinion, and the one thing of which I have never never been guilty." "So I said to him, "Thank you." "It was foolish of me to think that we could adapt ourselves to each other." "Our ways of Iife are too different, our backgrounds are incompatible." "So farewell, my friend, and let there be no hard feelings."" "Was this before or after you got the telegram?" "telegram?" "What telegram?" "As a matter of fact, my wire" "As a matter of fact there wasn't no wire at all." "And there isn't no millionaire." "And Mitch didn't come in here with roses, because I know where he is." "And there isn't a thing but imagination and lies and deceit and tricks." "And look at yourself." "Take a look at yourself here, in a worn-out Mardi Gras outfit." "Rented for 50 cents from some rag picker with a crazy crown on." "What kind of a queen do you think you are?" "You know that I've been on to you from the start and not once did you pull the wool over this boy's eyes." "You come in here and you sprinkle the place with powder and you spray perfume and stick a paper lantern over the light bulb." "And Io and behold, place is turned into Egypt and you're the queen of the nile, sitting on your throne swiIIing down my liquor." "You know what I say?" "You hear me?" "flowers." "No." "No." "Not now." "Operator." "Operator, what happened to long distance?" "Never mind long distance." "Get me Western Union." "Western Union?" "Hear me?" "Take down this message:" ""Desperate, desperate circumstances." "Caught in a trap." "help me." "Caught in a trap."" "Hello?" "Operator." "I can give you Western Union now." "Western Union." "Hello?" "Western Union." "Hello?" "Western Union." "This is Western Union." "Hello." "You left the phone off the hook, BIanche." "This is Western Union." "Let me...." "Let me get by you." "You wanna get by me?" "Go ahead." "Stand over there." "You got plenty of room to get by me now." "I've got to get out." "Somehow." "You think I'm gonna interfere with you?" "You know, maybe you won't be bad to interfere with." "Stand back." "Don't you come toward me another step, or I'II" "You'II what?" "Some awful thing will happen." "It will!" "What are you putting on now?" "I warn you." "Don't." "I'm in danger!" "What did you do that for?" "So I couId twist the broken end in your face." "I bet you would do that." "I would." "I will, if you...." "You wanna have a little roughhouse, huh?" "AII right, Iet's have a little roughhouse." "Tiger, tiger." "Drop that bottle top." "Drop it!" "Oh, inside straight, man!" "Try it in english, mustache." "I'm cursing your rotten luck." "You know what luck is?" "Luck is believing you're lucky, that's all." "Take at SaIerno." "I believed I was lucky." "I figured that four out of five wasn't gonna get through but I would, and I did." "I stick that down as a rule:" "To hold the front position in this rat race you gotta believe you're lucky." "You-- You" " You brag" " Brag bull!" "What's the matter with you?" "I always said men was callous things with no feeling, but this does beat anything." "Sitting there making pigs of yourselves." "What's the matter with her?" "Come on, deal." "Blanche?" "Bathing." "How's my baby?" "sleeping like a little angel." "I brought you some grapes." "How is she?" "She wouldn't eat anything." "I keep telling her we made arrangements for her to rest in the country." "She's got it all mixed-up in her mind about a cruise to the islands..." "...with Shep HuntIeigh, an old beau" "stella?" "Yes?" "If anyone calls while I'm bathing take the number, tell them I'II call right back." "Yes, BIanche." "Oh, and stella!" "The" " The cool yellow silk, the boucIé, see if it's crushed." "If it's not too crushed, I'II wear it." "And on the lapel that silver and turquoise pin in the shape of a seahorse." "You'II find it in the heart-shaped box I keep my accessories in." "Oh, and stella, see if you can locate a bunch of artificial vioIets in that box." "I'II wear it with the seahorse on the lapel of the jacket." "I just don't know if I've done the right thing." "What else could you do?" "I couldn't believe her story and go on living with stanley." "Don't you never believe it." "You gotta keep on going, baby." "No matter what happens, we all gotta keep on going." "stella?" "Yes, BIanche?" "Is the coast clear?" "Yes, honey." "close the curtains before I come out." "tell her how well she's looking." "They're closed, honey." "I just washed my hair." "Oh, did you?" "I'm not sure I got all the soap out." "Such fine hair." "That's the problem." "Did I get a call?" "Who from?" "Shep HuntIeigh." "No, honey, not yet." "Strange." "Come on, Mitch." "Mitch?" "What's happened here?" "I want an explanation of what's happened here!" "Hush, please, BIanche." "Honey...." "What are you two looking at me like that for?" "Is there something wrong with me?" "You look wonderful, BIanche." "Don't she look wonderful?" "I understand you're going on a trip." "Yes." "Yes." "BIanche is." "She's going on a vacation." "I'm green with envy." "help me, you two." "help me get dressed." "Is this what you wanted?" "Yes, that'II do." "I'm anxious to get out of this place." "This place is a trap." "Such a pretty lavender jacket." "It's IiIac-coIored." "You're both of you wrong." "It's della Robbia blue." "Are these grapes washed?" "Washed, I said." "Are they washed?" "From the French Market." "That doesn't mean to say they've been washed." "The cathedral chimes." "They're the only clean thing in the Quarter." "I'm going now." "I'm ready to go." "Oh, she'II walk out..." "...through the game." "Wait, BIanche!" "Must we pass in front of those men?" "Why don't you wait here till that game breaks up." "Yes, honey, sit down." "tell them to wait outside." "would you mind waiting outside just a couple of seconds?" "They'II be right out." "Someone is calling for blanche." "It is for me, then." "Is it the gentleman I was expecting from dallas?" "Yes." "Yes, honey, I believe it is." "I'm not quite ready." "Ask him to wait outside." "Everything packed?" "stanley." "She'II be out in a minute." "They're waiting outside the house." ""They"?" "Who's "they"?" "There's a lady with him." "I can't imagine who this lady can be." "How is she dressed?" "Just a plain tailored outfit." "possibly she...?" "shall we go now, BIanche?" "Must we go through that room?" "I'II go with you." "How do I Iook?" "lovely." "lovely." "please don't get up." "I'm only passing through." "You are not the gentleman I was expecting." "This man isn't Shep HuntIeigh!" "You forget something, BIanche?" "Yes." "Yes, I forgot something." "What are they gonna do to her?" "Don't let them hurt her." "What are they gonna do to her?" "Honey...." "hello, BIanche." "She says she forgot something." "That's all right." "well, what did you forget, BIanche?" "It don't matter." "We can pick it up later." "We'II send it along with your trunk." "I don't know you." "I don't know you." "I want to be left alone, please!" "Now, BIanche" "BIanche, you left nothing here but split taIcum and old perfume bottles." "unless it's the paper lantern you want to take with you." "You want the lantern?" "You done this to her." "Come on, stop it." "Stop it, will you!" "He did this to her, I know...." "He must be nuts." "What are you looking at?" "I never once touched her." "These fingernails have to be trimmed." "Jacket, doctor?" "Not unless necessary." "Miss DuBois." "please...." "It won't be necessary." "Ask her to let go of me." "Yes." "Let go." "Whoever you are I have always depended on the kindness of strangers." "blanche." "Come on, honey." "Don't you touch me." "Don't you ever touch me again." "stella!" "Come on, stella." "No, I'm not." "I'm not going back in there again." "Not this time." "Never going back." "Never." "Hey, stella!" "Hey, stella!" "[ENGLISH]"