Fences
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14
| August Wilson |
- 73 -
about my responsibilities? That I wanted someone to make me laugh so I could feel good? You not the only one who's got wants and needs. But I
held on to you, Troy. I took all my feelings, my wants and needs, my dreams . . . and I buried them inside you. I planted a seed and watched and
prayed over it. I planted myself inside you and waited to bloom. And it didn't take me no eighteen years to find out the soil was hard and rocky and it
wasn't never gonna bloom. But I held on to you, Troy. I held you tighter. You was my husband. I owed you everything I had. Every part of me I could
find to give you. And upstairs in that room . . . with the darkness falling in on me ... I gave everything I had to try and erase the doubt that you wasn't
the finest man in the world. And wherever you was going ... I wanted to be there with you. Cause you was my husband. Cause that's the only way I
was gonna survive as your wife. You always talking about what you give . . . and what you don't have to give. But you take too. You take . . . and
don't even know nobody's giving!
(ROSE turns to exit into the house; TROY grabs her arm.)
TROY You say I take and don't give!
ROSE Troy! You're hurting me!
TROY You say I take and don't give.
ROSE Troy . . . you're hurting my arm! Let go!
TROY I done give you everything I got. Don't you tell that lie on me.
ROSE Troy!
TROY Don't you tell that lie on me!
( CORY enters from the house.)
- 74 -
CORY Mama!
ROSE Troy. You're hurting me.
TROY Don't you tell me about no taking and giving.
(CORY comes up behind TROY and grabs him. TROY , surprised , is thrown off balance just as CORY throws a glancing blow that catches him on the
chest and knocks him down. TROY is stunned , as is CORY.)
ROSE Troy. Troy. No!
(TROY gets to his feet and starts at CORY.) Troy ... no. Please! Troy!
(ROSE pulls on TROY to hold him back. TROY stops himself.)
TROY
(To CORY.) Alright. That's strike two. You stay away from around me, boy. Don't you strike out. You living with a full count. Don't you strike out.
(TROY exits out the yard as the lights go down.)
Act 2, Scene 2
- 75 -
Act Two Scene Two
It is six months later , early afternoon. TROY enters from the house and starts to exit the yard. ROSE enters from the house.
ROSE Troy, I want to talk to you.
TROY All of a sudden, after all this time, you want to talk to me, huh? You ain't wanted to talk to me for months. You ain't wanted to talk to me last
night. You ain't wanted no part of me then. What you wanna talk to me about now?
ROSE Tomorrow's Friday.
TROY I know what day tomorrow is. You think I don't know tomorrow's Friday? My whole life I ain't done nothing but look to see Friday coming and
you got to tell me it's Friday.
ROSE I want to know if you're coming home.
TROY I always come home, Rose. You know that. There ain't never been a night I ain't come home.
ROSE That ain't what I mean . . . and you know it. I want to know if you're coming straight home after work.
- 76 -
TROY I figure I'd cash my check . . . hang out at Taylors' with the boys . . . maybe play a game of checkers . . .
ROSE Troy, I can't live like this. I won’t live like this. You livin' on borrowed time with me. It's been going on six months now you ain't been coming
home.
TROY I be here every night. Every night of the year. That's 365 days.
ROSE I want you to come home tomorrow after work.
TROY Rose ... I don't mess up my pay. You know that now. I take my pay and I give it to you. I don't have no money but what you give me back. I
just want to have a little time to myself ... a little time to enjoy life.
ROSE What about me? When's my time to enjoy life?
TROY I don't know what to tell you, Rose. I'm doing the best I can.
ROSE You ain't been home from work but time enough to change your clothes and run out . . . and you wanna call that the best you can do?
TROY I'm going over to the hospital to see Alberta. She went into the hospital this afternoon. Look like she might have the baby early. I won't be
gone long.
ROSE Well, you ought to know. They went over to Miss Pearl's and got Gabe today. She said you told them to go ahead and lock him up.
TROY I ain't said no such thing. Whoever told you that is telling a lie. Pearl ain't doing nothing but telling a big fat lie.
ROSE She ain't had to tell me. I read it on the papers.
TROY I ain’t told them nothing of the kind.
ROSE I saw it right there on the papers.
- 77 -
TROY What it say, huh?
ROSE It said you told them to take him.
TROY Then they screwed that up, just the way they screw up everything. I ain't worried about what they got on the paper.
ROSE Say the government send part of his check to the hospital and the other part to you.
TROY I ain't got nothing to do with that if that's the way it works. I ain't made up the rules about how it work.
ROSE You did Gabe just like you did Cory. You wouldn't sign the paper for Cory ... but you signed for Gabe. You signed that paper.
(The telephone is heard ringing inside the house.)
TROY I told you I ain't signed nothing, woman! The only thing I signed was the release form. Hell, I can't read, I don't know what they had on that
paper! I ain't signed nothing about sending Gabe away.
ROSE I said send him to the hospital . . . you said let him be free . . . now you done went down there and signed him to the hospital for half his
money. You went back on yourself, Troy. You gonna have to answer for that.
TROY See now . . . you been over there talking to Miss Pearl. She done got mad cause she ain't getting Gabe's rent money. That's all it is. She's
liable to say anything.
ROSE Troy, I seen where you signed the paper.
TROY You ain't seen nothing I signed. What she doing got papers on my brother anyway? Miss Pearl telling a big fat lie. And I'm gonna tell her
about it too! You ain't
- 78 -
seen nothing I signed. Say . . . you ain't seen nothing I signed.
(ROSE exits into the house to answer the telephone. Presently she returns).
ROSE Troy . . . that was the hospital. Alberta had the baby.
TROY What she have? What is it?
ROSE It's a girl.
TROY I better get on down to the hospital to see her.
ROSE Troy . . .
TROY Rose ... I got to go see her now. That’s only right . . . what’s the matter ... the baby's alright, ain't it?
ROSE Alberta died having the baby.
TROY Died . . . you say she's dead? Alberta's dead?
ROSE They said they done all they could. They couldn't do nothing for her.
TROY The baby? How's the baby?
ROSE They say it's healthy. I wonder who's gonna bury her.
TROY She had family, Rose. She wasn't living in the world by herself.
ROSE I know she wasn't living in the world by herself.
TROY Next thing you gonna want to know if she had any insurance.
ROSE Troy, you ain't got to talk like that.
TROY That's the first thing that jumped out your mouth.
- 79 -
"Who's gonna bury her?" Like I'm fixing to take on that task for myself.
ROSE I am your wife. Don't push me away.
TROY I ain't pushing nobody away. Just give me some space. That's all. Just give me some room to breathe.
(ROSE exits into the house. TROY walks about the yard.)
TROY
(With a quiet rage that threatens to consume him.) Alright ... Mr. Death. See now ... I'm gonna tell you what I'm gonna do. I'm gonna take and build
me a fence around this yard. See? I'm gonna build me a fence around what belongs to me. And then I want you to stay on the other side. See? You
stay over there until you're ready for me. Then you come on. Bring your army. Bring your sickle. Bring your wrestling clothes. I ain't gonna fall down
on my vigilance this time. You ain't gonna sneak up on me no more. When you ready for me . . . when the top of your list say Troy Maxson . . . that's
when you come around here. You come up and knock on the front door. Ain't nobody else got nothing to do with this. This is between you and me.
Man to man. You stay on the other side of that fence until you ready for me. Then you come up and knock on the front door. Anytime you want. I'll be
ready for you.
(The lights go down to black.)
| Kỳ Trước | Kỳ Sau |
Ý Kiến Bạn Ðọc