[At the sound of Blanche's voice Mitch's arm supporting his
cards has sagged and his gaze is dissolved into space. Stan- ley slaps him on the shoulder.^
stanley:
Hey, Mitch, come to!
[The sound of this new voice shocks Blanche. She makes
a shocked gesture, forming his name with her lips. Stella
nods and looks quickly away. Blanche stands quite still for
some moments--the silverbacked mirror in her hand and a
look of sorrowful perplexity as though all human experience
shows on her face. Blanche finally speaks but with sudden
hysteria.}
blanche:
What's going on here?
[She turns from Stella to Eunice and back to Stella. Her
rising voice penetrates the concentration of the game. Mitch
ducks his head lower but Stanley shoves back his chair as if
about to rise. Steve places a restraining hand on his arm.}
blanche [continuing}:
What's happened here? I want an explanation of what's happened
here.
stella [agonizingly}:
Hushi Hushi
eunice:
Hushi Hushi Honey.
stella:
Please, Blanche.
~ 18*
?i'?Ki?a^wi&fc>?.-,fc* ^>-1 ^* Bl
SOENB BliEVBN
blanche:
Why are you looking at me like that? Is something wrong
with me?
eunice:
You look wonderful, Blanche. Don't she look wonderful?
stella:
Yes.
eunice:
I understand you are going on a trip.
stella:
Yes, Blanche is. She's going on a vacation.
eunice:
I'm green with envy.
blanche:
Help me, help me get dressed!
stella [handing her dress}:
Is this what you?
blanche:
Yes, it will do! I'm anxious to get out of here?this place is
a trap!
eunice:
What a pretty blue jacket
stella:
It's lilac colored.
blanche:
You're both mistaken. It's Delia Robbia blue. The blue of
the robe in the old Madonna pictures. Are these grapes
washed?
[She fingers the bunch of grapes which Eunice had brought
in.}
eunice:
Huh?
blanche:
Washed, I said. Are they washed?
eunice:
They're from the French Market.
185
SCENE ELEVEN
BLANCHE:
That doesn't mean they've been washed. [The cathedral bells
chime] Those cathedral bells--they're the only clean thing
in the Quarter. Well, I'm going now. I'm ready to go.
eunice [whispering]:
She's going to walk out before they get here. ^
stella:
Wait, Blanche.
^^.s^sa^g
ft^ftit,^Wia^
blanche:
I don't want to pass in front of those men.
eunice:
Then wait'U the game breaks up.
B
stella:
Sit down and...
[Blanche turns weakly, hesitantly about. She lets them push
her into a chair.]
blanche:
I can smell the sea air. The rest of my time I'm going to
spend on the sea. And when I die, I'm going to die on the
sea. You know what I shall die of? [She plucks a grape] I
shall die of eating an unwashed grape one day out on the
ocean. I will die--with. my hand in the hand of some nice- looking ship's doctor, a very young one with a small blond
mustache and a big silver watch. "Poor lady," they'll say, "the quinine did her no good. That unwashed grape has
transported her soul to heaven." [The cathedral chimes are
heard] And I'll be buried at sea sewn up in a clean white
sack and dropped overboard--at noon--in the blaze of
summer--and into an ocean as blue as [Chimes again] my first lover's eyes!
[A Doctor and a Matron have appeared around the corner
of the building and climbed the steps to the porch. The
gravity of their profession is exaggerated--the unmistakable
aura of the state institution with its cynical detachment.
The Doctor rings the doorbell. The murmur of the game is
interrupted.]
eunice [whispering to Stella]:
That must be them.
[Stella presses her fists to her lips.] 188
SCENE ELEVEN
blanche [rising slowly]:
What is it?
eunice [affectedly casual]:
Excuse me while I see who's at the door.
stella:
Yes.
[Eunice goes into the kitchen.]
blanche [tensely]:
I wonder if it's for me.
[A whispered colloquy takes place at the door.]
eunice [returning, brightly]:
Someone is calling for Blanche.
blanche:
It is for me, then! [She looks fearfully from one to the other
and then to the portieres. The "Varsouviana" faintly plays]
Is it the gentleman I was expecting from Dallas?
eunice:
I think it is, Blanche.
blanche:
Fm not quite ready.
stella:
Ask him to wait outside.
blanche:
I...
[Eunice goes back to the portieres. Drums sound very
softly.]
stella:
Everything packed?
blanche:
My silver toilet articles are still out.
stella:
Ah!
eunice [returning]:
They're waiting in front of the house.
blanche:
They! Who's "they"?
137
SCENE ELEVEN"
[The "Varsouviana" is playing distantly.
[Stella stares back at Blanche. Eunice is holding Stella's arm.
There is a moment of silence--no sound but tha^t of Stanley
steadily shuffling the cards.
[Blanche catches her breath again and slips bosck into t^e
flat with a peculiar smile, her eyes wide and Etrilliant. As
soon as her sister goes past her, Stella closes her eyes afti
clenches her hands. Eunice throws her arms comforting^ about her. Then she starts up to her flat. Blanche stops just
inside the door. Mitch keeps staring down at hi"s hands w the table, but the other men look at her curiously. At last
she starts around the table toward the bedrovm. As sfw
does, Stanley suddenly pushes back his chair aned rises as if
to block her way. The Matron follows her into sthe flat.] stanley:
Did you forget something?
blanche [shrilly]:
Yesi Yes, I forgot something!
[She rushes past him into the bedroom. Lurid reflections appear
on the walls in odd, sinuous shapes. The "Var-sowicaut fe filtered into a weird distortion, accompanied by the cries
and noises of the jungle. Blanche seizes the back of a chait
as if to defend herself.]
stanley [sotto voce}:
Doc, you better go in.
doctor [sotto voce, motioning to the Matron]:
Nurse, bring her out
[The Matron advances on one side, Stanley on tJie other,
Divested of all the softer properties of womanhood? the Matron
is a peculiarly sinister figure in her severe dvess. Her
&nbs
p; voice is bold and toneless as a firebell.] matron:
Hello, Blanche.
[The greeting is echoed and re-echoed by other mysterious
voices behind the walls, as if reverberated through cs, canyon
of rock.}
stanley:
She says that she forgot something. [The echo sounds in threatening whispers.]
189
SCENE ELEVEN
matron:
That's all right.
stanley:
What did you forget, Blanche?
blanche:
I--I--
matron:
It don't matter. We can pick it up later.
stanley:
Sure. We can send it along with the trunk.
blanche [retreating in panic}:
I don't know you--I don't know you. I want to be--left
alone--please!
matron: SS^
Now, Blanche! '"^
echoes [rising and falling}:
Now, Blanche--now, Blanche--now, Blanche!
stanley:
You left nothing here but spilt talcum and old empty perfume
bottles--unless it's the paper lantern you want to take
with you. You want the lantern?
[He crosses to dressing table and seizes the paper lantern,
tearing it off the light bulb, and extends it toward her. She
cries out as if the lantern was herself. The Matron steps
boldly toward her. She screams and tries to break past the
Matron. All the men spring to their feet. Stella runs out to
the porch, with Eunice following to comfort her, simultaneously
with the confused voices of the men in the kitchen.
Stella rushes into Eunice's embrace on the porch.]
stella:
Oh, my God, Eunice help me! Don't let them do that to her,
don't let them hurt her! Oh, God, oh, please God, don't hurt
her! What are they doing to her? What are they doing? [She tries to break from Eunice's arms.}
eunice:
No, honey, no, no, honey. Stay here. Don't go back in
there. Stay with me and don't look.
140
H
SCENE ELEVEN
stella:
What have I done to my sister? Oh, God, what have I done
to my sister?
eunice:
You done the right thing, the only thing you could do. She couldn't stay here; there wasn't no other place for her to go. [While Stella and Eunice are speaking on the porch the
voices of the men in the kitchen overlap them. Milch has
started toward the bedroom. Stanley crosses to block him.
Stanley pushes him aside. Mitch lunges and strikes at Stanley.
Stanley pushes Mitch back. Mitch collapses at the table,
sobbing.
[During the preceding scenes, the Matron catches hold of
Blanche's arm and prevents her flight. Blanche turns wildly
and scratches at the Matron. The heavy woman pinions her
arms. Blanche cries out hoarsely and slips to her knees.}
matron:
These fingernails have to be trimmed. [The Doctor comes
into the room and she looks at him.} Jacket, Doctor?
doctor:
Not unless necessary.
[He takes off his hat and now he becomes personalized. The unhuman quality goes. His voice is gentle and reassuring as he crosses to Blanche and crouches in front of her. As he
speaks her name, her terror subsides a little. The lurid reflections
fade from the walls, the inhuman cries and noises
die out and her own hoarse crying is calmed.}
doctor:
Miss DuBois.
[She turns her face to him and stares at him with desperate
pleading. He smiles; then he speaks to the Matron.}
It won't be necessary.
blanche [faintly}:
Ask her to let go of me.
doctor [to the Matron}:
Let go.
[The Matron releases her. Blanche extends her hands toward
the Doctor. He draws her up gently and supports her with
his arm and leads her through the portieres.}
141
SCENE ELEVEN
blanche [holding tight to his arm}:
Whoever you are--I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.
[The poker players stand back as Blanche and the Doctor
cross the kitchen to the front door. She allows him to lead
her as if she were blind. As they go out on the porch, Stella
cries out her sister's name from where she is crouched a
few steps up on the stairs.}
[Blanche walks on without turning, followed by the Doctor
and the Matron. They go around the corner of the building.
[Eunice descends to Stella and places the child in her arms. It is wrapped in a pale blue blanket. Stella accepts the child,
sobbingly. Eunice continues downstairs and enters the
kitchen where the men, except for Stanley, are returning silently
to their places about the table. Stanley has gone out on the porch and stands at the foot of the steps looking at
Stella.]
stanley [a bit uncertainly}:
Stella?
[She sobs with inhuman abandon. There is something luxurious
in her complete surrender to crying now that her sister
is gone.]
stanley [voluptuously, soothingly]:
Now, honey. Now, love. Now, now, love. [He kneels beside
her and his fingers find the opening of her blouse} Now,
now, love. Now, love....
[The luxurious sobbing, the sensual murmur fade away under
the swelling music of the "blue piano" and the muted
trumpet.}
steve:
This game is seven-card stud.
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