Death of Bessie Smith, the Sandbox, and the American Dream Read online

  INTERN

  … and black …?

  NURSE

  Cream! … and sweet … and in a hurry!

  INTERN

  I guess your wish is my command … hunh?

  NURSE

  You bet it is!

  INTERN

  (Moves halfway to the door, stage-rear, then pauses)

  I just had a lovely thought … that maybe sometime when you are sitting there at your desk opening mail with that stiletto you use for a letter opener, you might slip and tear open your arm … then you could come running into the emergency … and I could be there when you came running in, blood coming out of you like water out of a faucet … and I could take ahold of your arm … and just hold it … just hold it … and watch it flow … just hold on to you and watch your blood flow …

  NURSE

  (Grabs up the letter opener … holds it up)

  This? More likely between your ribs!

  INTERN (Exiting)

  One coffee, lady.

  NURSE

  (After a moment of silence, throws the letter opener back down onher desk)

  I’ll take care of him. CRACK! I’ll crack that whip. (To the ORDERLY) What are you standing there for … hunh? You like to watch what’s going on?

  ORDERLY

  I’m no voyeur.

  NURSE

  You what? You like to listen in? You take pleasure in it?

  ORDERLY

  I said no.

  NURSE (Half to herself)

  I’ll bet you don’t. I’ll take care of him … talking to me like that … I’ll crack that whip. Let him just wait.

  (To the ORDERLY, now)

  My father says that Francisco Franco is going to be victorious in that war over there … that he’s going to win … and that it’s just wonderful.

  ORDERLY

  He does?

  NURSE

  Yes, he does. My father says that Francisco Franco has got them licked, and that they’re a bunch of radicals, anyway, and it’s all to the good … just wonderful.

  ORDERLY

  Is that so?

  NURSE

  I’ve told you my father is a … a historian, so he isn’t just anybody. His opinion counts for something special. It still counts for something special. He says anybody wants to go over there and get mixed up in that thing has got it coming to him … whatever happens.

  ORDERLY

  I’m sure your father is an informed man, and …

  NURSE

  What?

  ORDERLY

  I said … I said … I’m sure your father is an informed man, and … his opinion is to be respected.

  NURSE

  That’s right, boy … you just jump to it and say what you think people want to hear … you be both sides of the coin. Did you … did you hear him threaten me there? Did you?

  ORDERLY

  Oh, now … I don’t think …

  NURSE (Steely)

  You heard him threaten me!

  ORDERLY

  I don’t think …

  NURSE

  For such a smart boy … you are so dumb. I don’t know what I am going to do with you.

  (She is thinking of the INTERN now, and her expression shows it)

  You refuse to comprehend things and that bodes badly … it does. Especially considering it is all but arranged …

  ORDERLY

  What is all but arranged?

  NURSE

  (A great laugh, but mirthless. She is barely under control)

  Why, don’t you know, boy? Didn’t you know that you and I are practically engaged?

  ORDERLY

  I … I don’t …

  NURSE

  Don’t you know about the economic realities? Haven’t you been appraised of the way things are? (She giggles) Our knights are gone forth into sunsets … behind the wheels of Cord cars … the acres have diminished and the paint is flaking … that there is a great … abandonment?

  ORDERLY (Cautious)

  I don’t understand you …

  NURSE

  No kidding? (Her voice shakes) No kidding … you don’t understand me? Why? What’s the matter, boy, don’t you get the idea?

  ORDERLY (Contained, but angry)

  I think you’d tire of riding me some day. I think you would …

  NURSE

  You go up to Room 206, right now … you go up and tell the mayor that when his butt’s better we have a marrying job for him.

  ORDERLY (With some distaste)

  Really … you go much too far. …

  NURSE

  Oh, I do, do I? Well, let me tell you something … I am sick of it! I am sick. I am sick of everything in this hot, stupid, fly-ridden world. I am sick of the disparity between things as they are, and as they should be! I am sick of this desk … this uniform … it scratches. … I am sick of the sight of you … the thought of you makes me … itch. … I am sick of him. (Soft now: a chant) I am sick of talking to people on the phone in this damn stupid hospital. … I am sick of the smell of Lysol … I could die of it. … I am sick of going to bed and I am sick of waking up. … I am tired … I am tired of the truth … and I am tired of lying about the truth … I am tired of my skin. … I WANT OUT!

  ORDERLY

  (After a short pause) Why don’t you go into emergency … and lie down?

  (He approaches her)

  NURSE

  Keep away from me.

  (At this moment the outside door bursts open and JACK plunges into the room. He is all these things: drunk, shocked, frightened. His face should be cut, but no longer bleeding. His clothes should be dirtied … and in some disarray. He pauses, a few steps into the room, breathing hard)

  NURSE

  Whoa! Hold on there, you.

  ORDERLY (Not advancing)

  What do you want?

  JACK

  (After more hard breathing; confused) What …?

  NURSE

  You come banging in through that door like that? What’s the matter with you? (To the ORDERLY) Go see what’s the matter with him.

  ORDERLY (Advancing slightly)

  What do you want?

  JACK (Very confused)

  What do I want …?

  ORDERLY (Backing off)

  You can’t come in here like this … banging your way in here … don’t you know any better?

  NURSE

  You drunk?

  JACK

  (Taken aback by the irrelevance) I’ve been drinking … yes … all right … I’m drunk. (Intense) I got someone outside …

  NURSE

  You stop that yelling. This is a white hospital, you.

  ORDERLY (Nearer the NURSE

  That’s right. She’s right. This is a private hospital … a semi-private hospital. If you go on … into the city …

  JACK (Shakes his head)

  No. …

  NURSE

  Now you listen to me, and you get this straight … (Pauses just perceptibly, then says the word, but with no special emphasis) … Nigger … this is a semiprivate white hospital …

  JACK (Defiant)

  I don’t care!

  NURSE

  Well, you get on. …

  ORDERLY

  (As the INTERN re-enters with two containers of coffee)

  You go on now … you go …

  INTERN

  What’s all this about?

  ORDERLY

  I told him to go on into Memphis …

  INTERN

  Be quiet. (To JACK) What is all this about?

  JACK

  Please … I got a woman …

  NURSE

  You been told to move on.

  INTERN

  You got a woman …

  JACK

  Outside … in the car. … There was an accident … there is blood. … Her arm …

  INTERN

  (After thinking for a moment, looking at the NURSE, moves toward the outside door)

  All right … we’ll go see. (
To the ORDERLY, who hangs back) Come on, you … let’s go.

  ORDERLY

  (Looks to the NURSE) We told him to go on into Memphis.

  NURSE

  (To the INTERN, her eyes narrowing) Don’t you go out there!

  INTERN

  (Ignoring her; to the ORDERLY) You heard me … come on!

  NURSE (Strong)

  I told you … DON’T GO OUT THERE!

  INTERN (Softly, sadly)

  Honey … you going to fix me? You going to have the mayor throw me out of here on my butt? Or are you going to arrange it in Washington to have me deported? What are you going to do … hunh?

  NURSE (Between her teeth)

  Don’t go out there …

  INTERN

  Well, honey, whatever it is you’re going to do … it might as well be now as any other time.

  (He and the ORDERLY move to the outside door)

  NURSE

  (Half angry, half plaintive, as they exit)

  Don’t go!

  (After they exit)

  I warn you! I will fix you. You go out that door … you’re through here.

  (JACK moves to a vacant area near the bench, stage-right. The NURSE lights a cigarette)

  I told you I’d fix you … I’ll fix you. (Now, to JACK) I think I said this was a white hospital.

  JACK (Wearily)

  I know, lady … you told me.

  NURSE

  (Her attention on the door) You don’t have sense enough to do what you’re told … you make trouble for yourself … you make trouble for other people.

  JACK (Sighing)

  I don’t care …

  NURSE

  You’ll care!

  JACK

  (Softly, shaking his head) No … I won’t care. (Now, half to her, half to himself) We were driving along … not very fast … I don’t think we were driving fast … we were in a hurry, yes … and I had been drinking … we had been drinking … but I don’t think we were driving fast … not too fast …

  NURSE

  (Her speeches now are soft comments on his)

  … driving drunk on the road … it not even dark yet …

  JACK

  … but then there was a car … I hadn’t seen it … it couldn’t have seen me … from a side road … hard, fast, sudden … (Stiffens) … CRASH! (Loosens) … and we weren’t thrown … both of us … both cars stayed on the road … but we were stopped … my motor, running. … I turned it off … the door … the right door was all smashed in. … That’s all it was … no more damage than that … but we had been riding along … laughing … it was cool driving, but it was warm out … and she had her arm out the window …

  NURSE

  … serves you right … drinking on the road …

  JACK

  … and I said … I said, Honey, we have crashed … you all right? (His face contorts) And I looked … and the door was all pushed in … she was caught there … where the door had pushed in … her right side, crushed into the torn door, the door crushed into her right side. … BESSIE! BESSIE! … (More to the NURSE, now) … but ma’am … her arm … her right arm … was torn off … almost torn off from her shoulder … and there was blood … SHE WAS BLEEDING SO …!

  NURSE (From a distance)

  Like water from a faucet …? Oh, that is terrible … terrible …

  JACK

  I didn’t wait for nothin’ … the other people… the other car … I started up … I started …

  NURSE (More alert)

  You took off? … You took off from an accident?

  JACK

  Her arm, ma’am …

  NURSE

  You probably got police looking for you right now … you know that?

  JACK

  Yes, ma’am … I suppose so … and I drove … there was a hospital about a mile up …

  NURSE

  (Snapping to attention) THERE! You went somewhere else? You been somewhere else already? What are you doing here with that woman then, hunh?

  JACK

  At the hospital … I came in to the desk and I told them what had happened … and they said, you sit down and wait … you go over there and sit down and wait a while. WAIT! It was a white hospital, ma’am …

  NURSE

  This is a white hospital, too.

  JACK

  I said … this is an emergency … there has been an accident. … YOU WAIT! You just sit down and wait. … I told them … I told them it was an emergency … I said … this woman is badly hurt. … YOU COOL YOUR HEELS! … I said, Ma’am, I got Bessie Smith out in that car there … I DONT CARE WHO YOU GOT OUT THERE, NIGGER … YOU COOL YOUR HEELS! … I couldn’t wait there … her in the car … so I left there … I drove on … I stopped on the road and I was told where to come … and I came here.

  NURSE (Numb, distant)

  I know who she is … I heard her sing. (Abruptly) You give me your name! You can’t take off from an accident like that … I’ll phone the police; I’ll tell them where you are!

  (The INTERN and the ORDERLY re-enter. Their uniforms are bloodied. The ORDERLY moves stage-rear, avoiding JACK. The intern moves in, staring at JACK)

  NURSE

  He drove away from an accident … he just took off … and he didn’t come right here, either … he’s been to one hospital already. I warned you not to get mixed up in this. …

  INTERN (Softly)

  Shut up!

  (Moves toward JACK, stops in front of him)

  You tell me something …

  NURSE

  I warned you! You didn’t listen to me …

  JACK

  You want my name, too … is that what you want?

  INTERN

  No, that’s not what I want.

  (He is contained, but there is a violent emotion inside him)

  You tell me something. When you brought her here …

  JACK

  I brought her here … They wouldn’t help her …

  INTERN

  All right. When you brought her here … when you brought this woman here …

  NURSE

  Oh, this is no plain woman … this is no ordinary Nigger … this is Bessie Smith!

  INTERN

  When you brought this woman here … when you drove up here … when you brought this woman here … DID YOU KNOW SHE WAS DEAD?

  (Pause)

  NURSE

  Dead! … This Nigger brought a dead woman here?

  INTERN

  (Afraid of the answer) Well …?

  NURSE (Distantly)

  Dead … dead.

  JACK

  (Wearily; turning, moving toward the outside door) Yes … I knew she was dead. She died on the way here.

  NURSE

  (Snapping to) Where you going? Where do you think you’re going? I’m going to get the police here for you!

  JACK

  (At the door)

  Just outside.

  INTERN

  (As JACK exits)

  WHAT DID YOU EXPECT ME TO DO, EH? WHAT WAS I SUPPOSED TO DO?

  (JACK pauses for a moment, looks at him blankly, closes the door behind him)

  TELL ME! WHAT WAS I SUPPOSED TO DO?

  NURSE (Slyly)

  Maybe … maybe he thought you’d bring her back to life … great white doctor. (Her laughter begins now, mounts to hysteria) Great …white … doctor. … Where are you going to go now … great … white … doctor? You are finished. You have had your last patient here. … Off you go, boy! You have had your last patient … a Nigger … a dead Nigger lady … WHO SINGS. Well … I sing, too, boy … I sing real good. You want to hear me sing? Hunh? You want to hear the way I sing? HUNH?

  (Here she begins to sing and laugh at the same time. The singing is tuneless, almost keening, and the laughter is almost crying)

  INTERN

  (Moves to her)

  Stop that! Stop that!

  (But she can’t. Finally he slaps her hard across the face. Silence. She is frozen, with he
r hand to her face where he hit her. He backs toward the rear door)

  ORDERLY

  (His back to the wall)

  I never heard of such a thing … bringing a dead woman here like that. … I don’t know what people can be thinking of sometimes. …

  (The INTERN exits. The room fades into silhouette again. … The great sunset blazes; music up)

  CURTAIN

  The Sandbox

  A BRIEF PLAY, IN MEMORY OF MY

  GRANDMOTHER (1876–1959)

  The Sandbox was produced by Lion Associates at the Jazz Gallery in New York City on May 16, 1960. It was staged by Lawrence Arrick. Original music was composed by William Flanagan. The cast was as follows:

  YOUNG MAN

  Alan Helm

  MOMMY

  Jane Hoffman

  DADDY

  Richard Woods

  GRANDMA

  Sudie Bond

  MUSICIAN

  Hal McKusick

  THE PLAYERS

  THE YOUNG MAN

  Twenty-five. A good-looking, well-built boy in a bathing suit.

  MOMMY

  Fifty-five. A well-dressed, imposing woman.

  DADDY

  Sixty. A small man; gray, thin.

  GRANDMA

  Eighty-six. A tiny, wizened woman with bright eyes.

  THE MUSICIAN

  No particular age, but young would be nice.

  Note:

  When, in the course of the play, MOMMY and DADDY call each other by these names, there should be no suggestion of regionalism. These names are of empty affection and point up the pre-senility and vacuity of their characters.

  THE SCENE

  A bare stage, with only the following: Near the footlights, far stage-right, two simple chairs set side by side, facing the audience; near the footlights, far stage-left, a chair facing stage-right with a music stand before it; farther back, and stage-center, slightly elevated and raked, a large child’s sandbox with a toy pail and shovel; the background is the sky, which alters from brightest day to deepest night.

  At the beginning, it is brightest day; the YOUNG MAN is alone on stage, to the rear of the sandbox, and to one side. He is doing calisthenics; he does calisthenics until quite at the very end of the play. These calisthenics, employing the arms only, should suggest the beating and fluttering of wings. The YOUNG MAN is, after all, the Angel of Death.

  MOMMY and DADDY enter from stage-left, MOMMY first.