JAMES GREGG And what is your name?
MARTHA Martha.
JAMES GREGG Well Martha, you a . . . How old are you?
MARTHA Fourteen.
JAMES GREGG Fourteen. You got a boyfriend?
MARTHA No sir.
JAMES GREGG Dont have a boyfriend?
MARTHA No sir.
JAMES GREGG Well I dont know why not.
Martha is nervous, but she gives a sort of toss of her head to clear her hair from her face. James Gregg smiles.
JAMES GREGG Maybe you’re just too feisty for these young boys.
MARTHA I aint feisty.
JAMES GREGG Well now I dont know. I bet you’d be just a handful.
MARTHA A handful of what?
Gregg half chuckles to himself.
JAMES GREGG Well now I’d be afraid to say.
Martha looks down in embarrassment. James watches her.
JAMES GREGG You dont smoke cigars do you?
Martha looks up.
MARTHA Do what?
JAMES GREGG Smoke cigars. You a cigar smoker?
She looks confused, until she sees a trace of a smile at his mouth. She smiles. He has taken a cigar from his vest pocket.
MARTHA No.
JAMES GREGG Ah.
MARTHA (quickly) But I’ll take one to my daddy if you’re passin em out.
James Gregg raises one eyebrow and nods in a sort of congratulatory way, somewhat surprised.
JAMES GREGG Welll.
He rises from his chair and holds forth the cigar. She must come forward to take it and she does so. She takes the cigar. He watches her.
JAMES GREGG Yes, Miss Martha, I’d say you would be a handful.
MARTHA I dont know nothin about that.
JAMES GREGG Dont know nothin about that.
MARTHA No.
JAMES GREGG Well, I’ll tell you what.
He takes from his pocket several coins and selects a ten dollar gold piece. She watches him.
JAMES GREGG Tell you what, Martha. I bet you do know something.
He drops the ten dollar piece on the desk between them. She looks down at the coin.
JAMES GREGG Would you like to have that?
Martha looks at the coin on the desk. James looks at her. She looks at the coin and the full implication of the money strikes her and she looks at James Gregg with an expression partly of disdain but mostly she is just afraid. When he sees this he almost reaches to take back the coin, almost rises from his chair, but she has turned and fled from the office.
JAMES GREGG Hey. Wait a minute. Listen.
Interior. McEvoy kitchen. Evening. Lamplight and supper table. Mrs McEvoy sets bowls of food to the table and the four of them bend their heads.
MR MCEVOY For what we are about to receive Lord make us truly thankful. Amen.
All raise their heads save Mrs McEvoy and in a minute she raises hers.
MR MCEVOY I hope you aint prayin for him to get to supper this evenin. You’ll vex the Lord.
MRS MCEVOY I was just prayin.
MR MCEVOY Martha darlin would you be so good as to pass the meat fore the flies blow it.
Martha passes the bowl.
MARYELLEN Mama where’s Bobby at tonight?
MR MCEVOY Gone to run crazy in the woods like an Indian. If you all aint hungry just pass it all up this way.
MARTHA Is he still goin to work of a morn in?
MR MCEVOY So they tell me.
He helps himself to beans, to cornbread. They are at passing the bowls up the table and around. Mr McEvoy pauses and stares off down the table.
MR MCEVOY I dont understand that boy. Dont understand nothin about him. Some of the things he says. They make sense, but they sound ... I dont know what all goes on in his head.
MARTHA What things that he says?
Mr McEvoy is eating now.
MARTHA Daddy?
MR MCEVOY Just the things he says.
MARTHA Like what?
MR MCEVOY Stuff he says. Like here a few evenins ago little sister piped up, said: I wisht we lived in a better house. And he just looked at her and he said: That wouldnt make you no better from what you are. I dont know what to make of him.
MARYELLEN When can we go back to our other house, Daddy?
MR MCEVOY Hush and eat your supper little sister. They aint no other house.
MARYELLEN Bobby says we used to have a cow.
MR MCEVOY And it was like pullin teeth to get him to milk it.
MARTHA Bobby says they’s caves all in under Graniteville. Where Indians has been.
MR MCEVOY Well maybe he's took to livin down there in em. Maybe there’s still Indians hid out down there. Him and the heathen can rage together.
MRS MCEVOY Bobby is not no heathen.
MR MCEVOY Never said he was. He’s just got kindly infidel ways.
MARTHA What’s infidel ways?
MRS MCEVOY Bobby is not no infidel.
MARYELLEN What’s a heathen?
MARTHA It’s a person that dont go to church.
MARYELLEN Is Bobby a heathen? Daddy?
He’s just got a troubled heart and they dont nobody know why.
Interior. Daytime. Greenhouse. The factory bell rings in the distance. Patrick McEvoy is potting his plants, tending the flowers in the greenhouse. The timekeeper Mr Giles comes to the door and enters. McEvoy turns to look at him as he enters.
MR MCEVOY Mornin Mr Giles.
GILES Mornin. Mornin.