BEN If history swallows everybody up, who do you think is running the world?
JEFFREY It look to you like somebody runnin it?
BEN When I was sixteen I looked forward to being eighteen. I looked forward to being twenty one.
JEFFREY Yeah, well. Everbody over sixteen the same age to me. And I feel like I'm a hundred.
SCENE IV
Night. The kitchen. Ben sits at the table drinking tea. Lights sweep across the window from outside and a car pulls in and stops and a door opens and slams. Big Ben enters the kitchen. He takes off his hat and his camelhair overcoat. He is dressed in a suit with a sport shirt open at the neck.
BEN Hey.
Big Ben crosses heavily to the stove.
BIG BEN They any coffee?
BEN I think there is. You'll have to warm it.
Big Ben shakes the pot and sets it on the burner and turns on the stove.
BIG BEN Well. We got trouble.
BEN We do?
BIG BEN It's your company too.
BEN Well what's the trouble.
BIG BEN I need six thousand dollars is what the trouble is.
BEN Oh man.
Ben looks down. He shakes his head slowly. He looks up at Big Ben again.
BEN Six thousand?
Big Ben looks at Ben. He swirls the coffee pot and sets it back down again.
BEN Can't you get it from the bank?
BIG BEN They say I cain't.
BEN You've borrowed money from them before.
BIG BEN They won't let me have no more.
BEN What do you mean no more?
BIG BEN Mean no more. Say they ain't goin let me have no more.
He gets a cup down from the shelf. He swirls the pot and pours coffee into the cup.
BEN How much do you owe them?
BIG BEN Don't make no difference bout that. The facts is that I got to have six thousand dollars come next Wednesday.
BEN What happens if you don't? What are they going to foreclose on?
BIG BEN Ain't a matter of foreclosure.
BEN Well why don't you explain it to me a step at a time.
BIG BEN Only thing needs explainin is I got to have the money.
BEN Why don't you tell me what it is you've done.
BIG BEN (angrily) I ain't done a damn thing. I just need the money.
BEN Well where do you think I'm going to get six thousand dollars?
BIG BEN You can get it. They'd let you have it.
BEN You're talking about me mortgaging the farm.
Big Ben doesn't answer. He stands leaning against the stove.
BEN It's not mine to mortgage.
BIG BEN Whose is it if it ain't yours?
BEN It's in a trust.
BIG BEN You ain't goin to help me.
BEN I'm not going to mortgage that property. I couldn't if I wanted to. Can't you borrow against the house?
BIG BEN No.
BEN Why not?
BIG BEN I done borrowed against it.
There is a silence in the room.
BEN Are you going to lose the house?
BIG BEN No.
BEN You are, aren't you?
BIG BEN (Angrily) I don't get some money I'm goin to lose everthing I got.
Silence.
BEN (Quietly) I'll go to the bank tomorrow. I'll see what they'll let me have on an unsecured note. They'll want Maven to co—sign though. And I don't think they're going to let me have any six thousand dollars. How much does Mama know about this?
BIG BEN She don't need to know nothin.
BEN Well, when they put her in the street she'll know. Her and her shoes. I always wondered why she had about forty pair of shoes. She's a provident woman.
BIG BEN Well pile it all on my head. You and Pap both just walked off and left the company. Just walked off and left it.
BEN I give you forty hours a week. Every week. Papaw worked on the job every day till he was ninety two years old. What do you want?
Big Ben drains his cup and puts it in the sink and crosses to the chair and gets his hat and coat.
BIG BEN Don't make no difference what I want. I ain't goin to get it. Not even in my own house. Under my own roof. Never could and never will.
He exits the kitchen. His steps on the stairs.
SCENE V
The kitchen, morning. Ben and Maven are sitting at the table. Maven is dressed for school. Mama is putting away cups and dishes out of the drain board. She finishes and comes to the table and picks up the morning paper.
MAMA You done with this Benny?
BEN Yes mam.
She takes the paper and shuffles on toward the door.
MAMA Take my bath.
BEN Mama, do you read the paper in the bathtub?
MAMA You don't need to be speculatin bout what I does in the bathtub.
She goes out the door and up the stairs. Ben smiles. He looks at Maven. She smiles.
BEN Aren't you going to be late?
MAVEN No. Yes. Probably.
She looks at her cup and she looks up at Ben. Ben raises his chin in a gesture that means Let's hear it.
MAVEN I don't know. The basement's not far enough away any more.
BEN I know.
MAVEN I don't know what to say to Carlotta any more. I really don't.
Ben purses his lips and nods.
MAVEN Ben, how much money does your father owe you?
He looks up at Maven.
BEN I don't know. I'd have to look it up.
MAVEN But you know more or less.
BEN Yes. I just don't want you to worry about it.