The Stonemason(7)

SOLDIER Done got it all.

Big Ben rummages in his pocket and comes up with a quarter and doles it out to Soldier and then shrugs himself into his coat and buttons it and turns up the collar and puts on his hat and goes out.

SOLDIER I bet he tips better'n that away from the house.

BEN I bet he does too.

SOLDIER (Looking out the window as the car pulls away) Big Cadillac man.

BEN He worked for it.

SOLDIER What he think I goin to do with a quarter?

BEN Get in half the trouble you would if he gave you fifty cents.

SOLDIER (Turning away from the window) Shit.

Ben looks after him as he crosses the kitchen and exits. He looks out the window and shakes his head.

Ben's wife MAVEN enters the kitchen.

She is dressed in jeans and a sweater. Ben turns and looks at her and smiles.

MAVEN Hi.

She goes to the sink and begins to wash the dishes.

BEN Babe can you still get in those jeans?

MAVEN These are Carlotta's.

BEN Is she bigger than you?

MAVEN Yes, smartie. She's bigger than me.

BEN I don't guess Mama has any jeans does she?

MAVEN Why don't you bring your head over here where I can drub it.

BEN (Smiling) Drub?

MAVEN Drub.

Ben smiles and shakes his head. He drains his cup and brings it to the sink and sets it down and kisses Maven.

MAVEN What are your plans today, Hotshot?

BEN Work on the house.

MAVEN How's it coming?

BEN Why don't you come out and see?

MAVEN I've got a doctor's appointment at eleven.

BEN You could come out this afternoon.

MAVEN Will you build a fire in the fireplace?

BEN The mortar's still too wet.

Maven shakes her head.

MAVEN No deal

BEN I could build one outside.

MAVEN Not the same thing. Are you taking Papaw with you?

BEN Yep.

She looks past him to Papaw's door.

MAVEN Ben don't you think he's a little old to be out in the freezing cold doing stonework?

BEN Well, I think he's old enough to say for himself.

MAVEN What if he died out there?

BEN Maybe he'd prefer it.

MAVEN Your mother would never forgive you.

BEN I know. I've thought about that. It's just a chance I'll have to take.

MAVEN She thinks you don't take care of him. I think you don't take care of him.

BEN I know. He's tougher than you think. Babe I wouldn't take him out there if it didn't mean a lot to him. That's his house. He wants to see it done. He wants to do it. He sees it as some kind of final evidence of justice in the world. For him it's like the workings of Providence.

MAVEN Has he ever said that?

BEN (Smiling) No.

MAVEN Do you think that?

BEN I don't know. Maybe. I think I'd like to.

MAVEN Soldier has his version too. What is it he says? What goes around comes around?

BEN I think what Soldier has in mind is revenge.

MAVEN Mm hm.

BEN (Smiling) Is that what justice is? Revenge?

MAVEN Probably it is for those being treated unjustly.

BEN But the rain falls on the just and the unjust.

MAVEN The rain falls upon the just and also on the unjust fellas. But mostly it falls upon the just. Cause the unjust have the just's umbrellas.

BEN (Smiling) Is that what you learned in school?

MAVEN That's what I learned at my mammy's knee.

BEN Do they talk about justice in your classes or just about the law?

MAVEN Mostly the law. It's a pretty pragmatic business. I think that was an older generation that discussed the philosophy of law.

BEN Probably. Papaw was talking about the law yesterday. He says that law can only work in a just society.

MAVEN He said that?

BEN (Smiling) Well, more or less. It's what he meant anyway.

MAVEN You think his opinions are valuable because he's worked all his life. Isn't that a pretty romantic notion?

BEN Yes. It's also true. You can't separate wisdom from the common experience and the common experience is just what the worker has in great plenty.

MAVEN Then why aren't more workers wise?

BEN I guess for the same reason that more college professors aren't wise. Thinking's rare among all classes. But a laborer who thinks, well, his thought seems more likely to be tempered with humanity. He's more inclined to tolerance. He knows that what is valuable in life is life.

MAVEN And the professor?

BEN I think he's more apt to just be dangerous. Marx never worked a day in his life.

MAVEN Sounds a little neat to me.

BEN I don't have a theory about it. I think most people feel that books are dangerous and they're probably right.

MAVEN I'll bear that in mind.

BEN (Smiling) I don't think it's a problem for you. You've got a pretty good anchoring in reality anyway. One downstairs and one in here.

He puts his hand on her stomach.

MAVEN You've got a pretty romantic notion about motherhood too.

BEN I hope so.

MAVEN You're a fairly strange person. I knew that when I married you. Have you become more strange or were you hiding the worst from me?

BEN I don't hide anything from you.

She puts the last of the dishes in the drainer and wipes her hands on a towel.