The Ride Down Mt. Morgan by Arthur Miller

Author:Arthur Miller
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-10-26T16:00:00+00:00

ACT TWO

SCENE I

The hospital waiting room. Tom is seated with Theo.

TOM: Really, Theo, I wish you’d let Bessie take you back to the city.

THEO: Please stop repeating that! Slight pause. I need to talk to him . . . I’ll never see him again. I can’t simply walk away. Is my head trembling?

TOM: A little, maybe. Should you let one of the doctors look at you?

THEO: I’ll be all right, my family has a tendency to tremors, I’ve had it for years when I’m tense. What time is it?

TOM: Give them a few minutes more. —You seem pale.

THEO , pressing fingers against her temples to steady herself: When you spoke with this woman . . . was there any feeling about . . . what she has in mind?

TOM: She’s as much in shock as you. The child was her main concern.

THEO: Really? I wouldn’t have thought so.

TOM: Oh, I think he means everything to her.

THEO , begrudgingly: Well, that’s nice. Messes like this are basically comical, aren’t they—until you come to the children. I’m very worried about Bessie. She lies there staring at the ceiling. She can hardly talk without starting to weep. He’s been her . . . her world. She begins to fill up. You’re right, I think I’ll go. It just seemed unfinished, somehow . . . but maybe it’s better to leave it this way . . . Starts for her bag, stops. I don’t know what to do. One minute I could kill him, the next I wonder if some . . . aberration got into him . . .

Leah enters. They did not expect to see each other. A momentary pause. Leah sits.

LEAH: Good afternoon.

TOM: Good afternoon.

Awkward silence.

LEAH , asking: He’s not in his room?

THEO , as it is difficult for her to address Leah, she turns to her slowly: They’re treating his eye.

LEAH: His eye?

TOM: It’s nothing serious, he tried to climb out his window. Probably in his sleep. His eyelid was slightly scratched by a rhododendron.

THEO , making a stab at communication: He must not have realized he’s on the ground floor.

Short pause.

LEAH: Hm! That’s interesting, because a friend of ours, Ted Colby, called last night—he’s a commander of the state police here. They’d put up a wooden barrier across the Mount Morgan road when it got so icy; and he thinks Lyman moved the barrier aside.

TOM: How could they know it was him?

LEAH: There was only one set of tire tracks.

THEO: Oh my God.

LEAH: He’s worried about him. They’re good friends, they go hunting together.

THEO: Lyman hunts?

LEAH: Oh sure. Theo shakes her head incredulously. But I can’t imagine him in that kind of depression, can you?

TOM: Actually . . . yes, I think I can.

LEAH: Really. He’s always seemed so . . . up with me, and happy. Theo glances from her, irked, then away. Leah glances at her watch. I just have to settle some business with him for a few minutes, I won’t be in your way.

THEO: My way? You’re free to do anything you like, as far as I’m concerned.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.