The Stonemason by Cormac McCarthy

Author:Cormac McCarthy [Cormac McCarthy]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Published: 2012-01-23T00:39:50+00:00

SCENE II

The kitchen, morning. The family has just finished breakfast and Mama is clearing away the table. Big Ben is reading the paper and Carlotta is smoking a cigarette. Ben gets up from the table. He is wearing sport clothes, not dressed for work. He goes to the sink and rinses out his cup and takes his leather jacket and puts it on. Big Ben lowers the paper and looks at him.

BIG BEN I don't know what use it be you drivin up and down the roads.

BEN I'm not going to drive up and down the roads.

Big Ben regards him over the top of his paper.Ben turns up his coat collar.

BIG BEN What did the police say?

BEN I told you what the police said.

BIG BEN You ain't told me nothin.

BEN I told Mama.

BIG BEN I ain't Mama.

BEN They didn't say anything. They just take down the information. They fill out a report. They don't even list them as missing until they've been gone forty eight hours. Then they put the report in a filing cabinet along with about a thousand others, kids that are missing. Missing or misplaced or lost or people just couldn't remember where they'd left them or maybe no one even noticed they were gone or maybe they had no place to be missing from in the first place.

BIG BEN Carlotta say the truant officer callin up here wantin to know why he ain't in school.

BEN Sure. You think the left hand knows what the right is doing? Five years ago they were putting us in jail for sending our kids to school, now they want to jail us for not sending them. I've got to go. I'll be over there after dinner. Tell Osreau to be carrying it up on the back side and we'll set the lintels in the morning. Mama, Bye.

Ben exits.

MAMA (To the closed door) Bye honey.

BIG BEN Cain't tell him nothin. Drive around. Where he goin to look for the boy at? Police ain't got no sense. Teachers ain't got no sense. Ain't nobody got any sense but him.

MAMA Well at least he tryin to do somethin.

BIG BEN What that suppose to mean?

MAMA Don't mean nothin. Mean he tryin, that's all.

BIG BEN He just showin out. What's he goin do? The boy's run off, that's all. He'll be back.

MAMA Well, you waitin on me to peck holes in Benny you better make yourself comfortable, that's all I got to say.

BIG BEN You don't need to tell me that. Nooo. You sure don't need to tell me that.

He fluffs up his paper and turns to read, quietly indignant. Carlotta stubs out her cigarette.

CARLOTTA Why are you so sure he's just run away, Daddy?

BIG BEN He's just that age. Lot of boys his age run off from home. It's just their nature. Young boy like that. . .

CARLOTTA Did you?

BIG BEN No. But I thought about it. Course back when I was comin up young boys was kept busy and out of trouble. It wasn't like now.

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