Light rises on Alfieri at his desk.

Alfieri On the twenty-third of that December a case of Scotch whisky slipped from a net while being unloaded – as a case of Scotch whisky is inclined to do on the twenty-third of December on Pier Forty-one. There was no snow, but it was cold, his wife was out shopping. Marco was still at work. The boy had not been hired that day; Catherine told me later that this was the first time they had been alone together in the house.

Light is rising on Catherine in the apartment. Rodolpho is watching as she arranges a paper pattern on cloth spread on the table.

Catherine  You hungry?

Rodolpho  Not for anything to eat. (Pause.) I have nearly three hundred dollars. Catherine?

Catherine  I heard you.

Rodolpho  You don’t like to talk about it any more?

Catherine  Sure, I don’t mind talkin’ about it.

Rodolpho  What worries you, Catherine?

Catherine  I been wantin’ to ask you about something. Could I?

Rodolpho  AIl the answers are in my eyes, Catherine. But you don’t look in my eyes lately. You’re full of secrets. (She looks at him. She seems withdrawn.) What is the question?

Catherine  Suppose I wanted to live in Italy.

Rodolpho (smiling at the incongruity)    You going to marry somebody rich?

Catherine  No, I mean live there – you and me.

Rodolpho (his smile vanishing)    When?

Catherine  WeIl . . . when we get married.

Rodolpho (astonished )   You want to be an Italian?

Catherine  No, but I could live there without being Italian. Americans live there.

Rodolpho  Forever?

Catherine  Yeah.

Rodolpho (crosses to rocker)    You’re fooling.

Catherine  No, I mean it.

Rodolpho  Where do you get such an idea?

Catherine  Well, you’re always saying it’s so beautiful there, with the mountains and the oceanand all the –

Rodolpho  You’re fooling me.

Catherine  I mean it.

Rodolpho ( goes to her slowly) Catherine, if I ever brought you home with no money, no business, nothing, they would call the priest and the doctor and they would say Rodolpho is crazy.

Catherine I know, but I think we would be happier there.

Rodolpho  Happier! What would you eat? You can’t cook the view!

Catherine  Maybe you could be a singer, like in Rome or –

Rodolpho  Rome! Rome is full of singers.

Catherine  Well, I could work then.

Rodolpho  Where?

Catherine  God, there must be jobs somewhere!

Rodolpho  There’s nothing! Nothing, nothing, nothing. Now tell me what you’re talking about. How can I bring you from a rich country to suffer in a poor country? What are you                     talking about? (She searches for words.) I would be a criminal stealing your face. In                   two years you would have an old, hungry face.When my brother’s babies cry they give them water, water that boiled a bone. Don’t you believe that?

Catherine (quietly)    I’m afraid of Eddie here.

Slight pause.

Rodolpho (steps closer to her)    We wouldn’t live here. Once I am a citizen I could work anywhere and I would find better jobs and we would have a house, Catherine. If I were not afraid to be arrested I would start to be something wonderful here!

Catherine (steeling herself )   Tell me something. I mean just tell me, Rodolpho – would you still want to do it if  it turned out we had to go live in Italy? I mean just if it turned out that way.

Rodolpho  This is your question or his question?

Catherine  I would like to know, Rodolpho. I mean it.

Rodolpho  To go there with nothing.

Catherine  Yeah.

Rodolpho  No. (She looks at him wide-eyed.) No.

Catherine  You wouldn’t?

Rodolpho  No; I will not marry you to live in Italy. I want you to be my wife, and I want to be a                    citizen. Tell him that, or I will. Yes. (He moves about angrily.) And tell him also,                          and tell yourself, please, that I am not a beggar, and you are not a horse, a gift, a                      favor for a poor immigrant.

Catherine  Well, don’t get mad!

Rodolpho  I am furious! (Goes to her.) Do you think I am so desperate? My brother is desperate, not me. You think I would carry on my back the rest of my life a woman I didn’t love just to be an American? It’s so wonderful? You think we have no tall buildings in Italy? Electric lights? No wide streets? No flags? No automobiles? Only work we don’t have. I want to be an American so I can work, that is the only wonder here – work! How can you insult me, Catherine?

Catherine  I didn’t mean that –

Rodolpho  My heart dies to look at you. Why are you so afraid of him?

Catherine (near tears)    I don’t know!

Rodolpho  Do you trust me, Catherine? You?

Catherine  It’s only that I – He was good to me, Rodolpho. You don’t know him; he was always the sweetest guy to me. Good. He razzes me all the time but he don’t mean it. I know.  I would just feel ashamed if I made him sad. ’Cause I always dreamt that when I got married he would be happy at the wedding, and laughin’ – and now he’s – mad all the time and nasty – (She is weeping.) Tell him you’d live in Italy – just tell him, and maybe he would start to trust you a little, see? Because I want him to be happy; I mean – I like him, Rodolpho – and I can’t stand it!

Rodolpho  Oh, Catherine – oh, little girl.

Catherine  I love you, Rodolpho, I love you.

Rodolpho  Then why are you afraid? That he’ll spank you?

Catherine  Don’t, don’t laugh at me! I’ve been here all my life . . . Every day I saw him when he left in the morning and when he came home at night. You think it’s so easy to turn around and say to a man he’s nothin’ to you no more?

Rodolpho  I know, but –

Catherine  You don’t know; nobody knows! I’m not a baby, I know a lot more than people think I know. Beatrice says to be a woman, but –

Rodolpho  Yes.

Catherine  Then why don’t she be a woman? If I was a wife I would make a man happy instead of goin’ at him all the time. I can tell a block away when he’s blue in his mind and just wants to talk to somebody quiet and nice . . . I can tell when he’s hungry or wants a beer before he even says anything. I know when his feet hurt him, I mean I know him and now I’m supposed to turn around and make a stranger out of him?  I don’t know why I have to do that, I mean.

Rodolpho  Catherine. If I take in my hands a little bird. And she grows and wishes to fly. But I will not let her out of my hands because I love her so much, is that right for me to do? I don’t say you must hate him; but anyway you must go, mustn’t you? Catherine?

Catherine (softly) Hold me.

Rodolpho (clasping her to him)    Oh, my little girl.

Catherine  Teach me. (She is weeping.) I don’t know anything, teach me, Rodolpho, hold me.

Rodolpho  There’s nobody here now. Come inside. Come. (He is leading her toward the bedrooms.) And don’t cry any more.

Light rises on the street. In a moment Eddie appears. He is unsteady, drunk. He mounts the stairs. He enters the apartment, looks around, takes out a bottle from one pocket, puts it on the table. Then another bottle from another pocket, and a third from an inside pocket. He sees the pattern and cloth, goes over to it and touches it, and turns toward upstage.

Eddie  Beatrice? (He goes to the open kitchen door and looks in.) Beatrice? Beatrice?

Catherine enters from bedroom; under his gaze she adjusts her dress.

Catherine  You got home early.

Eddie  Knocked off for Christmas early. (Indicating the pattern.) Rodolpho makin’ you a dress?

Catherine  No. I’m makin’ a blouse.

Rodolpho appears in the bedroom doorway. Eddie sees him and his arm jerks slightly in shock. Rodolpho nods to him testingly.

Rodolpho  Beatrice went to buy presents for her mother.

Pause.

Eddie  Pack it up. Go ahead. Get your stuff and get outa here. (Catherine instantly turns and walks toward the bedroom, and Eddie grabs her arm.) Where you goin’?

Catherine (trembling with fright)    I think I have to get out of here, Eddie.

Eddie  No, you ain’t goin’ nowheres, he’s the one.

Catherine  I think I can’t stay here no more. (She frees her arm, steps back toward the bedroom.) I’m sorry, Eddie. (She sees the tears in his eyes.) Well, don’t cry. I’ll be around the neighborhood; I’ll see you. I just can’t stay here no more. You know I can’t. (Her sobs of pity and love for him break her composure.) Don’t you know I can’t? You know that, don’t you? (She goes to him.) Wish me luck. (She clasps her hands prayerfully.) Oh, Eddie, don’t be like that!

Eddie  You ain’t goin’ nowheres.

Catherine  Eddie, I’m not gonna be a baby any more! You – (He reaches out suddenly, draws her to him, and as she strives to free herself he kisses her on the mouth.)

Rodolpho  Don’t! (He pulls on Eddie’s arm.) Stop that! Have respect for her!

Eddie(spun round by Rodolpho)    You want something?

Rodolpho  Yes! She’ll be my wife. That is what I want. My wife!

Eddie  But what’re you gonna be?

Rodolpho  I show you what I be!

Catherine  Wait outside; don’t argue with him!

Eddie  Come on, show me! What’re you gonna be? Show me!

Rodolpho (with tears of rage)    Don’t say that to me!

Rodolpho flies at him in attack. Eddie pins his arms, laughing, and suddenly kisses him.

Catherine  Eddie! Let go, ya hear me! I’ll kill you! Leggo of him!

She tears at Eddie’s face and Eddie releases Rodolpho. Eddie stands there with tears rolling down his face as he laughs mockingly at Rodolpho. She is staring at him in horror. Rodolpho is rigid. They are like animals that have torn at one another and broken up without a decision, each waiting for the other’s mood.

Eddie (to Catherine)     You see? (To Rodolpho.) I give you till tomorrow, kid. Get outa here. Alone. You hear me? Alone.

Catherine  I’m going with him, Eddie. (She starts toward

Rodolpho.)

Eddie (indicating Rodolpho with his head )    Not with that. (She halts, frightened. He sits, still panting for breath, and they watch him helplessly as he leans toward them over the table.) Don’t make me do nuttin’, Catherine. Watch your step, submarine. By rights they oughta throw you back in the water. But I got pity for you. (He moves unsteadily toward the door, always facing Rodolpho.) Just get outa here and don’t lay another hand on her unless you wanna go out feet first. (He goes out of the apartment.)

The lights go down, as they rise on Alfieri.

Alfieri  On December twenty-seventh I saw him next. I normally go home well before six, but that day I sat around looking out my window at the bay, and when I saw him walking through my doorway, I knew why I had waited. And if I seem to tell this like a dream, it was that way. Several moments arrived in the course of the two talks we had when it occurred to me how – almost transfixed I had come to feel. I had lost  my strength somewhere. (Eddie enters, removing his cap, sits in the chair, looks thoughtfully out.) I looked in his eyes more than I listened – in fact, I can hardly remember the conversation. But I will never forget how dark the room became when he looked at me; his eyes were like tunnels. I kept wanting to call the police, but nothing had happened. Nothing at all had really happened. (He breaks off and looks down at the desk. Then he turns to Eddie.) So in other words, he won’t leave?

Eddie  My wife is talkin’ about renting a room upstairs for them. An old lady on the top floor is got an empty room.

Alfieri  What does Marco say?

Eddie  He just sits there. Marco don’t say much.

Alfieri  I guess they didn’t tell him, heh? What happened?

Eddie  I don’t know; Marco don’t say much.

Alfieri  What does your wife say?

Eddie (unwilling to pursue this)   Nobody’s talkin’ much in the house. So what about that?

Alfieri  But you didn’t prove anything about him. It sounds like he just wasn’t strong enough to break your grip.

Eddie  I’m tellin’ you I know – he ain’t right. Somebody that don’t want it can break it. Even a mouse, if you catch a teeny mouse and you hold it in your hand, that mouse can give you the right kind of fight. He didn’t give me the right kind of fight, I know it, Mr Alfieri, the guy ain’t right.

Alfieri  What did you do that for, Eddie?

Eddie  To show her what he is! So she would see, once and for all! Her mother’ll turn over in the grave! (He gathers himself almost peremptorily.) So what do I gotta do now? Tell me what to do.

Alfieri  She actually said she’s marrying him?

Eddie   She told me, yeah. So what do I do? Slight pause.

Alfieri  This is my last word, Eddie, take it or not, that’s your business. Morally and legally you have no rights, you cannot stop it; she is a free agent.

Eddie (angering)    Didn’t you hear what I told you?

Alfieri (with a tougher tone)    I heard what you told me, and I’m telling you what the answer is. I’m not only telling you now, I’m warning you – the law is nature. The law is only a word  for what has a right to happen. When the law is wrong it’s because it’s unnatural, but in this case it is natural and a river will drown you if you buck it now. Let her go. And bless her. (A phone booth begins to glow on the opposite side of the stage; a faint, lonely blue. Eddie stands up, jaws clenched.) Somebody had to come for her, Eddie, sooner or later. (Eddie starts turning to go and Alfieri rises with new anxiety.) You won’t have a friend in the world, Eddie! Even those who understand will turn against you, even the ones who feel the same will despise you! (Eddie moves off.)Put it out of your mind! Eddie! (He follows into the darkness, calling desperately.)

Eddie is gone. The phone is glowing in light now. Light is out on Alfieri. Eddie has at the same time appeared beside the phone.

Eddie  Give me the number of the Immigration Bureau. Thanks. (He dials.) I want to report something. Illegal immigrants. Two of them. That’s right. Four-forty-one Saxon Street, Brooklyn, yeah. Ground floor. Heh? (With greater difficulty.) I’m just around the neighborhood, that’s all. Heh?

Evidently he is being questioned further, and he slowly hangs up. He leaves the phone just as Louis and Mike come down the street.

Louis  Go bowlin’, Eddie?

Eddie  No, I’m due home.

Louis   Well, take it easy.

Eddie   I’ll see yiz.

They leave him, exiting right, and he watches them go. He glances about, then goes up into the house. The lights go on in the apartment. Beatrice is taking down Christmas decorations and packing them in a box.

Eddie  Where is everybody? (Beatrice does not answer.) I says where is everybody?

Beatrice (looking up at him, wearied with it, and concealing a fear of him) I decided to move them upstairs with Mrs. Dondero.

Eddie  Oh, they’re all moved up there already?

Beatrice  Yeah.

Eddie  Where’s Catherine? She up there?

Beatrice  Only to bring pillow cases.

Eddie  She ain’t movin’ in with them.

Beatrice  Look, I’m sick and tired of it. I’m sick and tired of it!

Eddie  All right, all right, take it easy.

Beatrice  I don’t wanna hear no more about it, you understand? Nothin’!

Eddie  What’re you blowin’ off about? Who brought them in here?

Beatrice  All right, I’m sorry; I wish I’d a drop dead before I told them to come. In the ground I wish I was.

Eddie  Don’t drop dead, just keep in mind who brought them in here, that’s all. (He moves about restlessly.) I mean I got a couple of rights here. (He moves, wanting to beat down her evident disapproval of him.) This is my house here not their house.

Beatrice  What do you want from me? They’re moved out; what do you want now?

Eddie  I want my respect!

Beatrice  So I moved them out, what more do you want? You got your house now, you got your respect.

Eddie (he moves about biting his lip)    I don’t like the way you talk to me, Beatrice.

Beatrice  I’m just tellin’ you I done what you want!

Eddie  I don’t like it! The way you talk to me and the way you look at me. This is my house. And she is my niece and I’m responsible for her.

Beatrice  So that’s why you done that to him?

Eddie  I done what to him?

Beatrice  What you done to him in front of her; you know what I’m talkin’ about. She goes around shakin’ all the time, she can’t go to sleep! That’s what you call responsible for her?

Eddie (quietly)    The guy ain’t right, Beatrice. (She is silent.) Did you hear what I said?

Beatrice  Look, I’m finished with it. That’s all. (She resumes her work.)

Eddie (helping her to pack the tinsel )   I’m gonna have it out with you one of these days, Beatrice.

Beatrice  Nothin’ to have out with me, it’s all settled. Now we gonna be like it never happened, that’s all.

Eddie  I want my respect, Beatrice, and you know what I’m talkin’ about.

Beatrice  What? 

Pause.

Eddie ( finally his resolution hardens)    What I feel like doin’ in the bed and what I don’t feel like doin’. I don’t want no –

Beatrice  When’d I say anything about that?

Eddie  You said, you said, I ain’t deaf. I don’t want no more conversations about that, Beatrice. I do what I feel like doin’ or what I don’t feel like doin’.

Beatrice  Okay.

Pause.

Eddie  You used to be different, Beatrice. You had a whole different way.

Beatrice  I’m no different.

Eddie  You didn’t used to jump me all the time about everything. The last year or two I come in the house I don’t know what’s gonna hit me. It’s a shootin’ gallery in here and I’m the pigeon.

Beatrice  Okay, okay.

Eddie  Don’t tell me okay, okay, I’m tellin’ you the truth. A wife is supposed to believe the husband. If I tell you that guy ain’t right don’t tell me he is right.

Beatrice  But how do you know?

Eddie  Because I know. I don’t go around makin’ accusations. He give me the heeby-jeebies the first minute I seen him. And  I don’t like you sayin’ I don’t want her marryin’ anybody. I broke my back payin’ her stenography lessons so she could go out and meet a better class of people. Would I do that if I didn’twant her to get married? Sometimes you talk like I was a crazy man or sump’m.

Beatrice  But she likes him.

Eddie  Beatrice, she’s a baby, how is she gonna know what she likes?

Beatrice  Well, you kept her a baby, you wouldn’t let hcr go out. I told you a hundred times.

Pause.

Eddie  All right. Let her go out, then.

Beatrice  She don’t wanna go out now. It’s too late, Eddie.

Pause.

Eddie  Suppose I told her to go out. Suppose I –

Beatrice       They’re going to get married next week, Eddie.

Eddie (his head jerks around to her)    She said that?

Beatrice  Eddie, if you want my advice, go to her and tell her good luck. I think maybe now that you had it out you learned better.

Eddie  What’s the hurry next week?

Beatrice  Well, she’s been worried about him bein’ picked up; this way he could start to be a citizen. She loves him, Eddie. (He gets up, moves about uneasily, restlessly.) Why don’t you give her a good word? Because I still think she would like you to be a friend, y’know? (He is standing, looking at the floor.) I mean like if you told her you’d go to the wedding.

Eddie  She asked you that?

Beatrice  I know she would like it. I’d like to make a party here for hcr. I mean there oughta be some kinda send-off. Heh? I mean she’ll have trouble enough in her life, let’s start it off happy. What do you say? ’Cause in her heart she still loves you, Eddie. I know it. (He presses his fingers against his eyes.) What’re you, cryin’? (She goes to him, holds his face.) Go . . . whyn’t you go tell her you’re sorry? (Catherine is seen on the upper landing of the stairway, and they hear her descending.) There . . . she’s comin’ down. Come on, shake hands with her.

Eddie (moving with suppressed suddenness)    No, I can’t, I can’t talk to her.

Beatrice  Eddie, give her a break; a wedding should be happy!

Eddie  I’m goin’, I’m goin’ for a walk.

He goes upstage for his jacket. Catherine enters and starts for the bedroom door.

Beatrice  Katie? . . . Eddie, don’t go, wait a minute. (She embraces Eddie’s arm with warmth.) Ask him, Katie. Come on, honey.

Eddie  It’s all right, I’m – (He starts to go and she holds him.)

Beatrice  No, she wants to ask you. Come on, Katie, ask him. We’ll have a party! What’re we gonna do, hate each other? Come on!

Catherine  I’m gonna get married, Eddie. So if you wanna come, the wedding be on Saturday.

Pause.

Eddie  Okay. I only wanted the best for you, Katie. I hope you know that.

Catherine  Okay. (She starts out again.)

Eddie  Catherine? (She turns to him.) I was just tellin’ Beatrice . . . if you wanna go out, like . . . I mean I realize maybe I kept you home too much. Because he’s the first guy you ever knew, y’know? I mean now that you got a job, you might meet some fellas, and you get a different idea, y’know? I mean you could always come back to him, you’re still only kids, the both of yiz. What’s the hurry? Maybe you’ll get around a little bit, you grow up a little more, maybe you’ll see different in a couple of months. I mean you be surprised, it don’t have to be him.

Catherine  No, we made it up already.

Eddie (with increasing anxiety)   Katie, wait a minute.

Catherine  No, I made up my mind.

Eddie  But you never knew no other fella, Katie! How could you make up your mind?

Catherine  ’Cause I did. I don’t want nobody else.

Eddie  But, Katie, suppose he gets picked up.

Catherine  That’s why we gonna do it right away. Soon as we finish the wedding he’s goin’ right over and start to be a citizen. I made up my mind, Eddie. I’m sorry. (To Beatrice.) Could I take two more pillow cases for the other guys?

Beatrice  Sure, go ahead. Only don’t let her forget where they came from.

Catherine goes into a bedroom.

Eddie  She’s got other boarders up there?

Beatrice  Yeah, there’s two guys that just came over.

Eddie  What do you mean, came over?

Beatrice  From Italy. Lipari the butcher – his nephew. They come from Bari, they just got here yesterday. I didn’t even know till Marco and Rodolpho moved up there before. (Catherine enters, going toward exit with two pillow cases.) It’ll be nice, they could all talk together.

Eddie  Catherine! (She halts near the exit door. He takes in Beatrice too.) What’re you, got no brains? You put them up there with two other submarines?

Catherine  Why?

Eddie (in a driving fright and anger)    Why! How do you know they’re not trackin’ these guys? They’ll come up for them and find Marco and Rodolpho! Get them out of the house!

Beatrice  But they been here so long already –

Eddie  How do you know what enemies Lipari’s got? Which they’d love to stab him in the back?

Catherine  Well what’ll I do with them?

Eddie  The neighborhood is full of rooms. Can’t you stand to live a couple of blocks away from him? Get them out of the house!

Catherine  Well maybe tomorrow night I’ll –

Eddie  Not tomorrow, do it now. Catherine, you never mix yourself with somebody else’s family! These guys get picked up, Lipari’s liable to blame you or me and we got his whole family on our head. They got a temper, that family.

Two men in overcoats appear outside, start into the house.

Catherine  How’m I gonna find a place tonight?

Eddie  Will you stop arguin’ with me and get them out! You think I’m always tryin’ to fool you or sump’m? What’s the matter with you, don’t you believe I could think of your good? Did I ever ask sump’m for myself ? You think I got no feelin’s? I never told you nothin’ in my life that wasn’t for your good. Nothin’! And look at the way you talk to me! Like I was an enemy! Like I – (A knock on the door. His head swerves. They all stand motionless. Another knock. Eddie, in a whisper, pointing upstage.)Go up the fire escape, get them out over the back fence.

Catherine stands motionless, uncomprehending.

First Officer (in the hall )  Immigration! Open up in there!

Eddie  Go, go. Hurry up! (She stands a moment staring at him in a realized horror.) Well, what’re you lookin’ at!

First Officer  Open up!

Eddie (calling toward door)    Who’s that there?

First Officer   Immigration, open up.

Eddie turns, looks at Beatrice. She sits. Then he looks at Catherine. With a sob of fury Catherine streaks into a bedroom.

The knock is repeated.

Eddie  All right, take it easy, take it easy. (He goes and opens the door The Officer steps inside.) What’s all this?

First Officer  Where are they?

Second Officer sweeps past and, glancing about, goes into the kitchen.

Eddie  Where’s who?

First Officer  Come on, come on, where are they? (He hurries into the bedrooms.)

Eddie  Who? We got nobody here. (He looks at Beatrice, who turns her head away. Pugnaciously, furious, he steps toward Beatrice.) What’s the matter with you?

First Officer enters from the bedroom, calls to the kitchen.

First Officer  Dominick?

Enter Second Officer from kitchen.

Second Officer  Maybe it’s a different apartment.

First Officer  There’s only two more floors up there. I’ll take the front, you go up the fire escape. I’ll let you in. Watch your step up there.

Second Officer  Okay, right, Charley. (First Officer goes out apartment door and runs up the stairs.) This is Four-forty-one, isn’t it?

Eddie  That’s right.

Second Officer goes out into the kitchen.

Eddie turns to Beatrice. She looks at him now and sees his terror.

Beatrice (weakened with fear)    Oh, Jesus, Eddie.

Eddie  What’s the matter with you?

Beatrice ( pressing her palms against her face)    Oh, my God, my God . . .

Eddie  What’re you, accusin’ me?

Beatrice (her final thrust is to turn toward him instead of running from him)    My God, what did you do?

Many steps on the outer stair draw his attention. We see the First Officer descending, with Marco, behind him Rodolpho, and Catherine and the two strange immigrants, followed by Second Officer.

Beatrice hurries to door.

Catherine (backing down stairs, fighting with First Officer; as they appear on the stairs) What do yiz want from them? They work, that’s all. They’re boarders upstairs, they work on the piers.

Beatrice (to First Officer) Ah, Mister, what do you want from them, who do they hurt?

Catherine ( pointing to Rodolpho)   They ain’t no submarines, he was born in Philadelphia.

First Officer  Step aside, lady.

Catherine  What do you mean? You can’t just come in a house and –

First Officer  All right, take it easy. (To Rodolpho.) What street were you born in Philadelphia?

Catherine  What do you mean, what street? Could you tell me what street you were born?

First Officer  Sure. Four blocks away, One-eleven Union Street. Let’s go fellas.

Catherine (fending him off Rodolpho)    No, you can’t! Now, get outa here!

First Officer  Look, girlie, if they’re all right they’ll be out tomorrow. If they’re illegal they go back where they came from. If you want, get yourself a lawyer, although I’m tellin’ you now you’re wasting your money. Let’s get them in the car, Dom. (To the men.) Andiamo, Andiamo, let’s go.

The men start, but Marco hangs back.

Beatrice ( from doorway)    Who’re they hurtin’, for God’s sake, what do you want from them? They’re starvin’ over there, what do you want! Marco!

Marco suddenly breaks from the group and dashes into the room and faces Eddie; Beatrice and First Officer rush in as Marco spits into Eddie’s face.

Catherine runs into hallway and throws herself into Rodolpho’s arms. Eddie, with an enraged cry, lunges for Marco.

Eddie  Oh, you mother’s – !

First Officer quickly intercedes and pushes Eddie from Marco, who stands there accusingly.

First Officer (between them, pushing Eddie from Marco) Cut it out!

Eddie (over the First Officer’s shoulder, to Marco)    I’ll kill you for that, you son of a bitch!

First Officer  Hey! (Shakes him.) Stay in here now, don’t come out, don’t bother him. You hear me? Don’t come out, fella. 

(For an instant there is silence. Then First Officer turns and takes Marco’s arm and then gives a last, informative look at Eddie. As he and Marco are going out into the hall. Eddie erupts.)

Eddie  I don’t forget that, Marco! You hear what I’m sayin’?

Out in the hall, First Officer and Marco go down the stairs.

Now, in the street, Louis, Mike. and several neighbors including the butcher, Lipari – a stout, intense, middle-aged man – are gathering around the stoop.

Lipari, the butcher, walks over to the two strange men and kisses them. His wife, keening, goes and kisses their hands. Eddie is emerging from the house shouting after Marco. Beatrice is trying to restrain him.

Eddie  That’s the thanks I get? Which I took the blankets off my bed for yiz? You gonna apologize to me, Marco! Marco!

First Officer (in the doorway with Marco)    All right, lady, let them go. Get in the car, fellas, it’s right over there.

Rodolpho is almost carrying the sobbing Catherine off up the street, left.

Catherine  He was born in Philadelphia! What do you want from him?

First Officer  Step aside, lady, come on now . . .

The Second Officer has moved off with the two strange men.

Marco, taking advantage of the First Officer’s being occupied with Catherine, suddenly frees himself and points back at Eddie.

Marco   That one! I accuse that one!

Eddie brushes Beatrice aside and rushes out to the stoop.

First Officer ( grabbing him and moving him quickly off up the left street) Come on!

Marco (as he is taken off, pointing back at Eddie)    That one! He killed my children! That one stole the food from my children!

Marco is gone. The crowd has turned to Eddie.

Eddie (to Lipari and wife)    He’s crazy! I give them the blankets off my bed. Six months I kept them like my own brothers!

Lipari, the butcher, turns and starts up left with his arm around his wife.

Eddie  Lipari! (He follows Lipari up left.) For Christ’s sake, I kept them, I give them the blankets off my bed!

Lipari and wife exit. Eddie turns and starts crossing down right to

Louis and Mike.

Eddie  Louis! Louis!

Louis barely turns, then walks off and exits down right with Mike. Only Beatrice is left on the stoop. Catherine now returns, blank- eyed, from offstage and the car. Eddie calls after Louis and Mike.

Eddie  He’s gonna take that back. He’s gonna take that back or I’ll kill him! You hear me? I’ll kill him! I’ll kill him! (He exits up street calling.)

There is a pause of darkness before the lights rise, on the reception room of a prison. Marco is seated; Alfieri, Catherine, and Rodolpho standing.

Alfieri  I’m waiting, Marco, what do you say?

Rodolpho  Marco never hurt anybody.

Alfieri  I can bail you out until your hearing comes up. But I’m not going to do it, you understand me? Unless I have your promise. You’re an honorable man, I will believe your promise. Now what do you say?

Marco   In my country he would be dead now. He would not live this long.

Alfieri  All right, Rodolpho – you come with me now.

Rodolpho  No! Please, Mister. Marco – promise the man. Please, I want you to watch the wedding. How can I be married and you’re in here? Please, you’re not going to do anything; you know you’re not.

Marco is silent.

Catherine (kneeling left of Marco)    Marco, don’t you understand? He can’t bail you out if you’re gonna do something bad. To hell with Eddie. Nobody is gonna talk to him again if he lives to a hundred. Everybody knows you spit in his face, that’s enough, isn’t it? Give me the satisfaction – I want you at the wedding. You got a wife and kids, Marco. You could be workin’ till the hearing comes up, instead of layin’ around here.

Marco (to Alfieri)  I have no chance?

Alfieri (crosses to behind Marco)    No, Marco. You’re going back. The hearing is a formality, that’s all.

Marco   But him? There is a chance, eh?

Alfieri  When she marries him he can start to become an American. They permit that, if the wife is born here.

Marco (looking at Rodolpho)    Well – we did something. (He lays a palm on Rodolpho’s arm and Rodolpho covers it.)

Rodolpho  Marco, tell the man.

Marco ( pulling his hand away)    What will I tell him? He knows such a promise is dishonorable.

Alfieri  To promise not to kill is not dishonorable.

Marco (looking at Alfieri)    No?

Alfieri  No.

Marco ( gesturing with his head – this is a new idea)    Then what is done with such a man?’

Alfieri  Nothing. If he obeys the law, he lives. That’s all.

Marco (rises, turns to Alfieri)    The law? All the law is not in a book.

Alfieri  Yes. In a book. There is no other law.

Marco (his anger rising)    He degraded my brother. My blood. He robbed my children, he mocks my work. I work to come here, mister!

Alfieri  I know, Marco –

Marco   There is no law for that? Where is the law for that?

Alfieri  There is none.

Marco (shaking his head, sitting)    I don’t understand this country.

Alfieri  Well? What is your answer? You have five or six weeks you could work. Or else you sit here. What do you say to me?

Marco (lowers his eyes. It almost seems he is ashamed)     All right.

Alfieri  You won’t touch him. This is your promise.

Slight pause.

Marco   Maybe he wants to apologize to me.

Marco is staring away. Alfieri takes one of his hands.

Alfieri  This is not God, Marco. You hear? Only God makes justice.

Marco   All right.

Alfieri (nodding, not with assurance)    Good! Catherine, Rodolpho, Marco, let us go.

Catherine kisses Rodolpho and Marco, then kisses Alfieri’s hand.

Catherine  I’ll get Beatrice and meet you at the church. (She leaves quickly.)

Marco rises. Rodolpho suddenly embraces him. Marco pats him on the back and Rodolpho exits after Catherine. Marco faces Alfieri.

Alfieri  Only God, Marco.

Marco turns and walks out. Alfieri with a certain processional tread leaves the stage. The lights dim out

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