Scene 7 Flashcards
(12 cards)
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, 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.
So in other words, he won’t leave?
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?
He just sits there. Marco don’t say much.
Alfieri
I guess they didn’t tell him, heh? What happened?
I don’t know; Marco don’t say much.
Alfieri
What does your wife say?
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.
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?
To show her what he is! So she would see, once and for all! Her mother’ll turn over in the grave!
So what do I gotta do now? Tell me what to do.
Alfieri
She actually said she’s marrying him?
She told me, yeah. So what do I do?
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.
Didn’t you hear what I told you?
Alfieri
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.
Somebody had to come for her, Eddie, sooner or later.
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! Put it out of your mind! Eddie!
Connect me with the Immigration Bureau. Thanks. I want to report something. Illegal immigrants. Two of them. That’s right. Four-forty-one Saxon Street, Brooklyn, yeah. Ground floor. Heh?
I’m just around the neighborhood, that’s all. Heh?
Louis
Go bowlin’, Eddie?
No, I’m due home.
Louis
Well, take it easy.
I’ll see yiz.
Where is everybody?
I says where is everybody?
