Free Broken Glass by Arthur Miller Page A

admit it was a mistake, I tried a hundred times to talk to you, but I couldn’t. I kept waiting for myself to change. Or you. And then we got to where it didn’t seem to matter anymore. So I left it that way. And I couldn’t change anything anymore.
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Pause.
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SYLVIA: This is a whole life we’re talking about.
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GELLBURG: But couldn’t we ... if I taught you to drive and you could go anywhere you liked.... Or maybe you could find a position you liked... ?
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She is staring ahead.
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We have to sleep together.
    SYLVIA: No.
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Gellburg drops to his knees beside the bed, his arms spread awkwardly over her covered body.
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G E LLB U RG: How can this be?
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She is motionless.
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Sylvia? Pause. Do you want to kill me?
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She is staring ahead, he is weeping and shouting.
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Is that it! Speak to me!
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Sylvia’s face is blank, unreadable. He buries his face in the covers, weeping helplessly. She at last reaches out in pity toward the top of his head, and as her hand almost touches...
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Blackout.

SCENE THREE
    Case’s office. Gellburg is seated alone. Case enters, shuffling through a handful of mail. Gellburg has gotten to his feet. Case’s manner is cold; barely glances up from his mail.
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CASE: Good morning, Gellburg.
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GELLBURG: Good morning, Mr. Case.
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CASE: I understand you wish to see me.
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GELLBURG: There was just something I felt I should say.
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CASE: Certainly. He goes to a chair and sits. Yes?
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GELLBURG: It’s just that I would never in this world do anything against you or Brooklyn Guarantee. I don’t have to tell you, it’s the only place I’ve ever worked in my life. My whole life is here. I’m more proud of this company than almost anything except my own son. What I’m trying to say is that this whole business with Wanamaker’s was only because I didn’t want to leave a stone unturned. Two or three years from now I didn’t want you waking up one morning and Wanamaker’s is gone and there you are paying New York taxes on a building in the middle of a dying neighborhood.
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Case lets him hang there. He begins getting flustered.
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Frankly, I don’t even remember what this whole thing was about. I feel I’ve lost some of your confidence, and it’s... well, it’s unfair, I feel.
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CASE: I understand.
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GELLBURG, he waits, but that’s it: But... but don’t you believe me?
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CASE: I think I do.
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GELLBURG: But... you seem to be ... you don’t seem...
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CASE: The fact remains that I’ve lost the building.
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GELLBURG: But are you ... I mean you’re not still thinking that I had something going on with Allan Kershowitz, are you?
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CASE: Put it this way—I hope as time goes on that my old confidence will return. That’s about as far as I can go, and I don’t think you can blame me, can you. He stands.
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GELLBURG, despite himself his voice rises: But how can I work if you’re this way? You have to trust a man, don’t you?
    CASE, begins to indicate he must leave: I’ll have to ask you to...
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GELLBURG, shouting: I don’t deserve this! You can’t do this to me! It’s not fair, Mr. Case, I had nothing to do with Allan Kershowitz! I hardly know the man! And the little I do know I don’t even like him, I’d certainly never get into a deal with him, for God’s sake! This is ... this whole thing is ... Exploding: I don’t understand it, what is happening, what the hell is happening, what have I got to do with Allan Kershowitz, just because he’s also a Jew?
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CASE, incredulously and angering: What? What on earth are you talking about!
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GELLBURG: Excuse me. I didn’t mean that.
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CASE: I don’t understand... how could you say a thing like that!
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GELLBURG: Please. I don’t feel well, excuse me ...
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CASE, his