Free Baby Doll & Tiger Tail by Tennessee Williams Page A

sets of unpaid-for furniture was removed from it las’ night, OOHH I'm
free
from my side of that bargain!
    ARCHIE :
Sharp at midnight!
We’ll find out about that.
    BABY DOLL : Too much has happened here lately. . . .
    [
She descends into yard. Archie Lee eyes her figure, sweating, licking his chops
.]
    ARCHIE : Well. . . my credit’s wide open again!
    BABY DOLL : So is the jailhouse door wide open for you if the truth comes out.
    ARCHIE : You threatenin’ me with—
blackmail??
    BABY DOLL : Somebody’s drawin’ some cool well water from the pump back there.
    [
She starts back. He follows. The full frog-gigging moon emerges from a mackerel sky, and we see Vacarro making his ablutions at the cistern pump with the zest and vigor of a man satisfied
.]
    BABY DOLL [
with unaccustomed hilarity
]: HEIGH-HO SILVER. . . HaHa!!
    [
Archie Lee stops dead in his tracks
.]
    ARCHIE : Him?! Still on the place?
    BABY DOLL : Give me another drink of that sweet well water, will yuh, Mistuh Vaccaro? You’re the first person could draw it.
    ARCHIE [
advancing
]: YOU STILL HERE?
    BABY DOLL : Archie Lee, Mr. Vacarro says he might not put up a new cotton gin, but let you gin cotton for him all the time,now. Ain’t you pleased about that? Tomorrow he plans to come with lots more cotton, maybe another twenty-seven wagonloads. And while you’re ginning it out, he’ll have me to entertain him, make lemonade for him. It’s going to go on and on! Maybe even next fall.
    SILVA [
through the water
]: Good neighbor policy in practice.
    [
Having wetted himself down he now drinks from the gourd
.]
    I love well water. It tastes as fresh as if it never was tasted before. Mrs. Meighan, would you care for some, too?
    BABY DOLL : Why thank you, yes, I would.
    [
There is a grace and sweetness and softness of speech about her, unknown before
. . . .]
    SILVA : Cooler nights have begun.
    [
Archie Lee has been regarding the situation, with its various possibilities, and is far from content
.]
    ARCHIE : How long you been on the place?
    SILVA [
drawling sensuously with eyes on girl
]: All this unusually long hot fall afternoon I’ve imposed on your hospitality. You want some of this well water?
    ARCHIE [
with a violent gesture of refusal
]: Where you been here???
    SILVA : Taking a nap on your only remaining bed. The crib in the nursery with the slats let down. I had to curl up on it like apretzel, but the fire last night deprived me of so much sleep that almost any flat surface was suitable for slumber.
    [
Winks impertinently at Archie Lee, then turns to grin sweetly at Baby Doll, wiping the drippings of well water from his throat. Then turns back to Archie
.]
    But there’s something sad about it. Know what I mean?
    ARCHIE : Sad about what??
    SILVA : An unoccupied nursery in a house, and all the other rooms empty. . . .
    ARCHIE : That’s no problem of yours!
    SILVA : The good neighbor policy makes your problems mine—and vice versa. . . .
    AUNT ROSE [
violent and high and shrill, from the back steps
]: SUPPER! READY! CHILDREN. . . .
    [
She staggers back in
.
    [
Now there’s a pause in which all three stand tense and silent about the water pump. Baby Doll with her slow, new smile speaks up first
. . . .]
    BABY DOLL : You all didn’t hear us called in to supper?
    ARCHIE : You gonna eat here tonight?
    SILVA : Mrs. Meighan asked me to stay for supper but I told her I’d better get to hear the invitation from the head of the house before I’d feel free to accept it. So. . . What do you say?
    [
A tense pause. . . then, with great difficulty
. . .]
    ARCHIE : Stay!. . . fo’ supper.
    BABY DOLL : You’ll have to take potluck.
    SILVA : I wouldn’t be putting you out?
    [
This is addressed to Baby Doll, who smiles vaguely and starts toward the house, saying
. . .]
    BABY DOLL : I better get into mu’ clo’se. . . .
    ARCHIE : Yeah. . . hunh. . . .
    [
They follow her sensuous departure with their eyes till she fades into the