JANE: I’ve never heard about this. Dad?? He hated plays.
BARBARA: In their backyard. In a tent with flashlights. (Shrugs. To Benjamin) Remember telling me that?
BENJAMIN (New thought): I remember . . .
(This gets their attention.)
All of you coming to visit me in New York at Thanksgiving.
RICHARD: He does remember.
BENJAMIN: And I took all of you and your father and mother to the Rainbow Room. And then to a show. (Smiles) At each place setting at the Rainbow Room was a little orange-and-black candle in the shape of a turkey that each of you took home with you.
MARIAN: That wasn’t us, Uncle Benjamin. That was Uncle Fred and his children. That wasn’t our Thanksgiving. (To the others) I talk to him all the time—to get him to remember things. (Then to Benjamin) Benjamin—why did our father leave us?
RICHARD: Marian—
MARIAN: He doesn’t answer. Maybe some day he will. What do we know? What do we think we know? (To Tim) Tim, when our mother was ill, Barbara sat night and day with her, trying to get her to tell her things—
BARBARA: That’s not why—
MARIAN: So she could write them down. But she said, when I die, just ask Benjamin, he knows all the secrets. He knows everything . . .
(They all look at Benjamin.)
Why Father left. Where he went. Who paid for us to go to school?
RICHARD: Father paid—
MARIAN (Dismissive): We don’t know that. We know what we were told. (Talking through Tim) Tim, when Father visited Barbara . . . She was the only one he ever visited. I think we all resented that. She was teaching then on Long Island. And he found her. He took her to lunch. (To Barbara) You said he looked successful?
BARBARA: His shirt was ironed.
MARIAN: And you went to the cafeteria. And he told you he was going to write us all a letter and explain. We never got a letter. And then—
BARBARA (To Tim): He put a folded twenty-dollar bill in my hand. Kissed me on the cheek and said one more thing, before vanishing. He said, “Barbara, I know you’re my child, but I’m not so sure about your brother and sisters . . .”
(Pause.)
Is everyone done? Should we wait to have dessert?
JANE: Why would we wait to have dessert? (To Tim) Marian’s pumpkin pie . . .
(Long pause as all except Benjamin stand to clean up the table, etc.)
RICHARD: Sit down, Tim. Sit. You’re a guest . . .
(Tim sits.)
JANE (To say something, as they pick up the dishes): Tim just visited his father. He lives in Texas.
BARBARA: Texas. I don’t know anyone who’s ever lived in Texas.
RICHARD: You’re not from Texas?
TIM (Shaking his head): My father retired there.
MARIAN: I’ve never been to Texas. I’ve been to Virginia. I’ve been to Florida. (She heads off with plates) So what’s Texas really like?
(She is gone.)
JANE (Shouting off): He said it was very Southern.
BARBARA: What does that mean?
(Barbara goes off.)
TIM (To Richard): They do wear cowboy hats, but there are no prairies. There are pine forests actually . . .
RICHARD: In Texas? That’s not how I picture it.
JANE (Picking up, etc.): He said he was in a restaurant waiting for the plane in Shreveport, Louisiana—I love saying that. (Bad Southern accent) “Shreveport, Louisiana.” And everyone in that restaurant was not only fat, they were obese.
(She heads off with plates. As Richard follows her off:)
RICHARD: That doesn’t surprise me.
(Tim and Benjamin are left alone for a moment. They look at each other. Then:)
BENJAMIN: Who are you?
(Marian and Barbara return for more dishes.)
BARBARA: Decaf? Should I make a pot of decaf too?
(Richard and Jane are right behind them.)
RICHARD: I’d like decaf.
BARBARA: Anyone else?
(No response.)
MARIAN (To Richard): Your dog still smells of skunk.
(As they pick up more plates, etc.:)
JANE: Tim said that the moment they heard he was from New York? And—an actor? Down in Texas?
(The others stop and listen.)
First they wanted to know if he was famous.
MARIAN: And he isn’t.
JANE: He could just feel the hatred. They hate us.
(As Barbara goes off with dishes to the kitchen:)
MARIAN: Well we hate them. (She follows Barbara off)
JANE: You looking forward to Marian’s pumpkin pie, Uncle? (She goes off)
TIM (To Richard): I passed a car repair shop—this was in Texas? It had handwritten signs: “Guns for Sale.” Like you’re selling lemonade.
RICHARD: That doesn’t surprise me.
TIM: Or just: “Guns!” exclamation mark.
RICHARD: Like: “Jesus Saves!”
(The women come out together, talking, carrying the pie, plates and ice cream.)
BARBARA (To Jane): How did he know that those Texans hated us? I assume you all want vanilla ice cream?
JANE: It’s how they—just say things. In that ridiculous accent. You know, how they’d ask a question—how they heard people in New York walk so (Bad accent) “fast.” And just the way they said “theater” or “play.” It was like they were talking about shit.
(They begin serving the pie and ice cream.)
MARIAN (To Richard): And now you’re one of them.
RICHARD: One of what?
MARIAN: A Republican.
JANE (To Tim): How many churches did you see in Texas? (To the others) He told me he stopped counting.
RICHARD: I try and make sense of things for myself. I try like hell not to just let my buttons be pushed.
MARIAN: And we let our buttons just be pushed? (She smiles)
(The pie and ice cream is served.)
BARBARA: Is that too much ice cream on your pie, Uncle Benjamin?
(No response. The women have sat down. Everyone starts in on the pie.)
MARIAN (Taking a bite): So—we just let them push our buttons . . .
(They eat. Short pause. Then:)
RICHARD: “Sarah Palin.”
(All hell breaks out: “Oh my god!” Marian even drops her plate of pie and ice cream. Barbara starts to go and help Marian.)
MARIAN: I’ll pick it up.
JANE: