(Short pause.)
MARIAN: Because of Pamela??
RICHARD: Shut up.
MARIAN (To Jane): Because of her? Is this how you worked things out? You love your job. (To Barbara) He’s now worked for how many Attorneys General?
(Short pause. They eat.)
BARBARA (To Marian, as they digest this news about Richard): Jane and Tim got to Rhinebeck early and she showed him around town.
MARIAN (To Jane): Putting off coming here?
JANE: No. No.
TIM (To help Jane out): It’s a sweet village. I love the wooden signs.
MARIAN: We live here.
TIM (After a look at Jane): I didn’t mean—
MARIAN: On weekends in the summer, you New Yorkers come here and saunter in the middle of the street—like it’s some amusement park. And so we’re supposed to just stop our cars so you can walk . . .?
(Then:)
There are more registered Democrats than Republicans in this village now. That is a big change since I came here.
TIM: Is it . . .
MARIAN: We have the first openly gay elected official in all of Dutchess County. Kathy. She’s the town highway superintendent.
TIM: That’s—good.
MARIAN (To Jane): I thought Tim would be interested in that—being in the theater.
(Pause.)
TIM: So—then the Democrats will win—here?
MARIAN (Eating): There were a lot of old people in line to vote. That’s never a good sign. People aren’t thinking . . . There’s a lot of anger.
RICHARD: I’m angry.
MARIAN: Are you? I’m talking about the crazies, Richard.
RICHARD: I don’t think they’re crazy. I think they’re just pissed off. I think they’re looking at society—a government, and I’m not saying just this government, it’s been like this for decades, it’s just coming to a head. A government that’s always saying: “We’re here to give out things.” So everyone line up, push in line, cut in line, get your head in the trough! That’s not very inspiring!
TIM (To Jane): What is this?
JANE: Sh-sh . . .
MARIAN: So—that’s your excuse for quitting your job? You’re fed up? Do you even believe that yourself, Richard? Or is that just how you justify buying a bigger apartment so your wife would come home and leave that other guy?
BARBARA: Marian . . .
(Short pause.)
JANE (To Richard): Are you and Pamela getting a new apartment?
RICHARD: I don’t want to talk about this.
JANE: How did you know?
MARIAN: She complains about their apartment. She’s always after something else.
RICHARD: That’s not the reason.
MARIAN (To Richard, as she eats): So right now, it is very useful for you to be angry, Richard.
(They eat. The lights fade.)
American Manners
A short time later.
TIM (To the others, glancing at Jane): It’s all about manners. A kind of social history of American manners. (To Jane) Right? They’re interested.
BARBARA: She never wants to talk about her books.
TIM: She says—
JANE: Tim.
TIM: They want to know. She says that by studying manners—which after all are just customs—such as, say, how people greet each other, how— (Gestures around the room and to the table of food) they eat together. Their etiquette. That it’s a way of getting to the heart and soul . . . of us. Right?
RICHARD: I guess then it’s like—tell me if I’m on the wrong track, Jane.
JANE: Why is everyone suddenly so interested in my book?
TIM: It’s a very interesting book.
JANE: It’s not even a book yet.
RICHARD (Continuing): It’s like—a way of taking one element of behavior—which society has organized, the culture has, the country has organized—and if we look close enough, examine it thoroughly enough, put it under the microscope, we maybe see what’s behind it, what real purpose it serves. And get some insight into—us.
BARBARA: America?
RICHARD: I think that is her point, yes.
(Then:)
Is it?
(Jane hesitates, then puts down her plate.)
JANE: What I’m after is: I want to describe or dissect how Americans—court? And marry. How they raise their children. Treat their old people. Dress. Decorate their homes. Eat and entertain. How they spend their money—not on what, but how they address that action, how they think about it, talk about it. How they behave at ceremonies. How they mourn their dead. All of these customs—manners are ways in—to an understanding. Conventions have had to be agreed upon—why are they necessary? What are they protecting? Hiding? I don’t know what.
BARBARA: What do you mean—hiding?
JANE: If you get people to agree to behave in a certain way, then you are trying to get them not to behave in another way—or, and this I’m getting more and more convinced of as I research this—or, what are they trying to disguise?
(Short pause.)
I haven’t settled on a structure. I’m mostly doing individual essays, and hoping it all makes a whole. (Smiles and shrugs) We’ll see.
RICHARD: When’s it due?
JANE: Pretty soon. A first draft. That’s why I’m up here working.
MARIAN: Oh. That’s why.
(She “looks” at Tim.)
RICHARD: And it’s Random House?
(Jane nods.)
JANE: They really liked the pitch. It’s in the air now—all this. Once the Times started that whole Style section some years ago—I think that gave this sort of thing a real legitimacy—as news. There have been a couple of books already. How we see ourselves. Or better, how we wish to see ourselves or be seen. Or rather what we want others not to see in us. What we are pretending to be? What are we hiding?
(Looks to Benjamin who is listening to all this as he eats.)
I even thought of doing an entire chapter—about a dinner party. (Gestures: “like this”) Actually, I was thinking of inviting a group of friends to dinner—a doctor I know, a friend who teaches, my yoga instructor, someone in my building, and so forth. And then analyzing that. Beginning with the generally agreed—where we put our silverware and why. Simple, mundane things we don’t even think about. The napkins. The order of the meal. The chair arrangement. Who sits first. That’s more interesting. Who chooses where who sits. That’s very interesting. Who talks first. Then what is talked about. Among strangers. Among friends. What isn’t talked about.