Read Online Baby Doll & Tiger Tail by Tennessee Williams - Free Book Online

the floor is weak. . . . I don’t want to fall through. It’s crumbling under my feet. I had no idea—I never been up here before!—it was in such a weaken condition.
    [
There is something appealing in her soft, pleasing voice
.]
    SILVA [
whispering, mouth to crack
]: I wouldn’t dream of leaving you alone in a falling-down attic any more than you’d dream of eatin’ a nut a man had cracked in his mouth. Don’t you realize that??
    BABY DOLL [
with sudden gathering panic
]: Mr. Vacarro! I got to get out of here. Quick! Go! Go!—down! Quick, please!
    SILVA : I can hear that old floor giving away fast. . . .
    BABY DOLL : So can I, and I’m
on
it.
    SILVA : Shall I call the fire department to come here with a net to catch you when you fall through?
    BABY DOLL : Wouldn’t be time. No! Go!—then I can unlock the—
    SILVA : No, I don’t suppose they’d get here on time or if they did the net would be rotten as those fire hoses last night when they came to put out the fire that burned down my gin!
    [
Suddenly, a piece of plaster falls beneath her feet. The rotten laths are exposed. She scrambles to another place
,
which is—or seems
—
equally shaky. She screams
.]
    SILVA : Are you being attacked by a ghost in there?
    BABY DOLL : Please be kind! Go away!
    SILVA : Why don’t you unlock the door so I can come to your rescue?
    BABY DOLL : I—can’t because. . .
    SILVA : Huh? Huh?
    BABY DOLL [
whisper
]: YOU.
    [
Vacarro shoves door just a little with his shoulder. The bolt is not strong
.]
    You. . . so!
Scare
me!
    SILVA : Scared of
me??
    BABY DOLL : Yeah, scared of you and your—
whip
.
    SILVA : Why’re you scared of my whip? Huh? Do you think I might whip you? Huh? Scared I might whip you with it and
    [
He slaps his boots regularly with the riding crop
.]
    leave red marks on your—body, on your—creamy white silk—skin? Is that why’re scared, Mrs. Meighan?
    [
A murmur from her
.]
    You want me to go away—with my whip??
    [
Another murmur
.]
    All right. Tell you what I’m gonna do. I’m gonna slip pencil and paper under this door and all I want is your signature on the paper. . . .
    BABY DOLL : What paper?
    SILVA : I guess that you would call it an affidavit, legally stating that Archie Lee Meighan burned down the Syndicate Gin. . . .
    [
Pause
.]
    Okay?
    BABY DOLL : Mr. Vacarro, this whole floor’s about to collapse under me!
    SILVA : What do you say?
    BABY DOLL : Just leave the paper, leave it right out there and I’ll sign it and send it to you, I’ll. . .
    SILVA : Mrs. Meighan, I am a Sicilian. They’re an old race of people, an ancient race, and ancient races aren’t trustful races by nature. I’ve got to have the signed paper now. Otherwise I’m going to break this door down. Do you hear me?
    [
A pause
.]
    Do you hear me?
    [
Silence
.
    [
Whimpering, sobbing
.]
    I gather you don’t believe me.
    [
Suddenly, with a single eloquent gesture of his whole body he has pushed the door open and on the other side Baby Doll, in absolute panic, runs, runs away from the threatening man and whip and towards the darkest corner of the attic. A few steps, however, and the floor really gives way. There is a shower of plaster, a rising cloud of plaster dust
.
    [
Vacarro’s face
.
    [
The dust settles to reveal her, precariously perched across a beam
. . .
    [
Vacarro calmly lights a cigarette
.]
    SILVA : Now you’re either going to agree to sign this thing, or I’m going to come out there after you and my additional weight will make the whole floor you know what!
    BABY DOLL : OOOOOOH! What am I gonna do?
    SILVA : Do what I tell you.
    [
He gingerly steps on a place. . . . A trickle of plaster
.]
    Awful bad shape.
    [
He reaches and picks up a 1 x 3 about twelve feet long. On the end of it he puts a pencil and piece of paper
.]
    BABY DOLL : O-o-o-o-h!
    SILVA : What?
    [
Suddenly, he stamps on the plaster. There is a big fall of plaster; Baby Doll screams
.]
    BABY DOLL : All right, all right. —All