Fences Play PDF

Setting The setting is the yard which fronts the only entrance to the MAXSON household, an ancient two-story brick house set back off a small alley in a big-city neighborhood. The entrance to the house is gained by two or three steps lead- ing to a wooden porch badly in need of...

Setting The setting is the yard which fronts the only entrance to the MAXSON household, an ancient two-story brick house set back off a small alley in a big-city neighborhood. The entrance to the house is gained by two or three steps lead- ing to a wooden porch badly in need of paint. A relatively recent addition to the house and running its full width, the porch lacks congruence. It is a sturdy porch with a flat roof. One or two chairs of dubious value sit at one end where the kitchen window opens onto the porch. An old-fashioned icebox stands silent guard at the opposite end. The yard is a small dirt yard, partially fenced, except for the last scene, with a wooden sawhorse, a pile of lumber, and other fence-building equipment set off to the side. Op- posite is a tree from which hangs a ball made of rags. A baseball bat leans against the tree. Two oil drums serve as garbage receptacles and sit near the house at right to com- plete the setting.  The Play Near the turn of the century, the destitute of Europe sprang on the city with tenacious claws and an honest and solid dream. The city devoured them. They swelled its belly until it burst into a thousand furnaces and sewing machines, a thousand butcher shops and bakers' ovens, a thousand churches and hospitals and funeral parlors and money- lenders. The city grew. It nourished itself and offered each man a partnership limited only by his talent, his guile, and his willingness and capacity for hard work. For the immi- grants of Europe, a dream dared and won true. The descendants of African slaves were offered no such welcome or participation. They came from places called the Carolinas and the Virginias, Georgia, Alabama, Missis- sippi, and Tennessee. They came strong, eager, searching. The city rejected them and they fled and settled along the riverbanks and under bridges in shallow, ramshackle houses made of sticks and tar-paper. They collected rags and wood. They sold the use of their muscles and their bodies. They cleaned houses and washed clothes, they shined shoes, and in quiet desperation and vengeful pride, they stole, and lived in pursuit of their own dream. That they could breathe free, finally, and stand to meet life with the force of dignity and whatever eloquence the heart could call upon. By 1957, the hard- won victories of the European immi- grants had solidified the industrial might of America. War xviii THE PLAY had been confronted and won with new energies that used loyalty and patriotism as its fuel. Life was rich, full, and flourishing. The Milwaukee Braves won the World Series, and the hot winds of change that would make the sixties a turbulent, racing, dangerous, and provocative decade had not yet begun to blow full.  Act One Scene One // is 1957. TROY and bono enter the yard, engaged in con- versation. TROY is fifty-three years old, a large man with thick, heavy hands; it is this largeness that he strives to fill out and make an accommodation with. Together with his blackness, his largeness informs his sensibilities and the choices he has made in his life. Of the two men, bono is obviously the follower. His com- mitment to their friendship rooted in of thirty-odd years is his admiration of troy* s honesty, capacity for hard work, and his strength, which bono seeks to emulate. It isFriday night, payday, and the one night of the week the two men engage in a ritual of talk and drink, troy is usually the most talkative and at times he can be crude and almost vulgar, though he is capable of rising to profound heights of expression. The men carry lunch buckets and wear or carry burlap aprons and are dressed in clothes suitable to their jobs as garbage collectors. bono: Troy, you ought to stop that lying! troy: I ain't lying! The nigger had a watermelon this big. {He indicates with his hands.) 2 FENCES Talking about... "What watermelon, Mr. Rand?'' I liked to fell out! ''What watermelon, Mr. Rand?"... And it sitting there big as life. bono: What did Mr. Rand say? troy: Ain't said nothing. Figure dumb to if the nigger too know he carrying a watermelon, he wasn't gonna get much sense out of him. Trying to hide that great big old watermelon under his coat. Afraid to let the white man see him carry it home. bono: I'm like you... I ain't got no time for them kind of people. troy: Now what he look like getting mad cause he see the man from the union talking to Mr. Rand? bono: He come talking about to me ''Maxson gonna... get us fired." him to get away from me with that. I told He walked away from me calling you a troublemaker. What Mr. Rand say? troy: Ain't said nothing. He told me to go down the Commissioner's office next Friday. They called me down there to see them. bono: Well, as long as you got your complaint filed, they can't fire you. That's what one of them white fellows tell me. troy: I worried about them firing me. They gonna ain't fire me I asked a question? That's all I did. I went cause to Mr. Rand and asked him, ''Why?" Why you got the white mens driving and the colored lifting?" Told him, "what's the matter, don't I count? You think only white fellows got sense enough to drive a truck. That ain't no paper job! Hell, anybody can drive a truck. How come you got all whites driving and the colored lifting? He told  ACT ONE 3 me *'take it to the union/' Well, hell, that's what I done! Now they wanna come up with this pack of lies. bono: I told ask him any Brownie if the man come and questions.. nothing but.just tell the truth! It ain't something they done trumped up on you cause you filed a complaint on them. troy: Brownie don't understand nothing. All I want them to do is change the job description. Give everybody a chance to drive the truck. Brownie can't see that. He ain't got that much sense. bono: How you figure he be making out with that gal be up at Taylors' all the time that Alberta gal?... troy: Same as you and me. Getting just as much as we is. Which is to say nothing. bono: It is, huh? I figureyou doing a little better than me... and I ain't saying what I'm doing. troy: Aw, nigger, look here... I know you. If you had got anywhere near that gal, twenty minutes later you be looking to tell somebody. And the first one you gonna tell... that you gonna want to brag to... is gonna be me. bono: I ain't saying that. I see where you be eyeing her. troy: I eye all the women. I don't miss nothing. Don't never let nobody tell you Troy Maxson don't eye the women. bono: You been doing more than eyeing her. You done bought her a drink or two. troy: Hell yeah, I bought her a drink! What that mean? I bought you one, too. What that mean cause I buy her a drink? I'm just being polite. 4 FENCES bono: It's alright to buy her one drink. That's what you call being polite. But when you wanna be buying two or three... that's what you call eyeing her. troy: Look here, as long as you known me. ,. you ever i known me to chase after women? bono: Hell yeah! Long as I done known you. You forget- ting I knew you when. troy: Naw, I'm talking about since I been married to Rose? bono: Oh, not since you been married to Rose. Now, that's the truth, there. I can say that. troy: Alright then! Case closed. bono: I see you be walking up around Alberta's house. You supposed to be at Taylors' and you be walking up around there. troy: What you watching where I'm walking for? I ain't watching after you. bono: I seen you walking around there more than once. troy: Hell, you liable to see me walking anywhere! That don't mean nothing cause you see me walking around there. bono: Where she come from anyway? She just kinda showed up one day. troy: Tallahassee. You can look at her and tell she one of them Florida gals. They got some big healthy women down there. Grow them right up out the ground. Got a little bit of Indian in her. Most of them niggers down in Florida got some Indian in them. bono: I don't know about that Indian part. But she damn  ACTONE 5 sure big and healthy. Woman wear some big stockings. Got them great big old legs and hips as wide as the Mis- sissippi River. troy: Legs don't mean nothing. You don't do nothing but push them out of the way. But them hips cushion the ride! bono: Troy, you ain't got no sense. troy: It's the truth! Like you riding on Goodyears! (rose enters from the house. She is ten years younger than TROY, her devotion to him stems from her recogni- tion of the possibilities of her life without him: a succes- sion of abusive men and their babies a life of partying y and running the streets, the Church, or aloneness with its attendant pain and frustration. She recognizes troy's spirit as a fine and illuminating one and she either ig- nores or forgives his faults, only some of which she rec- ognizes. Though she doesn't drink, her presence is an integral part of the Friday night rituals. She alternates between the porch and the kitchen, where supper prepa- rations are under way.) rose: What you all out here getting into? troy: What you worried about what we getting into for? This ismen talk, woman. rose: What I care what you all talking about? Bono, you gonna stay for supper? bono: No, I thank you, Rose. But Lucille say she cook- ing up a pot of pigfeet. troy: Pigfeet! Hell, I'm going home with you! Might even stay the night you got some pigfeet. You got something if in there to top them pigfeet, Rose?  — 6 FENCES rose: I'm cooking up some chicken. I got some chicken and collard greens. troy: let me and Bono Well, go on back in the house and what we was talking about. This is men talk. I got finish some talk for you later. You know what kind of talk I mean. You go on and powder it up. rose: Troy Maxson, don't you start that now! troy: {Puts his arm around her.) Aw, woman... come here. Look here. Bono when I met... this woman... I got out that place, say, ''Hitch up my pony, saddle up my mare... there's a woman out there for me somewhere. I looked here. Looked there. Saw Rose and latched on to her." I latched on to her and told — her I'm gonna tell you the truth I told her, ''Baby, I — don't wanna marry, I just wanna be your man." Rose told me tell him what you told me. Rose.... rose: I told him if he wasn't the marrying kind, then move out the way so the marrying kind could find me. troy: That's what she told me. "Nigger, you in my way. You blocking the view! Move out the way so I can find me a husband." I thought it over two or three days. Come back rose: Ain't no two or three days nothing. You was back the same night. troy: Come back, told her "Okay, baby... but... I'm gonna buy me a banty rooster and put him out there in the backyard and when he see a stranger come,... he'll flap his wings and crow..." Look here, Bono, I could watch the front door by myself... it was that back door I was worried about.  ACT ONE 7 rose: Troy, you ought not talk like that. Troy ain't doing nothing but telling a lie. troy: Only thing is... when we first got married. ,. forget the rooster... we ain't had no yard! bono: I hear you tell it. Me and Lucille was staying down there on Logan Had two rooms with the outhouse Street. in the back. mind the outhouse none. But when I ain't that goddamn wind blow through there in the winter... that's what I'm talking about! To this day I wonder why in the hell I ever stayed down there for six long years. But see, I didn't know I could do no better. I thought only white folks had inside toilets and things. rose: There's a lot of people don't know they can do no better than they doing now. That's just something you got to learn. A lot of folks still shop at Bella's. troy: Ain't nothing wrong with shopping at Bella's. She got fresh food. rose: I ain't said nothing about if she got fresh food. I'm talking about what she charge. She charge ten cents more than the A&P. troy: The A&P ain't never done nothing for me. I spends my money where I'm treated right. I go down to Bella, say, ''I need a loaf of bread, I'll pay you Friday." She give it to me. What sense that make when I got money to go and spend it somewhere else and ignore the person who done right by me? That ain't in the Bible. rose: We ain't talking about what's in the Bible. What sense it make to shop there when she overcharge? troy: You shop where you want to. I'll do my shopping where the people been good to me. 8 FENCES rose: Well, I don't think it's right for her to overcharge. That's all I was saying, bono: Look here... I got to get on. Lucille going be raising all kind of hell. troy: Where you going, nigger? We ain't finished this pint. Come here, finish this pint. bono: Well, hell, I am... if you ever turn the bottle loose. troy: {Hands him thebottle.) The only thing I say about the A&P I'm glad Cory got that job down is there. Help him take care of his school clothes and things. Gabe done moved out and things getting tight around here. He got that job.... He can start to look out for himself. rose: Cory done went and got recruited by a college foot- ball team. troy: I boy about that football stuff. The white told that man ain't him get nowhere with that football. I gonna let told him when he first come to me with it. Now you come telling me he done went and got more tied up in it. He ought to go and get recruited in how to fix cars or some- thing where he can make a living. rose: He about making no living playing ain't talking something the boys in school do. They football. It's just gonna send a recruiter by to talk to you. He'll tell you he ain't talking about making no living playing football. It's a honor to be recruited. troy: It ain't gonna get him nowhere. Bono'll tell you that. bono: If he be like you in the sports... he's gonna be  ACT ONE 9 alright. Ain't men ever played baseball as good but two as you. That'sBabe Ruth and Josh Gibson. Them's the only two men ever hit more home runs than you. troy: What it ever get me? Ain't got a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of. rose: Times have changed since you was playing base- ball, Troy. That was before the war. Times have changed a lot since then. troy: How in hell they done changed? rose: They got lots of colored boys playing ball now. Baseball and football. bono: You right about that. Rose. Times have changed, Troy. You just come along too early. troy: There ought not never have been no time called too early! Now you take that fellow what's that fel-... low they had playing right field for the Yankees back then? You know who I'm talking about, Bono. Used to play right field for the Yankees. rose: Selkirk? troy: Selkirk! That's it! Man batting.269, understand?.269. What kind of sense that make? I was hitting.432 with thirty-seven home runs! Man batting.269 and play- ing right field for the Yankees! I saw Josh Gibson's daughter yesterday. She walking around with raggedy shoes on her feet. Now I bet you Selkirk's daughter ain't walking around with raggedy shoes on her feet! I bet you that! rose: They got a lot of colored baseball players now. Jackie Robinson was the first. Folks had to wait for Jackie Robinson. 10 FENCES troy: I done seen a hundred niggers play baseball better than Jackie Robinson. Hell, I know some teams Jackie Robinson couldn't even make! What you talking about Jackie Robinson. Jackie Robinson wasn't nobody. I'm talking about you could play ball then they ought to if have let you what color you were. Come play. Don't care telling me I come along too early. If you could play... then they ought to have let you play. (troy takes a long drink from the bottle.) rose: You gonna drink yourself to death. You don't need to be drinking like that. troy: Death ain't nothing. I done seen him. Done wras- sled with him. You can't tell me nothing about death. Death ain't nothing but a fastball on the outside corner. And you know what I'll do to that! Lookee here, Bono... am I lying? You get one of them fastballs, about waist high, over the outside corner of the plate where you can get the meat of the bat on it and good god!... You can kiss it goodbye. Now, am I lying? bono: Naw, you telling the truth there. I seen you do it. troy: If I'm lying... that 450 feet worth of lying! (Pause.) That's all death is to me. A fastball on the outside corner. rose: I don't know why you want to get on talking about death. | troy: Ain't nothing wrong with talking about death. That's part of life. Everybody gonna die. You gonna die, I'm gonna die. Bono's gonna die. Hell, we all gonna die. rose: But you ain't got to talk about it. I don't like to talk about it. troy: You the one brought it up. Me and Bono was talk- ing about baseball... you tell me I'm gonna drink my-  ACT ONE 11 self to death. Ain't that right,Bono? You know I don't drink this but one night out of the week. That's Friday night. I'm gonna drink just enough to where I can handle it. Then I cuts it loose. I leave it alone. So don't you worry about me drinking myself to death. 'Cause I ain't worried about Death. I done seen him. I done wrestled with him. Look here, Bono... I looked up one day and Death was marching straight at me. Like Soldiers on Parade! The Army of Death was marching straight at me. The middle of July, 1941. It be win- got real cold just like it ter. It seem like Death himself reached out and touched me on the shoulder. He touch me just like I touch you. I got cold as ice and Death standing there grinning at me. rose: Troy, why don't you hush that talk. troy: I say. What you want, Mr. Death? You be.. wanting me? You done brought your army to be getting me? I looked him dead in the eye. I wasn't fearing noth- ing. I was ready to tangle. Just like I'm ready to tangle now. The Bible say be ever vigilant. That's why I don't get but so drunk. I got to keep watch. rose: Troy was right down there in Mercy Hospital. You remember he had pneumonia? Laying there with a fever talking plumb out of his head. troy: Death standing there staring at me... carrying that sickle in his hand. Finally he say, *'You want bound over for another year?" See, just like that ''You... want bound over for another year?" I told him, "Bound over hell! Let's settle this now!" It seem like he kinda fell back when I said that, and all the cold went out of me. I reached down and grabbed 12 FENCES that sickleand threw it just as far as I could throw it... and me and him commenced to wrestling. We wrestled for three days and three nights. I can't say^ where I found the strength from. Every time it seemed like he was gonna get the best of me, Fd reach way down deep inside myself and find the strength to do him one better. rose: Every time Troy tell that story he find different ways to tell it. Different things to make up about it. troy: I making up nothing. Tm telling you the ain't what happened. I wrestled with Death for three facts of days and three nights and Fm standing here to tell you about it. (Pause.) Alright.At the end of the third night we done weakened each other to where we can't hardly move. Death stood up, throwed on his robe had him a white robe with... a hood on it. He throwed on that robe and went off to look for his sickle. Say, ^Tll be back." Just like that, '^ril be back." I told him, say, ^'Yeah, but you... gonna have to find me!" I wasn't no fool. I wasn't going looking for him. Death ain't nothing to play with. And I know he's gonna get me. I know I got to join his army... his camp But as long as I keep my followers. strength and see him coming... as long as I keep up my vigilance he's gonna have to fight to get me. I ain't... going easy. bono: Well, look here, since you got to keep up your vigilance... let me have the bottle. troy: Aw hell, I shouldn't have told you that part. I should have left out that part. rose: Troy be talking that stuff and half the time don't even know what he be talking about.  ACT ONE 13 troy: Bono know me better than that. bono: That's right. I know you. I know you got some Uncle Remus in your blood. You got more stories than the devil got sinners. troy: Aw hell, I done seen him too! Done talked with the devil. rose: Troy, don't nobody wanna be hearing all that stuff. {LYONS enters the yard from the street. Thirty-four years old, troy's son by a previous marriage, he sports a neatly trimmed goatee, sport coat, white shirt, tieless and buttoned at the collar. Though he fancies himself a musician, he is more caught up in the rituals and "idea" of being a musician than in the actual practice of the music. He has come to borrow money from troy, and while he knows he will be successful, he is uncertain as to what extent his lifestyle will be held up to scrutiny and ridicule.) LYONS: Hey, Pop. troy: What you come *'Hey, Popping*' me for? LYONS: How you doing, Rose? {He kisses her.) Mr. Bono. How you doing? bono: Hey, Lyons... how you been? troy: He must have been doing alright. I ain't seen him around here last week. rose: Troy, leave your boy alone. He come by to see you and you wanna start all that nonsense. 14 FENCES troy: I Lyons. ain't bothering {Offershim the bottle.) Here... get you a drink. We got an understanding. I know why he come by to see me and he know I know. LYONS: Come on. Pop... I just stopped by to say hi... see how you was doing. troy: You ain't stopped by yesterday. rose: You gonna stay for supper, Lyons? I got some chicken cooking in the oven. LYONS: No, Rose... thanks. I was just in the neighbor- hood and thought I'd stop by for a minute. troy: You was in the neighborhood alright, nigger. You telling the truth there. You was in the neighborhood cause it's my payday. LYONS: Well, hell, since you mentioned it... let me have ten dollars. troy: I'll be damned! I'll die and go to hell and play blackjack with the devil before Igive you ten dollars. bono: That's what I wanna know about... that devil you done seen. LYONS: What... Pop done seen the devil? You too much. Pops. troy: Yeah, I done seen him. Talked to him too! rose: You ain't seen no devil. I done told you that man ain'thad nothing to do with the devil. Anything you can't understand, you want to call it the devil. troy: Look Bono... I went down to see Hertz- here, berger about some furniture. Got three rooms for two-  ACT ONE 15 ninety-eight. That what it say on the radio. 'Three rooms... Even made up a little two-ninety-eight." song about it. Go down there man tell me I can't get... no credit. I'm working every day and can't get no credit. What to do? I got an empty house with some raggedy furniture in it. Cory ain't got no bed. He's sleeping on a pile of rags on the floor. Working every day and can't get — no credit. Come back here Rose'll tell you madder — than hell. Sit down... try to figure what I'm gonna do. Come a knock on the door. Ain't been living here but three days. Who know I'm here? Open the door... devil standing there bigger than life. White fellow... got on good clothes and everything. Standing there with a clipboard in his hand. I ain't had to say nothing. First words come out of his mouth was... ''I understand you need some furniture and can't get no credit." I liked to fell over. He say 'Til give you all the credit you want, but you got to pay the interest on it." I told him, ''Give me three rooms worth and charge whatever you want." Next day a truck pulled up here and two men unloaded them three rooms. Man what drove the truck give me a book. Say send ten dollars, first of every month to the address in the book and everything will be alright. Say if I miss a payment the devil was coming back and it'll be hell to pay. That was fifteen years ago. To this day... the first of the month I send my ten dollars, Rose'll tell you. rose: Troy lying. troy: I never seen that man since. Now you tell me ain't who have been but the devil? I ain't sold else that could my soul or nothing like that, you understand. Naw, I wouldn't have truck with the devil about nothing like that. I got my furniture and pays my ten dollars the first of the month just like clockwork. 16 FENCES bono: How long you say you been paying this ten dollars a month? troy: Fifteen years! bono: Hell, ain't you finished paying for it yet? How much the man done charged you. troy: Aw hell, I done paid for it. I done paid for it ten times over! The fact is I'm scared to stop paying it. rose: Troy lying. We got that furniture from Mr. Glick- man. He ain't paying no ten dollars a month to nobody. troy: Aw hell, woman. Bono know I ain't that big a fool. LYONS: I was just getting ready to say... I know where there's a bridge for sale. troy: Look here, I'll tell you this... it don't matter to me he was the devil. It don't matter if the devil give if credit. Somebody has got to give it. rose: It ought to matter. You going around talking about having truck with the devil God's the one you gonna... have to answer to. He's the one gonna be at the Judg- ment. LYONS: Yeah, well, look here. Pop... let me have that ten dollars. I'll give it back to you. Bonnie got a job working at the hospital. troy: What I tell you. Bono? The only time I see this nigger is when he wants something. That's the only time I see him. LYONS: Come on, Pop, Mr. Bono don't want to hear all that.Let me have the ten dollars. I told you Bonnie working. troy: What that mean to me? ''Bonnie working." I don't care if she working. Go ask her for the ten dollars if she  ACT ONE 17 working. Talking about ''Bonnie working/' Why ain't you working? LYONS: Aw, Pop, you know I can't find no decent job. Where am I gonna get a job at? You know I can't get no job. troy: I told you I know some people down there. I can get you on the rubbish if you want to work. I told you that the last time you came by here asking me for some- thing. LYONS: Naw, Pop thanks. That ain't for me. I don't... wanna be carrying nobody's rubbish. I don't wanna be punching nobody's time clock. troy: What's the matter, you too good to carry people's rubbish? Where you think that ten dollars you talking about come from? I'm just supposed to haul people's rubbish and give my money to you cause you too lazy to work. You too lazy to work and wanna know why you ain't got what I got. rose: What hospital Bonnie working at? Mercy? LYONS: She's down at Passavant working in the laundry. troy: I ain't got nothing as it is. I give you that ten dollars and I got to eat beans the rest of the week. Naw... you ain't getting no ten dollars here. LYONS: You ain't got to be eating no beans. I don't know why you wanna say that. troy: I ain't got no extra money. Gabe done moved over to Miss Pearl's paying her the rent and things done got tight around here. I can't afford to be giving you every payday. LYONS: I ain't asked you to give me nothing. I asked you to loan me ten dollars. I know you got ten dollars. 18 FENCES troy: Yeah, I got it. You know why I got it? Cause I don't throw my money away out there in the streets. You living the fast life... wanna be a musician... running around in them clubs and things... then, you learn to take care of yourself. You ain't gonna find me going and asking nobody for nothing. I done spent too many years without. LYONS: You and me is two different people. Pop. troy: I done learned my mistake and learned to do what's right by it. You still trying to get something for nothing. Life don't owe you nothing. You owe it to your- self. Ask Bono. He'll tell you I'm right. LYONS: You got your way of dealing with the world... I got mine. The only thing that matters to me is the music. troy: Yeah, I can see that! It don't matter how you gonna eat... where your next dollar is coming from. You telling the truth there. LYONS: I know I got to eat. But I got to live too. I need something that gonna help me to get out of the bed in the morning. Make me feel like I belong in the world. I don't bother nobody. I just stay with my music cause that's the only way I can find to live in the world. Otherwise there ain't no telling what I might do. Now I don't come criticizing you and how you live. I just come by to ask you for ten dollars. I don't wanna hear all that about how I live. troy: Boy, your mama did a hell of a job raising you. LYONS: You can't change me, Pop. I'm thirty-four years old. Ifyou wanted to change me, you should have been there when I was growing up. I come by to see you...  ACT ONE 19 ask for ten dollars and you want to talk about how I was raised. You don't know nothing about how I was raised. rose: Let the boy have ten dollars, Troy. troy: (To lyons.) What the hell you looking at me for? I ain't got no ten dollars. You know what I do with my money. (To ROSE.) Give him ten dollars if you want him to have it. rose: I will. Just as soon as you turn it loose. troy: (Handing rose the money.) There it is. Seventy- six dollars and forty-two cents. You see this, Bono? Now, I ain't gonna get but six of that back. rose: You ought to stop telling that lie. Here, Lyons. (She hands him the money.) LYONS: Thanks, Rose. Look... I got to run... I'll see you later. troy: Wait a minute. You gonna say, "thanks. Rose" and ain't gonna look to see where she got that ten dollars from? See how they do me. Bono? LYONS: I know she got it from you, Pop. Thanks. I'll give it back to you. troy: There he go telling another lie. Time I see that ten dollars. he'll be owing me thirty more... LYONS: See you, Mr. Bono. bono: Take care, Lyons! LYONS: Thanks, Pop. I'll see you again. (LYONS exits the yard.) troy: I don't know why he don't go and get him a decent job and take care of that woman he got. 20 FENCES bono: He'll be alright, Troy. The boy is still young. troy: The boy is thirty-four years old. rose: Let's not get off into all that. bono: Look here... I got to be going. I got to be getting on. Lucille gonna be waiting. troy: {Puts his arm around rose.) See this woman. Bono? I woman. I love this woman so much it love this hurts. I love her so much... I done run out of ways of loving her. So I got to go back to basics. Don't you come by my house Monday morning talking about time to go to work.'cause I'm still gonna be stroking!.. rose: Troy! Stop it now! bono: I ain't paying him no mind. Rose. That ain't noth- ing but gin-talk. Go on, Troy. I'll see you Monday. troy: Don't you come by my house, nigger! I done told you what I'm gonna be doing. {The lights go down to black.)  Act One Scene Two The lights come up on rose hanging up clothes. She hums and sings softly to herself. It is the following morning. rose: (Sings) Jesus, be a fenceall around me every day want you to protect me as I travel Jesus, I on my way. Jesus, be a fence all around me every day. (Troy enters from the house) ROSE (continued): Jesus, I want you to protect me As I travel on my way. (To troy) 'Morning. You ready for breakfast? I can fix it soon as I finish hanging up these clothes? troy: I got the coffee on. That'll be alright. Fll just drink some of that this morning. rose: That 651 hit yesterday. That's the second time this month. Miss Pearl hit for a dollar seem like those... that need the least always get lucky. Poor folks can't get nothing. 22 FENCES troy: Them numbers don't know nobody. I don't know why you fool with them. You and Lyons both. rose: It's something to do. troy: You ain't doing nothing but throwing your money away. rose: Troy, you know I don't play foolishly. I just play a nickel here and a nickel there. troy: That's two nickels you done thrown away. rose: Now I hit sometimes... that makes up for it. It always comes in handy when I do hit. I don't hear you complaining then. troy: I ain't complaining now. I just say it's foolish. Trying to guess out of six hundred ways which way the number gonna come. If I had all the money niggers, these Negroes, throw away on numbers for one week just — — one week I'd be a rich man. rose: Well, you wishing and calling it foolish ain't gonna stop folks from playing numbers. That's one thing for sure. Besides some good things come from playing... numbers. Look where Pope done bought him that restau- rant off of numbers. troy: I can't stand niggers like that. Man ain't had two dimes to rub together. He walking around with his shoes all run over bumming money for cigarettes. Alright. Got lucky there and hit the numbers... rose: Troy, I know all about it. troy: Had good sense, I'll say that for him. He ain't thro wed his money away. I seen niggers hit the numbers and go through two thousand dollars in four days. Man brought him that restaurant down there fixed... it up  ACT ONE 23 real nice and then didn't want nobody to come in it!... A Negro go and can't get no kind of service. I in there seen a white fellow come in there and order a bowl of stew. Pope picked all the meat out the pot for him. Man ain't had nothing but a bowl of meat! Negro come behind him and ain't got nothing but the potatoes and car- rots Talking about what numbers do for people you picked. , a wrong example. Ain't done nothing but make a worser fool out of him than he was before. rose: Troy, you ought to stop worrying about what hap- pened at work yesterday. troy: I ain't worried. Just told me to be down there at the Commissioner's office on Friday. Everybody think they gonna fire me. I ain't worried about them firing me. You ain't got to worry about that. (Pause.) Where's Cory? Cory in the house? (Calls.) Cory? rose: He gone out. troy: Out, huh? He gone out 'cause he know I want him to help me with this fence. I know how he is. That boy scared of work. (GABRIEL enters. He comes halfway down the alley and, hearing Troy's voice, stops.) TROY (continues): He ain't done a lick of work in his life. rose: He had to go to football practice. Coach wanted them to get in a little extra practice before the season start. troy: I got his practice... running out of here before he get his chores done. rose: Troy, what is wrong with you this morning? Don't nothing set right with you. Go on back in there and go to bed... get up on the other side. 24 FENCES troy: Why something got to be wrong with me? I ain't said nothing wrong with me. rose: You got something to say about everything. First it's the numbersthen it's the way the man runs his... restaurant then you done got on Cory. What's it... gonna be next? Take a look up there and see if the weather suits you... or is it gonna be how you gonna put up the fence with the clothes hanging in the yard. troy: You hit the nail on the head then. rose: I like I know the back of my hand. Go know you on and get you some coffee... see if that in there straighten you up. 'Cause you ain't right this morning. {troy house and sees gabrjel. Gabriel starts into the starts singing, troy's brother, he is seven years younger than TROY. Injured in World War 11, he has a metal plate in his head. He carries an old trumpet tied around his waist and believes with every fiber of his being that he is the Archangel Gabriel. He carries a chipped basket with an assortment of discarded fruits and vegetables he has picked up in the strip district and which he attempts to sell.) GABRIEL: (Singing.) Yes, ma'am, I got plums You ask me how I sell them Oh ten cents apiece Three for a quarter Come and buy now 'Cause I'm here today And tomorrow I'll be gone {GABRIEL enters.) Hey, Rose! rose: How you doing, Gabe?  ACT ONE 25 GABRIEL: There's Troy.. Hey, Troy! troy: Hey, Gabe. {Exit into kitchen.) rose: (To gabriel.) What you got there? GABRIEL: You know what I got. Rose. I got fruits and vegetables. rose: (Looking in basket.) Where's all these plums you talking about? GABRIEL: I ain't got no plums today. Rose. I was just singing that. Have some tomorrow. Put me in a big order for plums. Have enough plums tomorrow for St. Peter and everybody. (troy re-enters from kitchen, crosses to steps.) (To ROSE.) Troy's mad at me. troy: I ain't mad at you. What I got to be mad at you about? You ain't done nothing to me. GABRIEL: I just moved over to Miss Pearl's to keep out from in your way. I ain't mean no harm by it. troy: Who said anything about that? I ain't said anything about that. GABRIEL: You ain't mad at me, is you? troy: Naw... I ain't mad at you, Gabe. If I was mad at you I'd tell you about it. GABRIEL: Got me two rooms. In the basement. Got my own door too. Wanna see my key? (He holds up a key.) That's my own key! Ain't nobody else got a key like that. That's my key! My two rooms! 26 FENCES troy: Well, that's good, Gabe. You got your own key... that's good. rose: You hungry, Gabe? I was just fixing to cook Troy his breakfast. GABRIEL: rU take some biscuits. You got some biscuits? Did you know when I was in heaven every morning... me and St. Peter would sit down by the gate and eat some big fat biscuits? Oh, yeah! We had us a good time. We'd sit there and eat us them biscuits and then St. Peter would go off to sleep and tell me to wake him up when it's time to open the gates for the judgment. rose: Well, come on... I'll make up a batch of biscuits. (rose exits into the house.) GABRIEL: Troy... St. Peter got your name in the book. I seen it. It say Troy Maxson. I say... I know him!... He got the same name like what I got. That's my brother! troy: How many times you gonna tell me that, Gabe? GABRIEL: Ain't got my name in the book. Don't have to have my name. I done died and went to heaven. He got your name though. One morning St. Peter was looking at his book marking it up for the judgment... and he... let me see your name. Got it in there under M. Got Rose's name... I ain't seen it like I seen yours but... I know it's in there. He got a great big book. Got every- body's name what was ever been born. That's what he told me. But I seen your name. Seen it with my own eyes. troy: Go on in the house there. Rose going to fix you something to eat. Gabriel: Oh, I ain't hungry. I done had breakfast with | Aunt Jemimah. She come by and cooked me up a whole  ACT ONE 27 mess of flapjacks. Remember how we used to eat them flapjacks? troy: Go on in the house and get you something to eat now. GABRIEL: I got to go Sell my plums. I done sold some tomatoes. Got me two quarters. Wanna see? {He shows TROY his quarters.) Vm gonna save them and buy me a new horn so St. Peter can hear me when it's time to open the gates. {GABRIEL stops Suddenly. Listens.) Hear that? That's the hellhounds. I got to chase them out of here.Go on get out of here! Get out! {GABRIEL exits singing.) Better get ready for the judgment Better get ready for the judgment My Lord is coming down {rose enters from the house.) troy: He gone off somewhere. GABRIEL: {Offstage) Better get ready for the judgment Better get ready for the judgment morning Better get ready for the judgment My God is coming down rose: He ain't eating right. Miss Pearl say she can't get him to eat nothing. troy: What you want me do about it, Rose? I done did to everything I can for the man. I can't make him get well. Man got half his head blown away.what you expect?.. rose: Seem like something ought to be done to help him. troy: Man don't bother nobody. He just mixed up from 28 FENCES that metal plate he got in his head. Ain't no sense for him to go back into the hospital. rose: Least he be eating right. They can help him take care of himself. troy: Don't nobody wanna be locked up, Rose. What you wanna lock him up for? Man go over there and fight the war messin' around with them Japs, get half his... head blown off and they give him a lousy three thou-... sand dollars. And I had to swoop down on that. rose: Is you fixing to go into that again? troy: That's the only way I got a roof over my head... cause of that metal plate. rose: Ain't no sense you blaming yourself for nothing. Gabe wasn't in no condition to manage that money. You done what was right by him. Can't nobody say you ain't done what was right by him. Look how long you took care of him... till he wanted to have his own place and moved over there with Miss Pearl. troy: That what I'm saying, woman! I'm just stating ain't the facts. If my brother didn't have that metal plate in his head... I wouldn't have a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of. And I'm fifty-three years old. Now see if you can understand that! (troy gets upfront the porch and starts to exit the yard.) rose: Where you going off to? You been running out of here every Saturday for weeks. I thought you was gonna work on this fence? troy: I'm gonna walk down to Taylors'. Listen to the ball game. I'll be back in a bit. I'll work on it when I get back. {He exits the yard. The lights go to black.)  Act One Scene Three The lights come up on the yard. It is four hours later, rose is taking down the clothes from the line, cory enters carry- ing his football equipment. rose: Your daddy like to had a fit with you running out of here this morning without doing your chores. cory: I told you I had to go to practice. rose: He say you were supposed to help him with this fence. cory: He been saying that the last four or five Saturdays, and then he don't never do nothing, but go down to Tay- lors'. Did you tell him about the recruiter? rose: Yeah, I told him. cory: What he say? rose: He ain't said nothing too much. You get in there and get started on your chores before he gets back. Go on and scrub down them steps before he gets back here hollering and carrying on. 30 FENCES CORY: Vm hungry. What you got to eat, Mama? rose: Go on and get started on your chores. I got some meat loaf in there. Go on and make you a sandwich.. and don't leave no mess in there. {CORY exits into the house, rose continues to take dowi the clothes, troy enters the yard and sneaks up anc grabs her from behind.) Troy! Go on, now. You liked to scared me to death. What was the score of the game? Lucille had me on the phone and I couldn't keep up with it. troy: What I care about the game? Come here, woman. (He tries to kiss her.) rose: thought you went down Taylors' to listen to the^ I game. Go on, Troy! You supposed to be putting up this fence. troy: (Attempting to kiss her again.) I'll put it up when I finish with what is at hand. rose: Go on, Troy. I ain't studying you. troy: (Chasing after her.) I'm studying you... fixing toi do my homework! rose: Troy, you better leave me alone. troy: Where's Cory? That boy brought his butt home yet? rose: He's in the house doing his chores. troy: (Calling.) Cory! Get your butt out here, boy! (rose exits into the house with the laundry, troy goes over to the pile of wood, picks up a board, and starts sawing, cory enters from the house.)  ACT ONE 31 I troy: You just now coming in here from leaving this j morning? |cory: Yeah, I had to go to football practice, troy: Yeah, what? cory: Yessir. troy: but two seconds off you noway. The garbage I ain't sitting in there overflowing you ain't done none of... your chores and you come in here talking about... "Yeah/' cory: I was just getting ready to do my chores now, Pop... troy: Your first chore is to help me with this fence on Saturday. Everything else come after that. Now get that saw and cut them boards. (cory takes the saw and begins cutting the boards, troy continues working. There is a long pause.) cory: Hey, Pop... why don't you buy a TV? troy: What I want with a TV? What I want one of them for? cory: Everybody got one. Earl, Ba Bra... Jesse! troy: I ain't asked you who had one. I say what I want with one? cory: So you can watch it. They got lots of things on TV. Baseball games and everything. We could watch the World Series. troy: Yeah... and how much this TV cost? cory: I don't know. They got them on sale for around two hundred dollars. 32 FENCES troy: Two hundred dollars, huh? CORY: That ain't that much, Pop. troy: Naw, it's just two hundred dollars. See that roof you got over your head at night? Let me tell you some- thing about that roof. It's been over ten years since that roof was last tarred. See now... the snow come this winter and sit up there on that roof like it is and it's... gonna seep inside. It's just gonna be a little bit ain't... gonna hardly notice it. Then the next thing you know, it's gonna be leaking all over the house. Then the wood rot from all that water and you gonna need a whole new roof. Now, how much you think it cost to get that roof tarred? CORY: I don't know. troy: Two hundred and sixty-four dollars cash... money. While you thinking about a TV, I got to be think- ing about the roof and whatever else go wrong... around here. Now if you had two hundred dollars, what would you do... fix the roof or buy a TV? j cory: I'dbuy a TV. Then when the roof started to leak... when it needed fixing... I'd fix it. troy: Where you gonna get the money from? You done spent it for a TV. You gonna sit up and watch the water run all over your brand new TV. cory: Aw, Pop. You got money. I know you do. troy: Where I got it at, huh? cory: You got it in the bank. troy: You wanna see my bankbook? You wanna see that seventy-three dollars and twenty-two cents I got sitting up in there.  ACTONE 33 CORY: You ain't got to pay for it all at one time. You can put a down payment on it and carry it on home with you. troy: I ain't gonna owe nobody nothing if I can Not me. help Miss a payment and they come and snatch it right it. out your house. Then what you got? Now, soon as I get two hundred dollars clear, then Til buy a TV. Right now, as soon as I get two hundred and sixty-four dollars, Vm gonna have this roof tarred. CORY: Aw... Pop! troy: You go on and get you two hundred dollars and buy one if ya want it. I got better things to do with my money. CORY: I can't get no two hundred dollars. I ain't never seen two hundred dollars. troy: I'll tell you what... you get you a hundred dol- lars and I'll put the other hundred with it. CORY: Alright, I'm gonna show you. troy: You gonna show me how you can cut them boards right now. (CORY begins to cut the boards. There is a long pause.) CORY: The Pirates won today. That makes five in a row. troy: I about the Pirates. Got an all-white ain't thinking team. Got that boy that Puerto Rican boy...... Clemente. Don't even half-play him. That boy could be something if they give him a chance. Play him one day and sit him on the bench the next. CORY: He gets a lot of chances to play. troy: I'm talking about playing regular. Playing every 34 FENCES day so you can get your timing. That's what Fm talking about. CORY: They got some white guys on the team that don't play every day. You can't play everybody at the same time. troy: If they got a white fellow sitting on the bench... you can bet your last dollar he can't play! The colored guy got to be twice as good before he get on the team. That's why I don't want you to get all tied up in them sports. Man on the team and what it get him? They got colored on the team and don't use them. Same as not having them. All them teams the same. CORY: The Braves got Hank Aaron and Wes Covington. Hank Aaron hit two home runs today. That makes forty- three. troy: Hank Aaron ain't nobody. That's what you sup- posed to do. That's how you supposed to play the game. Ain't nothing to it. It'sjust a matter of timing... getting the right follow-through. Hell, I can hit forty-three home runs right now! CORY: Not off no major-league pitching, you couldn't. troy: We had better pitching in the Negro leagues. I hit seven home runs off of Satchel Paige. You can't get no better than that! CORY: Sandy Koufax. He's leading the league in strike- outs. troy: I ain't thinking of no Sandy Koufax. cory: You got Warren Spahn and Lew Burdette. I bet you couldn't hit no home runs off of Warren Spahn. troy: I'm through with it now. You go on and cut them boards.  ACTONE 35 (Pause.) Your mama tell me you done got recruited by a college football team? Is that right? CORY: Yeah. Coach Zellman say the recruiter gonna be coming by to talk to you. Get you to sign the permission papers. troy: thought you supposed to be working down there I at the A&P. Ain't you suppose to be working down there after school? CORY: Mr. Stawicki say he gonna hold my job for me until Say starting next week I can after the football season. work weekends. troy: I thought we had anunderstanding about this foot- ball stuff? You suppose to keep up with your chores and hold that job down at the A&P. Ain't been around here all day on a Saturday. Ain't none of your chores done... and now you telling me you done quit your job. CORY: I'm gonna be working weekends. troy: You damn right you are! And ain't no need for nobody coming around here to talk to me about signing nothing. CORY: Hey, Pop you can't do... that. He's coming all the way from North Carolina. troy: I don't care where he coming from. The white man ain't gonn^ let you get nowhere with that football noway. You go on and get your book-learning so you can work yourself up in that A&P or learn how to fix cars or build houses or something, get you a trade. That way you have something can't nobody take away from you. You go on and learn how to put your hands to some good use. Be- sides hauling people's garbage. 36 FENCES CORY: I get good grades, Pop. That's why the recruiter wants to talk with you. You got to keep up your grades to get recruited. This way Til be going to college. FU get a chance... troy: First you gonna get your butt down there to the A&P and get your job back. gory: Mr. Stawicki done already hired somebody else 'cause I told him I was playing football. troy: You a bigger fool than I thought... to let some- body take away your job so you can play some football. Where you gonna get your money to take out your girl- friend and whatnot? What kind of foolishness is that to let somebody take away your job? CORY: I'm still gonna be working weekends. troy: Naw naw. You getting your butt out of here... and finding you another job. CORY: Come on, Pop! I got to practice. I can't work afterr school and play football too. The team needs me. That's^ what Coach Zellman say... troy: I don't care what nobody else say. I'm the boss^. you understand? I'm the boss around here. I do the.. only saying what counts. CORY: Come on. Pop! troy: I asked you... did you understand? CORY: Yeah... troy: What?! CORY: Yessir. troy: You go on down there to that A&P and see if you can get your job back. If you can't do both then you...  ACT ONE 37 quit the football team. You've got to take the crookeds with the straights. Iory: Yessir. (Pause.) Can I ask you a question? troy: What the hell you wanna ask me? Mr. Stawicki the one you got the questions for. cory: How come you ain't never liked me? troy: Liked you? Who the hell say I got to like you? What law is there say I got to like you? Wanna stand up in my face and ask a damn fool-ass question like that. Talking about liking somebody. Come here, boy, when I talk to you. (CORY comes over to where troy is working. He stands slouched over and troy shoves him on his shoulder.) Straighten up, goddammit! I asked you a question... what law is there say I got to like you? cory: None. troy: Well, alright then! Don't you eat every day? (Pause.) Answer me when I talk to you! Don't you eat every day? cory: Yeah. troy: Nigger, as long as you in my house, you put that sir on the end of it when you talk to me! cory: Yes... sir. troy: You eat every day. cory: Yessir! troy: Got a roof over your head. cory: Yessir! 38 FENCES troy: Got clothes on your back. CORY: Yessir. troy: Why you think that is? CORY: Cause of you. troy: Aw, hell I know it's 'cause of me... but why do you think that is? CORY: (Hesitant.) Cause you like me. troy: Like you? Igo out of here every morning bust... my butt... putting up with them crackers every day..cause. I like you? You about the biggest fool I ever saw. (Pause.) It's my job. It's my responsibility! You understand that? A man got to take care of his family. You live in my house sleep you behind on my bedclothes... fill... you belly up with my food cause you my son. You... my flesh and blood. Not 'cause I like you! Cause it's my duty to take care of you. I owe a responsibility to you! Let's get this straight right here before it go along... any further... I ain't got to like you. Mr. Rand don't give me my money come payday cause he likes me. He gives me cause he owe me. I done give you everything I had to give you. I gave you your life! Me and your mama worked that out between us. And liking your black ass wasn't part of the bargain. Don't you try and go through life worrying about if somebody like you or not. You best be making sure they doing right by you. You understand what I'm saying, boy? CORY: Yessir. troy: Then get the hell out of my face, and get on down to that A&P.  ACT ONE 39 (rose has been standing behind the screen door for much of the scene. She enters as cory exits.) rose: Why don't you let the boy go ahead and play foot- ball, Troy? Ain't no harm in that. He's just trying to be like you with the sports. troy: I don't want him to be like me! I want him to move as far away from my life as he can get. You the only decent thing that ever happened to me. I wish him that. But I don't wish him a thing else from my life. I decided seventeen years ago that boy wasn't getting involved in no sports. Not after what they did to me in the sports. rose: Troy, why don't you admit you was too old to play in the major leagues? For once why don't you admit... that? troy: What do you mean too old? Don't come telling me Iwas too old. I just wasn't the right color. Hell, I'm fifty- three years old and can do better than Selkirk's.269 right now! rose: How's was you gonna play ball when you were over forty? Sometimes I can't get no sense out of you. troy: I got good sense, woman. I got sense enough not my boy get hurt over playing no sports. You been to let mothering that boy too much. Worried about if people like him. rose: Everything that boy do... he do for you. He wants you to say ''Good job, son." That's all. troy: Rose, I ain't got time for that. He's alive. He's healthy. He's got to make his own way. I made mine. Ain't nobody gonna hold his hand when he get out there in that world. 40 FENCES rose: Times have changed from when you was young Troy. People change. The world's changing around yoi and you can't even see it. troy: (Slow, methodical.) Woman... I do the best I can do. I come in here every Friday. I carry a sack of potatoes and a bucket of lard. You all line up at the door with your hands out. I give you the lint from my pockets. I give you my sweat and my blood. I ain't got no tears. I done spent them. We go upstairs in that room at night. and I fall down on you and try to blast a hole into.. forever. I get up Monday morning find my lunch on... the table. I go out. Make my way. Find my strength to carry me through to the next Friday. (Pause.) That's all I got, Rose. That's all I got to give. I can't give nothing else. (troy exits into the house. The lights go down to black.)  ! Act One Scene Four It is Friday. Two weeks later, cory starts out of the house with his football equipment. The phone rings. cory: {Calling.) I got it! (He answers the phone and stands in the screen door talking.) Hello? Hey, Jesse. Naw... I was just getting ready to leave now. rose: (Calling.) Cory cory: I told you, man, them spikes is all tore up. You can use them if you want, but they ain't no good. Earl got some spikes. rose: (Calling.) Cory cory: (Calling to rose.) Mam? Tm talking to Jesse. (Into phone.) When she say that? (Pause.) Aw, you lying, man. Fm gonna tell her you said that. rose: (Calling.) Cory, don't you go nowhere! gory: got to go to the game. I Ma! (Into the phone.) 42 FENCES Yeah, hey, look, I'll talk to you later. Yeah, I'll meet you' over Earl's house. Later. Bye, Ma. (CORY exits the house and starts out the yard.) rose: Cory, where you going off to? You got that stuff all pulled out and thrown all over your room. CORY: {In the yard.) I was looking for my spikes. Jesse wanted to borrow my spikes. rose: Get up there and get that cleaned up before your daddy get back in here. CORY: I got to go to the game! I'll clean it up when I get back. (CORY exits.) rose: That's all he need to do is see that room all messed up. (rose exits into the house, troy and bono enter the yard, troy is dressed in clothes other than his work clothes.) bono: He told him the same thing he told you. Take it to the union. troy: Brownie ain't got that much sense. Man wasn't thinking about nothing. He wait until I confront them on it... then he wanna come crying seniority. (Calls.) Hey, Rose! bono: I wish I could have seen Mr. Rand's face when he told you. troy: He couldn't get it out of his mouth! Liked to bit his tongue! When they called me down there to the Commis- J  ACTONE 43 sioner's office... he thought they was gonna fire me. Like everybody else. bono: I didn't think they was gonna fire you. I thought they was gonna put you on the warning paper. troy: Hey, Rose! (To BONO.) Yeah, Mr. Rand like to bit his tongue. (troy breaks the seal on the bottle, takes a drink, and hands it to bono.) bono: I see you run right down to Taylors' and told that Alberta gal. troy: (Calling.) Hey Rose! (To bono.) I told everybody. Hey, Rose! I went down there to cash my check. rose: (Entering from the house.) Hush all that hollering, man! I know you out here. What they say down there at the Commissioner's office? troy: You supposed to come when I call you, woman. Bono'll tell you that. (To BONO.) Don't Lucille come when you call her? rose: Man, hush your mouth. I ain't no dog... talk about ''come when you call me." troy: (Puts his arm around rose.) You hear this. Bono? I had me an old dog used to get uppity like that. You say, ''C'm.ere, Blue!" and he just lay there and look at... you. End up getting a stick and chasing him away trying to make him come. rose: I ain't studying you and your dog. I remember you used to sing that old song. 44 FENCES troy: {He sings.) Hear it ring! Hear it ring! I had a dog his name was Blue. rose: Don't nobody wanna hear you sing that old song. troy: {Sings.) You know Blue was mighty true. rose: Used to have Cory running around here singing that song. bono: Hell, I remember that song myself. troy: (Sings.) You know Blue was a good old dog. Blue treed a possum in a hollow log. That was my daddy's song. My daddy made up that song. rose: I don't care who made it up. Don't nobody wanna hear you sing it. troy: {Makes a song like calling a dog.) Come here, woman. rose: You come in here carrying on, I reckon they ain't fired you. What they say down there at the Commission- er's office? troy: Look here, Rose Mr. Rand called me into his... officetoday when I got back from talking to them people down there... it come from up top... he called me in and told me they was making me a driver. rose: Troy, you kidding! troy: No I ain't. Ask Bono. rose: Well, that's great, Troy. Now you don't have to hassle them people no more. {LYONS enters from the street.)  ACT ONE 45 troy: Aw hell, I wasn't looking to see you today. I thought you was in jail. Got it all over the front page of the Courier about them raiding Sefus' place where... you be hanging out with all them thugs. LYONS: Hey, Pop that ain't got nothing to do with... me. I don't go down there gambling. I go down there to sit in with the band. I ain't got nothing to do with the gambling part. They got some good music down there. troy: They got some rogues... is what they got. LYONS: How you been, Mr. Bono? Hi, Rose. bono: I see where you playing down at the Crawford Grill tonight. rose: How come you ain't brought Bonnie like I told you. You should have brought Bonnie with you, she ain't been over in a month of Sundays. LYONS: I was just in the neighborhood... thought I'd stop by. troy: Here he come... bono: Your daddy got a promotion on the rubbish. He's gonna be the first colored driver. Ain't got to do nothing but sit up there and read the paper like them white fel- lows. LYONS: Hey, Pop... if you knew how to read you'd be alright. bono: Naw... naw you mean if the nigger knew... how to drive he'd be Been fighting with them all right. people about driving and ain't even got a license. Mr. Rand know you ain't got no driver's license? troy: Driving ain't nothing. All you do is point the truck where you want it to go. Driving ain't nothing. 46 FENCES bono: Do Mr. Rand know you ain't got no driver's li- cense? That's what I'm talking about. I ain't asked if driving was easy. I asked if Mr. Rand know you ain't got no driver's license. troy: He ain't got to know. The man ain't got to know my business. Time he find out, I have two or three driv- er's licenses. LYONS: (Going into his pocket.) Say, look here, Pop... troy: I knew it was coming. Didn t I tell you, Bono? I know what kind of ''Look here. Pop" that was. The nigger fixing to ask me for some money. It's Friday night. It's my payday. All them rogues down there on the ave- nue... the ones that ain't in jail... and Lyons is hop- ping in his shoes to get down there with them LYONS: See, you give somebody else a chance Pop... if 10 talk sometime, you'd see that I was fixing to pay you back your ten dollars like I told you. Here... I told you I'd pay you when Bonnie got paid. troy: Naw you go ahead and keep that ten dollars.... Put it in the bank. The next time you feel like you wanna come by here and ask me for something you go on... down there and get that. LYONS: Here's your ten dollars. Pop. I told you I don't want you to give me nothing. I just wanted to borrow ten dollars. troy: Naw you go on and keep that for the next time... you want to ask me. LYONS: Come on, Pop... here go your ten dollars. rose: Why don't you go on and let the boy pay you back, Troy?  ACT ONE 47 LYONS: Here you go, Rose. If you don't take it Fm gonna have to hear about it for the next six months. {He hands her the money.) rose: You can hand yours over here too, Troy. troy: You see this. Bono. You see how they do me. bono: Yeah, Lucille do me the same way. {GABRIEL is heard singing offstage. He enters.) GABRIEL: Better get ready for the Judgment! Better get ready for.Hey!.. Hey! There's Troy's boy!...... LYONS: How you doing. Uncle Gabe? GABRIEL: Lyons The King of the Jungle! Rose...... hey. Rose. Got a flower for you. {He takes a rose from his pocket.) Picked it myself. That's the same rose like you is! rose: That's right nice of you, Gabe. LYONS: What you been doing. Uncle Gabe? GABRIEL: Oh, I been chasing hellhounds and waiting on the time to tell St. Peter to open the gates. LYONS: You been chasing hellhounds, huh? Well you... doing the right thing, Uncle Gabe. Somebody got to chase them. GABRIEL: Oh, yeah... I know it. The devil's strong. The devil ain'tno pushover. Hellhounds snipping at every- body's heels. But I got my trumpet waiting on the judg- ment time. LYONS: Waiting on the Battle of Armageddon, huh? GABRIEL: Ain't gonna be too of a battle when God much get to waving that Judgment sword. But the people's 48 FENCES gonna have a hell of a time trying to get into heaven if them gates ain't open. LYONS: {Putting his arm around Gabriel.) You hear this, Pop. Uncle Gabe, you alright! GABRIEL: (Laughing with lyons.) Lyons! King of the Jungle. rose: You gonna stay for supper, Gabe. Want me to fix you a plate? GABRIEL: ril take a sandwich, Rose. Don't want no plate. Just wanna eat with my hands. Til take a sand- wich. rose: How about you, Lyons? You staying? Got some short ribs cooking. LYONS: Naw, I won't eat nothing till after we finished playing. (Pause.) You ought to come down and listen to me play. Pop. troy: I don't like that Chinese music. All that noise. rose: Go on in the house and wash up, Gabe... I'll fix you a sandwich. GABRIEL: (To LYONS, as he exits.) Troy's mad at me. LYONS: What you mad at Uncle Gabe for. Pop. rose: He thinks Troy's mad at him cause he moved over to Miss Pearl's. troy: I ain't mad at the man. He can live where he want to live at. LYONS: What he move over there for? Miss Pearl don't like nobody.  ACT ONE 49 rose: She don't mind him none. She treats him real nice. She just don't allow all that singing. troy: She don't mind that rent he be paying... that's what she don't mind. rose: Troy, I ain't going through that with you no more. He's over there cause he want to have his own place. He can come and go as he please. troy: Hell, he could come and go as he please here. I wasn't stopping him. I ain't put no rules on him. rose: It ain't the same thing, Troy. And you know it. {GABRIEL comes to the door.) Now, that's the last I wanna hear about that. I don't wanna hear nothing else about Gabe and Miss Pearl. And next week... GABRIEL: I'm ready for my sandwich. Rose. rose: And next week... when that recruiter come from that school... I want you to sign that paper and go on and let Cory play football. Then that'll be the last I have to hear about that. troy: {To rose as she exits into the house.) I ain't think- ing about Cory nothing. LYONS: What... Cory got recruited? What school he going to? troy: That boy walking around here smelling his piss... thinking he's grown. Thinking he's gonna do what he want, irrespective of what I say. Look here. Bono... I left the Commissioner's office and went down to the A&P. that boy ain't working down there. He lying to.. me. Telling me he got his job back telling me he... working weekends telling me he working after... 50 FENCES school... Mr. Stawicki tell me he ain't working down there at all! LYONS: Cory just growing up. He's just busting at the seams trying to fill out your shoes. troy: I don't care what he's doing. When he get to the point where he wanna disobey me... then it's time for him to move on. Bono'U tell you that. I bet he ain't never disobeyed his daddy without paying the consequences. bono: I ain't never had a chance. My daddy came on through but I ain't never knew him to see him...... or what he had on his mind or where he went. Just mov- ing on through. Searching out the New Land. That's what the old folks used to call it. See a fellow moving around from place to place... woman to woman... called it searching out the New Land. I can't say if he ever found it. I come along, didn't want no kids. Didn't know if I was gonna be in one place long enough to fix on them right as their daddy. I figured I was going search- ing too. As it turned out I been hooked up with Lucille near about as long as your daddy been with Rose. Going on sixteen years. troy: Sometimes I wish I hadn't known my daddy. He ain'tcared nothing about no kids. A kid to him wasn't nothing. All he wanted was for you to learn how to walk so he could start you to working. When it come time for eating... he ate first. If there was anything left over, that's what you got. Man would sit down and eat two chickens and give you the wing. LYONS: You ought to stop that. Pop. Everybody feed their kids. No matter how hard times is everybody... care about their kids. Make sure they have something to eat.  ACT ONE 51 troy: The only thing my daddy cared about was getting them bales of cotton in to Mr. Lubin. That's the only thing that mattered to him. Sometimes I used to wonder why he was Hving. Wonder why the devil hadn't come and got him. "Get them bales of cotton in to Mr. Lubin" and find out he owe him money... LYONS: He should have just went on and left when he saw he couldn't get nowhere. That's what I would have done. troy: How he gonna leave with eleven kids? And where he gonna go? He ain't knew how to do nothing but farm. No, he was trapped and I think he knew it. But I'll say this for him... he felt a responsibility toward us. Maybe he ain't treated us the way I felt he should have..but without that responsibility he could have walked. off and left us made his own way.... bono: a of them did. Back in those days what you lot talking about they walk out their front door and just... take on down one road or another and keep on walking. LYONS: There you go! That's what I'm talking about. bono: till you come to something Just keep on walking else. Ain'tyou never heard of nobody having the walking blues? Well, that's what you call it when you just take off like that. troy: My daddy ain't had them walking blues! What you talking about? He stayed right there with his family. But he was just as evil as he could be. My mama couldn't stand him. Couldn't stand that evilness. She run off when I was about eight. She sneaked off one night after he had gone to sleep. Told me she was coming back for me. I ain't never seen her no more. All his women run off and left him. He wasn't good for nobody. When my turn come to head out, I was fourteen and got 52 FENCES to sniffing around Joe Caneweirs daughter. Had us an old mule called Greyboy. My daddy sent me out to we do some plowing and I tied up Greyboy and went to fooling around with Joe Cane well's daughter. We done found us a nice little spot, got real cozy with each other. She about thirteen and we done figured we was grown anyway... so we down there enjoying ourselves... ain't thinking about nothing. We didn't know Greyboy had got loose and wandered back to the house and my daddy was looking for me. We down there by the creek enjoying ourselves when my daddy come up on us. Sur- prised us. He had them leather straps off the mule and commenced to whupping me like there was no tomorrow. I jumped up, mad and embarrassed. I was scared of my daddy. When he commenced to whupping on me... quite naturally I run to get out of the way. (Pause.) Now I mad cause I ain't done my work. thought he was But I see where hewas chasing me off so he could have the gal for himself. When I see what the matter of it was, I lost all fear of my daddy. Right there is where I become a man... at fourteen years of age. (Pause.) Now it was my turn to run him off. picked up themI same reins that he had used on me. picked up themI reins and commenced to whupping on him. The gal jumped up and run off and when my daddy turned... to face me, I could see why the devil had never come to get him cause he was the devil himself. I don't know... what happened. When I woke up, I was laying right there by the creek, and Blue this old dog we had... was... licking my face. I thought I was blind. I couldn't see nothing. Both my eyes were swollen shut. I layed there and cried. I didn't know what I was gonna do. The only thing I knew was the time had come for me to leave my  ACT ONE 53 daddy's house. And right there the world suddenly got big. And it was a long time before I could cut it down to where I could handle it. Part of that cutting down was when I got to the place where I could feel him kicking in my blood and knew that the only thing that separated us was the matter of a few years. {GABRIEL enters from the house with a sandwich.) LYONS: What you got there, Uncle Gabe? GABRIEL: Got me a ham sandwich. Rose gave me a ham sandwich. troy: I don't know what happened to him. I done lost touch with everybody except Gabriel. But I hope he's dead. I hope he found some peace. LYONS: That's a heavy story, Pop. I didn't know you left home when you was fourteen. troy: And didn't know nothing. The only part of the world I knew was the forty-two acres of Mr. Lubin's land. That's all I knew about life. LYONS: Fourteen's kinda young to be out on your own. {Phone rings,) I don't even think I was ready to be out on my own at fourteen. I don't know what I would have done. troy: I got up from the creek and walked on down to Mobile. I was through with farming. Figured I could do better in the city. So I walked the two hundred miles to Mobile. LYONS: Wait a minute you ain't walked no two... hundred miles, Pop. Ain't nobody gonna walk no two hundred miles. You talking about some walking there.. 54 FENCES bono: That's the only way you got anywhere back in them days. LYONS: Shhh. Damn if I wouldn't have hitched a ride with somebody! troy: Who you gonna hitch it with? They ain't had no cars and things like they got now. We talking about 1918. rose: (Entering.) What you all out here getting into? troy: (To rose.) I'm telling Lyons how good he got it. He don'tknow nothing about this I'm talking. rose: Lyons, that was Bonnie on the phone. She say you supposed to pick her up. LYONS: Yeah, okay. Rose. troy: walked on down to Mobile and hitched up with I some of them fellows that was heading this way. Got up here and found out not only couldn't you get a job..... you couldn't find no place to live. I thought I was in free- dom. Shhh. Colored folks living down there on the river- banks in whatever kind of shelter they could find for them- selves. Right down there under the Brady Street Bridge. Living in shacks made of sticks and tarpaper. Messed around there and went from bad to worse. Started stealing. First it was food. Then I figured, hell, if I steal money I can buy me some food. Buy me some shoes too! One thing led to another. Met your mama. I was young and anxious to be a man. Met your mama and had you. What I do that for? Now I got to worry about feeding you and her. Got to steal three times as much. Went out one day looking for somebody to rob that's what I... was, a robber. I'll tell you the truth. I'm ashamed of it today. But it's the truth. Went to rob this fellow... I pulled out my knife and he pulled out a gun. Shot... 1  ACT ONE 55 me in the chest. It felt just like somebody had taken a hot branding iron and laid it on me. When he shot me I jumped at him with my knife. They told me I killed him and they put me in the penitentiary and locked me up for fifteen years. That's where I met Bono. That's where I learned how to play baseball. Got out that place and your mama had taken you and went on to make life without me. Fifteen years was a long time for her to wait. But that fifteen years cured me of that robbing stuff. Rose '11 tell you. She asked me when I met her if I had gotten all that foolishness out of my system. And I told her, '*Baby, it's you and baseball all what count with me." You hear me, Bono? I meant it too. She say, ''Which one comes first?" I told her, ''Baby, ain't no doubt it's baseball... but you stick and get old with me and we'll both outlive this baseball." Am I right. Rose? And it's true. rose: Man, hush your mouth. You ain't said no such "Baby, you know you'll always thing. Talking about, be number one with me." That's what you was talking. troy: You hear that. Bono. That's why I love her. bono: Rose'll keep you straight. You get off the track, she'll straighten you up. rose: Lyons, you better get on up and get Bonnie. She waiting on you. LYONS: {Gets up to go.) Hey, Pop, why don't you come on down to the Grill and hear me play? troy: I ain't goin