TRUE ROMANCE1-Scene 10

Scene 10

DIXIE ANN's bedroom comes into view. It is in an apartment, rather sparsely furnished but with hand-sewn flowered draperies and bedspread. We see twin beds and DIXIE ANN is at the bathroom door. CLOIS is standing by a window downstage left. DIXIE ANN (speaking to the door)
Sweetheart, please come out. Please, Precious.
(to Clois)
You see what you made her do!

CLOIS

I made her do! It's always me!

DIXIE ANN

You were the one who screamed at the top o' your damned lungs! You know how she hates screamin'.

CLOIS

You betcha ass I screamed! And I'm gonna scream some more, because I have had it!

DIXIE ANN

You are sick. Sick in the head!

CLOIS

Sure. It's all in my head that everyone in town is sayin' she's not my child.

DIXIE ANN

That is bull, Clois MacCready! And that is no reason not to go to Jolene's comin' home party for Russell.

CLOIS

With everyone there laughin' behind my back!

DIXIE ANN

There's a word for people who think everyone is laughin' behind their back---only I can't remember what it is! But it's somethin' sick, that I can tell you.

CLOIS

Go yourself. I told you: GO YOURSELF!

DIXIE ANN

Lower your voice!

CLOIS

Stop tellin' me what to do! You, your sister and your mama. You're all alike. I've known your father for seven years, and I never heard him say more than four words. Well, that ain't gonna happen to me. I have had it up to here!
                               You never asked me if I wanted the kid---
                               You just assumed that it was fine;
                               And there you were comin' home one day
                               With a baby everyone knows ain't mine.
                               All you do is spend my money,
                               And when you're through, you ask for more---

DIXIE ANN

What money?

CLOIS

Behind all that sugar and that honey
Is one goddamned fuckin' stevedore.

DIXIE ANN

Don't you dare use language like that!

CLOIS

                               Bustin' balls,
                               I'm sick to death o' your bustin' balls---
                               You make me feel like some kinda chump.
                               Bustin' balls,
                               Whenever dear little Dixie Ann calls,
                               You goddamn better gonna jump!            Bustin' balls,
           I've spent six years with you bustin' balls---
           My self-respect is turnin' to dust. DIXIE ANN                                Bustin' balls,
                               If someone's gonna go bustin' balls,
                               They gotta have some balls to bust.

CLOIS

That's 'cause you grabbed 'em and you kept 'em,
No wonder I can't get it up in bed;

DIXIE ANN

You don't have no deviated septum---
What you got's a deviated head!

CLOIS

                              Bustin' balls,
                              I'm sick to death of your bustin' balls,
                              You don't know what the hell life's about!
                              Bustin' balls,
                              I'm bein' swallowed up by these four walls---
                              And, by God, I'm gonna get out!
                              By God, I'm gonna get out!
                              By God, I'm gonna get out! (HE rushes out the door and slams it behind him. DIXIE ANN races after him, opens the door and shouts out. We hear a second door slam.) DIXIE ANN Go! You think I care! Me and the baby can get on all by ourselves. What do we need you for? You were a curtain cutter when I met you, and now that the war's over, you'll be back bein' a curtain-cutter!
                                                           (SHE slams the door and re-enters the bedroom, goes to the bathroom door and
                                                           squats down so she can be on the level of the little child behind it.)
Precious, listen to Mama. I know you're too young to understand what I am sayin', but someday you will. That awful man who just left isn't your father. He was a man I married after your real father was killed in the war. You want to know who your real father was? Precious, are you listenin'? Let me hear you say "yes".
                                                           (A tiny "Yes" emanates from the bathroom.)
He was the most beautiful man you ever saw. You look just like him. You really do. You see, Mama was at the U.S.O. one night, and this is exactly what happened… (As SHE speaks, the music of "True Romance" begins, the lights dim, and the stage starts to revolve.)