Little Birds Fly / Return Upriver: Two Plays

By Harding Lemay

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• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: May 20, 2005
• ISBN: 9781465332165

Harding Lemay

HARDING LEMAY was born, the fifth of thirteen children, in Northern New York State. He ran away from home at seventeen to New York City where he has lived ever since. He was a delivery boy and elevator operator before serving in the U. S. Army during World War II, then an actor, librarian and book publishing executive before devoting himself full time to writing. He has written over twelve full length plays and two memoirs, Inside, Looking Out, (Harpers Magazine Press, nominated for the National Book Award) and Eight Years in Another World (Atheneum). He was the headwriter of NBC's daytime serial, Another World, for eight years and has been a scriptwriter and story consultant on other serials, including As the World Turns, The Doctors, Ryan's Hope, The Guiding Light and One Life to Live. In New York City, he has taught literature, drama and serial writing at New York University, Hunter College and the New School for Social Research. Other plays by Harding Lemay: Look at Any Man From a Dark Land Little Birds Fly Return Upriver Death of Eagles The Joslyn Circle The Off Season Escape Route Interior Landscape Scrutiny

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Contents

LITTLE BIRDS FLY

RETURN UPRIVER

HARDING LEMAY was born, the fifth of thirteen children, in Northern New York State. He ran away from home at seventeen to New York City where he has lived ever since. He was a delivery boy, elevator operator and youth counsellor, before serving in the U. S. Army during World War II, then an actor, a library clerk and a book publishing executive before devoting himself full time to writing. He has written over twelve full length plays and two memoirs, Inside, Looking Out (Harpers Magazine Press) and Eight Years in Another World (Atheneum). He was the headwriter of NBC’s daytime serial, Another World, for eight years and has been a scriptwriter and story consultant on other serials, including As the World Turns, The Doctors, Ryan’s Hope, The Guiding Light and One Life to Live. In New York City, he has taught literature, drama and serial writing at New York University, Hunter College, and the New School for Social Research.

Other plays by Harding Lemay:

LOOK AT ANY MAN

FROM A DARK LAND

DEATH OF EAGLES

THE JOSLYN CIRCLE

THE OFF SEASON

ESCAPE ROUTE

SCRUTINY

INTERIOR LANDSCAPE

A FAR, FAR BETTER WORLD

LITTLE BIRDS FLY

a play in three acts

LITTLE BIRDS FLY was first performed at The New Dramatists, New York City, in January 1966 with the following cast:

Ada Anne Meacham

César Tom Harris

Philipe George Harris

Lucienne Sarah Sanders

René Michael Ebert

Quentin Robert Darnell

Julien Simm Landres

Gervaise Marian Seldes

Michel Nicolas Coster

Françoise Ann Whiteside

directed by Charles Maryan

CAST OF CHARACTERS

In order of their speaking

Ada Moreau,

a widow in her late fifties

Her children:

César,

fourteen

Philipe,

sixteen

Lucienne,

eighteen

René,

thirty-four

Quentin,

thirty-five

Julien,

twenty-seven

Françoise,

thirty

Gervaise,

thirty-seven

Michel,

thirty-two

The action of the play takes place in the kitchen of the Moreau farm house, a few miles south of the Canadian border in Northern New York State.

The kitchen is a jumble of old furniture, with a rocking chair down stage right. In the down stage left area is a large kitchen table, covered with oilcloth, with six chairs placed around it. There are other chairs and stools scattered about the kitchen.

A door leads off stage right to a pantry, and through the pantry, to the outside. Just above the pantry door, on the stage right wall is an old fashioned wood burning kitchen stove. Up stage center is an archway leading into a hallway which leads to an invisible front door. Beyond the archway, are stairs leading to the bedrooms above, and doors to the living room and the mother’s bedroom. Up stage left is a sturdy coatrack, and down stage left is a large kitchen sink, over which a wide window looks out to the barn.

The room is fairly dark most of the time, and the walls are papered with some dark pattern. Some of the corners of the wall-paper are ripped and the furniture is chipped and scratched. But all in all, it is not too dreary in appearance. It has been used for generations in bringing up large families and the room has a certain settled country comfort about it.

ACT ONE

ACT ONE

Mid-morning,

a cold December day.

As the lights go up, ADA MOREAU is seated in the rocking chair, mumbling softly to herself as she rocks back and forth. She is a plump gray haired, slack bodied woman in her late fifties.

By the stove, CÉSAR, fourteen years old, helps his brother, PHILIPE, sixteen, shine several pairs of men’s shoes. They both look up as ADA bursts into tuneless song.

Ada (singing)

Up, up in the sky . . .

César

Ah, there she goes again.

Ada (singing)

"The little birds fly,

Down, down in their nests,

The little birds rest."

Where is everybody? They all leave me alone. Where are you?

Philipe

(rising to his feet, with a shoe in his hand) Now, Ma . . . quiet down, will you?

Ada

(peering around her and shouting) Where are you? Well, never mind . . . (singing)

"With a wing on their left,

and a wing on their right . . ."

César

Make her keep quiet, will you, Phil?

Philipe

(approaching her) Ma . . . you better go back to bed, Ma . . .

Ada

That ain’t your shoe, Philipe.

Philipe

I know it ain’t. It’s Ronny’s.

Ada

Ronny who?

Philipe

René. It’s his.

Ada

Then what are you doing with it? Answer me that?

Philipe

I’m shining his shoes for him.

Ada

He’s big enough to shine his own shoes.

Philipe

He’s paying me for it, see? (He takes a bill from his pocket)

Ada

(reaching for it) Where did you get that money?

Philipe

I just told you. Ronny gave it to me.

Ada

You stole it! From your own brother!

Philipe

I did not!

LUCIENNE enters through the pantry. She wears a winter mackinaw and work boots. Eighteen years old, she is the youngest of ADA’s four daughters. She takes off her work gloves and stands in the doorway for a moment, listening.

Ada

Don’t lie to me, Philipe! I know you stole it. You give it back to him.

Lucienne

Ssssshhh, Ma. You’ll wake everybody up. (She hangs up her mackinaw on the coat rack) You promised you’d look after her while I was out in the barn.

Philipe

We did. She just now started yelling.

Lucienne

I’ll take care of her now. You go out and help your brothers.

You’d think they’d never been in a barn before in their lives.

Philipe

I promised Ronny I’d polish his shoes.

Lucienne

Okay, okay. Stop whining.

Ada (singing)

"We let the dear birdies

Rest all the long night . . .

Lucienne

(taking a comb from the shelf) Here, Ma, let me comb your hair.

(She runs the comb through Ada’s strong, heavy hair) Snarls!

Oh, Ma!

Ada

It hurts, Lucienne. You always hurt me. You always want to hurt me.

Lucienne

Don’t say that, Ma.

Ada

(snatching the comb from her) I’ll do it myself.

Lucienne

(going to the stove) Want some coffee, Ma?

Ada

Bad for your heart, too much coffee. (LUCIENNE lights a cigarette) Bad for your lungs, smoking cigarettes.

Lucienne

You want some coffee, Phil? (He shakes his head)

César

Hey, Lucy, can I have some? (She pours a cup of coffee and takes it to CÉSAR. ADA leans forward and stares at PHILIPE)

Ada

You give that money back to your brother, do you hear?

Philipe

Ah, leave me alone, Ma.

Lucienne

Phil!

QUENTIN, RENÉ and JULIEN enter, wearing faded overalls over their suits. Slim, straight and vigorous, they share a strong family resemblance. QUENTIN is thirty five, RENÉ is thirty four and JULIEN is twenty seven.

During the following scene, they take off their overalls and boots and put them behind the kitchen door.

René

Never thought I’d ever milk a goddam cow again.

Quentin

Like riding a bicycle. Once you learn, you never forget.

René

At least, we didn’t have to milk eight apiece the way we used to.

Julien

Seems to me he should have kept more than six cows.

Lucienne

Seven . . .

Julien

Used to be more than thirty.

Lucienne

He sold them. One by one, over the past two or three years.

Quentin

Christ, it’s cold. I’d forgotten how bitter ass cold it gets up here.

René

It’s the goddam river blowing down on us.

Quentin

Ain’t nobody taking care of the furnace?

Lucienne

You know where it is, Quent.

Quentin

I ain’t going down there.

Ada

(turning suddenly to the boys) My boys! All my boys home! Except Michel.

Lucienne

He’ll be here any time now, Ma.

Ada

Your father was so proud of his boys. All his handsome sons.

René

Hey, Lucy, how about some coffee?

Lucienne

It’s on the stove.

RENÉ goes to the stove and pours himself a cup of coffee.

PHILIPE brings his shoes to him. QUENTIN and JULIEN sit at the table after pouring coffee for themselves. QUENTIN takes a bottle from his pocket and pours whiskey into the cups.

René

Look, Phil, you missed the whole heel on that one. (hands the shoe back to PHILIPE) You gotta do better than that, boy. You’ll get nowhere in this life unless you work harder and better than anybody else. Do it again.

Julien

Ah, let the kid be, Ronny.

René

Ain’t no good doing nothing unless you do it well.

Quentin

He’s only a kid.

René

He won’t be a kid long, will you, Phil? We understand each other, don’t we, boy?

Philipe

I’ll do it over again, Ronny. (sits on the floor by the stove with the shoes)

Julien

Wish I had a boy to do all those little chores for me.

Quentin

If I asked my kids to shine my shoes, they’d laugh in my face.

René

You just have to let them know who’s running the show. My boys don’t ever talk back. At least not to me. Sometimes to Alice, maybe, but she’s soft on them.

Quentin

Can’t everybody have his own way all the time.

Ada

I want to see Michel. Please, God, please.

René

And I want to see my goddam wife. Where’s Alice?

César

She’s upstairs.

Quentin

How do you know, kiddo, you been peeking around up there?

César

I had to go to the bathroom.

Quentin

The outdoors used to be good enough for me when I was your age.

Julien

You want him to freeze his little peepee off?

Quentin

Run upstairs and see if they’re awake, will you, kiddo?

Lucienne

They’re awake. They were combing their hair and putting on their makeup when I came down.

René

A little of that wouldn’t hurt you.

Lucienne

It wouldn’t help me very much, either. (to ADA) I’m going in so

Françoise can come out. She’s been in there all night. (She exits through the archway)

Ada

Now we can sit out here and talk, the way we used to when you were little. When you were little boys, all sitting around the stove, telling me what went on in school. That wasn’t so long ago, was it?

René

Long enough, Ma. A long time ago. (looks at his watch) Gotta make a phone call . . . you’d think they’d have put a telephone in here, after all these years. What if somebody wanted to get in touch with them in a hurry?

Ada

Did any of you ever want to get in touch with us in a hurry? (RENÉ rises) René, you sit down again.

René

Ma, I gotta make a phone call, to the factory . . .

Ada

Your factory can wait. I want to talk to my boys.