The Gibson Upright Part 19

s...o...b..RG: You pay me back that twenty-five dollars you got from me Friday!

SALVATORE: How I'm goin' to pay you twenty-five dollars when I'm seventeen thousand dollars in debt?

s...o...b..RG: I'll have that money!

[_He takes a paper weight from desk._]

SALVATORE: You throw that at me, I'll give you a little sticker where you won't like it!

[_Puts his hand in the breast of his coat. Murder appears imminent. Sudden and general dispersal from the neighbourhood of the combatants, which brings_ NORA _to_ GIBSON, _unconsciously seeking his protection._]

s...o...b..RG: Aw, I didn't mean anything serious like that. [_Puts down the paper weight._] But I'll get the money.

SALVATORE: You'll _need_ it--to pay your share what we owe!

MRS. SIMPSON: I'd like to see 'em get one cent out of me!

CARTER: It ain't just us here of course; they's a hundred and seventy men outside the debt belongs to as well as us. The whole factory's got to pay it.

SIMPSON: Great gos.h.!.+ Do you think we can go out there, when they're expectin' a month's pay, and tell 'em they're gettin' only a seventeen-thousand-dollar _debt_?

FRANKEL: And me, me, me! Look at _me_! Do you think I can go out and tell them thirty-five bloodhounds I ain't got no money to even pay their wages?

RILEY [_vehemently_]: What's more, you owe thirty-five shares of that debt, Frankel!

ALL [_with vindictive satisfaction_]: That's it! Sure he does! He owes thirty-five shares of the debt! That's right!

FRANKEL: What?

RILEY: You owe thirty-five shares of the seventeen-thousand debt.

FRANKEL: My heavens! Ain't the meetin' just settled it I didn't have no right to them shares and it was all to be divided even?

CARTER: What we got to do, we got to go out there and tell 'em they owe this money.

FRANKEL: I can't tell mine!

SALVATORE: I know one game little fellow that ain't goin' to pay n.o.body nothin'. Excuse me, gents; they'll have to find me!

[_He goes out hastily by the door that leads to the street._]

CARTER: Well, _somebody's_ got to go out there and tell 'em.

SIMPSON: Well, I won't!

MRS. SIMPSON: It's the chairman's place.

CARTER: We all got to go!

FRANKEL: Not me!

SIMPSON: Yes, you will! [_Takes him by the shoulders._]

RILEY [_taking him from_ SIMPSON]: Put him first!

[_They begin to jostle toward the factory door._]

FRANKEL [_as they push him he waves a despairing hand at_ GIBSON]: Mr.

Gibson, that was a fine trick you played on us!

THE COMMITTEE [_shouting_]: You go on there! Come on! We got to take our medicine!

FRANKEL: Lemme alone! Take your hands off me!

[_They jostle out, leaving_ NORA _and_ GIBSON _alone together._ NORA _has gone to the large table, sitting beside it, with her head far down between her hands. As the noise dies away_ MIFFLIN _comes in from the factory._]

MIFFLIN: What wonderful spirits! Just great, rough boys!

[_Smiles as he gets his hat, magazines, newspaper, and umbrella._]

Everything is working out. Some little inevitable friction here, some little setback there. But it all works, it all works to the one great end. I'm sorry I wasn't present for the end of the meeting to hear what success there was this month, but that's a detail. The dream has come true. It's here, and we're living it! [_At the door._] I'll send you a copy of my next article, Mr. Gibson. [_Modestly laughs._] They tell me the series is making a little sensation in its way. Good morning!

[_He goes out jauntily._ GIBSON _has never moved from his chair; he turns his head, still not rising, and looks fixedly at_ NORA. _She slowly lifts her head, meets his eye; her head sinks again. He rises and slowly walks over to her, looking down at her. Then, bending still lower, she begins to cry._]

GIBSON: Well, Nora, what was the matter with it?

NORA [_not looking up_]: I don't know. What was?

GIBSON: You needed a manager to do what I had been doing.

NORA: Couldn't we have learned? Couldn't one of us?

GIBSON: One of you did--Hill.

NORA: But he left!

GIBSON: Why did Hill leave?

NORA: Other people offered him more money.

GIBSON: Yes; he was the one man that all the rest of you depended on. He was worth more.

NORA: But were you worth all that you took? You took all that the business made.

GIBSON: Yes; and last year it was fifty thousand.

NORA: Were you actually worth that much to it?