The Miracle Worker by William Gibson Page B

PLATE ]: Well, of course it is. Didn’t you know?
    JAMES: Yes, I knew.
    KELLER [ SERVING ]: Ham, Miss Annie?
    ANNIE: Please.
    AUNT EV: Then why ask?
    JAMES: I meant it is from the Good Book, and therefore a fitting grace.
    AUNT EV: Well. I don’t know about that.
    KATE [ WITH THE PITCHER ]: Miss Annie?
    ANNIE: Thank you.
    AUNT EV: There’s an awful lot of things in the Good Book that I wouldn’t care to hear just before eating.
    (When ANNIE reaches for the pitcher, HELEN removes her napkin and drops it to the floor. ANNIE is filling HELEN’S glass when she notices it; she considers HELEN’S bland expression a moment, then bends, retrieves it, and tucks it around HELEN’S neck again.)
    JAMES: Well, fitting in the sense that Jacob’s thigh was out of joint, and so is this piggie’s.
    AUNT EV: I declare, James—
    KATE: Pickles, Aunt Ev?
    AUNT EV: Oh, I should say so, you know my opinion of your pickles—
    KATE: This is the end of them, I’m afraid. I didn’t put up nearly enough last summer, this year I intend to—
    (She interrupts herself, seeing HELEN deliberately lift off her napkin and drop it again to the floor. She bends to retrieve it, but ANNIE stops her arm.)
    KELLER [ NOT NOTICING ]: Reverend looked in at the office today to complain his hens have stopped laying. Poor fellow, he was out of joint, all he could—
    (He stops too, to frown down the table at KATE, HELEN, and ANNIE in turn, all suspended in mid-motion.)
    JAMES [ NOT NOTICING ]: I’ve always suspected those hens.
    AUNT EV: Of what?
    JAMES: I think they’re Papist. Has he tried—
    (He stops, too, following KELLER’S eyes. ANNIE now stops to pick the napkin up.)
    AUNT EV: James, now you’re pulling my—lower extremity, the first thing you know we’ll be—
    (She stops, too, hearing herself in the silence. ANNIE, with everyone now watching, for the third time puts the napkin on HELEN. HELEN yanks it off, and throws it down. ANNIE rises, lifts HELEN’S plate, and bears it away. HELEN, feeling it gone, slides down and commences to kick up under the table; the dishes jump. ANNIE contemplates this for a moment, then coming back takes HELEN’S wrists firmly and swings her off the chair. HELEN struggling gets one hand free, and catches at her mother’s skirt; when KATE takes her by the shoulders, HELEN hangs quiet.)
    KATE: Miss Annie.
    ANNIE: No.
    KATE [ A PAUSE ]: It’s a very special day.
    ANNIE [ GRIMLY ]: It will be, when I give in to that.
    (She tries to disengage HELEN’S hand; KATE lays hers on ANNIE’S. )
    KATE: Please. I’ve hardly had a chance to welcome her home—
    ANNIE: Captain Keller.
    KELLER [ EMBARRASSED ]: Oh, Katie, we—had a little talk, Miss Annie feels that if we indulge Helen in these—
    AUNT EV: But what’s the child done?
    ANNIE: She’s learned not to throw things on the floor and kick. It took us the best part of two weeks and—
    AUNT EV: But only a napkin, it’s not as if it were breakable!
    ANNIE: And everything she’s learned is ? Mrs. Keller, I don’t think we should—play tug-of-war for her, either give her to me or you keep her from kicking.
    KATE: What do you wish to do?
    ANNIE: Let me take her from the table.
    AUNT EV: Oh, let her stay, my goodness, she’s only a child, she doesn’t have to wear a napkin if she doesn’t want to her first evening—
    ANNIE [ LEVEL ]: And ask outsiders not to interfere.
    AUNT EV [ ASTONISHED ]: Out—outsi—I’m the child’s aunt !
    KATE [ DISTRESSED ]: Will once hurt so much, Miss Annie? I’ve—made all Helen’s favorite foods, tonight.
    (A pause)
    KELLER [ GENTLY ]: It’s a homecoming party, Miss Annie.
    ( ANNIE after a moment releases HELEN. But she cannot accept it, at her own chair she shakes her head and turns back, intent on KATE. )
    ANNIE: She’s testing you. You realize?
    JAMES [ TO ANNIE ]: