The Skin of Our Teeth Read Online Free PDF

me?
    ANTROBUS:
    I don’t know. I don’t know anything. Some say that the ice is going slower. Some say that it’s stopped. The sun’s growing cold. What can I do about that? Nothing we can do but burn everything in the house, and the fenceposts and the barn. Keep the fire going. When we have no more fire, we die.
    MRS. ANTROBUS:
    Well, why didn’t you say so in the first place?
    MRS. ANTROBUS is about to march off when she catches sight of two REFUGEES , men, who have appeared against the back wall of the theatre and who are soon joined by others.
    REFUGEES:
    Mr. Antrobus! Mr. Antrobus! Mr. An-nn-tro-bus!
    MRS. ANTROBUS:
    Who’s that? Who’s that calling you?
    ANTROBUS:
    Clearing his throat guiltily.
    Hm—let me see.
    Two REFUGEES come up to the window.
    REFUGEE:
    Could we warm our hands for a moment, Mr. Antrobus. It’s very cold, Mr. Antrobus.
    ANOTHER REFUGEE:
    Mr. Antrobus, I wonder if you have a piece of bread or something that you could spare.
    Silence. They wait humbly. MRS. ANTROBUS stands rooted to the spot. Suddenly a knock at the door, then another hand knocking in short rapid blows.
    MRS. ANTROBUS:
    Who are these people? Why, they’re all over the front yard.
    What have they come here for?
    Enter SABINA .
    SABINA:
    Mrs. Antrobus! There are some tramps knocking at the back door.
    MRS. ANTROBUS:
    George, tell these people to go away. Tell them to move right along. I’ll go and send them away from the back door. Sabina, come with me.
    She goes out energetically.
    ANTROBUS:
    Sabina! Stay here! I have something to say to you.
    He goes to the door and opens it a crack and talks through it.
    Ladies and gentlemen! I’ll have to ask you to wait a few minutes longer. It’ll be all right . . . while you’re waiting you might each one pull up a stake of the fence. We’ll need them all for the fireplace. There’ll be coffee and sandwiches in a moment.
    SABINA looks out door over his shoulder and suddenly extends her arm pointing, with a scream.
    SABINA:
    Mr. Antrobus, what’s that??—that big white thing? Mr. Antrobus, it’s ICE. It’s ICE!!
    ANTROBUS:
    Sabina, I want you to go in the kitchen and make a lot of coffee. Make a whole pail full.
    SABINA:
    Pail full!!
    ANTROBUS:
    With gesture.
    And sandwiches . . . piles of them . . . like this.
    SABINA:
    Mr. An . . . !!
    Suddenly she drops the play, and says in her own person as MISS SOMERSET , with surprise.
    Oh, I see what this part of the play means now! This means refugees.
    She starts to cross to the proscenium.
    Oh, I don’t like it. I don’t like it.
    She leans against the proscenium and bursts into tears.
    ANTROBUS:
    Miss Somerset!
    Voice of the STAGE MANAGER .
    Miss Somerset!
    SABINA:
    Energetically, to the audience.
    Ladies and gentlemen! Don’t take this play serious. The world’s not coming to an end. You know it’s not. People exaggerate! Most people really have enough to eat and a roof over their heads. Nobody actually starves—you can always eat grass or something. That ice-business—why, it was a long, long time ago. Besides they were only savages. Savages don’t love their families—not like we do.
    ANTROBUS and STAGE MANAGER :
    Miss Somerset!!
    There is renewed knocking at the door.
    SABINA:
    All right. I’ll say the lines, but I won’t think about the play.
    Enter MRS. ANTROBUS .
    SABINA:
    Parting thrust at the audience.
    And I advise you not to think about the play, either.
    Exit SABINA .
    MRS. ANTROBUS:
    George, these tramps say that you asked them to come to the house. What does this mean?
    Knocking at the door.
    ANTROBUS:
    Just . . . uh . . . .There are a few friends, Maggie, I met on the road. Real nice, real useful people. . . .
    MRS. ANTROBUS:
    Back to the door.
    Now, don’t you ask them in!
    George Antrobus, not another soul comes in here over my dead body.
    ANTROBUS:
    Maggie, there’s a doctor there. Never hurts to have a