The Skin of Our Teeth Read Online Free PDF Page B

good doctor in the house. We’ve lost a peck of children, one way and another. You can never tell when a child’s throat will get stopped up. What you and I have seen—!!!
    He puts his fingers on his throat, and imitates diphtheria.
    MRS. ANTROBUS:
    Well, just one person then, the Doctor. The others can go right along the road.
    ANTROBUS:
    Maggie, there’s an old man, particular friend of mine—
    MRS. ANTROBUS:
    I won’t listen to you—
    ANTROBUS:
    It was he that really started off the A.B.C.’s.
    MRS. ANTROBUS:
    I don’t care if he perishes. We can do without reading or writing. We can’t do without food.
    ANTROBUS:
    Then let the ice come!! Drink your coffee!! I don’t want any coffee if I can’t drink it with some good people.
    MRS. ANTROBUS:
    Stop shouting. Who else is there trying to push us off the cliff?
    ANTROBUS:
    Well, there’s the man . . . who makes all the laws. Judge Moses!
    MRS. ANTROBUS:
    Judges can’t help us now.
    ANTROBUS:
    And if the ice melts? . . . and if we pull through? Have you and I been able to bring up Henry? What have we done?
    MRS. ANTROBUS:
    Who are those old women?
    ANTROBUS:
    Coughs.
    Up in town there are nine sisters. There are three or four of them here. They’re sort of music teachers . . . and one of them recites and one of them—
    MRS. ANTROBUS:
    That’s the end. A singing troupe! Well, take your choice, live or die. Starve your own children before your face.
    ANTROBUS:
    Gently.
    These people don’t take much. They’re used to starving.
    They’ll sleep on the floor.
    Besides, Maggie, listen: no, listen:
    Who’ve we got in the house, but Sabina? Sabina’s always afraid the worst will happen. Whose spirits can she keep up? Maggie, these people never give up. They think they’ll live and work forever.
    MRS. ANTROBUS:
    Walks slowly to the middle of the room.
    All right, let them in. Let them in. You’re master here.
    Softly.
    â€”But these animals must go. Enough’s enough. They’ll soon be big enough to push the walls down, anyway. Take them away.
    ANTROBUS:
    Sadly.
    All right. The dinosaur and mammoth—! Come on, baby, come on Frederick. Come for a walk. That’s a good little fellow.
    DINOSAUR:
    It’s cold.
    ANTROBUS:
    Yes, nice cold fresh air. Bracing.
    He holds the door open and the ANIMALS go out. He beckons to his friends. The REFUGEES are typical elderly out-of-works from the streets of New York today. JUDGE MOSES wears a skull cap. HOMER is a blind beggar with a guitar. The seedy crowd shuffles in and waits humbly and expectantly. ANTROBUS introduces them to his wife who bows to each with a stately bend of her head.
    Make yourself at home, Maggie, this the doctor . . . m . . . Coffee’ll be here in a minute. . . . Professor, this is my wife. . . . And: . . . Judge . . . Maggie, you know the Judge.
    An old blind man with a guitar.
    Maggie, you know . . . you know Homer?—Come right in, Judge.—
    Miss Muse—are some of your sisters here? Come right in. . . . Miss E. Muse; Miss T. Muse, Miss M. Muse.
    MRS. ANTROBUS:
    Pleased to meet you.
    Just . . . make yourself comfortable. Supper’ll be ready in a minute.
    She goes out, abruptly.
    ANTROBUS:
    Make yourself at home, friends. I’ll be right back.
    He goes out.
    The REFUGEES stare about them in awe. Presently several voices start whispering “Homer! Homer!” All take it up. HOMER strikes a chord or two on his guitar, then starts to speak:
    HOMER:

    HOMER’S face shows be is lost in thought and memory and the words die away on his lips. The REFUGEES likewise nod in dreamy recollection. Soon the whisper “Moses, Moses!” goes around. An aged Jew parts his heard and recites dramatically:
    MOSES:

    The same dying away of the words take place, and on the part of the REFUGEES the same retreat into recollection. Some of them murmur, “Yes, yes.”
    The mood is broken by the abrupt