brendan's return

8/9/2019 Brendan's Return

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Brendan’s Return.

A

Play

By

T.J.Collett.



Characters:

Brendan: late 30s.Sean: His brother. Early 30s.

Colleen: Sean’s fiancée. Late 20s

Sam: Brendan’s friend from U.S.A

Bridget: Colleen’s friend. Late 20s.

Father Joyce: Late 40s.

Location: Eire.

Time: Present.



Act One. Scene One.

A large room. A table and four chairs in centre of the room. An old carpet covers part

of the floor. An old armchair lower stage left. An old dresser against wall stage left.

Upper stage sink and one draining board. Old cooker next to sink. Window stage

right. Door is upper stage right. And another small door, stage left. Sean is sitting inthe armchair reading a newspaper. He is dressed in old work clothes. A cigarette is in

an ashtray on the arm of the chair. He turns a page, opens it out wide, and then closes

it so that it is folded. He reads to himself in a low mumble.

Sean: Good God. (Pause.)To think he’d marry her. I thought she’d only get

herself a husband if he wore dark glasses and carried a white stick. (Pause.

Sniggers to himself.)She must have had the angels praying for her pretty

hard. You’d have to be blind drunk to want to kiss her; then you’d not be

sure if her backside wasn’t better than her face. (Pause.)There’s hope for

Bridget yet.(Some letters pop through the letter box on to the floor. Sean looks over

at the letters. He stands up slowly, puts his paper on the floor, goes across, and picks

up the letters. He looks through them disinterestedly until he comes to the last one. He

walks to the table and puts the other letters down. He carries the one letter to the

armchair and sits down with it.)

Sean: What a cheek he’s got after all these years. Nothing from him for

years and now this. (Pause reads on in silence. He folds the letter and puts in on

the other arm of the chair. He picks up the cigarette, lights it, and smokes

thoughtfully. After a few moments, Colleen enters upper stage door and closes it

behind her. She is clothed in a short green skirt and white blouse. She looks at Sean as

he stares into space, his cigarette held out in front of him.)

Colleen: Are you meditating?

Sean: No. Now why would I be mediating? Do I look like a bloody

monk?

Colleen: Not yet. But if that small area of hair on your head gets any

thinner, you’ll have your own tonsure. (Walks to the table and scans through

the letters.) Nothing much of interest here.

Sean :( Feels the top of his head.)Where’s it getting thin? (Runs his fingers over his scalp.)You’ve not said before about it getting thin.

Colleen: Oh, leave your head alone, Sean, you’re like an orang-utan

looking for fleas. (Puts down the letters.)I thought you’d have a letter from

the bank about that overdraft you asked for.

Sean: None from the bank. (Picks up the letter and holds it in the air.)But this

came.

Colleen :( Looks towards Sean.)Who’s it from?



Sean: Brendan.

Colleen: Brendan who?

Sean: What do you mean, Brendan who? How many bloody Brendans doyou know?

Colleen: Not your brother, Brendan?

Sean: Yes, my brother Brendan. The old fart that’s not seen this

countryside in ten years. (Pause. Opens the letter up and reads it again.)

Colleen: He’s coming home?

Sean: No. He’s coming to visit. Coming to see how the natives are

surviving without him.

Colleen: When’s he coming?

Sean :( Scans through the letter.)Sometime tomorrow.

Colleen: Tomorrow? (Brushes at her hair with her fingers.)Does he mention a

wife or a girlfriend?

Sean: No. He says he bringing a friend called Sam.

Colleen: Could be a girl. Does it say?

Sean: Just says he’s bringing his friend Sam. A bloody Yank no doubt.

Colleen: A real American?

Sean: How do I now? He or she could be a wolf hound for all I know.(Holds out the letter to her.)Here read it for yourself.

Colleen :( Walks to Sean and takes the letter and reads it.)His hand writing

hasn’t improved since he’s been away. Still looks like fly-shite across the

page. (Pause.)Who’s this Sam, do you think?

Sean :( Takes the cigarette and puffs at it thoughtfully.)How do I know? Do you

think I’ve got second sight? Do I look like Mrs Maloney from County

Kildare?Colleen: He doesn’t say how long he’s staying. (Folds the letter and hands it



back to Sean.)Do you think he’ll stay for long?

Sean: Not if I have anything to do with it.

Colleen: Oh, Sean, he’s your big brother, so he is.

Sean: Don’t remind me. It’s taken me ten years to forget that fact.

Colleen: And such a good-looking man.

Sean: You had your chance with him ten years ago.

Colleen: I was only eighteen then. My da wouldn’t have let me go off to

America with Brendan then.

Sean: Your da had more sense than most around here. Most thought the

sun shone out of his backside.

Colleen: Your da thought he was going places.

Sean: My da waited for eight years for a word from him and nought

came. He died without a word. He was a disappointed man.

Colleen: Your ma would have done anything for him.

Sean: She did everything for him while he was here. And did he

appreciate that? Did he think about her once he was away? No. Too busy

making money and mixing with the weirdoes and rich and such like.(Pause. Stubs cigarette butt in to ashtray. He stands up with the letter and walks to the

window in silence.)

Colleen: He may have had his reasons.

Sean :( Looks out of the window.) I don’t care about his reasons. I was theone here when Daddy was in agony. I was the one who sat up with him at

night and listened to his tales and moans about the old days. (Pause. Colleen

walks to the armchair, picks up the newspaper, and puts it on the table. She walks to

stand behind Sean.)You know what my da said? (Turns and looks at

Colleen.)Where’s my Brendan? he said. Where’s my son, Brendan? (Looks

out of the window again.) And he had tears in his eyes. And Daddy never had

tears in his eyes before that, except when Bobby Sands starved to death,

in Long Kesh in 1981. Brendan should have been here. Should have held

his hand when the pain was too much for him. (Pause.)Why return now?

Colleen: He has his reasons no doubt.



Sean: Oh and his reasons are important are they? More important than his

daddy’s dying? Or his mother going with a broken heart?

Colleen: Your mother died from the heart disease she had as a young girl.That wasn’t Brendan’s fault.

Sean: Nothing was ever Brendan’s fault. He was the knight in shining

armour and I was the little shite that stood in his shadow as he towered

over me in his glory. (Pause. Sighs. Pushes passed Colleen, goes to the sink, picks

up a glass, and pours himself some water.)

Colleen: Your memory of Brendan is pretty selective. What about the

time he stood up for you when the O’Connor boys came looking for you.

Sean: I didn’t ask him to fight my battles. I could have managed.

Colleen: The O’Connor brothers were twice your size then. They’d have

murdered you if Brendan hadn’t been there.

Sean: Of course, that’s right; bring in the cavalry of Mr Brendan

O’Carey. He that can do no wrong. (Puts down the glass and looks at Colleen.)I

remember your da was not so impressed with him.

Colleen: My da was not impressed with anyone I went out with or

showed interest in. No one was good enough for his daughter. If he had

his way, I’d be a bloody nun by now. I’d have my veil and rosary to keep

me company and not have you.

Sean :( Shrugs his shoulders.)He didn’t intend to take you to America with

him. Eighteen or twenty seven, he’d still have left you behind.

Colleen: I’d have gone if it wasn’t for my da and his words and threats.

Sean: He’d have left you behind before you could have dressed yourself

to go. You would have held him back. He wanted his freedom to move

where he wanted without having to worry where you were or what you

were up to. He hated responsibility. He didn’t want you to go. He was

glad when your da said no. He would have bought your daddy a drink and

shook his hand if he thought your daddy would have drunk with him or

touch his hand. (Sniffs and shakes his head.)

Colleen: He’d have let me go with him. He asked me.



Sean: Brendan only thinks about himself. He always has and always will.

Some things or people never change.

Colleen :( Pulls a face at Sean and walks to the window.)He’s seen things. He’sdone things.

Sean: I’ve seen things and done things.

Colleen: Such as? What have you done? What have you seen? You’ve

been to Dublin once. You’ve been on this farm since you could stand

upright holding your da’s hand. What have you done compared to

Brendan?

Sean: I’ve been here looking after my mother and father watching them

become ill, disillusioned, and broken-hearted because their precious son

never returned to them when they needed him. I was here. I was here

when he was away making his money and sleeping with whom he pleased

and seeing the sights of the America. I saw them die. No money or sight-

seeing for me. Just them. My parents. My flesh and blood. Dying before

my eyes. (Silence. Sean walks to the armchair and sits down. Colleen sighs.)

Colleen: You must try to put that behind you. Make a fresh start with

him.

Sean: Forgive and forget? Let bygones be bygones?

Colleen: You must, Sean. You can’t allow the past to spoil the present.

He’s your brother. Your flesh and blood. He thought highly of you.

Sean: Don’t lie to me, Colleen. That shite never ever thought of me. He

only thought of himself and what he wanted. That’s how it was. I can’t

forget. I can’t let it all go away as if it didn’t matter about my da and maand their pain and misery and disillusionment. If he comes, so be it. But

don’t expect me to welcome him with open arms. (He lays back his head and

closes his eyes.

Colleen (: Colleen turns and stares out of the window. Speaks softly.)I will.

(Silence. Stage fades.)

End of Scene One.



Act One. Scene Two.The following day. Same scene. Colleen is sitting at the table is dressed in the same

clothes as the previous day except her blouse is green. Bridget is standing with her

back to the window. She is wearing a grey dress and has her hair loose about her

shoulders. There is a teapot, milk jug and three mugs on the table.

Colleen: I hope Sean’s here to meet them. I don’t want them coming hereand Sean not here to meet them.

Bridget: What time are they supposed to be here?

Colleen: He didn’t say. The letter just said today. He and a Yank called

Sam.

Bridget: Brendan was a good-looking fellow from what I remember. I

wonder what this Yank’s like. Do you think they’ve a car?

Colleen: I’ve no idea what they’ve got. But they won’t be walking from

the airport to here that’s for sure. Maybe they’ll get a taxi.

Bridget: I’ve not met a Yank before. I’ve seen them on the television and

on films, but never met one up close.

Colleen: Well there’s a first time for everything. Here may be your

chance to get out of this place. Go across the sea and maybe find relativesthat went there in the 1860s.

Bridget: They’ll be a bit old now won’t they?

Colleen: I meant their descendents. Their great, great grandchildren.

Bridget: And how would they know me?

Colleen: I’m not saying you’ll find them. It’s just a thing you could do.

Bridget: Where do they live?

Colleen: How would I now where they live. You’d have to search the

records.

Bridget: And how would I do that? I don’t know where to start looking.

Colleen: Well it doesn’t matter yet does it. You’re not going anywhere.

Bridget: Aren’t I? I thought you said that this was my chance of getting



out of this place?

Colleen: And so it might be if you play your cards right with this Sam. If

he’s single that is. The man might have a wife. He may not want to marry

anyone. I don’t know. You’ll have to see what happens. Play things byear.

Bridget: And what about Brendan?

Colleen: What about Brendan?

Bridget: Is he married?

Colleen: I don’t know. He’s not mentioned being married. But there againhe’s not written so we don’t know.

Bridget: What if he’s single?

Colleen: What’s it matter to me if he’s single or not. I’m engaged to Sean.

Bridget: Do you think he’d marry me?

Colleen: Brendan?

Bridget: Yes, Brendan.

Colleen: You’ll have to ask him won’t you. I’m not his mother.

(Pause. Colleen pours herself a mug of tea. Bridget turns and stares out if the

window.)

Bridget: I think there’s car coming in the distance.

Colleen: What sort of car is it? (Gets up from the table and runs to the

window.)Where the car?

Bridget: It’s gone down in the slope.

Colleen: You’re sure it’s a car?

Bridget: Yes, I’m sure. I know what a car looks like.

Colleen: There it is. (Both women dab their hair with their hands and pull at their



clothes.)Look like a taxi. Are there two men in it?

Bridget: I can’t tell from here. Do you think I’ve got telescopic scope in

my eyes? I can see what you can see. A black car speeding along towards

us.

Colleen: I wonder if that’s them?

Bridget: Of course, it’s them. You else gets a bloody taxi to this out of the

way place? We’re not exactly a tourist hot spot.

Colleen :( Staring hard through the window and holding her hands in a gesture of

prayer.)Oh, why isn’t Sean here to meet them? He knows they're coming.

Bridget: Sean’s got the farm to run. He can’t be running around after

people like you or me. Anyway, he didn’t look that happy about it this

morning. He had a face on him like slapped backside so he did. Barely a

word to me that made sense. Mumbling around the kitchen like my da

when he’s got a head on him.

Colleen: It’s stopping. (She steps back from the window. Bridget peers

harder.)What do I say? I’ve not seen him in ten years.

Bridget: There’s two of them. I recognise Brendan. He still got that look

about him. But the Yank’s taller and has a shirt like a bloody rainbow.

Colleen: Come away from the window. (Pulls Bridget away from the window

and both stand back by the table. A few moments pass and both appear nervous. Then

the door opens and Brendan enters followed by Sam. Brendan is stocky, but has a

youngish look about him. He is dressed in casual jacket, trousers, and shirt. Sam is

dressed in jeans and a bright colourful shirt.)Hello, Brendan. (Brendan looks at

Colleen and then at Bridget.)

Brendan: Is that you, Colleen?

Colleen: Yes. It’s me.

Brendan: You’re still pretty as a picture. And you’re…Bridget?

Bridget: That’s me, Brendan. Have I changed?

Brendan: Just a little filled out and you still have those eyes of yours.



(Walk further in to the room and Sam follows him.)And this place is just as I

remember it. Oh, I nearly forgot, this is my friend Sam. Sam these young

girls were the love of my life at one time. This is Colleen. (Sam shakes

hands with Colleen.)And this is Bridget. (Shakes hands with Bridget and smiles.

Bridget gawks at Sam as if she were dumbstruck.)

Sam: Nice to meet you girls.

Brendan: Where that brother of mine?

Colleen: Out in the fields somewhere.

Bridget :( Still staring at Sam.)Looking for a lost sheep.

Brendan: As ever the good shepherd. (Smiles as he walks around the room.)I

used to think of this room when I first went to New York. I used to try to

remember where each item of furniture was and picture Ma at the kitchen

sink with her hands in the water doing the washing by hand, because she

hated machines. (Stands by the table.)She hated progress. She wanted things

to be the same as they were when she was a girl.

Bridget :( Standing by Sam as he stops behind Brendan.)That’s how people are

around here. They don’t like change. They have a resistance to change.

Brendan: But change comes whether you want it to or not. We get older.

Our skin begins to get lines and our hair begins to be less colourful.

(Looks at Colleen closely.)However, you’ve not changed too much. Still got

that sparkle in your eyes and that smile.

Colleen: I bet you say that to all the girls in New York.

Brendan: Not all the girls. There’s too many girls to say that to.

Bridget: Are you married?

Brendan: No. I’ve managed to keep myself from the clutches of

matronmony up until now. (Looks at Bridget.)And you Bridget? Are you

married?

Bridget: Who’d I marry in a place like this? The only good-looking men

either are married already or have become priests like Father Joyce.

Colleen: And you’ve not been giving up on him despite that.



Brendan :( Smiles.)You always were a determined girl from what I

remember, Bridget. What happened to that Patrick you was going about

with?

Bridget: I don’t want to talk about him.

Colleen: He went to England. He’s married to some English girl over

there.

Bridget: And I bet she’s as ugly as sin with the complexion of a wart hog.

Sam: Hey, that’s not nice.

Bridget: It wasn’t meant to be.

Sam: You look better if you’re nice. Being horrible does things to your

features.

Bridget: I’d do things to the features of that Patrick if he came back here.

Brendan :( Looks around the room and then walks to the window and peers

out.)How’s the farm going?

Colleen: It ticks over. Sean does what he can with the help of a few men

round about.

Brendan: Do you think he’ll be long?

Colleen: Hard to say.

Brendan: Think I’ll look round out side.

Colleen: He shouldn’t be long.

Brendan: Why don’t you show me around so I don’t get lost?

Colleen: All right. Bridget, you keep Sam company and get him a drink.(Brendan and Colleen go out. Sam and Bridget stand by the table looking after them.)

Sam: He wasn’t sure about coming back. He kind of wondered what

reception he’d get from his brother.Bridget: Do you drink tea?



Sam: No, thanks, coffee if you’ve got it.

Bridget: Well make yourself at home, Sam, I’ll get you some coffee. (She

wanders off and out of the door stage left. Sam walks around the room slowly lookingabout him.)

Sam: Pretty dame. (Smiles.)Could be interesting to see what she’s got to

offer. (Walks to the armchair and sits down.)A guy could die in here and not

know he was dead. I’ve not known such silence. Not known such oldness

about a place as this. (Lays back his head and closes his eyes. After a few

moments, the door opens and Sean enters and closes the door behind him. He spots

Sam in his armchair and goes over to him.)

Sean: Who are you?

Sam :( Stands up quickly.)I’m Sam. A friend of Brendan. How do you do?(Puts out his hand but Sean ignores it.)

Sean: Where’s my brother?

Sam: Gone off with some dame called Colleen.

Sean: Gone where?

Sam: To look around.

Sean: Didn’t take him long to sniff around her again.

Sam: I don’t think he was sniffing as you call it. She just said she’d show

him around the place.

Sean: So what are you doing?

Sam: Waiting for Bridget to bring me some coffee.

Sean: Oh, Bridget’s here too is she. Didn’t think she’d manage to keep

her nose away from the place once she knew he’d be back.

Sam: You don’t sound too happy about Brendan being back.

Sean: I’m not.

Sam: Why not? He’s your brother.



Sean: It’s a long story. And it’s nothing to do with you.

Sam: Brendan said you’d be like this.

Sean: Did he now. Well I’m glad I won’t disappoint him.

Sam: Have you always been this way with him?

Sean: What’s it to you? You’re just an outsider. And a Yank at that.

Sam: What have we Yanks done to offend you?

Sean: Pretty much everything.

Sam: There are many Irish people in America.

Sean: And so what difference does that make to me?

Sam: Maybe you ought to see your brother and get whatever’s bugging

you off your chest.

Sean: I don’t think seeing him will do that. Forgetting about him might

have done. (Door stage left opens and Bridget enters with a small tray with a mug

on it. She sees Sean and stops.)Playing the waitress are we?

Bridget: Your brother’s looking for you.

Sean: How nice.

Bridget: And this is his friend, Sam.

Sean: We’ve met.

Bridget :( Walks to where Sam puts tray on the table next to the teapot and

mugs.)Colleen has taken Brendan to look around.

Sean: So I understand. How cosy.

Bridget: They’re old friends you know that.

Sean: Yes and he left her with a broken heart last time.Sam: I think she’s old enough to fend for herself.



Sean: And I think you ought to mind your own business.

Sam: And I think you ought to learn manners.

Bridget: Coffee, Sam.

Sean: I know my manners. My ma and da taught me.

Bridget: Maybe I ought to go and find Brendan and Colleen.

Sean: No, stay, I’ll go. I wouldn’t want you to miss out on your

waitressing job. (He goes out of the room. .Sam and Bridget look at the door.)

Bridget: He has his moments.

Sam: So I’ve noticed. Quite a charmer.

Bridget: It’ll be all right once he and his brother sort out their

disagreements. Drink your coffee while it’s hot.

Sam :( Picks up the mug of coffee and sips at it.)This is instant coffee, right?

Bridget: Yes, it’s all he has. And that’s small jar at that.

Sam: Right. I can see this is going to be a swell brotherly return. Let’s

hope there’s no blood spilt. I hate to see brothers fight. It’s like a civil

war. There’s always more blood loss in that kind of conflict.

Bridget: Oh, no, they’ll be all right. It’s just a brotherly thing.

Disagreements happen even in the best of families.

Sam: I hope you’re right, Bridget, I hope you’re right. (Sips his coffee.)

Bridget: So do I. (Picks up a mug and pours herself some tea. They both look at

each other in a joined silence. Sam sits down in the armchair and Bridget goes to the

window and peers out. Lights fade.)

End of Scene Two.

Act One. Scene Three.



Some time later. Same scenery. Brendan enters with Colleen they look at Sam and

Bridget who are sitting together at the table.

Brendan: Is he not back yet?

Sam: No, he’s gone off looking for you. Or so he said.

Brendan: Well we never saw him did we, Colleen?

Colleen: No. Not a sight of him. (She moves to the window and peers out.

Brendan walks to the table and sits next to Bridget.)

Brendan: He’s gone off to talk to himself up in the hills. He often did that

if he was thinking too much.

Sam: He didn’t seem happy to know of your return.

Brendan: I didn’t think he would be. I’m not surprised.

Bridget: So why’d you come back?

Brendan: To see the old place. To see my roots and capture the smell of

the air. There’s no smell like it in the world.

Colleen: No sign of him. What did he say, Bridget?

Bridget: Said he was going to look for you.

Colleen: I mean about Brendan. What he say about Brendan?

Bridget: Not a lot. It was more in what he didn’t say. You can tell more

by what someone doesn’t say than what they do some times.

Brendan: Quite the little philosopher aren’t you. Have you been readingthose books again?

Bridget: What books?

Brendan: Those books you used to get from that book club.

Bridget: Those were my Mother’s books. She ordered them from the

CTS. Thought it might help me with the faith.

Brendan: And did it?



Bridget: No. I didn’t understand half of what they were saying. I leant

more from the sisters at school than from those books.

Brendan: Oh, yes, the dear sisters. (Smiles to himself.)I remember Sister Anne giving me a right going over about looking up the dresses of the

girls in the playground.

Colleen: And so she ought to have done. You were a bloody pest to the

girls you were.

Brendan: I said to her that I was nature studying.

Bridget: Father O’Neil wasn’t sorry to hear of your departure for America. I heard it said by some that he broke open a new bottle of

Jameson after that news had reach him.

Brendan: Father O’Neil. I can feel his large brown eyes on my back even

now. What happened to him?

Bridget: He was sent Dublin.

Colleen: And we’ve got a new priest. Father Joyce.

Bridget: I think his sister is a nun there.

Colleen: Who? Father Joyce?

Bridget: No, Father O’Neil. She’s a nun in some convent there.

Brendan: So, what’s this Father Joyce like?

Bridget: He’s nice.

Colleen :( Looks over her shoulder at Bridget.)We know what you think of

him, Bridget. If he wasn’t in the black cloth, he’d be down the aisle with

you by now.

Brendan: Or up in the hills.

Bridget :( Hits Brendan’s arm.)Don’t start on me with your immoral

insinuations. I just said he was nice.Colleen: And she dreams of him at night I shouldn’t doubt.



Bridget: Will you stop it. I’m a good catholic girl. I know what’s good

and what’s evil.

Brendan: Do you now? Then you’re a better philosopher than I thought.Even Plato wasn’t up to saying what that was.

Colleen: He’s coming?

Bridget: Who? Father Joyce?

Colleen: No, you idiot, Sean. (Runs away from the window and sits on the chair

at the table.)Look normal. Don’t give the impression we’re waiting for him.

Brendan: But we are.

Sam: Just keep it cool.

Bridget: Cool? My feet are bloody cold. (The door open and Sean enters. All

look at him from the table. Sean closes the door behind him. He walks to the sink and

washes his hands. There is a silence that seems tense. After he has washed his hands

and dried them, he looks at them at the table.)

Sean: What’s this? A séance? Are you trying to contact the dead?

Colleen: No. We’re waiting.

Sean: For what? Doomsday is it? (Walks to the table and stands look at

Colleen.)Did you have a nice walk?

Brendan: How are you then, Sean?

Sean: How am I meant to be? Happy? Glad you’ve returned?

Brendan: I came back. Is that a crime?

Sean: After ten years without a word it is.

Brendan: I wrote to you to say I was returning.

Sean: So, I get one letter in ten years and that’s keeping in touch is it? Da

wanted to see you before he died. He waited patiently believing you’d

come and when you didn’t he cried like a baby.



Brendan: I was moving around a lot. I was in Texas for two years.

Sean: I don’t give a damn if you were in Hell. You ought to have kept in

touch. Ought to have written. Ought to have cared about Da. (Pause. Walksaway to the window. Those at the table look over at him. He peers out the

window.)He believed in you. He really did. His big boy over in America

making something of himself. While I’m here caring for him, he was

thinking of you. You he was wanting.

Brendan: I’m sorry. If I knew, I’d have come running.

Sean: Oh, so running is it? You never replied to his letters. Never

contacted us after the first two letters. How the hell could I write when I

didn’t know where you were? (He turns at glares at Brendan.)You broke his

heart. A grown man and you broke his heart as if he were child. (Pause. He

now mimics his father’s voice.)Where’s my Brendan? Where’s my big boy?

Do you think he’s safe in that country? Is he going to write do you think?

Has he got himself a girl and got himself married?

Colleen: Sean. Stop this.

Sean :( Shakes his head. Sighs.)You taking sides already? Has he wormed his

way back into your affections too?

Brendan: Look, Sean if you got a bone to pick, pick it with me and not

Colleen.

Sean: Don’t worry, I will. I’ve more to say to you than what I’ve said.

Bridget: Does anyone want a drink?

Sam: Coffee would be nice.

Sean: This is my house. It’s not a bloody hotel.

Sam: Hold it there, guy. I came with your brother because he asked me to

meet you. He said you were going to be a little put out, but that you were

the moans and groans to meet. I’m not so sure that’s the case.

Sean: Good. Then go back to the States and forget about what you’ve

seen and heard. I don’t give a damn.



Brendan: Sam came because I asked him to. He’s been like a brother to

me.

Sean: Which is more than you’ve been to me.

Brendan: I’m back now. If you want to have a moan at me fine. But let

my friends off the hook. They’ve nothing to do with this. This is between

you and me.

Sean: Fine. Let me and you have time alone together. I can’t be doing

with an audience. I want what I say to be between us. I don’t want all

them knowing the facts and things that I’ve to moan about.

Sam: Fine. Let me and the ladies here go out for a walk. They can showme the beautiful country you have here.

Bridget: Yes, That’s a good idea.

Colleen: As long as you two don’t kill each other.

Sean: It won’t come to that.

Brendan: You lot go. See the beauty of my county, Sam. And don’t let

these girls have their wicked way with you.

Colleen: Sean. Do you have no sense of decorum?

Bridget: As if we were those sort of girls. We’re good catholic girls.

Don’t you forget that, Brendan. (They get up from the table and leave Brendan

there. They walk to the door. Colleen turns and looks at Sean.)

Colleen: Remember he’s your brother, Sean.

Sean: Off you go and see what’s to be seen. (They go out the door. Sean looks

at Brendan. Brendan stares at Sean. Sean walks to the table and sits down opposite his

brother. The stage light dims until all is black.)

End of Scene Three.

Act One. Scene Four.A few minutes later. The same scene.

Sean: So, what brought you back?



Brendan: I wanted to go back to my roots.

Sean: You have no roots here. You uprooted yourself ten years ago when

you left.

Brendan: I was born here. Raised here. Had my first girl just back there

behind that barn back behind those trees. I still have the smell of this

place in my nose.

Sean: That’s all in your mind. In reality, you’ve no place here at all.

Brendan: That’s where you’re wrong, Sean. Because I left don’t mean

that I’ve no place here.(Pause.)

I see Bridget came running once sherealised I was back.

Sean: She'd come running back for any idiot who’d give her the time of

day and a promise of marriage.

Brendan: And Colleen?

Sean: She’s mine now. We’re engaged to be married.

Brendan: So she said. (Pause.) Still glad to see me though isn’t she.

Sean: You leave her be. You had your chance and left her broken hearted.

It was I who picked up the pieces and put her together again.

Brendan: And all the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t put

Colleen together again, but you could? How very saintly of you, Sean.

Sean: Still a bit if the wit about you, I see. (Sits back in his chair and stares at

Brendan.)Though Da didn’t see the witty side of things once he realisedyou’d not be back in time for his death.

Brendan: I’ve explained all that. I wouldn’t have done that on purpose.

You know that.

Sean: Da didn’t. He had faith you. Faith to move mountains almost. A lot

of good that did him when the time came.

Brendan: You think I sat back there in America waiting for my father todie? I had things to do. Things to think about. I thought Da would live for



years longer. Thought I’d come back and let him see that I could make

something of myself.

Sean: You think he doubted that? You were his blue-eyed boy from the

word go. He never stopped talking about you. Even Ma never doubtedyou’d make something of yourself, though she wanted to see you too

before she died.

Brendan: You don’t know what life is like in the States. This place is like

some dark hole in a huge galaxy of bright planets compared to the States.

Sean: I don’t want to know what the States is like. I’ve no interest what

that place is like. Here is where my life is and has been since I was born. I

am rooted here. I have the earth of this place in my bones and in the air I breathe.

Brendan :( Pause. Sighs. Stands up from the table and walks to the window and

stares out.) Not much to show for thirty years is it?

Sean: I’m happy here.

Brendan: Only because you know nothing else.

Sean: Unlike you of course who’s been to the great U.S. Seen the sights.

Touched a different soil. Loved different women. Seen a wider horizon.

Made a name for yourself and earned no doubt enough money to get what

you want.

Brendan: There is bitterness in your voice. (Looks back at Sean.)Sour

grapes, I’d say.

Sean :( Pause. Gets up from the table, walks to the window, and stares out.) No sour

grapes. Just a sense of betrayal that’s all.

Brendan: Betrayal?

Sean: Yes. You betrayed Ma and Da and by doing that, you betrayed me

too.

Brendan: I went with their blessing. Da was proud of me for going and

having the courage to venture out.

Sean: Pride in your courage? You were out for yourself. You were out for what you wanted and still are.



Brendan :( Moves away from the window, walks to the edge of the stage, and peers

out. Sean turns and watches him.)At least I had ambition. At least I wanted to

be somebody and do something with my life. Not just stay behind, rot,

and moan about it to all and sundry.

Sean: And now? What are you back for now? You want your share of the

farm? Is that it? You want money?

Brendan :( Laughs mildly.)Is that what this is all about? You think I’m here

to grab my share of this damned place?

Sean: I wouldn’t be surprised if that wasn’t why you came.

Brendan: I don’t give a damn about this farm. I had enough of it as a

child. I couldn’t leave quick enough. I don’t want any of it.

Sean: Then what are you here for? What made you leave your precious

New York for this quiet back water?

Brendan: Sam wanted to see where I came from. He wanted to see what

kind of place I was raised in and meet you.

Sean: So now you have you can go back.

Brendan :( Pause.)Remember that time the O’Connor brothers came

looking for you and I was there for you?

Sean: I could have dealt with it.

Brendan: You’d have been slaughtered without me. They were twice your

size and Mike O’Connor had a real mean punch on him when he liked.

Sean: I didn’t ask you to help.

Brendan: I know. But I did all the same. I did it because you were my

brother and no one was going to lay a finger on you while I was around.

Sean: Mike O’Connor is dead now.

Brendan: Is he now. I always thought he’d come to a bad end.

Sean: He went to England and died in a brawl a few years back.



Brendan: Well there you are. Some people are predictable.

Sean: Predictable people are safe people. You know what they’re up to.

They don’t let you down.

Brendan: You’d rather I was like Mike O’Connor?

Sean: You mean dead?

Brendan: No. I mean predictable.

Sean: I’d rather you were here when Da and Ma were dying. Instead of

celebrating in America with your many friends and women.

Brendan: Life only comes once, Sean. You’ve got to take it and live it

while it’s here. No good moping about it once it’s gone.

Sean: No fear that you’d ever do that is there. You couldn’t leave this

place quick enough.

Brendan: I saw my chance and I went. I have no regrets about that.

Sean: You’ve no regrets about anything. To have regrets you need a

conscience and you never had that to begin with.

Brendan: You don’t know about me at all.

Sean: I know more than you think.

Brendan: You think you know. You know nothing about my conscience

or me.

Sean: What conscience? The one you had when Da died crying for you?

Brendan :( Pause. Walks upstage to the table.)Is there any booze in this place?

Or do you live like a damned monk in this house?

Sean :( Looks at Brendan.)There’s a few bottles in the back if you don’t

mind Irish ale.

Brendan: Anything is better than nothing.



Sean: And where do you intend to stay while you’re here?

Brendan: Sam’s booked us in at the hotel for a day or so. Wasn’t sure

what beds you still had here.

Sean: Da and Ma’s room is as they left it. I’ve no reason to let it out. I

keep it clean as Ma would have liked. Flowers fresh every week. The

picture of the Sacred Heart still on the wall above their bed, and the statue

of Our Lady in the corner where Ma put it as a young woman.

Brendan: And my room?

Sean: Empty. I store stuff there.

Brendan: Just as well we booked a room at the hotel then isn’t it?

Sean: There was no point in keeping your bed or things. I didn’t think

you’d ever return.

Brendan: You mean you hoped I wouldn’t return.

Sean: I didn’t think you’d show yourself back here after Ma and Da died.

Brendan: The Prodigal Son returned too late, eh?

Sean: Yes. Far too late.

Brendan: Let’s have that drink then. I need something to ease me a little.

Sean :( He wanders off stage and the sound of bottles is heard.)When you going

back to the States?

Brendan: A week or so.

Sean :( Enters with two bottles and walks to the table and out them down. He walks

over to the sink and brings two glasses and a bottle opener from a cupboard

underneath.)What’s he like this Sam? (Both men sit at the table.)Is he one for

the women like you?

Brendan: He’s a man like you and me.

Sean: I doubt that.

Brendan: You doubt a lot these days.



Sean: I have had reasons to doubt many things.

Brendan: And I have found reasons to live and put doubts aside. You live

a life too narrow here, Sean. Your vision is too blinkered. Your soul’sdried up and crying out air and light.

Sean: What do you know of my damned soul? You know nothing of me

anymore. I’m not the innocent youth you thought you knew ten years ago.

I’m a man now. I’ve seen my parents die and seen their grief and hopes

fade. I’ve known them, loved them, and never once let them down and

still it was you who they asked for and wanted on their damned death

beds. (Pause. Both men look at each other and drink.)

Brendan: People who hold grudges become bitter and twisted.

Sean: I’m not bitter or twisted. I’m disappointed.

Brendan: I’d call it bitterness by the sound of your voice.

Sean: Call it what you want. What’s in a word? I feel what I feel. I know

what I know. I heard what I heard and saw what I saw.

Brendan: And you won’t let me ever forget it, right? You’re going to hold

that against me until your dying day and breathe it out with your dying

breath that is it isn’t it?

Sean: You weren’t here. You never knew what it was like day in day out

with them dying, you away, and them wanting you and me here but not

the one they wanted.

Brendan: Sounds like bitterness to me.

Sean: So? I’m entitled to be bitter. I am entitled to feel angry. To want

you to know what it was I had to put up with while you were away

enjoying life while I was here buried with people who were dying and

wanting you so much that it broke their hearts when you never came.

Brendan: Then I’ll have to live with that knowledge won’t, I, Sean. I’ll

have to come to terms that I wasn’t here when my parents wanted me and

I was elsewhere unaware that they were dying.

(Pause. Both men drink in a few moments of silence.)



Sean: Colleen’s been good to me. She’s given me hope.

Brendan: Good. She’s good girl. Better than some, I’ve met in my years

away.

Sean: Better than any, you’ve met in America. I doubt you’ve met one

who could even be compared to her.

Brendan: A few.

Sean: Very few I should imagine.

Brendan: So when is the wedding?

Sean: Nothing settled yet.

Brendan: What’s to wait for?

Sean: We’re waiting a while.

Brendan: What for? Aren’t you sure she’s the one for you?

Sean: I’m sure.

Brendan: And is she?

Sean: Yes she is. So keep away from her.

Brendan: You don’t seem so sure of her.

Sean: I’m sure of her. I’m unsure of you.

Brendan: You think I came back to claim her?

Sean: I wouldn’t trust you not to try.

Brendan: You think I’d do that to you?

Sean: Yes. I think you’re capable of anything.

Brendan: I see. (Pause. Empties his glass.)You seem a man full of doubt. Thekind of man who sees nothing good in anyone.



Sean: Not anyone. Just you.

Brendan: I’m privileged to be considered so unique.

Sean: You’re unique all right.

Brendan: What did Da say at the end?

Sean: I’d rather not say.

Brendan: And Ma? What did she say when she realised I wasn’t coming

back?

Sean :( Drains his glass and puts it down.)I’ve got to go out and see to the

cattle.

Brendan: You want me to help?

Sean: I don’t need you to help.

Brendan: Can I come look around?

Sean: If you want to look around I can’t stop you. You’ve come all this

way; you might as well look at what you’ve left behind and is still here.

Brendan: Right I will. (Both men rise. Sean takes the glasses to the sink.)Mind if

Sam comes too?

Sean: No. If he wants to see things, I’ve no problem with that.

Brendan: Right. I’ll go find him. Meet you later. (Brendan goes out. Sean

watches him go, then goes to the window, and peers out.)

Sean :( In a voice that is bitter.) See what could have been yours. See what

you’ve lost, Brendan. Damn your soul. (Light fades.)

End of Act One and Scene Four.

Act Two. Scene One. Three days later. Same scene as before. Colleen at the sink washing some clothes. She

is dressed in a green dress and white apron Bridget at the window peering out. She is

wearing jeans and a jumper and has her hair tied in a pony tail.



Bridget: I thought they’d be back before this. Sam said they’d be here

yesterday.

Colleen: Maybe they’re busy. There isn’t much here to hold them for

long.

Bridget: There’s you. There’s Sean. Why come all the way from America

if you’re not going to visit more often than this?

Colleen: Sean wasn’t very welcoming. Harsh words were said.

Bridget: But surely, Sean will forgive Brendan before he goes back to

America, won’t he?

Colleen: I’m not sure he will. The way he was with him, the last time he

was here, didn’t give me the impression he was in the mood to forgive or

forget.

Bridget: I hope he does. Holding grudges like that are like a poison, my

ma says.

Colleen: So you’ve told your parents about Brendan’s return, then?

Bridget: Why not? Is it supposed to be a secret?

Colleen: No. It’s just that your da wasn’t too happy about Brendan when

he was here last.

Bridget: I’m not a girl anymore. I’m a woman now. Anyway, Brendan

didn’t come to see me. (Pause.)If he were, I’d be on the plane back to the

States with him before you could changed your underclothes. But it isn’t

me. It never was me he was interested in. It was you.

Colleen :( Turns from the sink and wipes her hands on the apron she is wearing.)He

came back to see the farm and the countryside and Sean. He didn’t come

back for me.

Bridget: How do you know? Did he say?

Colleen: I’m engaged to Sean now. Brendan knows that. He doesn’t want

me. He’s got all those girls in New York, why would he want me?

Bridget: Perhaps he loves you and can’t get you out of his head and heart.



Colleen: After ten years? Not a word from him in ten years and he comes

back to take me back with him? No. I think you’re too romantic for your

own good.

Bridget: Girls are supposed to be romantic.

Colleen: Maybe, but not that romantic. That borders on insanity.

Bridget: I wouldn’t mind being insane if I could go back to America with

Brendan or Sam. I’d be as insane as you like if I could get out of this

place. (Walks to the table and picks up a newspaper. She pretends to scan through

it.)I don’t want to stay here until I’m married to either some farmer’s son

or an old maid like Julie Ryan.

Colleen: Sam seems to like you.

Bridget: Do you think so? I thought he might be, but I didn’t want to

believe it too much in case I’d got it wrong and got hurt.

Colleen: Sure he likes you. Who wouldn’t.

Bridget: Lots of men I’ve met like me for my hair, or eyes, or what they

think I’ll let them do, but they don’t like me for myself. They think I’m

brainless and thicker than oil, but I know what they’re after and they

don’t like it when I refuse them. Why are men like that? They wouldn’t

like it if some man was like that with their daughter or fiancée or wife, so

why with me? Do I have those take me to bed eyes?

Colleen: Now you’re being daft. Men are men. They always have been

and you know it. Since you were fourteen and had your first bra, you’ve

known what men are and what they were after. So don’t come over all

innocent and pretend it’s news to you.

Bridget: A girl has to give the impression she’s unaware of these things.

Colleen: Well I don’t see why. Anyway, you’ve had your fair share of

men and boys taking an interest in you.

Bridget: Not in me. In what I look like, or what they think I might be like

undressed, but not in me as a person.

Colleen: Sam likes you for yourself I’m sure.



Bridget: Do you really think so?

Colleen: Yes. I’ve watched him. He can’t take his eyes off you.

Bridget: Do you think he might take me back to the America with him?

Colleen: Too early to say. Anyway, you do not have a passport.

Bridget: I can get one.

Colleen: It takes time.

Bridget: Sam will wait won’t he?

Colleen: How do I know what Sam will do? I just said he liked you; I

didn’t say he would marry you and take you to New York with him.

(Colleen walks to the table and touches Bridget’s arm.)And Brendan’s not here

for me. Nor you. Nor anyone, but to see where he was born and then he’ll

go off and that will be that.

Bridget: And you’ll let him go without a little battle of your tiny soul to

go with him?

Colleen :( Removes her hand from Bridget’s arm and walks to the window.) He left

me behind ten years ago. Why would he come back for me now? He

knows that Sean and I are engaged, so there would be no point.

Bridget :( Looks over at Colleen.)But he didn’t know that when he first came

back did he? He thought you’d be waiting for him.

Colleen: That’s daft and you know it. He didn’t intend to marry me ten

years ago let alone now. Besides, I want to marry Sean. I want to settleher with him and bring up our family here where he’s happy and has his

roots.

Bridget: It doesn’t show.

Colleen: What do you mean it doesn’t show?

Bridget: You and Sean. It doesn’t show. Not as it ought to. Not for two

people who are engaged to be married.



Colleen: What do you want colourful banners? Do you want me to be

skipping around the place like a silly girl? I’m contented with what I

have.

Bridget: I think Brendan’s return has shaken us all up and overturnedwhat we might have thought before he came back.

Colleen: Speak for yourself, Bridget. I’m not going to run off with

Brendan even if he did ask me to. I’d not break Sean’s heart.

Bridget: Maybe Sean’s thinks you will.

Colleen: Then he’s a fool of a man if he does.

Bridget :( Goes to the window and stands next to Colleen.)Aren’t all men fools?

My ma said they were. But we like them all the same. And some of them

really get under our skins and we fall in love with them and they break

our hearts.

Colleen: I will marry Sean. And you will marry some farmer’s son and

we will come here one day, talk about this, and laugh at the foolishness

we had now. (Turns and looks out of the window. Bridget looks too.)Is that a car

coming?

Bridget: I think it is. It’s them. They’ve come back.

Colleen: Keep your head, Bridget, or they’ll think we’ve been waiting

just for them.

Bridget: But we have. I’ve been waiting since they went last time. I’ve

not slept since I saw Sam’s smile the other day.

Colleen: Will you hush. (They both wave.)Anyone would think we’d never seen a man before. (Both women leave the window, go upstage to the door, and go

out.)

End Of Scene One.

Act Two. Scene Two.

A little time later. Same scene. Brendan, Sam and Bridget are at the table. Colleen is

in the armchair.

Brendan: You know, I could never live in this place again. It’s too quiet.

It’s like being in a churchyard. I feel like I’m a corpse when I’m here.



Bridget: How do you think I feel? I’ve this fear of dying here and being

buried up in the churchyard myself.

Sam: Why don’t to leave?

Bridget: And go where?

Sam: Why not the States?

Bridget: Oh, I see I just pack up my bags and jump on a plane and that’s

it is it?

Brendan: That’s the way you’ll see life, Bridget. You’ll not see life here

in this backwater.

Bridget: Do you think I’ve not thought about it? I’ve thought about it

since you left Brendan. I’ve even dreamed of it.

Colleen: That’s when she’s not dreaming of her latest boyfriend.

Bridget: I’ve not got a boyfriend. They’re half dead around here. I’ve

seen more life in a cabbage patch.

Sam: Maybe you’re only dreaming about escaping. Maybe the real thing

is too frightening for you.

Bridget: So, I’m a coward now, am I?

Sam: I didn’t say that. I just think that sometimes people think about

things, but are reluctant to actually do it. It gives them a sense of escape

without actually escaping if you see what I mean.

Bridget: Could you repeat that in slow motion.

Brendan: What Sam means is thinking about things is sufficient for some

people. They don’t actually have to do something, they just dream about

it and that seems to fulfil them.

Bridget: It doesn’t fulfil me. Dreaming about leaving here is no

consolation if I’m still bloody here when the dream’s over.

Sam: Why don’t you come back with us?



Brendan: Yes, Bridget, come back with us. I think I can set you up in an

apartment after a few months. And if you like it there, maybe we can set

about get you a visa and so on.

Bridget: And where would I stay?

Sam: You could stay with us until you found a place of your own.

Brendan: You could look after the place if we have to go off to Florida.

Bridget: Stay with you? No. No, I couldn’t do that. My da would not be

happy about that. My ma wouldn’t sleep all the time I was away.

Sam: Maybe if I had a word with your parents, they’d be happier about it.

Bridget: No, I don’t think that’d be a good idea. My da doesn’t like

Americans.

Sam: Well, maybe Brendan could have a word with them.

Bridget: That’s worse. Daddy dislikes Brendan more than he dislikes the

Americans.

Sam :( Looks at Brendan.)What did you do to upset these people?

Brendan: It’s a long story.

Colleen: You could write a book about it. It’d be a best seller this side of

Dublin.

Brendan: And you could be the one to edit it. Give it that sense of

realism.

Colleen: I’d not have anything to do with any book that you were

involved in, Brendan. I’ve my reputation to think of.

Bridget: It’s all right for men to go off around the world, but for any

decent girl it’s a different thing. We’re more at risk than men are, we’re

more likely to be attacked than any man is, and people always think

you’re not as you should be if you are a girl gallivanting around the world

like that.

Colleen: Men never think about those things. They think only about what



they can do and not what we females can do. (The door opens upstage and

Sean enters. He looks downstage at the others for a few moments then walks to the

kitchen sink and washes his hands. Colleen gets up and walks towards the kitchen.

The others sit and look upstage.)Brendan and Sam are here.

Sean: So I see. (Turns and looks at the others again.) Not gone back yet, then?

Brendan: No, not yet, Sean. We’ve a few days yet.

Sean: Ever thought of showing your friend the rest of Ireland? Why be

confined to this sleepy hollow when there’s vast areas he could see?

Brendan: Because this is the place where my roots are. We can see the

rest any other time. But he wanted to see where I came from and where I

grew up.

Sean: Well you’ve seen it now, so why are you still here?

Colleen: Sean, how long is this going to go on?

Sean: What?

Colleen: This bitterness.

Sean: I’m not bitter. I’m just wondering why they’re still here.

Brendan: You want us to go?(Rises from the chair.)

Sean: That’s up to you. Depends what you want while you’re here.

Brendan: What do you want, Sean?

Sean: Not you, that’s for sure.Sam: I think it’s best we leave, Brendan. There’s not going to be any

reconciliation with you and your brother.(Rises from the chair.)

Sean: What is it with you Yanks, always poking your noses into things

that are no concern of yours?

Sam: I’m an American. We always speak our minds and defend liberty

and what is right.

Sean: Is that so? Go tell that to the Native Americans. Tell that to the



African Americans you enslaved.

Sam: Hang on there, buddy. There’s no reason to get personal about this.

I only came with your brother to see the place he lived, and see if there

was any chance of you and he getting down to be civil to each other again. But I guess I was mistaken. It takes a man to see he was wrong and

want to apologise, but this hanging on to grudges is pure folly.

Sean: I don’t give a damn what you think. This is between me and

Brendan and not you.

Sam: Are you always this ill-mannered or is this a special performance

for me?

Sean: I’m always this ill-mannered when I’m angry.

Brendan: Sean, this is not the place or the people to be angry with; it’s me

you’ve got your bone with, not these others.

Sean: I’d have no anger if you’d not left me to cope with daddy and ma

like you did. But you did. You left me and not a bloody word.

Colleen: Sean, please. (Puts her hand on Sean’s arm.)

Sean :( Taps Colleen’s hand.) Colleen, you’re the best thing that’s happened

to me, don’t go siding with him, and undo all that good work you’ve

done.

Bridget: What’s done is done, Sean.

Sean: That’s bloody true, Bridget. Done is bloody done. He’s not my

brother anymore. I don’t have a brother anymore. My brother left ten

years ago and as far as I’m concerned, he died.Colleen: Sean, this is not what your parents would have wanted.

Sean :( Pushes Colleen’s hand off his arm and walks downstage towards

Brendan.)What they wanted never happened. What they cared for never

took place. So don’t give me any of that stuff, Colleen.

Brendan :( Brendan and Sean stand face to face mid-stage.) What is it you want,

Sean? I can’t undo history. I can’t undo what it is you’re angry about. I

was wrong to have left you and not kept in touch, but I did and there’snothing I can do to alter that.



Sean: You can leave and let me forget you ever existed.

Brendan :( Both men look at each other. There is a moment of tension and the others

watch.)All right, Sean, I’ll leave. I’ll let you pretend I never existed, butone day you’ll realise that grudges solve nothing.

Sean: They make me feel better.

Brendan: I doubt that.

Sean: Doubt all you like, I don’t give a damn.

Brendan:( After looking at Sean for a few moments, he turns to the others.)

I think it best we leave, Sam. There’s no point being here any longer.

Bridget: Sean, this is silly. He’s your brother.

Colleen: Sean, don’t let your brother go like this.

Sean: I have no brother. My brother is dead. (Sean turns away, goes upstage to

the door, and goes out.)

Colleen: I’m sorry, Brendan. I hoped he would be different.

Brendan: I guess I wrong to come back. I ought to have left it as it was.

Bridget: No, he can’t mean for you to go. I’ll have a word with him.

Brendan: No, Bridget, it’s no good. He isn’t in the mood for words. Best

leave him to his grudges and anger until he burns himself out. We’ll go

back to New York and you must do what you want to do.

Bridget: I’m coming with you. I’m not staying here to rot.

Colleen: Bridget, you must think what you’re doing. It’s a big decision

you’re making.

Bridget: I know. But I can’t stay here to grow old and not have lived.

Sam: Right, then. I guess we best make our way back to our hotel and get

ready to pack.



Brendan: Colleen, I’m sorry things happened like this. You deserve

better.

Colleen: I will find him and talk with him. (She kisses Brendan’s cheek, goes

upstage to the door, and goes out.)

Bridget: I better go and talk things over with my parents. Get things

sorted and meet you in town tomorrow.

Sam: All right, Bridget. We’ll see you tomorrow. (Bridget kisses Sam’s cheek

and leaves by the door upstage.)

Brendan: Sorry about that, Sam. I thought things would have been easier

to sort out. I guess Sean’s more stubborn than I remember. Maybe if I

give him a day or two to think things through he may come round.

Sam: Ok, Brendan. We can wait a few more days. No rush.

Brendan: I don’t want to leave things like this.

Sam: I hope you can settle things before we leave. But your brother

seems to think differently about that. I don’t know how things will go. I

hope he comes round.

Brendan: Maybe I ought to go find him and have one to one with him

while I can.

Sam: I think it best you leave it today. Come back again tomorrow.

Maybe he’ll be different then.

Brendan: I’ll come back tomorrow. (Both men leave by the door upstage.)

End Of Scene Two. Act Two. Scene Three.

Two years later. The room is the same as it was before, but the curtains are drawn and

there is dinginess about the room. Sean is sitting at the table with a bottle of

Jameson’s and a glass. There is a letter open in his hand, which he has been reading

repeatedly and now just stares at it. He takes a sip from the glass and sighs deeply.

Sean: They used to shoot the damned messengers once. If I’d caught the

bloody postman who delivered this, I’d have loosened his teeth and jaw

so I would.(Holds the letter away from him and stares at it as if he had not seen it

before.) This rubbing bloody salt in the wounds. If he were here I’d stuff this letter down his gullet. And has for her…(Pause. Sips from glass



again.)Why do they do it? Why do women do this sort of thing? She lied

to me. Told me she loved me and then…(Holds the letter up close to his eyes.)I

can smell her perfume even from here. I bet she was leaning over him as

he wrote the damned thing. The way it’s put together has a woman’s

touch. Brendan would not have used these words. It’s got her voice packed in every word, in every comma and dot. This is putting the knife

in with a velvet bloody glove. Not a thrust, but a eased in deep push.

(Drains the glass and pours himself another from the bottle.) This bit here really

wounds.( Reads in a voice that is mocking his brother.)”We are expecting our

first child on Daddy’s birthday. We’re thinking of calling him after

Daddy…” (Sighs. Sips from the glass.)Oh, and this bit here, here is so deep

cutting. “Sam whom you will remember is to be the godfather.”(Waves the

letter in the air.)Why now? What have I done to deserve this? (There is a

knock at the door. Sean puts down his glass, gets up from the table unsteadily, and

walks to the door upstage. He pauses for a moment or two and then opens the door.

Father Joyce is standing there. He is average height with greying hair and glasses.

Sean looks at the priest for a few moments as if trying to place him from somewhere,

then steps back and lets him enter.)So, Father what’s brought you here? Have

you come save my soul?

Father Joyce: Your wife called in and asked me to come and see you.

Sean: Oh, concerned is she? Said I’ve been taking to the drink again has

she?

Father Joyce :( Enters the room and wanders downstage.)She said you had some

bad news. (Sean closes the door and wanders downstage unsteadily.)And she did

mention you’d been hitting bottle before you’d milked the cows.

Sean: So where is she now, my dear wife?

Father Joyce: Said she had a little shopping to do. Thought you and I

could have a little chat.

Sean: I’ll need more than a little chat, Father. I’ll need a big drink and a

large ear to puke my anger into. (Sean watches as Father Joyce walks to the

window and draws back the curtains. Light invades the room. He goes to the table,

picks up the letter, and hands it to Father Joyce. The priest reads it slowly.)You

remember my brother Brendan, don’t you? That big brother of mine

whom my parents loved even though he betrayed them and let them

down, while I, who was here at their beck and call and betrayed them not

once, was treated like poor second relative day in day out.

Father Joyce :( Lowers the letter and looks at Sean.)Are you not pleased thatyour brother and his wife are having their first child?



Sean: No. I’m not pleased. I’m bloody peeved about it. He came over

here two years ago with his Yankee friend and stole my fiancée and the

had the nerve to marry her and now, to top off the bloody icing on the

seedy cake he’s got her pregnant, so he has.

Father Joyce: I can understand you being annoyed at… (Looks at letter

again.)Colleen going off like that, but that was two years ago, Sean. And

you yourself have married another, one whom I thought you loved and

cared for.

Sean: Bridget? My dear wife and soul mate. She’d have gone too if the

Yankee hadn’t changed his mind and got cold feet. No, I was her last bet.

She was that desperate she agreed to marry me, rather than be left on theshelf, or marry some old farmer her daddy had in mind. (The priest hands

Sean back the letter, goes to the table, picks up the bottle, and looks at it.)Do you

want a dram, Father?

Father Joyce :( Puts the bottle down and looks at Sean.)If you’ve another glass,

Sean, I won’t say no. I like a little whiskey myself occasionally.

Especially after confessions. I need a dram or two then I can tell you.

Sean :( Nods and walks upstage to the kitchen area and searches for a glass. He finds

one and walks downstage with it towards the table. Father Joyce looks around the

room.)Here, Father, the Holy Grail. (Hands the priest the glass and the pours

some whiskey into it. He the puts the bottle down and picks up his own glass.)What

shall we drink to? The safe birth of my dear nephew or niece? My dear

Colleen? My damned-to-hell brother Brendan?

Father Joyce: Why not all of them. Let’s drink to their health and

happiness. (The priest lifts his glass and sips from it.) Not forgetting Bridget of

course.

Sean :( Looking at his glass moodily.)I’d rather drink to the Devils’ behind, soI would. (Pause. Sips from his glass, eyeing the priest as he does so.)You’re going

to say let bygones be bygones aren’t you? Forgive and forget and that sort

of thing. I know you priests. I know what you lot are like.

Father Joyce: And what are we like, Sean?

Sean: You lie. You all lie.

Father Joyce: About what?



Sean: All this forgive and forget business. No one forgives really. They

just pretend they do. They think if they pretend to forgive, they’ll be

saved from Hell. But pretence is a sin itself. It’s a big bloody lie. I don’t

forgive my brother Brendan. I never will. I’ll never forget what he did

you my parents and me. How can I forgive or forget that?

Father Joyce: With the grace of God.

Sean: It’d need a hell of a lot of grace for me to forgive and forget

Brendan. (Sips from his glass.) Do you know Father, my wife, the dear

Bridget; she took a fancy to you once. She’d have walked you down the

aisle if it were not for the collar and vows. Father Joyce: But it was you she loved in the end, Sean. It was you she

chose to marry.

Sean: I was the last one before the call for last orders. She would have

married you if she could have done at one time.

Father Joyce: Some girls have this thing about priests when they’re

young. Like some young fellers have the same thing about nuns. It’s the

unobtainable that attracts them. They grow out of it.

Sean: Would she not have been worth your vows then, Father?

Father Joyce :( Sips from his glass.) My vocation is elsewhere, Sean, as you

well know. Bridget is a fine woman. She’ll make a fine mother too.

Sean :( Tuts tuts.)That’d be the day, Father, when she becomes a mother.

She can barely manage the house now let alone with kiddies under her

feet all day.

Father Joyce: You are a bitter man, Sean.

Sean: With good reason, I’d say.

Father Joyce: Anyone can try to justify a thing but that doesn’t mean that

it is justified in the end. Hate breeds hate, Sean. It solves nothing. It’s like

a poison in the blood stream.

Sean: I feel what I feel.

Father Joyce: And are feelings the be all and end all of all things? #



Sean :( Wander s off to the window with his glass.)Feelings are feelings. I can’t

help what I feel.

Father Joyce: Maybe you can’t help what you feel, but you can help howyou let that affect you and on your relationship with others.

Sean :( Peers out of the window.)Here she comes, my dear Bridget. (Moves

back from the window and wanders slowly to the door upstage. The priest stands

watching Sean. There is a moment of silence, then Bridget enters with two shopping

bags.)Bridget, my dear wife. (Bridget stops and looks at the priest and then at

Sean. She hesitates and then moves to the kitchen area and puts the bags down. Sean

follows her swaying slightly.)Your Father Joyce found his way here. We’re

just having a drink and a small chat. (Sips from his glass. Bridget moves away

from Sean and walks downstage towards the table. Sean follows her and then grabsher arm.)Does the cat have your bloody tongue?

Bridget: Will you let go of me, Sean. (Pulls her arm from Sean’s grip and look

sat him.)Look at you. What a state to get in because your brother writes to

say he’s having a child.

Sean: And that whore of his having the child that ought to have been

mine.

Bridget: I’m your wife not Colleen. I’m the one who ought to have your

child if you were man enough to stay sober long enough to do anything

about it.

Father Joyce: I’m sure we can talk this through without harsh words or

bitterness, Sean.

Sean :( Takes Bridget’s arm again and pulls her towards him. Bridget struggles but

can’t get away.) I’d rather impregnate a bloody whore from the town than

you.

Father Joyce: Sean, will you let Bridget go and not act the fool man.

Sean :( Looks at Father Joyce and after a few moments releases Bridget. She goes to

the table and stands next to the priest.) Never come between a man and his

wife, Father. It’s the custom. A man’s wife is his property.

Bridget: I’m not your property Sean I’m your wife.



Sean: A man’s wife is his property. That’s what my daddy said. And he

was right. My daddy had his head on right. None of this insipid nonsense

of this day and age. A man was man and a woman was a woman.

Father Joyce: A woman is equal to a man in God’s eyes, Sean.

Sean :( Walks to the table.)My brother Cain stabbed me in the back. He went

off and made good and left me with Daddy and Ma and all their moans,

groans, sicknesses, disappointments, and you say forgive and forget? No.

No, Father it can’t be done.

Bridget: Do you not love Brendan, Sean?

Sean:( Puts down his glass and peers at the priest and then at Bridget.)

I lovedColleen. I was going to marry her and he came back and stole her from

me. He has betrayed me. He has crucified me. (Holds out his arms with his

hands outwards.)See the wounds, Father? Bridget? Do you see?

Father Joyce: I see them, Sean. You have been nailed by your own hatred

and jealousy. The wounds are not from love like those of Our Lord, they

are from your hate and bitterness.

Sean :( Looks at his hands.)I’m undone. I am the crucified.

Bridget: You’re drunk and full of shite, Sean. (Puts her arms around

him.)Brendan and Colleen are together and are having a baby. Nothing

you say or do will change that. I love you Sean. I want to have your baby.

I want to hold our baby in my arms and feel it’s heartbeat against my

breast.

Sean: You’d have gone with that Yankee if he’d wanted you.

Bridget: But I stayed with you.

Sean: You were desperate. That’s why you married me.

Bridget: I married you because I loved you. I didn’t have to.

Father Joyce: I remember your marriage vows. You were both very

sincere that day.

Sean: And the father here you had him in your mind at one time.



Bridget: That was a girly thing. I love you, Sean. I want you. I don’t want

you to moping over Brendan and Colleen and the baby they’re having. I

want you and me to live for now and not for then and what might have

been.

Father Joyce: Bridget’s right. Now is now. What might have been is only

conjecture. Bridget’s your wife. Colleen’s Brendan’s wife. And the baby

they’re having will be your nephew or niece.

Sean :( Picks up the letter and looks through it again. Nods his head and puts it in his

trouser pocket. Father Joyce taps his shoulder and walks off upstage and out of the

door. There is a silence for a few moments.)And what are we going to call our

child if we have one? Brendan? Colleen?

Bridget: No, but maybe Sam if it’s a boy and Joyce if it’s a girl? (She

smiles.) Or whatever you want to name them.

Sean :( Sighs.)We have the house to ourselves. The father’s gone. The

cows are fine for a while. Let’s go make a baby before Brendan returns.(They kiss. And slowly walk towards the small door stage left and go out.) Lights

dim.)

End Of Act Two And Scene Three.

brendan's return

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