Monday, April 25, 2022

ONL - Bransk 1899 - Scene 7 - First Draft


Polish Peasant: Tutaj sa! Here they are! Every time a family has a tragedy the Zhids are here to swoop in like vultures to drink the blood! 

Yehuda (whispers to Shimon): Charming...

Polish Peasant: The Jews are here! The Nowaks are inside. You'll find there is no blood left for you w(v)ampirs. 

(we hear the sounds of a priest intoning last rites) 

Polish Peasant: (suddenly trying not to break down crying) Maria, they're here. 

Ewa Nowak: Oy wychwalac Boga. You come from God in heaven. 

Henrik Nowak: This is what we prayed for. 

Yehuda: (whispers to Shimon) This is not what you told me would happen. 

Ewa: We have the money but we have to ask you...

Shimon: Let's take care of the money first. 

Henrik: Please just listen to what we have to ask. 

Shimon: We really ought to take care of the money. 

Henrik: But if you just listen to what we have to...

Shimon: It's really important that we take care of...

Henrik: If you just listen to what....

Shimon: We'll be happy to listen after but first...

Ewa: PLEASE! If you Jews have an ounce of charity, you will listen! 

Shimon: (sighs) Alright Pani Nowak, what would you like to tell us?

Ewa: You have such eyes for business, and we have such things to sell you. 

Shimon: Oh dear, we should...

Ewa: Look (goes over to furniture and opens drawer)... This broach, it belonged to Henrik's mother and her mother before her. It came from a Boyar who loved Henrik's. 

Shimon: That's very lovely but we really don't have...

Ewa: Or these pisnaki, look at these eggs that were painted by my son...

Yehuda: Wow Mrs. Nowak, those are truly beautiful. 

Shimon: Yehuda! Sha!... They are truly beautiful, but unfortunately we don't have the mo....

Ewa: Or my mother's shawl. She made it when she was pregnant with me, her first daughter, and wore it every day until she died when I was six. 

Shimon: That's truly beautiful but surely you'd want to keep something that means so much to you...

Ewa: Or maybe you'd like what's under the shawl more... (we hear Ewa rubbing Shimon's kapoteh) 

Shimon: Mrs. Nowak, please, my brother and I are respectable people and we know you are too. 

Henrik: Your brother?! Perhaps you would like some smoked cheese to take home to your matka?

Yehuda: That's a lovely offer but unfortunately we can't eat it. 

Ewa: They won't even eat our cheese! 

Henrik: Please Pan Kharlap, we are so desperate. We know we're not good enough for you, but please... we have lived together so long.... surely you see how we are suffering...

Shimon: Mr. Nowak I assure you that we have nothing but regret that we have to do this job but...

(baby starts crying and Maria panics)

Henrik: (shouts) Ewa opiekuj sie dieckiem!

(Ewa leaves to take care of the baby)

Henrik: She goes to our baby, Agnieszka. She is afraid. 

(long pause)

Henrik: This is the only baby we have left. 

(long pause, Yehuda finally says) 

Yehuda: The only baby?

Shimon: (immediately) Yehuda!

Henrik: Typhus has killed all of our anolki. Ewa believes she is cursed, that she has given typhus from one of her children to the next. One, then another, then another, whom we moved to our room. They freeze, they cried, they suffocated, and then they're gone.... This stol had five children around it last Christmas. They would say the Ave Maria, we would serve them Broscht and herring and noodles, Ewa would bake her Kolaczkis, and we would sing the carols: Bog sie rodzi, wsrod nocnej ciszy, Lulajze Jezuniu (breaks down crying) they would make such a noise.... They will never make noise again...

Yehuda: I'm so sorry Mr. Nowak. 

Henrik: We took our children to every healer, we bought every ikon and charm, we had our house blessed by spirits and washed by holy water and oil. That is why we borrowed money from Pan Goldberg. 

Yehuda: Did you ever take your children to a doctor?

Henrik: We did not, we were too ashamed. What would our friends think? But we should have. No traditional medicine has worked. 

Yehuda: You really ought to have your daughter seen by a doctor. 

Henrik: That is why we sell you these wears. They are the best things we can give. 

Yehuda: Shimon, please...

Shimon: (yells) Yehuda what did I tell you?!

Yehuda: (yells back) You didn't tell me this!

Shimon: I'll explain later. 

Yehuda: You need to explain now! 

Shimon: Don't make friends with the goyim! 

Henrik: Don't make friends with the goyim... I'm the one who's supposed to be too good for you but you don't make friends with me.... 

(long pause) 

Henrik: Alright, I'm not good enough for you... I'm just a poor man who lost everyone he loves... Look at me!... Spit on me, call me Zhid, kill me, but please, do not take away the only money we have left... 

Yehuda: We're not gonna take your money...

Shimon: Yehuda! 

Henrik: O bozhe moi! Bless you. (cries and kisses their hands and feet) You are the apostles of Christ.  EWA! 

Yehuda: We have to leave. You go be with your daughter, and please, take her to a doctor right away! 

Henrik: You be remembered by St. Peter at the gates of heaven... EWA! Pozwalaja nam zatrzymac pieniadze! 

(Ewa starts crying and Henrik both start crying hysterically, Yehuda and Shimon leave the house, close the door, and you can hear their crying from the other side of the door.)

Shimon: Fuck. You're gonna be the one to explain this to Reb Goldberg.  

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