WESTWARD
I suppose the time comes in every man’s life . . .
MR. BALDHAWK
Earlier for most men. You must get out so that your mother can go about the business she intends.
WESTWARD
I see.
MR. BALDHAWK
I can tell by your expression that you know I’m in love with her.
WESTWARD
Thank you for your time, Mr. Baldhawk.
MR. BALDHAWK
She’s a lively, intelligent woman. Why shouldn’t I---?
WESTWARD
Yes, why shouldn’t you? I suppose I am trapped in my youth.
(He turns back)
Does she love you back?
MR. BALDHAWK
Who can say? But I’m a thinking man; and I think so.
WESTWARD
Will you marry?
(MR. BALDHAWK shrugs his shoulders)
WESTWARD (Continued)
Time passes and feelings change, I suppose. I will see you in court, Mr. Baldhawk.
(WESTWARD leaves. MR. BALDHAWK rubs his bald spot.)
END OF PART VIII.
(MR. BALDHAWK’s law office.)
MR. BALDHAWK
Westward---I may call you “Westward”?
(WESTWARD nods weakly.)
MR. BALDHAWK (Continued)
Westward, it’s time to grow up. You can’t sit in the upstairs room at your mother’s, fiddling with a silly blog and expecting the world to be hunky-dory. You’ve got to man up and get out.
WESTWARD
But Sunny and Yicheng---
MR. BALDHAWK
They’re newlyweds. Soon, they’ll fill the house with babies. But what do you bring? Pottery plays?
(WESTWARD walks slowly to the window.)
WESTWARD
If I move out, will she stop her lawsuit?
MR. BALDHAWK
Heavens, no.
She’s in for blood now.
(MR. BALDHAWK shuffles papers.)
END OF PART VII.
(MR. BALDHAWK’s office.)
WESTWARD
You are my mother’s lawyer.
MR. BALDHAWK
You will lose the case.
WESTWARD
I must tell you . . . I think Mother has gone nuts.
MR. BALDHAWK
Haven’t we all, a little?
WESTWARD
She is suing me over a trifle. And, this morning, she spoke harshly to my sister. She told her to lie on the stand.
MR. BALDHAWK
That’s what you thought you heard. But hearing is a funny---
WESTWARD
She used to be kind, tender. But, now, she’s . . . I’m not sure she loves me anymore.
MR. BALDHAWK
(Pause, chews a pen)
How old are you, my boy?
WESTWARD
(Clears throat)
Nearing or past thirty.
MR. BALDHAWK
And you live with your mother? There’s your trouble.
(MR. BALDHAWK shuffles papers.)
END OF PART VI.
(The squalid office of MR. BALDHAWK, attorney. Two dandies, HALLWARD
and MAUVE, are finishing up their business.)
MAUVE
Tally-ho, will you give me cash for my annuity?
HALLWARD
I, too, have an annuity that I would like to cash in.
(MR. BALDHAWK pulls greasy bills from out of an old box.)
MR. BALDHAWK
Take your money and get out, you bums!
(They pocket the cash in striped vests.)
HALLWARD
I say, Mauve, what will we live on now?
MAUVE
Bons mots.
HALLWARD
Or, les mots justes.
(They skip out. WESTWARD HO comes in the open door.)
WESTWARD
Mr. Baldhawk?
MR. BALDHAWK
The time to cash in annuities is gone. Come back tomorrow.
WESTWARD
I am here on other matters.
MR. BALDHAWK
I see.
(He looks up, glinty.)
END OF PART V.
