Короткие пьесы - [45]

JOSH: Yes somewhat, but he always thought the blacks inferior, that slavery should end but blacks and whites could not live together in the same society. He wrote against mixing blood of blacks and whites but he had one definite and maybe more children with his slave Sally Hemings

PETER: What about his wife?

JOSH: His wife died very young, after two children.

PETER: Maybe Sally is just hearsay.

JOSH: Recent DNA tests of descendants of Sally and Jefferson are statistically conclusive.

PETER: Oh!..was Sally pretty? Figure?.. Face? I suppose that Jefferson didn’t think about her blood lines during sex.

JOSH: We think she had straight black hair. She was only one quarter black so she was “brown”. Their son Madison Hemings was essentially “white” but, one eighth black so he still was treated as a slave. He never forgave Jefferson for this. He would ask his mother something like: “ Why did daddy treat his other children different from me?” She would reply “Quiet, quiet…. when we were in Paris he promised to free all my children. Patience, patience”

PETER: Jefferson did as he promised?

JOSH: No….and yes! Only after his death were they freed.

PETER: When did Sally’s and Jefferson’s relationship start? What about his wife?

JOSH: His wife died very young. In Paris when Sally was fourteen years old!

PETER: Fourteen! Yikes!

JOSH: Then young girls were considered women. Madison said later, “…Jefferson took his mother like a concubine”.

PETER: Why do you think that Madison’s statement is important?

JOSH: There is a difference, a concubine…

PETER: How do you know that Jefferson still treated her as a slave?

JOSH: He looked on her that way…

PETER: Why didn’t he give her freedom?

JOSH: I think if he gave her freedom he couldn’t control her and keep her in his house. Once the relationship with Sally begins, he is living in lie.

PETER: Write a book!

JOSH: Jefferson was also duplicitous. In fact he was a “dirty” politician.

PETER: Such a duplicitous President. It reminds me of FDR. Can we explain this type of person?

JOSH: What do you think?

PETER: I find it hard to think that he was just a hypocrite and liar….so then..

JOSH: Continue. “So then”..what….talk, talk.

PETER: You’re the history teacher! Don’t expect so much from me.

JOSH: What I find strange is that Jefferson’s oldest daughter Martha maintained that there was no relationship between her father and Sally. I don’t see how the relationship could not be known to the white members of his family.

PETER: Family secret!

JOSH: I don’t think so. A grandchild of Jefferson, Helen, wrotethat the relationship was impossible! The door to Sally’s room was very public all entering and exiting were in sight of the family.

PETER (bored): How do you think they could meet?

JOSH: He met with her in a secret corner. a corridor, or a storeroom..

PETER: Risky, less fun.

(Josh starts to straighten the rug under the table and chairs. Then he quickly straightens up while kneading his back, and screwing up his face in pain)

JOSH: Please try to straighten the rug.

(Peter starts to straighten the rug. He bends down. Josh slips in Peter’s back. Peter squeezes away, and straightens up with fear)

PETER (shouts): You gay?… Unbelievable!

JOSH (calmly): I wanted to show you how this could happen. It could be over in three or four minutes.

PETER (voice raised, still upset): Maybe you could explain in words. Like they…

JOSH: An easy visual aid. Despite the dangers the relationship continued. He had several children by Sally. I think he expended great effort to keep Sally near him. Who knows, maybe his secret gave rise for the Declaration’s words: “..all men…pursuit their… Happiness.” It’s self deluding and corrosive to excessively pursue happiness. Jefferson even modified his earlier progressive stand against slavery as he grew older and more jaundiced.

PETER: It’s really not important now why he wrote these words. It’s important that these words inspired millions of immigrants to work hard, live better, and make America NUMBER ONE in the world.

JOSH: Well, think, America is not entirely first. It is 49th in literacy, 37th in universal health care, and 41st in child mortality. So where is the American myth?

PETER: Fuck your statistics! He deceived us, and his ideas worked out well at first. But now, it has been carried too far when more efficiency, overtime, and moving families from place to place have become necessary.

JOSH: Your American dream is now riding on the backs of the poor bringing health, education, and riches to only a few. You all ignore a pervasive stink in America.

PETER: Are you “Green Party”?

JOSH: It’s not the worst of all parties in the world, but Lenin had high ideals too. Do you really still believe that if you pursue happiness you can become happy?

PETER: I believe..

JOSH: You will never get there. To pursue “happiness” is the wrong goal. Pursue work that you love, be kind, helpful, and reliable and unexpectedly happiness arrives.

PETER: You are a philosopher. You have time to sit and think of all possibilities. I don’t have time to think about all your fantasies and nobody else has the time..