ALL. Oh the Big Rock Candy Mountain
MARTIN. Belongs to Uncle Sam.
To
move the great big mountain
Will
take a million men.
So
come on with your tooth picks
And
bring your fountain pen.
Go
easy, don’t jerk;
We
gotta make work.
It’ll
take more moons
If
we use small spoons
To
move that great big mountain.
[On the last verse TIPPY has gone to yard and he is now back with Itzy on a leash.]
TIPPY. On with the concert while I take Itzy
home. I won’t be long.
Itzy lives near.
MARTIN. Say, let me take Itzy home while you start dinner.
TIPPY. Right you are. I forgot a dinner has to be cooked before it can be eaten.
MARTIN. Any shopping to do?
TIPPY. Oh, that’s right. I’ll have to go myself.
KEN. He also forgot a dinner has to be bought before it can be cooked.
LAURA. Something tells me I’d better look into this menu.
TIPPY. I’m having tomato soup, and I’m
going to make bran muffins.
And there are pork chops.
LAURA. Pork chops in 1935! That’s extravagant.
MARTIN. He buys them to get the bones for his doggies. The meat we get is a by-product.
LAURA. O. K. Ken adores shoulder chops.—But what’s the salad?
TIPPY. That’s just where I stalled. I haven’t even bought the makings.
KEN. [Taking Itzy’s leash.] If you people are going to talk salad, tell me where this dog lives.
LAURA. No. I see I’ll have to go. No salad has been provided and I don’t trust men on salad. Martin, you know where Itzy lives, so come along and carry the packages. And Tippy, you go light your oven and mix your muffins.
[LAURA and MARTIN go with the dog.]
TIPPY. Laura’s a peach.
KEN. You don’t know how much of a peach.
TIPPY. I’m glad you two’ve got settled so well.
KEN. I was a fool not to do it before.
TIPPY. Sure you were.
KEN. The trouble was, I’d lost my bearings. Thought I’d never get out of the woods.
TIPPY. The job look pretty good?
KEN. I guess so.
TIPPY. You don’t sound so sure.
KEN. Oh sure, the job’s all right.
TIPPY. Prescott a tough customer?
KEN. No. That’s just the trouble.
He’s a queer duck. Half the time
I feel he doesn’t know I’m there.
TIPPY. He hired you, didn’t he? He pays you, doesn’t he? He knows you’re there!
KEN. Of course he isn’t ready to use my stuff yet. Just wants me to work it up.
TIPPY. Sure. That’s what he hired you for.
KEN. But, damn it, I’ve been there several months and ... [Laughs.] Maybe the trouble is that I don’t have to take orders from anybody; maybe it’s that I don’t have to fuss and sweat over details the way the others do. Maybe that’s the trouble. I can work on my plans in my own sweet way. Maybe that’s it. Maybe I’m unhappy because Prescott doesn’t bawl hell out of me the way he does the others.