An excerpt from "Korbel" (First Episode: The Funeral)

By the Dell'Arte Company

© 1993, M. Fields, D. Forrest, J. Schirle, J. Weisman. All rights reserved.

The "Korbel" series was created by the company over several years and is a kind of Humboldt County soap opera with recurring characters. The themes mirror the changes happening in the area once known for logging and fishing, now a depressed economy increasingly dependent on tourism and dwindling resources. The Dugan family of Korbel, a small mill town, are the central figures for whom change is painful and threatening. Dorothy (Dot) Dugan and her two sons, Terry and Tommy, are descended from the town's founders, but are barely managing to stay solvent. At the beginning of "Korbel" (The Funeral), the mayor, members of the family, and mourners stand around the casket of Dorothy, who died under suspicious circumstances. As the funeral goes on, her son Terry, a Vietnam vet who now dresses as a woman, is accused of murdering his mother. At the height of the accusations, the coffin springs open and Dorothy arises to declare her son innocent. In a series of flashbacks, she tells of the events leading up to her death. In this scene, Tommy has been laid off from the mill, and has just accused his brother of being responsible for their family setbacks and threatens to reveal Terry's secret identity.

Dot:

Don’t you think your brother is suffering enough? Don’t you think we’d all suffer if anyone was to find out? Don’t you know we got to pull together here?

Tommy:

I can’t take it much longer, Ma.

Dot:

I don’t want to hear any quitter talk.

Tommy:

Ma, don’t you get it? Nothin’s like it used to be.

Dot:

You mean you haven’t got any guts no more.

Tommy:

According to you, Ma, I never had no guts. It was always Terry who had the guts and the glory. What you never did do was treat me like I was a equal.

Dot:

What I didn’t do was smack you enough to knock any sense into you. Now you’re going to hold on. You’re gonna hold on to your mouth until we figure out something for Terry. so maybe you’re gonna have to hold on to your mouth till you die. You’re gonna hold on until you go back to work, and you’re gonna hold onto that girl you got into trouble and marry her and start another family and try to make something work out for once in your life. Heck, a layoff isn’t the end of the world. You just wait it out. The mill’s always taken care of you. Square your shoulders like your grandfather Martin would want to see you doin' and quit snivellin’ around here like you was some welfare slacker.

Tommy:

Aw, Ma. (pause) Yeah, I guess I could turn out some more of them ashtrays.

Dot:

Now that’s the spirit.

VOICE OFFSTAGE OF WOODY, THE NEWSBOY:

Extra! Extra! Read all about it!

DOT OPENS DOOR.

Woody:

"Mill closes for good! Hundreds lose jobs as Simpson moves to Chile! " (Hands Dot her paper) Hi, Mrs. Dugan. Pretty heavy news, huh? Can I collect for this month’s paper?

Dot:

Give Woody the paper money, Tommy.

Tommy:

I ain’t got it, Ma.

Dot (brightly):

Tell you what, Woody, why don’t you come back on Thursday, and we’ll see you get your money then.

Woody:

OK. But that’ll be two months you owe me.

Dot:

You’ll get your money Woody. You always do, don’t you? (Shuts door)

Tommy:

Aw, jeezus.

(He sits at table, starts to cry. Dot reads the paper, puts it down and starts to cry quietly.. Finally Tommy stands up. He gets a beer.)

Dot:

And that ain’t gonna do you no good, neither.

Tommy:

Aw, Ma, it’s just a beer, fer chrissakes.

Dot:

Alright, well then, give me one too.

Tommy:

Ma...!

Dot:

Well, it’s kind of a red letter day, isn’t? I have a feeling you boys are going to need something extra special for dinner. I got a venison casserole in the freezer. I’ll just get it out and put it in the microwave and —

Tommy: (Stands up)

(Quietly)I’m going down to the welfare office, Ma.

Dot: Tommy!

Tommy:

I’m just gonna go ask some questions, find out what– There ain’t no money coming and there ain’t gonna be– What the hell’s a man gonna do?? I’m whipped, Ma. It feels like – between them owls and them politicians – we’re getting pushed right off the edge.

Dot

But not into despair, Tommy.

Tommy:

We’re in deep poop, Ma. How we going to eat? How’m I gonna pay my goddam child support? And Rhonda’s got a list as long as my arm of stuff I’m supposed to buy for her and that baby.

Dot:

What’s your son Willie going to say? What’s he going to think of his daddy? I’ll smack you upside your head if you think you’re going to bring free money into this house!

Tommy:

We ain’t even gonna have a house no more if I don’t do this, Ma. The house is all we got!

Dot:

We got our brains, don’t we? We got our guts, don't we? We got our values and our sweat and our pride, don’t we? We got generations of hard work and honesty, don’t we?

Tommy:

We got squat, Ma. And nobody gives a shit. (He exits)

Dot:

And then he left and I said to myself, damn him, damn that little coward, that sonofa bitch! I started to get mad. I started to get mad that my sons didn’t have the strength to shoulder their load and carry on with a smile. And I started to thinking about my grandaddy Martin and what he woulda said. Well, that gave me a shot of courage. I went to take the casserole out of the freezer. It was dark in the freezer and the turkey next to the casserole was kind of soft. I thought the fridge is just on the blink again. I put the casserole into the microwave and turned it on. Nothing happened. And then I walked over and turned on the light. And nothing happened. And that’s when I realized the PG&E had shut off the electricity. I flipped the switch again. Nothing happened. I stood there for a long time. I kept flipping that switch, up and down up and down and up and down. And I stood there, just absentminded-like, like an idiot, flippin’ that switch back and forth, up and down, waiting for the lights to come on. That’s what we’d all worked for! I thought about my granddaddy. Heck, we’d all worked for it our whole lives – the right to just… flip a switch and have it all work. And I wanted it to be just like that again. I wanted to be able to flip that switch and have it all work. I wanted things to be the way they were. I wanted my microwave to cook that food! And then something snapped. And suddenly, I started to see red, and without thinking another thought about it, I ran out the back door to the shed and turned on the emergency generator. And I came back into the kitchen and I turned the lights on and off about one hundred times, and then I went and opened the door of the microwave, set the timer for 30 minutes, took a crochet hook, like Tommy taught me how to make a connection when the door was broken, and I stuck my head in the microwave and pressed the crochet hook into the door latch and pushed start with my other hand. There was a blinding light.…

So don’t any of you blame my baby boy. I did it myself. I just don’t know why the pain didn’t go away.

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