Class of 29 | Page 4

disgust.] Stuck on the first word. [Starts thumbing
dictionary.]
TIPPY. Word? It sounded to me like a derogatory sentence.
[Knock on the door, TIPPY sees envelope that was stuck under it and
picks it up. He is opening envelope when knock is repeated. He opens
door and KATE enters.]
KATE. Hello, Tippy.
TIPPY. Hello, Kate.
KATE. Hi, Ted.
TED. [Closing book.] Hello, Kate.
KATE. [Starts toward him but stops at table.] Hello, you bums. How's
the Red Army?
KEN. [Rising, glad of chance to get away from book.] Tippy just put it
under the table.
KATE. Good for Tippy! He's the only real American among you.
TIPPY. The only real American by conviction. Ted's American by
innocence. He won't know there was a Russian revolution until it
becomes a classic.
KATE. [Fondly] That makes him very English. [Takes TED'S book.] Is
it Chaucer? Or just dear old Ben Jonson?
TED. No such luck. It's a first edition of Hemingway's "The Sun Also
Rises." For a man who wanted it, it's worth ten dollars.
KATE. How much did you pay for it?

TED. Fifty cents.
KATE. Swell!
TED. As long as ignorant people go into the secondhand book
business ... It's a tedious business, but if you look over enough stalls,
you're bound to pick up something.
TIPPY. I'm sorry to be sordid in this literary atmosphere, but if you
really have a book worth ten bucks, you'd better sell it.
TED. I will if I can find the right man.
TIPPY. Well--the landlord informs us that he has a more desirable
tenant who wants these quarters. He gives us till tomorrow morning to
raise the rent or he will out us kick.
[KEN turns away and putters with his drawing instruments, TED goes
into bedroom.]
MARTIN. [Who has been absorbed in dictionary.] Hell, it means
electrification!
TIPPY. Then would I shock you by telling you that the landlord means
business?
MARTIN. Huh? Oh rent! All right, I have my share. Here, take it now.
[Hands TIPPY eight dollars, KATE takes money out of her purse,
TIPPY takes it quietly, nodding understanding.]
KATE. [With gesture toward bedroom.] If he does sell his book, take
his eight dollars and hold it. He may not find a ten-dollar book next
month.
[TIPPY goes to put money in pocket and discovers he has no pants on.]
TIPPY. Hell. I have no pants.... Sorry, Kate. [He grabs pants off chair
and goes into bedroom.]

MARTIN. Why don't you quit it, Kate? You aren't helping Ted. You're
ruining him.
KATE. I'm only lending him the money. He'll pay it back.
MARTIN. Like hell he will! The man's been a deadbeat for years.
KATE. [Desperately.] Martin!
MARTIN. He borrowed off his prosperous friends till he exhausted that
source.
KATE. He sold them books.
MARTIN. Sold nothing!--Disguised gifts. He made the mistake of
naming prices. Fooled me for a while. Then I happened to meet a real
second-hand books man.
KATE. [Angrily.] What business was it of yours, checking up on him?
MARTIN. None whatever, so long as it hurt only him and you.
KATE. You boys need his rent. As long as you get it, why can't you
treat him like a gentleman? His pride is all he's got left.
[TED re-enters. Wears different tie, good fall topcoat, not new. His hat
and book in his hand.]
TED. The man I think should have this book happens to be out of town.
But I know someone else who might take it. I'll go and see him.
[TIPPY enters, bathrobe gone, pants on.]
MARTIN. Just a minute, Ted. I've just been told I'm butting in on
something that's none of my business. So, having been accused, I'm
going to justify it.
[TIPPY tries to gesture him to shut up.]

TED. Yes?
MARTIN. You've been imposing on Tippy here, who is too damned
charitable to speak in his own behalf.
TIPPY. You're not speaking for me, Martin.
MARTIN. All right, then, I'm speaking for myself. Here is Tippy, a
sanitary engineer, cashing in on his education by washing dogs. He's
making a little money. But he could make a lot more if he had a place
of his own.
TIPPY. I'll have it. I'll have it. Give me time.
MARTIN. You'll not have it so long as you let people sponge on you.
TIPPY. That's my business.
MARTIN. You paid Ted's share of the rent last month, [KATE looks
surprised.] So this month, if Ted stays here he pays not eight but
sixteen dollars. And you stick eight in the savings bank for that dog
laundry.
TIPPY. Now just wait a minute. I can explain last month's ...
MARTIN. I'll not wait for you to think up another kind lie. God knows
I don't enjoy hurting Ted. He was born and raised