Seeds

Buster:
I'm sorry for yelling at you.

Claris Manning:
No, you're not! Tell me the truth. Why did you come here into my room?

Buster:
I want to know how much I'll inherit when you die.

Claris Manning:
I haven't made a will.

Buster:
Don't you think that's dangerous? Someone in this family might kill you. Then what would you do?

Claris Manning:
I know what I am doing. I'm a very shrewd cookie.

Buster:
What do you mean by that?

Claris Manning:
You'll lay awake tonight, trying to figure that out.

Carol:
You don't know about Buster, do you?

Michael:
Know what?

Carol:
He's been thrown out of every school on the east coast. He's a thief, pervert, a liar and a queer. You didn't know all that, did you?

Michael:
I guess I really don't care.

Carol:
That's what I like about you, Michael. You've always been very honest. May I be honest with you?

Michael:
Why not? Go on.

Carol:
You didn't love Susan, did you?

Michael:
[short pause] No.

Carol:
Why did you marry her?

Michael:
She became pregnant. I thought it was mine and I married her.

Carol:
Why did you? We could have gotten rid of it.

Michael:
Maybe I wanted to.

Carol:
Why?

Michael:
To get away from Mother. And this house.

Carol:
And me?

Michael:
Maybe.

Carol:
I'm glad Susan's dead. Did you drive her to it?

Michael:
No, I don't think so. There's something funny about that. I don't think she had the nerve to do it. In fact, I don't think she did. Maybe I'm wrong. I just don't know.

Claris Manning:
Do you know how many letters I've gotten about you?

Buster:
I don't know what you're talking about.

Claris Manning:
Like hell you don't!

[she picks up a stack of letters and throws them on the floor]

Claris Manning:
Would you care to read some? They're very intresting.

Buster:
I don't want to see them.

Claris Manning:
Of course you don't! They're not very nice to look at! I've gotten at least three for every year you've been away!

Buster:
You wouldn't have gotten them if you hadn't sent me away.

Claris Manning:
The best thing I ever did was send you to military school and out of my life! You're such a little bastard!

Buster:
Well, we all know what that makes you, don't we?

[Claris wheels up to Buster and violently slaps him across his face]

Buster:
[sarcastic] Thanks, Mother. I needed that.

Claris Manning:
You're a bad seed! The whole bunch of you are bad seeds!

Buster:
A bad seed comes from a diseased plant.

Claris Manning:
What's the matter with you? I think you should see a psychiatrist. You're a very sick little boy!

Buster:
I'm not sick! It's the whole world that's sick! It's a terrible place to live. People know nothing but hatred and deceit. I try to go to them with love and I get nothing in return. I ask for nothing more than you'd give a dog and I get kicked every time. Why is it, Mother, that I can't have any peace?

Claris Manning:
You'll never have peace as long as you're alive!

Buster:
Why? Why can't I?

Claris Manning:
Did you ever give me peace? [Claris picks up the letters from the floor and opens one of them] Five years ago, you were thrown out of St. Thomas' Academy for having abnormal relations with another boy.

Buster:
You can blame Matthew for that.

Claris Manning:
[picks up another letter] Four years ago, it was that school in Georgia. "My dear Mrs. Manning, this afternoon I received a letter that was confiscated from your son in history class. This letter seems to be some sort of blackmail against one of your son's classmates".

Buster:
[covers his ears] Stop! Stop it! I don't want to hear anymore!

Claris Manning:
Oh, you don't? But I have the whole floor full! Here's another one. This one's from the Benedictine school for boys. It seems they couldn't pin down the fires that have been started around the school and the evidence points at you. So they asked me to remove you. Remember, darling?

Buster:
You b*tch! You're such a vile b*tch!

Claris Manning:
That's right, and I'm proud of it! However, you can't stand the truth! It's like sunlight to your darkness! [picks up another letter] This one's from the military school you went to last year. This one tells about how you almost drowned one of your students and then locked yourself in the bathroom of your dorm room. They had to break down the door. Then you tried to slash your wrists. [she grabes his hands and looks at the faint scars across the wrists] There's hardly a trace. You didn't try very hard. Was it just to get attention? Why don't you try harder next time? Or won't there be a next time?

Buster:
[hysterical] I won't hear anymore! I can't hear anymore! I don't want to hear! I won't! I hate you! Leave me alone! I don't want to hear!

[Buster runs out]

Claris Manning:
[screaming] Go on! Run! Run all your life, you queer! You'll never escape! Run, run, run!