05 Miner's Woe

MINER'S WOE Written by Rick Regan March 6, 2025 Rick Regan 919-218-8834 Rick@rickregan.netINT. RILEY HOME - LATE AFTERNOON In 1931 the effects of economic collapse begin to appear. LISLE Riley is setting the table for dinner. The home is comfortable and well furnished, as is appropriate for the manager of the nearby coal mine, TIM, her husband. In the main room, there are some chairs, a sofa and a RADIO by a fireplace. In the dining area, there is a table with four chairs. A narrow swinging door leads to the kitchen in the back. Off to the side, a stairway goes up to the bedrooms. The radio is on in the background. RADIO “Corn down another twelve cents. Hogs off by a dollar and a half. Now to weather, expect a cold front to move through eastern Montana later in the week. The first of the season and a reminder of the winter to come. You’re listening to KATQ in Plentywood, Montana’s ‘Reliable News Station’ on the Columbia Broadcasting System. Now back to the news in New York.” Lisle switches off the radio. LISLE (quietly) Down, down, down. Everything down. Lisle moves around the table with napkins for the three place settings. Lisle goes to the front door, opening and looking out. She calls out. LISLE (CONT’D) Charlie! Charlie? Time to come in, dear. Your father will be home soon. (listens) Well, alright, but come in when you see Father’s car. She goes into the kitchen and comes out with a fancy icebucket with chunks of ice for cocktails. Then she sits in the main room and waits. She hears the sound of footsteps at the door and the front door open.2. Tim comes in. He’s thirty-six and the young manager of the mine. He’s probably the most important man in town because of the mine and the mining jobs. He looks small and young for the role and he looks like he’s carrying the weight on his shoulders. He is not in a suit but does have a tie on. LISLE (CONT’D) Charlie? TIM No, dear. Just me. Charlie is playing ball with the Weber-boys down the street. She greets him and kisses him on the cheek. LISLE Can I fix you a whiskey? TIM Thank you dear. Lisle makes some cocktails for them both and they sit in the chairs. LISLE Dinner will be out soon. TIM I have to go back later. More clean up to do. LISLE Oh, Tim. TIM Lisle, another fellow jumped into the mine today. That’s three this month. It’s like it’s contagious. LISLE People are really struggling, dear. It’s good that the company helps them out. TIM This is all so crazy. It didn’t used to be like this. Used to be that we’d move all the coal we could mine. Now...not even half. LISLE Things will turn around, dear. They have to. 3. TIM Honey, are you doing alright? I mean, it’s a lot of strain on you too. LISLE I’m the luckiest woman in Medicine Lake. Married to the manager of the mine. TIM Hmmm. Listen, I’ll get Charlie in. Tim gets up and goes to the door. He yells out. TIM (CONT’D) Charlie! Come on! Time to eat. He waves Charlie in. Charlie comes through the door. LISLE Charlie, go wash up and get ready for supper. CHARLIE OK. What’s for supper? LISLE Smothered pork chops and mashed potatoes. (to Tim) It’s from the latest Ladies Home Journal. CHARLIE Oh boy! Charlie heads upstairs to clean up for dinner. Lisle heads into the kitchen to finish preparing dinner. Tim sits in the quiet and sips the cocktail. Tim hears a knock at the door. SFX: Knock! Knock! Knock! Tim opens the door and a woman is standing outside, OLIVIA. She is a small but solid woman, in a simple dress. OLIVIA Mister Riley? Is that you? TIM That’s right. What can I do for you? 4. OLIVIA Can I talk to you for a minute, inside? My husband, he works at your mine. TIM (uncertain) Umm...OK. Come in. Please sit down. Olivia comes in and they sit in the two chairs. OLIVIA This is a nice house. TIM What’s this all about? What’s your husband’s name? OLIVIA Clark. Mark Clark. I’m Olivia. TIM Oh! Mister Clark. Yes. Is he alright? OLIVIA He’s gone, Mister Riley. TIM Gone? As in... OLIVIA I suppose he hopped a train. Maybe rode out on a truck. I don’t know. I just know he’s gone. TIM I’m sorry to hear that. Did he tell you where he was going? OLIVIA He didn’t say nothing. He just said he had to go. Then walked out. TIM When was that? Today? OLIVIA Yesterday. I thought for the life of me that he’d come back. But I was alone all night. And come today, I just waited and waited. That’s why I’m here. 5. TIM Why is that? OLIVIA I need you to get him back for me. TIM Mrs. Clark, I don’t think that I can be of much use. I’m sorry. OLIVIA (angry) Oh, are you too busy, picking the workers’ pockets? Too busy, starving families, with children! Can’t make time to help a working family? TIM Look, I don’t know where Mister Clark has gone, and even if I did, I couldn’t just drag him back. OLIVIA Sure you can! Send some of your ‘boys’ to go round him up. He can’t have gone too far. Besides, what am I supposed to do? TIM I don’t know Mrs. Clark. If he’s gone, he could be anywhere. OLIVIA Mister Riley, you have to get him back for me! TIM I wouldn’t bring him back, even if I could. I’m up to my ears in workers, and the mine is close to shutting down. OLIVIA You’re going to shut down the mine?! TIM I’m trying to keep it going, Mrs. Clark. I really am. Lisle comes in with some food. She puts mashed potatoes on the table. (MORE) 6. OLIVIA Are you Mrs. Riley then? TIM Mrs. Clark, that’s quite enough! LISLE That’s right. I’m Mrs. Riley. And you are? OLIVIA My husband worked at the mine, his mine! (pointing at Tim) And now he’s left me, like a widow. Just up and gone. LISLE Why did he leave you? OLIVIA Same reason all those men been jumping for their life. In debt, no real work, gonna lose the house, children sick. All of it. LISLE And he left you to face it all? OLIVIA I’m behind on my back rent. No food in the house. Never had a car. I walked here. Do you know how far that is? Do you? LISLE No, I don’t. OLIVIA It’s the distance from misery to luxury. Look at you all, getting dinner all ready, food on the table. I bet your shoes don’t have no holes, neither. (looking at Lisle) That’s a pretty dress though. LISLE Thank you. Where has he gone then? OLIVIA How should I know? I just need Mister Manager of The Mine to send some of the boys to go get him. OLIVIA (CONT’D) (MORE) 7. Elsewise I’m just all alone in this world. LISLE No children then? OLIVIA Oh, I wanted children. A little girl and a little boy, like you got. I saw him up the road. But Mark, he must have known that our time was coming up. He never wanted to start no family. Now, I’ve got to wonder if he ever did love me, or was it just, have somebody around? I don’t know. TIM Look, Mrs. Clark, come by the office tomorrow. We can check if Mister Clark had any outstanding wages. OLIVIA You going to pay in sacks of coal, or company scrip? Cause I can’t use nothing the company store’s got. You understand? I need money. Government money. Because if he’s not coming back, well, there’s nothing here for me. I’d just starve out there in the cold. LISLE Ma’am, let me fix you a plate. Have some supper. OLIVIA Mister Riley, if you won’t bring him back, I got nothing. TIM If a man is going to leave, what’s bringing him back going to do? Nothing. He’ll just light out, another time. If he’s gone, then you’ve got to go ahead, go forward. OLIVIA I went to school, you know. I can read. I can write. Lotta folks can’t. But I can. Doesn’t matter though. OLIVIA (CONT’D) 8. Ain’t a body around that can find no work. Nobody pay anyway. You work, Mrs. Riley? Lisle shakes her head. OLIVIA (CONT’D) Yep, that’s right. You all make more than the whole town put together. Pile up everything everybody’s got, still wouldn’t be as nice as this house, dinner on the table. Charlie comes down the stairs, sees the situation. CHARLIE Are we going to eat? LISLE Go back up stairs, Charlie. CHARLIE Mama? TIM Do as your mother tells you. Charlie doesn’t move, still watching from the stairs. OLIVIA He seems like a real sweet boy. I’d bet he doesn’t know all the hardship and pain in this world. TIM No. And, that’s enough. Come by the office tomorrow and we’ll look into it. LISLE Hold on. Lisle goes into the kitchen and comes back out with a plate, loaded with pork chops, gravy, potatoes and biscuits. She slides the plate into a paper bag and hands it to Olivia. OLIVIA That’s real good of you. There are good people in this world. (looks at Tim) But some make you wonder. 9. TIM Listen to me. Our order book for coal has fallen to half of our production, in three months. Now in better times, the mine would let half the workers go and men could find work anyplace else. But there isn’t anything else now. And I know that if I cut half the men, those families won’t have anything, nothing to fall back on. I’m doing everything I can to keep people clothed, fed and the roofs over their heads. Now does that mean that I have to pay people with coal? Yes, sometimes it does, because there ISN’T any money! And the company store? Yes, it doesn’t have a lot but what it has is useful. And I know that if we just shut everything down, the whole town would dry up and blow away. (glares at Olivia) But if your husband took to the road or the rails, then that’s one less worker I have to pay, when there isn’t much pay to go around. Do you understand? OLIVIA (quiet) It’s just hard times, I guess. TIM Yeah. Hard times. OLIVIA Never been easy being a miner’s wife. They work hard and they love hard, but when it goes away, well, it’s gone. But is there any money you can give me right now? TIM (reaches in pocket) Here’s ten dollars. That would be more than the pay Clark would get. That’s all I can give you. OLIVIA I’m proud but I’ll take it. Don’t know how long it will last. 10. TIM Please go now. I hope you find your husband. Olivia heads towards the door. She stops and turns back. OLIVIA Thank you, ma’am, for the food. And I hope you can keep the mine going, sir. TIM Good luck to you. Olivia exits. CHARLIE Who was that? TIM The wife of one of the miners. He left her all alone. CHARLIE But she came up with some fellow in a car. I saw her pull up. He just drove around the corner to wait. LISLE You mean, he didn’t leave? TIM It doesn’t matter. If he did or didn’t, it doesn’t matter. I have a stream of people just like her everyday. She’s trying to get ahead, just a little bit, and we’ve been so fortunate, I don’t mind. Maybe the kindness matters in this world. Or... LISLE Honey, let’s sit down and we’ll say a prayer before we eat. They all sit. The table has all the warm food arrayed. TIM Let us pray... END.