Don Álvaro, or, The Force of Fate

Act 5

ACT 5 o] The action takes place in and around the Monastery of Los Ángeles S C E N E 1 The theater reproduces the interior of the lower cloister of the Monastery of Los Ángeles, which should be an unassuming corridor that runs around a small courtyard with orange trees, oleander , and jasmine. On the left is the porter’s door; on the right, the stairs. The setting, or drop curtain, should be downstage so that others upstage can appear in order. Father Superior is pacing back and forth on the proscenium, engrossed in his breviary; Brother Melitón, without a cloak, his shirt sleeves rolled up, is ladling soup from a cauldron to the Old Man, the Lame Man, the One-Armed Man, the Woman, and a group of poor people clustered at the porter’s door. BRO. MELITÓN. All right now, let’s have quiet and order. You’re not at a cheap restaurant. WOMAN. Father, me, me! OLD MAN. How many helpings do you want, Marica? LAME MAN. She’s already taken three, and it’s not right. BRO. MELITÓN. Keep quiet, and be humble, because I have a headache. ONE-ARMED MAN. Marica has taken three helpings. WOMAN. And I’m even going to take four, seeing as how I have six little ones. 111 BRO. MELITÓN. And why do you have six little ones? A curse on your soul! WOMAN. Because God gave them to me. BRO. MELITÓN. Sure .l.l. God .l.l. God.l.l.l. You wouldn’t have them if you spent your nights like me, saying the rosary and flogging yourself. FR. SUPERIOR. (Gravely.) Brother Melitón! Brother Melitón! God help us! BRO. MELITÓN. Father, why, these ragged people are amazingly fertile— LAME MAN. Me, Father Melitón, because my crippled mother ’s waiting outside. BRO. MELITÓN. Really? The old witch has also come? Just what we needed. FR. SUPERIOR. Brother Melitón! WOMAN. My four helpings! ONE-ARMED MAN. Me first! OLD MAN. Me! ALL. Me! Me! BRO. MELITÓN. Go to the devil, and be mannerly. Watch I don’t give it to you with the ladle. FR. SUPERIOR. With charity, Brother, with charity, for they are children of God. BRO. MELITÓN. (Upset.) Take it, and good riddance. WOMAN. When Father Rafael gave us the stew, he did it with more manners and more fear of God. BRO. MELITÓN. Then call Father Rafael .l.l. who couldn’t put up with you for even one week. OLD MAN. Brother, will you give me a little more slop? 112 A C T 5 BRO. MELITÓN. You rascal! You call God’s beneficence slop? FR. SUPERIOR. Charity and patience, Brother Melitón. The poor things have enough troubles of their own. BRO. MELITÓN. I would like to see Your Reverence contend with them day in, day out. LAME MAN. Father Rafael— BRO. MELITÓN. Don’t nag me with Father Rafael .l.l. and .l.l. take the leftovers. (He serves what is left in the cauldron and then rolls it away with a kick.) And go outside to eat. WOMAN. If Father Rafael could come down to read the Holy Scriptures to my little boy, who has a fever— BRO. MELITÓN. Bring him tomorrow, when Father Rafael will come to say Mass. LAME MAN. If Father Rafael could come to town to heal my friend, who fell— BRO. MELITÓN. Now is not the time to go and work miracles . In the morning, in the morning, when it’s cool. ONE-ARMED MAN. If Father Rafael— BRO. MELITÓN. (Beside himself.) Enough already! Out with you! Come on, outside! How the seed of degenerates spreads! Shake a leg! (He herds them outside with the ladle and closes the door; then, miffed and tired, he joins Father Superior.) S C E N E 2 Father Superior and Brother Melitón BRO. MELITÓN. No amount of patience is enough, Father. FR. SUPERIOR. It seems to me, Brother Melitón, that the A C T 5 113 Lord has not endowed you with an abundance of it. Consider that in feeding God’s poor you are performing a task that an angel would be honored to carry out. BRO. MELITÓN. I would like to see an angel in my place, even for three days...