The America Play

Act 2 is divided into short scenes, beginning with “A. The Big Bang.” The gunshot echoes again. Lucy and Brazil are at the hole. Brazil digs, and Lucy listens with an ear trumpet. The gunshot echoes again, and Lucy says they’re echoes of past gunshots. She urges Brazil to keep digging until he finds something. Lucy explains that it’s necessary for someone in her line of work to be able to tell the difference between memories and things that are present. Brazil’s father hadn’t been able to do that. He had become confused and died alone without a proper burial, an embarrassment that his family is there to correct. Lucy states that there’s a difference between the truth and what people believe is the truth, something that she has learned as a Confidence, or a person who keeps the secrets of the dead.

Lucy talks about a man named Bram Price. All his loved ones claimed that his last words were one thing, but Bram Price told Lucy something different, and she has kept his secret ever since. When his son Bram Price Junior died, he had “burned [Lucy’s] eardrums” (175) with his secrets. Brazil interjects that he had wailed at his funeral. And then, 10 days after his death, the younger Bram had come to the dinner table as if nothing had changed. His mother, Penny Price, also told Lucy her secrets, and Brazil was also a mourner at her funeral, since that was his job. Lucy tells Brazil to keep digging because when he finds something and cleans it off, he gives it “uh designated place. Its own place. Along with thuh other discoveries. In thuh Hall of Wonders” (176).

Lucy notes that she has kept Bram Price Senior’s secrets for 19 years, even though she’s usually only contracted to keep them for 12 because “after 12 years nobody cares” (177). She tells Brazil that Price confessed on his deathbed that he wore lifts to make himself taller. Brazil comments that if his father is there, they would have found his bones along with the Wonders that would surround his bones. Additionally, they would hear the whispers of his secrets and final words. Lucy replies that death might work differently out west, and Brazil states, “When theres no Confidence available we just dribble thuh words out. In uh whisper” (177); the Confidence’s job is to collect those whispers.

After a few moments, Lucy says she doesn’t hear his whispers but insists that he is there. Brazil narrates, “My foe-father, her husband, my Daddy, her mate, her man, my Pa come out here. Out West” (178). He left Brazil and Lucy when Brazil was five. The family was in the funeral business, with Lucy as a Confidence, her husband as a gravedigger, and Brazil as a mourner, so the fact that his father wasn’t buried properly is embarrassing for them. Brazil notes that gravedigging was his father’s profession but “fakin was his callin” (179), and it made sense for him to combine the two. This hole was his biggest project, and Brazil describes the original Great Hole of History, where Lucy and his father honeymooned, and where they could sit on the edge and watch real historical figures walk by, risen from the dead.

Lucy interrupts and corrects Brazil, saying that they were only impersonators. She explains, “Thuh Mr. Washington me and your Daddy seen was uh lookuhlike of the Mr. Washington of history-fame, son. […] Thuh original Mr. Washingtonssbeen long dead” (179). Lucy warns him, “Keep your story to scale” (180). Brazil agrees, stating that his father did impersonations, especially of Abraham Lincoln, and came out West as a well-known gravedigger to dig this huge hole. Another gunshot echoes and Brazil, tired, drops to the ground. But Lucy sees that he’s faking, a talent he inherited from his father, who could quote all sorts of great men. Brazil doesn’t remember. Lucy says that according to rumor, he had dug the hole and then died. She tells Brazil that he had loved to stand at the edge of the Great Hole of History and wail. They practice the wail together.

Lucy tells Brazil to keep digging. Brazil digs, telling the story of when he was two and his father taught him how to wail and weep at funerals. Brazil practiced until he was the best. Then, when he was five, his father left during dinnertime. After a moment, Lucy calls into the hole. Brazil finds “Uh Wonder” (182), which turns out to be the bust of Abraham Lincoln. Lucy tells Brazil to place it with the other Wonders and shushes him so she can listen before telling him again to dig. In the next short scene, “B. Echo,” the Foundling Father announces the performance of Act 3, Scene Five, of Our American Cousin. After a few lines, there is applause and the Foundling Father wails, then calls out, “Helllooooooo!” (184).

Shifting into the third scene, “C. Archeology,” Brazil asks, “You hear im?” (184). Lucy explains that there are three types of echoes that they can expect to find: sounds, such as the echoing gunshots; the words of the dead, or whispers; and finally, the body. Brazil tells the story of his father leaving again, this time referring to him as his “faux-father” (184), identifying him as just as much of a historical figure as anyone else who came before them. Brazil calls the Hole their inheritance, belonging to both of them and one day becoming all his. Deciding that he’d rather clean up the artifacts they’ve found than dig, he announces, “Welcome welcome welcome to the hall. of. wonnndersss” (185).

Brazil describes their findings: the jewelry box that his father had kept his beards in, inscribed with the initials A.L.; an image of George Washington along with one of his bones and a set of teeth, which Brazil plays with until his mother stops him; the bust of Lincoln; a horse’s bit that “some great Someone rode tuh thuh rescue” (185); and a long list of other things, some small and some historically significant. He ends the list with “uh medal for fakin” (186), which he exclaims could have belonged to his father. Lucy agrees, and Brazil starts to wail because he misses him. They marvel at the hole he dug by himself, and Lucy tells Brazil that she could never deny his father anything he asked, no matter how terrible. Brazil says again that he misses him.

In the fourth scene, “D. Echo,” the Foundling Father announces the performance of Act 3, Scene 2, of Our American Cousin, in which he plays the role of Mrs. Mount. The other actor in the scene calls Mrs. Mount a “sockdologizing old man-trap” (188), which, according to the Foundling Father’s speech in Act 1, was the line that generated enough laughter and applause to cover John Wilkes Booth’s movements in the theater. Stepping out of Our American Cousin, the Foundling Father addresses the audience, thanking them. He launches into the Gettysburg Address. He lists state capitals. Then, as “the centerpiece of the evening” (188), the Foundling Father describes Lincoln’s assassination, the hole in the president’s head, and finally, “Thuh last words. Thuh last breaths. And how thuh nation mourned” (189).

Lucy and Brazil quiz each other on the names of the state capitals in the fifth scene, “E. Spadework.” When they reach Lincoln, Nebraska, Lucy explains that Brazil’s father had been obsessed with the story of his assassination, using some of the same words that the Foundling Father used to describe the event. Brazil starts to cry. Lucy tries to cheer him up by offering him something that she found—his father’s shovel. She tells Brazil how much he looks like his father, and Brazil states proudly, “We could say I just may follow in thuh footsteps of my foe-father” (191). Lucy agrees. Since Lucy can’t hear her husband’s echoes, they imagine what he might say to them. Then Lucy whispers some secret final words to Brazil. Lucy imagines that she sees her husband and that they’ll be happy because they’ll finally know where he is.

Brazil goes back to digging. Lucy comments that he’s a digger just like his father was. She speaks again about how she couldn’t deny her husband anything, listing things that she would give him. Brazil finds a trumpet, a bag of pennies, and then a yellow beard. Lucy stops with an exclamation. Brazil asks what she heard, but Lucy says he doesn’t want to know. Lucy goes back to listing, and Brazil finds a TV, which he sets aside. Lucy lists, “My re-members—you know—thuh stuff out of my head” (194). The TV comes to life, and the Foundling Father appears on the screen. Lucy continues to list and then says, “Well. Its him” (194). The sixth scene, “F. Echo,” is a gunshot that echoes loudly.

In the seventh scene, “G. The Great Beyond,” Lucy and Brazil are watching the first act, which is replaying on the TV. The Foundling Father enters, stating that he thinks he’s supposed to recite the Gettysburg address. There is a coffin waiting for him. Lucy and Brazil see him and recognize that he’s dead and they’ve found him. Lucy has sent invitations for the funeral, expecting that hundreds of thousands of people will want to honor him. Lucy asks if he’s going to get into the coffin, but the Foundling Father isn’t ready. He tries to hug his son and wife, but they both tell him to wait. Brazil promises to mourn dramatically at his funeral. Lucy talks about their visit to the Great Hole of History, where they could see people who were important in history: “Like you, but not you. You know: Known” (196).

The Foundling Father repeats, “Emergency oh, Emergency, please put the Great Man in the ground” (196). Lucy tries to convince him to get into the casket, but he still isn’t ready. He tries to hug them again, but they also still aren’t ready. The Foundling Father starts to eulogize himself, but Lucy tells him to give his Lincoln impression, since Brazil was only five when he left. He does. A gunshot echoes, and the Foundling Father slumps over in his chair. He’s dead. Lucy says she can’t hear anything. Brazil explains that when Lucy was a child, she was in the room when her uncle had died. The family had begged her to tell them his last words, but he had only breathed and screamed. Her family, believing that she was keeping his words a secret, declared her a Confidence at the age of eight. Brazil repeats his speech announcing the hall of wonders, ending on his father’s body, which he describes like Lincoln’s body, finishing with, “Note: thuh last words.—And thuh last breaths.—And how the nation mourns—” (199).