[_Moving forward._] I don’t believe that’s true! I don’t believe that’s true! Maybe you think that’s why you wrote it, but it’s not the reason. You wrote it because it’s the living truth, and it moved in you and you had to say it. ED [_Rising._] Who are you? THE WOMAN I am one of the people. I have lived a long way off. I heard that call and--I had to come. THE BOY [_Blithely._] I’ve come too. I’m from Georgia. I read it, and I didn’t want to stay at school any longer. I said, “I want something different and bigger--something more like this.” I heard about your not being able to sell your paper on the newsstands just because lots of people don’t want anything different and bigger, and I said to myself, “I’ll sell the paper! I’ll go and sell it on the streets!” And I got so excited about it that I didn’t even wait for the dance. There was a dance that night, and I had my girl too. THE WOMAN He didn’t even wait for the dance. OSCAR The idealists are calling upon the intellectuals, and “calling” them. ED [_To THE MAN._] And what did you leave, my friend? THE MAN [_Heavily._] My oyster bed. I’m from the Cape. I had a chance to go in on an oyster bed. I read what you wrote--a woman who had stopped in an automobile left it, and I said to myself, “I’m nothing but an oyster myself. Guess I’ll come to life.” ED But--what did you come here for? THE MAN Well--for the rest of it. ED The rest of what? THE MAN The rest of what you’ve got. THE BOY Yes--that’s it; we’ve come for the rest of what you’ve got. OSCAR This is awkward for Ed. THE WOMAN Give it to us. ED What? THE WOMAN The rest of it. ED [_An instant’s pause._] I haven’t got anything more to give. THE BOY But you made us think you had. You led us to believe you had. THE WOMAN And you have. If you hadn’t more to give, you couldn’t have given that. OSCAR Very awkward. THE WOMAN You said--“I call to _you_. You who have dreamed, and dreaming know, and knowing care.” Well, three of us are here. From the South and the East and the West we’ve come because you made us want something we didn’t have, made us want it so much we had to move the way we thought was toward it--before the sun goes down. THE BOY We thought people here had life--something different and bigger. OSCAR Perhaps we’d better go. Poor Ed. ED I wish you’d shut up, Oscar. THE WOMAN I know you will give it to us. ED Give _what_ to you? THE WOMAN What you have for the people. [_OSCAR coughs._] What you made us know we need. OSCAR You shouldn’t have called personally. You should have sent in your needs by mail. ED Oscar, try and act as if you had a soul. THE WOMAN I think he really has. [_A look at OSCAR--then, warmly._] At least he has a heart. It’s only that he feels he must be witty. But you--you’re not going to let us just go away again, are you? He gave up his oyster bed, and this boy didn’t even wait for the dance, and me--I gave up my tombstone. ED Your--? THE WOMAN