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NICK [smiles at MARTHA. Then, to GEORGE, indicating a side table near the hall]: May I leave my drink here?
GEORGE [as NICK exits without waiting for a reply]: Yeah . . . sure . . . why not? We've got half-filled glasses everywhere in the house, wherever Martha forgets she's left them...in the linen closet, on the edge of the bathtub....I even found one in the freezer, once.
MARTHA [Amused in spite of herself]: You did not!
GEORGE: Yes I did.
MARTHA [ibid.]: You did not!
GEORGE [Giving HONEY her brandy]: Yes I did. [To HONEY] Brandy doesn't give you a hangover?
HONEY: I never mix. And then, I don't drink very much, either.
GEORGE [Grimaces behind her back]: Oh...that's good. Your...your husband was telling me about the ...chromosomes.
MARTHA [Ugly]: The What?
GEORGE: The chromosomes, Martha...the genes, or whatever they are. [To HONEY] You've got quite a ...terrifying husband.
HONEY [As if she's being joshed]: Ohhhhhhhhh....
GEORGE: No, really. He's quite terrifying, with his chromosomes, and all.
MARTHA: He's in the Math Department.
GEORGE: No, Martha...he's a biologist.
MARTHA [Her voice rising]: He's in the Math Department!
HONEY [Timidly]: Uh...biology.
MARTHA [Unconvinced]: Are you sure?
HONEY [With a little giggle]: Well, I ought to. [Then as an afterthought] Be.
MARTHA [Grumpy]: I suppose so. I don't know who said he was in the Math Department.
GEORGE: You did, Martha.
MARTHA [By way of irritable explanation]: Well, I can't be expected to remember everything. I meet fifteen new teachers and their goddamn wives...present company outlawed, of course...[HONEY nods, smiles sillily]...and I'm supposed to remember everything. [Pause] So? He's a biologist. Good for him. Biology's even better. It's less...abstruse.
GEORGE: Abstract.
MARTHA: ABSTRUSE! In the sense of recondite. [Sticks her tongue out at GEORGE] Don't you tell me words. Biology's even better. It's...right at the meat of things.
[NICK re-enters]
You're right at the meat of things, baby.
NICK [Taking his drink from the side table]: Oh?
HONEY [With that giggle]: They thought you were in the Math Department.
NICK: Well, maybe I ought to be.
MARTHA: You stay right where you are...you stay right at the...meat of things.
GEORGE: You're obsessed with that phrase, Martha....It's ugly.
MARTHA [Ignoring GEORGE...to NICK]: You stay right there. [Laughs] Hell, you can take over the History Department just as easy from there as anywhere else. God knows, somebody's going to take over the History Department, some day, and it ain't going to be Georgie-boy, there...that's for sure. Are ya, swampy...are ya, Hunh?
GEORGE: In my mind, Martha, you are buried in cement, right up to your neck. [MARTHA giggles] No...right up to your nose...that's much quieter.
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