Chapter 4

As the front door closed behind Travis and Beneatha, the door to Ruth’s bedroom opened. Lena looked at her daughter-in-law and told her to go back to bed.

Ruth reassured her that she was okay. They both looked at the clock. It was 10:20. The mailman should be there very soon.

A few moments later, Travis re-entered the room. He had the can of kitchen cleaner, but he told his grandmother that the neighbor didn’t have much of it.

“Alright,” said Lena. “Put it on the shopping list.” They continued talking for a few minutes about their neighbors. They often lent or borrowed things from each other, and Lena was annoyed that the neighbor didn’t have more cleaner for them. She thought that the Younger family always gave more to the Johnson family than the Johnson family gave to them. As they talked, they heard a noise. It was the doorbell!

The room became very quiet. They looked at each other nervously. This was what they were waiting for. It was the mailman. Travis looked back and forth at his mother and his grandmother. They were silent and still. They were too nervous to do anything.

Finally, Ruth told her son, “Travis, get down those steps!”

Travis ran quickly to the door and down the steps.

Lena turned to her daughter-in-law nervously, “Is it really here?” She couldn’t believe it. “Well, I don’t know why we are so excited about it. We have known it was coming for months.” When Big Walter died, the insurance company told them that they qualified for an insurance payment. But they had to wait several months for the paperwork to be completed and for the check to be mailed. Finally, today was the day. The money that Big Walter saved all his life was going to help his family.

Ruth said quietly, “There’s a difference between thinking about the money and holding it in your hands… A piece of paper worth ten thousand dollars…”

The door opened suddenly and Travis ran in. He was holding an envelope high above his head. His face was bright and he was breathless. He walked slowly to his grandmother. His face was very serious as he put the envelope into her hands.

Lena held the envelope. She thought about her husband. She missed him so much. This envelope was his last gift to his family.

“Come on!” said Ruth impatiently. “Open it! Oh, I wish Walter Lee was here to see!”

Travis said also, “Open it, Grandmama!”

Lena stared at the envelope. “Now you all be quiet! It’s just a check.”

“Open it!”

Lena kept holding the envelope. When she opened it, she would have ten thousand dollars. Her life would be different. “Now don’t act silly,” she said. “We’ve never been silly about money—”

“We’ve never had money before,” said Ruth. “Open it!”

Finally, Lena tore the top of the envelope. She pulled out the thin blue paper and looked at it closely. Then she held the paper in her hands and said, “Travis, is that the right number of zeros?”

Travis leaned in close. “Yes’m,” he said. “Ten thousand dollars. Grandmama, you’re rich.”

Lena held the check away from her. She looked at it. Her face became deeply unhappy. Ten thousand dollars. Slowly, she gave the check to Ruth and told her to put it away somewhere. Ten thousand dollars. Her husband died and she got a check for ten thousand dollars.

Travis saw his grandmother’s unhappiness. He asked his mother, “What’s the matter with Grandmama? Doesn’t she want to be rich?”

Ruth patted him gently on the back and told him to go play. When he ran out, Ruth turned to Lena. “You’re upset,” she said.

Lena signed unhappily. “I think if I didn’t have all of you, I would just put that money away or give it to the church or something.”

Ruth frowned. “Don’t say that. Mr. Younger would be mad if he heard you talking like that.”

Lena knew that she was right. Mr. Younger would want Lena and the family to have the money. They certainly needed it. She looked at Ruth at last. “Where did you go today, Ruth?”

Ruth looked away. “To the doctor.”

“Now Ruth,” said Lena seriously. She suspected the truth. She could see Ruth’s guilty expression and she knew that she was correct. She guessed that Ruth went to see a doctor about ending the pregnancy.

Before Lena could say anything more, Walter came running into the apartment. Before he said hello, he asked quickly, “Did it come?”

Lena was very quiet when she answered. “Can’t you give a proper greeting before you start asking about money?”

Walter turned to Ruth and asked again. “Did it come?”

Ruth silently picked up the check and put it on the table in front of them. She watched him quietly as he sat down and picked up the check. He carefully counted the zeros.

“Ten thousand dollars,” he said. Then he looked at his mother and took some papers out of his pocket. “Mama, look. Old Willy Harris put everything on paper—”

“Son,” said Lena. “I think you ought to talk to your wife. I’ll go out and leave you alone if you want—”

“I can talk to her later, Mama, please—” said Walter, holding out the papers to his mother.

Lena didn’t take the papers. She said very urgently, “Son—”

Walter yelled in frustration, “Will somebody please listen to me today!”

Lena’s voice became very quiet. “I don’t allow yelling in this house, Walter Lee, and you know it.”

Walter looked at both of the women in frustration. Why wouldn’t they listen to him? Couldn’t they understand that this was his opportunity to start a better life? Didn’t they want him to be successful?

Lena said very quietly, “We are not going to invest in any liquor stores.”

“But, Mama,” protested Walter, “You haven’t even looked at it.”

Lena told her son that she didn’t want to talk about it any more. For a few moments the room was completely quiet.

Walter felt disappointed. He looked away. “You haven’t even looked at it.” He crumpled the papers in his hands and frowned deeply. “Well, you tell that to my son tonight when you put him to sleep on the living room couch.” He turned and faced his mother, “You tell it to my wife, Mama, tomorrow when she has to go out to take care of somebody else’s kids. And you tell it to me, Mama, every time we need a new pair of curtains and I have to watch you go out and work in somebody’s kitchen.”

Ten thousand dollars, and they would have the same life as always. Walter was tired of it. He was tired of everyone working so hard. They never had enough money. They didn’t have enough room in their home. And he had a plan to fix their problems. If he could open his business, he could take care of his family. Why didn’t they understand?

Walter grabbed his coat again and walked toward the door. His wife said, “Where are you going?”

“I’m going out!” He said. “Just out of this apartment somewhere, anywhere.”

Ruth went to get her coat. “I’ll come, too,” she said quickly.

Walter turned around suddenly. “I don’t want you to come!”

Ruth stopped. She looked at her husband. “I have to talk to you about something, Walter.”

Walter shook his head and kept going to the door.

Lena was upset. Her son was always so angry these days. He was so focused on money that he didn’t see what was really important. “Sit down, Walter Lee. You need to talk to your wife. Now sit down.”

Ruth lost her patience. She was tired and upset. She didn’t like how unhappy her husband was. Did he still care about her? “Oh, let him go out and drink himself to death!” She said sadly. “He makes me sick to my stomach!” She threw her coat at him and ran into her bedroom.

Walter yelled, “I wish I never married you!”

Lena said quietly, “Walter, what is the matter with you?” He didn’t used to be so angry all the time. He used to treat his wife kindly. They used to be a happy family.

Lena continued, “You have changed. Something is making you unhappy. It’s more than not having this money. The past few years I’ve been watching it happen to you. You get all nervous. Your eyes get wild. You get so angry, and when someone asks you about it, you yell at them and go out to drink. Walter Lee, people can’t live with that. Ruth is a good, patient girl, but you are starting to be too much. Don’t make the mistake of driving that girl away from you.”

Walter looked at her defiantly. “Why? What does she do for me?”

Lena said simply, “She loves you.”

“Mama, I’m going out. I want to go off somewhere and be by myself for a while.” He needed to think. He needed to get away from this apartment and his unhappy life.

“I’m sorry about your liquor store, son. It’s just not right for us. But, Walter, don’t go. It’s dangerous for a man to go outside his home to look for peace.”

Walter looked at her sadly. “Then why can’t there ever be peace in this house? Mama,” he continued. “I want so many things. I want so many things that it’s driving me crazy. Mama, look at me.”

Lena looked at her son. “I am looking at you. You are a good-looking boy. You have a job, a nice wife, a fine boy, and—”

“A job?” interrupted Walter. “Mama, a job? I open and close car doors all day long. I drive a man around in his car and I say, ‘Yes, sir; no, sir; very good, sir.’ Mama, that isn’t a job. That’s nothing at all.” He sighed and said quietly, “Mama, I don’t know if I can make you understand.”

“Understand what, baby?” she asked him lovingly.

Walter looked out the little window. “Sometimes it’s like I can see the future all stretched out in front of me. The future… and it’s just a big, blank space. Full of nothing. I don’t have a future now, Mama. But,” he knelt in front of her. “Mama, sometimes when I’m downtown and I pass those little restaurants, I see a different future. I see those white men sitting in their chairs. I see them talking about money. They make big decisions and plans worth millions of dollars. Sometimes they don’t look older than me, and I—”

Lena interrupted him, “Son, why do you talk so much about money?”
Walter said passionately, “Because it is life, Mama!”

Lena lowered her eyes. She was sad. Her son thought that money was life. When she was a child, freedom was life. They worried about being safe and having enough money and security to survive. Now, her children only thought about money and big careers. They weren’t satisfied with their life. She and Big Walter worked so hard to provide their family with a home and with love. But now, all they thought about was money.

She said finally, “You aren’t satisfied or proud of anything we’ve done for you. We gave you a home. We kept you out of trouble until you grew up. We gave you a safe and loving home. You’re my children, but you are so different from me and Big Walter.”

Walter listened to her and touched her hand gently, “You just don’t understand, Mama, you just don’t understand.”

Lena said suddenly, “Do you know that your wife is expecting another baby?”

Walter stood up suddenly. He was surprised. He didn’t know about the baby.

“That’s what she wanted to talk to you about,” continued his mother. “I’m sorry that I told you, but I thought you should know. I think Ruth is thinking about ending the pregnancy.”

Walter shook his head, “No, no Ruth wouldn’t do that.”

Lena looked at him seriously. “A woman will do anything for her family. She would do it for you and for Travis.”

Walter couldn’t believe it. “You don’t know Ruth if you think that she would do that.”

Ruth was listening from the other room. She quietly opened the door and said, “Yes, I would Walter.” She knew they didn’t have the money or the space for another baby. And she was scared about the future. Would Walter still be there? She didn’t want to raise two children without her husband.

Lena looked from wife to husband. She said sternly, “Son, you tell your wife that you will take care of her. Tell her that she can keep the baby. Tell her that you can support your family.”

Walter just stared at his wife. “Ruth…” he started, but he couldn’t finish. Finally, he picked up his keys and his coat, and walked out of the apartment.