- Lights rise on Cory hitting the rag ball hanging from the tree with a baseball bat.
- Rose comes out and tells Cory to help her clean the cupboard.
- Cory says he's not quitting the team, no matter what his father says.
- Rose says she'll talk to him about it when he gets back.
- Evidently Gabriel got arrested for disturbing the peace, and Troy is trying to get him out of jail.
- For now, she tells her son, come help clean the cupboard.
- Cory goes inside.
- Rose sees Troy and Bono coming down the alleyway. She asks Troy what happened with Gabe.
- Troy tells her he paid them fifty dollars to let him out of jail.
- He asks where Cory is.
- Rose replies that he's inside helping her clean the cupboard.
- Troy tells her to get Cory to come outside.
- Rose goes back into the house.
- Bono and Troy walk over to the woodpile.
- Bono complains that Troy bought hardwood for the fence instead of something soft like pine.
- Pine is for inside, says Troy.
- His buddy tells him that a fence made of pine would've stayed around for as long as Troy was alive.
- Troy says he may never die.
- Bono brings up the fact that Troy has been talking and laughing with Alberta a lot lately.
- Troy says he does that with all the ladies.
- His friend implies that he's doing more than just talking with Alberta.
- Cory enters from the house.
- Start sawing some boards, his father tells him.
- Both Bono and Troy are impressed with Cory's sawing skills.
- Cory wonders why Rose might want a fence.
- Troy doesn't get it either; they don't have anything valuable enough to steal.
- Bono suggests that maybe Rose is trying to keep them in; she wants the fence because she's afraid of losing Cory and Troy.
- Go inside and look for another saw, Troy tells Cory.
- Troy asks Bono what he meant by that statement.
- Bono tells Troy that he's respected him for a long time. He says that when Troy chose Rose over all the other girls, he knew Troy had some sense.
- Bono tells his friend that he's learned a lot from him over the years. He reminds Troy that Rose is a good woman.
- Troy says he knows that already.
- Bono emphasizes how much Rose loves Troy.
- Troy asks if his friend is saying all this because of Alberta.
- Bono says he just doesn't want to see Troy mess up his marriage.
- Troy is grateful for his friend's advice and tells him so.
- He says he knows he won't find a better woman than Rose, but that Alberta has gotten "stuck" to him (2.1.47).
- Bono advises his friend that he has to take responsibility for his own actions.
- Troy says he'll do what feels right in his heart.
- If you try to have both of them, Bono tells him, you're bound to end up losing one.
- Troy tells his friend he's trying to find a way to work it out.
- Bono says he doesn't mean to be all up in Troy and Rose's business.
- Troy says he's going to get in Bono and Lucille's business. He reminds Bono that Lucille has been wanting a refrigerator for awhile.
- I'll get Lucille a refrigerator when you finish this fence for Rose, Bono tells his friend.
- Troy begins sawing a board.
- Bono starts to exit. Troy asks where he's going.
- I'm not helping you now, says Bono. The longer it takes for Troy to finish the fence, the longer it will be until Bono has to buy that fridge.
- Rose enters from the house. She asks Troy what happened with Gabe.
- Troy tells her again about how he paid a bribe to get his brother out.
- He adds that there will be a hearing soon that will decide whether Gabe needs to be committed to a home.
- Troy says he told the judge that he'd take care of Gabriel. Right now, Gabe is wandering around on his own.
- Rose suggests that maybe Gabe ought to be in a hospital, where he'd be taken care of.
- Troy says it's not right for his brother to be committed – Gabe isn't a threat to anybody. On top of that, Gabe only has mental problems because he got hurt fighting for his country. Troy thinks society owes Gabe some slack.
- Rose recognizes Troy's point of view. She tells him to stop worrying about his brother and come inside to eat.
- Troy says he has to tell her something first.
- He breaks the news that he's gotten Alberta pregnant.
- Rose can't believe what she's hearing.
- Gabriel enters, carrying a rose for Rose.
- She tells him to go in the house and eat some watermelon. He does.
- Rose goes off on Troy.
- She can't believe this is happening after eighteen years of marriage.
- Troy says he can't undo what's been done.
- His wife says he should have stayed in her bed.
- Troy explains that he can relax at Alberta's house in a way that he can't at home.
- He says he can't give her up.
- Rose tells him he ought to go stay with her then, if she's so much better.
- She's not better than you, Troy says. It's just that all the pressure of being the breadwinner for the household won't allow him to truly relax and be himself at home.
- Troy talks about how grateful he was to have Rose and Cory in his life; they helped him be a better man.
- Rose says he should've stayed in her bed then.
- She tells him that she thought of being with other people at times, too. But instead of being unfaithful she stayed beside him.
- Rose says Troy is always talking about how much he gives to the family but he doesn't realize how much he's taken.
- She starts to exit.
- Troy roughly grabs her arm, offended that she said he doesn't give enough.
- Rose begs him to let her go.
- Cory enters.
- He grabs Troy from behind, hauling him off of Rose, then punches Troy in the chest.
- Troy goes after Cory but stops when Rose begs him to.
- "That's strike two," Troy menacingly says to his son (2.1.139).