Giant's Fireplace

Alright, here we go, quiet. Good evening. May I present my wife, Cassie? Good evening. The desire for improvement is very strong in all of us. We'd like to do better than we're doing, or eat better, or read better books, or get a better paycheck each week.

And if we have children, we would like our children to have all the benefits we have and all those things we wanted, but couldn't get? A good point of conflict in such a situation would arise when a parent wanted something for a child, and the child didn't want the same thing.

And that's the point to Richard Chandley's play for tonight. It's called Giants Fireplace. They say it was the heat that made John Walski do what he did. John was the blower, the boss of number four blast furnace down at the mill.

A big difference from when we was all kids. Back then he was always saying they'd never catch him getting his hands dirty, working heat all his life like his old man. Oh, he was always talking big.

Then one day he'd come in the bar here said he was married, working at the mill. Just temporary. Can't even remember her name now. She died when the boy was born. John brought up Russ himself, worked hard at it, right up until Russ was old enough for the army.

I remember Korea was on then. We gave him a little send off here in the bar the night he left. I was. I was. I was. John, when you got your boy to listen to me, huh?

Russ, listen to why. Yeah, why to go on? Now, just don't let him sell you a bill of goods. Remember, keep your eyes open, your mouth shut, and never volunteer. And if you're going the line over there, keep your feet dry.