[Two men come round the corner, STANLEY KOWALSKI and MITCH. They are about twenty-eight or thirty years old, roughly dressed in blue denim work clothes. STANLEY carries his bowling jacket and a red-stained package from a butcher’s.]

STANLEY [to MITCH]: Well, what did he say?

MITCH: He said he’d give us even money.

STANLEY: Naw! We gotta have odds!

[They stop at the foot of the steps.]

STANLEY [bellowing]: Hey, there! Stella Baby!

[STELLA comes out on the first-floor landing, a gentle young woman, about twenty-five, and of a background obviously quite different from her husband’s.]

STELLA [mildly]: Don’t holler at me like that. Hi, Mitch.

STANLEY: Catch!

STELLA: What?

STANLEY: Meat!

[He heaves the package at her. She cries out in protest but manages to catch it: then she laughs breathlessly. Her husband and his companion have already started back around the corner.]

STELLA [calling after him]: Stanley! Where are you going?

STANLEY: Bowling!