My Sister's Hand in Mine (30 page)

GERTRUDE
(
Standing up and flicking rice from her shoulders
) Stop it! Please! Stop it! I can't stand this racket … Really. (
She is genuinely upset. They subside gradually. Bewildered, she looks out over the land toward the road
) Something is coming down the road … It must be my boarder … No … She would be coming in an automobile. (
Pause
) Gracious! It certainly is
no
boarder, but what is it?

MRS. LOPEZ
  Friend come and see you?

GERTRUDE
(
Bewildered, staring hard
) No, it's not a friend. It's … (
She stares harder
) It's some sort of king—and others.

MRS. LOPEZ
  (
To her brother
) ¿Qué?

MR. SOLARES
  (
Absently absorbed in his food
) King. Un rey y otros más …

MRS. LOPEZ
  (
Nodding
) Un rey y otros más.

(
Enter
LIONEL
,
bearing a cardboard figure larger than himself, representing Neptune, with flowing beard, crown and sceptre, etc. He is followed by two or more other figure bearers, carrying representations of a channel swimmer and a mermaid.
LIONEL
stops at the gate and dangles into the garden a toy lobster which he has tied to the line of a real fishing rod. The music dies down.
)

LIONEL
  Advertisement.

(
He bobs the lobster up and down.
)

GERTRUDE
For what?

LIONEL
  For the Lobster Bowl … It's opening next week. (
Pointing
) That figure there represents a mermaid and the other one is Neptune, the sea god. This is a lobster … (
He shakes the rod
) Everything connected with the sea in some capacity. Can we have a glass of water?

GERTRUDE
Yes. (
Calling
) Molly! Molly!

MOLLY
  (
From inside the house
) What is it?

GERTRUDE
Come out here immediately. (
To
LIONEL
) Excuse me but I think your figures are really awful. I don't like advertising schemes anyway.

LIONEL
  I have nothing to do with them. I just have to carry them around a few more days and then after that I'll be working at the Bowl. I'm sorry you don't like them.

GERTRUDE
I've always hated everything that was larger than life size.

(
LIONEL
  
opens the gate and enters the garden, followed by the other figure bearers. The garden by now has a very cluttered appearance. The servants,
MRS. LOPEZ
and
FREDERICA
have been gaping at the figures in silence since their arrival.
)

MRS. LOPEZ
  (
Finding her tongue
) ¡Una maravilla!

FREDERICA
Ay, sí.

(
She is nearly swooning with delight. Enter
MOLLY.
She stops short when she sees the figures.
)

MOLLY
  Oh … What are those?

LIONEL
  Advertisements. This is Neptune, the old god.

(
MOLLY
approaches the figures slowly and touches Neptune.
)

MOLLY
  It's beautiful …

LIONEL
  Here's a little lobster.

(
He dangles it into
MOLLY'S
open palm.
)

MOLLY
  It looks like a real lobster. It even has those long threads sticking out over its eyes.

GERTRUDE
Antennae.

MOLLY
  Antennae.

LIONEL
  (
Pulling another little lobster from his pocket and handing it to
MOLLY
) Here. Take this one. I have a few to give away.

MOLLY
  Oh, thank you very much.

(
There followed a heated argument between
FREDERICA
and
MRS. LOPEZ
, who is trying to force
FREDERICA
to ask for a lobster too. They almost come to blows and finally
MRS. LOPEZ
gives
FREDERICA
a terrific shove which sends her stumbling over toward
LIONEL
and
MOLLY.
)

MRS. LOPEZ
  (
Calling out to
LIONEL
) Give my girl a little fish please!

(
LIONEL
  
digs reluctantly into his pocket and hands
FREDERICA
a little lobster. She takes it and returns to her mother, stubbing her toe in her confusion.
)

GERTRUDE
(
Craning her neck and looking out over the lane toward the road
) There's a car stopping. This really must be my boarder. (
She looks down into the garden with an expression of consternation on her face
) The garden is a wreck. Mr. Solares, can't your servants organize this mess? Quickly, for heaven's sake. (
She looks with disgust at
MR. SOLARES
, who is still eating, but holds her tongue. Enter
VIVIAN
,
a young girl of fifteen with wild reddish gold hair. She is painfully thin and her eyes appear to pop out of her head with excitement. She is dressed in bright colors and wears high heels. She is followed by a chauffeur carrying luggage
) And get those figures out of sight!

VIVIAN
  (
Stopping in the road and staring at the house intently for a moment
) The house is heavenly!

(
MOLLY
  
exits rapidly.
)

GERTRUDE
Welcome, Vivian Constable. I'm Gertrude Eastman Cuevas. How was your trip?

VIVIAN
  Stinky. (
Gazing with admiration into the garden packed with people
) And your garden is heavenly too.

GERTRUDE
The garden is a wreck at the moment.

VIVIAN
  Oh, no! It's fascinating.

GERTRUDE
You can't possibly tell yet.

VIVIAN
  Oh, but I can. I decide everything the first minute. It's a fascinating garden.

(
She smiles at everyone.
MR. SOLARES
spits chicken skin out of his mouth onto the grass.
)

MRS. LOPEZ
  Do you want some spaghetti?

VIVIAN
  Not yet, thank you. I'm too excited.

GERTRUDE
(
To
MR. SOLARES
) Will you show Miss Constable and the chauffeur into the house, Mr. Solares? I'll meet you at the top of the stairs.

(
She exits hurriedly into the house, but
MR. SOLARES
continues gnawing on his bone not having paid the slightest attention to
GERTRUDE'S
request. Enter
MRS. CONSTABLE, VIVIAN'S
mother. She is wearing a distinguished city print, gloves, hat and veil. She is frail like her daughter but her coloring is dull.
)

VIVIAN
  (
Spying her mother. Her expression immediately hardens
) Why did you get out of the taxi? You promised at the hotel that you wouldn't get out if I allowed you to ride over with me. You promised me once in the room and then again on the porch. Now you've gotten out. You're dying to spoil the magic. Go back … Don't stand there looking at the house. (
MRS. CONSTABLE
puts her fingers to her lips entreating silence, shakes her head at
VIVIAN
and scurries off stage after nodding distractedly to the people on the lawn
) She can't keep a promise.

GERTRUDE
(
Coming out onto the balcony again and spotting
MR. SOLARES
,
still eating on the grass
) What is the matter with you, Mr. Solares? I asked you to show Miss Constable and the chauffeur into the house and you haven't budged an inch. I've been waiting at the top of the stairs like an idiot.

(
MR. SOLARES
scrambles to his feet and goes into the house followed by
VIVIAN
and the chauffeur. Enter
MRS. CONSTABLE
again.
)

MRS. CONSTABLE
(
Coming up to the hedge and leaning over. To
MRS. LOPEZ
) Forgive me but I would like you to tell Mrs. Eastman Cuevas that I am at the Herons Hotel. (
MRS. LOPEZ
nods absently.
MRS. CONSTABLE
continues in a scarcely audible voice
) You see, Mrs. Eastman Cuevas comes from the same town that I come from and through mutual friends I heard that she took in boarders these days, so I wrote her that Vivian my daughter was coming.

MRS. LOPEZ
  Thank you very much.

MRS. CONSTABLE
My daughter likes her freedom, so we have a little system worked out when we go on vacations. I stay somewhere nearby but not in the same place. Even so, I am the nervous type and I would like Mrs. Eastman Cuevas to know that I'm at the Herons … You see my daughter is unusually high spirited. She feels everything so strongly that she's apt to tire herself out. I want to be available just in case she collapses.

MRS. LOPEZ
  (
Ruffling
FREDERICA'S
hair
) Frederica get very tired too.

MRS. CONSTABLE
Yes, I know. I suppose all the young girls do. Will you tell Mrs. Eastman Cuevas that I'm at the Herons?

MRS. LOPEZ
  O.K.

MRS. CONSTABLE
Thank you a thousand times. I'll run along now or Vivian will see me and she'll think that I'm interfering with her freedom … You'll notice right away what fun she gets out of life. Good-bye.

MRS. LOPEZ
  Good-bye, Mrs. Vamos; despiértense. Esperanza. (
MRS. CONSTABLE
exits hurriedly. To
MR. SOLARES
) Now we go home.

MR. SOLARES
  (
Sullenly
) All right. (
Spanish group leaves
) Esperanza! Esperanza! Frederica!

(
Enter from the house
VIVIAN, GERTRUDE
and the chauffeur, who leaves the garden and exits down the lane.
)

VIVIAN
  (
To
GERTRUDE
,
continuing a conversation
) I'm going to be sky high by dinner time. Then I won't sleep all night. I know myself.

GERTRUDE
Don't you use controls?

VIVIAN
  No, I never do. When I feel myself going up I just go on up until I hit the ceiling. I'm like that. The world is ten times more exciting for me than it is for others.

GERTRUDE
Still I believe in using controls. It's a part of the law of civilization. Otherwise we would be like wild beasts. (
She sighs
) We're bad enough as it is, controls and all.

VIVIAN
  (
Hugging
GERTRUDE
impulsively
) You've got the prettiest hair I've ever seen, and I'm going to love it here. (
GERTRUDE
backs away a little, embarrassed.
VIVIAN
spots the summer house
) What a darling little house! It's like the home of a bird or a poet. (
She approaches the summer house and enters it.
MRS. LOPEZ
motions to the hags to start cleaning up. They hobble around one behind the other gathering things and scraping plates very ineffectually. More often than not the hag behind scrapes more garbage onto the plate just cleaned by the hag in front of her. They continue this until the curtain falls. Music begins. Calling to
GERTRUDE
) I can imagine all sorts of things in here, Miss Eastman Cuevas. I could make plans for hours on end in here. It's so darling and little.

GERTRUDE
(
Coldly
) Molly usually sits in there. But I can't say that she plans much. Just dozes or reads trash. Comic strips. It will do no harm if someone else sits in there for a change.

VIVIAN
  Who is Molly?

GERTRUDE
Molly is my daughter.

VIVIAN
  How wonderful! I want to meet her right away … Where is she?

(
The boys start righting the cardboard figures.
)

LIONEL
  Do you think we could have our water?

GERTRUDE
I'm sorry. Yes, of course. (
Calling
) Molly! (
Silence
) Molly! (
More loudly
) Molly! (
Silence
)

LIONEL
  I think we'll go along to the next place. Don't bother your daughter. I'll come back if I may. I'd like to see you all again … and your daughter. She disappeared so quickly.

GERTRUDE
You stay right where you are. I'll get her out here in a minute. (
Screaming
) Molly! Come out here immediately! Molly!

VIVIAN
  (
In a trilling voice
) Molly! Come on out!… I'm in your little house … Molly!

GERTRUDE
(
Furious
) Molly!

(
All the players look expectantly at the doorway.
MOLLY
does not appear and the curtain comes down in silence.
)