My Sister's Hand in Mine (31 page)

 

Scene ii

One month later.

A beach and a beautiful backdrop of the water. The
SOLARES
family is again spread out among dirty plates as though the scenery had changed around them while they themselves had not stirred since the first act.
GERTRUDE
is kneeling and rearranging her hair near the
SOLARES
family,
VIVIAN
at her feet.
MOLLY
and
LIONEL
a little apart from the other people,
MOLLY
watching
VIVIAN.
The two old hags are wearing white slips for swimming.

The music is sad and disturbing, implying a more serious mood.

MRS. LOPEZ
  (
Poking her daughter who is lying next to her
) A ver si tú y Esperanza nos cantan algo …

FREDERICA
(
From under handkerchief which covers her face
) Ay, mamá.

MRS. LOPEZ
  (
Calling to
ESPERANZA
) Esperanza, a ver si nos cantan algo, tú y Frederica.

(
She gives her daughter a few pokes. They argue a bit and
FREDERICA
gets up and drags herself wearily over to the hags. They consult and sing a little song. The hags join in at the chorus.
)

ESPERANZA
Bueno—sí …

GERTRUDE
(
When they have finished
) That was nice. I like sad songs.

VIVIAN
  (
Still at her feet and looking up at her with adoration
) So do I … (
MOLLY
is watching
VIVIAN
,
a beam of hate in her eye.
VIVIAN
takes
GERTRUDE'S
wrist and plays with her hand just for a moment.
GERTRUDE
pulls it away, instinctively afraid of
MOLLY'S
reaction. To
GERTRUDE
) I wish Molly would come swimming with me. I thought maybe she would. (
Then to
MOLLY
,
for
GERTRUDE'S
benefit
) Molly, won't you come in, just this once. You'll love it once you do. Everyone loves the water, everyone in the world.

GERTRUDE
(
Springing to her feet, and addressing the Spanish people
) I thought we were going for a stroll up the beach after lunch. (
There is apprehension behind her words
) You'll never digest lying on your backs, and besides you're sure to fall asleep if you don't get up right away.

(
She regains her inner composure as she gives her commands.
)

MRS. LOPEZ
  (
Groaning
) ¡Ay! ¡Caray! Why don't you sleep, Miss Eastman Cuevas?

GERTRUDE
It's very bad for you, really. Come on. Come on, everybody! Get up! You too, Alta Gracia and Quintina, get up! Come on, everybody up! (
There is a good deal of protesting while the servants and the
SOLARES
family struggle to their feet
) I promise you you'll feel much better later on if we take just a little walk along the beach.

VIVIAN
  (
Leaping to
GERTRUDE'S
side in one bound
) I
love
to walk on the beach!

(
MOLLY
  
too has come forward to be with her mother.
)

GERTRUDE
(
Pause. Again stifling her apprehension with a command
) You children stay here. Or take a walk along the cliffs if you'd like to. But be careful!

FREDERICA
I want to be with my mother.

GERTRUDE
Well, come along, but we're only going for a short stroll. What a baby you are, Frederica Lopez.

MR. SOLARES
  I'll run the car up to my house and go and collect that horse I was telling you about. Then I'll catch up with you on the way back.

GERTRUDE
You won't get much of a walk.

(
FREDERICA
throws her arms around her mother and gives her a big smacking kiss on the cheek.
MRS. LOPEZ
kisses
FREDERICA.
They all exit slowly, leaving
VIVIAN, LIONEL, MOLLY
and the dishes behind.
MOLLY
,
sad that she can't walk with her mother, crosses wistfully back to her former place next to
LIONEL
,
but
VIVIAN
—
eager to cut her out whenever she can—rushes to
LIONEL'S
side, and crouches on her heels exactly where
MOLLY
was sitting before.
MOLLY
notices this, and settles in a brooding way a little apart from them, her back to the pair.
)

VIVIAN
  Lionel, what were you saying before about policies?

LIONEL
  When?

VIVIAN
  Today, before lunch. You said, “What are your policies” or something crazy like that?

LIONEL
  Oh, yes. It's just … I'm mixed up about my own policies, so I like to know how other people's are getting along.

VIVIAN
  Well, I'm for freedom and a full exciting life! (
Pointedly to
MOLLY'S
back
) I'm a daredevil. It frightens my mother out of her wits, but I love excitement!

LIONEL
  Do you always do what gives you pleasure?

VIVIAN
  Whenever I can, I do.

LIONEL
  What about conflicts?

VIVIAN
  What do you mean?

LIONEL
  Being pulled different ways and not knowing which to choose.

VIVIAN
  I don't have those. I always know exactly what I want to do. When I have a plan in my head I get so excited I can't sleep.

LIONEL
  Maybe it would be a stroke of luck to be like you. I have nothing but conflicts. For instance, one day I think I ought to give up the world and be a religious leader, and the next day I'll turn right around and think I ought to throw myeslf deep into politics. (
VIVIAN
,
bored, starts untying her beach shoes
) There have been ecclesiastics in my family before. I come from a gloomy family. A lot of the men seem to have married crazy wives. Five brothers out of six and a first cousin did. My uncle's first wife boiled a cat alive in the upstairs kitchen.

VIVIAN
  What do you mean, the upstairs kitchen?

LIONEL
  We had the top floor fitted out as an apartment and the kitchen upstairs was called the upstairs kitchen.

VIVIAN
  (
Hopping to her feet
) Oh, well, let's stop talking dull heavy stuff. I'm going to swim.

LIONEL
  All right.

VIVIAN
  (
Archly
) Good-bye, Molly.

(
She runs off stage in the direction of the cove.
MOLLY
sits on rock.
)

LIONEL
  (
Goes over and sits next to her
) Doesn't the ocean make you feel gloomy when the sky is gray or when it starts getting dark out?

MOLLY
  I don't guess it does.

LIONEL
  Well, in the daytime, if it's sunny out and the ocean's blue it puts you in a lighter mood, doesn't it?

MOLLY
  When it's blue …

LIONEL
  Yes, when it's blue and dazzling. Don't you feel happier when it's like that?

MOLLY
  I don't guess I emphasize that kind of thing.

LIONEL
  I see. (
Thoughtfully
) Well, how do you feel about the future? Are you afraid of the future in the back of your mind?

MOLLY
  I don't guess I emphasize that much either.

LIONEL
  Maybe you're one of the lucky ones who looks forward to the future. Have you got some kind of ambition?

MOLLY
  Not so far. Have you?

LIONEL
  I've got two things I think I should do, like I told Vivian. But they're not exactly ambitions. One's being a religious leader, the other's getting deep into politics. I don't look forward to either one of them.

MOLLY
  Then you'd better not do them.

LIONEL
  I wish it was that simple. I'm not an easygoing type. I come from a gloomy family … I dread being a minister in a way because it brings you so close to death all the time. You would get too deep in to ever forget death and eternity again, as long as you lived—not even for an afternoon. I think that even when you were talking with your friends or eating or joking, it would be there in the back of your mind. Death, I mean … and eternity. At the same time I think I might have a message for a parish if I had one.

MOLLY
  What would you tell them?

LIONEL
  Well, that would only come through divine inspiration, after I made the sacrifice and joined up.

MOLLY
  Oh.

LIONEL
  I get a feeling of dread in my stomach about being a political leader too … That should cheer me up more, but it doesn't. You'd think I really liked working at the Lobster Bowl.

MOLLY
  Don't you?

LIONEL
  Yes, I do, but of course that isn't life. I have fun too, in between worrying … fun, dancing, and eating, and swimming … and being with you. I like to be with you because you seem to only half hear me. I think I could say just the opposite and it wouldn't sound any different to you. Now why do I like that? Because it makes me feel very peaceful. Usually if I tell my feelings to a person I don't want to see them any more. That's another peculiar quirk of mine. Also there's something very familiar about you, even though I never met you before two months ago. I don't know what it is quite … your face … your voice … (
Taking her hand
) or maybe just your hand. (
Holds her hand for a moment, deep in thought
) I hope I'm not going to dread it all for too long. Because it doesn't feel right to me, just working at the Lobster Bowl. It's nice though really … Inez is always around if you want company. She can set up oyster cocktails faster than anyone on the coast. That's what she claims, anyway. She has some way of checking. You'd like Inez.

MOLLY
  I don't like girls.

LIONEL
  Inez is a grown-up woman. A kind of sturdy rock-of-Gibraltar type but very high strung and nervous too. Every now and then she blows up. (
MOLLY
rises suddenly and crosses to the rock
) Well, I guess it really isn't so interesting to be there, but it is outside of the world and gloomy ideas. Maybe it's the decorations. It doesn't always help though, things come creeping in anyway.

MOLLY
  (
Turning to
LIONEL
) What?

LIONEL
  Well, like what ministers talk about … the valley of the Shadow of Death and all that … or the world comes creeping in. I feel like it's a warning that I shouldn't stay too long. That I should go back to St. Louis. It would be tough though. Now I'm getting too deep in. I suppose you live mainly from day to day. That's the way girls live mainly, isn't it?

MOLLY
  (
Crossing back to
LIONEL
) I don't know. I'm all right as long as I can keep from getting mad. It's hard to keep from getting mad when you see through people. Most people can't like I do. I'd emphasize that all right. The rest of the stuff doesn't bother me much. A lot of people want to yank you out and get in themselves. Girls do anyway. I haven't got anything against men. They don't scheme the way girls do. But I keep to myself as much as I can.

LIONEL
  Well, there's that angle too, but my point of view is different. Have you thought any more about marrying me if your mother marries Mr. Solares? I know we're both young, but you don't want to go to business school and she's sure to send you there if she marries him. She's always talking about it. She'd be in Mexico most of the year and you'd be in business school. We could live over the Lobster Bowl and get all the food we wanted free, and it's good food. Mr. Solares and Mrs. Lopez liked it when they went to eat there.

MOLLY
  Yes, I know they did.

LIONEL
  Well?

MOLLY
  I won't think of it until it happens. I can't picture anything being any different than it is. I feel I might just plain die if everything changes, but I don't imagine it will.

LIONEL
  You should look forward to change.

MOLLY
  I don't want anything different.

LIONEL
  Then you
are
afraid of the future just like me.

MOLLY
  (
Stubbornly
) I don't think much about the future.

(
VIVIAN
returns from her swim.
)

LIONEL
  (
To
MOLLY
) Well, even if you don't think much about the future you have to admit that …

(
He is interrupted by
VIVIAN
who rushes up to them, almost stumbling in her haste.
)