My Sister's Hand in Mine (34 page)

(
MOLLY
  
rips off her veil and throws it on the wedding table and makes a break for the gate to the ocean.
GERTRUDE
in horror grabs
MOLLY'S
arm and drags her back into the garden.
)

GERTRUDE
Stop it! Come back here at once. Are you insane? Button your dress. They'll see you … they'll find you this way and think you're insane …

MOLLY
  I was going in the water …

GERTRUDE
Button your dress. Are you insane! This is what I meant. I've always known it was there, this violence. I've told you again and again that I was frightened. I wasn't sure what I meant … I didn't want to be sure. But I was right, there's something heavy and dangerous inside you, like some terrible rock that's ready to explode … And it's been getting worse all the time. I can't bear it any more. I've got to get away, out of this garden. That's why I married. That's why I'm going away. I'm frightened of staying here with you any more. I can't breathe. Even on bright days the garden seems like a dark place without any air. I'm stifling!

(
GERTRUDE
passes below the balcony on her way to the front door,
MRS. LOPEZ
tilts a vessel containing rice and pours it on
GERTRUDE'S
head.
)

MRS. LOPEZ
  That's for you, bride number one! Plenty more when you go in the car with Solares. Ha ha! Frederica, ándele, ¡tú también!

(
FREDERICA
,
terribly embarrassed, tosses a little rice onto
GERTRUDE
and starts to giggle.
)

GERTRUDE
(
Very agitated, ill-humoredly flicking rice from her shoulders
) Oh, really! Where is Mr. Solares? Is he ready?

MRS. LOPEZ
  My brother is coming right away. Where is bride number two?

GERTRUDE
(
Looking around for
MOLLY
who is back in the summer house
) She's gone back into the summer house.

(
She goes out.
)

MRS. LOPEZ
  I got rice for her too! (
Calling down to the servants who are still lying with their heads under the food stand
) ¡Quinta! ¡Altagracia! ¡Esperanza! ¡Despiértense!

(
The servants wake up and come crawling out from under the food stand.
)

ESPERANZA
(
Scowling
) ¡Caray!

(
She takes an enormous comb out of her pocket and starts running it through her matted hair. There is a sound of a horn right after
ESPERANZA
begins to comb her hair.
)

FREDERICA
(
Beside herself with excitement
) It's Lionel back with the automobile, mama! It must be time. Tell the musicians to start playing!

MRS. LOPEZ
  Yes, querida. ¡Música! (
She kisses her daughter effusively and they both exit from the balcony into the house talking and laughing.
LIONEL
enters from the lane, hurries across the lawn and into the house, just as
FREDERICA
and
MRS. LOPEZ
enter through the front door onto the lawn.
MRS. LOPEZ
calling to the servants
) Cuando salga la señora Eastman Cuevas de la casa, empezarán a cantar. (
She sings a few bars herself counting the time with a swinging finger and facing the servants, who rise and line up in a row. Calling to
MOLLY
) Bride number two! Bride number two! Molly!

(
She takes a few steps toward the summer house and throws some rice at it. The rice gets stuck in the vines instead of reaching
MOLLY
inside. After a few more failures, she goes around to the front of the summer house and, standing at the entrance, she hurls handful after handful at
MOLLY.
Enter from the house
LIONEL
,
and
MR. SOLARES.
The men are carrying grips.
MRS. CONSTABLE
is still stretched out in a corner where she won't interfere with the procession. Some very naive music starts back stage (sounding, if possible, like a Taxco band), as they proceed across the lawn; then the maids begin to sing. While this happens
MRS. LOPEZ
gradually ceases to throw her rice and then disappears in the summer house where she takes the weeping
MOLLY
into her arms.
)

LIONEL
  Where's Molly?

MRS. LOPEZ
  (
Over the music, from inside the summer house
) She don't feel good. She's crying in here. I cried too when I had my wedding. Many young girls do. I didn't want to leave my house neither.

(
She steps out of the summer house.
)

LIONEL
  (
Calling
) I'll be back, Molly, as soon as I load these bags.

(
Enter
GERTRUDE
as
MRS. LOPEZ
comes out of the summer house. The music swells and the singing is louder.
GERTRUDE
walks rapidly through the garden in a shower of rice and rose petals.
MOLLY
comes out of the summer house and
GERTRUDE
stops. They confront each other for a second without speaking.
GERTRUDE
continues on her way.
MOLLY
goes back into the summer house.
)

GERTRUDE
(
From the road, calling over the music
) Goodbye, Molly!

(
The wedding party files out, singing,
MRS. LOPEZ
bringing up the rear. She throws a final handful of rice at the summer house, but it does not reach. They exit.
MOLLY
is left alone on the stage. The music gradually fades.
)

LIONEL
  (
Returning and coming into the garden
) Molly! (
There is no answer. He walks around to the front of the summer house and looks in
) Molly, I'm sorry you feel bad. (
Pause
) Why don't you come out? There's a very pretty sunset. (
He reaches in and pulls her out by the hands. He puts his arm around her shoulder and leads her toward the house
) We can go upstairs on the balcony and look at the sunset.

(
They disappear into the house and reappear on the balcony, where they go to the balustrade and lean over it.
)

MOLLY
  (
Staring down into the garden, in a very small voice
) It looks different.

LIONEL
  (
After gazing off into the distance very thoughtfully for a minute
) I've always liked it when something that I've looked at every day suddenly seems strange and unfamiliar. Maybe not always, but when I was home I used to like looking out my window after certain storms that left a special kind of light in the sky.

MOLLY
  (
In a whisper
) It looks different …

LIONEL
  A very brilliant light that illuminated only the most distant places, the places nearest to the horizon. Then I could see little round hills, and clumps of trees, and pastures that I didn't remember ever seeing before, very, very close to the sky. It always gave me a lift, as if everything might change around me but in a wonderful way that I wouldn't have guessed was possible. Do you understand what I mean?

(
MOLLY
  
shakes her head, negatively. He looks at her for a moment, a little sadly.
)

MOLLY
  (
Anguished, turning away from him
) I don't know. I don't know. It looks so different …

Curtain

Act Two

Scene i

The Lobster Bowl, ten months later.

Just before dawn. The oyster-shell door is open and the sound of waves breaking will continue throughout this scene.
MOLLY
and
LIONEL
are playing cards at one of the tables, Russian Bank or its equivalent. They are sitting in a circle of light. The rest of the stage is in darkness.
MRS. CONSTABLE
is lying on a bench but can't be seen.

 

MOLLY
  You just put a king on top of another king.

LIONEL
  I was looking for an ace.

MOLLY
  (
Smilingly
) It's right here, silly, under your nose.

LIONEL
  It's almost morning.

MOLLY
  (
Wistful
) Can't we play one more game after this?

LIONEL
  All right.

(
They play for a while in silence, then
LIONEL
stops again.
)

MOLLY
  What is it?

LIONEL
  Nothing.

MOLLY
  I don't think you want to play at all. You're thinking about something else.

LIONEL
  I had a letter from my brother … again.

MOLLY
  (
Tense
) The one who's still in St. Louis?

LIONEL
  That's right, the popular one, the one who'd like us to come back there.

MOLLY
  He's big and tall.

LIONEL
  Yes, he's big and tall, like most boys in this country. I've been thinking a lot about St. Louis, Molly …

MOLLY
  Inez says we've got bigger men here than they have in Europe.

LIONEL
  Well, Swedes are big and so are Yugoslavians …

MOLLY
  But the French people are little.

LIONEL
  Well, yes, but they're not as little as all that. They're not midgets. And they're not the way people used to picture them years ago, silly and carefree and saying Oo … la … la … all the time.

MOLLY
  They're not saying Oo … la … la?

LIONEL
  I don't know really, I've never been there. (
Dreaming, neglecting his cards
) Molly, when you close your eyes and picture the world do you see it dark? (
MOLLY
doesn't answer right away
) Do you, Molly? Do you see the world dark behind your eyes?

MOLLY
  I … I don't know … I see parts of it dark.

LIONEL
  Like what?

MOLLY
  Like woods … like pine-tree woods.

LIONEL
  I see it dark, but beautiful like the ocean is right now. And like I saw it once when I was a child … just before a total eclipse. Did you ever see a total eclipse?

MOLLY
  I never saw any kind of eclipse.

LIONEL
  I saw one with my brother. There was a shadow over the whole earth. I was afraid then, but it stayed in my memory like something that was beautiful. It made me afraid but I knew it was beautiful.

MOLLY
  It's my game.

(
They start shuffling.
)

LIONEL
  (
Tentative
) Did you ever worry about running far away from sad things when you were young, and then later getting older and not being able to find your way back to them ever again, even when you wanted to?

MOLLY
  You would never want to find your way back to sad things.

LIONEL
  But you might have lost wonderful things too, mixed in with the sad ones. Suppose in a few years I wanted to remember the way the world looked that day, the day of the eclipse when I saw the shadow.

MOLLY
  (
Stops dealing her cards out very slowly, steeped in a dream
) She had a shadow.

LIONEL
  And suppose I couldn't remember it. What Molly?

MOLLY
  She had a shadow.

LIONEL
  Who?

MOLLY
  My mother.

LIONEL
  Oh …

(
He deals his cards out more rapidly, becoming deeply absorbed in his game.
)

MOLLY
  It used to come and pass over her whole life and make it dark. It didn't come very often, but when it did she used to go downstairs and drink fizzy water. Once I went down I was twelve years old. I waited until she was asleep and I sneaked down into the kitchen very quietly. Then I switched the light on and I opened the ice chest and I took out a bottle of fizzy water just like she did. Then I went over to the table and I sat down.

LIONEL
  (
Without looking up from his cards
) And then …

MOLLY
  I drank a little water, but I couldn't drink any more. The water was so icy cold. I was going to drink a whole bottleful like she did, but nothing … really nothing turned out like I thought it would. (
LIONEL
mixes all his cards up together in a sudden gesture.
MOLLY
comes out of her dream
) Why are you messing up the cards? We haven't begun our game … (
LIONEL
doesn't answer
) What's the matter?

LIONEL
  Nothing.

MOLLY
  But you've messed up the cards.

LIONEL
  I was trying to tell you something … It meant a lot to me … I wanted you to listen.