My Sister's Hand in Mine (35 page)

MOLLY
  I was listening.

LIONEL
  You told me about fizzy water … and your mother. (
MOLLY
automatically passing her hand over her own cards and messing them up
) I wanted you to listen. I don't want you to half hear me any more. I used to like it but …

MOLLY
  (
Pathetic, bewildered
) I listen to you. We had a nice time yesterday … when … when we were digging for clams.

LIONEL
  (
Looking back at her unable to be angry, now with compassion
) Yes, Molly, we did. We had a very good time … yesterday. I like digging for clams … (
They hold, looking at each other for a moment
) I'm going upstairs. I'm tired. I'm going to bed.

(
LIONEL
  
exits up stairs.
MRS. CONSTABLE
comes out of the darkness, where she has been sleeping on her bench, into the circle of light.
)

MOLLY
  You woke up.

MRS. CONSTABLE
I've been awake … for a while. I was waiting.

MOLLY
  I won the game, but it wasn't much fun. Lionel didn't pay attention to the cards.

MRS. CONSTABLE
I was waiting because I wanted to tell you something … a secret … I always tell you my secrets … But there's one I haven't told you … I've known it all along … But I've never said anything to you … never before … But now I'm going to … I must.

MOLLY
  (
Wide-eyed, thinking she is referring to
VIVIAN
) It wasn't my fault! I didn't mean to …

MRS. CONSTABLE
My husband never loved me … Vivian?

MOLLY
  Vivian! It wasn't my fault … I didn't … She … I didn't …

(
MOLLY
  
starts to sob.
)

MRS. CONSTABLE
(
Clapping her hand over
MOLLY'S
mouth
) Shhhhhh … They belonged to each other, my husband and Vivian. They never belonged to me … ever … But I couldn't admit it … I hung on hard to the bitter end. When they died … nothing was left … no memories … Everything vanished … all the panic … and the strain … I hardly remember my life. They never loved me … I didn't really love them … My heart had fake roots … when the strain was over, they dried up … they shriveled and snapped and my heart was left empty. There was no blood left in my heart at all … They never loved me! Molly … your mother … It's not too late … She doesn't …

MOLLY
  (
Interrupting, sensing that
MRS. CONSTABLE
will say something too awful to hear
) My mother wrote me. I got the letter today. She
hates
it down in Mexico. She hates it there.

MRS. CONSTABLE
Molly, if you went away from here, I'd miss you very much. If you went away there wouldn't be anyone here I loved … Molly, go away … go away with Lionel … Don't stay here in the Lobster Bowl …

MOLLY
  (
Commenting on her mother's letter and then reading from it
) She doesn't know how long she can stand it … She says she doesn't feel very well … “The climate doesn't suit me … I feel sick all the time and I find it almost impossible to sleep … I can't read very much … not at night … because the light is too feeble here in the mountains. Mrs. Lopez has two of her sisters here at the moment. Things are getting more and more unbearable. Mrs. Lopez is the least raucous of the three. I hope that you are occupying yourself with something constructive. Be careful not to dream and be sure…”

MRS. CONSTABLE
Why shouldn't you dream?

MOLLY
  I used to waste a lot of time day-dreaming. I guess I still do. She didn't want me to dream.

MRS. CONSTABLE
Why shouldn't you dream? Why didn't she want you to?

MOLLY
  Because she wanted me to grow up to be wonderful and strong like she is. Will she come back soon, Mrs. Constable? Will she make them all leave there? Will she?

MRS. CONSTABLE
I don't know dear … I don't know … I suppose she will … If she needs you, she'll come back. If she needs you, I'm sure she will.

MOLLY
  Are you going to walk home along the edge of the water?

MRS. CONSTABLE
I like wet sand … and I like the spray.

MOLLY
  You'll get the bottom of your dress all soaking wet. You'll catch cold.

MRS. CONSTABLE
I love the waves breaking in this early light … I run after them. I run after the waves … I scoop up the foam and I rub it on my face. All along the way I think it's beginning …

MOLLY
  What?

MRS. CONSTABLE
  My life. I think it's beginning, and then …

MOLLY
  And then?

MRS. CONSTABLE
  I see the hotel.

(
MRS. CONSTABLE
exits through oyster-shell door.
)

MOLLY
  (
She reads again part of her mother's letter
) “Two day ago, Fula Lopez went into the city and came back with a hideous white dog. She bought it in the street. The dog's bark is high and sharp. It hasn't stopped yapping since it came. I haven't slept at all for two nights. Now I'm beginning a cold…”

(
The lights fade as the curtain falls.
)

 

Scene ii

The Lobster Bowl. Two months later.

INEZ
(
She is middle-aged, full bosomed, spirited but a little coarse. She cannot see into
MOLLY'S
booth from where she stands behind the bar
) I'd rather hit myself over the head with a club than drag around here the way you do, reading comic books all day long. It's so damp and empty and quiet in here.

(
She shakes a whole tray of glasses in the sink, which make a terrific racket.
)

MOLLY
  It's not a comic book. It's a letter from my mother.

INEZ
  What's new?

MOLLY
  It came last week.

INEZ
  What are you doing reading it now?

MOLLY
  She's coming back today. She's coming back from Mexico.

INEZ
  Maybe she'll pep things up a little. I hear she's got more personality than you. (
Shifts some oysters
) You didn't model yourself after her, did you?

MOLLY
  No.

INEZ
  Ever try modeling yourself after anyone?

MOLLY
  No.

INEZ
  Well, if you don't feel like you've got much personality yourself, it's an easy way to do. You just pick the right model and you watch how they act. I never modeled myself after anyone, but there were two or three who modeled after me. And they weren't even relatives—just ordinary girls. It's an easy way to do. (
Shifts some oysters
) Anyway, I don't see poring over comic books. I'd rather have someone tell me a good joke any day. What's really nice is to go out—eight or nine—to an Italian dinner, and sit around afterwards listening to the different jokes. You get a better selection that way! Ever try that?

MOLLY
  I don't like big bunches of people.

INEZ
  You could at least live in a regular home if you don't like crowds, and do cooking for your husband. You don't even have a hot plate in your room! (
Crash of stool to floor, followed by some high giggles
) There goes Mrs. Constable again. You'd think she'd drink home, at her hotel, where no one could see her. She's got a whole suite to herself there. It's been over a year since her daughter's accident, so I could say her drinking permit had expired. I think she's just on a plain drunk now. Right? (
MOLLY
nods
) You sure are a button lip. As long as you're sitting there you might as well talk. It don't cost extra. (
She frowns and looks rather mean for a moment. There is more offstage racket
) I think Mrs. Constable is heading this way. I hope to God she don't get started on Death. Not that I blame her for thinking about it after what happened, but I don't like that topic.

(
Enter
MRS. CONSTABLE.
)

MRS. CONSTABLE
  (
She has been drinking
) How is everyone, this afternoon?

MOLLY
  My mother's coming back today.

INEZ
  I'm kind of rushing, Mrs. Constable. I've got to have three hundred oyster cocktails ready by tonight and I haven't even prepared the hot sauce yet.

MRS. CONSTABLE
  Rushing? I didn't know that people still rushed …

INEZ
  Here we go, boys!

MRS. CONSTABLE
  Then you must be one of the fortunate ones who has not yet stood on the edge of the black pit. There is no rushing after that, only waiting. It seems hardly worthwhile even keeping oneself clean after one has stood on the edge of the black pit.

INEZ
  If you're clean by nature, you're clean.

MRS. CONSTABLE
  Oh, really? How very interesting!

INEZ
  Some people would rather be clean than eat or sleep.

MRS. CONSTABLE
  How very interesting! How nice that they are all so terribly interested in keeping clean! Cleanliness is so important really, such a
deep deep
thing. Those people who are so interested in keeping clean must have very deep souls. They must think a lot about life and death, that is when they're not too busy
washing,
but I guess washing takes up most of their time. How right they are! Hoorah for them!

(
She flourishes her glass.
)

INEZ
  (
With a set face determined to ignore her taunts
) The tide's pretty far out today. Did you take a look at the …

MRS. CONSTABLE
  They say that people can't live unless they can fill their lives with petty details. That's people's way of avoiding the black pit. I'm just a weak, ordinary,
very ordinary
woman in her middle years, but I've been able to wipe all the petty details from my life … all of them. I never rush or get excited about anything. I've dumped my entire life out the window … like that!

(
She tips her whisky glass and pours a little on the floor.
)

INEZ
  (
Flaring up
) Listen here, Mrs. Constable, I haven't got time to go wiping up slops. I've got to prepare three hundred oyster cocktails. That means toothpicks and three hundred little hookers of hot sauce. I haven't got time to talk so I certainly haven't got time to wipe up slops.

MRS. CONSTABLE
  I know … toothpicks and hot sauce and hookers. Very interesting! How many oysters do you serve to a customer? Please tell me.

INEZ
  (
Only half listening to
MRS. CONSTABLE
,
automatically
) Five.

MRS. CONSTABLE
  (
Smirking as much as she can
) Five! How fascinating! Really and truly, I can't believe it!

INEZ
  Balls! Now you get out and don't come back here until I finish my work. Not if you know what's good for you. I can feel myself getting ready to blow up! (
Shifts some more oysters
) I'm going upstairs now and I'm going to put a cold towel on my head. Then, I'm coming down to finish my oyster cocktails, and when I do I want peace and quiet. I've got to have peace and quiet when I'm doing my oyster cocktails. If I don't I just get too nervous. That's all.

MRS. CONSTABLE
  I'm going … whether you're getting ready to blow up or not. (
She walks unsteadily toward exit. Then from the doorway
) I happen to be a very independent woman … But you are just plain bossy, Mrs. Oyster Cocktail Sauce.

(
Exit
MRS. CONSTABLE.
)

INEZ
  Independent! I could make her into a slave if I cared to. I could walk all over her if I cared to, but I don't. I don't like to walk all over anyone. Most women do … they love it. They like to take some other man or woman and make him or her into a slave, but I don't. I don't like slaves. I like everybody to be going his own independent way. Hello. Good-bye. You go your way and I'll go my way, but no slaves. I'll bet you wouldn't find ten men in this town as democratic as I am. (
Shifts some oysters
) Well, here I go. I guess I'll give myself a fresh apron while I'm up there. Then I'll be ready when they come for their oysters. (
Vaguely touching her head
) I don't like to eat oysters any more. I suppose I've seen too much of them, like everything else in life.

(
She pulls the chain on the big light behind the bar so that the scene darkens. There is a little light playing on
MOLLY'S
booth and on the paper flowers and leaves.
MOLLY
puts her book of comics down, sits dreaming for a moment. There is summer house music to indicate a more lyrical mood. She pulls a letter out of her pocket and reads it. Enter
LIONEL.
)

LIONEL
  Hey.

MOLLY
  Where were you?