Twist of Gold (5 page)

ANNIE:
What did he mean, his ‘ladies’? What did he mean, ‘earn ourselves a crust’?

SEAN:
I guess he means that we could play for money. I could play. You could dance.

ANNIE:
(Affronted.)
I won’t beg!

SEAN:
’Tis not exactly begging. And we’ll need the money to get us to Father.

ANNIE:
You think he’s still…

    
She means ‘alive’;
SEAN
knows what she means.

SEAN:
Yes, Annie. And we must deliver him the torc. It’s our talisman. Our family charm. And that’s why we’re going to stand on this
street corner and I’m going to play the fiddle and they’ll throw money into the fiddle case as they pass by, enough to keep us in food, and enough to pay the rent on some little
room somewhere, enough to keep us going until we can find out where Father’s gone. Now that’s not begging, is it Annie? That’s working for a living.

ANNIE:
S’pose.

SEAN:
And you’re going to dance, Annie. You’re going to dance as you’ve never danced before.

    
SEAN
plays;
ANNIE
dances;
PASSERSBY
throw money into the fiddle case. The
snow snows. The freezing wind blows. They play and dance on, determined. Eventually it is too much and
ANNIE
collapses. A
CROWD
gathers.
A
LADY IN BLUE
pushes forward.

LADY IN BLUE:
Stand aside! Stand aside!

    
She looks down at a distraught
SEAN
cradling an unconscious
ANNIE
in his arms.

    We should be ashamed to see such a sight on our city streets. Christmas Eve is it not? And was there not another child somewhere else who could find no
shelter on just such an evening? Are we nothing but innkeepers that we stand gaping and do nothing? Little Luke! Pick up that child and bring her with us this instant.

LIL’ LUKE
: Yes, Ma’am.

    
LIL’ LUKE
steps forward and takes
ANNIE
from
SEAN
.

BYSTANDER
: But Ma’am, the child could be dying of the plague!

LADY IN BLUE
: Tell me, Sir, are you a doctor?

BYSTANDER
: No, Ma’am.

LADY IN BLUE
: Then, Sir, you have no right to make a medical judgement on the matter, have you?

BYSTANDER
: No, Ma’am.

LADY IN BLUE:
Quite so. And even if the child had been touched by the plague, every member of my family has lived out their three-score years and ten,
and I shall do the same, plague or no plague.

BYSTANDER
: Three-score years and ten is quite sufficient for anyone, Ma’am.

LADY IN BLUE
:
(Looking daggers at him.)
One must not be greedy, Sir.

BYSTANDER
: No, Ma’am.

LADY IN BLUE
: And Luke, you’d better bring that wretched boy too.
(To her
SISTER
.)
I have never liked boys, Martha, as you know.

MISS MARTHA
: No, Henry.

LADY IN BLUE/MISS HENRY
: Such unnecessary creatures, boys. But if we take the one then I suppose we shall have to take the other.

MISS MARTHA
: Yes, Henry.

SEAN
:
(Through his tears to
LIL’ LUKE
.)
My sister: is she dead?

LIL’ LUKE
: Hard to tell, Sean O’Brien, hard to tell.

MISS HENRY
: As soon as we get some warm food into her, and tuck her up in a nice warm bed, she’ll be living and breathing again.

SEAN
: Thank you, Ma’am!

    
They set off,
LIL’ LUKE
carrying
ANNIE
in his arms.

MISS HENRY
: Don’t thank me. Thank Little Luke. Thank my sister, Martha.

MISS MARTHA
: Oh, you’re being too modest, Henry. Since we first saw those poor wretches from Ireland pouring off the ships, you said we should try
to help them if we could.

MISS HENRY
: But there are too many of them. The problem is too big.

MISS MARTHA
: Which is why we are helping those that we can, Henry.

SEAN
: Why does your sister call you Henry? You’re not a man, you’re a lady.

MISS HENRY
: Well, young man, I am a lady, always have been. But our mother found it difficult to tell us apart, so she cut off all my hair and called me
Henry, and let Martha’s grow long and called her…Martha. Ah, home.

    
They stop in front of a gabled, red-brick mansion, bristling with smoking chimneys.

ANNIE
: So many chimneys!

SEAN
:
(Overwhelmed that
ANNIE
has revived.)
Annie!

ANNIE
: Why do you need more than one?

MISS HENRY
: Well, one would be lonely.

ANNIE
: Father built the tallest chimney in Ireland – and he’s going to build the tallest in ’Merica too.

MISS MARTHA
: You have a father, then? Here in America?

ANNIE
: To be sure we have. But we don’t know where in ’Merica.

SEAN
: Out West, maybe.

MISS MARTHA
: And your mother?

    
ANNIE
looks at
SEAN
.

SEAN
: She’s dead, Miss Martha.

ANNIE
: Yes. She’s dead.

    
Their eyes fill with tears.

MISS HENRY
: Well come along now. Up to the bathroom with you. There’s enough dirt on your neck young man to grow a whole field of potatoes!

    
They run off,
LIL’ LUKE
following.
MISS MARTHA
and
MISS HENRY
watch
them go.

MISS MARTHA
: Poor sweet children. We are their refuge, Henry.

MISS HENRY
: And we shall keep them as long as they need us.

MISS MARTHA
: You’ve a heart of gold under all that bluster.

MISS HENRY
: Hm. Now we have them here we shall educate them. Can you imagine what kind of life they must have had, Martha? And they’ll no longer
need to go busking in the streets.

MISS MARTHA
: Their violin is precious to them – that young man clutches it to him as if it were a part of him.

MISS HENRY
: It is. It is in his blood. Without it they would have perished in the streets of Boston, like so many others.

MISS MARTHA
: We shall give them a Christmas they will never forget.

    
We segue into
SEAN
and
ANNIE
delighting the assembled
COMPANY
with their spirited Christmas playing
and dancing –
SEAN
spruced up in waistcoat,
ANNIE
in a clean white dress, wearing the golden torc, and stomping in her boots. Christmas
decorations festooned throughout.

LIL’ LUKE
:
(To
MISS MARTHA
.)
There’s something about those lil’ children. They bring happiness wherever
they go. Why just look at Miss Henry: have you ever seen her dancin’ before?

    
She is dancing.

MISS MARTHA
: Not since we were children ourselves.

LIL’ LUKE
: An’ she’s laughin’ too! Don’t she usually sit by the fire at Christmas glowerin’ and wishin’
everyone’d go home? Jus’ look at her now!

MISS HENRY
:
(Dancing, to
SEAN
.)
Faster, young man! Faster!

ANNIE
: Miss Henry: this is the best day of my life!

MISS HENRY
: And you look so pretty. Your necklace is beautiful.

    
SEAN
stops his playing.

SEAN
: I told you not to wear it, Annie.

MISS HENRY
: Why, child?

SEAN
: It is the torc of the O’Briens. One thousand years old. From when we owned great lands and forests all of our own. Wherever we
O’Briens go, this torc goes with us. It protects us from danger. It is the O’Brien soul we carry with us. It has preserved us – and destroys all those who steal it. So long as
we keep the torc, then the O’Briens will never die out. It is our secret. And now you share our secret.

MISS HENRY
: To be trusted with such a secret is an honour, young man.

ANNIE
: You are the nicest, kindest, goodest people we know.

MISS HENRY
: Goodest?

MISS MARTHA
: Let it pass, Henry. Now children, you must go to bed.

ANNIE
: I could stay here for ever.

MISS MARTHA
: And so you shall, Annie dear, if you care to.

SEAN
: But we can’t. Or we’ll never see Father again.

MISS HENRY
: Of course. And that you must do. We will help you find him.

    
It’s night time – and the house is still and silent: the breathing and gentle snoring of
SLEEPERS
.
SEAN
and
ANNIE
tiptoe along the corridor.

ANNIE
:
(Whispering.)
But it’s so ungrateful!

SEAN
:
(Whispering.)
If we’re going, then it’s best to go now while everyone’s asleep. We can’t look them in the face and
say we’re going, not after all their kindnesses. I couldn’t bear to see the hurt in their eyes.

    
They carry on creeping along the corridor – and bump into
LIL’ LUKE
.

LIL’ LUKE
:
(Whispering.)
Miss Martha and Miss Henry said you might be goin’. They told me you weren’t to go without
havin’ breakfast first. They’s waitin’ for you in the parlour.

    
They walk sheepishly into the dimly lit parlour where
MISS MARTHA
and
MISS HENRY
await.

MISS HENRY
: Headin’ West?

    
SEAN
nods.

    The wagon trains roll further West each year, but there’s a lot of plain and prairie and desert to cross before you reach that other ocean all
that way from ours. Takes a year or more to get there.

SEAN
: A year?

MISS HENRY
: It is three thousand miles across a wild continent peopled with wild and wicked men and marauding savages. Your father may well have made
it. But many a thing can happen to a man between Boston and California.

SEAN
: But we have to try.

MISS MARTHA
: We know you do, Sean. But you will need a wagon and provisions, and someone to take you as far as the big river.

ANNIE
: The big river?

MISS MARTHA
: Yes. There you will find our brother, the Colonel.

ANNIE
: We didn’t know you had a brother.

MISS HENRY
: No. Well, Miss Martha and I prefer to forget. Our father left us a great fortune, from his furniture business here in Boston. Miss Martha
and I invested our share wisely; but our brother had other ideas. He was a soldier of fortune, fought the English, the Mexicans, the Red Indians…well, now he has a ship of iniquity on
the Ohio River.

ANNIE
: What’s the O-hi-o-high-river? What is a ship of ink-willity?

MISS HENRY
: Never you mind. Little Luke: you know you are a free man – have been since the day you escaped from slavery in the Deep South, all
those years ago. So you do not have to do what I’m about to ask you –

LITTLE LUKE
: No need to ask, Miss Henry; it’s the best an’ only way for these children to find their Papa. I’s already on my way.

MISS HENRY
: The Colonel will be moored at Wheeling, Ohio. Hand them over into his safe-keeping. He’ll then sail them up the Missouri river to St
Louis.

LIL’ LUKE
: I surely will, Miss Henry. And I’ll return here by the Fall.

MISS MARTHA
: And you can return here one day too children. This will always be your home.

SEAN
: Thank you, Miss Martha.

MISS HENRY
: Now get along. I’ve packed blankets and clothes and enough provisions to keep you going for a month or so.

ANNIE
: Thank you, Miss Henry.
(She gives
MISS HENRY
a big hug.)

MISS HENRY
:
(Tearful.)
Now you’ve set me going. Be off!

MISS MARTHA
: But take this –
(She presents them with a gleaming black revolver.)
– it was our father’s. Just in case you should
ever need it. It would only rust back here in Boston.

MISS HENRY
: And here’s a letter to my despicable brother: I have never asked anything of him, and it appeals to his better nature – if
he’s still got one.

ANNIE
: Thank you Miss Henry, Miss Martha. We shall never forget you.

MISS HENRY
: Oh you’ll meet other kind people on your way and if…and
when
you make it to California, Miss Martha and I will be long
gone.

    
MISS HENRY
and
MISS MARTHA
leave.

ANNIE
: Lil’ Luke: is it far to Wheeling, O-hi-o-high-o?

LIL’ LUKE
: I don’ know ’cos I ain’t never bin there.

SEAN
: But you do know where you’re going?

LIL’ LUKE
: All the way down through Pennsylvania. Close to a thousand miles I reckon.