ACT TWO
 
 

Scene One



 
 
 

A new set slides into view representing the library in Charlotte Cotrelly's magnificent Newport home. CHARLOTTE is at an antique desk. Age has improved her. She is not quite as angular, quite as homely as when we first saw her. Knock on the door.
CHARLOTTE
Yes? (A very elegant British BUTLER enters.)
BUTLER
Madame Polenska.
  (CHARLOTTE rises from the desk as IRENE enters the room, now wearing new clothes, but still overweight and boozy-looking. CHARLOTTE blinks.)
CHARLOTTE
Madame Polenska?

IRENE

You don't recognize me? I have changed so much?

CHARLOTTE

Oh, dear. No. I mean, you've put on a little weight.

IRENE

Macrobiotics. Too much rice.

CHARLOTTE

But oh, my dear, it's so wonderful to see you again! Oh, Madame Polenska,
I so longed to find you,
I had no one to talk to
And I'd so much to tell.
You've no idea what I went through
With dear Mr. Braden,
A marriage that was made in
The seventh circle of hell.
He would put our romance down,
That cad and that loafer!
He was caught with his pants down
With my stepbrother's chauffeur.
That was the man Papa warned me of
That night on the boat,
I should have taken note,
But I was a fool,
A poor besotted fool.
But here I'm telling you about a marriage that ended over fifteen years ago. The nicest thing I can say about him is that some time after the divorce, he decided he needed a trip abroad and booked passage on the Lusitania. But what of you? Tell me of you.

IRENE

What can I tell you?
It's almost all spiritual---
Meekness and humility,
Being born to nobility,
It was meant to make
A democrat o' me.
CHARLOTTE
But I was informed
That you were in the Yukon,
Dancing in a dance hall,
Showing your anatomy.
IRENE
Oh, that! You mustn't scold me,
I was only doing
What the Masters told me.
I had to experience
What women go through
Who are innocent and simple,
Defenseless and true.
I watched all my joie de vie go
As I tumbled and I slid,
For I had to give up all my ego
And relinquish all my id.
CHARLOTTE
You poor, poor thing,
You poor, poor kid.
IRENE
Mais non! It was essential for my spiritual development. After each such experience, I would return to Kampur, and I would bow before the Masters, and I would say, "Oh, Great Masters, what is my next assignment?"

CHARLOTTE

Really?

IRENE

Of course many of these assignments I could not reveal to the world. They are just between me and my Masters...to gain inner peace.

CHARLOTTE

And have you gained it?

IRENE

                                                              (after an inadvertent hiccup)
Yes, I have.

CHARLOTTE

Oh, please, Madame Polenska, teach me! I have all this wealth...and not a modicum of inner peace.

IRENE

There is no such thing as a teacher...only a guide.
Just chant aum, aum, aum,
Whether abroad or at home,
The mind's so incessant,
You'll make it quiescent
If you chant aum, aum, aum.

Just chant aum, aum, aum,
Chant it wherever you roam,
You'll want to continue
For God is within you
When you chant aum, aum, aum.

You must aspire
Higher and higher,
And maybe mañana
You'll find that your prana
Is perfectly free of Maya.
 

CHARLOTTE
Prana? Maya? IRENE Just chant aum, aum, aum,
Chant from a roof or a dome,
Your trips to the bank will
Be peaceful and tranquil
If you chant aum, aum, aum.
CHARLOTTE
There are others I know who want to be guided, too. I have a little farm in upstate New York. Why, we could start the same kind of thing that Dr. De Koven has in Pennsylvania. What do they call it? IRENE In India, it's an ashram. But I believe the Fat Man calls it a chuck wagon.

CHARLOTTE

A what?

IRENE

Polenska jokes.  A spiritual center.

CHARLOTTE

Spiritual center. That sounds so...so truly religious. Oh, how wonderful it is to see you again, Madame Polenska! How I would love to introduce you to Newport society.

IRENE

That could be arranged.

CHARLOTTE

Perhaps we could have a seance again like we had on the Oceanic.

IRENE

The Masters would never permit it. If I agree to perform, then I must follow the Masters.

CHARLOTTE

But I don't understand. What have they against seances?

IRENE

It is the lowest form of spiritual contact.

CHARLOTTE

But everyone loves a bit of spectacle, don't ya know?

IRENE
(rising indignantly)

Madame Braden. If it is a freak show you want, you have come to the wrong two-headed woman.

CHARLOTTE

Please, please, Madame Polenska. I did not mean to offend you. We will certainly do whatever you say.

IRENE

Now if the Masters should be in a playful mood and choose to apport a rare old coin or two, that is strictly up to Them.
 
 

LIGHTS  SLOWLY DIM