Scene 3

We hear "Jesus Is On Our Side" played with military fervor as a screen slides on from the right, and we briefly see movies of the war in the Pacific and in Europe---Casablanca, Guadalcanal, Stalingrad, El Alamein, et. al. As the images appear, a voice, which sounds very much like Eleanor Roosevelt's, emanates from that same vintage radio.
FEMALE VOICE (o.s.)
…and for those of you on the home front, there are many things you can collect to help win the war. Scrap metal, for one. Waste paper, for another. And those of you who have the time and can knit, we need as many sweaters for our boys overseas as possible… (The screen slides back stage right and disappears, and we are again in the Halligan living room. JOLENE, DIXIE ANN and CLOIS are all three knitting.)
DIXIE ANN
I wanted to bring you the latest Modern Romances, but I haven't quite finished with it. And oh, honey, it has the most marvelous story!
                                        She was a Countess,
                                        He was a tramp;
                                        They met each other
                                        In a concentration camp.
                                        She endured torture,
                                        Starvation and rape;
                                        He was the one who
                                        Helped her escape.
                                        Now they've three children
                                        With one on the way,
                                        Livin' so blissful
                                        In Scranton, P.A. If this had happened to you,
How would you feel?
Isn't it incredible?
And every word is real.
JOLENE
                                        If this had happened to me,
                                        What would I do?
                                        Isn't it incredible!
                                        And every word is true.

DIXIE ANN

Clois! Don't you agree?

CLOIS

                                                               (reluctantly, by rote)
                                        If this had happened to you,
                                        How would you feel?
                                        Isn't it incredible?
                                        And every word is real.   (Lights dim, and the screen again slides on, showing more glimpses of the war---Midway, Sicily, New Guinea, Okinawa--- to the strains of "Isn't It Incredible?" Then the screen disappears to the right, and we see the THREE dressed differently, sitting in different places, but still knitting.)
DIXIE ANN
                                        He was a major,
                                        A powerful man,
                                        She was a doctor
                                        In the last days of Bataan.
                                        He got all shot up,
                                        Collapsed in the mud,
                                        She found him dyin'
                                        And gave him her blood.
                                        Now they are married
                                        And live on a farm,
                                        Though he is missin'
                                        A leg and an arm.

                                        If this had happened to you,
                                        How would you feel?
                                        Isn't it incredible!
                                        And every word is real.

JOLENE & CLOIS

                                       If this had happened to me,
                                       What would I do?
                                       Isn't it incredible!
                                       And every word is true. (For a third time, the screen slides on and we see more film of the actual war. Then it slides off, and we are back in the living room with the TRIO sitting where they had initially been. This time DIXIE ANN is dressed in a nurse's aid uniform, and CLOIS is wearing one of an Air Raid Warden.)
DIXIE ANN
                                      She was a French girl,
                                      A real patriot;
                                      He was a Nazi
                                      The Resistance wanted shot.
                                      She said she'd kill him,
                                      And she tried, but instead
                                     They became so enamored
                                      That both of them fled.
                                      They fled to Milwaukee
                                      And never looked back;
                                      He's a Marine now
                                      And she is a WAC.

                                      If this had happened to you,
                                      How would you feel?
                                      Isn't it incredible!
                                      And every word is real.

JOLENE & CLOIS

                                      If this had happened to me,
                                      What would I do?
                                      Isn't it incredible!
                                      And every word is true.

DIXIE ANN

Now, honey, when are you comin' to the USO?

JOLENE

Oh, Dixie Ann, who on earth is gonna wanna dance with an old married woman?

DIXIE ANN

You act as though all those servicemen are 16 years old. You remember Lillian Larrabee? She's down there every night, and she must be 105 if she's a day. And, sugar, you are as beautiful now as when you were May Queen attendant at Central High. Isn't she, Clois?

CLOIS

Sure is.
                                                       (rising)
I'm due at the factory in half an hour.

DIXIE ANN

You go ahead. We're havin' dinner at the Blue Lantern with the children, and then we're comin' home and listenin' to One Man's Family.

CLOIS

See ya'.

JOLENE

Don't work too hard. Or seein' what's goin' on in the Pacific, I guess I should say, do work too hard.

                                                      (HE goes to the front door and exits.)

JOLENE

We're not havin' dinner at the Blue Lantern.

DIXIE ANN

He thinks I spend too much time at the USO. He's worried I might meet Dana Andrews or Tyrone Power. Fat chance.

JOLENE

Well, we're havin' Spam sandwiches again, and you're welcome to join us. Then you can go off to the USO.

DIXIE ANN

We can go off to the U.S.O.

JOLENE

Dixie Ann…

DIXIE ANN

Good Lord, Jolene. It's Friday night, and there's a dance with that band down from Asheville. I bet you haven't danced since the Junior-Senior prom. Ole Russell had two left feet.

JOLENE

Stop talkin' about him in the past tense.

DIXIE ANN

Bein' in the Solomon Islands is not gonna turn a left foot into a right foot.

JOLENE

I am not goin', Dixie Ann.

DIXIE ANN

Yes, you are.

JOLENE

No, I'm not. (As THEY argue, the music of "Isn't It Incredible?" drowns them out .)
 
LIGHTS DIM