Scene 8


We are in Jolene's living room, far more subdued and elegant than the one we saw previously for she now lives in a larger, more expensive home.   JOLENE and VERNA are standing by the liquor cabinet. Jolene is very distraught. SHE holds up two bottles so VERNA can see.
JOLENE
At first I was sure the maid was doin' it, bein' Swedish and all, and you read those statistics about Sweden havin' the highest alcohol consumption per capita in the world. So I started markin' the bottles. Only to discover it wasn't Gerda, it was you-know-who. And then I ran into Gloria Devlin at the symphony the other night. She told me that last week at the Spring Teen Ball at the Country Club, she wouldn't dance with a soul, just sat in a corner drinkin' and when she tried to get up she nearly fell flat on her face until Drewie Rupprecht grabbed hold o' her arm. I've just been beside myself. If only Russell was still here, he'd know what to do.

VERNA

Yeah, he'd be drinkin' with her.

JOLENE

Mama, how can you say such things! Especially about the dead.

VERNA

Jolene, Russell was a lush whether he's dead or not. How do you think he became dead?

JOLENE

I know, but you don't have to say it.

VERNA

That's been the whole problem since that famous moonlight walk.

JOLENE

Well, she's been here almost a year now. I thought with Betsy Claire and Sallyjo away at school, she would replace them and become my own little girl…

VERNA

Jolene, she is your own little girl.

JOLENE

But she isn't, Mama! And after all I've tried to do for her.
                                        You saw the way
                                        She lived in L.A.
                                        The dinginess was humungous;
                                        I'm sure if I'd opened
                                        A cupboard or two,
                                        I'd have found cups and saucers and fungus. I don't understand people,
They'd be a little grateful, you'd think---
You give them rhinestone pins
And crinolines---
And what do they do? They drink.

I don't understand people,
You buy them lovely dresses and shoes---
You get them pure silk pants
And Foster-Grants
And what do they do? They booze.

I got her Elvis and Fabian albums
For her new long-playin' machine;
I wanted the best things around her
So I went out and found her
An original Walter Keane.

I don't understand people,
You buy an almost Belgian lace shawl---
But she prefers alcohol
To her Miss Revlon doll---
And I don't understand it at all.

 The other day I caught her lookin' at these silly things Dixie Ann had done. They're like imaginary ads for movies, and she was sobbin' until I thought her heart would break. Then what do I find hidden in her closet? The Philadelphia phone directory!

VERNA

                                                                 (going to the staircase and calling)
Etienne! Can you come down here please?

JOLENE

What are ya gonna do?

VERNA

The lies have got to stop.

JOLENE

Oh, Mama, do you think it's wise?

VERNA

It can't be any worse than continuin' the way we've been goin' all these years.

JOLENE

I'm frightened.

VERNA

For whom, Jolene? For her or for you?

                                                              (ETIENNE appears from the staircase.)

VERNA

Etienne, please sit down. Your Aunt Jolene and I have somethin' to tell you. This is not goin' to be easy, but it simply has to be done. I know you've been distraught since Dixie Ann died, and I realize how close you were to your mother. But the truth is that Dixie Ann was not your mother. Jolene is. And there is no one named Brian Costello.

ETIENNE

                                                             (utterly bewildered)
What?

VERNA

This is exactly what happened….

(The music of "True Romance" builds and drowns out Verna's words. SHE is speaking, but we cannot hear her. ETIENNE listens in shock and disbelief.)
 
 
 
LIGHTS SLOWLY DIM