Scene Nine
 
 
 
 

LIGHTS RISE in Mrs. Fargueson's living room. CHARLOTTE is standing across from her.
 
 
MRS. FARGUESON
How can we be sure it's a massive heart-attack?

CHARLOTTE

Because the doctor says it is, that she has only a 20 percent chance of survival.

MRS. FARGUESON

She is such a fraud, I wouldn't put it past her to feign a massive heart attack and convince the doctors she actually had one.

CHARLOTTE

Oh, Hesperia!

MRS. FARGUESON

Right after that man ran on the stage and exposed her and claimed he knew her twenty-two years ago... How convenient can a massive heart attack be?

CHARLOTTE

I don't know. I'm thinking of closing the center.

MRS. FARGUESON

But it's more successful now than it's ever been.

CHARLOTTE

Not in light of what's happened. Look. I know you have started your own group based on some of her teachings. Would you like to take over in her place?

MRS. FARGUESON

And what if she does survive?

CHARLOTTE

I couldn't very well have her back no matter what happens.

MRS. FARGUESON

Charlotte?! This coming from you?!
  (LIGHTS DIM. In the Blackout we hear an ominous ticking of a clock behind the orchestra playing a dirge-like rendition of The Captain of My Ship. A hospital bed slides on stage as the LIGHTS RISE. IRENE is in it, eyes closed, breathing heavily. LIGHTS flicker. We see THREE NURSES entering and exiting to check her pulse, listen to her heart beat and record their findings on a clip board. To denote the passage of time, ONE NURSE enters, performs the operations, then exits. ANOTHER does the same, then exits. THE THIRD enters and switches on a lamp. IRENE raises herself slightly.)
THIRD NURSE
How are we this evening, Faina?

IRENE

Faina?

THIRD NURSE

That's your name, isn't it?

IRENE

                                                            (remembering her Russian accent)
Faina, yes.

THIRD NURSE

You've had a pretty hard time of it.

IRENE

How long have I been here?

THIRD NURSE

Three weeks.                             (A sting of music. A spot falls on THIRD NURSE, then one on IRENE.)
  IRENE You lost someone very close to you recently.

THIRD NURSE

Yes.

IRENE

He is standing behind you.

THIRD NURSE

Where?

IRENE

You cannot see him. But he is doing something strange with his fingers. Like clicking them.

THIRD NURSE

That's right! He had this nervous habit of clicking his nails. He used to dig into the flesh and it would become infected.

IRENE

He is saying not to be guilty, Caroline. You did all you could for him.
                                                            (Tears begin streaming down the Nurse's cheeks.)
Claude. His name was Claude.

THIRD NURSE

Yes.

IRENE

The doctors misdiagnosed his illness. A doctor you trusted, you sent him to. He treated him for pleurisy, but it was really tuberculosis.

THIRD NURSE

That's true.                                (Spot remains on Irene.)
IRENE
What am I seeing?
I'm actually seeing
A figure who has passed on.
What am I hearing?
I'm actually hearing
The voice of someone who's gone. Why now?
After all these years of feigning it?
Why now?
Is there any real explaining it?
How could this happen?
A ghost,
A spook---
It has to be
Some kind of fluke.
It's only because I've been ill;
They must have given me
Some drug, some pill.
Why now?
After all these years pretending to---
Can it be
That I'm ascending to
Some rare and psychic plane?
Why now?
It's too absurd,
It's too insane.   (LIGHTS DIM, and when they RISE, IRENE is sitting up in bed and CHARLOTTE is standing beside her.)
IRENE
But I tell you, it's all different now!

CHARLOTTE

Oh, Faina, please.

IRENE

I'll admit that I played some tricks before...

CHARLOTTE

Some tricks?

IRENE

But something happened during this whole experience. At first I thought it was some sort of hallucination brought on by the illness or the drugs. But it wasn't. If I concentrate, I can even see your father standing behind you.

CHARLOTTE

We've already been through that...many years ago.

IRENE

But I can! I tell you I can!

CHARLOTTE

I shall, of course, pay the hospital bill. But after that, I don't want you returning to the center.

IRENE

Butchie! Where is Butchie?

CHARLOTTE

Back in the gymnasium of the Hotel Ansonia, which he never should have left.

IRENE

Without telling me? Without saying goodbye?

CHARLOTTE

There is nothing more foolish than an old woman besotted with a young man.

IRENE

How dare you speak to Polenska like that! Where are you going?

CHARLOTTE

I have things to do.

IRENE

But Polenska is famous. I have my books. I have people who still believe in me.

CHARLOTTE

Name two.
 
  (CHARLOTTE stares back at her in defiance.)
 
 
 
 
LIGHTS SLOWLY DIM