Scene Nine
Through the blackout
we hear a chorus of "We Three Kings" sung by school carolers. Then the
lights rise, and we are in the Knopf living room. It is Christmas night,
and we see tinsel and poinsettias and iridescent paper stars. In one corner
stands an over-decorated tree with many opened presents beneath it. For
a split second the stage is empty. Then ROSALIE rushes from her mother’s
bedroom. SHE is the old Rosalie---with the small, thick glasses, the pigtails,
the braces and one of her pristine flower-print dresses. NADINE follows
her into the living room chewing on a new Christmas handkerchief.
NADINE
You can’t do a thing like
that, Rosalie!
ROSALIE
I don’t want to talk about
it any more, Mama. He should be here any minute. And don’t chew that handkerchief,
Mama. It’s brand new, and it’s got your initial on it.
NADINE
You just can’t. You can’t
stand up Ham Hudson like that and go with David Dubin instead. After all
those sweet young girls and boys have done for you.
ROSALIE
They are not sweet young
girls and boys.
NADINE
But they are. All those parties
and those presents you never should have accepted. Just think how Diane
Wolfe will feel.
ROSALIE
I am thinking of how Diane
Wolfe will feel.
NADINE
She bought you that lovely
gown to wear tonight, and she sent all the way to New York for those green
ballerina slippers…and all the time she spent with your hair and your makeup.
You were beginning to look so pretty. Even your father said that.
ROSALIE
I was beginning to look like
Diane Wolfe.
NADINE
Diane’s a beautiful girl.
ROSALIE
And I’m not. I’m me. And
I’m going to the Christmas Dance looking like me.
NADINE
But Diane’s so fond of you…you
said so yourself.
ROSALIE
Of course she’s fond of me.
I stand there with my wrists limp and this saccharine smile on my face
and let her do anything she wants with me. She loves that.
NADINE
But you told me she came
from such an unhappy home.
ROSALIE
She does. But I can’t help
it if her mother’s an alcoholic and her father’s a sixty-five year old
teenager who pinches all the girls’ behinds.
NADINE
Rosalie.
ROSALIE
And it’s not my fault she
has an uncle who tried to rape her when she was thirteen.
NADINE
Rosalie!
ROSALIE
Well, he did, and that wasn’t
my fault.
NADINE
But you should try to understand…that’s
the only way to live in this world.
ROSALIE
Oh, everybody talks about
understanding. You say you try to understand Daddy, and he says he tries
to understand you. But I’ve never seen him run into the bathroom and chew
up one of his handkerchiefs.
NADINE
But…but what are you trying
to prove by going to the dance looking like that and with David Dubin?
ROSALIE
They’re going to accept me
exactly the way I am. And they’re going to accept David, too.
NADINE
But sooner or later they’re
going to learn the truth. I told your father about all of this last night,
and he’s very angry with you, Rosalie, for lying.
ROSALIE
Did you tell him that’s the
reason he has a new job?
NADINE
Oh, I couldn’t tell him that.
Not on Christmas Eve.
ROSALIE
Where is David?
NADINE
Rosalie, neither your father
nor I will have any part of this.
ROSALIE
It hasn’t really started
yet, Mama.
NADINE
What do you mean?
ROSALIE
I mean it’s all been hushed
up. Nobody’s supposed to know about my brother. Everybody’s supposed to
think that Diane and her friends are doing this out of the goodness of
their hearts. Of course, everybody does know. They’re just not supposed
to say anything. Not until after the Christmas Dance. David told me. But
next week! Old Mrs. Fell is going to be knocking down the door, and I wouldn’t
be surprised if there’s a feature story in the Mineola Daily News about
the whole family…all four of us.
NADINE
Rosalie, no! We won’t have
anything to do with this. It’s getting so out of proportion. It was just
supposed to be a game.
ROSALIE
You won’t have to have anything
to do with it. Next week it won’t make any difference.
NADINE
Why?
ROSALIE
They’ll have had to accept
both me and David.
NADINE
But what if they don’t?
ROSALIE
They have to. Because if
anyone ever found out that I made it all up, Diane and Chuck and Betty
Claire and all the others will be the laughing stock of the whole town.
If Ham comes before David, I’ll just die!
NADINE
What about your father, Rosalie?
ROSALIE
What about him?
NADINE
He’s been so excited about
starting his new job at Ojus in the new semester, he’s stopped working
on his book.
ROSALIE
He’s got the job, Mama. It’s
up to him to keep it.
NADINE
It’s up to Diane, Rosalie.
She had her father get him the job. She can just as easily have her father
take the job away. Diane may have to accept you for awhile, but she can
also turn right around and have your father fired.
ROSALIE
What do you expect me to
do, Mama? I can’t help it. If Daddy wants the job so badly, you’ll both
just have to start saying you’ve got a son named Art.
NADINE
Oh, Rosalie…
ROSALIE
Daddy wanted me to integrate.
So I integrated. It’s not my fault. I did it for him.
NADINE
You didn’t do it for him.
You did it for David Dubin.
ROSALIE
No, I didn’t! I didn’t! Stop
crying, Mama. Stop looking at me like that.. Mama…
(A car is heard driving
up. NADINE rushes into the bedroom, sobbing. There is a rapid knock on
the door. ROSALIE hurries to answer it. DAVID flies in, out of breath.)
DAVID
I’m sorry.
(HE does not look at her, but goes directly to the mirror above the
fireplace, extracts a comb
and runs it through his hair.)
I had to drive my goddamned
sister down to Lauderdale again. My mother made me do it on purpose because
she knew how much I wanted to go…
ROSALIE
What’s the matter?
DAVID
You’re…you’re not dressed.
ROSALIE
Of course I’m dressed.
DAVID
But…
ROSALIE
This is me, David.
DAVID
It’s not the you who rode
out to my house two weeks ago to ask me to take you to the dance tonight.
ROSALIE
That wasn’t me.
DAVID
Come on, Rosalie. Cut it
out.
ROSALIE
That was Diane Wolfe…
DAVID
Come on. It’s late.
ROSALIE
I can’t go pretending to
be something I’m not.
DAVID
It just means a hairbrush
and some lipstick and those new glasses and another dress and…
ROSALIE
It’s a matter of integrity,
David.
DAVID
Integrity, hell! It’s a matter
of taste.
ROSALIE
You said you understood.
DAVID
Understood what?
ROSALIE
I explained it all to you
while we were sitting out on your lawn and the sun was going down. You
kept nodding your head and saying you understood.
DAVID
I said I understood about
the photograph and planting it so that Chuck would see and tell Ham. Hell,
it was my idea to start with!
ROSALIE
I told you all about having
to be yourself.
DAVID
There’s a difference between
being yourself, and being a…a…
ROSALIE
I told you it’s what’s inside
that matters, and you kept saying you understood.
DAVID
I understood that, but I
never said I understood…
(gesturing toward her)
that.
ROSALIE
It doesn’t really matter,
David. They’ll still invite you to all their beach picnics and their progressive
dinners and their "Because You’re You" parties.
DAVID
How do you know they will?
ROSALIE
Because they have to invite
me.
DAVID
Like that?
ROSALIE
Yes! It’s getting chilly
out. The weather man says it’s expected to go down to forty tonight, so
I’d better get my jacket.
(SHE hurries into
her bedroom. DAVID glances desperately about the room. SHE reappears with
an old checkered jacket in her hands. SHE is putting it on when HE suddenly
doubles up, clutching his stomach.)
ROSALIE
David! What’s the matter?
DAVID
My stomach!
ROSALIE
Let me get you something.
Here. Lie down.
DAVID
No…there’s nothing you can
do…it’s an ulcer attack.
ROSALIE
I never knew…
DAVID
I don’t like to talk about
it. I get them all the time. The doctor said I’m the youngest boy he’s
ever seen with ulcers.
ROSALIE
Will Pepto-Bismal help?
DAVID
No. I’ve just got to go home.
I’ve got a special medicine at home. Then I have to lie in bed for at least
three hours.
ROSALIE
Oh?
DAVID
I’m sorry, Rosalie. It’s
hereditary. My father had it, and so did his father before him. I’m sorry,
but nobody knows when these things will hit.
(Doubled up, HE heads
for the front door, not daring to look at her. Then HE makes a run for
it. ROSALIE stares after him, tears streaming down her face. The motor
of his car starts, and SHE abruptly brushes the tears away. Her jaw sets
and her mouth hardens. SHE races to the mirror, rips open the pigtails,
pries the braces loose, tosses them aside, grabs the harlequin glasses
from the mantelpiece, dashes into her bedroom, returns with a hairbrush
and her Christmas gown overflowing its box beginning the transformation.
Soon a car is heard driving up and coming to an abrupt halt. The door slams.
Heavy footsteps, then a knock on the door. SHE is slipping into the lovely
gown.)
ROSALIE
Just a minute, Ham. I’ll
be right there.
LIGHTS DIM
