Episode 1
Scene 1: New York City; a run-down, untidy room. Tess lays on the bed, unconscious. Georgie shoves clothes into a small bag. Tess is just awakening.
Tess: Wh-where am I? Looks around frantically. Who are you?
Georgie: You just lie down for now, girlie. You've had a bad hit on the head.
Tess: But where am I?
Georgie: Don't be gettin' all frantic, 'cause you're not gonna like it. Leroy knocked you over the head an' brought ya here. You're in the upstairs of a bar, but it's more like a whorehouse.
Tess: What! Sits up quickly, but clutches her head in pain and lays back down. Who's Leroy?
Georgie: Leroy Buckley. He's the owner. He brought ya here because he needed new girls. But don't you worry. The two of us are gettin' outta here.
Tess: Who are you?
Georgie: My name's Belle Lovelorn. I'm one of Leroy's girls. Pauses. No! I'm not Belle Lovelorn. That's the name Leroy gave me. My Christian name's Georgia Randall. My papa called my Georgie, and you can too. I'm sick o' workin' in this place, so I's leavin'. What's your name, girlie?
Tess: Theresa Hartley. Tess. Where are you going?
Georgie: The both of us are going together. Leroy and his boys are out scoutin' for more girls, so this is our chance. Leroy's got two thousand dollars stashed under a floor board in his room, and I'm gonna split it with you if you help us get outta here.
Tess: You mean steal it?
Georgie: Stern. Ain't stealin'. She softens her voice. I been workin' here for nine years and Leroy ain't given me close to what I made. He owes me more 'n two thousand. You got family to go back to?
Tess: Sitting up slowly. N-no. My parents died. My mother two days ago and my father last night. I was going out to stay with a friend of my father when... Leroy hit me. I don't want to stay here, in New York I mean. I want to get as far away from New York as I can.
Georgie: That's good. I like you. We can travel together. I'm real sorry about your folks, Tess. My mama died when I was little, and my papa died in the War. We can leave today if you want, but I'm willin' to wait if you want to bury your folks first. I'd have to hide from Leroy, o'course.
Tess: Reverend Ferland is taking care of everything. I've already given him the money for the... preparations. But I've already said goodbye to my parents. I can leave today. Reverend Ferland will keep our things, and when I get where I'm going I'll write him and have them sent to me.
Georgie: Sounds like a plan, Tess. You get up when you're ready, but we gotta go soon. Leroy brought that bag you was carryin'. I want to borrow one o' your dresses, can I? I don't got nothin' respectable.
Tess: That's fine. I mean, yes, you may.
Georgie: Thanks. I should tell ya, we won't be leaving through the front door. Leroy locks us in when he goes out. There's an abandoned buildin' across the alley. I figger I can reach one of the loose floorboards across there and we can crawl over it. I gotta get Leroy's money first.
Georgie takes Tess's dress behind a thin screen and changes into it while Tess slowly gets off the bed. She is still wearing her shoes, but her hair is tangled and a little bloody.
Georgie: You can fix yer hair while I'm gettin' the money. Be quiet about it. Pearl and Laralie are asleep and I don't want to be sharin' none o' our money with 'em.
Georgie leaves the room and Tess stands in front of a cracked mirror, gingerly combing her hair before braiding it loosely. Her wound is no longer bleeding, but a sizeable lump has formed.
Georgie: Looky here, Tess. Georgie opens up a small sack containing gold and silver coins and paper money. Get yer bag if you're ready to go.
Tess wordlessly takes her bag and follows Georgie from the room.
Scene 2: An open carriage just pulling away from a hospital, San Francisco. An older gentleman, Gabe, sits with a teenage boy and girl, Steven and Louisa. All three are dressed warmly.
Gabe: So, Louisa, did lancing that boil manage to put you off medicine?
Louisa: Not at all, Papa. It was fascinating. When do I get to watch an operation?
Gabe: Sorry, my sweet. They won't allow it.
Louisa: Who are they? You own the hospital.
Gabe: Only part of it, dear. There are three other owners. All old men who want their wives and daughters at home.
Steven: It isn't that interesting.
Louisa: Yes it is! You're quite excited after you watch them. You spend at least a half hour describing it to me. It isn't fair.
Gabe: Well, you can rest assured that I will leave you my share of the hospital when I die... or retire, whichever comes first. Just imagine what they'll say when you've got a say in what's what.
Louisa: They'll say horrid things!
Steven: Yes, but imagine the satisfaction in knowing that they cannot do a thing about it.
Louisa: I just want to grow up and leave that horrible school. Become a doctor and open my own hospital. She pauses to gaze at two elegantly dressed ladies walking down the street. When can I wear dresses like that, Papa? Dresses that go all the way to the ground and drift behind me, too. Like a real lady.
Gabe: You are a real lady, my sweet, but you are too young to wear such dresses and people would look down upon you as a result. He looks into Louisa's pleading eyes and sighs. All right, I was going to wait to tell you, but you force me to ruin the surprise. When you're fifteen, in March, then we will find a nice dressmaker and you can have all new clothes.
Louisa: Beams, crosses the carriage to hug her father. I love you, Papa. Thank you.
Gabe: I only wish your mother could be here for you. It's an important stage in your life, even if it may seem frivolous.
Louisa: I wish I knew Mama, but I'm not sad. You have always been wonderful. But I do wish you would find a nice lady and get married again. You deserve it.
Gabe: You wouldn't mind sharing me?
Louisa: Not if she was wonderful. I would not want her to be horrid to me, of course, but I want you to be happy.
Gabe: Yes... I suppose I could start calling on women again, and not just for medical reasons. But I promise—only the wonderful ones.
Scene 3: A busy train station, Georgie and Tess are buying train tickets.
Ticket Man: Where you ladies headed?
Georgie: San Francisco, is there are train leaving today?
Ticket Man: You're in luck. There's one leaving in fifteen minutes. Platform Two down that way.
Georgie pays for a private room with two beds. She and Tess say nothing to each other until they are settled in their little room and the train is pulling away. Tess begins weeping, then sobbing when Georgie pulls her to her side.
Georgie: It's gonna be okay, Tess. I don't know where you want to go, but you're welcome to come with me. I'm goin' to stay with my grandmother in San Francisco.
Tess: Sniffles. Thank you for the offer, but I don't want to stay in another city. I want to go to a small town somewhere quiet and settle down on my own. Maybe teach school.
Georgie: I was thinkin' o' doin' that. It may not sound like it, but I'm educated. Never had no formal education 'cause my papa had me tutored at home.
Tess: Tutored?
Georgie: My papa was rich. He owned a cotton plantation in Georgia. I just been around Leroy and the trash of New York for so long that I lost my class. I ain't proud of it. Not proud of what I been doin'. But I still remember my French and my Latin.
Tess: Why did you become a... ?
Georgie: Whore? She laughs weakly. That was the biggest mistake o' my life. It was just after the War. My papa was dead, my fiancé was dead, all our workers were gone and I had no crops. I lost the plantation that was in my family for over a hundred years. Then I met Leroy. He was a Yankee soldier. I don't know why trusted him, but I was desperate. He promised me money if only I signed this contract he had and came to New York with 'im. Once he got me here he never let me out of the bar. I realized after a couple o' years that the contract he made me sign wasn't even real... or legal, or both. I was so stupid back then.
Tess: How old are you, if you don't mind my asking?
Georgie: I'm turnin' thirty-three in a coupla months. What about you?
Tess: I'm eighteen in April. Do you have any other family?
Georgie: Just my grandmother in San Francisco. She don't know I'm comin', so I'm gonna send her a wire as soon as I get a chance. Don't you have any family to go to?
Tess: None at all. That's partly why I wanted to leave New York. There was nothing left there for me. But I never liked the city.
Georgie: Naw, not me neither. How's your head doin'? Ya want me to find ya a doctor?
Tess: I'm fine, really. A little food would be nice.
Georgie: Just what I was thinkin'.
Scene 4: Liberty Creek, John Henry's study at Belleterre. John Henry has gathered with Will and Nick.
Will: So it's settled. We won't make any more decisions about it until Philip gets back with the word in Chicago.
Nick: I think we'll have to wait till Libbie... er, has her way with him. She's getting pretty hostile toward men. Unfair, really... he's the only one who had anything to do with it.
John Henry: Your sister is a curious one. She seems to get this way earlier and earlier with each baby. She's only four months now.
Will: It's having the opposite effect on Marietta. Incredibly affectionate and generous.
Nick: Sometimes I think the husband has as hard a time as the wife having a baby. Dealing with all those varying emotions.
John Henry: Laughs. You're not married, son, and you've never watched a child come into this world.
Nick: Cows and horses.
John Henry: Heartily laughs. I watched you, Christopher, and Grace brought into this world. Trust me, it's harder for them. But when are you going to settle down, Nick?
Nick: I'm only twenty-two!
John Henry: Yes, but you haven't seriously pursued any young woman yet.
Nick: It's difficult. You spend one afternoon in a parlor with her parents here and they're wondering why you aren't proposing.
John Henry: Go to England. Or Europe. Will found Mari in Marseille.
Nick: He didn't find her there. He was staying with her parents, Maman's friends.
John Henry: Your mother and I have friends all over England and Europe.
Nick: I'm not going to marry some society twit. Will got lucky and found a beautiful girl with a mind of her own. If there's a woman for me, she'll be right around here—just like Vic and Liv found their husbands.
Will: Benjamin and Joe don't have any sisters.
Nick: I don't know how she'll be here, but if I'm meant to be married we'll find each other without trying.
Scene 5: Salt Lake City, a hotel room with two beds. Tess sits on one reading a newspaper and Georgie has just returned from errands.
Tess: Did the telegram from your grandmother arrive?
Georgie: Sure did. The clerk was hesitant to give it to me, thought it was a little suspicious 'cause it'd just arrived. But I got it.
Tess: Well?
Georgie: She wants me to come as soon as I can, and you're welcome, too, if you want.
Tess: I'm still not sure. There are a few teaching opportunities advertised here. What's in your package?
Georgie: Material for a new dress for me. I used to sew real good, and I want to impress my grandmother when I get to San Francisco. I got a pattern, too. I hope I can finish it by the time I get there. I could've bought a ready made one, I suppose. Just felt more right this way.
Tess: You can do it, I'm sure. Oh! Here's something that would be perfect! "Small town requires teacher for all levels effective immediately. Room and board free until own cabin can be built. Twenty-five dollars per month. Wire J.H. Marshall, Liberty Creek, Idaho Territory." Do you think it's still available?
Georgie: You'll never know unless you send them a wire. Try, Tess. It's just what you wanted to do.
Tess: Yes...
Six months later, Tess has
made friends in Liberty Creek, but one of her friendships is about to develop into
more Georgie finds success and respectability in San
Francisco—and friends Louisa and Steven are nothing but supportive
when Gabe decides the time is right to propose to his lady love
© 1999, all rights reserved.
Get your own Free Home Page