Jane Bowles - My Sister's Hand in Mine - The Collected Works of Jane Bowles

MRS. LOPEZ Thank you very much.

MRS. CONSTABLE My daughter likes her freedom, so we have a little system worked out when we go on vacations. I stay somewhere nearby but not in the same place. Even so, I am the nervous type and I would like Mrs. Eastman Cuevas to know that I’m at the Herons … You see my daughter is unusually high spirited. She feels everything so strongly that she’s apt to tire herself out. I want to be available just in case she collapses.

MRS. LOPEZ ( Ruffling FREDERICA’S hair ) Frederica get very tired too.

MRS. CONSTABLE Yes, I know. I suppose all the young girls do. Will you tell Mrs. Eastman Cuevas that I’m at the Herons?

MRS. LOPEZ O.K.

MRS. CONSTABLE Thank you a thousand times. I’ll run along now or Vivian will see me and she’ll think that I’m interfering with her freedom … You’ll notice right away what fun she gets out of life. Good-bye.

MRS. LOPEZ Good-bye, Mrs. Vamos; despiértense. Esperanza. (MRS. CONSTABLE exits hurriedly. To MR. SOLARES) Now we go home.

MR. SOLARES ( Sullenly ) All right. ( Spanish group leaves ) Esperanza! Esperanza! Frederica!

( Enter from the house VIVIAN, GERTRUDE and the chauffeur, who leaves the garden and exits down the lane. )

VIVIAN ( To GERTRUDE, continuing a conversation ) I’m going to be sky high by dinner time. Then I won’t sleep all night. I know myself.

GERTRUDE Don’t you use controls?

VIVIAN No, I never do. When I feel myself going up I just go on up until I hit the ceiling. I’m like that. The world is ten times more exciting for me than it is for others.

GERTRUDE Still I believe in using controls. It’s a part of the law of civilization. Otherwise we would be like wild beasts. ( She sighs ) We’re bad enough as it is, controls and all.

VIVIAN ( Hugging GERTRUDE impulsively ) You’ve got the prettiest hair I’ve ever seen, and I’m going to love it here. (GERTRUDE backs away a little, embarrassed. VIVIAN spots the summer house ) What a darling little house! It’s like the home of a bird or a poet. ( She approaches the summer house and enters it. MRS. LOPEZ motions to the hags to start cleaning up. They hobble around one behind the other gathering things and scraping plates very ineffectually. More often than not the hag behind scrapes more garbage onto the plate just cleaned by the hag in front of her. They continue this until the curtain falls. Music begins. Calling to GERTRUDE) I can imagine all sorts of things in here, Miss Eastman Cuevas. I could make plans for hours on end in here. It’s so darling and little.

GERTRUDE ( Coldly ) Molly usually sits in there. But I can’t say that she plans much. Just dozes or reads trash. Comic strips. It will do no harm if someone else sits in there for a change.

VIVIAN Who is Molly?

GERTRUDE Molly is my daughter.

VIVIAN How wonderful! I want to meet her right away … Where is she?

( The boys start righting the cardboard figures. )

LIONEL Do you think we could have our water?

GERTRUDE I’m sorry. Yes, of course. ( Calling ) Molly! ( Silence ) Molly! ( More loudly ) Molly! ( Silence )

LIONEL I think we’ll go along to the next place. Don’t bother your daughter. I’ll come back if I may. I’d like to see you all again … and your daughter. She disappeared so quickly.

GERTRUDE You stay right where you are. I’ll get her out here in a minute. ( Screaming ) Molly! Come out here immediately! Molly!

VIVIAN ( In a trilling voice ) Molly! Come on out!.. I’m in your little house … Molly!

GERTRUDE ( Furious ) Molly!

( All the players look expectantly at the doorway. MOLLY does not appear and the curtain comes down in silence. )

Scene ii

One month later.

A beach and a beautiful backdrop of the water. The SOLARES family is again spread out among dirty plates as though the scenery had changed around them while they themselves had not stirred since the first act. GERTRUDE is kneeling and rearranging her hair near the SOLARES family, VIVIAN at her feet. MOLLY and LIONEL a little apart from the other people, MOLLY watching VIVIAN. The two old hags are wearing white slips for swimming.

The music is sad and disturbing, implying a more serious mood.

MRS. LOPEZ ( Poking her daughter who is lying next to her ) A ver si tú y Esperanza nos cantan algo …

FREDERICA ( From under handkerchief which covers her face ) Ay, mamá.

MRS. LOPEZ ( Calling to ESPERANZA) Esperanza, a ver si nos cantan algo, tú y Frederica.

( She gives her daughter a few pokes. They argue a bit and FREDERICA gets up and drags herself wearily over to the hags. They consult and sing a little song. The hags join in at the chorus. )

ESPERANZA Bueno — sí …

GERTRUDE ( When they have finished ) That was nice. I like sad songs.

VIVIAN ( Still at her feet and looking up at her with adoration ) So do I … (MOLLY is watching VIVIAN, a beam of hate in her eye. VIVIAN takes GERTRUDE’S wrist and plays with her hand just for a moment. GERTRUDE pulls it away, instinctively afraid of MOLLY’S reaction. To GERTRUDE) I wish Molly would come swimming with me. I thought maybe she would. ( Then to MOLLY, for GERTRUDE’S benefit ) Molly, won’t you come in, just this once. You’ll love it once you do. Everyone loves the water, everyone in the world.

GERTRUDE ( Springing to her feet, and addressing the Spanish people ) I thought we were going for a stroll up the beach after lunch. ( There is apprehension behind her words ) You’ll never digest lying on your backs, and besides you’re sure to fall asleep if you don’t get up right away.

( She regains her inner composure as she gives her commands. )

MRS. LOPEZ ( Groaning ) ¡Ay! ¡Caray! Why don’t you sleep, Miss Eastman Cuevas?

GERTRUDE It’s very bad for you, really. Come on. Come on, everybody! Get up! You too, Alta Gracia and Quintina, get up! Come on, everybody up! ( There is a good deal of protesting while the servants and the SOLARES family struggle to their feet ) I promise you you’ll feel much better later on if we take just a little walk along the beach.

VIVIAN ( Leaping to GERTRUDE’S side in one bound ) I love to walk on the beach!

(MOLLY too has come forward to be with her mother. )

GERTRUDE ( Pause. Again stifling her apprehension with a command ) You children stay here. Or take a walk along the cliffs if you’d like to. But be careful!

FREDERICA I want to be with my mother.

GERTRUDE Well, come along, but we’re only going for a short stroll. What a baby you are, Frederica Lopez.

MR. SOLARES I’ll run the car up to my house and go and collect that horse I was telling you about. Then I’ll catch up with you on the way back.

GERTRUDE You won’t get much of a walk.

(FREDERICA throws her arms around her mother and gives her a big smacking kiss on the cheek. MRS. LOPEZ kisses FREDERICA. They all exit slowly, leaving VIVIAN, LIONEL, MOLLY and the dishes behind. MOLLY, sad that she can’t walk with her mother, crosses wistfully back to her former place next to LIONEL, but VIVIAN— eager to cut her out whenever she can — rushes to LIONEL’S side, and crouches on her heels exactly where MOLLY was sitting before. MOLLY notices this, and settles in a brooding way a little apart from them, her back to the pair. )