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

(FREDERICA pulls a thin striped horn out of one of the paper bags and blows on it. )

GERTRUDE Frederica, stop that. Stop that at once! I told you I didn’t want to hear a single horn on my birthday. This is a party for adults. Put that away. Come along, we’re leaving. We’ll leave here at once.

FREDERICA ( In her pallid voice ) And Umberto? My uncle …

GERTRUDE What about him?

FREDERICA Uncle Umberto say he was calling for us to ride home all together.

GERTRUDE ( Automatically ) Where is he?

FREDERICA He is with Pepe Hernández, Frederica Gómez, Pacito Sánchez, Pepito Pita Luga …

GERTRUDE No more names, Frederica … Tell him we’re coming. We’ll be right along …

MRS. LOPEZ And the limonadas …

GERTRUDE Never mind the limonadas. We’re leaving here at once … Collect your bundles … Go on, go along.

( The Mexicans start to collect everything, and there is the usual confusion and chatter. FREDERICA spills some horns out of her bag. MRS. LOPEZ screams at her, etc. They reach the exit just as INEZ arrives with the limonadas. )

MRS. LOPEZ ( Almost weeping, in a pleading voice to GERTRUDE) Look, Eastman Cuevas, the limonadas!

FREDERICA ( Echoing ) The limonadas … ¡Ay!

GERTRUDE No! There isn’t time. I said we were leaving. We’re leaving at once …

INEZ ( To MRS. LOPEZ as they exit, including MRS. CONSTABLE) Take them along … Drink them in the car, for Christ’s sake.

MRS. LOPEZ ( Off stage ) But the glasses …

INEZ ( Off stage ) To hell with the glasses. Toss them down the cliff.

GERTRUDE Molly, it’s time to go. (MOLLY starts for stairway ) Molly, come along. We’re going. What is it, Molly? Why are you standing there? You have your silver bracelet on and the necklace to match. We’re ready to leave. Why are you waiting? Tonight you’ll wear my gown with the tulips on it. I told you that … and tomorrow we’ll go and I’ll show you the vines. When you see how thick the leaves are and the blossoms, you’ll know I’m not dreaming. Molly, why do you look at me like that? What is it? What did you forget?

(LIONEL comes downstairs. GERTRUDE stiffens and pulls MOLLY to her side with a strong hand, holding her there as a guard holds his prisoner. )

GERTRUDE Lionel, we’re going. It’s all settled. We’re leaving at once. Molly’s coming with me and she’s not coming back.

MOLLY ( Her voice sticking in her throat ) I …

LIONEL ( Seeing her stand there, overpowered by her mother, as if by a great tree, accepts the pattern as utterly hopeless once and for all. Then, after a moment ) Good-bye, Molly. Have a nice time at the birthday supper … ( Bitterly ) You look very pretty in that dress.

( He exits through oyster-shell door. )

GERTRUDE ( After a moment. Calm and firm, certain of her triumph ) Molly, we’re going now. You’ve said good-bye. There’s no point in standing around here any longer.

MOLLY ( Retreating ) Leave me alone …

GERTRUDE Molly, what is it? Why are you acting this way?

MOLLY I want to go out.

GERTRUDE Molly!

MOLLY I’m going … I’m going out.

GERTRUDE ( Blocking her way ) I’ll make it all up to you. I’ll give you everything you wanted, everything you’ve dreamed about.

MOLLY You told me not to dream. You’re all changed … You’re not like you used to be.

GERTRUDE I will be, darling. You’ll see … when we’re together. It’s going to be the same, just the way it was. Tomorrow we’ll go back and look at the vines, thicker and more beautiful …

MOLLY I’m going … Lionel!

GERTRUDE ( Blocking her way, fiendish from now on ) He did it. He changed you. He turned you against me.

MOLLY Let me go … You’re all changed.

GERTRUDE You can’t go. I won’t let you. I can stop you. I can and I will.

( There is a physical struggle between them near the oyster-shell door. )

MOLLY ( Straining to get through the door and calling in a voice that seems to come up from the bottom of her heart ) Lionel!

GERTRUDE I know what you did … I didn’t want to … I was frightened, but I knew … You hated Vivian. I’m the only one in the world who knows you. (MOLLY aghast ceases to struggle. They hold for a moment before GERTRUDE releases her grip on MOLLY. Confident now that she has broken her daughter’s will forever ) Molly, we’re going … We’re going home.

MOLLY ( Backing away in horror ) No!

GERTRUDE Molly, we’re going! (MOLLY continues to retreat ) If you don’t (MOLLY, shaking her head still retreats ) If you don’t, I’ll tell her! I’ll call Mrs. Constable.

MOLLY ( Still retreating ) No …

GERTRUDE ( Wild, calling like an animal ) Mrs. Constable! Mrs. Constable! ( To MOLLY, shaking her ) Do you see what you’re doing to me! Do you? (MRS. CONSTABLE appears in doorway. GERTRUDE drags MOLLY brutally out of her corner near the staircase and confronts her with MRS. CONSTABLE) I have something to tell you, Mrs. Constable. It’s about Molly. It’s about my daughter … She hated Vivian. My daughter hated yours and a terrible ugly thing happened … an ugly thing happened on the cliffs …

MRS. CONSTABLE ( Defiantly ) Nothing happened … Nothing!

GERTRUDE ( Hanging on to MOLLY, who is straining to go ) It had to happen. I know Molly … I know her jealousy … I was her whole world, the only one she loved … She wanted me all to herself … I know that kind of jealousy and what it can do to you … I know what it feels like to wish someone dead. When I was a little girl … I … ( She stops dead as if a knife had been thrust in her heart now. The hand holding MOLLY’S in its hard iron grip slowly relaxes. There is a long pause. Then, under her breath ) Go … (MOLLY’S flight is sudden. She is visible in the blue light beyond the oyster-shell door only for a second. The Mexican band starts playing the wedding song from Act One. GERTRUDE stands as still as a statue. MRS. CONSTABLE approaches, making a gesture of compassion ) The band is playing on the beach. They’re playing their music. Go, Mrs. Constable … Please.

(MRS. CONSTABLE exits through oyster-shell door. )

FREDERICA ( Entering from street, calling, exuberant ) Eastman Cuevas! Eastman Cuevas! Uncle Umberto is ready. We are waiting in the car … Where’s Molly? ( She falters at the sight of GERTRUDE’S white face. Then, with awe ) Ay dios … ¿Qué pasa? ¿Qué tiene? Miss Eastman Cuevas, you don’t feel happy? ( She unpins a simple bouquet of red flowers and puts it into GERTRUDE’S hand ) For your birthday, Miss Eastman Cuevas … your birthday …

( She backs away into the shadows, not knowing what to do next. GERTRUDE is standing rigid, the bouquet stuck in her hand. )

GERTRUDE ( Almost in a whisper, as the curtain falls ) When I was a little girl …

Alva Perry was a dignified and reserved woman of Scotch and Spanish descent, in her early forties. She was still handsome, although her cheeks were too thin. Her eyes particularly were of an extraordinary clarity and beauty. She lived in her uncle’s house, which had been converted into apartments, or tenements, as they were still called in her section of the country. The house stood on the side of a steep, wooded hill overlooking the main highway. A long cement staircase climbed halfway up the hill and stopped some distance below the house. It had originally led to a power station, which had since been destroyed. Mrs. Perry had lived alone in her tenement since the death of her husband eleven years ago; however, she found small things to do all day long and she had somehow remained as industrious in her solitude as a woman who lives in the service of her family.