More Portmanteau Plays

[He points to Riki and Aoyagi. Obaa-San goes to them and lays her hands upon them.

OBAA-SAN

My little girl!—my little boy!—Today the sun is very bright.

The Curtains Close

THE VERY NAKED BOY

An Interlude Before the CurtainCHARACTERS

She

He

Brother

The scene is half way to a proposal.

A hallway with a heavily-curtained doorway in the centre. Right of this are two chairs with a tabouret between them. Right and Left are curtained arches.

She enters quickly, crossing to the chairs.

HE (following breathlessly and almost colliding with her as she stops)

Genevieve!

SHE (with a calmness strangely at variance with her entrance)

Well?

HE

Why did you—

SHE

I didn't.

HE

I beg your pardon, you may not have known it, but you did.

SHE

I didn't.

HE

If you'll only say you didn't mean it.

SHE

I didn't do it.

HE

Now, Genevieve, you know—

SHE

I didn't.

HE

Well, why did you—?

SHE

I didn't do it!

HE (meltingly but without humor or subtlety)

Well, if you didn't do it, dear—

[She is adamant.

Why did you run away the moment I came up to you?

SHE

I didn't run away—

[He looks at her quizzically.

I just came out here.

HE (hoping it isn't true)

But you seemed to be trying to avoid me.

SHE (with sphinx-like indifference)

Why should I avoid you?

HE

Genevieve! You make it impossible for me to talk to you.... I'll apologise if it will help.

SHE

Why should you apologise?

HE

Perhaps I've misconstrued your meaning.

SHE

I didn't mean anything—

[He smiles pleasantly with more hope than discretion.

–because I didn't do it.

HE

Now, Genevieve, I saw you do it.

SHE

You'll have to excuse me, Mr. Gordon, from further discussion.

[She seats herself, fully prepared for all the discussion she can force from him.

HE

But, Genevieve—

[He seats himself.

SHE

I didn't do it—and besides if I did what difference does it make? I'm free white and twenty-one.

HE (with a frail attempt at humor)

How old did you say?

SHE

I said I was free white.

HE

But, Genevieve, you must admit that—

SHE

Mr. Gordon!

HE

Please call me Henry. (In his emotion he pronounces it Hennery)

SHE

I don't see why I should.

HE

You did last night.

SHE

That was different. You were Dr. Jekyll last night.

HE

Oh, Genevieve—

SHE

You're showing your true colors tonight.

HE (appealingly)

I'm—sorry—

SHE

You're a tyrant.

HE

I don't mean to be. I think you're wo—

SHE

Now don't be personal. I'm not interested in your thoughts.

HE

But, Genevieve, won't you tell me why you did it?

SHE

I did it because—I've told you often enough I didn't do it.

HE (bitterly)

Joe—

SHE

Joe—what?

HE

Joe squeezed your hand.

SHE

Well, it's my hand, and besides I don't see why I should be cross-questioned by you.

HE

You know I'm—

[He leans toward her and she moves away.

SHE

You're what?

HE

I'm crazy about you.

SHE

Please, Mr. Gordon!

HE

Call me Henry! Just once.

SHE

I don't see why I should.

HE

Please, Genevieve.

SHE

Now don't be silly!

HE

Oh, Genevieve, if you only knew how it hurt me when you did it!

SHE

Did it hurt you?

HE

I could have killed Joe—gladly.

SHE

Honest!

HE

You know—you must know!

SHE

You certainly are calm about it.

HE (in the most absurd position that hopeless love can twist a man into)

What can I do? I can't be ridiculous.

SHE

Did you really see us?

HE

Yes, I saw you.

SHE

You seemed terribly tied up with Ethel.

HE

I had to sit by her.

SHE

I don't see why.

HE

I didn't have any place else to go.

SHE

I knew you were looking.

HE

Then why did you do it?

SHE

Don't ask me why. I loathe why.

HE

But oh, Genevieve, I love you so!

[He grasps her hand, not too violently. She gasps slightly, smiles pleasantly and becomes stern.

SHE (encouragingly)

Please, let go of my hand.

[He does so. She looks at him in mingled wonder and chagrin.

HE

Genevieve, isn't there any chance for me?

SHE

I've never thought of such a thing. What do you mean!

HE

I mean I love you.

SHE

… Yes?

HE (taking her scarf in his hand)

Aren't you interested?

SHE

Why, really, Mr. Gordon, you ask such strange questions.

HE

Oh, Genevieve—Genevieve—

[He kisses the scarf gently.

SHE [looking at him in wonder, disappointment and delight

Don't be silly.

HE

When a man's in love he always does silly things.

SHE

Always?

HE

Oh, Genevieve—

[He reaches for her hand reverently and this time she seems content to let matters rest.

SHE (making conversation)

I have the next dance with—

[She racks her memory.

HE

Joe, I suppose.

[He rises and crosses to the far side of the centre arch.

SHE (drawing her scarf about her and brushing against him as she passes.)

Excuse me, please.

HE (torrentially)

You shall not go. You shall listen to me. You have no right to treat me as a plaything when I love you so! I love you so! I love you so! I think of you all day long, I lie awake at night wondering what stars are looking upon you and I find myself envying them—every one of them.

[She tries to speak, but he presses her head against his shoulder.

I won't listen. You must hear me out. I've waited days and days and days for this chance to speak to you, and you've trailed me about like—like—like a poodle. I'm tired of it because I love you so.

[She tries to speak again; but succeeds only in mussing her hair.

HE

I want you to marry me, and marry me you shall if I have to carry you away with me. Oh, Genevieve, my darling Genevieve, just know that for this moment I am almost completely happy. You are close to me and I do not feel any struggle against me. Oh, if you will only listen to me, I do not mean to be brutal. I have torn your dress. I have mussed your precious hair. But I love you so! I love you so!

SHE

Oh, Henry—Henry—You are so wonderful!

[They embrace one long moment when an arm comes out between the curtains and tugs at his coat.

He lets go of her as though he had been shot, turns and sees the naked arm and the top of the Boy's head.

BOY (whispering)

Get her out of here!

SHE

Oh, Henry, Henry, have I been cruel to you?

HE (constrained)

We'd better go.

SHE (looks questioningly at him)

Please let's stay here.

[He presses her head against his breast and looks surreptitiously at the curtains.

The Boy makes as though to get out.

He starts violently—shoves the Boy back.

SHE

I saw you first—do you remember—at Poughkeepsie.

HE

Yes, yes—

SHE

I think—I liked you then.... But I never thought you'd be so wonderful.

HE

Let's go (whispering). Darling, let's go.

SHE

No, I want to stay here. I love this nook.

[He laughs nervously as she crosses to the curtains.

I should love to fill it full of great tall lilies.

[By this time she has become lyric and swept her arms against the curtains: with a cry, rushing to him for protection.

Henry, there's a man behind those curtains!

HE

I think we'd better go.

SHE

Oh, Henry, you're not going to leave him here.

HE

We'd better.

BOY [poking his head and a naked arm through the curtains

Yes, you'd better, because I'm going to get out of here.

SHE

Bob! You get your clothes on!

BOY

I told Mr. Gordon to get my clothes.

SHE

Mr. Gordon—

BOY

Call him Henry—just once—please, Genevieve.

HE (stiffly)

I'll get your clothes. Where are they?

BOY

In my room.

HE

What do you want?

BOY

Everything.

SHE (straightening up)

Don't be common, Robert.

[He starts for the door.

HE

No, I'm not going.

SHE

Hen—Mr. Gordon!… Very well. I'll go!

HE

No, you won't go either!

SHE

Please!

BOY

Well, I'll go.

[Boy moves as though to part the curtains. She screams a stifled little scream and both he and she rush to the curtains to hold them together.

SHE

Oh, Bob, if you won't get out I'll do anything for you.

BOY

Well, I'm cold.

SHE

Mr. Gordon, please go.

HE

I won't go!

SHE

You are very strange, indeed.... I'll go!

[She nears the door—Stops.

SHE

Never mind.

BOY

Oh, Henry, it's Ethel.

HE

Bob, won't you be a good sport? We'll turn our backs.

BOY

But will everybody else turn their back?

HE

Old man, can't you see how it is? We're—we're going to be engaged—and Ethel is out there—and—and—well—

BOY

Joe's out there, too.

HE

Well, yes.

SHE

Bob, I shall tell Father on you.

[She starts.

BOY

All right, go ahead. I'll tell Ethel.

SHE

Just wait.

BOY

I'll get out of here!

[Again the two rush precipitately to hold the Boy in place.

HE

Bob, be a man! You are childish and common. You are old enough to know better and I think it's an outrage for you to subject your sister to this fright. We can't go out of here just now—and you're making it very embarrassing for us.

SHE

Mr. Gordon—there's a cape in that closet. Will you get it for Bob.... He says he's cold.

[He goes to the closet.

SHE

Bob, I'll get even with you. You ought to be ashamed. I'm humiliated.

BOY

Why—Sis?

SHE

Imagine my being with a gentleman and having a very naked boy pop into the conversation.

[He returns with the cape.

HE

Here's the cape.

[He tosses it over the Boy's head and suddenly leans over and kisses her.

BOY

Why don't you smother me!

[Boy begins to emerge.

SHE

Bob, be careful.

[He and She turn away.

The Boy rises and as he does so the cloak falls about him until, when he steps out of the curtains, he discloses trousers and shoes.

BOY

I can't go through the hall looking like this.

SHE

You must.

HE (turning)

Go away, Bob. Your sister is very nervous.

[He sees the boy fairly well clothed. He gasps.

HE

Why—

SHE

Bob—

[Turning she sees the boy fairly well clothed.

I thought—How did you—Why didn't you—What were you doing in there?

BOY

Father was going to get strict and keep me off the water tonight and just as I came down here to get my sweater I heard him coming to the coat room so I jumped behind the curtains and let him pass and then Joe and Ethel came in and I couldn't let them see me this way. And then somebody else came and then you came in—well, I got cold.

HE (looking out)

Run on now, Bob, the hall is clear.

[Boy starts.

BOY

What was it you did, Sis?

SHE

I didn't do it.

BOY

Why didn't you do it?

SHE

I didn't do anything.

BOY

He said Joe squeezed your hand.

SHE

Absurd!

BOY

Well, I hope not, because he and Ethel got engaged in here too!

[He and She look fondly at each other and He murmurs, "Genevieve" as he reaches out for her.

The Boy begins to sing, "Oh, Genevieve, Sweet Genevieve," and they become aware of him, turning upon him and pursuing him with a warning cry of "Bob."

The End

JONATHAN MAKES A WISH

A Play in Three ActsCHARACTERS

Aunt Letitia

Susan Sample

Uncle Nathaniel

Uncle John

Jonathan

Mlle. Perrault

Hank

Albert Peet

Mary

John III

ACT I

Jonathan Makes a Friend

[The scene represents the lumber room in the carriage house on John Clay's suburban estate. The room is crowded with old trunks, paintings, barrels, boxes, chests, furniture showing long residence during slow epochs of changing taste. Everything is in good order and carefully labelled. At the right of the room is a door opening onto the stairs which lead to the ground floor. A small window is set high in the peak of the gabled end up centre. At the left a chimney comes through the floor and cuts into the roof as though it had been added by Victorian standards of taste for exterior beautification. An open stove intrudes its pipe into the chimney. The single indication of the life of today having touched the place is the studied arrangement of an old rosewood square grand piano. The keyboard is uncovered. On the top is a tiny theatre—a model masked and touched with mystery, according to early adolescent standards. Two benches stand in front of the piano, and the piano stool is meticulously set in place. A flamboyant placard leaning against the music rack announces:

TODAY

ZENOBIA

A tragedy in ten acts

by

Alexander Jefferson, Sr.

The light in the room is dim, although it is quite bright out of doors. There are two low windows which are heavily barred. The little theatre is so arranged that when the manipulator stands on the box to work it, his head can be seen over the masking.

The curtain rises disclosing an empty room. Presently laborious steps are heard on the stairs and a key is turned in the lock. Then Aunt Letitia enters followed by Susan Sample. Aunt Letitia is a motherly old woman who has been in the Clay home for many years. She may have preferences, but like the buildings on the estate, she stays where she is. Susan Sample is a tall, slender girl of fourteen with a very gentle manner and a way of looking at people that indicates a receptivity rarely met in one so old. Letitia goes to one of the trunks marked E R in large white letters and unlocks it.

LETITIA

Here they are, my dear. Help me with the hasps.

SUSAN

What does E. R. really stand for, Mis' Letitia?

LETITIA

E. R.... That's a secret, Susan, that little girls aren't supposed to know.

SUSAN

I won't tell.

LETITIA

But what good would that do, my sweet? Please open the windows.

SUSAN (opening the window and returning to her question)

No one would know you told me.

LETITIA

I would know. Yes, I would know that I had told somebody else's secret.

SUSAN

Whose secret is it? Please.

LETITIA

I've been living in this house for thirty-five years, Susan, and I've known the secrets of all the boys and girls from time to time.

SUSAN

You know mine, too.

LETITIA

And I've never told one of them, either.

SUSAN

Does old Mr. John ever have secrets?

LETITIA

Old Mr. John! For shame!… Of course he has secrets.

SUSAN

I wish I knew some of his, Mis' Letitia.

LETITIA

My dear, you never will know them. John is very quiet.

SUSAN

Who in the family didn't have any secrets at all?

LETITIA

Oh, they all had secrets when they were young. Nathaniel had fewer than any of them and…

[Her words are lost tenderly in a memory.

SUSAN

Why hasn't he ever come back home?

LETITIA (as she busies herself with the contents of the trunk)

That is his secret, Susan, and we mustn't ask too many questions. Nathaniel is coming today. I won't ask any questions.... He was a fine young man. Yes, he's coming back today, my dear. He was the baby of the family.

SUSAN

How old is he now?

LETITIA

You little chatterbox! Between you and Jonathan I have to fight to keep anybody's secrets.

SUSAN

Does Jonathan ask many questions?

LETITIA

When we're alone he does. He's just like his Uncle Nathaniel. God bless him!

SUSAN (seeing a costume in the trunk)

Oh, isn't that just wonderful!

LETITIA (holding the costume up for Susan to see)

That is what you can wear in the pageant, my dear Susan.

SUSAN (taking the costume)

Oh! Oh! Oh!… I wish I knew whose it was.

LETITIA

Would that make it any prettier?

SUSAN

No, but I'd like to know just the same.... Was it E. R.'s?

[A cry is heard outside, "Aunt Letty! Aunt Letty!"

LETITIA

Oh, Susan, it's Nathaniel! It's my boy. Here I am, dear.

[She has an armful of costumes which she drops nervously.

SUSAN

Mis' Letitia, I believe you love him best of all!

LETITIA

No, I don't, but I always understood him, I think.

[The voice below calls again, "Where are you?"

Come up here, my boy. Come up to the lumber room.

[Steps are heard on the stairs, young eager steps, and Nathaniel Clay bursts into the room. He is an eternally young man of thirty-five, who has touched the dregs and the heights of the world and remained himself.

NATHANIEL [taking Letitia in his arms, then holding her from him as he inspects her

Aunt Letty! Not a day older.... But oh, so wise.

LETITIA

Nathaniel, my boy, my darling, darling boy.

NATHANIEL

Now, now. Don't cry.

LETITIA

My boy, my boy. My splendid boy.

[Susan has forgotten her costume in her admiration for Nathaniel. She puts it down on the bench in front of the piano.

NATHANIEL

And this is—

LETITIA

This is Susan Sample.

NATHANIEL

Not—

LETITIA

Yes, time has been flying, Nathaniel. This young lady is Mary Sample's daughter.

NATHANIEL

How do you do? I can't believe it. You were only a little pink cherub up there in the sky when I ran—

LETITIA (hurriedly interrupting him)

Yes, Susan was born three years after you went away.

NATHANIEL

Oh!… And, Aunt Letitia, you've opened Emily's trunk!

LETITIA

Yes, Susan is going to be in a pageant.

SUSAN

Who was Emily?

NATHANIEL

She was—

LETITIA

Nathaniel dear, you must not satisfy her curiosity.

(To Susan)

You go find Jonathan, dear, and tell him that his uncle is here.

(To Nathaniel)

I'll put these things away, and we'll go into the house.

SUSAN (reluctantly)

Good-bye, Mr. Clay.

NATHANIEL

Good-bye, Susan. You'll come back, won't you?

SUSAN

Oh, yes. Good-bye.

NATHANIEL

Good-bye.

[Susan goes out.

LETITIA

She hates to go. She's never seen anyone just like you: and I have only seen one.

NATHANIEL

Who's Jonathan?

LETITIA

He's the one.... He's Emily's boy.

NATHANIEL

You mean Emily—

LETITIA

No, no, my dear. Emily was married, left the stage. She wasn't happy. The boy was her only comfort.

NATHANIEL

He's my nephew. Why, I'm Uncle Nathaniel. Oh, Aunt Letty, I'm getting to be an old man!

LETITIA

Nathaniel, Jonathan doesn't know about his mother. I sent Susan away because I didn't want her to associate these things with Jonathan's mother.

NATHANIEL

My God, Emily didn't do anything wrong.

LETITIA

Well, she was an actress.

NATHANIEL

And a good one, too.

LETITIA

Yes, yes, dear. All that has been talked over many times, but John is the head of the family and he doesn't approve of the stage.

NATHANIEL

So! John is still himself.

LETITIA

John is austere, Nathaniel. He is a Clay through and through and he holds to the traditions of the family.

NATHANIEL

I remember the traditions, Aunt Letitia.

LETITIA

I never oppose John. He feels that he is right. But it is very hard sometimes to live up to his rules.

NATHANIEL

Has he rules?

LETITIA

Well, he has ideas, dear—much like your father's. We might call them rules.

NATHANIEL

Where is Emily?

LETITIA

Two years ago, Nathaniel.

[There is a moment's silence.

NATHANIEL

Did she ever go back to the stage?

LETITIA

No. John forbade it.

NATHANIEL

And John is still forbidding.

LETITIA

John is the head of the family.

NATHANIEL

So.... The Clay family is still an absolute monarchy.

LETITIA

Nathaniel, dear, will you promise me—

NATHANIEL (with a smile)

I'll try.

LETITIA

Will you promise not to antagonize John?

NATHANIEL

Will John antagonize me? I came back to see my home—to see you, my dear aunt. But I am a grown man now.

LETITIA

Won't you try to be patient? It will be pleasanter for me. And I have waited so long to see you, Nathaniel. There are seventeen very, very long years for us to talk about. Let John have his way.

NATHANIEL

Well, I'll try for a few days. But I give you warning, my ideas have been settling during the past few years, too.

LETITIA

Remember, he is used to being obeyed just as your father was.

NATHANIEL

Yes, I remember that, dear Aunt; but John isn't my father. He is just a brother to whom fate gave a fifteen years' start by birth.

[As a voice calls, "Nathaniel, are you up there?" Nathaniel looks at Letitia.

NATHANIEL

His voice is just the same. (Calling) Yes, John, I am up here.

[The antagonism between the two brothers is apparent immediately.

John Clay enters. He is an austere, pompous man of fifty who has the softness of the tithe-collector and the hardness of the tax-collector. He speaks with an adamantine finality which is destined to rude shattering.

JOHN

How do you do, Nathaniel?

NATHANIEL

I am very well, I thank you, John. How are you?

[They shake hands perfunctorily.

JOHN

You arrived ahead of time.

NATHANIEL

Yes.

JOHN

We haven't met for seventeen years.

NATHANIEL

No. I've been away, John.

JOHN

Where have you been?

NATHANIEL

I shall be here for two weeks, John, and if I should tell you all about myself today, I should have nothing to talk about tomorrow.

JOHN (severely)

You haven't changed, Nathaniel. You are still frivolous.

NATHANIEL

I shall be serious when I am your age, brother.

JOHN

I came out here to ask you to be very careful of your conversation before the children.

NATHANIEL

The children?

JOHN

Yes, my two grandchildren.—

NATHANIEL

Grandchildren! My, that makes me a great uncle. I am getting old, Aunt Letitia!

JOHN

I do not care to have them or Jonathan hear about any revolutionary or other unusual ideas.

NATHANIEL

I shall try not to contaminate the children and Jonathan. How old are the children?

JOHN

Mary is four and John 3rd is two.

NATHANIEL

I shall try to spare their sensibilities.

JOHN

They may not understand you but they will hear.

NATHANIEL (to Letitia)

How old is Jonathan?

LETITIA

Fourteen.

NATHANIEL

The impressionable age.

JOHN

The silly age.

NATHANIEL

Brother John, no age is the silly age. Fourteen is the age of visions and enchantments and fears. What a boy of fourteen sees and hears takes on a value that we cannot underestimate. Most men are defeated in life between fourteen and twenty. At fourteen a boy begins to make a lens through which he sees life. He thinks about everything. Ambition is beginning to stir in him and he begins to know why he likes things, why he wants to do certain things. He formulates lasting plans for the future and he takes in impressions that are indelible. Things that seem nothing to old people become memories to him that affect his whole life. The memory of a smile may encourage him to surmount all obstacles and the memory of a bitterness may act as an eternal barrier.

JOHN

Nathaniel, are you a father?

NATHANIEL

No, John, I am only a bachelor who is very much in love with life in general and one lady in particular.

JOHN

You can know nothing of children, then.

NATHANIEL

I remember myself. Most men forget their younger selves and that is fatal.

JOHN

One would think to hear you talk that the most important things in life were a boy of fourteen and his moorings.

NATHANIEL

One might know it.

JOHN

You are still the same impractical theorist.

NATHANIEL

I am the same theorist—a little older, a little more travelled. The trouble with you, John, is that you think no age is important except your own. You always thought that, even when you were fourteen. Oh, I know I wasn't born then, but I know you.

JOHN

Did you come back to your home in order to lecture me?

NATHANIEL

No, no, I beg your pardon. I came back to see my home and Aunt Letitia and the children—and you, and I—I think—Jonathan.

JOHN

Nathaniel, when your letter came telling me that you had decided to come back to see us, I was going to ask you not to come—