My Sister's Hand in Mine (29 page)

MOLLY
  (
MOLLY
comes out of the summer house and sniffs a blossom
) The honeysuckle's beginning to smell real good. I can never remember when you planted this vine, but it's sure getting thick. It makes the summer house so nice and shady inside.

GERTRUDE
(
Stiffening in anger
) I told you never to mention that vine again. You know it was there when we bought this house. You love to call my attention to that wretched vine because it's the only thing that grows well in the garden and you know it was planted by the people who came here before us and not by me at all. (
She rises and paces the balcony
) You're mocking me for being such a failure in the garden and not being able to make things grow. That's an underhanded Spanish trait of yours you inherit from your father. You love to mock me.

MOLLY
  (
Tenderly
) I would never mock you.

GERTRUDE
(
Working herself up
) I thought I'd find peace here … with these waving palms and the ocean stretching as far as the eye can see, but you don't like the ocean … You won't even go in the water. You're afraid to swim … I thought we'd found a paradise at last—the perfect place—but you don't want paradise … You want hell. Well, go into your little house and rot if you like … I don't care. Go on in while you still can. It won't be there much longer … I'll marry Mr. Solares and send you to business school. (
The voices of
MR. SOLARES
and his family arriving with a picnic lunch stop her. She leans over the railing of the balcony and looks up the road
) Oh, here they come with their covered pots. I knew they'd appear with a picnic luncheon today. I could feel it in my bones. We'll put our own luncheon away for supper and have our supper tomorrow for lunch … Go and change … Quickly … Watch that walk. (
MOLLY
exits into the house.
GERTRUDE
settles down in her chair to prepare for
MR. SOLARES'
arrival
) I wish they weren't coming. I'd rather be here by myself really. (
Enter Spanish people
) Nature's the best company of all. (
She pats her bun and rearranges some hairpins. Then she stands up and waves to her guests, cupping her mouth and yelling at the same time
) Hello there!

(
In another moment
MR. SOLARES, MRS. LOPEZ
and her daughter,
FREDERICA
,
and the three servants enter, walking in single file down the lane. Two of the servants are old hags and the third is a young half caste,
ESPERANZA
,
in mulberry-colored satin. The servants all carry pots wrapped with bright bandanas.
)

MR. SOLARES
  (
He wears a dark dusty suit. Pushing ahead of his sister,
MRS. LOPEZ
,
in his haste to greet
GERTRUDE
and thus squeezing his sister's arm rather painfully against the gate post
) Hello, Miss Eastman Cuevas! (
MRS. LOPEZ
squeals with pain and rubs her arm. She is fat and middle-aged. She wears a black picture hat and black city dress. Her hat is decorated with flowers,
MR. SOLARES
speaks with a trace of an accent, having lived for many years in this country. Grinning and bobbing around
) We brought you a picnic. For you and your daughter. Plenty of everything! You come down into the garden.

(
The others crowd slowly through the gate and stand awkwardly in a bunch looking up at
GERTRUDE
.)

GERTRUDE
(
Perfunctorily
) I think I'll stay here on the balcony, thank you. Just spread yourselves on the lawn and we'll talk back and forth this way. It's all the same. (
To the maids
) You can hand me up my food by stepping on that little stump and I'll lean over and get it.

MRS. LOPEZ
  (
Her accent is much thicker than her brother's, smiling up at
GERTRUDE
) You will come down into the garden, Miss Eastman Cuevas?

MR. SOLARES
  (
Giving his sister a poke
) Acaba de decirte que se queda arriba. ¿Ya no oyes? (
The next few minutes on the stage have a considerable musical background. The hags and
ESPERANZA
start spreading bandanas on the lawn and emptying the baskets. The others settle on the lawn.
ESPERANZA
and the hags sing a raucous song as they work, the hags just joining in at the chorus and a bit off key.
ESPERANZA
brings over a pot wrapped in a Turkish towel and serves the family group. They all take enormous helpings of spaghetti.
MR. SOLARES
serves himself
) Italian spaghetti with meat balls! Esperanza, serve a big plate to Miss Eastman Cuevas up on the porch. You climb on that.

(
He points to a fake stump with a gnome carved on one side of it.
)

ESPERANZA
(
Disagreeably
) ¡Caramba!

(
She climbs up on the stump after filling a plate with spaghetti and hands it to
GERTRUDE
,
releasing her hold on the plate before
GERTRUDE
has secured her own grip.
ESPERANZA
jumps out of the way immediately and the plate swings downward under the weight of the food, dumping the spaghetti on
MRS. LOPEZ'
head.
)

GERTRUDE
Oh! (
To
ESPERANZA
) You didn't give me a chance to get a firm hold on it!

MR. SOLARES
  ¡Silencio!

(
ESPERANZA
rushes over to the hags and all three of them become hysterical with laughter. After their hysterics they pull themselves together and go over to clean up
MRS. LOPEZ
and to restore
GERTRUDE'S
plate to her filled with fresh spaghetti. They return to their side of the garden in a far corner and everyone starts to eat.
)

MR. SOLARES
  (
To
GERTRUDE
) Miss Eastman Cuevas, you like chop suey?

GERTRUDE
I have never eaten any.

MRS. LOPEZ
  (
Eager to get into the conversation and expressing great wonder in her voice
) Chop suey? What is it?

MR. SOLARES
  (
In a mean voice to
MRS. LOPEZ
) You know what it is. (
In Spanish
) Que me dejes hablar con la señora Eastman Cuevas por favor. (
To
GERTRUDE
) I'll bring you some chop suey tomorrow in a box, or maybe we better go out to a restaurant, to a dining and dancing. Maybe you would go to try out some chop suey … Would you?

GERTRUDE
(
Coolly
) That's very nice of you but I've told you before that I don't care for the type of excitement you get when you go out … You know what I mean—entertainment, dancing, etc. Why don't you describe chop suey to me and I'll try and imagine it? (
MRS. LOPEZ
roars with laughter for no apparent reason.
GERTRUDE
cranes her neck and looks down at her over the balcony with raised eyebrows
) I could die content without ever setting foot in another restaurant. Frankly, I would not care if every single one of them burned to the ground. I really love to sit on my porch and look out over the ocean.

MRS. LOPEZ
  You like the ocean?

GERTRUDE
I love it!

MRS. LOPEZ
  (
Making a wild gesture with her arm
) I hate it!

GERTRUDE
I love it. It's majestic …

MRS. LOPEZ
  I hate!

GERTRUDE
(
Freezing up
) I see that we don't agree.

MR. SOLARES
  (
Scowling at
MRS. LOPEZ
) Oh, she loves the ocean. I don't know what the hell is the matter with her today. (
GERTRUDE
winces at his language
) Myself, I like ocean, land, mountain, all kinds of food, chop suey, chile, eel, turtle steak … Everything. Solares like everything. (
In hideous French accent
) Joie de vivre!

(
He snaps his fingers in the air.
)

GERTRUDE
(
Sucking some long strands of spaghetti into her mouth
) What is your attitude toward your business?

MR. SOLARES
  (
Happily
) My business is dandy.

GERTRUDE
(
Irritably
) Yes, but what is your attitude toward it?

MR. SOLARES
  (
With his mouth full
) O.K.

GERTRUDE
Please try to concentrate on my question, Mr. Solares. Do you like business or do you really prefer to stay home and lazy around?

MRS. LOPEZ
  (
Effusively
) He don't like no business—he likes to stay home and sleep—and eat. (
Then in a mocking tone intended to impress
MR. SOLARES
himself
) “Fula, I got headache … I got bellyache … I stay home, no?” (
She jabs her brother in the ribs with her elbow several times rolling her eyes in a teasing manner and repeats
) “Fula, I got headache … I got bellyache … I stay home, no?”

(
She jabs him once again even harder and laughs way down in her throat.
)

MR. SOLARES
  ¡Fula! Esta es la última vez que sales conmigo. Ya, déjame hablar con la señora
Eastman Cuevas!

MRS. LOPEZ
  Look,
Miss
Eastman Cuevas?

GERTRUDE
(
Looking disagreeably surprised
) Yes?

MRS. LOPEZ
  You like to talk to me?

GERTRUDE
(
As coolly as possible short of sounding rude
) Yes, I enjoy it.

MRS. LOPEZ
  (
Triumphantly to
MR. SOLARES
) Miss Eastman Cuevas
like
talk to me, so you shut your mouth. He don't want no one to talk to you, Miss Eastman Cuevas because he think he gonna marry you.

(
FREDERICA
doubles over and buries her face in her hands. Her skinny shoulders shake with laughter.
)

MR. SOLARES
  (
Embarrassed and furious
) Bring the chicken and rice, Esperanza.

ESPERANZA
You ain't finished what you got!

MR. SOLARES
  Cállate, y tráigame el arroz con pollo.

(
ESPERANZA
walks across the lawn with the second pot wrapped in a Turkish towel. She walks deliberately at a very slow pace, throwing a hip out at each step, and with a terrible sneer on her face. She serves them all chicken and rice, first removing the spaghetti plates and giving them clean ones. Everyone takes enormous helpings again, with the exception of
GERTRUDE
who refuses to have any.
)

GERTRUDE
(
While
ESPERANZA
serves the others
) If Molly doesn't come out soon she will simply have to miss her lunch. It's very tiring to have to keep reminding her of the time and the other realities of life. Molly is a dreamer.

MRS. LOPEZ
  (
Nodding
) That's right.

GERTRUDE
(
Watching
FREDERICA
serve herself
) Do you people always eat such a big midday meal? Molly and I are in the habit of eating simple salads at noon.

MRS. LOPEZ
  (
Wiping her mouth roughly with her napkin. Then without pausing and with gusto
) For breakfast: chocolate and sugar bread: for lunch: soup, beans, eggs, rice, roast pork with potatoes and guava paste … (
She pulls on a different finger for each separate item
) Next day: soup, eggs, beans, rice, chicken with rice and guava paste—other day: soup, eggs, beans, rice, stew meat, roasted baby pig and guava paste. Other day: soup, rice, beans, grilled red snapper, roasted goat meat and guava paste.

FREDERICA
(
Speaking for the first time, rapidly, in a scarcely audible voice
) Soup, rice, beans, eggs, ground-up meat and guava paste.

GERTRUDE
(
Wearily
) We usually have a simple salad.

MR. SOLARES
  She's talkin' about the old Spanish custom. She only come here ten years ago when her old man died. I don't like a big lunch neither. (
In a sudden burst of temerity
) Listen, what my sister said was true. I hope I am gonna marry you some day soon. I've told you so before. You remember?

MRS. LOPEZ
  (
Laughing and whispering to
FREDERICA
,
who goes off into hysterics, and then delving into a shopping bag which lies beside her on the grass. In a very gay voice
) This is what you gonna get if you make a wedding. (
She pulls out a paper bag and hurls it at
GERTRUDE'S
head with the gesture of a baseball pitcher. The bag splits and spills rice all over
GERTRUDE.
There is general hilarity and even a bit of singing on the part of
ESPERANZA
and the hags.
MR. LOPEZ
yells above the noise
) Rice!