The Mandie Collection

by Lois Gladys Leppard

  ABRAHAM: (Looking at Mandie as he quickly walks toward the back door.) One o’ dese days we’ll do jes’ dat. Right now I has to git de wood fo’ de stove. (He exits through the door.)

  MOLLIE: (Calling after Abraham.) One day soon we be goin’ to Ireland then. (Picking up Snowball, who has been sitting nearby.)

  MANDIE: Come on, Mollie, we have to go back to the parlor so all these people can get supper done. (Mandie walks toward the door.)

  (Mollie, holding the cat, follows her.)

  CELIA: (Following Mandie.) I can see where we’re going to have some interesting holidays this week.

  MANDIE: I’m hoping Aunt Lou can make her understand what the holidays are all about.

  CURTAIN

  ACT II—Scene 1

  THE SCENE:

  AT CURTAIN:

  MANDIE: I wonder what kind of an errand Uncle John sent Mr. Jason on tonight. I heard them talking in the hallway after supper, and when they saw me they just shut up.

  CELIA: It’s probably about some of your uncle’s business matters that don’t concern anyone else.

  MANDIE: I’d still like to know where he sent him.

  MOLLIE: (Mollie comes running into the parlor. Aunt Lou walks in behind her, carrying a Bible. Excitedly she comes to stand in front of Mandie and Celia.) Me aunt Lou has been readin’ a good book to me. It be all about these people called angels. They be like leprechauns. Not everybody kin see them.

  AUNT LOU: (Shaking her head as she looks at Mandie.) I’ll keep tryin’, my chile. Mebbe sumthin’ will soak in after a while. Now I’m plumb wore out and I’m going to git some rest. Good night.

  MANDIE: Thanks, Aunt Lou. Good night. (Aunt Lou exits out the back door.)

  MOLLIE: (Still standing before Mandie and Celia.) The angel people are all white, me aunt thinks. And sometimes they do good things, but there be one bad one that God didn’t like, and He threw him all the way down to where the Devil be. And he can’t iver come back to live with the good angel people because he’s been bad. But me aunt Lou thinks God won’t throw us down there for being bad if we be sorry. So when I be bad, all I have to do is be sorry, and I always be sorry when I be bad. Do ye be sorry when ye be bad, Mandie? Do ye, Celia? Do ye?

  CELIA: Of course I am, Mollie.

  MANDIE: (Smiling at Mollie.) Yes, I’m always sorry for being bad, but I try real hard not to be bad. And I always ask God to forgive me.

  MOLLIE: Me aunt Lou said she would show me how to talk to God tomorrow when she reads me more of that book, because I don’t be knowin’ how to ask God to forgive me when I’ve been bad, and I need to know real soon just in case I be bad agin.

  CELIA: Oh, Mollie, I’m sure Aunt Lou will be able to teach you about God.

  (Snowball comes running into the room and goes to sit on the hearth.)

  MOLLIE: (Watching the cat.) Mandie, do ye be thinkin’ Snowball might be a angel cat? He do be white.

  MANDIE: (Smiling.) No, Mollie, he’s just a real live white cat.

  MOLLIE: (Sitting down on the floor.) I think me tired.

  MANDIE: And I think it’s bedtime. I’m going to let you sleep with me tonight, Mollie, since you are in a strange house.

  MOLLIE: (Frowning.) This be a strange house?

  MANDIE: It’s a different house from the one you’ve been living in, and you never have been here before, so I thought you might like to sleep with me.

  MOLLIE: No, no, Mandie. I be wantin’ a whole big bed all by meself.

  MANDIE: Then we will put you in the room next to mine. It has a door between, so if you change your mind you can always come in my room and get in the bed with me.

  MOLLIE: (Shaking her head.) Oh, Mandie, ’tis afraid ye be thinkin’ I be. I sleep in a big bed by meself at Celia’s house, and I don’t be afraid.

  CELIA: She’s definitely not afraid of the dark. She gets up sometimes in the middle of the night and wanders all over the house.

  MANDIE: (Looking at Mollie.) That’s not allowed here, Mollie. You would wake people up if you go roaming around during the night, and I don’t think anybody would like that.

  MOLLIE: (Yawning.) I do be sleepy.

  MANDIE: (Rising.) All right, Mollie, we are going to bed. I believe everybody else has already done that. Come on.

  (Celia rises and reaches a hand down to pull Mollie to her feet.)

  MOLLIE: (Quickly standing up.) I not be asleep yit, Celia.

  MANDIE: Off to bed we go.

  (Mandie, Celia, and Mollie exit through the door.)

  CURTAIN

  ACT II—Scene 2

  THE SCENE:

  AT CURTAIN:

  MANDIE: (Setting the lamp on the table and standing by the table.) I just can’t imagine where Mollie could be. We’ve searched everywhere, and she’s just not here.

  CELIA: (Coming to stand by the table.) I told you she gets up in the middle of the night and wanders all over the house. There’s no way to stop her that we can figure out.

  MANDIE: Where does she go? Where do you find her?

  CELIA: She does all kinds of things. Sometimes we find her eating food out of the icebox, and sometimes she’s curled up asleep in the parlor. We never know where to look for her.

  MANDIE: Does she ever go outdoors?

  CELIA: Not that we know of. But, Mandie, she couldn’t be outdoors right now because all the doors are locked.

  (There is a loud metallic click and the sound of squeaky hinges.)

  MANDIE: (Looking at Celia.) What was that?

  CELIA: (Moving closer to Mandie.) Someone is coming in the front door.

  MANDIE: Can’t be Mollie. Whoever it is has a key.

  JASON BOND: (Jason Bond suddenly looks into the parlor through the doorway.) Just looking to see who had the lamp lit, whether I should put it out for the night.

  MANDIE: (Blowing out her breath.) Oh, Mr. Jason, thank goodness it’s you.

  JASON BOND: What are you two doing down here this time of night?

  MANDIE: We’re looking for Mollie. She’s not in her bedroom. But where have you been this time of night, Mr. Jason?

  JASON BOND: On an errand for your uncle. Now we probably ought to find that little girl. I’ll help y’all look for her.

  MANDIE: We’ve already searched everywhere we can think of and we can’t find her.

  JASON BOND: I’ll help y’all look, but let me just go to the kitchen first and get a bite to eat since I missed supper last night. I’ll be right back. (Jason Bond exits through the door.)

  MANDIE: (Calling to Mr. Bond as she goes to sit on the settee.) I’ll be here.

  CELIA: (Sitting beside Mandie.) So will I.

  MANDIE: (Snowball comes into the room and Mandie picks him up in her lap.) I’m hoping Mr. Jason will tell us where he’s been.

  CELIA: Mandie, I don’t think he’s going to tell us a single thing. He didn’t explain anything when he told us he had been on an errand. (Snowball suddenly jumps down from Mandie’s lap.)

  MANDIE: Snowball, where are you going? (As she watches him run across the floor, she happens to look at the window.) Celia, look, look! (Mandie rises and hurries over to the window.)

  CELIA: (Following Mandie.) Mandie, what is it?

  MANDIE: (As she reaches the window, she points through the glass.) There’s Mollie! She must have gone out through this window. See, she’s trying to open it and get back in. I’ll let her in through the front door.

  (Celia continues to look through the window.)

  (Mandie exits through the door to the hallway and can be heard offstage. There is the sound of a door being opened.)

  MANDIE: (Offstage.) Mollie, get in this house! Where have you been? (Sound offstage of door being closed.)

  (Mollie rushes into the parlor through the door.)

  MANDIE: (Mandie follows.) Mollie, you didn’t answer me. Where have you been?

  MOLLIE: (Going to stand near Celia.) I be seein’ one of them angel people like me aunt Lou told me about. Me aunt Lou was right. They do be angel pe
ople, all white like she be sayin’. The angel people kin talk, too. But the angel people flew away while I be watchin’. All white and—

  MANDIE: (Grasping Mollie’s hand and leading her to the settee, where she sits down and pulls Mollie up beside her.) Mollie, please be quiet a minute. I want to ask you some questions.

  CELIA: (Sitting next to them on the settee.) Yes, we do.

  MOLLIE: (Jerking her hand out of Mandie’s.) I be quiet if’n ye don’t be squeezin’ me hand. (Flexing her fingers and pretending to be hurt.)

  MANDIE: (Quickly reaching to kiss Mollie’s hand.) I’m sorry, Mollie. I didn’t mean to hurt you. Now let’s begin at the beginning. Where have you been? We’ve looked the house over for you, and it’s the middle of the night. We all need to be in bed and asleep.

  MOLLIE: (Looking up at Mandie.) But, Mandie, I was in the bed, but this angel people—I really be sure it was a leprechaun angel, that it was—it came to me bed and asked me to follow it. So I—

  CELIA: You must have been dreaming, Mollie. The house was all locked up and nobody could get in.

  MOLLIE: Oh, but mistaken ye be. All the doors was locked, but this leprechaun angel showed me the way to that window over there. It was open, it was. And it says to me real softlike, “follow, follow,” and I follow. I be thinkin’ this leprechaun angel may be takin’ me to its pot o’ gold, so I go out the window—

  CELIA: Where did you go when you went out the window, Mollie?

  MOLLIE: There be a house back there with horses in it, there is. I be followin’ this leprechaun angel, and it went into this house, and I followed just like it told me, but then I couldn’t find it, I couldn’t. It went plumb away, bless Pat, plumb away, gone. (Mollie shakes her head sadly.)

  MANDIE: You were gone a long time, Mollie, because we have been searching the whole house for you and that took time.

  MOLLIE: I be gone a long time because I be lookin’ to find the leprechaun angel, but that I could not do. I looked and looked and looked, in all the bushes and behind all the trees, but it went away, it did.

  MANDIE: (Watching Mollie’s face.) What did this thing, or person, look like? Was it tall or short? A man or a woman? Did it say anything else to you?

  MOLLIE: It was tall, taller than ye, Mandie. But I don’t be knowin’ what it might be lookin’ like ’cause it didn’t have a face. It was all covered up with white linen just like me mither made in Belfast Mill.

  CELIA: Did it talk?

  MOLLIE: It said nary a word to me but “follow, follow,” and so I followed, but it floated away, sure it did, and I looked and looked, and I could not find it. Why do ye be supposin’ it told me to follow it and then it would not let me find it agin? (She looks puzzled.)

  JASON BOND: (Entering through the door to the hall.) So you found her, did you?

  MANDIE: No, not exactly. She had gone out through that window over there and was trying to get back inside, and we saw her.

  JASON BOND: At least she’s back, safe and sound. (Lowering his voice.) You might try turning the key, you know, tonight. (Making a motion to indicate locking the door.)

  MANDIE: If I can figure out how to do that without a loud protest.

  JASON BOND: Well, I believe it’s time for me to get a little sleep. Gotta get up early again in the morning. (Starts toward the door.)

  MANDIE: Mr. Jason, do you have to go on another errand for my uncle?

  JASON BOND: (Stopping to look back at Mandie.) Now you know your uncle’s business is confidential and I can’t discuss it with anyone, so I think you shouldn’t worry your pretty little head over such things. And I also think you girls, all three of you, should crawl back in your beds and get some sleep. Otherwise y’all are going to be awfully sleepyheaded tomorrow. Night, night now. (Jason Bond exits through the door to the hall.)

  MANDIE: (Rising from the settee.) Guess we might as well. Come on, Mollie. We’re all going back to bed.

  MOLLIE: (Standing up.) Are ye sure we must go to bed?

  MANDIE: Yes, I am sure.

  CELIA: And this time, Mollie, you must stay in your bed for the rest of the night.

  MOLLIE: But what if the leprechaun angel comes back to see me and wants me to follow it?

  MANDIE: Mollie, there is no such thing as a leprechaun angel.

  MOLLIE: But, Mandie, I just told ye I saw one. (Mollie follows Mandie to the door. Celia follows her.)

  MANDIE: We’ll talk about that tomorrow. Right now we are all going to bed, and we are going to stay in our beds until it’s time to get up for breakfast.

  CELIA: (Stopping to point back to the lighted lamp.) Do you want to leave it here?

  MANDIE: (Turning back and going toward the lamp.) Y’all go ahead. I’ll put the lamp out.

  (Celia and Mollie exit through the door.)

  MANDIE: (Mandie walks over to the lamp on the table and blows out the light. She starts to turn and leave the room when she quickly looks back out the window. To herself.) What was that? (She leans near the window to look outside.) I thought I saw something out there. (She keeps staring out the window and finally turns to leave the room.) I must be imagining things after all the excitement tonight. There’s no such thing as a leprechaun angel. Bunch of malarkey!

  CURTAIN

  ACT III—Scene 1

  THE SCENE:

  AT CURTAIN:

  PREACHER: I’m happy to see so many wonderful people made it out of bed and up the mountain this morning to give thanks to our Lord for this special day. Let us pray. (The preacher watches to see that heads are bowed. Then he begins his prayer.) We thank Thee, dear God, for this glorious morning and for what it stands for. We thank Thee for clearing away the rain we had last night so that we may be able to see the sun rise this morning. Now we offer our thanks up to you in song.

  MOLLIE: (Excitedly speaking, overlapping the last few words of the preacher.) There’s the angel people, Mandie! Look! (She points to upstage right.)

  MANDIE: (Bending to whisper to Mollie.) Sh-h-h-h! Be quiet!

  MOLLIE: But, Mandie—

  MANDIE: Sh-h-h-h-h! Hush!

  (The crowd had begun singing “He Is Risen,” and Mandie, Celia, and Liza join in.)

  (Mollie tries to see through the crowd in the direction she had pointed about the angel people.)

  PREACHER: (After the end of the song.) Now may the Lord go with you forevermore, my brethren. God bless you all.

  (The crowd starts to break up and go back down the mountain, to the right.)

  MANDIE: (Looking at Celia and quickly grasping Mollie’s hand.) Let’s let the crowd get on down ahead of us so we can be sure Mollie doesn’t run away somewhere.

  CELIA: Yes, it would be bad if she broke away and got lost in all these woods on our way down.

  LIZA: (Listening to the conversation.) I needs to go he’p wid de breakfus’, Missy ’Manda, or Aunt Lou be lookin’ fo’ me.

  MANDIE: We’re all going to help with the food, Liza. You don’t have to hurry. (Glancing overhead as a strong gust of wind sweeps past them.) I do believe the sun is coming out full force now. Look. (Pointing toward the sun.)

  LIZA: (Looking at the sky.) It sho’ is. (Turning to Mollie.) Look at dat. Dere be one of dem rainbows I be tellin’ you ’bout. Right dere! (She points back across the hill.)

  MOLLIE: (Turning to look and becoming excited as she points toward the rainbow and jumps up and down.) Mandie, look! Look, Celia, look!

  MANDIE: (Stepping back to look at the rainbow. She sees something near it and exclaims.) What is that?

  MOLLIE: (Pulling on Mandie’s hand.) Mandie, it’s the angel people! Mandie, let’s go see!

  CELIA: It’s something white.

  LIZA: (Moving closer to Mandie as she shivers.) Looks like a ghost to me. And it’s supposed to be a pot o’ gold at de end of de rainbow, not a ghost!

  MANDIE: (Still holding Mollie’s hand as she leads the way with Celia and Liza following her and Mollie.) Come on. Let’s go see what it is. Looks like a lot of white, fluffy materi
al floating in the air.

  (As they get nearer, the top part of the white form seems to break away and go flying off into the air with a strong gust of wind, uncovering the head of a woman with carrot-red hair.)

  LIZA: (Grasping Mandie’s other hand.) It broke!

  MOLLIE: I thought it be the angel people. (She tries to pull back.)

  MANDIE: (Pulling on Mollie’s hand as they come closer to the woman.) You are Mollie’s aunt, aren’t you?

  CELIA: (Stopping to look at the woman.) She has to be with that red hair.

  THE WOMAN: (Coming forward and stooping down to get a look at Mollie, who is trying to hide behind Mandie’s skirt.) That I am. And this is my sister’s dear daughter. I am your aunt, child. Come to me.

  MANDIE: How did you know where Mollie was?

  THE WOMAN: (Still stooping and looking up at Mandie.) Ah, that you do not know? The detectives hunted and hunted but could not find me because I got married and changed my name. Then weeks and weeks ago, your grandmother, Mrs. Taft, asked your uncle John Shaw to send his man to contact the Cherokee people to help locate me, and, as you see, they found me.

  MANDIE: Then why didn’t you just come to the house instead of hiding out here on the mountain?

  THE WOMAN: My poor sister and I had hard words years ago when I left Ireland, and I was not sure I wanted to see my niece.

  CELIA: You must have been the one who lured Mollie out of her bed the other night.

  MOLLIE: Aye, she was.

  THE WOMAN: And how do you be knowin’ that, child?

  MOLLIE: Because ye smell like ye did that night when ye ran off and left me. (Taking a deep breath and blowing it out.) Do ye not want to be me aunt?

  THE WOMAN: I am your aunt, dear child. Nothing can change that.

  MOLLIE: Me name is not child. Me name is Mollie.

  THE WOMAN: That I do know, and also your name was spelled wrong on the papers the detectives had. The correct spelling is M-o-l-l-i-e, and they had it spelled M-o-l-l-y, which almost caused me to disclaim any knowledge of you because I thought it was the wrong little girl, so I had to see you for myself. And when I saw that red hair and blue eyes, I knew you were my sister’s child.