Vi/Peggy sits, smoothing her crossed legs with her hand, as she continues:)
VI/PEGGY: “What a simply horrid week abroad. Thank God for champagne, or I’d actually remember it.”
(Mike laughs, then Betty does, looking at Mike. Ann watches Peter who has picked up a framed photo, as he continues to watch.)
“What possessed me? No, I shall never again stray. I make this my oath, upon pain of death, never again shall I venture forth off this great island of civility, of kindness and beauty, and into the filthy godforsaken seas which surround it.”
ANN (To Peter): Then one of the characters—
BETTY (Over this, explaining): Howard.
ANN (Continuing): —asks, “So you’ll never leave England again?”
VI/PEGGY: “England?! Who said anything about England? I was talking about—the Savoy.”
(Laughter, and the audition is over. Peter sets the photo back down and applauds.)
ANN (Teasing): Maybe mother wouldn’t be happy.
(Laughter.)
VI (All shyness): Peggy’s supposed to be in her thirties. I told them I thought I was too young.
BETTY: You should let them decide—
VI: The tour’s Grimsby, Warrington, Liskeard, and somewhere else, I forget. (Beat) They’ll let me know. Maybe this week. (Suddenly feels terribly awkward, everyone looking at her. Embarrassed) Why did I do that? Of all things to— He just got . . .
(She turns away, quickly turns back to see Peter smiling and looking at her.)
What? Why are you staring?
(He suddenly goes and hugs her. This makes Betty start to cry again.)
PETER: Betty, please . . .
BETTY: Listen to that accent!
PETER: I’m sorry, but . . .
BETTY: I didn’t say that it was bad.
(Vi breaks away, being very much the child now:)
VI: As long as Mother and Father don’t find out.
(She hurries to the photo of their parents that Peter was looking at and turns it face down. Again laughter. Mike hands Peter a drink.)
MIKE: Here.
BETTY: He’s seventeen years old!
MIKE (Sipping his drink): My point exactly.
PETER: What I’d love is a cup of tea.
VI: I’ll put the kettle on—
BETTY (At the same time): I’ll get it— (Turns to Vi) You do the kettle. I’ll take his bag into his room. And see if the bed’s made.
VI: I made it.
BETTY: And see if the bed’s made—correctly.
(Betty and Vi hurry off, leaving Peter with Ann and Mike. After another short, awkward pause:)
MIKE: I’m standing there outside the buffet, holding up this photo— he goes by me—what, two or three times? (Laughs and ruffles Peter’s hair as if he were a boy)
ANN: As long as it worked out—in the end. That’s all that counts. (Looks at Peter, then) Come here.
VI (Off, shouting): I’m so happy!!
ANN (To Peter): Come here.
(Peter goes to her and she holds him, strokes his hair.)
I don’t know what to say.
(She turns back to Mike who now sits, smiling, sipping his drink.
She turns back to Peter, begins to kiss his cheeks, rub his hair, hug him, repeating:)
Look at you. Look at you. Look at you.
SCENE 2
Later that evening.
Peter sits, plate of food in his lap. The others have eaten, plates to their side or on the floor, or they have chosen not to eat.
ANN: At first—they seemed really nice. I was treated like I was someone special.
PETER: It was the same with me. Then—
VI: I didn’t have this problem.
ANN: That’s not true.
VI: She talks about this and—
ANN: You got as upset as I did.
PETER (To Betty): You started to feel like they were thinking, Is this kid ever going home?
ANN (To Vi): I saw how they looked at you. And how they looked at me. (To Peter) They adored the little ones.
PETER: In Wales you had to work?
VI: Work! What else did we do? What else did I do. I practically took care of her.
ANN: That’s completely untrue! I was like—the mother, for God’s sake.
VI: I don’t believe this.
ANN: From the moment at the station, standing there with our little luggage labels with our names on them around our necks. When Mother let go of my hand—she put it in yours. I knew what she was saying. I was fourteen years old! But I held on. When they tried to separate us—who screamed? (Beat) Who took her fist and began hitting the lady who was trying to push my sister away into another queue? We’re a family, I said. You can’t separate us. (Beat) We’re all we have. (Beat) This big house—the school was in one side, we slept in the other. This was for about a month. Then we billeted with a couple. We slept together. (Beat) Vi and me. (Beat) He was a miner. He’d have his bath—we’d get our “Uncle’s” bath ready—by the fire, then—off we go. Get out. Into the winter, summer—outside. Off you go. And wait. Sometimes we went to the pictures. Until Mum and Dad . . . And we weren’t being sent any more money.
BETTY: I sent you money.
ANN: That’s true.
(Pause.)
VI: They had a dog. A really nice dog—at the school. We loved the dog. A bit of a Labrador. Black. He began to follow me around. (To Ann) Remember? (Back to Peter) I took care of him. He slept at the foot of our bed. (Beat) I went to school. Came back. He was gone. He’d been volunteered to the army. Sniffing land mines in Belgium. I cried more than when Mum and Dad died.
(Short pause.)
PETER: Just a couple of days after I got to my “Aunt and Uncle’s”— their big black-and-white cat had kittens. Nine. I was so— happy. To see them. Some—things—that—knew, understood—even less than me. (Smiles, takes a bite)
VI (To Betty): I know what he (“means”)—
PETER: So my “Auntie,” I suppose, seeing my—pleasure? She says, “Choose one, Petey.”
ANN: Petey?
(His sisters giggle.)
PETER: It happened. I don’t know how—
BETTY: Petey!!!
PETER (Over their giggling): “Choose one! We’ll have to drown the rest.”
(The girls stop giggling.)
I look at those kittens in the barn. Each one. I touch each— one. And I couldn’t choose. It wasn’t right to choose, I felt. Auntie got impatient with me, and she drowned them all. (Pause) When they put me in the field to work? I was put with some Negroes. I said to Uncle—I’m a white man, I’m not a Negro. And he took the palm of his hand and rammed it into my head. I think I was passed out for about ten minutes. (Beat) For weeks I thought about why he did that.
BETTY: He was probably trying to tell you that Negroes were just as good as white people. He thought you were—
PETER: I thought of that. Sometimes I thought that was the reason.
(Beat.)
VI: Maybe he just didn’t like someone questioning him.
PETER: Maybe. (Shrugs) In school there a kid hit me because he said I had an uppity accent.
BETTY: You don’t have a—
PETER: Then. I lost it. So maybe Uncle heard . . . (Shrugs again) I never knew. (Beat) I feel there’s so much I don’t know.
ANN (Agreeing with his confusion): Were we supposed to work or not? Were we sent—to work? Was that part of the plan?
VI: We were sent to be safe?—
ANN: Why did I have to work? Margaret Wells? She came with us. We were on the same train. We were at the same school— She didn’t work. Her “Auntie” taught her things. She had, I think, two beautiful dresses that her “Auntie” embroidered . . . (Beat) I’ve often wondered—did they put us together for reasons? How did they—match us? Did they know something about us—me? Or was it all—? When we got off the train— No one had bothered to tell me this. (To Vi) You didn’t tell me this—
VI (Over this): What??
ANN: I’d obviously touched some soot on the train, and touched my face with my hand—I saw it later in a window—there was a streak of soot across my head. (Shakes her head and smiles) Maybe when we were standing in the queue? Being—picked? If I hadn’t had that soot on my face—would I have learned to embroider like Margaret Wells? Would I have been picked earlier, by someone—else? (Short pause. To Peter) You’re not eating.
(He holds up his plate, she takes it, looks at him, strokes his hair.)
PETER: I should go and unpack. (He doesn’t move)
BETTY (To Mike): This must be boring for you.
MIKE: No, no. It’s not. I’ll get another drink. (Gets up and goes to get a drink, stops) But just don’t start blaming all those people. They interrupted their lives for all of you. They were heroes, in my mind. (Goes off into the kitchen)
BETTY (To Peter): He’s a nice man. A good doctor.
VI: He pays for all (“this”)—
BETTY: I work.
VI: He and Betty.
BETTY: He’s been very good to us all. Hasn’t he, Ann?
(No response. This catches Peter’s interest.)
(To Peter) She’s never satisfied.
ANN (Suddenly upset): How dare you say that?!
BETTY: If I can’t say it, then who—
ANN (Over this): Shut up! I said, shut up, Betty—
PETER (Over this to Vi): What’s??
(Vi ignores the question. Just as suddenly as they erupted, there is silence.)
(To Ann) How did you and Mike—meet?
VI: He works with Betty.
BETTY (Correcting): I work with him.
VI: Betty brought him home.
BETTY: To meet my sisters. I had a crush on him myself, then.
(She laughs, no one else does.)
Ann and he make a wonderful couple. You knew that right away. They’ll have a wonderful baby.
ANN: He’s a nice man. As she says.
BETTY: Mother would have liked him. She would have approved. She was trying to become a nurse, you know.
PETER: I didn’t—
BETTY: First it was a schoolteacher, then after the three of you went away, it was a nurse. She hadn’t got that far when . . . It’s why she was out that day. (Beat) Mike, it turns out—isn’t the world strange? It turns out was there as well. So she could have been one of the people he helped pull out. He helped pull people out from under all the . . . (Beat) I have often wondered . . .
VI: Father is buried in France. You knew that?
(Peter nods.)
BETTY: They sent us a ring. We don’t think it was Father’s ring.
(Mike returns with a drink. For a moment no one says anything. As he passes, Mike strokes Ann’s head; she doesn’t respond.)
VI (Finally): At school they had attached a bell to a tree. We were told that if we spotted any enemy parachutists to run and ring that bell. (Beat) I could see the tree from my seat in the classroom. I used to daydream that like large snowflakes suddenly the sky was filled with parachutes. And no one else saw them. Everyone else was too busy—learning things. I ran out of the classroom. Reached the tree and the bell and began ringing it with all my strength. Soldiers suddenly arrived and captured all the bad people. Dad was always one of the soldiers. (Pause)
PETER: I used to dream of you. (All of them)
(He stands and goes and hugs each one in turn.)
I should unpack.
(He starts to go, but is stopped by:)
ANN: Vi was in a nativity play—playing Joseph.
PETER: Joseph??
VI: “Uncle” drew with coal on my face to make the whiskers.
ANN: She didn’t know who Joseph was—
VI (Same time): I didn’t know who Joseph—
ANN: Then she’s told he’s—Mary’s husband. And I tell her like Dad is Mum’s husband. So she’s there in the nativity, and everyone is watching, and she says: “Mary, give me a drink.”
(Peter and his sisters all say: “Just like Father!!” and laugh.
Still smiling, Peter goes down the hallway to his bedroom. The others stop laughing.
The sisters start to pick up the plates, etc.)
BETTY: He’s got—so old.
MIKE: He’s a boy.
VI (Ignoring Mike): I thought I’d faint when I saw him.
ANN: He looks like Father.
VI: I see Mother.
BETTY: He used to be— He’d never sit still—
ANN (Over this): He’s tired. Think about what we look like to him.
VI: And the flat.
ANN: It must be . . .
VI (To Mike): God it must be a relief for you—to finally have another man around! (Smiles)
MIKE: He’s a boy—
VI (Over this): Some—reinforcements against all us women!
MIKE: I haven’t minded. In fact, I’ve rather enjoyed it.
(He laughs, as do Betty and Vi. As Vi picks up a plate, he leans over and tries to “pinch” her and she “squeals”—all a game they’ve played before. Ann shows no reaction to the pinching. Vi starts to head for the kitchen, laughing. As she goes, we hear Peter calling her: “Vi!” She turns and hurries down the hallway to him.)
BETTY (To Mike): So what do you think?
MIKE: He’s a fine boy. I like him.
BETTY: I knew you would.
MIKE: And I think we should be able to find a place for him in the surgery.
ANN: And not just sweeping floors, he needs to learn—
MIKE: I’ll supervise his duties myself.
BETTY: Thank you.
(Beat.)
ANN: I mean it, Mike. Don’t make promises you can’t keep.
(This stops the room for a moment, then Betty turns to Mike.)
BETTY: You’ve been so good to us.
MIKE (Shrugs): Remember I had a son. Not much older than your Pete.
BETTY (Suddenly smiling): Or Petey as we now must call him!
(She laughs.
Suddenly Peter comes out of the hall wearing a full cowboy costume—chaps, hat, vest, spurs.)
PETER (Bursting in): Howdy, English folk!
(Laughter.)
And this is how they really dress in Alberta! (Carries a couple of packages under his arm)
ANN: I don’t believe—
PETER: Except on Sunday for church, then they wear their fancy clothes! Hats out to (“here”)—
(But he is interrupted by Vi who appears in Indian clothes—her present from Peter. She has taken off her dress and put on a little Indian vest over her slip, hoisted up her slip and put on the skirt—looking sexy and a bit indecent. The others react, laughing.)
And here is Viohantas, Indian Squaw!! (Turns to Betty) And this is for you, Betty. (To Ann) And for you. (Hands out their presents. To Mike) I’m sorry, but I didn’t get—
MIKE: Please.
PETER: And I didn’t know about the baby when—
BETTY (Opening her package): Where did you get the money? (Opens the box, takes out a blouse. Immediately turns away, takes off her blouse and puts on the new one)
MIKE (During this): I’m turning away.
(The new blouse is low cut, exposing her bra.)
BETTY: How’s this?
PETER (Goes and touches her bra strap): You can’t wear that with it.
BETTY (Stunned; to her sisters): Since when did our brother become a women’s fashion expert—? (She turns, glances at Mike)
MIKE: I’m not looking!
(She turns, takes off the blouse, then her bra, then starts to put the blouse back on. As she does, Ann opens her present—a necklace.)
ANN: It’s gorgeous, Peter! Where did you—?
PETER: It didn’t cost much.
(Vi, getting into being an Indian:)
VI: Remember we used to ride on Betty? She used to give Pete and—
ANN: Petey!
VI (Grabbing Betty): Come on! Around the room!
BETTY (Adjusting her blouse, ignoring Vi): What do you
think? I don’t think I could wear this out—
VI: Get down.
(Betty gets down, but continues to “ignore” Vi.)
PETER (To Betty): Perhaps it’s not meant to wear out, but rather—at home. With—whomever?
(He smiles. She nods, smiles, catches a quick look at Mike, then turns away.)
BETTY: I’ll wear it around the house then.
VI: Come on, horsy. Let’s go. Come on!
(Vi is on the back of Betty, who is down on all fours, though still seemingly oblivious to Vi.)
ANN (At the same time, holding her new necklace): Peter, help me put it on.
(He goes to help. Vi now rides Betty, who constantly fiddles with the new blouse as her breasts are nearly uncovered though no one seems to notice.)
VI (On Betty): Faster! Let’s attack those Germans!
PETER: I think she’s mixing up her wars.
VI: Yahoo!!!
ANN (To Peter): I love it. (Kisses him on the cheek)
VI: Petey! You’re next! Come on! Give her a ride! Come on!
BETTY (To Mike): He used to do this all the time—
ANN: Come on!
(She drags him to Betty. Vi gets off, Peter gets on reluctantly; though doesn’t put his whole weight on her. Betty rides around, begins to buck, as she used to when he was a small child. The others laugh as he tries to hold on. The phone rings, calming everyone down. Mike takes the call, then:)
MIKE (To Vi): It’s for you.
(Vi takes it. Betty “whinnies” quietly, Peter slaps her bottom as he would a horse.)
BETTY: Oh really!
(She suddenly bucks and he nearly falls off. Vi hangs up.)
VI: I didn’t get the part. The director.
(Beat.)
BETTY: I’m sorry . . .
ANN: I thought you wouldn’t hear until—
VI: He says he thinks I’m talented enough. He wants to have lunch.
ANN: He’s after you?
(Vi doesn’t respond, then:)
VI: And he’s something like twenty years older than me. (Realizes what she has just said in Mike’s presence)
MIKE: God, then he must have a foot in death’s door.
(He smiles, the others laugh. The faux pas is forgotten, or forgiven.)
ANN (Suddenly to Vi): Do you remember that when we used to play hide-and-seek, on rainy days, there was always a place that Peter would hide—and we never found him.
Goodnight Children Everywhere and Other Plays Page 26