Tea and Sympathy
Page 12
Hi.
(He takes off his equipment and puts it on the floor.)
LAURA (Has been standing motionless where TOM has !eft her)
Hello.
BILL (Comes to her and kisses her on the cheek)
One lousy week-end a year we get to go climbing and it rains.
(Throws the rest of his stuff down)
The fellows are damned disappointed.
LAURA (Hardly paying any attention to him)
That's too bad.
BILL (Going up to alcove)
I think they wanted me to invite them down for a feed. But I didn't want to. I thought we'd be alone. Okay?
(He looks across at her.)
LAURA (She is listening for footsteps outside)
Sure.
(BILL goes out through alcove. LAURA stoops and picks up the raincoat which TOM has dropped and hides it in the cabinet by the fireplace.)
BILL
(Appears in door momentarily wiping his hands with towel)
Boy it really rained.
(He disappears again. LAURA sadly goes to the door and slowly and gently closes it. When she is finished, she leans against the door, listening, hoping against hope that TOM will go upstairs. When TOM sees the door close, he stands there for a moment, then turns his coat collar up and goes down the hall and out. Off stage as TOM starts to go down the hall)
We never made it to the timberline. The rain started to come down. Another hour or so and we would have got to the hut and spent the night, but the fellows wouldn't hear of it . . .
(The door slams. LAURA turns away from the study door in despair. Still off stage)
What was that?
LAURA
Nothing . . . Nothing at all.
BILL
(Enters and gets pipe from mantelpiece)
Good to get out, though. Makes you feel alive. Think I'll go out again next Saturday, alone. Won't be bothered by the fellows wanting to turn back.
(He has settled down in the chair intended for TOM. The school bells start to ring nine. BILL reaches out his hand for LAURA. Standing by the door, she looks at his outstretched hand, as the lights fade, and
THE CURTAIN FALLS
ACT THREE
The time is late the next afternoon.
As the curtain rises, TOM is in his room. His door is shut and bolted. He is lying on his back on the bed, staring up at the ceiling.
RALPH (He is at the phone)
Hello, Mary . . . Ralph . . . Yeah, I just wanted you to know I'd be a little delayed picking you up . . . Yeah . . . everyone was taking a shower over here, and there's only one shower for eight guys . . . No it's not the same place as last night . . . The tea dance is at the Inn . . .
(He suddenly looks very uncomfortable)
Look, I'll tell you when I see you . . . Okay . . .
(Almost whispers it)
I love you . . .
(STEVE, RALPH's sidekick, comes running in from the outside. He's all dressed up and he's got something to tell)
Yeah, Mary. Well, I can't say it over again . . . Didn't you hear me the first time?
(Loud so she'll hear it)
Hi, Steve.
STEVE
Come on, get off. I got something to tell you.
RALPH
Mary -- Mary, I'll get there faster if I stop talking now. Okay? Okay. See you a little after four.
(He hangs up)
What the hell's the matter with you?
STEVE
Have you seen Tom?
RALPH
No.
STEVE
You know what the hell he did last night?
RALPH
What?
STEVE
He went and saw Ellie.
RALPH
Who are you bulling?
STEVE
No, honest. Ellie told Jackson over at the kitchen. Everybody knows now.
RALPH
What did he want to go and do a thing like that for?
STEVE
But wait a minute. You haven't heard the half of it.
RALPH
Listen, I gotta get dressed.
(Starts upstairs.)
STEVE (On their way up the stairs)
The way Ellie tells it, he went there, all the hell dressed up like he was going to the dance, and . . .
(They disappear up the stairs. BILL after a moment, comes in the hall, and goes quickly up the stairs. He goes right into AL and TOM'S main room without knocking. We then hear him try the handle of TOM's bedroom door. TOM looks at the door defiantly and sullenly.)
BILL (Knocks sharply)
Tom!
(Rattles door some more)
Tom, this is Mr. Reynolds. Let me in.
TOM
I don't want to see anyone.
BILL
You've got to see me. Come on. Open up! I've got to talk to the Dean at four, and I want to speak to you first.
TOM
There's nothing to say.
BILL
I can break the door down. Then your father would have to pay for a new door. Do you want that? Are you afraid to see me?
(TOM after a moment, goes to the door and pulls back the bolt. BILL comes in quickly)
Well.
(TOM goes back and sits on the bed. Doesn't look at BILL)
Now I've got to have the full story. All the details so that when I see the Dean . . .
TOM
You've got the full story. What the hell do you want?
BILL
We don't seem to have the full story.
TOM
When the school cops brought me in last night they told you I was with Ellie Martin.
BILL
That's just it. It seems you weren't with her.
TOM (After a moment)
What do you mean?
BILL
You weren't with her. You couldn't be with her. Do you understand what I mean?
TOM (Trying to brave it out)
Who says so?
BILL
She says so. And she ought to know.
(TOM turns away)
She says that you couldn't . . . and that you jumped up and grabbed a knife in her kitchen and tried to kill yourself . . . and she had to fight with you and that's what attracted the school cops.
TOM
What difference does it make?
BILL
I just wanted the record to be straight. You'll undoubtedly be expelled, no matter what . . . but I wanted the record straight.
TOM (Turning on him)
You couldn't have stood it, could you, if I'd proved you wrong?
BILL
Where do you get off talking like that to a master?
TOM
You'd made up your mind long ago, and it would have killed you if I'd proved you wrong.
BILL
Talking like that isn't going to help you any.
TOM
Nothing's going to help. I'm gonna be kicked out, and then you're gonna be happy.
BILL
I'm not going to be happy. I'm going to be very sorry . . . sorry for your father.
TOM
All right, now you know. Go on, spread the news. How can you wait?
BILL
I won't tell anyone . . . but the Dean, of course.
TOM
And my father . . .
BILL
Perhaps . . .
TOM (After a long pause)
And Mrs. Reynolds.
BILL (Looks at TOM)
Yes. I think she ought to know.
(He turns and leaves the room. Goes through the sitting room and up the stairs, calling "Ralph." TOM closes the door and locks it, goes and sits down in the chair.)
LAURA
(As BILL goes upstairs to RALPH, she comes into the master's study. She is wearing a wool suit. She goes to the cupboard and brings out TOM's raincoat. She moves with it to the door. There is a knock. She opens the door)
Oh, h
ello, Mr. Lee.
HERB (Coming in, he seems for some reason rather pleased)
Hello, Laura.
LAURA
Bill isn't in just now, though I'm expecting him any moment.
HERB
My train was twenty minutes late. I was afraid I'd missed him. We have an appointment with the Dean in a few minutes . . .
LAURA (Is coolly polite)
Oh, I see.
HERB
Have I done something to displease you, Laura? You seem a little . . .
(HERB shrugs and makes a gesture with his hands meaning cool.)
LAURA
I'm sorry. Forgive me. Won't you sit down?
HERB
I remember that you were displeased at my leaving Tom in school a week ago. Well, you see I was right in a sense. Though, perhaps being a lady you wouldn't understand.
LAURA
I'm not sure that I do.
HERB
Well, now, look here. If I had taken Tom out of school after that scandal with Mr. . . . uh . . . what was his name?
LAURA
Mr. Harris.
HERB
Yes. If I'd taken Tom out then, he would have been marked for the rest of his life.
LAURA
You know that Tom will be expelled, of course.
HERB
Yes, but the circumstances are so much more normal.
LAURA (After looking at him a moment)
I think, Mr. Lee, I'm not quite sure, but I think, in a sense, you're proud of Tom.
HERB
Well.
LAURA
Probably for the first time you're proud of him because the school police found him out of bounds with a . . .
HERB
I shouldn't have expected you to understand. Bill will see what I mean.
(BILL starts down the stairs.)
LAURA
Yes. He probably will.
(BILL comes in the room.)
HERB
Bill.
BILL
Hello, Herb.
(HERB looks from LAURA to BILL. Notices the coldness between them.)
BILL
I was just up seeing Tom.
HERB
Yes. I intend to go up after we've seen the Dean. How is he?
BILL
All right.
HERB (Expansive)
Sitting around telling the boys all about it.
BILL
No, he's in his room alone. The others are going to the tea dance at the Inn. Laura . . .
(Sees LAURA is leaving the room)
Oh, Laura, I wish you'd stay.
(LAURA takes one step back into the room.)
HERB
I was telling your wife here, trying to make her understand the male point of view on this matter. I mean, how being kicked out for a thing like this, while not exactly desirable, is still not so serious. It's sort of one of the calculated risks of being a man.
(He smiles at his way of putting it.)
BILL (Preparing to tell HERB)
Herb?
HERB
Yes, Bill. I mean, you agree with me on that, don't you?
BILL
Yes, Herb, only the situation is not exactly as it was reported to you over the phone. It's true that Tom went to this girl Ellie's place, and it's true that he went for the usual purpose. However . . . however, it didn't work out that way.
HERB
What do you mean?
BILL
Nothing happened.
HERB
You mean she . . . she wouldn't have him?
BILL
I mean, Tom . . . I don't know . . . he didn't go through with it. He couldn't.
(He looks at LAURA)
It's true. The girl says so. And when it didn't work, he tried to kill himself with a knife in the kitchen, and she struggled with him, and that brought the school cops, and that's that.
(LAURA turns away, shocked and moved. MR. LEE sits down in a chair bewildered)
I'm sorry, Herb. Of course the fact that he was with Ellie at her place is enough to get him expelled.
HERB
Does everyone know this?
BILL