Brian Friel Plays 2 (13 page)

Agnes
Gerry?

Gerry
Up here, Aggie!

Agnes
Where?

Gerry
On top of the sycamore.

Now
she
sees
him.
The
audience
does
not
see
him.

Agnes
Mother of God!

Gerry
Come up and join me!

Agnes
What are you doing up there?

Gerry
You can see into the future from here, Aggie!

Agnes
The tree isn’t safe, Gerry. Please come down.

Gerry
Come up and see what’s going to happen to you!

Agnes
That branch is dead, Gerry. I’m telling you.

The
branch
begins
to
sway.

Gerry
Do you think I could get a job in a circus? Wow-wow-wow-wow!

Agnes
Gerry –!

Gerry
(
sings
) ‘He flies through the air with the greatest of ease –’ Wheeeeeeeeee!

She
covers
her
eyes
in
terror.

Agnes
Stop it, Gerry, stop it, stop it!

Gerry
‘That daring young man on the flying trapeze …’

Agnes
You’re going to fall! I’m not looking! I’m not watching! (
She dashes into the house
.) That clown of a man is up on top of the sycamore. Go out and tell him to come down, Chrissie.

Maggie
He’s fixing the aerial.

Agnes
He’s going to break his neck – I’m telling you!

Maggie
As long as he fixes the wireless first.

Kate
How are the bilberries, Agnes?

Agnes
Just that bit too ripe. We should have picked them a week ago.

Chris
Is that a purple stain on your gansey?

Agnes
I know. I’d only begun when I fell into a bush. And look at my hands – all scrabbed with briars. For all the sympathy I got from Rosie. Nearly died laughing at me. How is she now? (
Pause
.) Is she still in bed?

Chris
Bed?

Agnes
She wasn’t feeling well. She left me and went home to lie down. (
Pause
.) She’s here, isn’t she?

Maggie
rushes
off
to
the
bedroom.

Kate
I haven’t seen her. (
to Chris
) Have you?

Chris
No.

Kate
When did she leave you?

Agnes
Hours ago – I don’t know – almost immediately after we got to the old quarry. She said she felt out of sorts.

Chris
And she went off by herself?

Agnes
Yes.

Kate
To come home?

Agnes
That’s what she said.

Maggie
enters.

Maggie
She’s not in her bed.

Agnes
Oh God! Where could she –

Kate
Start at the beginning, Agnes. What exactly happened?

Agnes
Nothing ‘happened’ – nothing at all. We left here together – when was it? – just after one o’clock –

Chris
That means she’s missing for over three hours.

Agnes
We walked together to the quarry. She was chat ting away as usual. I had my two buckets and she had –

Kate
Go on – go on!

Agnes
And just after we got there she said she wasn’t feeling well. I told her not to bother about the bilberries – just to sit in the sun. And that’s what she did.

Kate
For how long?

Agnes
I don’t know – five – ten minutes. And then I fell into the bush. And that was when she laughed. And then she said – she said – I’ve forgotten what she said – some thing about a headache and her stomach being sick and she’d go home and sleep for a while. (
to
Maggie
) You’re sure she’s not in her bed?

Maggie
shakes
her
head.

Kate
Then what?

Agnes
begins
to
cry.

Agnes
Where is she? What’s happened to our Rosie?

Kate
What direction did she go when she left you?

Agnes
Direction?

Kate
Stop snivelling, Agnes! Did she go towards home?

Agnes
I think so … yes … I don’t know … Maggie –

Maggie
She may have gone into the town.

Chris
She wouldn’t have gone into town in her wellingtons.

Agnes
She was wearing her good shoes.

Kate
Are you sure?

Agnes
Yes; and her blue cardigan and her good skirt. I said to her – I said, ‘You’re some lady to go picking bilberries with.’ And she just laughed and said, ‘I’m some toff, Aggie, amn’t I some toff?’

Maggie
Had she a bottle of milk with her?

Agnes
I think so – yes – in one of her cans.

Maggie
Had she any money with her?

Agnes
She had half-a-crown. That’s all she has.

Maggie
(
softly
) Danny Bradley.

Kate
What? – who?

Maggie
Danny Bradley … Lough Anna … up in the back hills.

Chris
Oh God, no.

Kate
What? – what’s this? – what about the back hills?

Chris
She has some silly notion about that scamp, Bradley. She believes he’s in love with her. He gave her a present last Christmas – she says.

Kate
(
to Agnes
) What do you know about this Bradley business?

Agnes
I know no more than Chris has –

Kate
I’ve often seen you and Rose whispering together. What plot has been hatched between Rose and Mr Bradley?

Agnes
No plot … please, Kate –

Kate
You’re lying to me, Agnes! You’re withholding! I want the truth!

Agnes
Honest to God, all I know is what Chris has just –

Kate
I want to know everything you know! Now! I want to –

Maggie
That’ll do, Kate! Stop that at once! (
calmly
) She may be in the town. She may be on her way home now. She may have taken a weak turn on her way back from the quarry. We’re going to find her. (
to Chris
) You search the fields on the upper side of the lane. (
to Agnes
) You take the lower side, down as far as the main road. (
to
Kate
) You go to the old well and search all around there. I’m going into the town to tell the police.

Kate
You’re going to no police, Maggie. If she’s mixed up with that Bradley creature, I’m not going to have it broadcast all over –

Maggie
I’m going to the police and you’ll do what I told you to do.

Chris
There she is! Look – look! There she is!

She
has
seen
Rose
through
the
window
and
is
about
to
rush
out
to
greet
her.
Maggie
catches
her
arm
and
restrains
her.
The
four
sisters
watch
Rose
as
she
crosses
the
garden
–
Chris
and
Kate
from
the
window,
Maggie
and
Agnes
from
the
door.
Rose
is
unaware
of
their
anxious
scrutiny.
She
is
dressed
in
the
‘
good
’
clothes
described
by
Agnes
and
they
have
changed
her
appearance.
Indeed,
had
we
not
seen
the
Rose
of
Act
One,
we
might
not
now
be
immediately
aware
of
her
disability.
At
first
look
this
might
be
any
youngish
country
woman,
carefully
dressed,
not
unattractive,
returning
from
a
long
walk
on
a
summer
day.
She
walks
slowly,
lethargically,
towards
the
house.
From
her
right
hand
hangs
a
red
poppy
that
she
plucked
casually
along
the
road.
The
face
reveals
nothing
–
but
nothing
is
being
deliberately
concealed.
She
sees
Agnes’s
cans
of
fruit.
She
stops
beside
them
and
looks
at
them.
Then
she
puts
her
hand
into
one
of
the
cans,
takes
a
fistful
of
berries
and
thrusts
the
fistful
into
her
mouth.
Then
she
wipes
her
mouth
with
her
sleeve
and
the
back
of
her
hand.
As
she
chews
she
looks
at
her
stained
fingers.
She
wipes
them
on
her
skirt.
All
of
these
movements
–
stopping,
eating,
wiping
–
are
done
not
dreamily,
abstractedly,
but
calmly,
naturally.
Now
she
moves
towards
the
house.
As
she
approaches
the
door
Agnes
rushes
to
meet
her.
Instead
of
hugging
her,
as
she
wants
to,
she
catches
her
arm.

Agnes
Rosie, love, we were beginning to get worried about you.

Rose
They’re nice, Aggie. They’re sweet. And you got two canfuls. Good for you.

Agnes
leads
her
into
the
house.

Agnes
Is your stomach settled?

Rose
My stomach?

Agnes
You weren’t feeling well – remember? – when we were at the quarry?

Rose
Oh, yes. Oh, I’m fine now, thanks.

Agnes
You left me there and you said you were coming home to lie down. D’you remember that?

Rose
Yes.

Chris
But you didn’t come home, Rosie.

Rose
That’s right.

Agnes
And we were very worried about you.

Rose
Well … here I am.

Chris
Were you in the town?

Agnes
That’s why you’re all dressed up, isn’t it?

Chris
You went into Ballybeg, didn’t you?

Pause.
Rose
looks
from
one
to
the
other.

Maggie
(
briskly
) She’s home safe and sound and that’s all that matters. Now I don’t know about you girls but I can tell you this chicken is weak with hunger. Let me tell you what’s on the menu this evening. Our beverage is the usual hot, sweet tea. There is a choice between caraway-seed bread and soda bread, both fresh from the chef’s oven. But now we come to the difficulty: there’s only three eggs between the seven of us – I wish to God you’d persuade that white rooster of yours to lay eggs, Rosie.