Tea and Sympathy (18 page)

LAURA
(Very gently)

 

 

Tom, that didn't work because you didn't believe in it . . .
in such a test.

 

 

 

 

TOM
(With the greatest difficulty)

 

 

I touched her, and there was nothing.

 

 

 

 

LAURA

 

 

You aren't in love with Ellie.

 

 

 

 

TOM

 

 

That's not supposed to matter.

 

 

 

 

LAURA

 

 

But it does.

 

 

 

 

TOM

 

 

I wish they'd let me kill myself.

 

 

 

 

LAURA

 

 

Tom, look at me.

 

 

(TOM shakes his head)

 

 

Tom, last night you kissed me.

 

 

 

 

TOM

 

 

Jesus!

 

 

 

 

LAURA

 

 

Why did you kiss me?

 

 

 

 

TOM
(Turns suddenly)

 

 

And it made you sick, didn't it? Didn't it?

 

 

(Turns away from her again.)

 

 

 

 

LAURA

 

 

How can you think such a thing?

 

 

 

 

TOM

 

 

You sent me away . . . you . . . Anyway, when you heard this morning it
must have made you sick.

 

 

 

 

LAURA
(Sits on edge of bed)

 

 

Tom, I'm going to tell you something.

 

 

(TOM won't turn)

 

 

Tom?

 

 

(He still won't turn)

 

 

It was the nicest kiss I've ever had . . . from anybody.

 

 

(TOM slowly turns and looks at her)

 

 

Tom, I came up to say good-bye.

 

 

(TOM shakes his head, looking at her)

 

 

I'm going away . . . I'll probably never see you again. I'm leaving Bill.

 

 

(TOM knits his brows questioning)

 

 

For a lot of reasons . . . one of them, what he's done to you. But before
I left, I wanted you to know, for your own comfort, you're more of a man
now than he ever was or will be. And one day you'll meet a girl, and
it will be right.

 

 

(TOM turns away in disbelief)

 

 

Tom, believe me.

 

 

 

 

TOM

 

 

I wish I could. But a person knows . . . knows inside. Jesus, do you
think after last night I'd ever . . .

 

 

(He stops. After a moment, he smiles at her)

 

 

But thanks . . . thanks a lot.

 

 

(He closes his eyes. LAURA looks at him a long time. Her face shows the
great compassion and tenderness she feels for this miserable boy. After
some time, she gets up and goes out the door. A moment later she appears
in the hall door. She pauses for a moment, then reaches out and closes it,
and stays inside.

 

 

TOM, when he hears the door close, his eyes open. He sees she has left
his bedroom. Then in complete misery, he lies down on the bed, like a
wounded animal, his head at the foot of the bed.

 

 

LAURA in a few moments appears in the bedroom doorway. She stands there,
and then comes in, always looking at the slender figure of the boy on
the bed. She closes the bedroom door.

 

 

TOM hears the sound and looks around. When he sees she has come back,
he turns around slowly, wonderingly, and lies on his back, watching her.

 

 

LAURA, seeing a bolt on the door, slides it to. Then she stands looking
at TOM, her hand at her neck. With a slight and delicate movement, she
unbuttons the top button of her blouse, and moves towards TOM. When she
gets alongside the bed, she reaches out her hand, still keeping one hand
at her blouse. TOM makes no move. Just watches her.

 

 

LAURA makes a little move with the outstretched hand, asking for his
hand. TOM slowly moves his hand to hers.)

 

 

 

 

LAURA

 

 

(Stands there holding his hand and smiling gently at him. Then she sits
and looks down at the boy, and after a moment, barely audible)

 

 

And now . . . nothing?

 

 

(TOM's other hand comes up and with both his hands he brings her hand
to his lips.)

 

 

 

 

LAURA
(Smiles tenderly at this gesture, and after a moment)

 

 

Years from now . . . when you talk about this . . . and you will . . .
be kind.

 

 

(Gently she brings the boy's hands toward her opened blouse,
as the lights slowly dim out . . . and . . .

 

 

 

 

THE CURTAIN FALLS

 

 

THE END

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Robert Anderson, born in New York in 1917, was graduated from Phillips
Exeter and from Harvard, where he earned his M.A. in 1940. During the
war, while serving as an officer in the Navy, he wrote his first play,
Come Marching Home. Another of his plays, Love Revisited, was put on
at the Westport (Conn.)  summer theatre in 1950 and All Summer Long was
done successfully at the Arena Theatre in Washington, D.C., in 1953. On
the day that his Broadway hit, Tea and Sympathy, opened in New Haven,
he was made a member of the Playwrights' Company.
Mr. Anderson has also taught playwriting courses at the American Theatre
Wing. He and his wife Phyllis live in a Basement apartment in Greenwich
Village, where -- in addition to writing plays -- he does adaptations
for radio and television.
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