Tea and Sympathy (2 page)

 

 

 

 

LAURA
(Kidding her)

 

 

Maybe I'd better listen to them.

 

 

 

 

LILLY

 

 

Oh, never with your husband, of course.

 

 

 

 

LAURA

 

 

Thanks.

 

 

 

 

LILLY

 

 

Even before he met you, Bill never gave me a second glance. He was all
the time organizing teams, planning Mountain Club outings.

 

 

 

 

LAURA

 

 

Bill's good at that sort of thing; he likes it.

 

 

 

 

LILLY

 

 

And you?
(LAURA looks up at LILLY and smiles)
Not a very co-operative witness, are you? I know, mind my own business.
But watch out he doesn't drag his usual quota of boys to the lodge in
Maine this summer.

 

 

 

 

LAURA

 

 

I've got my own plans for him.
(She picks up some vacation folders.)

 

 

 

 

LILLY

 

 

Oh really? What?

 

 

 

 

LAURA

 

 

"Come to Canada" . . . I want to get him off on a trip alone.

 

 

 

 

LILLY

 

 

I don't blame you.

 

 

 

 

LAURA
(Reflecting)

 

 

Of course I'd really like to go back to Italy. We had a good time there
last summer. It was wonderful then. You should have seen Bill.

 

 

 

 

LILLY

 

 

Look, honey, you married Bill last year on his sabbatical leave, and
abroad to boot. Teachers on sabbatical leave abroad are like men in
uniform during the war. They never look so good again.

 

 

 

 

LAURA

 

 

Bill looks all right to me.

 

 

 

 

LILLY

 

 

Did Bill ever tell you about the party we gave him before his sabbatical?

 

 

 

 

LAURA

 

 

Yes. I have a souvenir from it.
(She is wearing a rather large Woolworth's diamond ring on a gold chain
around her neck . . . She now pulls it out from her sweater.)

 

 

 

 

LILLY

 

 

I never thought he'd use that Five-and-Dime engagement ring we gave him
that night. Even though we gave him an awful ribbing, we all expected him
to come back a bachelor.

 

 

 

 

LAURA

 

 

You make it sound as though you kidded him into marrying.

 

 

 

 

LILLY
Oh, no, honey, it wasn't that.

 

 

 

 

LAURA
(With meaning)
No, it wasn't.
(LAURA laughs at LILLY.)

 

 

 

 

LILLY

 

 

Well, I've got to go. You know, Bill could have married any number of
the right kind of girls around here. But I knew it would take more than
the right kind of girl to get Bill to marry. It would take something
special. And you're something special.

 

 

 

 

LAURA

 

 

How should I take that?

 

 

 

 

LILLY

 

 

As a compliment. Thanks for the drink. Don't tell Harry I had one when
you see him at dinner.

 

 

 

 

LAURA

 

 

We won't be over to the hall. I've laid in a sort of feast for tonight.

 

 

 

 

LILLY

 

 

Celebrating something?

 

 

 

 

LAURA

 

 

No, just an impulse.

 

 

 

 

LILLY

 

 

Well, don't tell Harry anyway.

 

 

 

 

LAURA

 

 

You'd better stop talking the way you've been talking, or I won't have to
tell him.

 

 

 

 

LILLY

 

 

Now, look, honey, don't you start going puritan on me. You're the only
one in this school I can shoot my mouth off to, so don't change, baby.
Don't change.

 

 

 

 

LAURA

 

 

I won't.

 

 

 

 

LILLY

 

 

Some day I'm going to wheedle out o{ you all the juicy stories you must
have from when you were in the theater.

 

 

 

 

LAURA

 

 

Lilly, you would make the most hardened chorus girl blush.

 

 

 

 

LILLY
(Pleased)

 

 

Really?

 

 

 

 

LAURA

 

 

Really.

 

 

 

 

LILLY

 

 

That's the sweetest thing you've said to me in days. Good-bye.
(She goes out the door, and a moment later we hear the outside door close.)

 

 

 

 

LAURA
(Sits for a moment, listening to TOM'S rather plaintive whistling.
She rises and looks at the Canada vacation literature on the desk,
and then, looking at her watch, goes to the door, opens it, and calls
up the stairway)

 

 

Tom . . . Oh, Tom.

 

 

(The moment TOM hears his name, he jumps from the bed, and goes through
the sitting room, and appears on the stairs.)

 

 

 

 

TOM

 

 

Yes?

 

 

 

 

LAURA

 

 

(She is very friendly with him, comradely)

 

 

If it won't spoil your supper, come on down for a cup of tea.

 

 

(TOM goes back into his room and brushes his hair, then he comes on down
the stairs, and enters the study. He enters this room as though it were
something rare and special. This is where LAURA lives.)

 

 

 

 

LAURA
(Has gone out to the other part of the house. Comes to doorway for a
moment pouring cream from bottle to pitcher)

 

 

I've iust about finished your costume for the play, and we can have
a fitting.

 

 

 

 

TOM

 

 

Sure. That'd be great. Do you want the door open or shut?

 

 

 

 

LAURA
(Goes off again)

 

 

It doesn't make any difference.

 

 

(TOM shuts the door. He is deeply in love with this woman, though he
knows nothing can come of it. It is a sort of delayed puppy love. It is
very touching and very intense. They are easy with each other, casual,
though he is always trying in thinly veiled ways to tell her he loves
her. LAURA enters with tea tray and sees him closing the door. She puts
tray on table)

 

 

Perhaps you'd better leave it ajar, so that if some of the other boys
get out of class early, they can come in too.

 

 

 

 

TOM
(Is disappointed)

 

 

Oh, sure.

 

 

 

 

LAURA
(Goes off for the plate of cookies, but pauses long enough to watch TOM
open the door the merest crack. She is amused. In a moment, she re-enters
with a plate of cookies)

 

 

Help yourself.

 

 

 

 

TOM

 

 

Thanks.

 

 

(He takes a cookie, and then sits on the floor, near her chair.)

 

 

 

 

LAURA

 

 

Are the boys warm enough in the rooms? They shut down the heat so early
this spring, I guess they didn't expect this little chill.

 

 

 

 

TOM

 

 

We're fine. But this in nice.
(He indicates low fire in fireplace.)

 

 

 

 

LAURA
(Goes back to her sewing)

 

 

I heard you singing.

 

 

 

 

TOM

 

 

I'm sorry if it bothered you.

 

 

 

 

LAURA

 

 

It was very nice.

 

 

 

 

TOM

 

 

If it ever bothers you, just bang on the radiator.

 

 

 

 

LAURA

 

 

What was the name of the song? It's lovely.

 

 

 

 

TOM

 

 

It's an old French song . . . "The Joys of Love" . . .

 

 

(He speaks the lyric)

 

 

The joys of love
Are but a moment long,
The pain of love
Endures forever.

 

 

 

 

LAURA

 

 

And is that true?
(TOM shrugs his shoulders)
You sang as, though you knew all about the pains of love.

 

 

 

 

TOM

 

 

And you don't think I do?

 

 

 

 

LAURA

 

 

Well . . .

 

 

 

 

TOM

 

 

You're right.

 

 

 

 

LAURA

 

 

Only the joys.

 

 

 

 

TOM

 

 

Neither, really.
(Teapot whistles off stage.)

 

 

 

 

LAURA

 

 

Then you're a fake. Listening to you, one would think you knew everything
there was to know.
(Rises and goes to next room for tea)
Anyway, I don't believe it. A boy like you.

 

 

 

 

TOM

 

 

It's true.

 

 

 

 

LAURA
(Off stage)

 

 

Aren't you bringing someone to the dance after the play Saturday?

 

 

 

 

TOM

 

 

Yes.

 

 

 

 

LAURA

 

 

Well, there.

 

 

 

 

TOM

 

 

You.

 

 

 

 

LAURA
(Reappears in doorway with teapot)

 

 

Me?

 

 

 

 

TOM

 

 

Yes, you're going to be a hostess, aren't you?

 

 

 

 

LAURA

 

 

Yes, of course, but . . .

 

 

 

 

TOM

 

 

As a member of the committee, I'm taking you. All the committee drew
lots . . .

 

 

 

 

LAURA

 

 

And you lost.

 

 

 

 

TOM

 

 

I won.

 

 

 

 

LAURA
(A little embarrassed by this)

 

 

Oh. My husband could have taken me.

 

 

(She sits down again in her chair.)

 

 

 

 

TOM

 

 

He's not going to be in town. Don't you remember, Mountain Climbing Club
has its final outing this week-end.

 

 

 

 

LAURA

 

 

Oh, yes, of course. I'd forgotten.

 

 

 

 

TOM

 

 

He's out a lot on that kind of thing, isn't he?
(LAURA ignores his probing)
I hope you're not sorry that I'm to be your escort.

 

 

 

 

LAURA

 

 

Why, I'll be honored.

 

 

 

 

TOM

 

 

I'm supposed to find out tactfully and without your knowing it what
color dress you'll be wearing.

 

 

 

 

LAURA

 

 

Why?

 

 

 

 

TOM

 

 

The committee will send you a corsage.

 

 

 

 

LAURA

 

 

Oh, how nice. Well, I don't have much to choose from, I guess my yellow.

 

 

 

 

TOM

 

 

The boy who's in charge of getting the flowers thinks a corsage should
be something like a funeral decoration. So I'm taking personal charge of
getting yours.

 

 

 

 

LAURA

 

 

Thank you.

 

 

 

 

TOM

 

 

You must have gotten lots of flowers when you were acting in the theater.

 

 

 

 

LAURA

 

 

Oh, now and then. Nothing spectacular.

 

 

 

 

TOM

 

 

I can't understand how a person would give up the theater to come and live
in a school . . . I'm sorry. I mean, I'm glad you did, but, well . . .

 

 

 

 

LAURA

 

 

If you knew the statistics on unemployed actors, you might understand.
Anyway, I was never any great shakes at it.