sweet mothers are doing. Maybe you can offer to refresh their drinks.”
beth turned then and left the room, and sadie heard her stomping up the stairs. she stopped once and yelled over the railing.
“next time I’ll just follow you when you leave for your little tryst. won’t that be a pretty mess?”
ray stiffened with anger. “you don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said. “If I find out you’ve followed me, that’s it, beth. I mean it.”
sadie heard beth slam her bedroom door. she was in the awkward position of an eavesdropper caught out in the open. she wasn’t sure if she had done something wrong, if she should go after beth and tap on her door and urge her to come out the way betty did with her little sisters. but then ray brushed past her and she felt the heat that had stricken her face travel the skin of her arm, down her body, all of her limbs suffused with it, and instead of checking on beth she followed ray out to the pool, out into the hazy sunlight. There was her mother, her head back in laughter, her script arranged in her lap, her long legs kicking out on the chaise. “oh, Patsy, you are too much!” her mother said.
ray moved slowly around the pool to the diving board. He shed his shirt, kicked off his scuffed boat shoes. sadie went to a chair in the shade under an umbrella. Her mother read a line, and then Mrs. Filley read the next line, hamming it up, making sadie’s mother laugh.
“Patsy, you have to be serious,” she said. “How will I ever learn my part?”
she lifted her drink to her lips, the ice sliding around, and then she placed it onto the brick patio.
“I’ll start over,” Mrs. Filley said. she deepened her voice to read the part of shannon from The Night of the Iguana :
SHANNON: How’d you beat your blue devil?
HANNAH: I showed him that I could endure him and I made him respect my endurance.
SHANNON: How?
HANNAH: Just by, just by . . . enduring. Endurance is something that spooks and blue devils respect. And they respect all the tricks that panicky people use to outlast and outwit their panic.
SHANNON: Like poppy-seed tea?
HANNAH: Poppy-seed tea or rum-cocos or just a few deep breaths. Anything, everything, that we take to give them the slip, and so to keep on going.
SHANNON: To where?
HANNAH: To somewhere like this, perhaps. This verandah over the rain forest and the stillwater beach, after long, difficult travels. And I don’t mean just travels about the world, the earth’s surface. I mean . . . subterranean travels, the . . . the journeys that the spooked and bedeviled people are forced to take through the . . . the unlighted sides of their natures.
SHANNON: Don’t tell me you have a dark side to your nature.
HANNAH: I’m sure I don’t have to tell a man as experienced and knowledgeable as you, Mr. Shannon, that everything has its shadowy side?
“you’re such a marvelous Deborah Kerr,” Mrs. Filley said.
sadie’s mother jiggled the ice in her glass. she stood up and tugged down the back of her suit, and then slipped into the pool and disappeared under the surface. ray had already climbed from the pool when her mother came up the ladder out of the deep end.
“let me read the guy’s part,” ray said.
Mrs. Filley grinned. “Then I can be Maxine.”
sadie’s mother walked, dripping, over to her towel. Her suit was a white two-piece, her stomach flat and tan against the fabric.
“oh, let him do it, Clare,” Mrs. Filley said.
“I can read, Clare,” ray said. He smirked. He leaned down and grabbed the script, then reached for his mother’s pack of cigarettes and shook one out.
“Just the opposite, honey, I’m making a small point out of a very large matter,” he said.
sadie saw her mother give the faintest hint of a smile, and then she was all business, lighting the cigarette, saying her lines. Afterward, Mrs. Filley went inside to refresh their drinks.
“you shouldn’t smoke,” sadie’s mother said.
“you’re just an old
beth turned then and left the room, and sadie heard her stomping up the stairs. she stopped once and yelled over the railing.
“next time I’ll just follow you when you leave for your little tryst. won’t that be a pretty mess?”
ray stiffened with anger. “you don’t know what you’re talking about,” he said. “If I find out you’ve followed me, that’s it, beth. I mean it.”
sadie heard beth slam her bedroom door. she was in the awkward position of an eavesdropper caught out in the open. she wasn’t sure if she had done something wrong, if she should go after beth and tap on her door and urge her to come out the way betty did with her little sisters. but then ray brushed past her and she felt the heat that had stricken her face travel the skin of her arm, down her body, all of her limbs suffused with it, and instead of checking on beth she followed ray out to the pool, out into the hazy sunlight. There was her mother, her head back in laughter, her script arranged in her lap, her long legs kicking out on the chaise. “oh, Patsy, you are too much!” her mother said.
ray moved slowly around the pool to the diving board. He shed his shirt, kicked off his scuffed boat shoes. sadie went to a chair in the shade under an umbrella. Her mother read a line, and then Mrs. Filley read the next line, hamming it up, making sadie’s mother laugh.
“Patsy, you have to be serious,” she said. “How will I ever learn my part?”
she lifted her drink to her lips, the ice sliding around, and then she placed it onto the brick patio.
“I’ll start over,” Mrs. Filley said. she deepened her voice to read the part of shannon from The Night of the Iguana :
SHANNON: How’d you beat your blue devil?
HANNAH: I showed him that I could endure him and I made him respect my endurance.
SHANNON: How?
HANNAH: Just by, just by . . . enduring. Endurance is something that spooks and blue devils respect. And they respect all the tricks that panicky people use to outlast and outwit their panic.
SHANNON: Like poppy-seed tea?
HANNAH: Poppy-seed tea or rum-cocos or just a few deep breaths. Anything, everything, that we take to give them the slip, and so to keep on going.
SHANNON: To where?
HANNAH: To somewhere like this, perhaps. This verandah over the rain forest and the stillwater beach, after long, difficult travels. And I don’t mean just travels about the world, the earth’s surface. I mean . . . subterranean travels, the . . . the journeys that the spooked and bedeviled people are forced to take through the . . . the unlighted sides of their natures.
SHANNON: Don’t tell me you have a dark side to your nature.
HANNAH: I’m sure I don’t have to tell a man as experienced and knowledgeable as you, Mr. Shannon, that everything has its shadowy side?
“you’re such a marvelous Deborah Kerr,” Mrs. Filley said.
sadie’s mother jiggled the ice in her glass. she stood up and tugged down the back of her suit, and then slipped into the pool and disappeared under the surface. ray had already climbed from the pool when her mother came up the ladder out of the deep end.
“let me read the guy’s part,” ray said.
Mrs. Filley grinned. “Then I can be Maxine.”
sadie’s mother walked, dripping, over to her towel. Her suit was a white two-piece, her stomach flat and tan against the fabric.
“oh, let him do it, Clare,” Mrs. Filley said.
“I can read, Clare,” ray said. He smirked. He leaned down and grabbed the script, then reached for his mother’s pack of cigarettes and shook one out.
“Just the opposite, honey, I’m making a small point out of a very large matter,” he said.
sadie saw her mother give the faintest hint of a smile, and then she was all business, lighting the cigarette, saying her lines. Afterward, Mrs. Filley went inside to refresh their drinks.
“you shouldn’t smoke,” sadie’s mother said.
“you’re just an old
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