Then you’re probably still a virgin.
DAISY
He makes me feel like there’s something wrong with me. Like I’m a cold fish. Do you think I’m a cold fish, Maggie?
MARGARET
That sounds more like me, don’t you think?
DAISY
I wish I could quote the Bible at him, but I don’t know it that well. It probably wouldn’t impress him anyway. His dad’s a minister, but Tim can’t even quote John 3:16. “For God so loved the world …”
MARGARET
Do you flirt with him, Daisy? You shouldn’t, you know. You can get yourself in trouble that way.
DAISY
I know. Tim says there’s a ten-letter word for girls who like to tease.
MARGARET
Want to know what I’d do, Daisy? If I were you, I mean?
DAISY
I know what you’re going to say.
MARGARET
What?
DAISY
You’re going to say I should forget him. That he doesn’t respect me … That’s what Dad would say.
MARGARET
Respect is important.
DAISY
But I love him, Maggie.
MARGARET
If he loved you, too, he wouldn’t treat you like that. He’s only thinking of himself.
DAISY
Oh sure. As if Paul doesn’t want to get you into bed. Boy, Maggie, are you naive.
MARGARET
I’m not saying Paul doesn’t want to. I’m saying he doesn’t make me feel as if I have to. And so far he hasn’t laid a hand on me.
MRS. CRUMP appears in the yard, smoking a cigar. She drops the butt on the ground and steps on it. Then she hurries inside the cottage.
MRS. CRUMP
I want you girls to promise me you’ll never take up smoking. Cigars are harder to quit than sex. Oh my. Look at the two of you.
MARGARET
What?
MRS. CRUMP
You’re both so pretty tonight. I wish I’d brought along my camera …
Suddenly she notices the vase of wildflowers on the table.
Oh my Lord. Look.
DAISY
What?
MRS. CRUMP
Queen Anne’s lace. Don’t you girls know that white flowers are deemed unlucky?
DAISY
They are?
MRS. CRUMP
Omens of death … Never bring white flowers inside the house. Especially those with a strong scent. Like lilies of the valley or white lilacs.
MARGARET
Queen Anne’s lace has no scent, Mrs. Crump.
MRS. CRUMP
True, dear. But they’re still white, aren’t they? And we don’t want to tempt fate, now do we? …
She carries the vase outside and tosses away the offending flowers.
DAISY
If white flowers can flip her lid, wait’ll she finds out who’s coming to dinner.
MRS. CRUMP
(returning) There. The wood lilies are just as lovely on their own.
She sets down the vase and arranges the flowers.
MARGARET
Don’t you think you’re overreacting, Mrs. Crump?
MRS. CRUMP
Overreacting? Oh no, luv. There are strange forces at work in life. Just because we can’t explain them doesn’t mean they don’t exist. Why, look at my husband. The night before he died, a black dog paid us a visit. Sat in front of our home in Toronto and cried his eyes out. The next morning he was struck by lightning.
MARGARET
The dog was struck by lightning?
DAISY
Not the dog, Maggie. Mr. Crump.
MARGARET
Oh.
MRS. CRUMP
The same man who stormed the beach at Dieppe, and not a scratch on him … Yes, he went to play golf that day and forgot his amulet. Don’t suppose you know the difference between an amulet and a talisman, do you?
MARGARET
No, I don’t.
MRS. CRUMP
Well, an amulet’s supposed to protect you, Margaret. Like that ring I gave you. A talisman just brings you luck … Poor Gerald. He might be alive today if he hadn’t walked off without that shark’s tooth. He carried it all through the war. Wore it later on his watch-chain.
PAUL enters the yard and knocks on the door … MARGARET and DAISY exchange a look.
MRS. CRUMP
(to MARGARET) Better get that, luv. Someone’s at the door.
MARGARET
I know. I meant to tell you, Mrs. Crump, but … Well, I sort of invited someone else to dinner tonight. A friend.
MRS. CRUMP
Oh? Who might that be, Margaret?
MARGARET
Paul Wyatt.
MRS. CRUMP
Let me get this straight, luv. You invited the Wyatt boy to dinner and it slipped your mind? Just like that?
MARGARET
Why? Don’t you believe me?
MRS. CRUMP
Are you forgetting I’m a teacher? I’ve heard lies that deserve a Pulitzer. That one doesn’t even make the hit parade.
DAISY
Can’t you give him a second chance, Mrs. Crump? For Maggie’s sake? Can’t you?
MARGARET
Maybe he’s changed, Mrs. Crump. Maybe you won’t even recognize him.
MRS. CRUMP
Not if he keeps his Jockeys on I won’t.
A second knock on the door.
MARGARET
I like Paul, Mrs. Crump. I want you to remember that.
She lets PAUL in.
MRS. CRUMP
All right, luv, I’ll be as good as gold. I promise. (to DAISY) Not that she deserves it, mind.
MARGARET
(to PAUL) Hi.
PAUL
Hi, Maggie. Hi, Daisy.
DAISY
Hi, Paul.
MRS. CRUMP
Hello there, Paul.
PAUL
Hello, Mrs. Crump.
MRS. CRUMP
Funny, I almost said, “I haven’t seen that much of you this summer.” But I suppose that could be taken the wrong way, couldn’t it?
DAISY
Mrs. Crump, you promised!
MRS. CRUMP
I know. I can’t be trusted.
Pause.
MARGARET
Why don’t we all sit down? Dinner won’t be ready for a while yet …
DAISY and PAUL sit.
Can I get you a drink, Mrs. Crump? Bourbon?
MRS. CRUMP
Bourbon would certainly hit the spot, Margaret.
MARGARET
A double?
MRS. CRUMP
A double would be a bull’s eye.
She lights a cigar.
MARGARET pours the whisky.
MARGARET
Paul, why don’t you tell Mrs. Crump what your folks are doing this summer?
PAUL
My folks? …
DAISY
His dad’s in Charley’s Aunt in Muskoka. And his mom’s in The Seagull in Philadelphia.
MARGARET
What part is she playing, Paul? I forget.
PAUL
Polina.
DAISY
Do you know the play, Mrs. Crump?
MRS. CRUMP
I most certainly do … Poor Polina. Married to that wretched man, the years piling up around her like dust. It’s tragic.
PAUL
Didn’t Chekhov call The Seagull a comedy?
MRS. CRUMP
A comedy? Only a Russian would find those people funny.
PAUL
My mother finds them hilarious.
MRS. CRUMP
That makes two people who think it’s a comedy – your mother and Chekhov. If you ask me, Polina’s pathetic. Throwing herself at Dr. What’s-His-Name.
PAUL
Dorn. And I don’t think she’s pathetic. She loves him!
MRS. CRUMP
The man’
s a scoundrel. It’s obvious he’s just using her.
MARGARET
We all make mistakes, don’t we, Mrs. Crump? That’s how we learn. That’s how we grow.
MRS. CRUMP
If I had a daughter, Margaret, I’d remind her not to be so free with her charms. I’d tell her not to give herself to the first Johnny-Come-Lately.
MARGARET
But what if he’s special, Mrs. Crump? What if he’s a soulmate?
DAISY
Or worse, what if he’s a jerk, but she can’t help herself? What if she thinks of him every waking minute of every day? What if she’d sooner die than never see him again? What then?
Offstage, a car stops on the road.
MRS. CRUMP
I can see now why Daisy wants to be an actress.
JACK enters the cottage.
DAISY
Maggie! Look! It’s Dad! He’s back! …
Screaming, she and MARGARET rush into his arms.
Dad, I thought you’d forgotten all about us. I really did.
She hugs him.
JACK
Margaret!
MARGARET
We thought you were never coming back, Dad.
DAISY
I almost forgot what you looked like. And don’t laugh.
JACK
I missed you, too, sweetheart. I’ll never let you out of my sight again. I promise.
MRS. CRUMP
Hello there, Jack. Welcome home.
MARGARET
Did you find Sally a place? Is she all settled in?
JACK
We’ll talk about Sally later. Right now I want to hear what you girls have been up to … How were they, Mrs. Crump? They give you any trouble?
DAISY
Trouble? Us?
MRS. CRUMP
Not in the least, did you, girls?
DAISY
You’ll never believe this, Dad, but Maggie has a boyfriend!
MARGARET
Daisy! … Dad, this is Paul Wyatt. I invited Mrs. Crump and him to dinner … Paul, this is my dad.
PAUL and JACK shake hands.
PAUL
How do you do, sir.
JACK
Hello, Paul … So you and Margaret are friends, are you?
MARGARET
Paul works at the lodge, Dad. He’s a waiter.
JACK
A waiter?
MRS. CRUMP
Life is full of surprises, isn’t it, Jack? Like finding half a worm in your apple.
DAISY
Mrs. Crump!
MRS. CRUMP
All you can do, I suppose, is roll with the punches.
Lights fade on the cottage.
NARRATOR
Dad had a surprise of his own, but he didn’t break it to us that night. He waited till the next morning …
That’s when he sat us down on the dock and gave us the news: he and Sally had reconciled. Instead of separating, they’d patched things up in Jericho, and now all four of us were to spend the remaining weeks of the summer the way we used to, at Old Orchard Beach in Maine. That day was to be our last at Willow Beach. That day was August second …
Lights rise on the dock … MARGARET, DAISY, and JACK are there, MARGARET standing, JACK seated on a deck chair, drinking. DAISY dangles her feet off the dock.
MARGARET
Dad, why are you letting her do this? She’s just using you again. Can’t you see that?
DAISY
She doesn’t deserve you, Dad. She’s nothing but a selfish bitch.
JACK
That’s enough, Daisy.
MARGARET
She’s already made you a laughingstock, her and Mr. Rush. How can you just forgive her?
JACK
Things are different now, Margaret. Gordon Rush moved to Texas last week. He asked for the transfer himself … Sally seems relieved that he’s gone.
DAISY
Dad, please.
JACK
She wants to make a go of it, Margaret. She told me that herself. She wants to turn over a new leaf.
DAISY
A new leaf? Sally?
MARGARET
Know what, Dad? I don’t think you believe a word of it. Keep talking, you might convince yourself.
JACK
Look, I’m not saying she’s perfect. Sally has faults like anyone else. But God, Margaret, don’t you think people can change?
DAISY:
Not Sally.
JACK
You’ve never given her a chance, either one of you. From the first moment you met her, you kept her at arm’s length. How do you think that makes her feel, shut out like that day after day?
DAISY
No one can take Mom’s place.
JACK
She’s never tried to, Daisy, and you know it. She knows how you both feel about your mom. She respects that.
MARGARET
Why did you marry her, Dad? Why?
JACK
I know you don’t want to hear this, you two, but maybe my feelings for Sally run deeper than you think.
MARGARET
Dad, you’ve had too much bourbon.
JACK
It’s not the same as what I had with your mom, but dammit, it’s just as real … Some day you’ll understand.
MARGARET
I might understand algebra some day, but I’m not holding my breath.
JACK
Tell you one thing, Margaret. Maybe if you gave Sally the benefit of the doubt, you’d see there’s more to her than meets the eye. You might even like her.
DAISY
If she’s so terrific, Dad, why did she hop into bed with Mr. Rush?
JACK
I don’t think he was ever a threat, do you, Daisy? He was more likely Sally’s way of getting my attention.
DAISY
No one ever said she was subtle, Dad.
JACK
All right, that’s settled then. Like I told you before, we’ve rented the same cottage we had last summer. You girls liked it, remember? All those geraniums on the porch? The orange hammock?
MARGARET
Dad, listen to me. I don’t want to go to Maine with you and Sally. I want to stay here.
DAISY
I want to stay with her, Dad.
Don’t talk nonsense. You’re both coming with me, and that’s that. I don’t want to hear another word from either one of you.
MARGARET
Dad, Daisy and I could stay with Mrs. Crump. She wouldn’t mind. She likes us.
JACK
No, I said.
MARGARET
I can ask her right now, if you’d like. She’s home.
JACK
You aren’t listening, are you? Tomorrow we’re packing the car and driving to Maine. Sally’s expecting us.
DAISY
What about Tim, Dad? We’re just getting to know each other … Doesn’t that matter?
MARGARET
It’s a perfect chance to have Sally all to yourself, Dad. Without Daisy and me always underfoot. Wouldn’t you like that?
DAISY
It’d be like a second honeymoon, Dad.
JACK
Look, I’m not keeping this up till I’m blue in the face. We’re leaving here tomorrow morning, and that’s that. I’ve made up my mind.
He picks up his chair and exits.
DAISY
Now what do we do?
Lights fade on the dock.
Music: The hymn “Shall We Gather at the River.”
NARRATOR
As soon as I could, I ran to the lodge and told Paul to meet me at the church on his lunch break. It was a Saturday, and the hymns from choir practice seemed to soar like doves above the white steeple.
Lights rise on the churchyard.
PAUL
This is where we first met, remember? Seems so long ago … You were standing here by the tree. Like that woman in the dream. That’s what gave me the excuse t
o talk to you.
MARGARET
Paul, I’m sorry.
PAUL
Tell him you won’t go. Tell him you don’t want to.
MARGARET
You know I can’t do that.
PAUL
I bet I could get you work at the lodge. Mr. Morris needs some extra help. You want me to ask?
MARGARET
Paul, I can’t. It’s different for you. You’re older. You’re on your own.
PAUL
Well, it’s bloody unfair. He just expects you to jump like a dog every time he snaps his fingers. It doesn’t matter how you feel, does it?
MARGARET
It’s not as bad as all that. Look, we’ll see each other in September. I know it sounds far away, but it’s really not … What would Robbie Burns say?
PAUL
He’s not much comfort.
(recites “It Was A’ for Our Rightfu’ King”)
The soger frae the war returns,
The sailor frae the main,
But I hae parted frae my Love,
Never to meet again, my dear,
Never to meet again.
MARGARET
(moves into his arms) It won’t be that way, Paul. Not for us. I won’t let it … Remember the night you first kissed me? The night we danced to Sam Cooke’s “You Send Me”?
PAUL
The day we first met.
MARGARET
Want the truth, Paul? I was so crazy about you, I probably would’ve made love right there on the dock, Mrs. Crump or no Mrs. Crump.
PAUL
Great. Now she tells me.
Margaret
You said I kissed like a virgin, remember? Well, I’ve been thinking, Paul. About what you said. And …
PAUL
And?
MARGARET
Well, I don’t want to be like that anymore. Like a virgin … That’s what I wanted to tell you.
PAUL
What are you saying, Maggie? Just so there’s no misunderstanding.
MARGARET
I want us to make love, Paul. I want you to be my first.
PAUL
You sure of this?
MARGARET
Of course I’m sure … Tonight will be my last night here. I want it to be special, Paul. I want to remember this summer for the rest of my life.
PAUL
We’ll both remember it, Maggie.
MARGARET
(coyly) But just so you don’t think I’m easy, you have to answer one skill-testing question.
PAUL
You mean, if I know the answer, I get to ravish you in the churchyard? Right now? In broad daylight?
MARGARET
Not now, stupid. Tonight.
PAUL
I knew there was a catch … Go on.
MARGARET
Well, if Babe Ruth is the Sultan of Swat, and Mose Solomon is the Rabbi of Swat, who is the Crown Prince of Swat?
PAUL
Let’s see. It can’t be Ted Williams, he’s the Splendid Splinter. And Mickey Mantle is the Commerce Comet. Stan Musial is the Donora Greyhound …