Read-Aloud Plays | Page 8

coming over here!
FRED
He is! Don't you say a word. I'll take him on!
MARIAN
If he dares--
GEORGE
Hello, Marian!
MARIAN
Hm!
GEORGE
What, got a grouch on your honeymoon? That's a bad sign, Marian!
MARIAN
No, I haven't got any grouch! Don't you worry! You're the only grouch I ever had, thank the Lord!
GEORGE
Well then. It isn't every woman gets rid of an incompatible husband and gets hold of a compatible one, all in same season.
FRED
Look here!
MARIAN
That's just like him! Coming over here with a grin on like a kid with a new toy. Well, we don't want anything to do with you. See?
GEORGE
Sure. Excuse me for butting in. I just wanted to make a little announcement.
MARIAN
Oh, you did! Well, I'm surprised! I didn't think she was the kind you had to marry.
GEORGE
Huh! I knew you'd have your little knife out for her. But why you should have to be jealous now I can't see.
MARIAN
I'm not jealous!
GEORGE
What you worrying about, then?
MARIAN
I'm not worrying! I'm only sore because you butted in when we were so happy together here without you.
GEORGE
Oh, excuse me! As a matter of fact, I didn't come over to make any announcement. It's too late for that. I--
MARIAN
Married already! Anybody'd think you might wait a little while for common decency!
GEORGE
I waited a day longer than you did, anyhow.
MARIAN
That's different.
FRED
I beg your pardon! We were just ordering dinner. If you didn't come to make any announcement, why--
MARIAN
Yes, what did you butt in for?
GEORGE
Why, I got a letter from your friend Grace, and--
MARIAN
Grace? What did she have to say to _you_?
GEORGE
She said she was sorry I had to get a divorce, but I told her--
MARIAN
Sorry you had to get a divorce! Well, if I don't fix her!
GEORGE
Oh, she's getting married, too.
MARIAN
Who to?
GEORGE
That fellow, what's his name, that's got the garage over on Seventh Avenue.
MARIAN
Snider! So _he's_ the one! Well! And I suppose she'll be all over town in a new car.
GEORGE
Sure. Saw him to-day. A big yellow one. I always told you she was out for money. And you thought she was in love with Jackson!
MARIAN
Hypocrite! She was. Or she told me so. Cried all over me. Have you seen Jackson?
GEORGE
Yes. He's as blue as your old kimono. He said--
FRED
Look here, Marian! I'm not going to wait all night for my dinner!
MARIAN
Order your old dinner! What did Jackson say, George?

THE GENIUS
_The front porch of a small farmhouse in New England. Stone flags lead to the road; the yard is a careless, comfortable lawn with two or three old maples. It is autumn._
_A boy of sixteen or so, carrying a paper parcel, stops hesitatingly, looks in a moment and then walks to the porch. As he stands there a man comes out of the house. The man is in his early forties, he stoops a little, but not from weakness; his expression is one of deep calm._
THE MAN
I wonder if you have seen my dog? I was going for a walk, but Rex seems to have grown tired of waiting.
THE BOY
Your dog? No, sir, I haven't seen him. Shall I go look?
THE MAN
No, never mind. He'll come back. Rex and I understand each other. He has his little moods, like me.
THE BOY
If you were going for a walk--?
THE MAN
It doesn't matter at all. I can go any time. You don't live in this country?
THE BOY
No, sir. I live in New York. I wish I did. It's beautiful here, isn't it?
THE MAN
It's very beautiful to me. I love it. You may have come a long road this morning, let's sit down.
THE BOY
Thank you. I'm not interfering with anything?
THE MAN
Bless your heart! No indeed. What is there to interfere with? All we have is life, and this is part of it.
THE BOY
I like to sit under these trees. It makes me think of the Old Testament.
THE MAN
That's interesting. How?
THE BOY
Well, maybe I'm wrong, but whenever I think of the Old Testament I see an old man under a tree--
THE MAN
Yes?
THE BOY
A man who has lived it all through, you know, and found out something real about it; and he sits there calm and strong, something like a tree himself; and every once in a while somebody comes along--a boy, you know,--and the boy talks to him all about himself, just as we imagine we'd like to with our fathers, if they weren't so busy, or our teachers, if they didn't depend so much upon books, or our ministers, if we thought they would really understand,--and the old man doesn't say much maybe, but the boy goes away much stronger and happier....
THE MAN
Yes, yes, I understand. The Old Testament.... They did get hold of things, didn't they?
THE BOY
What I can't understand is how nowadays people seem more grown up and competent than those men were, in a way, and we do such wonderful things--skyscrapers and aeroplanes--and yet we aren't half so wonderful as