Read The Magic Tower and Other One-Act Plays for Free Online Page A

seen Bergmann, honey, the night you pulled out of the show. There was tears in his eyes. Honest to God, tears in his eyes! Wasn’t there, Mitch?
    MITCH : He was all broken up!
    LINDA : Bergmann. . . . [
Linda shivers and covers her face with her hands
.]
    BABE [
harshly
]: Lookit her hands, Mitch! She’s got dishwater hands!
    MITCH : Imagine that! The Duchess with dishwater hands!
    BABE [
softening
]: Never mind, honey, a little cold cream rubbed in every night. . . .
    LINDA : Don’t!
    MITCH [
glancing at wristwatch
]: Come on, Linda. Pack up. The train pulls out at seven. [
Linda turns to window
.]
    BABE [
nudging him
]: Give her time, give her time! Let her think it all over. Maybe she’d rather have him throw it up to her some day how she spoiled all his chances!
    LINDA [
gasping
]: Spoiled his chances! No, no, I’ll never do that! I’ll do anything but that!
    BABE [
again winking at Mitch
]: Just give her time. She has to think things over. It’s the future she has to look out for, Mitch. Five or ten years from now. . . .
    LINDA : Five or ten years! Oh. . . .
    BABE : Yeah, if things keep on like they’re going now, you won’t be so young no more in five or ten years. He’ll get tired of you maybe. He’ll look at you while you’re bending over the washtub with your face all red and sweaty and your hair in your eyes and he’ll say to himself, “There she is! My ball and chain! If I wasn’t tied to her apron strings . . .”
    LINDA [
desperately
]: Stop it! Stop it, Babe! I can’t stand any more!
    MITCH : She’s right, Duchess, the Babe is absolutely right!
    [
There is a long silence. Linda slowly gets up from the couch. Mitch hands her his handkerchief
.]
    LINDA [
brokenly
]: Maybe she is—I don’t know.
    MITCH [
eagerly
]: There now! That’s more like it.
    BABE [
throwing her arms around Linda
]: See! I knew she would come to her senses! It’s just like Bergmann said, she’s too smart . . .
    MITCH : Won’t old Bergmann throw a fit when he sees her down at the station? The old boy’ll break down and cry. . . .
    LINDA [
wringing the handkerchief
]: Wait! Not all at once! I can’t decide right off like this!
    BABE : You’ve got to, Honey! It’s the only way!
    LINDA : What time is it, Mitch?
    MITCH : A quarter to six.
    LINDA : He ought to be back by now.
    MITCH : Don’t wait for him. He’ll talk you out of it!
    BABE : Just do what you know is best for him, Duchess.
    LINDA : What’s best for him.
    MITCH : Pack your things. Be ready in half an hour, Duchess.
    BABE : Swell!
    LINDA : How can I know—
    MITCH : What?
    LINDA : If Wescott gives Jim a break?
    BABE : You’d stick with him, kid. You’d be all right.
    MITCH : Say, it’s a cinch. We’ll phone the station and reserve your berth. Yeah, a compartment.
    BABE : We’ll have a real celebration tonight. We’ll have a time!
    MITCH : Back on the road with the Duchess!
    LINDA : You go too fast for me.
    MITCH : Yeah! Back on the road.
    BABE : Take it easy, Mitch.
    LINDA : I don’t know what you’re talking about.
    MITCH : Those pictures are no good. They ain’t got anything!
    BABE : Say, kid, how’ll we know about this Wescott deal—if it goes through or not? Will you give us a ring?
    MITCH : No time for that. Give us the old Bronx semaphore.
    BABE : What’s that?
    MITCH : Honey, that’s what got me out of many a tight spot before you and me started going steady! Look! It’s like this. The dame goes to the window and if the coast is clear she hoists the shade like this—that means she’s going, or I’m coming, as the case may be—
    BABE : The Voice of Experience!
    MITCH : Get it, Duchess? But if it’s no go—if the old man’s on the spot—pull the shade all the way down, like this; that means the game is called on account of rain—or something. Get the idea?
    BABE : I getcha.
    MITCH : Let’s run through the routine. We don’t want any slip-ups on this.
    LINDA : Up if I’m going—down if I’m not—is that