Collected Novels and Plays (72 page)
Read Collected Novels and Plays Online
Authors: James Merrill
MEMNON:
Oh, pretty much the same, I guess.
ENID:
He
is
remarkable, isn’t he?
MEMNON:
Remarkable’s the word, all right. Between you and me, though, we never had too much to say to each other, Dad and I.
ENID:
I suppose he always
was
so much older, wasn’t he? But you must be very close to your mother.
MEMNON:
Not really. She was always so much younger. They used to look on me like some kind of freak, you know, being human and all. Been sensitive ever since to people making fun of me.
ENID:
I hope you’re here for a nice leisurely visit.
MEMNON:
Afraid not. Like to stay but got to get back. Just down to wish Dad many happy returns.
ENID:
What a pity! Really must you? I’d think, now you’re retired from active duty, your time would be your own.
MEMNON:
That’s what I thought till I spoke to my agent last week. He told me I’d have to buckle down hard if I wanted my book to get
published
even, let alone
sell.
ENID:
Your book?
MEMNON:
My war journal. But like you say, war’s over,
has
been for a number of years. Public’s beginning to lose interest. My agent said to me, we can’t go on living in a fool’s paradise.
ENID (
after a pause
):
But that’s perfectly thrilling!
MARK:
Does it have a title?
MEMNON:
Not yet. Wanted to call it
Old Soldiers Never Die
, but then I started to wonder how Dad would take it. Seemed a bit inappropriate.
MARK:
How about
From Ranks to Riches?
(
MEMNON jots it down.
)
ENID:
You must tell your father about it. He has so many wonderful reminiscences of his own. But gracious, if you have work to do, I couldn’t
imagine a more perfect atmosphere than right here. That west porch, facing the water!
MARK:
Probably the General wants to be within reach of documents and newspaper files.
MEMNON:
Between ourselves, that’s the whole point. I could kick myself for not having made some kind of notes at the time. A line a day would have done it. But man! we were in combat! Also, you can’t go into seclusion just to write a book. You’ve got to keep in the public eye! They want your opinions on national affairs. You go after honorary degrees, you lay cornerstones! Show them you’re still full of beans!
AURORA (
entering
):
What under the sun are you talking about?
(
She is now beautifully groomed and carries a large straw purse.
)
ENID:
Don’t you look lovely!
MEMNON (
whom AURORA kisses on the forehead
):
More like my daughter than my mother.
MARK:
We’ve had a little talk about literature.
AURORA:
How elevating!
ENID (
to MEMNON
):
Have you a family?
MENMON:
No. Never got around to it. Never regretted it, either.
AURORA (
to MARK
):
I’ve had such a curious few minutes on the telephone.
MARK:
With whom?
AURORA:
Somebody I’d forgotten all about.
MEMNON (
to ENID
):
You know, the example of Mother and Dad did a lot to discourage me from having a family of my own.
AURORA (
to MARK, hushed but excited
):
I’ve changed my mind!
MARK (
eagerly
):
What do you mean?
AURORA (
aloud
):
I mean—we might bring Tithonus out into the garden. It’s such a beautiful mild day, it would be a little treat for him.
ENID:
I’ll get him ready.
AURORA:
He
is
ready. And we have two grown men to work for us, so just sit down with me, my sweet. This is your day of rest.
(
To the others.
)
Will you fetch him, please? One of you can carry him, the other bring his covers.
MEMNON:
Is he much of a load?
AURORA:
Light as a feather. You’ve lifted him, Mark. It’s the same as picking up a baby, you just want to be careful the head doesn’t drop off.
(
MEMNON and MARK go out. A pause.
)
Oh living, living …. Don’t you sometimes feel you’d like to run away, put it all behind you, all the effort, all the pretense?
ENID:
Do you pretend, Aurora?
AURORA:
I never used to. But now I feel I’m constantly pretending, contriving little lies with my face and voice. I try to appear light and calm, to keep something twirling in my hand ….
ENID:
Perhaps you simply pretend to be pretending.
AURORA:
Perhaps. What would you say?
ENID:
I would say that you were quite truly happy. I envy you.
AURORA:
Hush! You mustn’t, you needn’t ….
(
Pause.
)
What a child you are!
ENID:
If only I were beautiful!
AURORA:
Appearances aren’t everything. Besides, you’re lovely!
ENID:
But they
are
, and I’m
not!
It’s unfair, the things we were told—by our beautiful mothers, our beautiful sisters, even our beautiful husbands! They made us believe that a sweet disposition meant more than a good figure. They told us that if we were generous and patient and truthful, nobody would care about our not having red-gold hair and gray-gold eyes and wonderful useless hands. I suppose it was sheer human pity on their
part, and yet if they
had
told the truth I might have learned to bear it, by now. I try. I sit at the mirror and stare at my face. I say to myself aloud, over and over, “Appearances
are
everything!” It’s like dipping my heart in brine!
AURORA:
Are you fond of me, Enid? Sometimes I wonder if you like me at all.
ENID:
Oh, how hard I’ve tried not to! But I am, I do, so very much! You can’t know the thoughts I’ve had.
AURORA:
Can’t I? You have seen me as a young wife tired of her husband. You have imagined me in search of a handsome lover. You have wept all night out of jealousy and helplessness. Isn’t it so?
(
ENID bows her head.
)
Well, I have known all of that. And I have had to smile, thinking how little cause for tears I should have if I were in your position.
ENID:
How good you are! Can you guess what a relief—? I’d thought—I hadn’t dared think! Then none of it is true?
AURORA (
lying but radiant
):
None of it!
ENID:
There was no reason for me to have—?
AURORA:
No reason!
ENID:
He really and truly—
AURORA:
With all his heart!
ENID:
—loves me?
AURORA (
tears in her eyes
):
Loves you!
(
Squeezing ENID’s hand.
)
They’ll be coming. Where’s your handkerchief?
(
ENID gives it to her. AURORA blows her nose.
)
We must never lose faith in those who love us.
ENID:
Tell me one thing. What was he saying to you, earlier?
AURORA:
You
still
don’t believe me!
ENID:
I do, I want to! But please—
AURORA (
glowing);
It was a secret. He particularly didn’t want you to know about it. But you will, I promise, and soon.
(
Voices offstage.
)
Ah, here they are!
(
Enter MEMNON with cushions, covers, and a very long knitted scarf. AURORA and ENID move the lawn chair to the center of the stage. MARK appears carrying TITHONUS, of whom is seen only a withered head emerging from white robes.
)
ENID:
There!
TITHONUS:
It is irritating, irritating beyond words, always to be moved, from the bed to the chair, from the chair to the porch ….
AURORA:
Now—gently! So.
(
MARK lowers TITHONUS onto the lawn chair. The women arrange his covers.
)
MARK:
He’s heavier than you think.
TITHONUS:
I feel like a migrant, a gypsy, one of those Liszt would describe so amusingly, moving from place to place, from the porch to the bed, bathing, if at all, in the muddy Danube ….
AURORA (
to MEMNON
):
Have you spoken to your father?
MEMNON:
Tried to, but couldn’t get much of a rise out of him.
TITHONUS:
The little Countess Söderlund, my wife’s godchild, she who introduced yoghurt to the Swedish court, also created there the vogue for gypsies.
AURORA:
He’s in a good humor today.
(
To TITHONUS.
)
Do you know who has come for your birthday?
MEMNON:
Many happy returns, Dad!
TITHONUS:
They wore earrings, even the men—something that until then had never been seen in Sweden—and played their instruments, what were they called?
AURORA:
Tithonus!
TITHONUS:
No matter. The women told fortunes ….
AURORA:
It’s Memnon!
MEMNON:
Oh, don’t bother ….
AURORA:
He’s being very naughty.
MARK (
finding ENID’s head on his shoulder
):
You’re a funny little person.
ENID:
Kiss me.
(
MARK kisses her lightly on the temple.
)
TITHONUS:
They read my palm, the gypsy women, and told me fantastic things. Her Majesty expressed interest.
AURORA:
I remember. He had only a life line, nothing else.
MARK (
to AURORA
):
Did they read your palm?
AURORA:
Alas, I had only a love line!
TITHONUS:
The sun shone all night. There used to be furs, the Kashmir shawls were becoming popular, so light, so soft …. Now I am always chilly. If I froze, who would be sorry?
(
ENID, reaching forward, spreads the scarf up to his chin.
)
What is happening? What are they doing? I shall suffocate!
AURORA (
intervening
):
He can’t stand anything he hasn’t known before. He felt the scarf against his mouth, and was afraid.
MEMNON:
Seems to me you coddle him too much.
TITHONUS:
Aurora! Who are you talking to?
MEMNON:
I didn’t realize he could hear.
ENID:
Oh, you’d be surprised!
AURORA:
He hears very well as soon as you begin to talk about
him.
(
To TITHONUS.
)
It’s Memnon, darling! Memnon has come for your birthday! Memnon,
your son!
TITHONUS:
Memnon? Memnon, my son?
MEMNON:
That’s right, Dad. Big as life. Happy birthday!
TITHONUS:
How old are you, my boy?
MEMNON:
Old enough to know better, ha ha ha!
TITHONUS (
cross
):
Aruora! How old is the boy?
AURORA:
I haven’t the faintest notion.
(
To MEMNON.
)
How old
are
you?
MEMNON (
dignified
):
I’m sixty-one.
TITHONUS:
How old?
AURORA:
Memnon says he’s sixty-one, darling.
(
To MEMNON.
)
Are you really? I should have thought younger ….
TITHONUS (
cackling with mirth
):
Sixty-one! Getting along in years, is he not? Not much time left to enjoy life at sixty-one! Tell him, tell him his father says to enjoy it while he can! He can’t take it with him!
MEMNON:
The old buzzard!
AURORA:
Hush, he’s your father, Memnon.
TITHONUS:
Sixty-one!
ENID (
to MEMNON
):
Don’t take it that way.
MARK (
to AURORA
):
With children you have to keep changing their pants. When they’re old it’s their mouths they can’t control.
AURORA:
You will be old some day.
MARK:
But I shall have lived. It won’t matter.
TITHONUS:
Now, when
I
was sixty-one, or thereabouts—what a difference!
AURORA (
to MARK
):
What can have put it into your head that you are finer than Tithonus? No matter what he may be now, he has had an extraordinary life.
MARK:
I don’t believe it!
AURORA:
What you say reflects very prettily on
me.