[A locomotive is heard approaching outside. She claps her hands to her ears and crouches over. The headlight of the locomotive glares into the room as it thunders past. As the noise recedes she straightens slowly and continues speaking.]
Afterwards we pretended that nothing had been discovered. Yes, the three of us drove out to Moon Lake Casino, very drunk and laughing all the way.
[Polka music sounds. In a minor key faint with distance.]
We danced the Varsouviana! Suddenly in the middle of the dance the boy I had married broke away from me and ran out of the casino. A few moments later--a shot!
[The polka stops abruptly.]
[Blanche rises stiffly. Then, the polka resumes in a major key.]
I ran out--all did!--all ran and gathered about the terrible thing at the edge of the lake! I couldn't get near for the crowding. Then somebody caught my arm. "Don't go any closer! Come back! You don't want to see!" See? See what! Then I heard voices say--Allan! Allan! The Grey boy! He'd stuck the revolver into his mouth, and fired--so that the back of his head had been--blown away!
[She sways and covers her face.]
It was because--on the dance-floor--unable to stop myself--I'd suddenly said--"I saw! I know! You disgust me..." And then the searchlight which had been turned on the world was turned off again and never for one moment since has there been any light that's stronger than this--kitchen--candle...
[Mitch gets up awkwardly and moves toward her a little. The polka music increases. Mitch stands beside her.]
MITCH [drawing her slowly into his arms]:
You need somebody. And I need somebody too. Could it be--you and me, Blanche?
[She stares at him vacantly for a moment. Then with a soft cry huddles in his embrace. She makes a sobbing effort to speak but the words won't come. He kisses her forehead and her eyes and finally her lips. The polka tune fades out. Her breath is drawn and released in long, grateful sobs.]
BLANCHE:
Sometimes--there's God--so quickly!
SCENE SEVEN
It is late afternoon in mid-September. The portieres are open and a table is set for a birthday supper, with cake and flowers. Stella is completing the decorations as Stanley comes in.
STANLEY:
What's all this stuff for?
STELLA:
Honey, it's Blanche's birthday.
STANLEY:
She here?
STELLA:
In the bathroom.
STANLEY [mimicking]:
"Washing out some things"?
STELLA:
I reckon so.
STANLEY:
How long she been in there?
STELLA:
All afternoon.
STANLEY [mimicking]:
"Soaking in a hot tub"?
STELLA:
Yes.
STANLEY:
Temperature 100 on the nose, and she soaks herself in a hot tub.
STELLA:
She says it cools her off for the evening.
STANLEY:
And you run out an' get her cokes, I suppose? And serve 'em to Her Majesty in the tub?
[Stella shrugs]
Set down here a minute.
STELLA:
Stanley, I've got things to do.
STANLEY:
Set down! I've got th' dope on your big sister, Stella.
STELLA:
Stanley, stop picking on Blanche.
STANLEY:
That girl calls me common!
STELLA:
Lately you been doing all you can think of to rub her the wrong way, Stanley, and Blanche is sensitive and you've got to realize that Blanche and I grew up under very different circumstances than you did,
STANLEY:
So I been told. And told and told and told! You know she's been feeding us a pack of lies here?
STELLA:
No, I don't, and--
STANLEY:
Well, she has, however. But now the cat's out of the bag! I found out some things!
STELLA:
What--things?
STANLEY:
Things I already suspected. But now I got proof from the most reliable sources--which I have checked on!
[Blanche is singing in the bathroom a saccharine popular ballad which is used contrapuntally with Stanley's speech.]
STELLA [to Stanley]:
Lower your voice!
STANLEY:
Some canary-bird, huh!
STELLA:
Now please tell me quietly what you think you've found out about my sister.
STANLEY:
Lie Number One: All this squeamishness she puts on! You should just know the line she's been feeding to Mitch--He thought she had never been more than kissed by a fellow! But Sister Blanche is no lily! Ha-ha! Some lily she is!
STELLA:
What have you heard and who from?
STANLEY:
Our supply-man down at the plant has been going through Laurel for years and he knows all about her and everybody else in the town of Laurel knows all about her. She is as famous in Laurel as if she was the President of the United States, only she is not respected by any party! This supply-man stops at a hotel called the Flamingo.
BLANCHE [singing blithely]:
"Say, it's only a paper moon, Sailing over a cardboard sea--But it wouldn't be make-believe If you believed in me!"
STELLA:
What about the--Flamingo?
STANLEY:
She stayed there, too.
STELLA:
My sister lived at Belle Reve.
STANLEY:
This is after the home-place had slipped through her lily white fingers! She moved to the Flamingo! A second class hotel which has the advantage of not interfering in the private social life of the personalities there! The Flamingo is used to all kinds of goings-on. But even the management of the Flamingo was impressed by Dame Blanche! In fact they were so impressed by Dame Blanche that they requested her to turn in her room-key--for permanently! This happened a couple of weeks before she showed here.
BLANCHE [singing]:
"It's a Barnum and Bailey world. Just as phony as it can be--But it wouldn't be make-believe if you believed in me!"
STELLA:
What--contemptible--lies!
STANLEY:
Sure, I can see how you would be upset by this. She pulled the wool over your eyes as much as Mitch's!
STELLA:
It's pure invention! There's not a word of truth in it and if I were a man and this creature had dared to invent such things in my presence--
BLANCHE [singing]:
"Without your love, It's a honky-tonk parade! Without your love, It's a melody played, In a penny arcade..."
STANLEY:
Honey, I told you I thoroughly checked on these stories! Now wait till I finish. The trouble with Dame Blanche was that she couldn't put on her act any more in Laurel! They got wised up after two or three dates with her and then they quit, and she goes on to another, the same old line, same old act, same old hooey! But the town was too small for this to go on forever! And as time went by she became a town character. Regarded as not just different but downright loco--nuts.
[Stella draws back.]
And for the last year or two she has been washed up like poison. That's why she's here this summer, visiting royalty, putting on all this act--because she's practically told by the mayor to get out of town! Yes, did you know there was an army camp near Laurel and your sister's was one of the places called "Out-of-Bounds"?
BLANCHE:
"It's only a paper moon. Just as phony as it can be--But it wouldn't be make-believe, If you believed in me!"
STANLEY:
Well, so much for her being such a refined and particular type of girl. Which brings us to Lie Number Two.
STELLA:
I don't want to hear any more!
STANLEY:
She's not going back to teach school! In fact I am willing to bet you that she never had no idea of returning to Laurel! She didn't resign temporarily from the high school because of her nerves! No, siree, Bob! She didn't. They locked her out of that high school before the spring term ended--and I hate to tell you the reason that step was taken! A seventeen-year-old boy--she'd gotten mixed up with!
BLANCHE:
"It's a Barnum and Bailey world, Just as phony as it can be--"