Sweet Bird of Youth Read online

  no address where anybody can reach you in time to--reach you?

  CHANCE: Wild dreams! Yes. Isn't life a wild dream? I never heard a better description of it. . .

  . [He takes a pill and a swallow from a flask.]

  AUNT NONNIE: What did you just take, Chance? You took something out of your pocket and

  washed it down with liquor.

  CHANCE: Yes, I took a wild dream and--washed it down with another wild dream, Aunt

  Nonnie, that's my life now. . . .

  AUNT NONNIE: Why, son?

  CHANCE: Oh, Aunt Nonnie, for God's sake, have you forgotten what was expected of me?

  AUNT NONNIE: People that loved you expected just one thing of you--sweetness and honesty and . . .

  [Stuff leaves with tray.]

  CHANCE [kneeling at her side]: No, not after the brilliant beginning I made. Why, at

  seventeen, I put on, directed, and played the leading role in The Valiant, that one-act play that won the state drama contest. Heavenly played in it with me, and have you forgotten? You went

  with us as the girls' chaperon to the national contest held in . . .

  AUNT NONNIE: Son, of course I remember.

  CHANCE: In the parlor car? How we sang together?

  AUNT NONNIE: You were in love even then.

  CHANCE: God, yes, we were in love!

  [He sings softly]

  'If you like-a me, like I like-a you,

  And we like-a both the same'

  TOGETHER:

  I'd like-a say, this very day,

  I'd like-a change your name.'

  [Chance laughs softly, wildly, in the cool light of the palm grove, Aunt Nonnie rises

  abruptly, Chance catches her hands.]

  AUNT NONNIE: You--Do--Take unfair advantage. . . .

  CHANCE: Aunt Nonnie, we didn't win that lousy national contest, we just placed second.

  AUNT NONNIE: Chance, you didn't place second. You got honorable mention. Fourth place,

  except it was just called honorable mention.

  CHANCE: Just honorable mention. But in a national contest, honorable mention means

  something. . . . We would have won it, but I blew my lines. Yes, I that put on and produced the damn thing, couldn't even hear the damn lines being hissed at me by that fat girl with the book in the wings. [He buries his face in his hands.]

  AUNT NONNIE: I loved you for that, son, and so did Heavenly, too.

  CHANCE: It was on the way home in the train that she and I--

  AUNT NONNIE [with a flurry of feeling]: I know, I--I--

  CHANCE [rising]: I bribed the Pullman Conductor to let us use for an hour a vacant

  compartment on that sad, home-going train--

  AUNT NONNIE: I know, I--I--

  CHANCE: Gave him five dollars, but that wasn't enough, and so I gave him my wrist-watch,

  and my collar pin and tie clip and signet ring and my suit, that I'd bought on credit to go to the contest. First suit I'd ever put on that cost more than thirty dollars.

  AUNT NONNIE: Don't go back over that.

  CHANCE:--To buy the first hour of love that we had together. When she undressed, I saw that

  her body was just then, barely, beginning to be a woman's and . . .

  AUNT NONNIE: Stop, Chance.

  CHANCE: I said, oh, Heavenly, no, but she said yes, and I cried in her arms that night, and

  didn't know that what I was crying for was--youth, that would go.

  AUNT NONNIE: It was from that time on, you've changed.

  CHANCE: I swore in my heart that I'd never again come in second in any contest, especially

  not now that Heavenly was my--Aunt Nonnie, look at this contract.

  [He snatches out papers and lights lighter.]

  AUNT NONNIE: I don't want to see false papers.

  CHANCE: These are genuine papers. Look at the notary's seal and the signatures of the three

  witnesses on them. Aunt Nonnie, do you know who I'm with? I'm with Alexandra Del Lago, the

  Princess Kosmonopolis is my--

  AUNT NONNIE: Is your what?

  CHANCE: Patroness! Agent! Producer! She hasn't been seen much lately, but still has

  influence, power, and money--money that can open all doors. That I've knocked at all these

  years till my knuckles are bloody.

  AUNT NONNIE: Chance, even now, if you came back here simply saying, 'I couldn't

  remember the lines, I lost the contest, I--failed,' but you've come back here again with--

  CHANCE: Will you just listen one minute more? Aunt Nonnie, here is the plan. A local-

  contest-of-Beauty.

  AUNT NONNIE: Oh, Chance.

  CHANCE: A local contest of talent that she will win.

  AUNT NONNIE: Who?

  CHANCE: Heavenly.

  AUNT NONNIE: No, Chance. She's not young now, she's faded, she's . . .

  CHANCE: Nothing goes that quick, not even youth.

  AUNT NONNIE: Yes, it does.

  CHANCE: It will come back like magic. Soon as I . . .

  AUNT NONNIE: For what? For a fake contest?

  CHANCE: For love. The moment I hold her.

  AUNT NONNIE: Chance.

  CHANCE: It's not going to be a local thing, Aunt Nonnie. It's going to get national coverage.

  The Princess Kosmonopolis's best friend is that sob sister, Sally Powers. Even you know Sally Powers. Most powerful movie columnist in the world. Whose name is law in the motion . . .

  AUNT NONNIE: Chance, lower your voice.

  CHANCE: I want people to hear me.

  AUNT NONNIE: No, you don't, no you don't. Because if your voice gets to Boss Finley, you'll

  be in great danger, Chance.

  CHANCE: I go back to Heavenly, or I don't. I live or die. There's nothing in between for me.

  AUNT NONNIE: What you want to go back to is your clean, unashamed youth. And you can't.

  CHANCE: You still don't believe me, Aunt Nonnie?

  AUNT NONNIE: No, I don't Please go. Go away from here, Chance.

  CHANCE: Please.

  AUNT NONNIE: No, no, go away!

  CHANCE: Where to? Where can I go? This is the home of my heart. Don't make me homeless.

  AUNT NONNIE: Oh, Chance.

  CHANCE: Aunt Nonnie. Please.

  AUNT NONNIE [rises and starts to go]: I'll write to you. Send me an address. I'll write to you.

  [She exits through bar. Stuff enters and moves to bar.]

  CHANCE: Aunt Nonnie . . .

  [She's

  gone.

  Chance removes a pint bottle of vodka from his pocket and something else which he

  washes down with the vodka. He stands back as two couples come up the steps and cross the

  gallery into the bar: they sit at a table, Chance takes a deep breath, Fly enters lighted area inside, singing out 'Paging Mr Chance Wayne, Mr Chance Wayne, pagin' Mr Chance Wayne.'--

  Turns about smartly and goes back out through lobby. The name has stirred a commotion at the

  bar and table visible inside.]

  EDNA: Did you hear that? Is Chance Wayne back in St Cloud?

  [Chance draws a deep breath. Then, he stalks back into the main part of the cocktail

  lounge like a matador entering a bull ring.]

  VIOLET: My God, yes--there he is.

  [Chance reads Fly's message.]

  CHANCE [to Fly]: Not now, later, later.

  [The entertainer off left begins to play a piano. . . . The 'evening' in the cocktail lounge

  is just beginning. Fly leaves through the gallery.]

  Well! Same old place, same old gang. Time doesn't pass in St Cloud. [To Bud and

  Scotty] Hi!

  BUD: How are you . . . ?

  CHANCE [shouting offstage as Fly enters and stands on terrace]: Hey Jackie . . . [Piano stops, Chance crosses over to the table that holds the foursome.] . . . remember my song? Do you--

  remember my song? . . . You see, he reme
mbers my song. [The entertainer swings into 'It's a

  Big Wide Wonderful World'.] Now I feel at home. In my home town. . . . Come on, everybody-

  -sing!

  [This token of apparent acceptance reassures him. The foursome at the table on stage

  studiously ignore him. He sings.]

  'When you're in love you're a master

  Of all you survey, you're a gay Santa Claus.

  There's a great big star-spangled sky up above you,

  When you're in love you're a hero. . . . '

  Come on! Sing, ev'rybody!

  [In the old days they did; now they don't. He goes on, singing a bit; then his voice dies

  out on a note of embarrassment. Somebody at the bar whispers something and another laughs.

  Chance chuckles uneasily and speaks.]

  What's wrong here? The place is dead.

  STUFF: You been away too long, Chance.

  CHANCE: Is that the trouble?

  STUFF: That's all. . . .

  [Jackie, off, finishes with an arpeggio. The piano lid slams. There is a curious hush in

  the bar. Chance looks at the table, Violet whispers something to Bud. Both girls rise abruptly and cross out of the bar.]

  BUD [yelling at Stuff]: Check, Stuff.

  CHANCE [with exaggerated surprise]: Well, Bud and Scotty. I didn't see you at all. Wasn't that Violet and Edna at your table? [He sits at the table between Bud and Scotty.]

  SCOTTY: I guess they didn't recognize you, Chance,

  BUD: Violet did.

  SCOTTY: Did Violet?

  BUD: She said, 'My God, Chance Wayne!'

  SCOTTY: That's recognition and profanity, too.

  CHANCE: I don't mind. I've been snubbed by experts, and I've done some snubbing myself. . . .

  Hey! [Miss Lucy has entered at left, Chance sees her and goes towards her.] --Is that Miss Lucy or is that Scarlett O'Hara?

  MISS LUCY: Hello there, Chance Wayne. Somebody said that you were back in St Cloud, but

  I didn't believe them. I said I'd have to see it with my own eyes before . . . Usually there's an item in the paper, in Gwen Phillips's column saying 'St Cloud youth home on visit is slated to play featured role in important new picture,' and me being a movie fan I'm always thrilled by it.

  . . . [She ruffles his hair.]

  CHANCE: Never do that to a man with thinning hair.

  [Chance's smile is unflinching; it gets harder and brighter.]

  MISS LUCY: Is your hair thinning, baby? Maybe that's the difference I noticed in your

  appearance. Don't go 'way till I get back with my drink. . . .

  [She goes to back of bar to mix herself a drink. Meanwhile Chance combs his hair.]

  SCOTTY [to Chance]: Don't throw away those golden hairs you combed out, Chance. Save 'em

  and send 'em each in letters to your fan clubs.

  BUD: Does Chance Wayne have a fan club?

  SCOTTY: The most patient one in the world. They've been waiting years for him to show up on

  the screen for more than five seconds in a crowd scene.

  MISS LUCY [returning to the table]: Y'know, this boy Chance Wayne used to be so attractive I

  couldn't stand it. But now I can, almost stand it. Every Sunday in summer I used to drive out to the municipal beach and watch him dive off the high tower. I'd take binoculars with me when

  he put on those free divin' exhibitions. You still dive, Chance? Or have you given that up?

  CHANCE [uneasily]: I did some diving last Sunday.

  MISS LUCY: Good, as ever?

  CHANCE: I was a little off form, but the crowd didn't notice. I can still get away with a double back somersault and a --

  MISS LUCY: Where was this, in Palm Beach, Florida, Chance?

  [Hatcher

  enters.]

  CHANCE [stiffening]: Why Palm Beach? Why there?

  MISS LUCY: Who was it said they seen you last month in Palm Beach? Oh yes, Hatcher--that

  you had a job as a beach-boy at some big hotel there?

  HATCHER [stopping at steps of the terrace, then leaving across the gallery]: Yeah, that's what I heard.

  CHANCE: Had a job--as a beach-boy?

  STUFF: Rubbing oil into big fat millionaires. Chance! What joker thought up that one? [His

  laugh is a little too loud.]

  SCOTTY: You ought to get their names and sue them for slander.

  CHANCE: I long ago gave up tracking down sources of rumors about me. Of course, it's

  flattering, it's gratifying to know that you're still being talked about in your old home town, even if what they say is completely fantastic. Hahaha.

  [Entertainer returns, sweeps into 'Quiereme Mucho']

  MISS LUCY: Baby, you've changed in some way, but I can't put my finger on it. You all see a

  change in him, or has he just gotten older? [She sits down next to Chance.]

  CHANCE [quickly]: To change is to live, Miss Lucy, to live is to change, and not to change is to die. You know that, don't you? It used to scare me sometimes. I'm not scared of it now. Are you scared of it, Miss Lucy? Does it scare you?

  [Behind Chance's back one of the girls has appeared and signaled the boys to join them

  outside, Scotty nods and holds up two fingers to mean they'll come in a couple of minutes. The girl goes back out with an angry head-toss.]

  SCOTTY: Chance, did you know Boss Finley was holding a 'Youth for Tom Finley' rally

  upstairs tonight?

  CHANCE: I saw the announcements of it all over town.

  BUD: He's going to state his position on that emasculation business that's stirred up such a mess in the state. Had you heard about that?

  CHANCE: No.

  SCOTTY: He must have been up in some earth satellite if he hasn't heard about that.

  CHANCE: No, just out of St Cloud.

  SCOTTY: Well, they picked out a nigger at random and castrated the bastard to show they

  mean business about white women's protection in this state.

  BUD: Some people think they went too far about it. There's been a whole lot of Northern

  agitation all over the country.

  SCOTTY: The Boss is going to state his own position about that thing before the 'Youth for

  Boss Finley' rally upstairs in the Crystal Ballroom.

  CHANCE: Aw. Tonight?

  STUFF: Yeah, t'night.

  BUD: They say that Heavenly Finley and Tom Junior are going to be standing on the platform

  with him.

  PAGEBOY [entering]: Paging Chance Wayne, Paging. . . .

  [He is stopped short by Edna.]

  CHANCE: I doubt that story, somehow I doubt that story.

  SCOTTY: You doubt they cut that nigger?

  CHANCE: Oh, no, that I don't doubt. You know what that is, don't you? Sex-envy is what that

  is, and the revenge for sex-envy which is a widespread disease that I have run into personally too often for me to doubt its existence or any manifestation.

  [The group push back their chairs, snubbing him. Chance takes the message from the

  pageboy, reads it, and throws it on the floor.]

  Hey, Stuff- What d'ya have to do, stand on your head to get a drink around here?--Later,

  tell her.--Miss Lucy, can you get that Walgreen's soda jerk to give me a shot of vodka on the rocks? [She snaps her fingers at Stuff. He shrugs and sloshes some vodka on to ice.]

  MISS LUCY: Chance? You're too loud, baby.

  CHANCE: Not loud enough, Miss Lucy. No. What I meant that I doubt is that Heavenly Finley,

  that only I know in St Cloud, would stoop to stand on a platform next to her father while he

  explains and excuses on TV this random emasculation of a young Nigra caught on a street after midnight.

  [Chance is speaking with an almost incoherent excitement, one knee resting on the seat

  of his chair, swaying the chair back and forth. The heckler lowers his newspaper from his face; a slow fierce smile
spreads over his face as he leans forward with tensed throat muscles to catch Chance's burst of oratory.]