The Magic Tower and Other One-Act Plays Read Online Free PDF

Then, advancing to the center of the room and looking slowly around
.] Our magic tower! Our lovely, leaking tower!
    [
At this point the stage is briefly darkened to indicate the passing of a few hours’ time. During this interval Linda has undergone a transformation. With Jim absent she is no longer the self-contained young woman that she appeared to be in the beginning of the play. The romantic spell is lifted so that she can see more clearly the darker aspects of their situation. She is pacing restlessly around the room, now and then glancing toward the window with a fretful gesture as the lights go on. Someone knocks at the door
.]
    LINDA [
slightly cringing
]: You, Mrs. O’Fallon?
    MOLLY : Naw, it’s me! Ha, ha.
    LINDA [
slightly relieved
]: Oh, Molly. Come in.
    [
Enter Molly, a gangling, freckle-faced girl of fifteen
.]
    MOLLY : There’s company to see yuh, Mizz Flynn.
    LINDA [
with sudden apprehension
]: SHHH!
    MOLLY [
loudly
]: Whatsamatter?
    [
Linda softly closes the door
.]
    LINDA : Is it a big fat man with a briefcase?
    MOLLY : A brief case o’ what?
    LINDA [
desperately
]: Oh, a satchel, a leather case—you know—is he a bill collector or something like that?
    MOLLY [
giggling
]: Oh! I thought you meant a case o’ measles or something! Ha, ha. Oh, my! Guess what he called you, Mizz Flynn? He called you the Duchess. He says tell the Duchess . . .
    LINDA [
delighted
]: It’s Mitch! [
Throws open the door and runs out on the landing
.] MITCH! Is it you?
    MRS. O ’ FALLON [
calling from downstairs
]: Molly! Molly!
    MITCH [
from below
]: Me and the Babe!
    MOLLY : Well, I will be seeing you, Duchess. [
Molly leaves
.]
    LINDA : Oh, BABE!
    BABE [
from below
]: Yeah. It’s me. We’re waitin’ for the elevator.
    LINDA [
terribly agitated
]: How—are you! [
She comes back into the room with both hands pressed to her face. She starts to laugh, which laugh rapidly becomes tears. Babe and Mitch are heard climbing the stairs
.]
    BABE [
puffing, offstage
]: Seventy-eight, seventy-nine, eighty! Whew! My stars and fallen arches! I wouldn’t climb another five flights to Heaven!
    [
Enter Babe and Mitch. They are a flashily dressed young couple, good-looking and good-natured but not too sensitive: distinctly theatrical types
.]
    BABE : Duchess! Fer cryin’ out loud! [
She drops a large, paper-wrapped bundle and flings arms around Linda’s sobbing figure
.]
    MITCH : Say, what kind of a reception is this, I’d liketa know. I’ve played to some pretty dead pans in my time, but never, never have they busted out crying the moment I walked on the stage. Not even when me and Sarah Bernhardt . . .
    BABE : Can it, Mitch!
    [
Mitch laughs and throws an arm around Linda
.]
    LINDA : I’m sorry! It just struck me all of a sudden. . . .
    MITCH : What the devil! Didja think we wasn’t gonna play this town any more? Lookit here, Duchess! A wedding present! [
He picks up package Babe dropped
.]
    LINDA [
taking it
]: Oh, how sweet! [
Still crying a little she kneels on the floor to unwrap the package
.] Oh!
    BABE : Yeah. A traveling bag!
    MITCH [
significantly
]: Show people can always use an extra piece of luggage once in a while. . . .
    LINDA [
slightly embarrassed
]: It’s beautiful! Jim and I will use it on our honeymoon. We’re planning to have one some day.
    BABE [
surveying the room
]: Criminently, what a dump! Parlor, bedroom, and bath all in one!
    LINDA [
laughing
]: There isn’t any bath. Jim says that baths are an affectation of the idle rich!
    BABE : A what? Hmmm. What kind of a guy is this husband of yours?
    MITCH : No bathtub? Gosh, Duchess, what do you make your gin in? Well— [
He looks at leaking places in the roof
.] I see you got plenty of running water, anyway!
    LINDA : Isn’t it awful? It’s been leaking all afternoon! But when the sun comes out it’s really very pleasant in here!
    [
Mitch seats himself on the floor beside her
.]
    MITCH : So this is where you’ve been hiding out since you quit