Act one
Scene three
[Lights dim. four figures are
seated and one figure rises and walks to front]
JERRY
[speaking to the audience,
Placing his fingers to his lips}
I know that you are out there. I’m the one
who has reached
through that purple cosmic curtain and pulled
all of you in.
And So, welcome to my nightmare.
The name is Jerry Fostor and I was born in the
narcoleptic
town of Vincennes, Indiana. Our most famous
son in
Vincennes was Red Skelton, who became a world
renown
comedian and brought joy to millions while my
dear Dad was
the banker at First Bank of Vincennes. I’m
sorry to say dear
old Dad foreclosed on the Skelton home during
the
depression and it makes me so proud.
Did you know that poor Red Skelton’s father
died before he
was born. A circus pole went right through
his chest and
the family was left destitute and hungry. So
young Red
Skelton left home at fourteen years to work
in a traveling
show to support his mother and brother
working in the exact
same trade that killed his father.
Myself, I followed Dad in the trade which I
hoped would
someday kill him at the First Bank of
Vincennes.
Once I started working in the fine old bank,
I was married to
a big
boned girl from High School named Amy Phlueger. Now
everybodys got a big-boned girl in their
past, don’t they? But
then I just felt like my clothes just weren't
fitting me right.
Do you have any idea how that feels? Like you
we living
someone else’s life. I knew that I “definitely”
did not want
to be married or even worse yet work in a
bank. And then a
powerful blue fever fell over me and I lay
bedridden for two
weeks. While in my deathbed bed, I had
delirious dreams of demons
and faraway
lands as great tremors shook and
shuddered my
sickened body.
The next Saturday the doctor looked me over
and told my wife
So very quietly that she had better buy my
piney box. The very
next day On Sunday by some miraculous
Midwestern miracle
bestowed onto me by providence the fever
suddenly abated and
I made a complete recovery by nightfall of
that very same day.
The very next morning; it was a Monday in
July, I arose from
My
sickbed and proceeded to the bank and withdrew half of
The account and within thirty minutes was on
a bus to New
York.That moment, sitting in a tattered seat
after
cheating death and a marriage I felt really
alive.
Never will I forget that feeling. Never.
Never. Never.
[Three figures arise and come forward. Sonya enters the
side stage.]
JERRY
And where have you been?
SONYA
Visiting the house of that infamous murderer
Nicholas
Solway. I dropped some dishes and frightened
their animals.
And yes; young master Solway was in his
chamber with a very
young mulatta and at their precise moment of
animalistic
ecstasy, I slammed a door and that mulatta
let out such a
scream that the entire house woke up . It was
just
beautiful; So beautiful!
ERNESTINE
My dear, You must leave them alone. You will
never find
Peace until you let go.
SONYA
Never! The descendants of Solway must know
who is Sonya
Petrov and what was done to me. Before last
night, the
little Solway daughter had left a journal and
I wrote an
inscription.
The inscription read:
“ In the month of October in the year of our
Lord 1904,
A beautiful young woman’s voice was silenced
forever
By a crime committed so foul and obscene that
the heavens
rained for seven days and seven nights in a
vain attempt To
cleanse an innocents blood from these cold
paving stones.
Signed “ Sonya Petrov residing in All Saints Cemetery”.
JERRY
It’s just that kind of behavior that gives us
ghosts a bad
name. So tell me how on earth did you amuse
yourself before
you took up breaking plates and slamming
doors.
SONYA
My letters and my loves were my muse.
DOMINIC
And where did you sell your poems? Were you
on the street
corner beneath a lamp post?
SONYA
Why yes, I stood on the street corners with
sonnets for
sale. That was my profession was it not? A
poetess, Yes, a
wonderful poetess. So Many fine gentlemen would
come up to
me and simply beg for my services. I sold
many to young boys
like yourself. First, I would then
attentively listen to
what they had to say and then would oblige
them if I could.
ERNESTINE
My dear, that doesn’t sound very good at all.
SONYA
Well some of the verse wasn’t that fresh
after all. If they
needed something quick. Well, then that is
what they
received.
Something like:
“Thine eyes Rowena shine like heavenly
beacons in a starry
night.
Into my very soul, capturing and enrapturing
with earthly
delights.
Until I gladly submit to eternal servitude
and forsake all
others.
Forever yours, Edwin.”
That will be thirty five cents please.
JERRY
And did you find it profitable to stand in
front of the
florist shop?
SONYA
Oh yes and in front of the chocolatier also.
Some days I was
given the most heavenly chocolates and
candies. They were so
rich and delicious.
JERRY
Am I to believe that you carried a placard
that read
“Sonnets for sale”.
SONYA
Not at all my “doubting Thomas”. My business
was made by
personal introduction. My good clients would
introduce me to
their acquaintances and that is how my trade
flourished.
The best were of course married and enjoyed many
dalliances and were always in need of a
special verse to
get them back in the house .
ERNESTNE
Was there anything else that you did my dear.
That work just
seems to be so unsteady.
DOMINIC
Yeah that does seem unsteady.
SONYA
Yes, there were times a cold wind would blow
down Fifth
Avenue and the gentlemen’s faces would turn
cold and gray.
Their eyes would look straight forward and
see nothing
around them. For I was but a beautiful small
flower growing
between the paving stones. So miniscule; only
asking to be
noticed and cared for by a fine and generous
gentleman.
Sometimes I would abandon my art for a short
time to put
food on the table.
ERNESTINE
And do what? I mean to put food on the table?
SONYA
Fr a time,
I was a private nurse for a fine old gentleman
on Fifth Avenue. A very wealthy man who made
his fortune in
Fedoras, I believe. Smithers was his name and
when I met him
he had a gray complexion and coughed up the
most vile green
phlegm. With love I nursed him back to health
with my love
and he favored me with fine gifts; Silver
goblets and gold
necklaces. He even asked me to marry him.
ERNESTINE
And did you marry him?
SONYA
No, I was summarily dismissed by his sons and
quite
literally thrown dwn the steps. Poor Mr.
Smithers died three
days hence of a broken heart. What a pity. So
much good
could have come from that purse.
ERNESTINE
Where did you go?
SONYA
I fell unhappily into the arms of Nicholas
Solway. And that
was the beginning of my demise.
{Henry enters acting despondent}
DOMINIC
Welcome back soldier boy. We all were just
discussing our
lines of work. Myself, I worked at the Todd
Shipyard. We
built cruisers and destroyers for the United
States Navy.
You know that's in our blood, we Italians...
Building
things. What about you?
[addressing Rosa with a hint of sarcasm}
what kind of work did you do?
ROSA
{looking at her hands}
I spent my life scrubbing, chopping, peeling,
cleaning,
mending, washing with these black hands. Do
you know what
it means for a woman when she has black hands
like mine. It
means that she will have a hard life.
DOMINIC
Hey sister, it wasn't easy for any of us. It
was damned hard
all the time. Look at this soldier boy over
here. What did
he have? twenty years? Twenty two years?
That's not much
time to do the things you want to do in life.
Like get
married or have a family.
(looks over at Henry}
Henry, you remind me so much of my boy Joey.
Doesn’t he
remind you of Joey?
ERNESTINE
Yes he does.
DOMINIC
Soldier boy, you and Joey would have been
great pals. Don't
ya think Ernestine?
Scene fades.
