: Vaccination cert.
PRIVATE : Currency?
PUBLIC : Eighty dollars.
PRIVATE : Sponsorship papers?
PUBLIC : Signed by Mr Conal Sweeney.
PRIVATE : Uncle Con and Aunt Lizzy. Who made the whole thing possible. Read her letter again – strictly for belly-laughs.
PUBLIC : ( Reads ) Dear Nephew Gar, Just a line to let you know that your Uncle Con and me have finalized all the plans –
PUBLIC : – and we will meet you at the airport and welcome you and bring you to our apartment which you will see is located in a pretty nice locality and you will have the spare room which has TV and air-conditioning and window meshes and your own bathroom with a shower –
PRIVATE : Adjacent to RC church. No children. Other help kept.
PUBLIC : You will begin at the Emperor Hotel on Monday 23rd which is only about twenty minutes away.
PRIVATE : Monsieur, madam.
PUBLIC : Con says it is a fine place for to work in and the owner is Mr Patrick Palinakis who is half-Irish –
PRIVATE : Patrick.
PUBLIC : – and half-Greek.
PRIVATE : Palinakis.
PUBLIC : His grandfather came from County Mayo.
PRIVATE : By the hokey! The Greek from Belmullet!
PUBLIC : We know you will like it here and work hard.
PRIVATE : ( Rapidly ) Monsieur-madam-monsieur- madam-monsieur -madam –
PUBLIC : We remember our short trip to Ireland last September with happy thoughts and look forward to seeing you again. Sorry we missed your father that day. We had Ben Burton in to dinner last evening. He sends his regards.
PRIVATE : Right sort. Ben.
PUBLIC : Until we see you at the airport, all love, Elise.
PRIVATE : ‘Elise! Dammit, Lizzy Gallagher, but you came up in the world.
PUBLIC : PS About paying back the passage money which you mentioned in your last letter – desist! – no one’s crying about it.
PRIVATE : Aye, Ben Burton was a right skin.
PUBLIC : ( Remembering ) September 8th.
PRIVATE : By God Lizzy was in right talking form that day –
PUBLIC : ‘You are invited to attend the wedding of Miss Kathleen Doogan of Gortmore House –’
PRIVATE : ( Snaps ) Shut up, O’Donnell! You’ve got to quit this moody drivelling! ( Coaxing ) They arrived in the afternoon; remember? A beautiful quiet harvest day, the sun shining, not a breath of wind; and you were on your best behaviour. And Madge – remember? Madge was as huffy as hell with the carry-on of them, and you couldn’t take your eyes off Aunt Lizzy, your mother’s sister – so this was your mother’s sister – remember?
(Three people have moved into the kitchen : CON SWEENEY, LIZZY SWEENEY , and BEN BURTON . All three are in the fifty-five to sixty region. BURTON is American, the SWEENEYS Irish-American. CON SWEENEY sits at the kitchen table with BEN BURTON . LIZZY moves around in the centre of the kitchen. PUBLIC stands at the door of his bedroom. PRIVATE hovers around close to PUBLIC . The three guests have glasses in their hands. None of them is drunk, but LIZZY is more than usually garrulous. She is a small energetic woman, heavily made-up , impulsive. CON , her husband, is a quiet, patient man. BURTON , their friend, sits smiling at his glass most of the time. As she talks LIZZY moves from one to the other, and she has the habit of putting her arm around, or catching the elbow of , the person she is addressing. This constant physical touching is new and disquieting to PUBLIC . A long laugh from LIZZY :)
LIZZY : Anyhow, there we are, all sitting like stuffed ducks in the front seat – Una and Agnes and Rose and Mother and me – you know – and mother dickied up in her good black shawl and everything – and up at the altar rails there’s Maire all by herself and her shoulders are sorta working – you know – and you couldn’t tell whether she was crying or giggling – she was a helluva one for giggling – but maybe shewas crying that morning – I don’t know –
CON : Get on with the story, honey.
LIZZY : ( With dignity ) Would you please desist from bustin’ in on me?
(
PRIVATE : Currency?
PUBLIC : Eighty dollars.
PRIVATE : Sponsorship papers?
PUBLIC : Signed by Mr Conal Sweeney.
PRIVATE : Uncle Con and Aunt Lizzy. Who made the whole thing possible. Read her letter again – strictly for belly-laughs.
PUBLIC : ( Reads ) Dear Nephew Gar, Just a line to let you know that your Uncle Con and me have finalized all the plans –
PUBLIC : – and we will meet you at the airport and welcome you and bring you to our apartment which you will see is located in a pretty nice locality and you will have the spare room which has TV and air-conditioning and window meshes and your own bathroom with a shower –
PRIVATE : Adjacent to RC church. No children. Other help kept.
PUBLIC : You will begin at the Emperor Hotel on Monday 23rd which is only about twenty minutes away.
PRIVATE : Monsieur, madam.
PUBLIC : Con says it is a fine place for to work in and the owner is Mr Patrick Palinakis who is half-Irish –
PRIVATE : Patrick.
PUBLIC : – and half-Greek.
PRIVATE : Palinakis.
PUBLIC : His grandfather came from County Mayo.
PRIVATE : By the hokey! The Greek from Belmullet!
PUBLIC : We know you will like it here and work hard.
PRIVATE : ( Rapidly ) Monsieur-madam-monsieur- madam-monsieur -madam –
PUBLIC : We remember our short trip to Ireland last September with happy thoughts and look forward to seeing you again. Sorry we missed your father that day. We had Ben Burton in to dinner last evening. He sends his regards.
PRIVATE : Right sort. Ben.
PUBLIC : Until we see you at the airport, all love, Elise.
PRIVATE : ‘Elise! Dammit, Lizzy Gallagher, but you came up in the world.
PUBLIC : PS About paying back the passage money which you mentioned in your last letter – desist! – no one’s crying about it.
PRIVATE : Aye, Ben Burton was a right skin.
PUBLIC : ( Remembering ) September 8th.
PRIVATE : By God Lizzy was in right talking form that day –
PUBLIC : ‘You are invited to attend the wedding of Miss Kathleen Doogan of Gortmore House –’
PRIVATE : ( Snaps ) Shut up, O’Donnell! You’ve got to quit this moody drivelling! ( Coaxing ) They arrived in the afternoon; remember? A beautiful quiet harvest day, the sun shining, not a breath of wind; and you were on your best behaviour. And Madge – remember? Madge was as huffy as hell with the carry-on of them, and you couldn’t take your eyes off Aunt Lizzy, your mother’s sister – so this was your mother’s sister – remember?
(Three people have moved into the kitchen : CON SWEENEY, LIZZY SWEENEY , and BEN BURTON . All three are in the fifty-five to sixty region. BURTON is American, the SWEENEYS Irish-American. CON SWEENEY sits at the kitchen table with BEN BURTON . LIZZY moves around in the centre of the kitchen. PUBLIC stands at the door of his bedroom. PRIVATE hovers around close to PUBLIC . The three guests have glasses in their hands. None of them is drunk, but LIZZY is more than usually garrulous. She is a small energetic woman, heavily made-up , impulsive. CON , her husband, is a quiet, patient man. BURTON , their friend, sits smiling at his glass most of the time. As she talks LIZZY moves from one to the other, and she has the habit of putting her arm around, or catching the elbow of , the person she is addressing. This constant physical touching is new and disquieting to PUBLIC . A long laugh from LIZZY :)
LIZZY : Anyhow, there we are, all sitting like stuffed ducks in the front seat – Una and Agnes and Rose and Mother and me – you know – and mother dickied up in her good black shawl and everything – and up at the altar rails there’s Maire all by herself and her shoulders are sorta working – you know – and you couldn’t tell whether she was crying or giggling – she was a helluva one for giggling – but maybe shewas crying that morning – I don’t know –
CON : Get on with the story, honey.
LIZZY : ( With dignity ) Would you please desist from bustin’ in on me?
(
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