Walk Two Moons CHARACTERS SAL (SALAMANCA) Sal’s mom lohn’s mother John’s father John’s friend aret’s mother .13 years old -Phoebe’s mom . Phoebe’s dad Sal and Phoebe’s teacher Sal and Phoebe’s classmate Mary Lou’s cousin, and Phoebe’s classmate ..a mysterious figure 16 years old, a bully BICKLE..... .... Sergeant with the Euclid Police POLICE OFFICER. NURSE BROTHER... ... early 30s, a stranger SHERIFFCHARACTER NOTES Suggested doubling for nine actors. If doubling, the characters of SUGAR and MRS. WINTERBOTTOM should always be doubled) SAL PHOEBE SUGAR / MRS. WINTERBOTTOM JOHN / MR. BIRKWAY MARGARET / NURSE / MARY LOU GRAM / MRS. PARTRIDGE / POLICE OFFICER GRAMPS / BICKLE MR. WINTERBOTTOM / DOCTOR / SHERIFF BEN / LUNATIC / BOY / BROTHERPRODUCTION NOTES The action of the play takes place within four narrative frames: the present (the road trip between Euclid, Ohio, and Lewiston, Idaho), the past (the story of Phoebe), Sal’s memories of Bybanks and, lastly, her most private thoughts. This final frame is indicated in the script as direct address to the audience; no one else in the play is privy to these thoughts. The action is continuous and should move seamlessly, nearly overlapping as we jump back and forth across these narrative frames through time and memory. Sometimes they flow naturally from one frame to the next, like daydreams that coax us from our present reality. Other times, they interrupt one another like competing trains of thought. This approach lends itself to the barest of scenic elements in order to maintain pacing and rhythm as well as invite the audience’s imagination. The only essential scenic element is the tree, which should be prominently located in the scenic design. The voices in the breeze are included to enrich the sound design. They can be interpreted literally or metaphorically depending on the director’s vision. In the original production, the figure of the Lunatic was seen only as a silhouette in all but the final scene. He was a felt presence but never a literal one. This helped reinforce the mystery surrounding this figure as well as our sense of Phoebe’s fear and oversized imagination. It made the Lunatic seem larger than life.Walk Two Moons AT RISE: At C is a large, majestic tree with branches low enough to climb. The rest of the stage is bare and trans- forms into whatever space the scene calls for. Props should be minimal and suggestive, Action should move seamless- ly, nearly overlapping, as we jump back and forth through time and memory. We begin in darkness. Only.the sound of wind through the trees. This breeze could be mistaken for whispering voices... Hurry. Hurry. Hurry ... Rush. Rush. Rush ... The breeze ebbs and flows. It is calling to someone. Lights come up on SALAMANCA—a 13-year-old girl with waist-length black hair and dark eyes—sitting above the stage in one of the trees branches. She holds a letter in her hand. SAL. One. Two. Three. Four, (The breeze continues to whisper ... Rush. Rush. Rush ... Hurry. Hurry. Hurry ... SAL continues counting, her rhythm measured by the fre- quency of trees on the side of the road being passed by a car.) SAL (cont’d). Five. Six. Seven... (Lights up on GRAM and GRAMPS in a separate space, riding in the front seat ofa car) GRAMPS. Sal?10 Walk Two Moons SAL. Eight. Nine ... GRAMPS. Sal. (The breeze subsides.) GRAM (confidentially). I think she’s counting trees. SAL (still in the tree, as if praying). Please don’t let us get in an accident. GRAMPS (to SAL). I sure could use another pair of eyeballs on this map here. SAL, Please let us get there by Momma’s birthday. GRAM (playing along). Oh, I can’t read these things worth a hill of beans. What do you think, chickabiddy? (SAL regards her grandparents and then addresses the au- dience directly.) SAL (to audience). My grandparents’ plan is to drive 2,000 miles west, all the way from Euclid, Ohio, to Lewiston, Ida- ho, in seven days. That’s where my momma’s waiting for me. GRAM (to GRAMPS). Two thousand miles. That’s a heck of ahaul, Are you sure we can make it in seven days? GRAMPS. Don’t make the girl nervous. We’ve got plenty of time. Heck, I expect we'll even take in a few sights along the way. (SAL descends the tree and continues speaking to the au- dience,) SAL (to audience). While we drive, I pray to the trees. I pray the same thing over and over. “Please don’t let us get in an accident. Please let us get there by Momma’s birthday.” (The breeze returns, Hurry. Hurry. Hurry ... Rush, Rush, Rush ... )‘Walk Two Moons il SAL (cont'd, to audience). I pray to the trees because it’s eas- ier than praying directly to God. There’s nearly always a tree nearby. (Awkward pause. The breeze subsides.) GRAM. Why don’t you tell her how we’re going? GRAMPS, Well, first, we'll follow the turnpike which gets us through Ohio, Indiana and Illinois. (Pronounces it “Tl-uh- no-ways.”) SAL (to audience). Momma left us a little over a year ago. GRAMPS. Then we’ll get up into Wisconsin, barrel straight across to Minnesota, through South Dakota and Wyoming — SAL (to audience). Didn’t even say goodbye. GRAMPS, Sweep up into Montana, crossing the Rocky Mountains into Idaho! SAL (to audience). Just left me a letter. (SUGAR appears—dreamlike—in yet another space. She is carrying a small suitcase.) SUGAR. Dear Sal, It'd sound too permanent if I had to say this out loud, so I’m writing it down instead. I’m going away for a little while. Not forever. Jus long enough to sort some things out. Ineed you to stay here and be brave. Your daddy needs you more than ever. Tl think of you every minute and I’ll write you the entire time I'm away. Ill be back before the tulips bloom. 1 promise. Love, Momma. (The memory of SUGAR fades.) SAL (to audience). The tulips bloomed but she never came back, She’s still in Lewiston. And now I’m stuck in a car with my grandparents traveling halfway across the country to go see her on her birthday.12 Walk ‘Two Moons GRAMBS. Didn’t I teli you? We’ll see the whole ding-dong country! SAL (to audience). I'm secretly holding out hope I can bring her back home. If there’s any chance of that happening at all, it'll be on her birthday. But I can’t tell that to Gram and Gramps. If say it aloud to either of them, they'll say 1 might as well try to catch a fish in the air. (SAL joins GRAM and GRAMPS by taking the back seat in the car) GRAM. Salamanca Tree Hiddle. You haven’t said more than two words since we hit the road. It’s going to be an awfully long trip with you giving us the silent treatment. SAL. Sorry, Gram. GRAMPS. We got a long ride ahead of us, chickabiddy. Why don’t you entertain us? SAL. What sort of thing did you have in mind? GRAMPS. How about a story? Spin us a yarn. GRAM, Something about your momma, perhaps? SAL (putting the letter away). Oh, I don’t think so. GRAMPS. Well then, what about your friends? You got any tales to tell about them? (PHOEBE—also a girl of 13, with huge eyes and curly yel- low hair—enters a parallel exterior space under the cover of moonlight.) PHOEBE. Psst. Psst. Sal! SAL. I guess there is one person I can tell you about. GRAMPS. Oh, I knew she was holding out on us. PHOEBE. Sal, come quick. SAL. But I must warn you. It’s an extensively strange story about a girl with the wildest imagination.Walk Two Moons 13 GRAM. That sounds delicious! SAL. Her name is Phoebe Winterbottom. PHOEBE. Here it is. SAL. She was the first friend I made when Daddy and I moved from Bybanks to Euclid after Momma left. (SAL exits the car and enters the space with PHOEBE.) PHOEBE. This is where he’s buried. I’m sure of it. SAL. Phoebe, I don’t think we should be back here. Aren’t ‘we trespassing? PHOEBE. Don’t worry. I told you, she’s gone to work. She won’t be back for hours. SAL. I don’t have a good feeling about this. PHOEBE, Of course you don’t. You’re standing on an un- marked grave in my neighbor’s yard in the middle of the night. It’s creepy. Poor guy. What a way to go. SAL. What do you mean? How did he go? PHOEBE. A hatchet to the head, maybe. Or maybe rat poison. in his breakfast. I’m not exactly sure. But it doesn’t matter. The point is he was murdered, Maybe she hired an assassin who hid in their garage until they were asleep and then— (Shift. The car;) GRAMPS. Hold the phone. You said this would be a strange story. But you didn’t say anything about gruesome. GRAM. Oh, I thought it was just getting good. Very suspenseful. GRAMPS, I’m just warning her. You know I get queasy at the sight of blood. GRAM. Don’t be such a sissy. It’s only a story. Evidently, chickabiddy, you inherited your nerve from your mother’s side of the family. SAL (to audience). 1’m not sure what Gram means by nerve. There were lots of things I wanted to believe I'd inherited14 ‘Walk Two Moons from Momma, but nerve wasn’t one of them. It took some nerve to leave her husband and daughter. If took some nerve to find a spot 2,000 miles away. It took some nerve not to come back. GRAM. Would it help if I held your hand so you don’t get scared? GRAMPS (smiling). Why, yes. I think it would. SAL (to GRAM and GRAMPS). Maybe I should start back at the beginning. Back before things got so mysterious, GRAM. All right, chickabiddy, keep telling. We're all cars. SAL. Thad to start a new school when Daddy and I moved to Ohio. And as a farm girl from Kentucky, I stuck out like a pickle in apea patch. (Shift. Interior. The classroom. As SAL transitions from the car into the classroom, she finds a Spider in need of assis- tance. She cradles it in her bare hands and escorts it to the “window” where she sets it free.) MARY LOU. Alpha and omega! Did you see that?! SAL (to GRAM and GRAMPS). | didn’t try to be different but it didn’t seem to matter. BEN. That was unbelievable. Did you really do that? SAL (to GRAM and GRAMPS). Phoebe had a particular idea about me right from the start, And, to tell you the truth, I Was so surprised you could have knocked me over with a chicken feather, PHOEBE. Sal, you are so brave. SAL. Me? I’m definitely not brave, PHOEBE. You are. You are brave, (UR. BIRKWAY enters.) MR. BIRKWAY. All tight, scholars, Please settle down,‘Walk Two Moons 15 PHOEBE. That took real courage. I never could have done what you did. MR. BIRKWAY. Let us thank our newest student, Miss ... SAL. Salamanca Hiddle. MARY LOU. Sala-what? ” SAL. Salamanca, You can call me Sal. MR. BIRKWAY. Well, thank you, Sal, for eradicating our classroom of that ferocious arachnid. SAL. It was no big deal. Really. BEN. But you picked it up like you were cradling a baby kit- ten or something. Who does that? MARY LOU. Not me! PHOEBE. Didn’t I tell you? Brave. SAL (to audience). There are plenty of things to be scared of in this world. I’m terrified of car accidents, death, cancer, brain tumors, nuclear war and pregnant women. But being a country girl, I’m not aftaid of snakes, wasps or spiders. MR, BIRKWAY, Thank you, Sal, for showing some restraint and escorting our eight-legged friend to the open window. Now, scholars, before we part ways for the afternoon, I'd. like you to locate your summer journals so I may collect them and read them, PHOEBE. Read them?! But I thought you said they were private. If ’d-a known you were going to collect them, I would have changed all the names to protect the innocent. BEN. Innocent?! MR. BIRKWAY. Fear not, Miss Winterbottom. I’ve no doubt your pages are filled with brilliant ideas and observations. MARY LOU (reluctantly handing over a stack of journals). 1 don’t even remember what I wrote. MR. BIRKWAY. I’m sure you're just being modest, Miss Finney. (The sound of the school beil.)16 Walk Two Moons BEN. See you tomorrow, Sal. (BEN hands over his journal to MR, BIRKWAY and exits.) MR. BIRKWAY. Thank you, Ben. As for you, Miss Hiddle— SAL. I’m new. MR. BIRKWAY. Ah, new! How blessed. There’s nothing in this whole wide world that is better than a new person! SAL. So I didn’t know about the journals— MR. BIRKWAY. Not to worry! Not to worry! What shall we do? A-ha! (MR. BIRKWAY hands SAL a blank journal.) MR. BIRKWAY (cont'd). You'll record a mini journal! SAL. A what? MR. BIRKWAY. Come now, Sal. You strike me as a bright young lady. Just fill this up with whatever interests you, A. Place, a room, a person—don’t worry about it too much. And I'll collect it in two weeks. Good? Fantastic! I will see you both tomorrow. (MR, BIRKWAY exits.) PHOEBE. I wish he wasn’t going to read my journal. It’s not for the faint of heart. SAL. What do you mean? PHOEBE. Can you keep a secret? SAL. Sure. PHOEBE. | live next door to a murderer. (Shift. The car) SAL (to GRAM and GRAMPS). Murderers are definitely on the list of things I’m afraid of. GRAMPS. Of course they are. They’re murderers!Walk Two Moons 7 GRAM. Will you calm dowa, please. She’s trying to tell us a story. GRAMPS. But murderers?! I’m not sure I approve of where this whole enterprise is going. GRAM. What's to approve? She lived to tell us about it, didn’t she? Keep going, Salamanca. You’re on a roll. Don’t let this old geezer distract you. You’re telling a mighty fine story and I, for one, am riveted. Feels almost like I was there. GRAMPS. You always were one for a good story. SAL. Well, funny thing is, before I met Phoebe I never sus- pected anyone of murder. But, when Phoebe Winterbottom is your best friend, the possibility was always right in front of you and as real as your next door neighbor. (Shift. Exterior. MARGARET ’s house. Lights up on MRS. PARTRIDGE sitting in a rocking chair: A thick, gnarled cane with a handle carved in the shape of a cobra’s head lay across her knees, MARGARET can be seen gardening or hanging laundry further upstage. SAL and PHOEBE walk past on their way to PHOEBE’ house next door.) MRS. PARTRIDGE. Sal? Sal? Is that you? PHOEBE (whispering emphatically). Keep walking! MRS. PARTRIDGE. Where you scurrying off to in such a hurry? PHOEBE (still whispering, tugging at SAL). Don’t stop! SAL. It’s only Mrs. Partridge. Come on. MRS: PARTRIDGE. Who’s that with you? SAL. This is Phoebe Winterbottom. Your next door neighbor. MRS. PARTRIDGE. I thought I recognized her footsteps. Margaret? MARGARET (from a distance). Yes, Mother? MRS, PARTRIDGE. Come here and meet our next door neighbor. MARGARET. One minute. I'll be right there. PHOEBE (urgently). Sal, I really think we ought to be going.18 ‘Walk Two Moons MRS. PARTRIDGE. What’s your hurry? You only just got here. I’ve got cookies coming out of the oven any minute— PHOEBE. No thank you. Sal?! MARGARET (approaching). Oh, hi, Sal. I didn’t know you'd be stopping by. PHOEBE (suddenly pulling SAL away from the conversation). OK, well, great seeing you all. Gotta be going now. Right, Sal?! SAL. Uh. We have a lot of homework to get done over at Phoebe’s house, so— MRS. PARTRIDGE. ‘Well, maybe next time, MARGARET. Sce you later this evening, Sal? PHOEBE. Bye-bye! (Lights dim on MRS. PARTRIDGE and. MARGARET, who re- turns to her yard work, as the girls cross to in front of PHOE- BE’ house. They watch MARGARET, “from a safe distance.) PHOEBE (cont'd). Phew! That was close. SAL, It was? PHOEBE. Oh, don’t pretend to act like she doesn’t scare you half to death. SAL. Who? Mrs, Partridge? She’s just a sweet old lady. PHOEBE. No. Not her. The other one, SAL. Oh. Margaret. (As the scene continues, MRS. PARTRIDGE exits and MARGARETS yard work becomes more physical and ag- gressive, She should be lit to emphasize PHOEBE’: imagi- native description.) PHOEBE. Yes. Margaret. You don’t find her the least bit strange? That wild red hair sticking out all over the place? And that last name .... SAL. Cadaver?as ‘Walk Two Moons 19 PHOEBE. Yes. Cadaver. You know what that means, right? | SAL. What? | PHOEBE. It means “dead body,” that’s what! SAL. Really? | PHOEBE. Yes. Really. And guess what she does for a living? SAL, She’s a nurse, I think. PHOEBE. And you don’t think that’s crazy?! That a wom- an whose name means “dead body” could get hired as a nurse? To help sick people?! Sal, it’s like hiring a vampire to work at a blood bank. It’s not natural: (Shivers.) She scares me half to death. I don’t know how you eat over there practically every night. (Exits.) SAL (to audience). 1 probably should have mentioned that Margaret was the reason my father and I left our farm in Bybanks and moved to Euclid in the first place. (JOHN enters upstage with a bouquet of flowers and greets MARGARET) SAL (cont'd, to audience). Shortly after Momma left, Daddy met Margaret. And, in order to be closer to her, we aban- doned my swimming hole, my hayloft and my sugar maple tree. I didn’t soon forgive him for it, (Shift. Bybanks. SAL storms into the scene and MARGA- RET recedes from view) JOHN. Sal, please. SAL. No. I’m not leaving. There’s too many things here that I need. Who’s going to look after the pigs? Or the chickens? Or our maple tree? JOHN. There’s too many memories here, Sal. I don’t think I can survive another month without cracking up. SAL. Then you go on without me. But I’m staying. This is where I belong.20 Walk Two Moons JOHN. Sal, we have to be brave. SAL. Ugh. That’s sounds awfully familiar. JOHN. Your mother is not coming back, Sal. (A beat. JOHN exits.) SAL (to audience). And with that, he put the farm up for rent and moved us 300 miles straight north into a little white birdhouse two blocks away from Margaret Cadaver. He says we'll go back one day but I don’t believe him. The only saving grace? Margaret’s next door neighbor. Phoebe Winterbottom. (Shift: Exterior. PHOEBE's house. PHOEBE re-enters,) PHOEBE. Sal, do you want to know an absolute secret? (SAL nods.) PHOEBE (cont’d). Promise not to tell? SAL. Cross my heart. PHOEBE. Maybe I shouldn’t. I mean, your father goes over there all the time. He likes her, doesn’t he? SAL. God, I hope not, But it doesn’t matter. Because I don’t, I don’t like anything about her, C’mon, Phoebe. Tell me. PHOEBE. All right. Her name is Mrs. Cadaver, tight? Have you ever wondered what happened to Mr. Cadaver? I think I know. And it’s not pretty. Not pretty at all. It’s awful, really. MARGARET (entering opposite, shouting). Sal? (SAL and PHOEBE scream.) SAL. Will you tell me already? MARGARET (shouting across to the girls). Dinner’s about ready if you’d like to join us? PHOEBE. | think she killed Mr, Cadaver and chopped him up and buried him in the backyard.‘Walk Two Moons 21 (PHOEBE exits abruptly, leaving SAL alone. MARGARET waves for her to come over. An awkward silence, Shift. The car) GRAM. You know, I knew somebody like Peeby once. SAL. It’s Phoebe, Gram. GRAM. That’s what I said. Peeby. Only her name was Gloria. Oh, she lived in the wildest, most pepped up world. A scary one, but oh! Scads more interesting than my own. GRAMBPS. Gloria? Is she the one who toid you not to marry me? Is she the one who said I’d be your ruination? GRAM. Shoosh, Gloria was right about that at least. Besides, she only said that because she wanted you for herself. GRAMBS. Well, gol-dang! SAL. Look! The Illinois state line! GRAM. What happened to Indiana? GRAMPS (amused). Why, you gooseberry! You’ve been so busy listening to the story of Peeby, you plumb missed Indi- ana. Don’t you remember Elkhart? We ate Junch in Elkhart. Don’t you remember South Bend? You took a pee in South Bend. Heck, you missed the entire Hoosier state! (The breeze returns. Hurry. Hurry. Hurry ... Rush. Rush. Rush ... ) SAL. Do you think we’ll see Lake Michigan? GRAMPS. Don’t see how we can miss it. It’s dam near big as an ocean. (SAL takes out a postcard and reads it to herself: GRAM starts humming “Chicago (That Toddlin’ Town).” SUGAR appears in isolation as before. The breeze subsides.)22 ‘Walk Two Moons SUGAR. Dear Salamanca, T’m not even gone one day and I already miss you so much. Here we are in Chicago, on the shores of the biggest lake I’ve ever seen in my life. It looks like a giant blue pasture. The water’s the color of the bluebells that grow behind the barn. I’ve met some real nice folks on the bus already. We’ve got a Jong haul yet so I sure hope they don’t get bored of hearing all about you. Kiss your daddy for me! Love, Momma. (SUGAR disappears. There is the loud sound of a big rig horn passing the car, Everyone leans to indicate the swerve of the car) GRAMPS. Everybody OK? GRAM. What in blazes are you doing over there?! GRAMPS. Oh, these big trucks don’t know how to share the road, SAL. Gramps, please be careful. GRAM. Maybe we oughtta [et Sal take over, GRAMPS. What do you’ mean? GRAM. Oh, don’t act like you haven’t been teaching her how to drive since she was big enough to touch the pedals. GRAMPS. You know about that? GRAM. Of course I know about that. You both kick up enough dust around that farm, sooner or later you’re bound to call attention to yourselves. GRAMPS. Well, those were country roads, These here inter- States are serious business. Don’t get me wrong, chickabid- dy. You can handle yourself with the best of ’em. But I still got plenty of gas in the tank. Don’t you worry. GRAM. Your blinker’s on. (GRAMPS grumpily turns off the blinker,) GRAM (cont'd). Keep telling about Peeby, chickabiddy.Walk Two Moons 23 SAL. Well, it seemed like I was over at Phoebe’s house al- most every day. After school to do homework; On weekends. for sleepovers. Daddy thought it was great that ’d made a friend. And I was relieved I had somewhere to go when I didn’t want to see him and Margaret smiling at each other, (Shift. Interior. The Winterbottom kitchen. MRS, WINTER- BOTIOM—a modestly dressed woman in a brown skirt, white blouse and sensible shoes—sits at her kitchen table reading a piece of paper: She has been crying.) PHOEBE (yelling from off). MO-OM. I’M HO-OME. (MRS. WINTERBOTTOM quickly composes herself.) PHOEBE (cont'd, entering, completely exasperated). Will you look at this?! MRS. WINTERBOTTOM. What’s the matter? PHOEBE. Just look at this skirt! It’s completely ruined! MRS. WINTERBOTTOM. What happened? PHOEBE. It caught the corner of a table at lunch and ripped. My favorite skirt! Now I'll never be able to wear it again! MRS. WINTERBOTTOM. It’s all right. Calm down, Let me get my sewing kit. (Exits.) SAL. Phoebe, is your mom OK? PHOEBE (completely recovered). Sure, why? SAL. It looked like she was crying. PHOEBE. What, that?! I wouldn’t worry about it. SAL. Really? PHOEBE. Yeah. 1 mean, who doesn’t cry at least once a day about something? I just ask her to do stuff for me and that usually seems to pep her up. It’s really no big deal. What’s this? (Reading the piece of paper her mother has lefi on the table.) “Don’t judge a man until you’ve walked two moons in his moccasins.” That’s strange.24 Walk Two Moons SAL. I think it’s an old Indian proverb. I’ve heard my dad use ita-bunch, (MRS. WINTERBOTTOM re-enters with her sewing kit.) MRS. WINTERBOTTOM. Oh! Hello, Sai. I didn’t realize you were here too. SAL. Hi. MRS. WINTERBOTTOM. All right, let me have a look at that skirt. PHOEBE (indicating the note). What’s this? MRS. WINTERBOTTOM. Oh, I don’t know. Something I found on the porch this afternoon. It’s probably nothing. PHOEBE. That's weird. It doesn’t say who it’s from? MRS. WINTERBOTTOM. No. It was in a blank envelope sitting on the top step. PHOEBE. Why would someone leave us an anonymous message? MRS. WINTERBOTTOM (exploding). Phosbe, I told you. 1 don’t know! Now stand still so I can finish mending this skirt! PHOEBE. What are you yelling at me for?! I thought it was just a note. MRS. WINTERBOTTOM (composing herself). You're right. It’s just a note. It doesn’t mean anything. (Takes a deep breath.) Why don’t we have a treat to take our minds off it. What do you say? I just finished baking a blackberry pie. That sound good to you, Sal? SAL. Blackberries? MRS. WINTERBOTTOM. Don’t you like blackberries? SAL. No, I mean, yes. I like blackberries, It’s just that— PHOEBE. What? SAL. I think I have some allergies.Walk Two Moons 25 PHOEBE. Allergies?! (Shivers.) Ich. I’m so glad I don’t have allergies. Do you get hives? Do your ears get real big? Mary Lou says that eating avocados makes her tongue get fat. Gross. But I’ve never heard of a blackberry allergy before. SAL. It’s nothing, really. Pll pick them out or something. PHOEBE. Well, it’s too bad because my. mother bakes the most delicious pies. MRS. WINTERBOTTOM. Why, thank you, Phoebe. SAL (to audience). The truth is that blackberries remind me of my mother, That night, as I was filling up that mini journal Mr. Birkway assigned me, I made a list of all the things like and they were all things from Bybanks. The trees, The cows. Chickens and pigs. The fields. The swimming hole. But no matter what I wrote, | ended up thinking of my mother. (Shift. Exterior. Bybanks. In memory, SUGAR glides into the space with great excitement. She is visibly pregnant but light on her feet. She plucks a blackberry from astray bush and pops it into her mouth. Then, looking all around her to see ifanyone is watching, she takes several quick steps up to the trunk of the tree at C, throws her arms around it and kisses it soundly. As if in response to the kiss, a bird warbles from the top of the tree. SUGAR returns to the blackberry bush, delighted.) SUGAR. Sal, over here! I found another blackberry bush. They’re perfect. Come, quick. SAL (entering the memory, running). Wait up, Momma! SUGAR (picking). Now, remember. The ones on the bottom are for the rabbits and the ones at the top are for the birds. SAL (joining in the task). And the ones that are people height are for people. SUGAR. Exactly right. SAL. Why'd you kiss that tree, Momma? SUGAR. You caught me, did you?26 Walk Two Moons SAL. Uh huh. SUGAR. Oh, I guess I just couldn’t help myself. It is such a beautiful tree, isn’t it? SAL. Uh huh. Do you think she feit it, Momma? SUGAR. I sure hope so or I'd say I just wasted a perfectly good kiss. (SUGAR kisses SAL playfully. They sit, enjoying each oth- ers company.) SAL. Tell me the story of the tree again, Momma. SUGAR. There’s an Indian legend that the earliest people came from the trees. That there once was a god who was very lonely because he was all by himself. But one day he noticed that trees resembled people with their slender trunks and branches that danced gracefully in.the wind. So he took his bow and shot an arrow into an ash tree and where the arrow went in, a person stepped out. SAL. Did I come from a tree, Momma? SUGAR. Your middle name is Tree, so I suppose you did. SAL. You know so many good stories, Momma. (The bird in the tree warbles again.) SUGAR. Hey, Sal. Listen. Do you hear that? (Another bit of birdsong.) SAL. You mean that bird? SUGAR. Is that a bird? (They listen again and the song continues.) SUGAR (cont'd). | think it might be the tree singing. SAL. You mean like the person inside the tree is singing? SUGAR. Mm hmm.‘Walk Two Moons 27 * SAL. J don’t know. It sounds just like a bird. I think it’s a bird, Momma. SUGAR. All right. If you say so. (Gets up to go. In awe.) But maybe ... Just maybe that tree is singing. (SUGAR kisses SAL on the forehead and exits, SAL doesn't know what to believe.) SAL. Do you really think it’s a singing tree, Momma’? It sounds just like a songbird. I’m gonna wait here and see. I’m gonna find it, Momma. If it’s a bird, I’m gonna find it, (Lights fade on the memory as SAL steps out of it.) SAL (cont'd). I sat under that tree for what felt like hours look- ing for that bird. I never did find it. But when I looked up at where Momma’s mouth must have touched that tree, I could swear I saw a small dark stain. A blackberry kiss. (Shift. The car.) GRAMPS. Now just who'd be leaving an anonymous mes- sage for Mrs. Winterbottom to find? SAL, We weren’t exactly sure at first. But I could tell that Phoebe and her mom were both uneasy about it. The next day, Mrs, Winterbottom went grocery shopping and left us alone with strict instructions to keep the doors and win- dows locked, not to answer the door for anyone and to call the police if we heard any strange noises. GRAMPS. Sounds like she’s fearful of an invasion. (Shift. Interior. The Winterbottom living room. The girls sit idly, A beat.) PHOEBE. I’m bored. Let’s go to Mary Lou’s house. SAL. Is that OK with your mom? I thought she said we had to stay here,28 ‘Walk Two Moons PHOEBE. Oh, it'll be fine. We just need to check the locks on the windows and doors before we go. SAL, Didn’t we just watch her do that before she left? PHOEBE. You can never be too careful, Sal, It’s a dangerous world we live in and my mother always says, you can nev- er be too careful. Honestly, you can be so naive sometimes, SAL. Will Ben be there? PHOEBE. At Mary Lou’s? Ugh. Probably. Why? (Gasps.) You like him, don’t you? SAL. What? Me? No, PHOEBE. You do! You like him! SAL. Really, Phoebe. I don’t— PHOEBE. Of course! It makes perfect sense! 1 mean, he’s constantly stating at you. SAL. Is he? PHOEBE. Oh, don’t act like you don’t know what I’m talking about! Yes, he is. Endlessly, SAL. Are you jealous? PHOEBE. Ich. Gross, no. (The doorbell rings.) PHOEBE (cont'd). What was that?! SAL. Wasn’t that your doorbell? PHOEBE. Shhbhh! (Tipioes to a window and peers cautious Jy through a curtain.) SAL (whispering). Who is it? (PHOEBE shrugs. The doorbell rings again.) SAL (cont'd). Well, aren’t you gonna answer it? PHOEBE. You heard my mother. I’m not to answer the door. SAL. Why? PHOEBE. It could be an escaped Lunatic, that’s why!Walk Two Moons 29 (There is a strong knock.) SAL. Oh, honestly, Phoebe. Do you want me to answer it? PHOEBE (shakes her head and takes a deep breath). We'll do it together. (PHOEBE and SAL move to the door and open it a crack.) PHOEBE (cont'd, charmingly), Why, bello there. LUNATIC. Is this 49 Gray Street? PHOEBE. Indeed it is. LUNATIC. So the Winterbottoms live here? PHOEBE. Who’s calling? LUNATIC. I want to see Mrs. Winterbottom, Is she here or what? PHOEBE. Won’t you excuse me a moment? (Closes the door.) Sal, do you detect any signs of lunacy? There doesn’t ap- pear to be any place he could be hiding a gun. His jeans are teally tight. Maybe he has a knife tucked into his socks. SAL. He isn’t wearing any socks. PHOEBE. He isn’t? (The LUNATIC knocks on the door again. PHOEBE opens the door again.) PHOEBE (cont'd). She can’t come to the door right now. LUNATIC. I'll wait. PHOEBE. Just a minute. (Closes the door again.) SAL. What do we do? PHOEBE. We can’t let him know we're alone..Do what | do. MOOOOOM! THERE’S SOMEONE AT THE DOOR FOR YOUUUUU. (PHOEBE begins clomping around the living room with very heavy footsteps. She encourages SAL to join her)30 ‘Walk Two Moons PHOEBE (cont'd). YOO-HOO! MOOOOOOM! SAL. MRS. WINTERBOTTOM? PHOEBE. MOTHER! (They continue to clomp around for a few moments, start- ing to find the whole thing very funny. They compose them- selves and PHOEBE opens the door) PHOEBE (cont'd). That’s strange. I thought she was here. But she must have gone out, There are a whole bunch of other people here though. Scads and scads of people. But no Mrs. Winterbottom. LUNATIC. Is Mrs. Winterbottom your mother? PHOEBE. Mm hmm. LUNATIC. What’s your name? PHOEBE. Phoebe. LUNATIC. Phoebe Winterbottom, PHOEBE (smiling obnoxiously). That’s right: Would you like me to leave.a message? LUNATIC. No. I don’t think so. (The LUNATIC leaves. PHOEBE shuts the door) PHOEBE. Whew, that was close! SAL. Who do you think he was? PHOEBE. Does it matter, Sal?! Shouldn’t we just count our- selves lucky. to be alive?! I mean, honestly. He was about to ambush us, SAL. Don’t be ridiculous, Phoebe. PHOEBE. Who’s being ridiculous? You hear about things like that happening all the time on the news. Two innocent girls, home alone and minding their own business, am- bushed by a Lunatic escaped from the local prison. SAL. He couldn’t have been more than 16 years old.= Walk Two Moons 31 PHOEBE. Don’tbe naive, Sal. He’s probably a master of disguise. SAL. I swear, you have the miost vivid imagination of anyone T’ve ever met, PHOEBE. Thank you. (Shifi. The car.) GRAM. A Lunatic. Can you imagine? Sounds perfectly terri- fying, Were you scared? SAL. Well, not at first. Besides, Phoebe was convinced I was brave and I didn’t want her to think I wasn’t. GRAMPS. Sal, you are the only girl I know who would spend. aweek traveling halfway across the country alone in a car with two old fogeys. You are brave! SAL. Thanks, Gramps. GRAM. Did you ever find out who he was? SAL. Not right away. When Mrs. Winterbottom came home, Phoebe told her what had happened and she got very upset. GRAMPS. Well, who wouldn’t be upset by the idea ofa Lunatic?! SAL. She wanted to know exactly what he had said and. what Phoebe had said and what he looked like and how he acted and how Phoebe acted and on and on, And then she told Phoe- be not to mention it to her father for fear of upsetting him. GRAM. What did Peeby say? SAL. She said that it was odd for her mom to keep a secret from her dad. GRAM. I feel a little sorry for Mrs, Winterbottom. She doesn’t sound very happy. SAL. You don’t know the half of it, Gram. Two days later, Phoebe revealed some very disturbing news. (Shift. School.) PHOEBE. Sal, I have to tell you something and you must promise not to tell a soul.32 ‘Walk Two Moons SAL. Phoebe, must everything be a secret? PHOEBE. Don’t joke, Sal. This time it’s serious. Promise. SAL. OK! I promise. PHOEBE. My mother has disappeared. SAL. What? What do you mean? PHOEBE. Yesterday, I came home from school and the house was empty which is strange since she usually waits for me to come home before she goes out because she wants to make sure I’m safe and she has to remind me to lock the doors and the windows and— SAL. Slow down, Phoebe. It’s all right, PHOEBE (taking a deep breath). There were two notes on the table. One for me and one for my father. (Hands SAL a piece of paper.) | opened mine, SAL. “Keep all the doors locked and call your father if you need anything. I love you. Mom.” Phoebe— PHOEBE. I know, F know. Totally normal, right? In fact, I thought, “it’s about time!” She finally realizes I’m old enough to be here by myself. But then my father came home and opened his note, SAL (cautiously). And? PHOEBE (pulls out a second note and reads). “T had to go away. I can’t explain. 1'll call you in a few days,” SAL. Oh, no. PHOEBE. What? It’s bad, right? I mean, where would she g0? A few days? And why couldn’t she explain? SAL. What did your father say? PHOEBE. Absolutely nothing, if you can believe it, SAL. Nothing at all? PHOEBE. He just took off his coat and hat and said, “Let’s cat.” Like it was any other day. Sal, I think she was kid- napped or something. Maybe it was the Lunatic, I think the Lunatic came back and dragged her off —‘Walk Two Moons 33 SAL. Really? PHOEBE. Yes! Really! It’s the only thing that makes sense. SAL, Would a Lunatic allow her to sit down and write you notes? PHOEBE. You sound just like my father. “Let's cat.” Like it was normal. Like it was no big deal. SAL, I’m sure he’s worried, Phoebe. Maybe he just doesn’t want you to worry. PHOEBE. How can I not worry? My mother has vanished! SAL. Phoebe, I’m so sorry. PHOEBE. Sal, you can’t tell anyone. Please promise you won't teil anyone! SAL. OK. I promise. (PHOEBE exits.) SAL (cont'd, 10 GRAM and GRAMPS). | did tell one person. (Shift. Interior. SAL’ house. JOHN is sitting looking at a photo album. SAL sits next to him.) JOHN. Will you look at these? Where does the time go? I think you were only 4 or 5 in this one. SAL. Dad? JOHN. And here’s another one of you and your mother. SAL. Dad. Phoebe’s mother went away. JOHN. Oh, no. SAL. That’s what I said. JOHN. What happened? SAL. She left some notes. She says she’s coming back, but I don’t believe it, JOHN. People usually come back, Sal. SAL. Momma didn’t come back. JOHN. No. She didn’t.34 Walk Two Moons SAL. How do you know that someone didn’t make Mom go to Idaho? Maybe it was blackmail— JOHN. Sal, your mother went because she wanted to go. SAL. You should have stopped her. JOHN. A person isn’t a bird, Sal. You can’t cage a person, SAL. She shouldn’t have gone. If she hadn’t gone— JOHN. Sal, I’m sure she intended to come back. SAL. Then why didn’t she? JOHN. You can’t predict—A person can’t foresee—What happened took us all by Surprise, Sal. People usually come back. (Exits,) SAL (yelling after him). Momma didn’t come back, (A beat.) SAL (cont'd, to GRAM and. GRAMPS). wasn’t so sure about Mrs. Winterbottom either, Phoebe asked me to spend the night at her house but we barely slept. (Shift. PHOEBE® bedroom.) PHOEBE. Did you hear that? SAL. What? PHOEBE. That noise, Do you think it’s the Lunatic coming back for the rest of us? SAL. Phoebe, I really don’t think — PHOEBE (at her window). Sal, look! It’s Margaret Cadaver, What's she doing nosing around in her garden at this hour?! (MARGARET enters with a Flashlight looking for some- thing.) PHOEBE (cont'd). I bet she’s hiding something. SAL, But it’s after midnight.| Walk Two Moons 35 PHOEBE. Exactly! When unsuspecting eyes are busy sleep- ing she’s out there making sure Mr. Cadaver’s bones hav- en’t been dug up by stray dogs. | SAL. Phoebe, there are no stray dogs in this neighborhood. Can ‘we go to sleep now? We still have class tomorrow, you know. PHOEBE. Sure, Sal. Of course. Why not? Go to sleep. Shut i your eyes, Sweet dreams. And when that Lunatic comes back to do his worst to the rest of us, you had better re- member that I was the one who was paying attention. SAL. Whatever you say. PHOEBE. You’il thank me for waking you up before it’s too late. SAL, Good night, Phoebe. i} (Shift. Exterior Roadside. GRAM and GRAMPS enter, giddy as children, and stop under the tree to drop a layer of clothing.) GRAMBS. Woo, boy! C’mon, gooseberry. Last one in’s a rot- ten egg. GRAM. If I knew we’d be swimming, I’d-a dressed the part. GRAMPS. What're you worried about? Nobody’s taking pic- i tures, Now, shake a leg. (GRAMPS and GRAM race offstage in their skivvies. We hear the sound of them splashing in the water and laughing. SAL crosses into the scene, stays by the tree and watches them. The breeze returns. Hurry. Hurry. Hurry ... Rush. Rush. Rush ...) GRAM (off). It’s hotter than blazes out here, chickabiddy, Come on in. It’s delicious! Huzza huzza! GRAMPS (off). Hey! Watch where you’re splashing! GRAM (off). Oh, don’t be’ such a baby!36 ‘Walk Two Moons (SAL pulls out one of her postcards and reads it to herself, SUGAR appears in isolation as before. The breeze subsides.) SUGAR (appearing in an isolated space). Dear Sal, I’m standing on the shore of the Mississippi River. It’s amazing how something so big could be so quiet. Remem- ber when we would lay in bed, snuggled close, and pretend we were on a raft floating down a river? I sure wish you. were here with me now. We’d wander up and down the tiver bank looking for objects to tie together and keep our fingers crossed they’d float. If that didn’t work, I bet we could stow away on a big barge all the way down to New Orleans. If we timed it tight, we could catch Mardi Gras and you, Salamanca, would be the queen of the parade. (A BOY enters, barefoot and rugged. He holds a long bowie knife, its sheath fastened to his belt. SAL is startled out of her memory.) BOY. This here’s private Property. SAL. What? BOY. This land where I’m standing is private property. (The BOY begins rummaging through GRAMP ’ pants.) GRAMPS (off). Everything OK up there, chickabiddy? SAL. He says we’re trespassing. GRAMPS (off). Are we? I didn’t see any signs. BOY. Well, you are, SAL. Isn’t this a river? I never heard of a river being private Property. (The BOY ignores her)tT TTT I Walk Two Moons GRAMPS (entering). Not sure what you're looking for there, but I’m guessing you won’t find it. (The BOY, now holding GRAMPS' wallet in addition to the GRAM (off). OW! GRAMPS (turning). You OK, gooseberry? large knife, stares down GRAMPS who stops in his tracks.) i GRAM (off). It’s a water moccasin, I do believe it has made a snack of my leg. (GRAMPS immediately runs off, scoops up GRAM ‘and car- ries her back to a spot near their clothes underneath the tree.) | GRAMBPS. Would you give me a hand here, chickabiddy? ' can lay GRAM down.) i you have that knife. (The BOY reluctantly hands over the knife.) gooseberry. I hope you won’t hold it against me. GRAM. Hold my hand, Sal? gins to suck out the poison as GRAM groans in pain, ) SAL. Is she gonna be OK, Gramps? GRAMPS. Hard to say, chickabiddy. BOY. I know of a hospital not too far away. spitting while I drive. Can you do that? (SAL moves some of their things out of the way so GRAMPS I GRAMPS (cont'd, reaching out to the BOY). I’m sure glad GRAMPS (cont'd). Thank you. This may not feel good, (SAL does, GRAMPS makes a slit in GRAMS leg and be- GRAMPS. Well, what are we waiting for? Sal, grab our things. Young man, you’ll have to continue the sucking and38 Walk Two Moons (The BOY nods.) GRAMPS (cont'd). All right then. Let’s get moving. (GRAMPS and the BOY carry GRAM offstage. SAL watch. es them exit. The breeze returns, ‘Slow down ... Slow down ... Slow down ... ) SAL (to audience). Not now. Not here. This wasn’t Supposed to happen. Not after we've come this far. It’s not fair. It’s not. fair! (Slow down... Slow down .., Slow down ... } SAL (cont'd, to audience). This wasn’t Supposed to happen. And in a perfect world, it wouldn't, But it’s not a perfect world, Daddy says you can’t always predict. That you may as well try and catch a fish in the air. It doesn’t mean f still can’t blame something. Or someone. Even if that someone is me. (The breeze subsides.) SAL (cont'd, to audience). A couple of months before Mom- ma left for Idaho, something bad happened that wasn’t sup- posed to. Daddy insists it wasn’t my fault. But I still don’t believe him, (Shift. Interior: Bybanks, JOHN and SUGAR appear in memory. She is scrubbing the kitchen floor with a brush and bucket. She is also nine months pregnant, SAL watches Jéom a distance.) JOHN. Sugar, I wish you'd listen to reason and stop working so hard. You're liable to hurt yourself,I Walk Two Moons 39 SUGAR. Scrubbing the floors makes my back feel better. JOHN. Can’t Sal help you? SUGAR. Leave her alone. Let her enjoy herself while she L still can. Lord knows, once this baby comes she’ll have plenty to do around here. (Stops to catch her breath.) JOHN. Sugar— SUGAR. Stop worrying. I’m nearly done. You better go run your errand before this baby comes. JOHN (bending down to give her a kiss.). Don’t joke. V'll be back before you can get up off the floor. (JOHN exits. Lights fade on SUGAR as SAL begins to climb the tree.) SAL (to audience). When my mother first told me she was pregnant, I didn’t like the idea. I was jealous. What was wrong with having just me? Wasn't I enough? Momma knew this but she was patient with me. And as that baby grew inside her, I started looking forward to seeing her. We didn’t know if it was a boy or a girl but I started hoping for a little sister. And then everything changed. (There is the very loud *snap* ofa branch breaking, During the following monologue, SAL should narrate as we watch her fall from the tree.) SAL (cont’d, to audience). Vl never forget that sound. The moment it pierced the air, I was helpless. It felt like I was falling in slow motion, watching every branch that 1 reached for just come away in my hands. I don’t remember hitting the ground. When I came to— SUGAR (off). Sal? SAL (to audience). Sharp needles shot up and down my leg. SUGAR (off). Salamanca? SAL (to audience). It was getting darker and I heard my mother calling in the distance.40 Walk Two Moons (SUGAR enters and approaches SAL. In an extended, styl- ized moment, SUGAR mimes cradling SAL in her arms, lift- ing her and carrying her across the stage to the kitchen, SAL steps out of the action and watches, ) SAL (cont'd, to audience). There was no one else in the world I wanted more in that moment than my momma. She’d come to save me. But even as I let her lift me off the ground, as my weight caused her to strain aad lose balance, I think deep down I knew this effort would be too much for her, COHN enters opposite SUGAR, takes SAL and mimes plac- ing her in achair, Suddenly SUGAR falters, JOHN immedi- ately cradles SUGAR and. carries her to bed.) JOHN (to SAL). Something’s wrong, swaddled bundle but his ' face is solemn.) DOCTOR (to JOHN). It might have been dead for hours. ¥ just can’t say exactly. SUGAR (unseen, to DOCTOR). Let me hold it. JOHN (going to her). Oh, Sugar. SUGAR (unseen), What are you waiting for? Let me hold my baby. JOUN (unseen). Sugar, it didn’t make it DOCTOR. ?’m sorry. (Turns to leave.) SUGAR (panicked). John? John, where’s he taking her? Where’s he taking my baby? JOHN. Sugar, I wish—I wish—- SAL (to DOCTOR). Was it a boy ora girl? DOCTOR (solemnly). A girl.voor ‘Walk Two Moons 41 SAL. May I hold her? DOCTOR. I don’t think that’s a good idea. (Exits with the bundle.) SAL (to audience). That night an ambulance came and took Momma to the hospital. She had to have two operations over the next two days. She was never the same after that. 1 want- ed so badly to make her feel better. To tell her a story like she’d done for me so many times when I was sad. My moth- er knew so many stories. Especially Indian stories. She knew about thunder gods, earth-makers, wise crows ... Her favor- ite stories were about people who came back after death, as a bird or a river or a horse. She even knew one about an old warrior who came back as a potato. That night when she lost the baby, I wondered what the baby might come back as. A bird ... A tree ... Momma was never the same after that. And every day since then I have wondered, if I hadn’t-a climbed that tree, would she have lost that baby? And if she hadn’t-a Jost that baby, would she have got on that bus for Lewiston? (Shift. Interior. Hospital waiting room. BOY enters, startles SAL out of her memory.) BOY. The doctors say your grandma’s doing much better now. SAL. What do you care? BOY. I just thought you’d like to know, is all. SAL. Yeah, well, if you hadn’t-a snuck up on us, who knows if we'd even be here, BOY. I’m sorry she got bit like that. But I don’t know if that had anything to do with me. These things just happen sometimes. Here. (The BOY hands SAL the wallet he’s kept from earlier.) BOY (cont'd). It wasn’t really private property. I am sorry that snake came along.42 ‘Walk Two Moons (The BOY exits. GRAMPS enters with GRAMin awheelchair) GRAM. You push this thing like you drive and I’m liable to end up right back in the hospital. GRAMPS. I guess this cantankerous woman is getting out of here. GRAM. And how’s my chickabiddy this morning? You sleep any better than I did? SAL. I'm OK, Gram. How are you feeling? GRAM. Piddies. GRAMPS. You about ready to hit the road, chickabiddy? SAL. I guess so. (SAL hands GRAMPS his wallet.) GRAMPS, Well, will you look at that. I wonder if he found what he was looking for? SAL. Do you think we should call Daddy? Tell him what hap- pened? GRAMPS. Well; now, chickabiddy. I thought about that, but it’s only going to make him worry. Do you think we could wait until we get to Idaho? (SAL nods. We hear a familiar birdsong coming from the top of the tree at C.) GRAMPS (cont’d). Hey, Sal. A singing tree! That’s a good sign, don’t you think? ° SAL (nodding). I’m glad you’re well enough to get back on the road, Gram. GRAM. Me too. Huzza, huzza! Now let's roll. I gotta know what happened next with Peeby. . SAL. Well, the morning after Phoebe’s mother went away, she was as ornery as a donkey.—re ‘Walk Two Moons 43 (Shift. Interior. The Winterbottom living room. PHOEBE enters exasperated.) PHOEBE. What am I going to tell everyone at school today? SAL. You don’t have to tell anyone anything. PHOEBE. Oh, don’t be ridiculous, Sal. As soon as they see my wrinkled blouse, theyll know something’s wrong. SAL. Really? Who? PHOEBE. Megan. Christy. Mary Lou Finney! SAL. Just say your mom went on a business trip. PHOEBE. Oh, that’ll go over well. What shall 1 say? Lon- don? Tokyo? SAL. It was just a suggestion. PHOEBE (sarcastically). Iknow. How about Saudi Arabia? SAL. Phoebe, stop worrying. PHOEBE. I am not worried. (MR. WINTERBOTIOM enters frantically, trying to tie a necktie at the same time he is putting on shoes.) MR. WINTERBOTTOM (as he enters). Phoebe, we're late. Have you finished breakfast? PHOEBE. Did you call the police? MR. WINTERBOTTOM. No, Phoebe. I did not call the police. I know you’re worried but we have to go on with things. PHOEBE. I’m sick, I have a fever and a stomach ache. MR. WINTERBOTTOM (sighs). I’m afraid you have to go to school. PHOEBE. I’m sick. Honest. It might be cancer. MR. WINTERBOTTOM. That’s nothing to joke about. Now please finish your breakfast so we can get going. We can’t malinger. PHOEBE. We can’t what?44 ‘Walk Two Moons MR. WINTERBOTTOM (handing her a dictionary). Malin- ger. Here. Look it up. (Exits in a frenzy.) PHOEBE. Great. My mother is missing and my father hands me a dictionary. SAL: What's it say? PHOEBE. Malinger. To pretend to be ill in order to escape ‘duty or work. SAL. Maybe you're just really tired. PHOEBE (shouting to her father), LAM NOT MALINGERING! (Shift. School.) SAL (10 GRAM and GRAMPS). That next day on the way to school, Phoebe had what was becoming an all-too-familiar look on her face. PHOEBE. He’s back. SAL. Who? PHOEBE (handing SAL apiece of paper). The Lunatic, That’s who. SAL (reading). “Everyone has his own agenda,” (Shift. Car) GRAM. Lordy! Isn’t that the truth! Isn’t that what it’s all about? SAL. What, Gram? GRAM. Everybody is just walking along concerned with his own problems, his own life, his own worries. And we're all expecting other people to tune into our own agenda. “Look at my worry. Worry with me. Step into my life. Care about my problems. Care about me.” GRAMPS. That snake bite turn you into a philosopher or something? GRAM. You mind your own agenda. Keep telling, Sal. . SAL. Well, Phoebe had definitely sucked me in to her problems. (Shift. School.)‘Walk Two Moons 45 PHOEBE. This isn’t good. SAL. Phoebe, if the Lunatic has already kidnapped your mother, why would he still be leaving messages? PHOEBE. I don’t know, Sal. I don’t pretend to understand the inner workings of a deranged mind? Maybe he’s taunt- ing us. Maybe he wants to get caught. (Looking around.) Maybe he’s watching us. Recording our every move. Wait. Shhh, Did you hear that? SAL. What? PHOEBE. Someone’s coming. (They are frozen with fear.) BEN (grabbing SAL by the shoulder). BOO! (PHOEBE screams.) BEN (cont'd). Did I scare you? PHOEBE. Absolutely not! BEN (to SAL). Don’t people touch each other at your house, Sal? SAL. What’s that supposed to mean? BEN. You flinch every time someone touches you. PHOBBE. Well, you did just scare the living daylights out of us. BEN. So did scare you, Free-Bee Ice-Bottom! PHOEBE (annoyed). Ugh. SAL. Do J really flinch? BEN. Um, yeah. You do. (BEN deliberately takes SAL by the hand and begins “read- ing” her palm. It all she can do to not pull away.) BEN (cont'd, thoughtfully). Hmm. Hmm. SAL. What are you doing? BEN. I’m reading your palm. Hmm. Ub hub.46 Walk Two Moons PHOEBE. Can she have her hand back now? (BEN doesn't let go.) BEN. Hmm. Do you want the good news first or the bad news? SAL. Bad news? How bad? BEN. The bad news is that I can’t teally read palms, (SAL snatches her hand away.) SAL (to PHOEBE). Walk! (SAL and PHOEBE begin walking away. BEN pursues them.) BEN. Don’t you want to know the good news? PHOEBE. No! BEN. How’s your mom, Phocbe? PHOEBE. What?! BEN. How’s she enjoying London? PHOEBE. Uh— SAL. She’s fine. BEN. What sights has she seen? PHOEBE. I—I don’t— SAL. Didn’t you tell me she saw Buckingham Fountain? PHOEBE. Oh, yeah. Right. Buckingham Fountain. BEN. That’s cool, What about your mom, Sal? SAL. Mine? What do you mean? BEN, I just wondered where she is. I’ve never seen her. SAL. Oh. Uh, she’s in Idaho. BEN. What's she doing there? SAL. I don’t really like saying. (BEN touches SAL’ arm again. She finches.) BEN. Ha! Gotcha!8? ‘Walk Two Moons 47 PHOEBE. Benjamin Finney! Must you always have your own agenda?! C’mon, Sal. (PHOEBE exits. BEN follows. Shift. Car.) GRAMPS. You know, one time my father took off for six months and didn’t tell a soul where he-was going. When my best friend asked me where he was, I hauled off and punched him: in the jaw. My best friend. T punched him dang in the jaw. GRAM. You never told me that. I hope he socked you back. GRAMPS (pointing to a gap in his teeth). See that? He knocked my tooth dang out. GRAM. Why do boys always have to be so gol-dang quar- telsome?! Always ready to knock somebody's lights out when they get agitated. GRAMPS. Sometimes the. body just does things before the mind has the time to stop it. SAL. What do you think it means if someone touches someone else and the person being touched flinches? Do you think it means that the person being touched is getting too stiff? (GRAM leans over the back of her seat, takes SAL’ hand and kisses it.) GRAM. Well, riow, See there? You didn’t flinch that time. GRAMPS. Give her one for me, too. (GRAM does.) GRAMPS (cont'd): See? That boy, Ben, doesn’t know what he’s talking about, (GRAM starts coughing.) SAL. You all right, Gram?48 Walk Two Moons GRAM. Just fine. Keep going. (A pause.) GRAM (cont'd). Go on, SAL. Ben followed us back to Phoche’s house where we got the surprise of our lives. (Shift. Exterior. The Winterbottom house.) BEN. Is that Mr, Birkway? (MR. BIRKWAY enters MARGARET ‘yard carrying arhodo- dendron plant. He sees BEN, PHOEBE and SAL and waves, ) SAL. I wonder what he’s doing at Mrs. Cadaver’s house? (BEN jogs over and begins a conversation we cant hear with MR. BIRKWAY. Every once in a while he gestures to- ward SAL and PHOEBE.) PHOEBE (whispering to SAL), I bet you he’s Mrs. Cadaver’s secret lover, I bet you he’s the reason she killed her husband! SAL, I don’t know, Phoebe. PHOEBE. Don’t be naive, Sal. I bet you they’re going to plant that bush on top of her dead husband's grave, SAL. What’s taking Ben so long? (MR. BIRKWAY has handed BEN the rhododendron bush to hold while he exits. As BEN waits alone, PHOEBE and SAL gesticulate wildly for him to come back. BEN looks at them quizzically,) PHOEBE (yelling). Come back! (MR. BIRKWAY returns with a shiny, new axe. He gestures for BEN to follow him. BEN does and they exit.)ot Walk Two Moons 49 SAL & PHOEBE. NO! Don’t go! Ben! PHOEBE. Something very strange is going on here. I definitely don’t think you or your father should go over there anymore. SAL. Maybe you're right. Dad and I were over there for din- ner two nights ago and I couldn’t help but notice all sorts of frightening things. Creepy masks. Old swords. Books with titles like The Murders in the Rue Morgue and The Skull and the Hatchet. PHOEBE. Hah! You sce?! I only hope we see Ben at school tomorrow. (Shift. Interior. SAL’ house.) SAL, Dad, how much do you know about Mrs. Cadaver? JOHN. You're ready to talk about Margaret? | SAL. Well, there are a few things I wanted to mention. JOHN. I’ve been wanting to explain— SAL. Phoebe and I saw her creeping through her yard with a flashlight. JOHN. Creeping? SAL. And there is a man who visits her-— JOHN. Sal, this sounds like spying. SAL. And I don’t think we should go over there anymore. JOHN. Sal, you’re trying to catch a fish in the air. SAL. She’s dangerous. She’s not who you think she is. JOHN. Sal; your mother is not coming back. SAL. Oh, never mind. JOHN. I'd like to explain about her. SAL. Just forget I mentioned her. I don’t need any explanations. JOHN. Sal, please don’t be unreasonable. (Shift. The car)50 Walk Two Moons SAL (to GRAM and GRAMPS). Maybe all those things I said about Margaret Cadaver made me sound foolish, but if Phoebe was right then we all needed to be paying more at- tention. I didn’t want to see Daddy get hurt again. So Phoebe convinced me we needed to take matters into our own hands, (Shift. Interior. MARGARET ’s house.) PHOEBE. Sal, come on. SAL. I don’t know, Phoebe, It doesn’t feel right to be sneak- ing into Margaret’s house when she’s not home. PHOEBE. I just want to take a quick look. (SAL and PHOEBE creep very cautiously into a very dark Space. They are tense and nervous and huddle close, A VOICE calls from out of the darkness, ) VOICE. Sal? PHOEBE (terrified). It’s a ghost. VOICE. Sal, is that you? SAL. Mrs. Partridge? What are you doing? MRS. PARTRIDGE. I was just sitting here reading. Go ahead and turn a light on if you like, (SAL does, revealing MRS. PARTRIDGE wearing a purple bathrobe and pink slippers with Sloppy bunny ears on the toes. Her cane is next to her. On her lap is a book. The room is adorned with two grim, over-sized Aftican masks with large, open mouths, a kite in the shape of a dragon, a stuffed squirrel, swords, Spears.) PHOEBE. Isn’t it awfully dark to be reading? MRS. PARTRIDGE. Is that Phocbe with you? SAL. Yes ma’am, MRS. PARTRIDGE. It’s braille. Reading with my fingers.ge i Walk Two Moons 31 aid PHOEBE (whispering to SAL). Sho’s blind? if MRS. PARTRIDGE. Yes, lam. But] am not deaf, These creaky floors would give a mouse away. So what’re you two doing over here tip-toeing through my house in the dark. PHOEBE. We, uh— SAL. We knew that Margaret was at work and we thought I we'd come by and see how you were getting along. MRS. PARTRIDGE. Is that right? Well, that’s mighty sweet of you ladies. } PHOEBE (noticing all of the strange objects). What are you reading? k MRS. PARTRIDGE. Murder at Midnight. It’s a mystery. | e Is. (PHOEBE awkwardly backs into a sword.) MRS. PARTRIDGE (cont'd). Careful you don’t cut yourself. ‘You all right? PHOEBE. Fine. Yes. Absolutely. MRS. PARTRIDGE. Phoebe, come over here and let me have a look at you. (PHOEBE looks confused.) MRS. PARTRIDGE (cont'd). Your face. I want to feel your face. (PHOEBE hesitates.) SAL. It’s OK, Phoebe. (PHOEBE creeps cautiously over to MRS. PARTRIDGE.) MRS. PARTRIDGE (feeling around PHOEBE ’ face). Just as 1 thought. It’s two eyes, a nose and a mouth. (Lets out a wicked laugh.) Why, Phoebe, I think I met your brother the other day. PHOEBE. I don’t have a brother.52 Walk Two Moons MRS. PARTRIDGE. Oh, no? Well, I guess this old noggin isn’t as sharp as it used to be. PHOEBE. Sal? Shouldn’t we be, you know, leaving? MRS. PARTRIDGE. Already? Why, you only just got here. SAL. Phoebe’s right. We don’t want to be a bother. Like you said, it’s late. MRS. PARTRIDGE. Did I say it was late? PHOEBE. Yeah. We really gotta go. School tomorrow and everything. But it was great, um, seeing you again. SAL. Yeah. Glad to know you’re doing OK. See yah later. (PHOEBE and SAL exit the room.) MRS. PARTRIDGE (to herself). Those girls aren’t much for socializing, are they? (MRS. PARTRIDGE and the objects fade to darkness. PHOEBE and SAL cross to a safe distance as quickly as possible.) PHOEBE (out of breath). Whoa, that was close. SAL (out of breath). Slow down. PHOEBE. As soon as we get home, I’ll make a list of items which the police will want to investigate further. SAL. Police? PHOEBE. The sword, the suspicious spot on the floor and the several hair strands I picked up. We can’t waste any more time. As soon as we get out of schoo! tomorrow, we’re go- ing to the police. (The sound of the school bell. Shift. The classroom. MR. BIRKWAY enters with an armful of journals.) MR. BIRKWAY. Dynamite! Unbelievable! PHOEBE (to SAL). I wonder what he’s so happy about.‘Walk Two Moons 53 MR. BIRKWAY. Ladies and gentlemen, your summer jour- nals are absolutely astonishing. In fact, even though I hav- en’t read through every page yet, I wanted to share some of these amazing passages with you right away. MARY LOU. Share? With the class?! PHOEBE. Uh-oh. MR. BIRKWAY. Not to worry! Not to worry! P'll change any names you’ve used so no one is embarrassed. BEN. Can I go to the bathroom? MARY LOU. I think I’m gonna be sick. Can I go to the nurse? MR. BIRKWAY. Now, Ict’s not malinger! MARY LOU. What's malinger? PHOEBE. Look it up. MR. BIRKWAY. Ah, here we go. “This is what I like about Jane. She is'smart, but doesn’t act like she knows every- thing. She is cute.” (BEN puts his hands over his ears and stares down at his feet.) PHOEBE (dripping with sarcasm). Why, Ben. What’s the matter? Is there something wrong? SAL. Leave him alone, Phoebe. MR. BIRKWAY. “She smells good. She is cute.” PHOEBE. No, Sal. Ben looks ill. Is there something you need to tell us, Ben? Or should Sal tell us. MR. BIRKWAY. “She makes me laugh. She is cute.” SAL. I said stop it, Phoebe. It’s not me, anyway. I wasn’t even here during the summer, remember? MR. BIRKWAY. Ah, love. Ah, life! Here’s another one. “T think that, er, Jane doesn’t know the first thing about boys. She once asked me what kisses taste like, so you could tell she hadn’t ever kissed anyone. I told her that they taste like chicken and she believed me. She is so dumb sometimes.”54 Walk Two Moons MARY LOU. Who wrote that?! Did you, Phoebe?! MR. BIRK WAY. Now, Mary Lou. Let’s not jump to conclusions. MARY LOU. You cabbage-head! You beef-brain! I do not believe you. And I did know what they taste like, and it is not chicken. MR. BIRKWAY. Let’s try another one, shall we? “She popped the blackberries into her mouth. Then she looked all around, took two steps up to the maple tree, threw her arms around it and kissed it.” (All eyes turn on SAL who is ready to crawl into a hole.) MR. BIRKWAY (cont'd). “Later that day, I put my lips where hers had been. And to this day I can still smell the smell of the bark and feel its ridges on my lips and taste its distinctive taste mixed with the taste of blackberries.” Marvelous! Brilliant! MARY LOU. She kisses trees? SAL. So much for “brave.” MR. BIRKWAY. Shall we keep going? “I am very concerned about Mrs.—Mrs., uh ... Mrs. Corpse. Her suspicious be- havior suggests that she has murdered her own husband ...” Funny, I don’t remember reading this one. PHOEBE. I think I’m going to have a heart attack. BEN. Go on. Finish! MARY LOU. Yeah. Keep going. MR. BIRK WAY. “I believe she has buried him in her backyard.” (The sound of a bell ringing.) MR. BIRK'WAY (cont’d). Uh, yes, well. I believe that’s enough for today. We'll, um, continue this on Monday. Perhaps. (Exits swiftly.) BEN. Whoa. A murder! Who wrote that? PHOEBE. C’mon, Sal. He knows. It’s now or never.Walk Two Moons 55 (Shift. Interior. The police station.) SAL (to GRAM and GRAMPS). She was right. Now that Mr. Birkway had read her journal, we had to get to the police right away. (Lights up on POLICE OFFICER sitting with his head bur- ied in a newspaper.) PHOEBE. Excuse me. Hello? This is absolutely urgent. I need to speak with someone. (POLICE OFFICER ignores her.) PHOEBE (cont'd). About a murder! POLICE OFFICER (peeking out from behind his newspaper). Is this a joke? PHOEBE. Or possibly a kidnapping. But the kidnapping might turn into a murder. POLICE OFFICER. One moment please. (Yelling off) Ser- geant Bickle, I think you should hear this. (As SAL speaks, BICKLE enters and PHOEBE goes through the motions of explaining about her mother’s disappear- ance, even handing him the “messages” as SAL describes.) SAL (to GRAM and GRAMPS). In a matter of moments, Phoebe had explained everything to Sergeant Bickle. How her mother disappeared. How Mrs. Cadaver’s husband was missing and how she had a suspicious rhododendron bush in her backyard. And finally how Phoebe was visited by the Lunatic who was leaving all sorts of mysterious messages. BICKLE (holding a mysterious note). And how do these re- late to your mother’s disappearance? PHOEBE. That’s what I want you to find out.56 Walk Two Moons (BICKLE whispers something into the ear of the POLICE OFFICER who then exits.) SAL (whispering). I’m not so sure he believes us, Phoebe. PHOEBE (whispering). Of course he does. Why wouldn’t he? He’s probably putting his best people on it right now. BICKLE. Phoebe, is it? Look, Phoebe. Does your father know you’re here? PHOEBE. Um. Of course he does. BICKLE. And this other woman. Mrs, uh— PHOEBE. Cadaver. It means “dead body.” BICKLE. Right. She’s your neighbor, you say? PHOEBE. Uh huh. BICKLE. Have you tried to talk to her about any of these concerns of yours? PHOEBE. Are you crazy?! And let her know we’re on to her?! SAL. Show him the hair strands. BICKLE. Hair strands? PHOEBE. Oh, yeah. (PHOEBE hands BICKLE an envelope.) PHOEBE (cont'd). You should probably have these analyzed. I found them in Mrs. Cadaver’s living room after my moth- er disappeared. SAL. Along with some peculiar blood spots on the carpet. PHOEBE. Yeah, but I didn’t have time to get a sample. POLICE OFFICER (entering). Sergeant, your son’s here. BICKLE. Excuse me, girls. I’ll be right back. (POLICE OFFICER exits. BICKLE moves to another space and greets a figure carrying a duffel bag who happens to be the LUNATIC. SAL and PHOEBE watch.) SAL. Phoebe, are you seeing what I’m secing?Walk Two Moons 57 PHOEBE. I sure hope not. SAL. Is that who I think it is? PHOEBE. As sure as I’m alive, it’s the Lunatic. (BICKLE and the LUNATIC embrace, then the LUNATIC leaves. POLICE. OFFICER and MR. WINTERBOTTOM enter, passing the LUNATIC.) POLICE OFFICER. Sergeant, this is Mr. Winterbottom. PHOEBE. Uh-oh: (BICKLE guides MR. WINTERBOTTOM over to the girls.) BICKLE. Mr. Winterbottom, thank you for coming down so quickly. I know this is a very difficult time. MR. WINTERBOTTOM. I’m very sorry to have wasted your time. PHOEBE. But— BICKLE. Not to worry. If you’d like me to speak with Mrs. Cadaver— MR. WINTERBOTTOM. That won’t be necessary. Thank you. (BICKLE and POLICE OFFICER exit.) SAL (whispering to. PHOEBE). At least we tried. MR. WINTERBOTTOM. Phoebe, I thought I told you we didn’t need to involve the police. PHOEBE. I couldn’t wait any longer. We were wasting time. Her kidnapper is walking the streets. MR. WINTERBOTTOM. Phoebe, your mother phoned today. PHOEBE. She did? MR. WINTERBOTTOM. Yes. She called Mrs. Cadaver. PHOEBE. Mrs. Cadaver? Why would she—- MR. WINTERBOTTOM. I haven’t been able to speak to Mrs. Cadaver myself yet. She left us a note.58 ‘Walk Two Moons. (MR. WINTERBOTTOM hands PHOEBE a piece of paper) PHOEBE (reading). “Norma called to say she is OK. P.S. ’m away from home until Monday.” I don’t believe it. It’s not true! She’s is making it up. Mrs, Cadaver probably killed her and chopped her up and isn’t coming back until she’s properly disposed of her body! MR. WINTERBOTTOM. Phoebe, that is enough! I will not have you making ridiculous accusations of Mrs, Cadaver or anyone else. PHOEBE. But— MR. WINTERBOTTOM. I haven’t slept in three days. The house is a disaster. The dishes are piling up. There’s a week’s worth of laundry that I don’t have the slightest idea how to deal with, And I’ve been through our entire phone book asking anyone I could think of about your mother. Do you think that was easy for me? Do you think I enjoy spreading worry and concern or letting people know that your mother has walked out on us and J have no idea where she is? It’s humiliating. No. I'll continue calling tomorrow and will speak to Mrs. Cadaver when she gets back. PHOEBE. That’s it then? MR. WINTERBOTTOM. Phoebe ... I know this has been terribly hard for you. It’s been hard for all of us, believe me. But your imagination is running away with you. PHOEBE. It is not! Mom loves me! And she would not leave without any explanation. (PHOEBE runs off. MR. WINTERBOTTOM watches helplessly. Shift. Car) GRAMPS, Gol-dang! What a lot of birds of sadness wing-din- ging their way around Peeby’s family.Walk Two Moons 59 GRAM. You liked Peeby, didn’t you, Salamanca. SAL. Of course I did. Even when her imagination was getting the best of her, I could tell she was just scared. It was like she was the only one that couldn’t see. That maybe things were not so hunky dory even before the arrival of the Lu- natic and the disappearance of her mom. She just wanted everyone else to think that nothing was wrong. GRAM. Peeby was convinced her mother was kidnapped because she couldn’t imagine her mother leaving for any other reason. SAL. Exactly. I tried to tell her that maybe her mother had gone looking for something. Maybe she was unhappy. Maybe there was nothing Phoebe could do about it. GRAMPS. You mean her momma’s leaving had nothing to do with Peeby? SAL. Yeah. I guess that’s right. GRAM. Well, what happened next? SAL. On our way home, I asked Phoebe if she wanted to spend the weekend at my house. (Shift, Interior. SAL’ bedroom. PHOEBE arrives with a large suitcase.) SAL (conit’d). Golly, Phoebe, are you planning to spend a month here? PHOEBE. Where am I sleeping? Do you pian on asking me to share your room? SAL. Why no, Phoebe. We built a whole new extension just for you. PHOEBE. You don’t have to be sarcastic. I was just thinking you might sleep downstairs on the couch. SAL. On the couch? PHOEBE. Yeah. There’s only one bed and people usually try to make their guests feel comfortable. I mean, it’s going to be a little crowded in here, wouldn’t you agree?60 ‘Walk Two Moons SAL. It’s starting to feel that way. PHOEBE. Unless, of course, your mattress is lumpy. Mine is very firm. A firm mattress is much better for your back. ‘That’s why I have such good posture. The reason you slouch is probably because of your mattress. SAL. I don’t slouch, do I? PHOEBE. You do slouch, Sal. Look in the mirror sometime. Don’t you know anything about having guests? You're supposed to give your guests the best'that you have. You’re supposed to make some sacrifices, Sal. That’s what my mother always says. She says, “In life, you have to make some sacrifices.” SAL (annoyed). | suppose your mother made a great sacrifice when she took off. PHOEBE. My mother did not “take off.” Someone kidriapped her and is holding her against her will. (Sits on the bed, ex- asperated.) SAL. Sorry. PHOEBE. I have a headache. SAL. Oh, Phoebe. Believe me, I know what you must be go- ing through. PHOEBE. It might even be a migraine. My aunt’s foot doctor used to get migraines, only they tured out not to be mi- graines at all. Do you know what they were? SAL. What? PHOEBE. A brain tumor. SAL. Really? PHOEBE. Yes. In her brain. SAL. Phoebe, I have to tell you something. PHOEBE. Well, what is it? SAL. You know when you said your mother would never leave without an explanation? Well— PHOEBE. Go on?Walk Two Moons 61 SAL. She might. A person—A mother—might do that. PHOEBE. My mother wouldn't. My mother loves me. SAL. But she might love you and still not have been able to explain. Maybe it would be too painful for her to explain. Maybe it would seem too permanent. PHOEBE. I don’t know what in the world you are talking about. SAL. She might not come back, Phoebe— PHOEBE. Shut up, Sal. SAL. She might not. I just think you should be prepared— PHOEBE. She is too coming back. You don’t know what you're talking about. You’re being cruel. Especially to someone with a potential brain tumor. SAL. Phoebe, I’m sure it’s not a brain tumor. PHOEBE. Easy for you to say. You don’t have a shooting pain in your skull. SAL. Ugh. Would you like me to get you an aspirin or something? PHOEBE. My mother always makes me a warm cup of milk when I don’t feel well. SAL. All right. I’ll go see if we have any milk in the fridge. PHOBBE. And she usually includes something sweet to take my mind off of my illness. SAL. I’ll see what I can do. PHOEBE, And then she brings it to me on a tray and serves me while I lay in bed. SAL. Don’t push it, Phoebe! Or it’s going to be a very long weekend, (Shift. SAL’ bedroom fades.) SAL (cont’d, to audience}. It was a long weekend. And it was hard not to hate Phoebe for most of it. But I really did understand what she was going through. Once, before she62 Walk Two Moons left, my mother told me that if you visualize something happening, you can make it happen. Like, if you are about to run arace, you visualize yourself crossing the finish line first, and presto! When the time comes, it really happens. So, when she left, this is what I did. (SUGAR appears at some distance. As SAL speaks, SUGAR Pantomimes the action.) SAL (cont'd, to audience). 1 visualized her reaching for the phone. Then I visualized her dialing the phone. I visualized our phone number clicking through the wires. I visualized the ringing. It did not happen. I visualized her riding the bus back to Bybanks. I visualized her walking up the drive- way. I visualized her opening the door. It did not happen. (SUGAR disappears.) SAL (cont'd, to audience). I knew exactly what Phoebe was doing and exactly why. I had done the same things when my mother left. The next day, Mr. Winterbottom called and asked Phoebe to come home right away. (Shift. Interior. The Winterbottom living room. PHOEBE enters with SAL. MR. WINTERBOTTOM and MR. BIRK- WAY are waiting.) PHOEBE. What's the matter? Is it Mom? Did she come back? Mr. Birkway? What are you doing here? MR. BIRKWAY (holding PHOEBE ’s journal). Hi, Phoebe. T wanted to return this and— PHOEBE (snatching it). That is my own private journal with my own private thoughts. MR. BIRKWAY. I know. And I want to apologize for reading it aloud in class.Walk Two Moons 63 PHOEBE. I didn’t write all that stuff so that everyone in cre- ation could hear it. MR. BIRKWAY. I understand. But I'd like to explain some- thing. Mrs. Cadaver is my sister. PHOEBE. Your sister? MR. BIRKWAY. Yes. And her husband is dead. PHOEBE (to SAL). See? I told you. MR. BIRKWAY. But she didn’t murder him. Her husband died when a drunk driver rammed into his car. My moth- er—Mrs. Partridge—was also in the car. She didn’t die but she lost her sight. PHOEBE. Oh. MR. BIRKWAY. I just wanted you to know that Mr. Cadav- er is not buried in her backyard. Your father also lei me know about your mother, Phoebe, and I’m terribly sorry that she’s gone, But I want to assure you that Margaret has not kidnapped or murdered her. PHOEBE, I see. MR. BIRKWAY. I thought I’d give this back to you so you don’t have to worry about me reading it anymore in class. PHOEBE. Thanks. MR. BIRKWAY. I'll see you and Sal at school tomorrow, I hope. I’m sorry to bother you, Mr. Winterbottom. I just thought I should clarify some things. MR. WINTERBOTTOM. Of course. We are grateful that you stopped by, Aren’t we, Phoebe? (PHOEBE nods.) MR. BIRKWAY. Goodnight, Sal. Goodnight, Phoebe. Mr. Winterbottom. (Exits.) PHOEBE. If Mrs. Cadaver didn’t kidnap or murder my moth- er, then where is she? Isn’t there anything we can do?~ Walk Two Moons MR. WINTERBOTTOM. Sweetheart, I’m afraid there isn’t. PHOEBE. You don’t care, If you did, you'd be trying harder, MR. WINTERBOTTOM, Phoebe, I promise you I’m doing everything I can, PHOEBE. Then where is she? Why would she just leave? Why would she just abandon us? MR. WINTERBOTTOM. 1 don’t know. (Shift. The car) GRAM (breathing with difficulty). Are we still in Wyoming? GRAMPS. These roads do have speed limits, you know. .Be- sides, I was hoping we could stop at Yellowstone. It would be a sin to come all this way and miss Yellowstone. GRAM. Is that where Old Faithful is? Oh, I would love to see Old Faithful, SAL. How long do you think it will take? GRAMPS. We'll hurry, chickabiddy, Why, I bet we'll be in Ida- ho by your momma’s birthday without any problem atall, - GRAM. Why don’t you keep telling about Peeby. SAL, Well, if we had to give up on Margaret as the primary Suspect, Phoebe decided we needed to turn our attention to the likeliest culprit. (Shift. Interior. The Winterbottom living room. SAL is (por- ing over a phone book.) PHOEBE (yelling into a telephone receiver). No, Not pickle, Bickle! ’m looking for a Sergeant Bickle. Ob, never mind. (Hangs up.) SAL. Not him? (PHOEBE shakes her head, 9]Walk Two Moons 65 SAL (cont'd). And you’re convinced this will work, PHOEBE. Sal, he’s Sergeant Bickle’s son. Why else would Sergeant Bickle hug him like that? If we can find Sergeant Bickle, well find the Lunatic. SAL. Well, we’re down to the last one. Here. Dial. PHOEBE. It’s ringing. Maybe I should hang up. Oh, wait. Hello? May I speak with Sergeant Bickle? (in a split scene, BICKLE appears on the receiving end of the phone call.) BICKLE. This is Bickle, (PHOEBE panics, hands the phone to SAL.) BICKLE (cont'd). Hello ... SAL (disguising her voice). Hello? Uh, yes. My name is, uh, Susan, uh, Longfellow. I’m a friend of your son’s. I was wondering if I might speak with him. BICKLE. He isn’t here. Would you like to leave a message? SAL. Do you know when he’ll be home? BICKLE. How did you say you know my son? SAL. How do I know your son? Well, uh ... That’s-a long story ... I—Basically, the way I know him is—The library. ‘Yes. I know him from the library. And he loaned mea book, but I’ve lost the book and— BICKLE. I wonder why he gave you this phone number. He didn’t give you his number at school? SAL. School? Actually, the thing is ... I think he did give me that number but ... I lost it and I had a terrible time track- ing him dowri through the phone book. BICKLE. You sure do lose a lot of things, SAL. Oh, I know. It’s so embarrassing. BICKLE. Would you like his number at school?66 Walk Two Moons SAL. Yes, Sure ... Or better yet ... Maybe you could give me his address and [’Il just send him the book. BICKLE. I thought you said you lost it. SAL. Actually, yes. I did say that, didn’t I? But ’m hoping to find it. BICKLE. [sce .,. Just a minute. (Off) Honey, where’s Mike’s address? SAL (to PHOEBE). His name is Mike. PHOEBE. Mike. Mike the Lunatic! BICKLE. Are you ready? SAL (to PHOEBE). Shh. (To BICKLE.) Uh, yes. Go ahead. BICKLE. It’s on the university campus in Chanting Falls. SAL (whispering to PHOEBE). Chanting Falls, BICKLE. Freshman dormitory. Room 209. SAL (whispering to PHOEBE). Freshman Dormitory. Room 209. PHOEBE. Yes! Yes! Yes! BICKLE. What was that? SAL. Yes. Um. Thank you. (SAL ‘hangs up. Lights fade on BICKLE,) PHOEBE. Sal, you were brilliant. Just brilliant! SAL. Thanks, Let’s just hope we got the right Sergeant Bickle. PHOEBE. Oh, yeah. We got him. And tomorrow we’ll nail Mike the Lunatic. (Shift. Exterior. Dormitory in Chanting Falls.) SAL (to GRAM and GRAMPS). The next day we took the long bus ride to Chanting Falls. Before we knew it, we were in front of a freshman dormitory. PHOEBE. I don’t think I can do this, Sal. SAL. Phoebe, we didn’t come all this way to chicken out now,Walk Two Moons 67 PHOEBE. Really, Sal. I’m having a heart attack, I know it. I can’t do this. What if we knock on his door and he pulls us inside and slits our throats? SAL. Somehow, I don’t think that will happen. Look. (SAL and PHOEBE “see” MRS. WINTERBOTTOM walk- ing hand-in-hand with the LUNATIC across the courtyard.) PHOEBE. Mom? SAL. Quick. Let’s hide. (SAL grabs PHOEBE by the hand and pulls her behind the tree where they can watch and not be seen.) PHOEBE. Sal, this can’t be happening. What is my mother doing with the Lunatic?! SAL. Beats me, PHOEBE. And look at her hair. Did she cut it? It’s so short. I don’t believe this. Look at her having a gay old time. What’s she so happy about? SAL. Phoebe, be quiet! PHOEBE (stunned). What?! No! How can she kiss him?! Has she totally forgotten she has a family at home? Has she completely lost her marbles?! (Shift. Exterior. The Winterbottom house.) SAL (to GRAM and GRAMPS). Understandably, Phoebe was in an excessively black mood all the way home. PHOEBE. Oh, if I had a pair of rocks, I'd have plonked the both of them in the back of the head! MR. WINTERBOTTOM (wearing an apron and plastic gloves and carrying a mop), Phoebe, where have you been? I have some news. PHOEBE (exceedingly sarcastic). Fantastic! Great! I can’t wait to hear it!68 , Walk Two Moons MR. WINTERBOTTOM. Your mother called. She’s coming home tomorrow. PHOEBE. Terrific! Did she have any other wonderful news to share? MR. WINTERBOTTOM. I thought you’d be happy. PHOEBE. Oh, I’m happy all right. I’m tickled pink. MR. WINTERBOTTOM. So I’ll need all the help you can muster before she gets home. We can’t let her see the house like this. PHOEBE. Like what?! We’re supposed to pretend that every- thing’s been totally normal while she’s been gone? MR. WINTERBOTTOM. Phoebe, please. PHOEBE. We're not going to let her see how our house has totally fallen apart since she walked out on us? MR. WINTERBOTTOM. What I need right now is your help. PHOEBE. Fine. On one condition. You let Sal be present to- morrow when Mom comes home. SAL. Phoebe— PHOEBE. Please, Sal. I need a witness. MR. WINTERBOTTOM. A witness? PHOEBE. Oh, you’ll see. Just you wait. You’re in for the surprise of your life, (PHOEBE grabs the mop from her father and exits. MR. WINTERBOTTOM looks at SAL completely confused. Then, realizing that he’s losing time, he exits after her. SAL stands alone. Shift. The car) GRAMPS (shouting). I-dee-ho! You see, Sal? I told you we'd make it. By the skin of our teeth, but we made it. I think we should press on to Coeur d’Alene. Maybe another hour and then we'll turn in. How does that sound to you, goose- berry? Gooseberry?‘Walk Two Moons 69 GRAM (struggling to breathe). Oh, that’s fine. GRAMPS. Gooseberry, you feeling OK? GRAM. I'm a little tired, that’s all. SAL. If you want to stop now, Gram, that would be OK. GRAM. Oh, no. I’d like to sleep in Coeur d’Alene tonight. Your momma sent us a postcard from Coeur d’Alene. Pic- ture of a bountiful blue lake. GRAMPS. OK, then. Bountiful blue lake, here we come. (SUGAR appears.) SUGAR. I can hardly believe it. I’m coming up on the end of my journey. Tomorrow I’ll be in Lewiston. 1 love you, my Salamanca Tree. (SUGAR disappears. Shift. Interior. A hospital room. GRAM is unconscious in bed. NURSE crosses to GRAMPS. SAL watches from a distance.) NURSE. She’s currently unconscious and may be for awhile. In the meantime, we’ll need to conduct some tests. While we do, I suggest you try to get some rest. GRAMPS. Young lady ... I’ve been by her side for 51 years. I’m holding on to her hand, see? If you want me to let go, you'll have to chop my hand off. NURSE. I'll be back in a few minutes with the doctor. (Exits) SAL. How’s she doing? GRAMPS. Doctor says she had a stroke. Lucky we brought her in when we did. I’m afraid we’re gonna be here for awhile, chickabiddy. SAL. I kinda figured. GRAMPS (handing SAL a set of keys and some cash). Here. In case you need anything from the car. Or anything else.70 Walk Two Moons SAL. What do you mean? GRAMPS. Salamanca ... She doesn’t want you sitting around this old hospital. Besides, we’ve come too far. Ifyou want to see your momma on her birthday, you’re gonna have to take matters into your own hands. Now, you go do what you have to do. We’re not going anywhere, your grand- mother and I. We'll be right here. SAL. Thanks, Gramps. GRAMPS. You be careful, chickabiddy. (SAL crosses to the car.) SAL (taking a deep breath). 1.can do this, (To audience.) It’s not that I don’t know what I’m doing, I’d been driving Gramps’ old pickup since I was 11. But then Momma left and some- thing happened to me. I grew afraid of things I’d never been aftaid of before ... Like driving, But ifm gonna make it to Lewiston for her birthday, I don’t have a choice, (SAL puts the key in the ignition and starts the engine. Shifi. Interior. The Winterbottom living room. The doorbell rings. MR. WINTERBOTTOM enters trying to tie a neck- tie, He is considerably agitated and impatient, He looks through the peep hole.) PHOEBE (off, yelling). Is it her? MR. WINTERBOTTOM. No. (MR. WINTERBOTIOM opens the door to let SAL in. “In the original production, SAL was an acknowledged presence in the scene but she never actually left the car, ) SAL. Good morning, Mr. Winterbottom. MR. WINTERBOTTOM. Sal, do-you think this tie matches this shirt?Walk Two Moons 7 (SAL nods but MR. WINTERBOTTOM isn? convinced. He exits as PHOEBE enters.) PHOEBE. Oh, Sal, thank heavens you’re here. How does the house look? SAL. Fine, I guess. PHOEBE. Really? We stayed up all night cleaning. But then, once the entire house was spotless, my father decided it looked too good. So he messed things up again. SAL. It looks fine, Phoebe. (The sound of a car pulling up outside.) PHOEBE. She’s here! (The sound of car doors closing. MR. WINTERBOTTOM re-enters in a different shirt, still struggling with a tie.) SAL (to MR. WINTERBOTTOM). | hope you don’t mind that I'm here. MR. WINTERBOTTOM (giving up completely on the tie). Mind? Why would I mind? (The sound of a doorbell.) MR. WINTERBOTTOM (cont'd). 1 can’t do this. (Exits.) PHOEBE. Me cither. (PHOEBE exits. The doorbell rings again. Shift. Exterior. Roadside, The sound of the car coming to a halt, SAL exits the car, having pulled over to the side of the road. She appears to be looking for something. It is night. After a moment, the sound of another car approaching and parking. A moment later, BROTHER enters carrying a small bouquet of flowers.)72 ‘Walk Two Moons BROTHER. You all right? SAL (startled), Sorry? BROTHER. Did you need some help with your car? SAL. Oh, no. Just taking a break. BROTHER. A helluva road to be driving, isn’t it? These mountain roads can be pretty treacherous at night. So many narrow turns right up against the cliff. Makes my palms sweat just thinking about it ... Where are the others? SAL. What others? BROTHER. Whoever’s with you. Whoever’s driving. SAL, Oh. Around. BROTHER. I don’t usually see other folks up here this time of night, SAL, You pass by here often? BROTHER. Every night. Back and forth for work. SAL. Who are the flowers for? BROTHER. My brother. He was on a bus that went through the railing here about a year ago. The wreckage was so bad, they didn’t even bother bringing it back up. Just left it down there ... Only one person survived, you know. SAL. Yeah. I know. (BROTHER recognizes that SAL is looking for the bus, hands flowers to SAL.) BROTHER. So you tell whoever’s driving to be careful. (Exits,) SAL (to audience). | already knew about that bus. How it lay on its side like an old sick horse. Headlights and windows broken. Rubber tires punctured and twisted on their axles. How inside there was absolutely no space to move amongst the mess of twisted seats and chunks of foam rubber. If only I could find what I was looking for down there.Walk Two Moons BB (The doorbell rings again. Shift. Interior. The Winterbottom living room. MRS. WIN- TERBOTTOM enters. Behind her, the LUNATIC nervously follows. SAL remains on the periphery of the scene.) MRS. WINTERBOTTOM. George? Phoebe? Sal, what are you doing here? Where are George and Phoebe? (PHOEBE and MR. WINTERBOTTOM sheepishly enter. There is an awkward moment of silence.) MRS. WINTERBOTTOM (cont'd). There you are. When you didn’t answer the door, | thought something-— MR. WINTERBOTTOM. You didn’t have to ring the bell. You could have just come in. MRS. WINTERBOTTOM. I know. I’m sorry.I just thought— PHOEBE, Who’s that? MRS. WINTERBOTTOM. Yes. Um. I’d like you to meet Mike. MR. WINTERBOTTOM. Mike? PHOEBE. Dad, that’s the Lunatic. MRS. WINTERBOTTOM. Oh, Phoebe, no. MR. WINTERBOTTOM. Norma, I hope you are going to tell us exactly what is going on here. I think we deserve an explanation. MRS. WINTERBOTTOM (in tears). You’re right. Oh, I knew this would be difficult. But I didn’t think—I’m not perfect, George. MR. WINTERBOTTOM. Of course not, Norma. Did you think T wanted— MRS. WINTERBOTTOM. Please, George. Let me finish. I’ve tried so hard to be perfect all these years. To make sure I made up for my mistakes. MR. WINTERBOTTOM. Mistakes?74 Walk Two, Moons MRS. WINTERBOTTOM. There’s something I never told you and now—-and now ... I’m afraid you'll never forgive me for it. MR. WINTERBOTTOM. Norma, I’m afraid I don’t understand. MRS. WINTERBOTTOM. Mike is my son. PHOEBE. Son? Wait, he’s your son? MRS. WINTERBOTTOM. It was before I met your father. I gave him up for adoption even though I could hardly bear the thought of it. Oh, George, I’ve lived such a tiny life. When Mike found me, I got so scared. I had to go away and sort things out. PHOEBE. Are you going to leave? MRS. WINTERBOTTOM. Leave? PHOEBE. Now that you have a son. Are you going to run off with him? MRS. WINTERBOTTOM. No. Of course not. Oh, Phoebe, T’mso sorry to have done this to you. You must be so angry. PHOEBE. You’re darn right I’m angry. How could you just leave without saying goodbye? MRS. WINTERBOTTOM. I know, honey. I’m sorry. It’s one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do in my life. MIKE. I knew this wouldn’t work. MR. WINTERBOTTOM. I think we all need to take a deep breath, sit down and talk, Maybe we could sort some of this out. MRS. WINTERBOTTOM, Do you mean it? MR. WINTERBOTTOM. Norma, there’s nothing you can’t tell me. No matter how bad things might seem. MRS. WINTERBOTTOM (hugging MR. WINTERBOTTOM). Oh, George. Thank you. MR. WINTERBOTTOM. I may not say it often enough ... But Llove you. And, the truth is, I can’t manage without you. PHOEBE. You should sec the pile of. laundry. MRS. WINTERBOTTOM. Oh, Phoebe. I missed you so much.Walk Two Moons 15 PHOEBE. Me, too. (PHOEBE and MRS. WINTERBOTTOM embrace.) SAL. I’d better go. MR. WINTERBOTTOM. Oh, Sal. I’m sorry. (To MIKE.) Sal is like another member of the family. PHOEBE. So you’re not a Lunatic? MIKE. Why do you keep calling me that? (Shift. Exterior. MARGARET’ house. JOHN and MARGA- RET emerge.) JOHN. Hey there, Sal. MARGARET. Sal, my brother told me you're in his English class. That’s a delightful surprise. He’s a terrific teacher, don’t you think? SAL. Yeah. JOHN. Everything OK? How’s everything over at Phoebe’s? SAL. Mrs. Winterbottom came home. JOHN. Oh. I see. Well, that’s good, isn’t it? (There is a long pause. SAL is incapable of movement.) MARGARET. Sal, I think it’s time I told you something. (SAL seems finally ready to listen to what MARGARET has to tell her. But their moment is interrupted by— Shift. Exterior. Roadside. The SHERIFF enters.) SHERIFF. I was just about to come down there after you. You kids ought to know better. What were you doing down there on that bus at this time of night? (SAL is silent.)16 ‘Walk Two Moons SHERIFF (cont'd). Where are the others? SAL. There aren’t any others, SHERIFF. You brought yourself up here? SAL. In my grandfather’s car. SHERIFF. And where is he? SAL. He’s in Coeur d’Alene. SHERIFF, Pardon? SAL. My grandmother’s in a hospital there. We were driv- ing from Ohio to Lewiston when she got sick. They were bringing me to see my mother. SHERIFF. Let me get this straight. You left your grandpar- ents at a hospital in Cocur d’Alene and drove over a hun- dred miles in the middle of the night to this spot on this hill all by yourself? SAL. I was careful. My gramps taught me how to drive very carefully. SHERIFF. I can imagine. I don’t suppose you would mind telling me exactly what was so all-fired important that you couldn’t wait for someone with a legitimate driver's li- cense to-bring you here after sunrise? SAL. Today is my momma’s birthday. SHERIFF. And where is she now? (SAL pulls out a piece of paper from her pocket and hands it to SHERIFF. He studies it. He and SAL, exchange a long look.) SHERIFF (cont'd). I think you’d better come with me. (Shift. Exterior. Cemetery.) SAL (to audience), At first I think he means he’s taking me to jail. He doesn’t, though. He drives into Lewiston and up a hill. At the top of the hill he parks the car and leads me down a long path to a spot overlooking a tiver and a‘Walk Two Moons 77 valley. (Takes in the scenery. Is overcome by her emotions. To audience.) It is a beautiful spot my daddy has picked for Momma to rest. (Slowly crosses to the base of the tree and kneels, She traces lettering on a gravestone.) It is only now, when I see her name etched in stone that I know my momma is not coming back. (SHERIFF enters quietly, paying his respects. SAL turns to him.) SAL (cont'd, to audience). When my daddy got the news that Momma’s bus went over the rail, he thought it would be best if he came out here and made all the final arrange- ments alone. It’s been over a year since I’ve seen my mom- ma and I’ve come to say goodbye. SHERIFF. It’s almost time we get’ you back to your grand- parents.” SAL. Were you there the night of the accident? SHERIFF. Yes. SAL. Did you see my mother? SHERIFF. I saw a lot of people, Salamanca. I’m sorry to say that if I did see her, I didn’t know it. SAL. Did you see Mrs. Cadaver? SHERIFF. Of course I saw Mrs. Cadaver, Everyone saw Mrs. Cadaver. It was nine hours after that bus rolled over, after all those stretchers were carried up that hill, her hand came up out of the window. A moving hand. Turned out to be the only one that night. I wish it had been your mother’s hand. SAL. Mrs. Cadaver was sitting next to my mother. They were strangers to each other when they got on that bus, but by the end of their journey, six days later, they were friends. My mother told Mrs. Cadaver all about me and my father and our farm in Bybanks. About the fields and the blackberries and the chickens and the singing tree. Do you think that if she told Margaret all that stuff, she was missing us?78 ‘Walk Two Moons SHERIFF. I’m sure of it. How is it you know all this? SAL. Margaret told me, The day Phoebe’s mother came home, How my father visited the only survivor from the bus crash after he buried my mother. When he discovered that she had been sitting next to my mother, they struck up a friendship. But I refused to accept it. I refused to listen. I couldn’t be- lieve that Momma was actually dead. I thought maybe there had been a mistake. That I’d come to Lewiston and find her walking through a field. I’d call out to her and she would say “Salamanca, take me home.” (We hear the sound of a bird. It is warbling the same song we heard from the “singing tree.”) SAL (cont'd). know better now. (Moves to the tree at C, wraps her arms around it and kisses it.) Happy birthday, Momma. (Shift. Interior, The hospital room. GRAMPS stares at an empty bed.) GRAMPS. Gooseberry. met you when I was 17 years old. Gol- dang, that was a long time ago. Back when I didn’t stand still for any girl. But one day, you went: running through the mead- ow with that long hair of yours and that was the end of it. I fol- lowed you around like a sick old dog for three weeks before Tasked your pa if I could marry you. He wasn’t sure you'd stand still long enough for me to propose. But you did. And these last 51 years have been the greatest surprise of ‘my life, SAL (entering). Gramps? GRAMPS. Our gooseberry’s gone, Sal. (SAL and GRAMPS hug.) GRAMPS (cont'd). Chickabiddy ... I’m gonna miss my goose- berry. (Struggles to stay composed.) Did yousee your momma?