Read-Aloud Plays Part 9

Who to?

GEORGE

That fellow, what's his name, that's got the garage over on Seventh Avenue.

MARIAN

Snider! So _he's_ the one! Well! And I suppose she'll be all over town in a new car.

GEORGE

Sure. Saw him to-day. A big yellow one. I always told you she was out for money. And you thought she was in love with Jackson!

MARIAN

Hypocrite! She was. Or she told me so. Cried all over me. Have you seen Jackson?

GEORGE

Yes. He's as blue as your old kimono. He said--

FRED

Look here, Marian! I'm not going to wait all night for my dinner!

MARIAN

Order your old dinner! What did Jackson say, George?

THE GENIUS

_The front porch of a small farmhouse in New England. Stone flags lead to the road; the yard is a careless, comfortable lawn with two or three old maples. It is autumn._

_A boy of sixteen or so, carrying a paper parcel, stops hesitatingly, looks in a moment and then walks to the porch. As he stands there a man comes out of the house. The man is in his early forties, he stoops a little, but not from weakness; his expression is one of deep calm._

THE MAN

I wonder if you have seen my dog? I was going for a walk, but Rex seems to have grown tired of waiting.

THE BOY

Your dog? No, sir, I haven't seen him. Shall I go look?

THE MAN

No, never mind. He'll come back. Rex and I understand each other. He has his little moods, like me.

THE BOY

If you were going for a walk--?

THE MAN

It doesn't matter at all. I can go any time. You don't live in this country?

THE BOY

No, sir. I live in New York. I wish I did. It's beautiful here, isn't it?

THE MAN

It's very beautiful to me. I love it. You may have come a long road this morning, let's sit down.

THE BOY

Thank you. I'm not interfering with anything?

THE MAN

Bless your heart! No indeed. What is there to interfere with? All we have is life, and this is part of it.

THE BOY

I like to sit under these trees. It makes me think of the Old Testament.

THE MAN

That's interesting. How?

THE BOY

Well, maybe I'm wrong, but whenever I think of the Old Testament I see an old man under a tree--

THE MAN

Yes?

THE BOY

A man who has lived it all through, you know, and found out something real about it; and he sits there calm and strong, something like a tree himself; and every once in a while somebody comes along--a boy, you know,--and the boy talks to him all about himself, just as we imagine we'd like to with our fathers, if they weren't so busy, or our teachers, if they didn't depend so much upon books, or our ministers, if we thought they would really understand,--and the old man doesn't say much maybe, but the boy goes away much stronger and happier....

THE MAN

Yes, yes, I understand. The Old Testament.... They _did_ get hold of things, didn't they?