A Lovely Sunday for Creve Coeur Read Free Page B

—Please!— Somebody’s at the door, I can’t talk now. [
Leaving the phone off the hook, she rushes to the door and opens it
.] Oh. Hello.
    HELENA: Good morning.
    BODEY: Are you a friend of Dotty’s?
    [
A stylishly dressed woman with the eyes of a predatory bird appears
.]
    HELENA: Of Dorothea’s? —Yes .
    BODEY: Well, then come on in. Any friend of Dotty’s is a friend of mine.
    HELENA: Is that so?
    BODEY [
discomfited
]: Yes, I—got grease on my hand. I was fryin’ up some chickens for a picnic.
    HELENA: —Well! This is a surprise! [
She makes several turns in a mechanical, rigid fashion, eyes staring
.]
    BODEY: Excuse me, I should of—interduced myself.
    HELENA: You are Miss Bodenheifer.
    BODEY: Hafer, not heifer. [
She laughs nervously
.] Heifer meaning a cow.
    HELENA: No conscious association whatsoever. [
She advances forward a step
.] So this is Schlogger Haven?
    BODEY: Oh, Schlogger Haven, that’s just a joke of Dotty’s. The landlord’s name is Schlogger, that’s all—that’s all . . .
    HELENA: Dorothea was joking, was she?
    BODEY: Yeh, she jokes a lot, full of humor. We have lots of laughs. [
Bodey extends her hand
.]
    HELENA: I can imagine you might, Miss Bodenheifer.
    BODEY: You can forget the Miss. —Everyone at the office calls me Bodey.
    HELENA: But we are not at the office—we are here in Schlogger Haven. [
She continues enigmatically
.] Hmmm . . . I’ve never ventured this side of Blewett before.
    BODEY: Never gone downtown?
    HELENA: I do nearly all my shopping in the West End, so naturally it amazed me to discover street after street without a shade tree on it, and the glare, the glare, and the heat refracted by all the brick, concrete, asphalt—was so overpowering that I nearly collapsed. I think I must be afflicted with a combination of photo- and heliophobia, both.
    BODEY [
unconsciously retreating a step as if fearing contagion
]: I never heard of neither—but you got
both?
    HELENA: An exceptional sensitivity to both heat and strong light.
    BODEY: Aw.
    HELENA: Yes. Now would you please let Dorothea know I’m here to see her?
    BODEY: Does Dotty expect you, Miss, uh—
    HELENA: Helena Brookmire, no, she doesn’t expect me, but a very urgent business matter has obliged me to drop by this early.
    BODEY: She won’t have no one in there with her. She’s exercising.
    HELENA: But Dorothea and I are well acquainted.
    BODEY: Well acquainted or not acquainted at all, makes no difference. I think that modern girls emphasize too much these advertised treatments and keep their weight down too much for their health.
    HELENA: The preservation of youth requires some sacrifices.
    [
She continues to stare about her, blinking her birdlike eyes as if dazzled
.]
    BODEY: —I guess you and Dotty teach together at Blewett High?
    HELENA: —Separately .
    BODEY: You mean you’re not at Blewett where Dotty teaches civics?
    HELENA [
as if addressing a backward child
]: I teach there, too. When I said separately, I meant we teach separate classes.
    BODEY: Oh, naturally, yes. [
She tries to laugh
.] I been to high school.
    HELENA : Have you?
    BODEY: Yes. I know that two teachers don’t teach in the same class at the same time, on two different subjects.
    HELENA [
opening her eyes very wide
]: Wouldn’t
that
be peculiar.
    BODEY: Yes. That would be peculiar.
    HELENA [
chuckling unpleasantly
]: It might create some confusion among the students.
    BODEY: Yes, I reckon it would.
    HELENA: Especially if the subjects were as different as civics and the history of
art
.
    [
Bodey attempts to laugh again; Helena imitates the laugh almost exactly
.
    [
Pause
]
    This
is
, it really
is!
    BODEY: Is
what?
    HELENA: The most remarkable room that I’ve ever stepped into! Especially the combination of colors! Such a
vivid
contrast! May I sit down?
    BODEY: Yeh, yeh, excuse me, I’m not myself today. It’s the heat and the—
    HELENA: Colors?— The vivid contrast of colors? [
She removes a pair of round, white-rimmed