KITCHENETTE
2..5
Holding out the cake, moving slowly to the right side of the
table, morbidly.
My life
is
just like that layer cake. Year after year, one year piled
on top of the other, layer after meaningless layer.
JOE
(weeping, tying the veil around his head like a kerchief):
Don't
cry, dear, that's the story of my life too. One meaningless layer
after another. . . .
Peeling off the complete top layer of the cake and shoving it
savagely in Jo's face.
Here, dear, cheer up: - have a layer!!!
Peeling off the remaining layers and dealing them out to
MIKIE
J
MIKEY
and himself.
Have a layer! Have a layer! Have a layer!
Coming downstage, chewing the cake, vamping the audience.
There
is
just something soooooo Elysian about everybody having his
own layer....
Jo
(furious, tossing the tray at
JOE): But that's just it! that's just it!
- I don't have a layer of my own! I never had a layer all my own!
She rushes hysterically to stage right, the others leaping fran–
tically after her.
MIKIE: Mother, mother, please forgive me!
Jo
(high drama, inconsolable):
No - No! don't say a word. Not
a word!
MIKIE: Oh, Jo, you're so beautiful now - now, with tears in your
hair.
JOE: It's that new spray-net she's using.
MIKIE: You know, Jo, you're really a very attractive girl.
Jo: Attractive? - A two-headed girl is attractive!!
She tosses the trio back across the stage;
MIKIE
and
MIKEY
em–
brace madly;
JOE
lands on the commode.
JOE: Well your two heads are attractive, my dear.
Jo
(rushing to
JOE
in an absolute rage, pulling him from the com–
mode and tossing him to the floor):
What did you say? What did
you say? What did you say?
JOE
(attempting to ward her off):
What did
I
say
when?
Jo: Just now! Just now!
JOE: Er - er - er - er!
Jo:
I'll
bet the answer is just on the tip of your tongue!
