Olivia goes to the table and gets the Bible. She walks over to Cathy and thrusts it at her.

OLIVIA. Take it and swear that you are still a virgin. Take it!

Cathy looks helplessly at Christopher and then takes the Bible.

CHRISTOPHER. She’s still a virgin. Of course.

OLIVIA. How would you know? Well, boy? How?

CATHY. I’m a virgin. I swear.

Olivia looks at her and nods. Then she takes back the Bible.

OLIVIA. If you swore a lie on the Bible, you’ll go to hell.

CATHY. I thought that’s where we were.

Olivia smiles. She walks back to the table and puts down the Bible.

OLIVIA. Your dinner for tonight is here. It has to be cold sandwiches, but there’s some cake and cookies. Remember what I have told you. God sees everything, even in this attic.

She leaves.

CATHY. How did she ever get pregnant? I can’t imagine it.

CHRISTOPHER. She had our grandfather blindfolded the whole time.

CATHY. He probably asked for the blindfold.

Christopher laughs.

CHRISTOPHER. C’mon. Let’s put away our five-course dinner.

The scrim darkens as they walk toward the table.

Scene 7

Spotlight on Older Cathy, stage left.

OLDER CATHY. Hours began to feel like days, days like weeks, and weeks like months. Whenever Momma came to see us, she continued to bring games and toys. Christopher asked her to bring him a laptop. There was just so much reading even he could do. She promised to try. He occupied himself by being more of a teacher for the twins, but even he was getting more and more edgy, especially because of our grandmother, who usually snuck up on us, expecting to catch us doing something evil. She was always inspecting us. Most days, she didn’t say much, and then there were days when she questioned us like a police interrogator, hoping to catch us lying about ourselves.

She moves upstage.

OLDER CATHY. Oh, I continually questioned Momma. “How much longer?” “When will your father forgive you?” “When will you tell him about us?” “What would he really do if he found out?” She was practically shaking at the thought. “He’s a cruel, heartless man,” she said, “and still very powerful.” I wanted to break out, but Christopher said we’d be on the street, and how would I like that fate for the twins? I didn’t want it, but I could see how they were withering like flowers without sunlight.

She moves toward stage right.

OLDER CATHY. More weeks passed, and then one Sunday, Momma didn’t show up for lunch. It hurt not having her with us when we knew she had the day off from school and was somewhere in the house. And then, just before dinner, she burst in on us, and I knew something had changed—something had seriously changed.

The spotlight goes off, and the lights come up on the attic.

Scene 8