CATHY. Thank you, Dr. Dollanganger. [She flops into the easy chair.]

CHRISTOPHER. He will! In the meantime, let’s see what we can do to have more fun up here.

Cathy looks up at him.

CATHY. You’re not that brilliant.

CHRISTOPHER. Oh, no? C’mon, kids, let’s think.

He walks upstage with the twins. Cathy shakes her head. Christopher huddles with the twins and then turns back to her.

CHRISTOPHER. I know. We’ll fix up this place. Decorate.

CATHY. Decorate this?

CHRISTOPHER. Sure. The twins and I will create flowers and bushes to make it look like the outdoors. We have all that construction paper, crayons, everything we need.

CATHY. I don’t know how I’ll contain my excitement.

CHRISTOPHER [ignoring her]. And then we’ll make our own little theater. I have a great idea for a stage back there and curtains.

CATHY. For what?

CHRISTOPHER. Shows. I’ll be the male lead, of course, and you’ll be the female lead. We have loads of costumes, props . . .

CATHY. Shows? From where?

CHRISTOPHER. From this book of old plays I found. They’re corny but fun.

CATHY. Old plays. I do think you’re going crazy.

CHRISTOPHER. Well, then, join me. At least we’ll go somewhere.

She looks at him and then shakes her head.

CHRISTOPHER. C’mon. It will help pass the time and amuse them. Besides, you’re always performing.

CATHY. Oh, and you’re not?

CHRISTOPHER. So let’s put it to some use.

She follows him as the lights dim.

Scene 9

The spotlight comes up on Older Cathy, stage right. She looks up from notebook pages she’s been reading.

OLDER CATHY. I still have the script for the play Christopher created out of some old story. He made it so I was more like Scarlett O’Hara, and he was Rhett Butler. He had some good ideas for dressing up the attic and creating our little theater. We worked all the rest of that day and the next morning. We didn’t hear or see our grandmother bring us breakfast, because we were up and busy. Surely she saw what we were doing. Either she thought it was just something foolish, or she didn’t care. She said nothing.

She walks upstage, slowly crossing toward stage left.

OLDER CATHY. The attic was rich in memorabilia, pictures of relatives, old clothes, boots, and hats. Christopher found old newspapers and read them to me, dramatizing the events. We thought we found pictures of our grandmother as a child. Christopher wished we had darts so we could use it as a target. [Pauses.] Anyway, Christopher built our little stage area, and day after day, we practiced our play to show it to Momma. I knew he was doing what he could to keep me from screaming.

Scene 10

The lights come up on the attic. There is a makeshift curtain and some boxes for scenery with fake flowers and trees on them.