Le’s play “Straight Across the Hall.” That’s a _game_. It ain’t got no verses. C’m’on. Miss Meredith, you be my pardner. C’m’on! MISS MEREDITH I don’t play. BUD I’ll teach you how. ’S easy’s fallin’ off a log. MISS MEREDITH No. BUD Please, jist onct! Then we’ll go, ’n’ make a f’ar, and git breakfast! MISS MEREDITH Just once, then. BUD (_leading her over_) Miss Meredith’s gonna play. BOYS AND GIRLS Gee! Hey, it’s a good game! You won’t mind it s’ much, ma’am. ’F anybody steps on you jist kick ’em, Miss Meredith! That’s the way a lady do. (_They form a circle, and begin to sing and play._) “Straight across the hall to the opposite lady, Swing her by the right hand, Swing yer pardner by the left, An’ promenade the girl behind you. “Oh, that girl, that purty little girl, The girl I left behind me, I weeped an’ cried t’ the day I died Fer the girl I left behind me.” MISS MEREDITH (_suddenly_) Stop it! BUD Whut’s the matter? MISS MEREDITH Stop it, Bud Bickel! (_She crosses over right, angrily._) We won’t play any more. BUD (_following her over_) Whut is it, whut’ve I done? MISS MEREDITH You’re swinging the Waist Swing, Bud Bickel! BUD Well, o’ course! MISS MEREDITH It’s wrong. It’s wicked. I’m ashamed of you. I’m surprised at you. BUD Why, ma’am, I do that all the time. I swing all the girls the Waist Swing. MISS MEREDITH The idea! Don’t you know it’s wrong? BUD No’m. MISS MEREDITH It is. Don’t you ever do it again, you hear me? And don’t you girls ever let me catch you letting a boy swing you by the waist instead of by the arms. Come on, now! We won’t wait any longer. A BOY But Lloyd and Betty ain’t here yit— MISS MEREDITH We’ll not wait, I say! Hurry up now! (_She goes out._) BOYS AND GIRLS She’s on her high horse! Aw, it’s too early yit to eat. Sun’s jist riz— Hey, she tole it to you, Bud! Ain’t you a nice sight—a-swingin’ the girls— BUD Shet up! A BOY You he-devil you, Bud Bickel! You waist-swingin’ son of a gun! Come on ’n’ swing some meat over the f’ar ’n’ see how you like that! (_They all go out, laughing._) (_After a moment_, LLOYD _and_ BETTY _enter from the left_. BETTY _goes hurriedly toward the boat and is about to get in_. LLOYD _stops_.) LLOYD Betty— (_She turns._) Betty, they jist went. I guess they’re ready t’ eat, now— BETTY (_shaken_) I don’t keer— LLOYD Aw, you mustn’t be excited about nuthin’— BETTY I ain’t excited. LLOYD Yes, you air, too. I c’n tell the way you act. You see—they wuzn’t nuthin’— BETTY No— LLOYD Nuthin’ a-tall. They uz nice folks. (_Trying to reassure her._) Funny place t’ be a-livin’ in though—buried under the ground, like. Looks like it ud be damp s’ close to the lake. But they uz nice folks. Nice womern. The man uz all right. Kind of a lumberin’ kinda man—’thout no talk—but kindhearted. Didden he loan us the boat? BETTY Yes— LLOYD Didden he give us the oars? Shore he did! Well?— BETTY