The Vegetable; or, From President to PostmanFitzgerald, F. Scott (Francis Scott)
General
The Vegetable; or, From President to Postman
Fitzgerald, F. Scott (Francis Scott)
American drama -- 20th century
CHARLOTTE. No, what’s there?
_Again Jerry comes in, almost unbearably self-conscious now. The
poor man has taken the wrong part of the paper. Silently, with a
strained look, he makes the exchange under the intense supervision
of four eyes, and starts back to his haven in the dining-room. Then
he jumps as Doris speaks to him._
DORIS. Say!
JERRY [_morosely dignified_]. What?
DORIS [_with real interest_]. What makes you think you could be
President?
JERRY [_to Charlotte_]. That’s right. Make a fool of me in front of all
your relations! [_In his excitement he bangs down his paper upon a
chair._]
CHARLOTTE. I haven’t said one word--not one single solitary word--have
I, Doris?
_Jerry goes out hastily--without his paper!_
Did I say one word, Doris? I’ll leave it to you. Did I say one single
word to bring down all that uproar on my head? To have him _swear_ at
me?
_Jerry, crimson in the face, comes in, snatches up his forgotten
paper, and rushes wildly out again._
He’s been nagging at me all evening. He said I kept him from doing
everything he wanted to. And you know very well, Doris, he’d have been a
postman if it hadn’t been for me. He said he wished I was dead.
_It seems to me it was Charlotte who wished Jerry was dead!_
He said he could get a better wife than me for thirty dollars a week.
DORIS [_fascinated_]. Did he really? Where did he say he could get her?
CHARLOTTE. That’s the sort of man _he_ is.
DORIS. He’d never be rich if you _gave_ him the money. He hasn’t got any
_push_. I think a man’s got to have _push_, don’t you? I mean sort of
_uh_! [_She gives a little grunt to express indomitable energy, and
makes a sharp gesture with her hand._] I saw in the paper about a fella
that didn’t have any legs or arms forty years old that was a
millionaire.
CHARLOTTE. Maybe if Jerry didn’t have any legs or arms he’d do better.
How did this fella make it?
DORIS. I forget. Some scheme. He just thought of a scheme. That’s the
thing, you know--to think of some scheme. Some kind of cold cream or
hair--say, I wish somebody’d invent some kind of henna that nobody could
tell. Maybe Jerry could.
CHARLOTTE. He hasn’t brains enough.
DORIS. Say, I saw a wonderful dog to-day.
CHARLOTTE. What kind of a dog?
DORIS. It was out walking with Mrs. Richard Barton Hammond on Crest
Avenue. It was pink.
CHARLOTTE. Pink! I never saw a pink dog.
DORIS. Neither did I before. Gosh, it was cunning.... Well, I got to go.
My fiancé is coming over at quarter to nine and we’re going down to the
theatre.
CHARLOTTE. Why don’t you bring him over some time?
DORIS. All right. I’ll bring him over after the movies if you’ll be up.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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