The Vegetable; or, From President to Postman — John Shaqi
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
JERRY. Isn’t that a nice little thing? And I got two bills for you here.
I’ll hide those, though. Still, maybe you want to clear up all your
accounts. Some people like to get bills. The old lady next door wanted
to get hers. I gave her three and you’d think they were checks. Anyways,
these two don’t look very big, from the outside, anyhow. But of course
you can’t tell from the outside.
DORIS. Let me see them.
FISH. Let me see them too.
_They squabble mildly over the bills._
JERRY. The thing is for everybody in the house to write what they guess
is the amount of the bill on the outside of the envelope, and then when
you open the envelope the one who guessed the closest has to pay the
bill.
FISH. Or he could get a prize.
JERRY. Something like that. [_He winks at Doris._] And here’s a couple
of post-cards. They’re sort of pretty ones. This one’s--the Union
Station at Buffalo.
FISH. Let me see it.
JERRY. And this one says Xmas greetings. It’s four months late. [_To
Doris._] I guess these are for you.
DORIS. No, they’re for my sister.
JERRY. Well, I haven’t read what’s written on the back. I never do. I
hope it’s good news.
DORIS [_inspecting the backs_]. No, they’re from an aunt or something.
Anything else?
JERRY. Yes, here’s one more. I think it’s one of the neatest letters
I’ve had this morning. Now, isn’t that a cute letter? I call that a cute
letter. [_He weighs it in his hand and smells it._] Smell it.
DORIS. It does smell good. It’s a perfume ad.
FISH. Say, that sure does smell good.
JERRY. Well, I’ve done pretty well by _you_ this morning. Maybe you got
a letter for me.
DORIS. No, there’s none to-day.
JERRY. Funny thing: I came near leaving that pink letter with a little
girl down the street who looked as if she needed one pretty bad. I
thought that maybe it was really meant for her, and just had the wrong
name and address on by mistake. It would of tickled her. I get tempted
to leave mail where it really ought to go instead of where it’s
addressed to. Mail ought to go to people who appreciate it. It’s hard on
a postman, especially when he’s the best one they ever had.
DORIS. I guess it must be.
FISH. Yeah, it must be tough.
_They are both obviously fascinated._
DORIS. Well, there’s somebody in this house who needs the right letter
something _aw_ful. If you get one that looks as if it might do for her
you could leave it by here.
JERRY. Is that so? Well, that’s too bad. I’ll certainly keep that in
mind. The next one I think’ll do, I’ll leave it by here.
DORIS. Thanks.
JERRY. I’ve got one of these special delivery love-letters for a girl
around the corner, and I want to hurry up and give it to her, so as to
see her grin when she gets it. It’s for Miss Doris----
DORIS [_interrupting_]. That’s me. Give it to me now.
JERRY. Sure. Say, this is lucky. [_He starts to hand it to her._] Say,
listen--why are you like a stenographer?
DORIS. Me?
JERRY. Yes.
DORIS. I don’t know. Why?
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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