Rachel, Rachel

RACHEL:

Don't let it be day.

Get up.

Mmm, not yet.

I'm having a heart attack.

Every day is the same:

Heart attacks, cancer.

Get up.

I'm dead.

Can I move my arms?

WOMAN [SINGING]:

Lazy Mary, will you get up?

Will you get up?

Will you get up?

Lazy Mary, will you get up?

Or you'll be late for...

WOMAN:
What?

- School.

Good morning, Rachel dear.

Morning, Mother.

Say, I was wondering if by any chance

you intend to pass Shabab's...

...on your way home from school

this evening?

Well, I don't intend anything

at the moment but I can.

Well, maybe you could pick me up

one of those nice chocolate bars.

All right.

It can be small.

The 5 cent one's

plenty good enough for me.

[MAN SINGING INDISTINCTLY]

Good morning, Hector.

Morning, Rachel.

You're out on the job early this morning.

I had the damnedest nightmares

all night long.

Guilty conscience?

Don't I wish.

MAY:

Rachel.

Don't get me the milk, you know.

Get the plain.

- Not too much cholesterol in that.

- What?

The chocolate.

[INAUDIBLE DIALOGUE]

WOMAN:

What was she doing up there?

She thinks of everybody

and now all the other...

RACHEL:

Stupid thought.

Morbid.

I mustn't give houseroom in my skull

to that sort of thing.

[CAR HORN HONKS]

[BELL TOLLING]

GIRLS [SINGING]:

Muriel Simpson says she'll die

For the want of the Golden City

She is handsome, she is pretty

She's the queen of the Golden City

[BIC YCLE BELL RINGS]

Inside, Grade 2 s.

Everybody at his seat

before the bell stops.

Come on, now.

[CAR HORN HONKS]

MAN:

Miss Cameron?

Boy, what a day, huh?

There's chill in the air now,

but it's gonna be a scorcher.

Yes, the summer certainly

seems to be upon us.

Yeah. Angela's working

on her summer cold already.

Every year like clockwork.

Hey, you know,

your eyes look a little red too.

Uh, the sandman failed to pay

his usual visit to me last night.

You know, you ought to take

a nerve relaxer. I do.

Once the tension's gone...

...sleep can be a very

sensual experience.

[SCHOOL BELL RINGING]

Leighton, is there something special

you have in mind?

Oh, well, Angela and I were wondering...

...if you'd like to have some supper with us

at home tonight.

Well, she'd really like it.

So would I. I mean, we've been meaning

to have you for a very long time...

...but Angela's been busy

with out-of-town relations...

...and now summer's here

and we haven't had our little Rachel in...

Angela's been busy

with out-of-town relations...

...and now summer's here

and we haven't had our little Rachel in...

...for a single meal.

So if you could see your way clear...

...you'd be putting balm

on sore consciences.

Well, tonight is my mother's

bridge night. Uh...

Leighton, I'm awfully sorry.

I usually fix her coffee and sandwiches.

Oh, what a pity.

So we're gonna have a lot of fun.

And an old friend of yours

is gonna be there too.

Just the four of us.

- Who is that?

LEIGHTON:
Uh-uh.

Too late now. Ha, ha.

Unless you change your mind.

James Doherty,

will you get off that swing this instant?

Or else.

James.

Look at you, the fastest gun in the West

and the slowest thing on two feet.

Now, look alive.

[CHANTING]

Hup, two, three, four.

Hup, two, three, four.

That's a boy.

RACHEL:

Thattaway.

That's very good.

Miss Cameron.

Just a minute. Get in line.

We're off to the library

to look at castles and keeps.

What are you off to?

- We're going to be fairies and butterflies.

- Ooh.

Oh, guess who invited me

for supper tonight and I said no.

The Groper.

He probably serves rat.

Come on up after,

I bought you a nothing gift.

What?

A companion that needs taking care of...

...but unlike your mother,

it doesn't talk back.

All right.

Have all my Walter Raleighs died?

Drawbridges do not open by themselves.

Thank you.

[SINGING "SWEET AND LOW"]

[FINGERS SNAP]

[WHISPERS]

Psst! Outside.

Close the door.

CHILDREN:

Four times five equals 20 .

Four times six equals 24 .

I've been going over

your attendance records...

...among other things.

James Doherty's been absent too much.

Three weeks in March.

[SIGHS]

Ten days in May.

And again this week.

Yes, I know, it's tonsillitis.

James has too much honor

to play hooky.

LEIGHTON:

I only wanna talk to him, Rachel.

Now, would you send the young gentleman

out to me, please?

Leighton, it's his mother's fault,

she wrote the excuses.

Would you like to conduct

the entire investigation?

CHILDREN:

...one equals nine.

Nine times two equals 18 .

Nine times three equals 27 .

Nine times four equals 36 .

RACHEL:

James.

Would you go to Mr. Siddley, please?

He's waiting in the hall.

James, get your things. Come along.

- Where are we going?

- Home, to my house.

Miss Cameron.

What?

Do I still have to call you

Miss Cameron anymore?

Darling, you can call me

anything you like.

RACHEL:

Coward.

God, but I wanna leave this school.

No, you don't.

If you wanted to leave, you'd leave.

You'll never leave anything, Rachel.

YOUNG RACHEL [SINGING]:

Rachel Cameron says she'll die

For the want of the Golden City

She is handsome, she is pretty

She's the queen of the Golden City

She is pretty, one, two, three

Queen of Golden City

CALLA:

Yoo-hoo!

[CALLA BLOWS WHISTLE]

Child.

RACHEL:
Calla, I have asked you before

not to call me "child."

It sounds ridiculous.

CALLA:

Sorry, slip of the tongue.

You coming up?

I'd come down but I'm busy

trying to get my eagle back in his cage.

CALLA:

Jacob, will you get your ass down here?

[BIRD CHIRPS]

[CALLA MO ANS]

Just ignore him.

Where's my present?

May it watch over you till fall.

RACHEL [SOFTLY]:

Oh.

[CALLA LAUGHS]

It's the one we saw at the flower show.

Naturally.

I can't take that.

That's too much.

I'll borrow it from you.

Oh, shut up.

Look.

When things get glumpy,

you just hold it up to the light.

You get the feeling

you're actually sitting under it.

And everything gets very calm and quiet.

It's too much.

I just wish I had something

to give to you.

What are you planning to do

between now and Labor Day?

Sit on the porch with Mama?

I guess so.

I am going to paint my apartment lilac.

We bought a whole mess of lilac paint

on sale...

...to use at tabernacle.

But nobody liked it but me.

I'm gonna get a good suntan.

No, I'm not.

Every summer, I say that

and I buy oodles of suntan lotion...

...and at the end of the summer,

I'm still just as pale as a mushroom.

Yeah, well, we shouldn't make too much

of vacations.

They're just time like any other time.

A dozen Sunday newspapers.

I'm in the exact middle of my life.

What?

I'm exactly in the middle of my life.

This is my last...

...ascending summer.

Everything else from now on is just...

...rolling downhill into my grave.

My life didn't even begin

until a year ago next week.

The eve of the Fourth of July

was my Dependence Day.

Independence.

Don't correct me. That was the day

I started leaning on the Lord.

Calla, we made a bargain

not to talk about that.

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