The Major and the Minor Page #10

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Your life is yours to do with as you please,

and it's nobody's business.

Just the same, what did happen

between New York and Stevenson?

I went to a masquerade, darling.

For three days?

Not now, Mother.

Don't ask any more questions, please.

Telephone.

Just Will Duffy from the corner drugstore

calling to apologize. Should, too.

I'm not angry, Will.

I'm the one who ought to apologize.

Hello.

Who?

Su-Su? Su-Su Applegate?

Well, who's calling?

My name is Kirby, Major Kirby.

Is this Mrs Applegate's number?

To whom am I speaking?

Well, I am Mrs Applegate.

Yes, Major Kirby. My daughter has told me

about you, Major Kirby.

Well, may I speak to her?

I'm terribly sorry, but she's at school.

Yes, it is a little late for school,

but it's a school play they're giving,

Six Who Pass While the Lentils Boil.

But if there's any message

or anything like that...

Where?

Where are you calling from?

From the station right here in Stevenson.

Yes, I'm on my way to the West coast,

and I stopped to see Su-Su

and deliver something a friend of hers sent.

Yes, I have an hour between trains.

- May I come out?

- Well, I don't know.

This is rather awkward.

The house is all upside down,

and I'm right in the middle

of my busy season. Strawberries, you know.

Well, strawberries or no strawberries,

I'm here and I shan't leave

without meeting you, Mrs Applegate.

Sorry, I'm going to jump

into the local taxicab.

What was that address again?

78 North Elm Street.

What in the worid, Susan Applegate?

I couldn't understand a word

you were saying.

Mother, now, listen very, very carefully.

A man is coming here, a Major.

He's going to ask you a lot of questions

about your little daughter.

- What little daughter?

- You have a little daughter.

What are you talking about?

I've been a widow for 18 years.

Mother, this is just something

that happened on a train.

- On a train? To me?

- No, to me.

- Susan!

- We all came from Sweden.

- Are you crazy?

- No, it's just a little gland trouble.

- Now, we're all very tall...

- I'm going to call Dr Taylor.

No, Mother,

it's got something to do with Washington.

Now, don't try to understand.

Just do as I say

'cause there's going to be

an awful mess if you don't.

Susan, if you'll just try

to explain slowly and clearly.

Yes, well, you see, it happened this way...

Oh, I give up.

You're going to be a grandmother.

I'll be the mother.

- Have you been married?

- Of course not!

Susan Kathleen Applegate!

- Darling, he'll be here any minute.

- Who?

The man, of course. Now, don't you think

you better go up to your room? Go on.

Up to the attic to find

your grandfather's horsewhip!

Good evening.

Good evening, Major Kirby.

Won't you come in?

- Thank you.

- I am Mrs Applegate.

It's amazing.

On the way over, I kept wondering how

Su-Su's mother would look, small or tall.

You see, maybe Su-Su took after her father.

Su-Su has her father's nose.

Perhaps.

But the eyes, the expression, it's amazing.

The way my daughter described you,

I thought you looked rather more

like General Pershing, only 8 feet tall.

Won't you sit down?

Yes, thank you.

What in heaven's name is that?

Oh, that's a present from little Lucy Hill.

It's a... She and Su-Su became great friends.

Yes, I know.

It was a tadpole then, but Lucy insisted

that I stop by and deliver it personally,

give my word of honour

as though it were the Kohinoor diamond

and not just a frog.

How very kind of you.

Don't mention it. I wanted to stop anyway.

You don't know how fond

I became of your daughter.

- Did you?

- Oh, yes.

What a wonderful kid.

Those three days she spent with us,

it seemed as if...

Well, as if spring had enrolled

at Wallace Military.

Everything came alive,

from the youngest cadet

to the oldest cannon.

Yes, I heard about that young cadet

and that old cannon.

Oh?

Well, we were all very sad

when you had to take her away so abruptly.

So you're going west, Major Kirby?

Yes, San Diego for embarkation.

- Going far?

- Overseas.

My daughter also told me about...

Tell me, Major, how was the wedding?

Wedding? Oh, magnificent.

Arches of steel, blizzards of rice,

and the Colonel as gay as a goat.

I see.

Couldn't I offer you a sandwich, Major Kirby,

or perhaps a cup of tea?

No, I'll have exactly one strawberry,

if you don't mind.

Su-Su will be heartbroken to learn

that you were here and couldn't see her.

Yes, I'm sorry, too,

but, you see, my train leaves

in exactly 42 minutes, and, well...

But will you tell her

that everybody sent their love?

Lucy, Colonel Hill, Cadet Wigton, Cadet...

Oh, just say Companies A, B, C and D.

- And Mrs Kirby?

- Mrs who?

Your wife.

Oh, Pamela! Oh, she didn't marry me.

But that wedding

you were just talking about?

Oh, well, you see,

Pamela avoided making a great mistake.

She married somebody much more stable,

Anthony Wigton Sr,

the father of Cadet Wigton,

banker to a large bank

somewhere in the East.

You...

You wouldn't

like a second strawberry, Major?

As I see it now, Pamela was absolutely right.

No man in my position

has any business to marry,

going away, goodness knows how far, into...

Well, into what I believe will be war.

And yet many soldiers do marry.

Yes, don't they?

There's a young chap from my outfit

on the train, a second lieutenant.

And with him, his girl.

Going to stop off in Nevada.

You can get married there in five minutes,

you know.

- You can?

- Oh, yes.

Then she'll take him to the troop ship

and good-bye kiss at the dock.

Wet handkerchief.

Then a letter from him

every two weeks, maybe.

No, that's too much to ask of any woman.

I think you underestimate us, Major Kirby.

Perhaps all a woman wants

is to be a photograph

a soldier tacks above his bunk

or a stupid lock of hair

in the back of his watch.

If it was only to hear what you've just said,

Mrs Applegate,

I'm terribly glad I brought that frog.

Well, you will give Su-Su my love?

Love, frog and everything.

Well, good-bye, Mrs Applegate.

Good-bye, Major Kirby.

Oh, you'll find directions

for feeding the frog on the jar.

When's that train coming?

Three minutes.

- I beg your pardon.

- Yes?

What is your name?

- Applegate.

- Mrs Applegate?

Miss Applegate.

Su-Su Applegate?

Susan Kathleen Applegate.

You see, there are a lot of Applegates

in Stevenson.

Yes, there are.

- Where are you going?

- To the West Coast.

- Only I'm stopping in Nevada.

- Nevada?

To marry a soldier.

That is, if he'll have me.

- A soldier?

- An officer.

He's going to war so that this country

will be spared what happened to France.

You know, I have my own theory

about the fall of France.

Now, this is Sedan.

There was the big Maginot Line

and the small Maginot Line.

The German army swung

through the Netherlands and Belgium,

and a panzer division

smacked right through here.

All aboard!

Su-Su!

Come, Phillip!

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