The Member of the Wedding

It happened that green and crazy summer

when Frankie was 12 years old.

This was the summer when, for a long time,

she had not been a member.

She belonged to no club,

and was a member of nothing in the world.

Frankie had become an un-joined person,

and she was afraid.

And there, on the last Friday of August,

all this was changed.

It was so sudden, that Frankie puzzled

the whole blank afternoon.

And still she did not understand.

- Are they cold enough?

- Just a minute!

Yes, they're cold enough.

And them other two drinks is lemonade

for you and John Henry.

It seems to me this old arbor has shrunk.

I remember when I was a child...

Look! Mint juleps!

Well!

Happiness to Janice and Jarvis.

It was such a surprise when Jarvis

wrote home you were going to be married.

I hope it wasn't a bad surprise.

Oh, heavens, no.

As a matter of fact,

if only you knew how I feel.

Frankie's been bending my ears, Son,

ever since your letter came,

going on about weddings and brides.

Papa!

It's lovely we can be married

at Jarvis' house.

It's what Jarvis' mother would have wanted.

Oh, it will be beautiful.

Pretty soon we should be pushing off

for Winter Hill.

I have to be back in barracks tonight.

Winter Hill is such a lovely, cold name.

It reminds me of ice and snow.

Ice and snow!

It was 102 at the base yesterday.

Oh, that feels so good!

Sister-in-law.

Doesn't that sound wonderful?

Yes, dear.

You notice if you fix your attention

on the words,

they begin to sound funny.

Sister-in-law, sister-in-law...

Frankie's crazy.

You should have seen the letter

she wrote to me.

I wrote you so many letters, Jarvis,

and you never answered me.

And I sent you so many boxes

of homemade fudge,

but you never, never answered me.

Oh, Frankie, you know how it is.

I never saw a human grow so fast

as Frankie in all my life.

Last time I saw her

she was only up to here on me.

I think maybe we ought to tie a brick

to her head.

- Jarvis, don't!

- Don't tease your little sister like that.

Why, I don't think Frankie's too tall.

And she probably won't grow much more.

I had the biggest portion of my growth

by the time I was 13.

But I'm just 12. When I think of all

the growing years ahead of me, I get scared.

I wouldn't worry.

You see,

I never believed in love until now.

Where does the music come from?

It sounds so close.

It is. It's just behind us.

They have club meetings and parties

with boys on Friday nights.

Hey, there!

I watch them here from the yard.

It must be nice,

having your clubhouse so near.

Well, I'm not a member now.

But they're holding an election

this afternoon.

Frankie thinks she'll be elected.

I don't care one way or the other.

Well, see you Sunday.

Drive carefully, Son. Goodbye, Janice.

- Goodbye. Thanks, Mr. Addams.

- Bye, Janice. Bye, Jarvis.

Goodbye, Frankie, darling.

I'd better go back to the store, now,

and get my nose down to the grindstone.

Bernice, you send John Henry home

for supper at 6:
00. Don't wait for me.

Yes, sir, Mr. Addams.

You hear that, candy?

Your mama wants you home

some of the time.

I hear.

I just can't understand it.

- The way it all just suddenly happened.

- Happened? Happened?

- I've never been so puzzled.

- Puzzled by what?

The whole thing.

They are so beautiful.

I believe the sun's done fried your brains.

Me, too.

Look here at me.

- You jealous?

- Jealous?

Jealous because your brother's

going to be married?

No, I just never saw

any two people like them.

When they walked in the house today,

it was so queer.

You are jealous.

Go behold yourself in the mirror.

I can tell from the color of your eyes.

They were the two prettiest people

I ever saw.

I just can't understand how it happened.

- Whatever ails you? Acting so queer.

- I don't know.

I bet they have a good time

every minute of the day.

Let's us have a good time.

Us have a good time?

- Us?

- Yes, us.

Come on.

Let us play a three-handed game of bridge.

Janice and Jarvis.

Winter Hill. The wedding.

It's all so queer.

Can't bid. Never have a hand these days.

- A spade.

- I want to bid spades.

That's what I was going to bid.

Well, that's your tough luck. I bid them first.

Oh, you fool jackass! It's not fair!

Hush quarreling, you two.

Tell the truth, neither one of you got such

a grand hand to fight over the bid about.

But where is the cards?

I ain't had no kind of hand all week.

I don't give a darn about it.

It is immaterial with me.

My heart feels I'm going away.

Going farther and farther away

while I'm stuck here by myself.

You ain't here by yourself.

They were the two prettiest people

I ever saw.

Yet, it was...

It was like I couldn't see all of them

I wanted to see.

My brains couldn't gather together

quick enough to take it all in.

And then they were gone.

Well, stop commenting about it.

You don't have your mind on the game.

Well, spades are trump and you got a spade.

I have some of my mind on the game.

- Go on, cheater.

- Make haste, candy.

I can't. It's a king.

The only spade I got is a king.

And I don't want to play my king under

Frankie's ace, and I'm not going to, either!

See, Bernice, he cheats.

Play the king, John Henry. You know

you got to follow the rules of the game.

My king!

It isn't fair!

Even with this trick, I can't win.

Well, just where is the cards?

Three days, I ain't had a decent hand.

Begin to suspicion something, too.

Come on let's count these old cards.

We've worn these old cards out.

If you would eat these old cards,

they would taste

like a combination of all the dinners

of this summer

together with a sweaty-handed nasty taste.

Why, the jacks and the queens are missing!

John Henry,

how come you do a thing like that?

So that's why you asked for the scissors

and stole off quiet behind the arbor.

Why you take our playing cards

and cut out all the pictures?

'Cause I wanted 'em. They're cute.

See, he's nothing but a child.

It's hopeless. Hopeless!

Just have to put him out of the game.

He's entirely too young.

Oh, no, we can't put candy out of the game.

Gotta have a third to play.

Besides, by the last count,

he owes me close to three million dollars.

Oh, I'm sick unto death!

Oh, I wish they'd taken me with them

to Winter Hill this afternoon.

I wish tomorrow was Sunday

instead of Saturday.

Sunday will come.

I doubt it.

I wish I was going somewhere for good.

I wish I had $100 and could just light out

and never see this town again.

Seems to me

like you're wishing for a lot of things.

I wish I was somebody else except me.

Frankie, you serious when you

gave me the doll a while ago?

It gives me a pain just to think about them.

It's a known truth

gray-eyed people is jealous.

- Let's go play with the children, Frankie.

- I don't want to.

- Let's go.

- You got ears, you heard me!

I think maybe I better go home.

You just can't eat dinner and then go

off in the afternoon like that.

I know it.

You can go home, candy lamb,

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