The Loiterer Read online

The Loiterer

  by

  T. J. Robertson

  Copyright 2014 T. J. Robertson

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  Cast of Characters

  LARRY RAGSDALE: an amiable, unflappable fifty-year old

  NELLIE RAGSDALE: his testy and suspicious wife

  ROSE DWYER: a spry, nosy elderly neighbor

  LOITERER: a sensitive, sentimental old man who, with the help of a cane, appears as if he's carrying the weight of the world upon his hunched shoulders

  Scene

  The living room of a modest Cape Cod style home

  Time

  The present

  ACT ONE

  Scene 1

  SETTING: We are in the living room of a modest but comfortable home in a seaside community near Boston. A sofa, armchair, and floor lamp are the room's most noteworthy furnishings. To the left of the sofa is a window, to the right the front door.

  AT RISE: LARRY RAGSDALE is seated on the armchair, reading a newspaper. NELLIE, his wife, is standing by the window and looking outside.

  NELLIE

  But, Larry, he's been pacing back and forth in front of the house for half an hour.

  LARRY

  (without glancing up from his newspaper)

  There's no law that prevents a man from walking back and forth on a public sidewalk.

  NELLIE

  But he's loitering and that's against the law.

  (LARRY laughs, puts his paper aside, and gets up.)

  LARRY

  Gee, Nellie, all these years of wedded bliss and I had no idea you had a law degree.

  NELLIE

  (stepping back from the window and turning to him in exasperation)

  For once in your life will you be serious?

  LARRY

  I'll try but it'll be difficult.

  (muttering)

  As far as I'm concerned, loitering is nothing more than walking slowly which is exactly what I'm doing now.

  (LARRY goes to the window and glances out.)

  LARRY

  (turning away from the window)

  Well, one thing for sure, he's not loitering on the sidewalk anymore.

  NELLIE

  What do you mean?

  LARRY

  He's coming up the walkway.

  (NELLIE looks out the window again and panics.)

  NELLIE

  I don't like the looks of this, Larry. I think we should call the police.

  LARRY

  Whoa there, Nellie; he's a harmless old man!

  NELLIE

  He could be putting on an act. .

  LARRY

  From the way he's hobbling with his cane, I doubt it.

  NELLIE

  That cane could be a weapon, you know.

  (The bell rings and LARRY, upon opening the door, finds himself face to face with the LOITERER.)

  LARRY

  May I help you?

  LOITERER

  I--I--eh--I--

  LARRY

  Come on now, my good man, spit it out.

  LOITERER

  (leaning on his cane)

  I--I was wondering if I might come inside and look around.

  LARRY

  Look around?

  NELLIE

  No way!

  LARRY

  We're not selling the house if that's what you think.

  LOITERER

  I know you're not.

  LARRY

  (scratching his head)

  Then, what the heck do you want to come in and look around for?

  NELLIE

  Don't say I didn't warn you, Larry.

  LARRY

  (gesturing)

  It's a Cape Cod style with a living room, dining room, and kitchen here on the first floor and two bedrooms lit by dormer windows upstairs. There are plenty of houses just like this one all around here.

  LOITERER

  Yes, I know. I used to live here.

  LARRY

  In this part of town?

  LOITERER

  (nodding)

  Yes, and in this house.

  LARRY

  Oh?

  (pausing)

  What's your name?

  LOITERER

  O'Brien. John O'Brien.

  LARRY

  (stroking his chin thoughtfully)

  Wait a minute! Are you, by any chance, a relative of the O'Brien boys who went down with that light cruiser in the Battle of Leyte Gulf during the Second World War?

  LOITERER

  Yes.

  LARRY

  Well, I'll be damned.

  (turning to his wife)

  Did you hear that, Nellie?

  NELLIE

  (softening her tone)

  But I thought all the O'Brien boys died on that ship.

  LOITERER

  All except me. I was the youngest.

  (with a heavy sigh)

  I lied about my age and tried to enlist but the recruiters weren't fooled.

  NELLIE

  Your family left here soon after the tragedy, didn't they?

  LOITERER

  Yes.

  LARRY

  I can understand that. The memories obviously were too painful.

  (The eyes of the LOITERER begin tearing.)

  LARRY

  Hey, are you okay?

  LOITERER

  (wiping away a tear)

  Yes

  LARRY

  I didn't mean to upset you but your brothers died as heroes fighting for their country. They're famous not only here but throughout America.

  NELLIE

  And we're proud to be living in the house they grew up in.

  (Now the LOITERER is sobbing.)

  LARRY

  (awkwardly)

  But I can imagine how you and your parents must've felt.

  LOITERER

  No one can ever imagine.

  LARRY

  Well, I suppose not.

  NELLIE

  (kindly)

  You don't look well. Why don't you come inside, sit down, and rest a minute?

  LOITERER

  No, I'm okay but, if you'd be so kind, I'd like to look around the place briefly for old time's sake.

  NELLIE

  Of course. Show him around the house, Larry.

  LARRY

  (with a sense of relief)

  Will do.

  (turning to the LOITERER)

  Where do you want to start?

  LOITERER

  In the kitchen, if you don't mind.

  LARRY

  (with a bow)

  Be my guest.

  (NELLIE stands by the window as LARRY shows the LOITERER around the house. When they return to the living room, the LOITERER extends his hand to LARRY, who accepts it like an unexpected present.)

  LOITERER

  I want to thank you and your wife for your kindness in allowing me to walk through the house.

  NELLIE

  That's the least we could do.

  LARRY

  Yes, indeed.

  (LARRY opens the door and the LOITERER hobbles out. Closing the door, LARRY turns and studies NELLIE intently.)

  NELLIE

  (self-consciously)

  Is something wrong?

  LARRY

  That gruff exterior of yours notwithstanding, you're really a softie, aren't you?

  NELLIE

  How could anyone not feel sorry for that poor man?

  (shaking her head in reprimand)

  The government ought never to have allowed the brothers to serve on the same ship.

  LARRY

  In all fairness, the powers-that-be
unofficially discouraged family members from serving on the same ship but, unfortunately, more often than not, the latter insisted. All that, of course, changed after the Sullivan brothers went down with the Juneau; then, the government enforced the rule. But it came too late to save the O'Briens.

  (glancing out the window)

  Don't look now but here comes Nosy Rosy.

  NELLIE

  I wonder what she wants.

  LARRY

  (putting his finger to his lips)

  Sh! Don't answer the door. If we ignore her, she might go away.

  NELLIE

  Oh, don't be silly.

  LARRY

  (sitting down on the armchair)

  Well, I can hope, can't I?

  (The doorbell rings and no sooner does NELLIE open the door than in bounds ROSE.)

  ROSE

  Oh, Nellie, I'm sorry to barge in on you like this.

  LARRY

  (muttering)

  I just bet you are.

  ROSE

  I was tending my garden when I just happened to notice an elderly gentleman leaving your house.

  LARRY

  (muttering)

  Leave it to old Hawkeye.

  ROSE

  Was he by any chance John O'Brien?

  NELLIE

  That's exactly who he was.

  ROSE

  Ah, I thought so. I bet he's now on his way to the Fore River Shipyard to go aboard the USS Salem.

  LARRY

  Hey, Rose, you're a townie, aren't you?

  ROSE

  That I am and damned proud of it.

  LARRY

  So you were living here when the ship the O'Brien boys were serving on was torpedoed?

  ROSE

  Although I was very young, I remember it well.

  NELLIE

  (shaking her head in pity)

  John's a walking dead man.

  ROSE

  (nodding)

  I feel worse for him than I do for his brothers.

  LARRY

  Well, at least he's still alive.

  NELLIE

  From the looks of him, I'd say just barely.

  ROSE

  The two other tragedies hit him even harder.

  LARRY

  What are you talking about?

  ROSE

  His parents.

  NELLIE

  What about them?

  ROSE

  You mean you don't know?

  LARRY

  No, we don't. Unlike you, we're not townies.

  (ROSE hesitates.)

  NELLIE

  Come on now, Rose; don't keep us in suspense.

  ROSE

  His father hung himself and his mother went insane.

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