Sister, Sister

Freida Lovejoy Burton:
[all three coming down the stairs] I thought it would be good for Danny, but he hates it.

Carolyne Lovejoy:
He hasn't even given it a chance.

Freida Lovejoy Burton:
Now Caroline, I Know my son. He's been on his best behavior. He thinks you don't like him. It's awful to grow up in a house where you're disliked.

Sissy Lovejoy:
Don't I know it.

Carolyne Lovejoy:
What do you mean by that?

Sissy Lovejoy:
You never liked me.

Carolyne Lovejoy:
I raised you, Sissy. Do you remember what Papa always used to say?

Sissy Lovejoy:
What?

Carolyne Lovejoy:
There's nothing more important in a family of nations than the love and care of your own relations.

Sissy Lovejoy:
Oh, those stupid poems again. He even published a book of them. You knew I wanted to go to Howard University and I needed that money.

Carolyne Lovejoy:
Papa left that $2000 for me to publish that book.

Sissy Lovejoy:
Of course, you always did what Papa want. You never did anything for me!

Carolyne Lovejoy:
When you were a sick child, I cleaned your vomit. I bathed and powdered you. I gave you your first pair of high heel shoes. Was that for Papa? I gave you your first dating dress. I gave you your first ice skates! Was that for Papa, Sissy? [runs into the kitchen]

Sissy Lovejoy:
[following her] Yes, Caroline, it was, like everything. And what was he, Caroline? A Pullman Porter who made some investments, saved a little money. A porter caring for white folks. Cleaning their clothes and shining their shoes and damn pleaded for the lousy tips he got being their servant.

Carolyne Lovejoy:
But he did it all for us so that we can have a better way of life.

Sissy Lovejoy:
Not for me. He never...

Freida Lovejoy Burton:
Wait, wait. We don't have to argue this, we're all grown. Now Cissy and I both have decided to leave this place. We need money and we want to sell this house.

Carolyne Lovejoy:
My house?

Freida Lovejoy Burton:
It's not your house.

Sissy Lovejoy:
It belongs to all of us, Caroline.

Carolyne Lovejoy:
This was your idea, Freida. You had it from the first day you walked through that front door.

Freida Lovejoy Burton:
I don't deny it, but why do you need all this space for yourself?

Sissy Lovejoy:
Caroline, you can move into your own apartment. You can buy yourself a decent car.

Sissy Lovejoy:
This house will sell easy.

Carolyne Lovejoy:
Isn't it a pity that for 13 years you didn't think about this house, when I was here putting my time, my love, my money into this house! [she pickes up a serving dish and sets it on the dining room table]

Freida Lovejoy Burton:
Where do you think I was last night? You can't stand to hear the truth, well where do you think I was? Huh? I'm trying to tell you about your minister. I saw you coming out of the church. We were going into the parsonage, me and him, and we weren't going to PRAY!

Carolyne Lovejoy:
[Coming after her in a mad rage] LIAR! LIAR! LIAR!

[Slaps Freida]

Carolyne Lovejoy:
Liar!

[Frieda slaps her back]

Carolyne Lovejoy:
LIAR! LIAR! LIAR!

[They start fighting and pushing and shoving each other. Sissy runs up to stop them as Freida pushes Caroline into her]

Sissy Lovejoy:
No more, Caroline! No MORE!

[Caroline pushes her out of the way as they destroy practically everything in the living room. Friesda starts throwing wall pictures around and tearing the pictures out of the photo album as Caroline stops her. They are wringing each other's necks and shaking each other violently]

Sissy Lovejoy:
NO MORE! NO MORE! NO MORE! NO MORE! NO MORE! NO MORE! NO MORE! NO MORE! No MORE! NO MORE! NO MORE!

[They stop wrestling and look at Cissy as she is sobbing hysterically]

Sissy Lovejoy:
NO MORE! No MORE! Stop it! Stop it! Stop it!

[She sinks to the floor and cries on the side of the couch]

Sissy Lovejoy:
Stop IT!

Sissy Lovejoy:
That's why she wants the house. Her and Richard.

Carolyne Lovejoy:
NO! Because of everything I've done for this place! THIS HOUSE IS MINE!

Freida Lovejoy Burton:
Maybe so, but you and the reverend will never live in it.

Carolyne Lovejoy:
No one's gonna stop me from living in this house!

Freida Lovejoy Burton:
No one's gonna have to stop you. You're gonna stop yourself!

Carolyne Lovejoy:
What?

Freida Lovejoy Burton:
Didn't it ever seem odd to you that only Mama died in that fire? There were over 200 people in that church when it burned. Now why was it that only Mama remained in her pew?

Carolyne Lovejoy:
What are you talking about?

Freida Lovejoy Burton:
She didn't want to get out! She didn't want to escape!

Carolyne Lovejoy:
I'm not gonna listen to you, Freida!

Sissy Lovejoy:
Frieda, Freida, don't...

Freida Lovejoy Burton:
NO! Mama hated this house! She hated her role as maid and mammy and she came to hate Papa.

Carolyne Lovejoy:
That is not true. They loved each other!

Freida Lovejoy Burton:
When Mama was pregnant with Sissy, she did everything she could to try to abort! And Papa being the upright Christian said that if she got rid of his seed, he would KILL HER! He wanted a LOVEJOY JR, but instead he got ANOTHER GIRL!

Sissy Lovejoy:
You see, I knew I wasn't...

Freida Lovejoy Burton:
Nobody ever wants nobody, girl! You have to want yourself.

Carolyne Lovejoy:
Stop it with your filthy lies!

Freida Lovejoy Burton:
Papa put up a front! He put up a front as a good husband, and hated Mama for what he called her betrayal!

Carolyne Lovejoy:
Get out of this house with your malicious mouth!

Freida Lovejoy Burton:
I don't say I haven't lied sometime in my life, but here and now let's bring in the truth! TRUTH! TRUTH about Papa, about Mama, about the Lovejoy family, about this awful house!

Carolyne Lovejoy:
I don't WANNA HEAR IT!

Freida Lovejoy Burton:
Well, you're gonna hear it! I'm tired of living with lies! Tired of hearing about how good Papa was, and how good his life was! And how good this house was! [knocks over things on top on piano]

Carolyne Lovejoy:
Don't you DARE!

Freida Lovejoy Burton:
[Frieda starts trashing the house and Caroline runs after her, picking up things and beggin her to stop. Frieda faces her] WHERE DO YOU THINK I WAS LAST NIGHT?

Carolyne Lovejoy:
What are you trying to say?

Carolyne Lovejoy:
Freida, you have absolutely no judgement! Papa loved you so. He loved you so, and he loved your spirit!

Freida Lovejoy Burton:
[Angrily shakes her head] He loved YOU, and he showed it.

Carolyne Lovejoy:
No, he loved YOU. He used me. When he was dying, he asked for you. He asked for you by your nickname.

Freida Lovejoy Burton:
[Turns her head in shock]

Carolyne Lovejoy:
Yes, he did. He said, "Where is Tuzzy?"

Freida Lovejoy Burton:
[Smiling with tears in her eyes] Did he? Really, Caroline, did he?

Freida Lovejoy Burton:
[Bitterly, with tears in her eyes as well] And *I* was the one who was HERE. I gave him sponge baths twice a day. I gave him his medicine. I raised Sissy. I kept this house. But when he was dying, he asked for YOU. He just kept saying over and over, "Where is Tuzzy?" "Where is Tuzzy?" "Where is Tuzzy?" [Continues to repeat it]

Freida Lovejoy Burton:
Caroline, I didn't know that...

Carolyne Lovejoy:
[Runs upstairs, yelling hysterically] "Where is Tuzzy?" "Where is Tuzzy?" "Where is Tuzzy?"

Freida Lovejoy Burton:
Papa always had you. He didn't need me. I mean, talk about a "Handservant to the Lord." You even slept on the floor next to his bed.

Carolyne Lovejoy:
While you ran off when he could not do for himself!

Freida Lovejoy Burton:
I've been expecting this conversation since I walked into this house, and let me tell you something: Papa ate up people's lives. He swallowed up Mama, and then he swallowed you up, so you ought to look at yourself.Or maybe it's the other way around. I mean, you sound just like him. Every dream, every hope... must not serve human beings, but some buildings, a church, a house...

Carolyne Lovejoy:
That's enough, Freida!

Freida Lovejoy Burton:
And now you're trying to swallow up Sissy!

Carolyne Lovejoy:
I'm not trying to swallow up Sissy! I am trying to SAVE Sissy!

Freida Lovejoy Burton:
Save Sissy? From what? Love? Life? Challenges? What? And look at you! You made yourself into some...

Carolyne Lovejoy:
[Turning to leave] Good night, Sissy!

Freida Lovejoy Burton:
Not yet! Papa died...

Carolyne Lovejoy:
Papa died, and you did NOT come to his funeral!

Freida Lovejoy Burton:
That's right. I remember when Mama died. I remembered! And I stood there looking at her grave, and I thought about her life! She was Mr. Lovejoy's shadow! What he liked, she liked! What he didn't like, she didn't like, and he didn't like ME! So, we buried Mama, and that's when I decided to leave. And I was NEVER going to come back.

Carolyne Lovejoy:
[opening lines] Family. Gone. Scattered. All of them except Sissy, my baby sister. You're older now. If you knew, what would you say? Mama, how young you were. Forgive me, and Papa too. I need you now more than ever. If you were alive. If you could hear me, you'd know what to say. But would I have dared to tell you my secret? My high school days. Things were so orderly and neat, open and clear. Now, it's such confusion and chaos. Oh, I was 17. Freida! If you ever found out! Look at us! No one has a right to be as young as we were. I'm lost. Papa, I'm lost. [Church bell ringing] Late! [She shuts the book and hurries out the door] I mustn't be late!