Friday, October
19, 1966
My name is
Victoria Winters. There are sections of Collinwood that have been closed off
for more than fifty years, dusty rooms and dark, haunted corridor, rooms that
no one ever sees—no one but a tormented boy, a boy who has taught me that a
secret hiding place can be more than just a child’s playroom. It can also be a
prison.
Vicki asks David to let her
out.
“You can’t keep me locked up in here!”
The candle goes out and she
relights it.
She yells towards the window, hoping Carolyn or Liz will hear her.
Carolyn wants to know where
her raincoat is. Liz says it’s in her room; she was sewing on a loose button.
Carolyn says she apologized to
Joe and he told her he has a date for tonight. She’s going to have a big night,
with or without Joe. She doesn’t want to hear any lectures.
“Well, you’re going to. Not so
long ago, you chased a man all the way to Bangor.”
“All right, I had lunch with
Burke.”
“If I were Joe, I would’ve
taken a dozen girls out by now.”
“I’m not gonna listen to what
you’re saying.” Hands over ears.
“You think your world’s coming
to an end because, for once, Joe didn’t jump the minute you snapped your
fingers. If you want to know, I’m delighted.”
“I can’t hear a word you’re
saying Mother.”
“Yes, you can, and it’s high
time you realized the world doesn’t revolve around Carolyn Stoddard.”
“I don’t care what you say—I’m
going out, and I’m gonna find someone, and I’m gonna have some fun!”
“Carolyn, don’t be a fool!”
“And I don’t care who it is,
maybe it’ll even be Burke Devlin—I don’t care!”
Sam arrives at the Blue Whale.
He walks past Burke’s invitation to sit with him and calls Maggie on the pay
phone.
He’s worried when she tells him that Joe is coming over for dinner, but promises not to lecture her.
Burke inveigles Sam to sit
down and visit with him. He needs company. He promises not to talk about Bill
Malloy unless Sam does.
Burke wants to make a big
night out of it. Sam thinks he’s drunk. Burke agrees. The first time since he’s
come back to Collinsport. “The crusader returns.”
Burke is in a sentimental
mood.
“Burke, you can’t come back
here like you have, looking for trouble, and expect to find friends.”
Burke wishes they could be
friends again. “I wish everybody I used to know and like could be friends.”
“You can’t have it both ways,”
Sam tells him.
They drink to amnesia.
Carolyn tells her mother she
just wants to get out of the house and listen to music.
Burke wouldn’t have a
thing to do with her anyway. “God help me.”
Liz wishes Carolyn would stay
home and help her look for Vicki. Carolyn says she’s just gone out.
Liz says she’s
afraid something has happened to her—all her coats are in her closet. “Then I
suppose she’ll come home with a cold.” (What a good friend Carolyn is!)
“I wish you’d stay home. I’m
worried.”
“Tonight, Mother, the only
person I intend to worry about is me,” Carolyn says, opening her umbrella. (So,
the same as every other night, then?”)
Vicki climbs up to try the
window, which has bars (bars?) that won’t budge.
She lies down on the cot and
despairs.
Burke says he likes money. Sam
says the Collins family has money and what did it get them?
“Ghosts,” Burke says.
“Ghosties and ghoulies and
long-legged beasties and things that go bump in the night. I can sense their
presence every time I look at that house up on Widow’s Hill.”
Burke asks if he’s ever seen
one. Sam says no. Then how does he know they’re there?
“Because I’m an artist. I have
a soul. Sensitivity.”
Burke asks if the “ghosts are
out like mad” on a night like tonight.
“In droves. Like—like herds of
buffalo, frightening everything in their path.”
“Good.”
“Good?”
“Can’t you just see it, a
whole herd of ghosts trampling through the front hall at Collinwood?”
“Who needs a herd? I’d only
need one.”
“All right, just one. One to
terrify ’em, scare ’em like they deserve to be scared.” More drinks arrive.
Burke says there’s one person he wouldn’t want to scare.
“And, uh, who would you spare,
Burke, from this crusade of yours?”
“Cheers.”
“Cheers. Vicki Winters. I
wouldn’t want to scare her. I like her more than anyone up on that hill.” (Sad
news for David.) They drink to friendship. “Too bad old Bill Malloy isn’t here.”
“Hey, you broke your promise.”
“I did?”
“You said you’d never mention
his name.”
“Forgive me.”
“I do. Ah, I wish old Bill
were here sitting right in this chair now having a little drink with us.”
“Maybe he is,” Burke says. The
ghosts are out tonight, after all, like herds of buffalo.
They agree that Bill was
murdered. So, why wouldn’t he be out tonight?
Carolyn arrives at the Blue
Whale and Burke and Sam make much of her.
Burke asks where her boyfriend is and
she says she doesn’t have one. Sam kisses her hand.
Then Burke says it would
have been nice if she’d brought Vicki. Her bright smile would brighten up this
table. She says she guesses they don’t need her and starts to get up.
Sam and
Burke persuade her to stay.
Then Sam remembers that he has
to get home. Maggie is having a special dinner. She’s having a young man over.
Carolyn’s face falls. She guesses he means Joe Haskell.
“Why should I be jealous of
anything Joe does?”
“That’s a good question.
Another good question is, what are we gonna do?”
Burke begins to sing. “What do
yo do with a drunken sailor . . .”
He toasts to Bill Malloy.
Cast,
In Order of Appearance
Victoria Winters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . Alexandra Moltke
Elizabeth
Collins Stoddard.
. . . . . . . . . . Joan Bennett
Carolyn Stoddard . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . Nancy Barrett
Burke Devlin . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . Mitchell Ryan
Sam Evans . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . David Ford
Bill Malloy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
. . . . . . . . . . Frank Schofield
Fashion by Ohrbach’s
Directed by John Sedwick
Story created
and written by
Art Wallace
