12x22 - Lonesome Katie

[bunniefuu]

Oh,

come, Uncle Charley.

Because Priscilla and Margaret never make
their beds or help with the dishes.

That's how come.

But it's only a slumber party,
and they slumber real good, Uncle Charley.

Yeah, well, check with your folks.

But I'm telling you right now, I ain't recommending.

The doorbell, Uncle Charley.

I heard it, I heard it.

And keep your fingers out of the salad.

Okay.

I'll get it.

You go relax or something.

Hiya.

Hey, you ain't peddling little kids, are you?

I'm Jewel Marsnick.

My husband is a friend of Robbie Douglas'.

Robbie?

Oh, come on in.

Hey, Katie.

Oh, I didn't know you were there.

This is Jewel, uh, well, you've heard of the name.

It's nice meeting you.

Thank you.

Come in, please.

Thank you.

Hi, Pontus.

Well, I'm certainly glad you came in
because I want to hear all about Robbie, yeah?

I sure do.

Oh, a big boy.

Hey, what's your name?

Well, this is Jason.

Say hello, honey.

Hi, Jason.

Hey, you know, he's the spitting image of his dad.

Oh, do you know Carl?

No.

Well, then, how do you know Jason looks like him?

Well, that's because he don't look like you.

That's funny.

You say your husband is a friend of Robbie's?

Yes, they're working together on those Bridges in Peru.

Together?

I mean, they're actually on the same crew?

Carl works for your husband.

He's the junior engineer, and your husband
is the senior engineer.

Oh, how wonderful.

How can he be senior anything?

He's just a punk kid.

Have you heard from your husband?

How's Robbie?

Well, he was fine as of five weeks ago.

Oh.

Oh.

You mean you're not getting any letters either?

Well, what do you girls expect?

A mailbox on every palm tree in the jungle?

Uncle Charley, do you think you could find
a cookie for Jason out in the kitchen?

Hey, uh... Would you like a cookie?

Yeah.

Are you trying to unload me?

What?

No.

Well, I would like to talk to Jewel for a minute, please.

Oh, I see.

Well, hey, come on, little fella.

They want to unload us.

You're talking too much.

Thanks.

Thanks, Uncle Charley.

Yeah, I'll give him a cookie.

Thanks.

There is something I'd like to talk to you about.

Hi, I'm Judy Douglas.

Honey, this is Marcenek.

Hello.

Uh, you said there was something you
wanted to talk to me about.

Oh, he's a little boy, lady.

Honey, you're interrupting.

Rob's okay, isn't he?

Well, as I say, he was fine five weeks ago.

Hi, Mama!

Hi, Mama!

Hi, Doc!

Hi, Donny!

Donny!

Well, these are my boys.

Carl said you had dreams.

Listen, would you like to have dinner at my apartment?

Hey, fellas, look what I got here.

Ha-ha, look at this.

Hey, he's the blame, too, can't he?

And we certainly can't talk here.

I would love to have dinner at your apartment.

What's wrong?

Oh, ain't it?

All right, now be quiet.

You know, I have three tobacco pouches, and
somehow they all seem to end up in our bedroom.

You have nothing to do with that.

No.

Dodie asleep?

Well, she's still campaigning for that slumber party.

Honey, did Katie tell you why she's having
dinner with that girl?

Well, she just said they had a lot to talk
over about their remote husbands.

Must be pretty rugged.

That's not the word for it.

Carl's been gone almost two years.

Two years?

He's never even seen Jason.

But in all this time, couldn't he have met
you in Lima for a few days?

Has Robbie done that?

Well, not lately.

That's remote.

Even if you got as far as Lima,
there are still hundreds of miles of

practically uncharted grounds to cover,
and it's much too dangerous for a woman.

Recognize those lyrics?

Nobody's making good money.

Oh, yes.

He even manages to write a letter once in a while.

Oh, have you received the lace mantilla yet?

Yes.

The Indian ladies make them.

Apparently, every American who works down there thinks
that a lace mantilla takes care of the months of waiting.

I'll help you with the dishes.

What does Carl say about Rob?

Well, he says he's fine.

Robbie is the youngest senior engineer
they've ever had down there.

And your husband is terrific under adversity.

Yeah, he does sort of have this bulldog thing about him.

Carl says that Robbie loves a challenge,
that the harder the job is, the better he likes it.

He slogs through the jungle like a water
buffalo, and that's the exact quote.

Well, I'd hate it if he were unhappy down there.

Not me.

Really?

Katie, they love it.

They're down there conquering the
undergrowth and the mosquitoes and an

occasional tribe of unfriendly Indians, and
they just can't wait to get back to it the next day.

They're conquistadors without g*ns.

Well, I wouldn't put it that way.

No?

Write your husband a letter and ask him to
come back, and then see what happens.

Katie, I'm sorry.

I'm not yelling at you.

You know that, but...

Well, it's just that I'm tired of being the sister
wheel at a card party or the extra woman at a dance.

You ask your husband to come back, and... And he refused?

Every letter.

Oh, he has the most marvelous excuses.

Uh, he's doing something for mankind.

The salary's too great.

Be patient a little while longer.

The truth of the matter is, he just
doesn't want to come back.

Oh, I'm sure.

Katie?

Yes?

I'm leaving Carl.

She wants me to write Rob and ask him to
tell her husband that she's leaving him.

Oh, why should you do something like that?

Well, she just doesn't want to write a Dear John letter.

Well, that's too bad, but Katie, that's not your problem.

Well, she, she says that as long as Rob's his
boss, that he might be the best one to tell him.

And she thinks that verbalizing is so much better
than, than something cold written on a piece of paper.

Oh, banana oil.

What?

Oh, that's just something my mother used to say
when she really wanted to say something much worse.

Katie, this just isn't your problem.

I mean, you said you'd do it, didn't you?

Well, I, I said I'd think about it.

Oh, Katie.

I mean, this is ridiculous.

I mean, after all, the, oh, death is up.

Oh, Katie.

You might have a perfect hand there.

I'm sorry.

I'm sorry, Larry, couldn't make it tonight, Katie, but
I think you'll find Mother to be quite a bridge player.

To Rob.

Oh, thanks, Bill, but I'm not up to it.

Hey, Katie, want to read the composition I
wrote for school?

What?

Oh, oh, okay.

That's very good, Dodie.

Did you really read it?

Well, of course, why do you ask?

Your eyes didn't go back and forth.

They didn't.

Well, maybe you're right.

I'll read it later, okay?

Okay.

Uncle Charley, I'm going to go take a walk.

Don't go too far.

It's dark out there.

Okay.

Hi, Daddy.

Hi, sweetheart.

Want to read the composition?

The composition I wrote for school?

Sure.

Well, you wrote this for school, huh?

Yeah.

Well, Slumber Party by Dodie Douglas.

Once upon a time, there were three little princesses.

One was named Dodie, and one was named Prinkella.

That's Priscilla.

Oh.

We'll check on the spelling on that a little later.

One was named Priscilla, and the other one
was named Margaret.

These three girls were real cool, and they
minded their parents and all the good junk.

Okay.

All they wanted in the whole world was a slumber party.

That's all Dodie wanted, and that's all
Margaret wanted, and that's all Priscilla wanted.

But the queen said no, and that's that.

I, uh, I guess you haven't had, Coachella.

You haven't had any reputation marks, have you?

Uh-uh.

We're barely up to comma.

The queen, whose name was Barbara,
got a real rotten look on her face when

she told the three kids they could not
have a slumber party.

And the queen, whose name was Barbara,
said to the king, whose name was Stephen,

this little Princess will do anything to get that slumber

party, even by writing a
composition when she doesn't have to.

Oh, she wrote this for school.

Did you, Dodie?

Uh-uh.

Uh-uh.

But next time Mrs. Snyder asks for a
composition, I was going to turn in this one.

Maybe.

But you didn't tell your daddy the truth, did you?

I guess not.

I'm sorry, Daddy.

It's all right, Dodie.

But it's always a good idea to tell the
truth about everything, huh?

Yeah.

Am I a crook?

No.

But I do think you're going to have to be
punished, don't you?

Yeah.

What do you think the punishment ought to be?

What do you think, Dodie?

I get to pick it out?

Well, what do you think, Mama?

Well, I think it's a dangerous course of
action, but, uh, all right.

Pick your own punishment, Dodie.

Uh, I have to sleep with tr*mp?

Sure.

I have to eat cookies until I get sick of them?

That'd teach me lessons.

I guess I'd better go to my room.

Would it be so awful if...

we let her have a slumber party?

Well, maybe I'll give in tomorrow.

But I don't think she should be rewarded tonight, do you?

Well, I don't know.

The idea of having three princesses in the
house is, uh, rather intriguing.

Particularly, uh, Princess Primkella.

Primkella?

Yeah.

Well, I've had it with space for a while.

Why don't we go down and have a cup of hot
chocolate or something, huh?

Hey, Steve, do you have to scrape that pipe?

It, uh, needs cleaning, Charley.

Yeah, well, it sounds like somebody's
running fingernails over a blackboard.

Hey, hey, hey, she's here, look.

Hey.

Katie, honey.

Well, you're shivering.

Why didn't you wear a sweater?

I didn't think about it, I guess.

Yeah, well, it's dumb.

It's dumb to go for a walk.

Charley, Charley.

I think we'd better leave.

Leave?

I think somebody better have a talk with that girl.

Exactly.

Come on, Katie, sit down.

Can I get you something?

I, uh, I'm going to bed.

Huh?

Tonight.

Oh, oh, oh, yeah, yeah, me too.

Well, good night, you guys.

Good night, Charley.

That bad, huh, Kate?

Does it have anything to do with that young
woman who came by here a few days ago?

I just don't know.

Well, there are times to talk, and there are
times when talking is exactly the wrong thing to do.

Try to get some sleep, huh?

X98.

Have your credit card ready and call now.

There's more to it than that.

I mean, uh, writing the letter isn't the whole thing.

Everything she says about herself applies to me.

The extra at the bridge game, the fixed
wheel at the dance, the whole thing.

You know, Katie, uh, life is, uh, life is a lot of things.

One of them is, what do you expect of marriage?

What do you expect, Katie?

Dad, you'll, you'll have to admit that
having your husband far away in a jungle

isn't exactly your average marriage situation.

Well, I suppose you could look at it as
another form of being married to a doctor

who's called out in the middle of the
night, or a salesman who's on the road

traveling for weeks at a time,
or a husband who works so hard during the

day that he comes home and falls in the bed at six O'clock.

It's hot chocolate, Katie.

Katie, and I want you to drink it.

Now, you hear me?

Thank you, Uncle Charley.

Are you saying that I should just accept the situation?

What's the alternative?

Katie?

I have thought of what you're thinking.

Well, now we're in another area.

Anything I say from now on will sound like
I'm defending my son.

Dad, I want you to defend him.

Tell me I'm an idiot.

Tell me that I'm not going to turn out like her.

What I'm saying, Kate, is you'd better crank
your heart sharp before Uncle Charley comes back.

I'm just saying that if you expect perpetual
minute-to-minute romance from a marriage, you're in trouble.

I knew a couple once who had all the
externals but nothing at the roots.

Us?

No, no, no.

Just a couple I knew.

You know, it was always lighting her
cigarettes for her and opening the car

door for her and sending her flowers a
couple of times a week.

I'd settle for that right now.

Yeah, of course you would, but not if it
was just an act, Kate.

They did it just for show, for what other
people might think.

That marriage didn't last very long.

I know what you're saying, Dad.

Afraid if I say any more, I'll just be repeating myself.

Katie, right now, nothing is... Nothing is
more important to Dodie than a slumber party.

She even did a little clipping to get it.

Will she get it?

Maybe.

But it won't be what she expects.

Like marriage?

It isn't always what you expect, but it's still good.

Well, I'm going to bed.

Good night, Kate.

Good night, Dad.

Thank you.

You listen to him, Katie.

He's right.

You heard the whole thing?

Sure.

You know, life's a real bumpy road.

What you got to develop is good shock absorbers.

And look, when I tell you to drink all
your hot chocolate, now you drink it.

I will, Uncle Charley.

I will.

Good night.

Good night.

Some call him a prodigy.

I give you Ernie Douglas.

This offer won't last, so call 1-800-414-2882.

Hi, Dodie.

Hi.

My mother's made us more hair.

Yeah, well, they look okay.

Go on up to my room.

Okay.

See you later.

You didn't even say our hats look good.

Neither did you, Dodie.

Oh, yeah.

They look okay.

My mother was going to make me wear gloves.

Only the dog ate one of them.

Dodie, didn't all your friends were here?

Oh, what wonderful looking hats.

When does the slumbering begin, Mrs. Douglas?

Well, I'd say after dinner.

All right.

Me?

That's cool.

Steve, I don't believe any one of those
little girls knows what a slumber party is.

You sure?

Sure.

Eight-year-olds are pretty smart these days.

Well, they both showed up with hats.

Margaret said she would have worn gloves,
but the dog ate one of them.

You know, I think our house is built on a tilt.

The ba*ls all go to the right.

Really, Steve, I am a little worried about
this slumber party.

I mean, they got into their pajamas after dinner and got
into bed, and I'm afraid they're just lying there waiting.

Waiting for what?

Well, that's just the point.

How long will it be?

For what?

For the slumber party to start.

Well, it's already started.

Honey, a slumber party just means that you
go to someone's house, and you put your

pajamas on and talk for a while, and then go to sleep.

Man!

What did you expect?

Well, I don't know, but I sure wasn't talking in sleep.

Man!

You know, I still say this house is built on a tilt.

Barbara, look the other way or something.

I'm going to kiss your husband.

Oh, why?

Because he was right about something.

Dodie's slumber party isn't what she
expected, but it's going to turn out all right.

What does she expect?

Well, I think the word's hard.

Dodie and slumber party is what threw them.

Do you have any ice cream in the refrigerator?

And some cookies.

Good.

Those poor little things waiting up there
for something to happen.

Oh, I almost forgot.

Oh, thank you.

I think you deserve two.

Hey, this is better than golf.

Yeah, the house tilts to the right.

You have to have that fixed.

You have to have that fixed.