SYBIL
Chapter 19: The Beach

Characters

BENJAMIN: a man in his 40’s.

GIRL: a younger female, of indeterminate age. She is clearly younger than BENJAMIN

(Note: The GIRL could be played by as many as four actors)

NARRATOR: a nondescript man wearing all black.

(BENJAMIN is wearing a blue boxer swimsuit and the GIRL is wearing a yellow two-

piece swimsuit.)

Setting

BENJAMIN and the GIRL are sitting on a blanket at the beach.

Note: Referencing J.D. Salinger’s short story, A Perfect Day for Bananafish and Vladimir

Nabokov’s novel, LOLITA.

Scene 1

(Benjamin and the girl are sitting on the blanket in the middle of the stage. The Narrator is off to the side.)

NARRATOR

J. D. Salinger wrote a number of stories about the Glass family. In A Perfect Day for Bananafish, the principle character is Seymour Glass. He has returned from the military and is at a seashore resort with Muriel, his wife. Her mother has called because she is concerned about Seymour’s strange behavior of late. This short story was first published in the New Yorker in 1948, more than three years before THE CATCHER IN THE RYE.

(pause)

While Muriel is on the phone with her mother, Seymour is at the beach where Sybil, a young girl, has sought him out. After their interaction, he returns to his room.

(The NARRATOR reads from the Salinger book he is holding.)

He glanced at the girl lying asleep on one of the twin beds. Then he went over to one of the pieces of luggage, opened it, and from under a pile of shorts and undershirts he took out an Ortgies calibre 7.65 automatic. He released the magazine, looked at it, then reinserted it. He cocked the piece. Then he went over and sat down on the unoccupied twin bed, looked at the girl, aimed the pistol, and fired a bullet through his right temple.

(The NARRATOR pauses and turns the pages back.)

Earlier, Sybil is in her hotel room with her mother.

(The NARRATOR reads from the Salinger book he is holding.)

“See more glass,” said Sybil Carpenter, who was staying at the hotel

with her mother. “Did you see more glass?”

(The NARRATOR spells out, “S–e–e m–o–r–e g–l–a–s–s.”)

“Pussycat, stop saying that. It’s driving Mommy absolutely crazy. Hold still, please.”

Mrs. Carpenter was putting sun-tan oil on Sybil’s shoulders, spreading it down over the delicate, winglike blades of her back. Sybil was sitting insecurely on a huge, inflated beach ball, facing the ocean. She was wearing a canary-yellow two-piece bathing suit, one piece of which she would not actually be needing for another nine or ten years.

(pause)

And, further down…

(turning the pages)

“Sybil, hold still, pussy.”

“Did you see more glass?” said Sybil.

Mrs. Carpenter sighed. “All right,” she said. She replaced the cap on the sun-tan oil bottle. “Now run and play, pussy. Mommy’s going up to the hotel and have a Martini with Mrs. Hubbel.

(NARRATOR puts down the book.)

Our story begins here. A middle-aged man is at the beach with a younger girl.

(NARRATOR turns towards the couple.)

(GIRL actor No. 1)

GIRL 1

Do you see more glass?

BEN

Why did you say that? It makes no sense.

GIRL 1

I was just trying to cheer you up. You look so depressed.

BEN

And, you thought that would do it?

GIRL 1

It’s sort of funny, don’t you think?

BEN

Not to a depressed person.

GIRL 1

Oh, come on. It’s a sunny day. We’re at the beach. And, you look like you aren’t here. Pretend you are with an under-aged girl.

BEN

You are an under-aged girl. Precocious, I will admit.

GIRL 1

Shusssh… Professor Humbert.

(She lowers her sunglasses and looks at him, the way Lolita might.)

Do you want to fool around?

BEN

Really? We’re at a public beach.

GIRL 1

All the more lascivious. We could get under the blanket.

BEN

No!

GIRL 1

Oh, come on. You’re no fun. I know fun, and you sir, are no fun.

(GIRL disappears under the blanket.)

(The lights fade out, then back in.)

Scene 2

NARRATOR

Or, maybe the story happened this way.

(NARRATOR turns towards the couple.)

BEN

What a gorgeous day. I’m so glad we came to the beach.

(GIRL actor No. 2)

GIRL 2

It’s a perfect day for Bananafish.

BEN

No need to be that way, Seymour Glass. You can’t have that attitude on a day like today.

GIRL 2

How can you be so happy? Nothing has changed.

BEN

I know. But, we have today and we’re together.

GIRL 2

I don’t know what I am doing here with you? It’s wrong in so many ways. I feel like Lolita.

BEN

Hey. Our age difference isn’t that great. And besides, it’s right in all the most important ways.

GIRL 2

You live in a dream world. Don’t you see how pathetic we are?

BEN

I see that I love you and that we are together. Isn’t that enough?

GIRL 2

I see something that is terribly wrong.

(GIRL disappears under the blanket.)

(The lights fade out, then back in.)

Scene 3

NARRATOR

Or possibly, it was more like this.

(NARRATOR turns towards the couple.)

(GIRL actor No. 3)

GIRL 3

It isn’t that big a difference, Ben.

BEN

Yes, it is.

GIRL 3

I mean, not in the areas that really matter. We can work out all of the details. They’re small.

BEN

No, they’re big. And, it is not just the age thing. It’s everything.

GIRL 3

We can’t give up. Not yet.

BEN

Yes, we can. We should. We both know it’s for the best.

GIRL 3

I don’t care how it happened. I don’t care what people say. I don’t care if it is inappropriate. I want to be with you and that is all that matters.

BEN

You’re not seeing the reality.

GIRL 3

I see I love you. And, I think you love me?

BEN

You know that I do. But, this all wrong. It’s killing us. It’s killing me.

GIRL 3

Ben. I love you!

(Ben disappears under the blanket.)

(The lights fade out, then back in.)

Scene 4

NARRATOR

(The NARRATOR holds up the LOLITA book.)

There is another story that I should tell you.

In 1955, Vladimir Nabokov’s controversial novel, LOLITA, was published in New York. It’s about an English professor, Humbert Humbert, who marries a woman just to be close to her twelve-year old daughter. When the wife discovers this, she runs out of the house and is killed by a passing car. Much of the rest of the book is about the professor’s illicit relationship with his step-daughter. Although acclaimed as an important work of literature, the book was often banned from libraries and classrooms. In the beginning we learn that Humbert is in prison writing his memoirs about the relationship.

(pause)

Let’s return to the beach.

(NARRATOR turns towards the couple.)

(GIRL actor No. 1)

GIRL 1

Why did you assign Vladimir Nabokov for our literature class, professor?

BEN

He was one of the great novelists of the twentieth century. His use of prose was elegant, challenging and beautiful. His novel, LOLITA, is always on the top 100 list of all-time great books.

GIRL 1

Some of the girls in class thought that you picked it because it was sexy. It had nothing to do with the writing. And, they thought you imagined yourself as the English professor, Humbert Humbert.

BEN

Where would they get that idea? I am only here today because you asked me. You said you wanted to discuss the book, remember?

GIRL 1

And you believed that?

BEN

Of course.

GIRL 1

Professor. Do you go to the beach with many of your students?

BEN

No. But, I thought that you were a serious student and truly were interested in the literature.

GIRL 1

And, you were not at all interested in me as a woman.

BEN

I didn’t say that.

(Ben disappears under the blanket.)

(The lights fade out, then back in.)

Scene 5

BEN

So, what did you think of the book?

(GIRL actor No. 2)

GIRL 2

It was OK. But, the English professor is a little pathetic, don’t you agree?

BEN

I’d like to think he was a man with a passion.

GIRL 2

But, he ends up in jail, writing his memoirs.

BEN

Like a Greek tragedy.

GIRL 2

No. More like a loser.

BEN

But, wasn’t he in love with the young girl?

GIRL 2

I suppose so, but should he have been?

BEN

Probably not. But, he clearly idolized her. Isn’t that important.

GIRL 2

I think that it could have been any young girl. He was just desperate.

BEN

Or maybe, she was the one.

GIRL 2

I think that you would like to believe that because you sympathized with the professor.

BEN

Well, it isn’t that unbelievable. She was an intriguing young girl. And, he was captivated by her beauty from the moment he set eyes upon her. Not unlike you, I have to admit.

GIRL 2

Really?

(GIRL disappears under the blanket.)

(The lights fade out, then back in.)

Scene 6

(GIRL actor No. 3)

GIRL 3

I loved the book. And you were such a cutting edge professor to choose it. You could have gotten in trouble with the administration and the students could have complained to the Dean.

BEN

But, they didn’t.

GIRL 3

That’s only because you are so charming and the women fall for your boyish naiveté.

BEN

I chose the novel because of it s literary value. Besides, I thought it would help me get young girls.

GIRL 3

It worked. But, why me?

BEN

You might think it was because of the critical, thought provoking essays that you turned in, or the attention that you paid in class. But it wasn’t. You turned out to be exactly the way I pictured Lolita.

GIRL 3

Funny.

BEN

OK. The truth is, you looked easy. The kind of girl that wouldn’t be turned off by the advances of an older man.

GIRL 3

You really know how to charm a girl.

BEN

You know that I am just teasing you? I knew you were the one the first time I saw you.

(They both disappear under their blankets.)

(The lights fade out, then back in.)

Scene 7

NARRATOR

Back at the Seymour Glass story, this is what is happening.

(The NARRATOR reads from the Salinger book he is holding.)

He suddenly got to his feet. He looked at the ocean. “Sybil,” he said, “I’ll tell you what we’ll do. We’ll see if we can catch a bananafish.”

“A what?”

“A bananafish,” he said, and undid the belt of his robe.

(pause)

And further down, as they get into the water…

(He turns the page and continues from his book.)

“Don’t let go,” Sybil ordered. “You hold me, now.”

“Miss Carpenter. Please. I know my business,” the young man said.

“You just keep your eyes open for any bananafish. This is a perfect day for bananafish.”

“I don’t see any,” Sybil said.

“That’s understandable. Their habits are very peculiar.” He kept pushing the float. The water was not quite up to his chest. “They lead a very tragic life,” he said. “You know what they do, Sybil?”

She shook her head.

(NARRATOR turns towards the couple.)

(GIRL actor No. 4, who is the youngest)

GIRL 4

I think I saw one.

BEN

Saw what, Sybil?

GIRL 4

A bananafish. It jumped out of the water.

BEN

Well, that’s great. You hardly ever see them this time of year.

GIRL 4

I bet there are more. Do you want to go out on the raft and see if we can find them?

BEN

Thanks, Sybil. But, I was just heading back to my room.

GIRL 4

Please don’t go. Stay with me. It’s much better here at the beach. And, you can keep me safe.

BEN

You’ll be all right. There is nothing that you have to be afraid of. Besides, I have something I have to do.

GIRL 4

It can wait. Whatever it is. We have everything right here. (beat) Together, (beat) on the beach. I don’t want to lose us, (beat) to lose you. I really need you here with me, now. Don’t go, Ben.

(She has a very insistent and knowing look on her face.)

BLACKOUT

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