Little Women 4/5

Mary, Laura and Ginny are walking home from school and are talking about the performances that will be happening tomorrow. Laura is pretty tired of rehearsals at this point because half of her lines have since been taken out of the script. Yeah, when I played the Tin Man in my high school’s production of The Wizard of Oz, the Scarecrow and I had maybe three lines between the two of us after the Cowardly Lion was introduced. That’s a lot of standing around time, especially when you factor in an intermission. Anyway, Mary tells Laura it will be over soon. Laura reminds her sister that Doc Baker said the same thing when he pulled out one of Laura’s teeth even though it hurt for days afterward. Yeah, student theater is like pulling teeth. Ginny chimes in that she doesn’t mind the play so much but that she wished her mom would come to the show. This is the first time the Ingalls girls have heard this news and they ask Ginny about it. She says her Ma gave lots of reasons and Laura suggests acting really sweet so Ma Clark will give the real reason. Ginny runs home to try out this tactic.

When Ginny arrives at home, she has a package that she must have picked up along the way. Ma Clark greets her daughter and sees the package. She asks what it is and Ginny hands it to her and says it’s a present. Ma Clark unwraps the package and is pleasantly surprised to find a dress inside. Ginny reminds her that she said that she didn’t have a decent dress to wear to the play so Ginny got her one. Ma asks where Ginny got the money, but the girl says it’s a secret. Ma Clark thinks about it for a moment and jumps to the conclusion that Mr. Mayfield must be involved. She tells Ginny to take the dress back to the mercantile and give the money back to Mr. Mayfield. Ginny denies that Mr. Mayfield was involved, but Ma cuts her off, accuses her daughter of lying and sends her to bed without supper. Booo!

The next morning at the homestead, Charles finishes his chores and heads back inside the house. He sees the chairs stacked on the table and asks Caroline about the floor: he thought she already scrubbed it. Caroline said she did but she wanted to mop the floor and can’t find her mop. She calls up to the loft to see if Laura knows where the mop is. Laura asks a string of clarifying questions, such as “THE mop? The NEW mop?” causing Pa to call her downstairs. Laura is wearing the mop as a wig. About twenty years ago I was down in New Mexico for summer vacation. On Saturday morning my sister and I were channel surfing trying to find cartoons and came across this show on one of the religious stations where one kid was sitting on another kid’s lap like a ventriloquist’s dummy wearing a mop on her head. It was one of the weirdest things I had seen on TV…up to that point in my young life. Laura looks a lot like that dummy. Caroline tells her daughter that she looks more like Medusa than Beth, but Laura is not up on her Greek mythology either. Pa tells her to put the mop back on its handle.

Meanwhile, Mr. Mayfield is driving down the road when he sees Ginny sitting in a tree crying. He stops his cart and asks if she wants a lift to town. He asks why she’s up so early and figures it is because of the show. She tells Mayfield that she is going to be in the show because her Ma isn’t going. Ginny doesn’t think her Ma cares. That’s a totally reasonable argument your daughter is making, Ma Clark. Bad mommy! Ginny goes on to tell Mayfield about the dress she bought, which goes to show that he was not involved at all. He tells Ginny that everything will be alright. He takes the package and promises that her Ma will change her mind. In the meantime, he suggests that Ginny take the long way to school so she can wash away her tears in the creek so that “the prettiest girl in school” doesn’t look all gloomy on stage. Aww. Ginny watches Mayfield ride towards her house before leaving for school.

Ma Clark is less than thrilled when Mayfield arrives at her house. He begins to lecture her about how she is treating her daughter. He tells her that he found Ginny crying this morning and that he was not involved in the dress purchase. Ma Clark tries to argue with him about it, but he calls her out on her itty bitty pity party. Mayfield says in no uncertain terms that she should do what’s right, put on the dress, and ride with him into town to go watch the play.

Over at the mercantile, Willie is sneaking down into the store to get the tobacco for the Ants. Just as he opens the humidor, Nels walks in and asks Willie what he is doing. The kid says he is getting some stuff for the play, but Nels tells him that those props won’t be necessary for Tom Sawyer. Nels takes the cigars and sends Willie to school. Harriet comes down the stairs and tells Nellie to hurry along. Nellie doesn’t want to go, so Harriet tells Nels to move along while she deals with Nellie’s stage fright. “I’ve never heard of an actress yet who hasn’t had some sort of temperament,” Harriet chuckles as she goes upstairs. “What’s her excuse the rest of the time?” Nels mutters to himself.