RITA
He was choking again. On this toy missile.

LILAH
Those toys are too old for him.
(she picks one up)
The label says not for children under three.

CAROL
What does that matter? He’s probably older than three anyway.

LILAH
He’s not. He’s a little baby. We just got him.

CAROL
I just got him. When I finish painting it, I’m going to give him this tanker.

RITA
What a born mother you are!

CAROL
Maybe he’ll grow up to be one of the men who paints the camouflage on army tankers!

RITA
One must always have dreams for the children of today.

LILAH
I think the paint might be bad for a baby.

CAROL
Nothing done in love can be bad for a baby, Lilah. You can’t understand because you’ve never loved a baby.

LILAH
Well, you can love until your head falls off, but the next time that girl comes, I’m going to let her in.

CAROL
I will never let her enter this house!

LILAH
(pointing to a baby toy)
That one is hers—she brought that one. See?
(picks up a stuffed animal)
It’s a baby toy. A stuffed polar bear. No small parts to choke on. That’s the difference. She has a right to see her stuffed animal.

(Doorbell rings)

CAROL
Polar bears are dangerous.

(LILAH turns to leave.)

BLACK OUT

LIGHTS ON

(LILAH stands by the doorway talking to a woman we do not see.)

LILAH
I see you took the eye shadow off. Good…But…I was hoping you’d wear the sheet I gave you like you were a nun.
(pause)
It’s okay, I mean, it’s not your fault. It’s just—they’ll think you’re from the desert now. They’ll never let you see him like that…Come back and look American next time—wear jeans or something, and I promise you, Zippy will be home.

BLACK OUT

LIGHTS ON

(CAROL and LILAH are in the living room.)

CAROL
The day you found out you were held back in the first grade, you cried. Do you remember that? And I wiped the tears from your eyes, because you were my little sister, and I licked the salt from my fingers, and I told you those ocean-water tears were magic. And if you believed that, if you believed my words, then your next year in the first grade would make you special, successful—you’d have lots of friends, and you’d be happy for the rest of your life.

LILAH
I don’t remember that.

CAROL
But if you didn’t believe…in the magic of the tears tasted by your older sister, then you would tear away from me. Forever.

LILAH
Carol…

CAROL
I’ve sensed that before, of course. That you never believed me. The signs were there. You never got As in school, you weren’t invited to parties, and I doubt I’d call you “happy”. But…part of me still hoped. No one wants to believe her sister chose to betray her.

LILAH
I’m not betraying you.

CAROL
But it’s clear now. You never believed me then. And you don’t believe in me now.

RITA (off stage)
Carol!

CAROL
There is a reason they gave him to me.

RITA (off stage)
Lilah!

CAROL
There was a reason they stole him from her. I won’t be part of your plan to overthrow my motherhood.

LILAH
Carol, it’s not a plan for anything. You’re taking it the wrong way. It just has to do with letting a mother see her own child. The real mother.

CAROL
If you say one more thing, Lilah, I swear, I’m going to smack you on your neck!

(RITA enters, quiet, shaking, holding the toy missile again.)

RITA
Carol…