CLAUDIA: Did you eat in the dining hall? It�s no wonder. Well, lie down on the floor. (Calling out the door) Sissy! Sissy! Come in here and sit by Miss Melanie.
SISSY: (Entering) Yes�m, Miss Claudia. (See attends MELANIE.)
CLAUDIA: Now, let me see. What was I doing? (She gathers her senses and calls out the door again.) Pork and Beans! Pork and Beans! Come in here!
breaks the sad news
to Claudia
CLAUDIA: Where have all the supplies gone? How can I get ready for camp without any supplies? (To audience) Tax your understanding with that riddle.
PORK AND BEANS: Well, Miss Claudia, to tell you the truth, there ain�t no more supplies left.
CLAUDIA: What do you mean? What happened to them?
PORK AND BEANS: We done used ev�rything up for them campers.
CLAUDIA: (Incredulous) Everything? All the construction paper? All the magic markers? All the yarn? All the pencils and scissors? Everything?
PORK AND BEANS: Yes�m, ev�rything done got used up for all them campers.
CLAUDIA: Well, what about the contact paper?
PORK AND BEANS: (Shaking his head sadly) That there contact paper was the first thing to go.
CLAUDIA: Well, where could it have disappeared to? We started out with 35 yards. I feel like I�ve been making nametags all summer, but I couldn�t have made that many.
(PORK AND BEANS scratches his head and exits.)
CLAUDIA: This is too much! This is just too much! I�ve got to get out of here!
a frantic
Aunt Twistabead
CLAUDIA: Aunt Twistabead, Aunt Twistabead, calm down! You always get yourself worked up in a tizzy.
AUNT TWISTABEAD: I�ve just come from the dining hall, and I can�t believe the noise. You ask them to be quiet for just one more minute, and then they�re just as loud as before. They�re disturbing the important people. I may be a coward, but I just can�t take it any more. I�m going to Macon before I lose my senses � altogether!
(EVERYONE on stage and off declares in unison: I�m going to Macon before I lose my senses! JIM alone shouts: Altogether!)
CLAUDIA: Oh, Aunt Twistabead, take me with you!
AUNT TWISTABEAD: No, you must stay here, Claudia, and take care of Melanie. (Exiting) If I hear one more camper say �What are we doing next?� I think I�m going to faint!
CLAUDIA: Oh, fire up! If she can leave, I can too! (Thinking a mile a minute) But how am I going to get away? I know! I can take Big Fred! But who�s going to drive it? Of course! Frank Butler, the bus driver! (Calling out the door) Sissy! Sissy! (Sissy enters.) I want you to go to the dining hall and get Frank. He�s going to drive us out of here.
SISSY: Yes�m. (She starts to leave but is taking her time.)
CLAUDIA: Well, don�t dawdle! Hurry! Hurry!
SISSY: But what about Miss Melly?
CLAUDIA: I�ll take care of Melly. You just go get Frank, before I wear you out!
(SISSY exits, only somewhat faster.)
CLAUDIA: (Sitting by MELANIE and fanning her) All right, Melly, how are you feeling?
(MELANIE utters a speechless groan.)
CLAUDIA: I know exactly what�s wrong with you. You made the mistake of eating everything on your plate at breakfast. Wasn�t today the day they had Epworth Tomato and Okra Surprise? It�s a wonder you�re not dead. Well, you�ll be alright just as soon as we get out of here. Do you think you�ll have the strength to make it to Big Fred?
MELANIE: (Weakly) I think so, Claudia. You�re so sweet to me � just like a real sister.
CLAUDIA: Oh, shush, Melly. Don�t be such a ninny at a time like this. (Pacing) What�s taking Sissy so long? She should be back by now. I�m going to take a strap to her.
(SISSY is heard strolling outside singing a morose version of �I Want to Join the Great Parade.�)
CLAUDIA: (Pulling SISSY inside) You�re as slow as Vernard Robinson giving a sermon. And where�s Frank?
SISSY: I never seen him, Miss Claudia.
CLAUDIA: What?!
SISSY: No�m. He ain�t at the lunchroom. �Sides, I�s scared to go near that place!
CLAUDIA: I should have known I�d have to go myself. You sit with Melly. And don�t you be upsetting her, or I�ll whip the hide off you.
SISSY: (Stops her) Oh, Miss Claudia, m�am? Jus� in case you cain�t find Mr. Frank at the lunchroom, neither. I can drive the bus for you.
CLAUDIA: (Surprised) You can?
SISSY: (Confidently) Yes�m, I done it lots and lots. Jus� leave ev�rything to me.
CLAUDIA: Well, thank you, Sissy. It�s a comfort to know that. But I�ll go look for Frank, just the same.
