LuLu’s Dance
By Rebekah L. Pierce
(a dark, smoky dance hall room circa 1940s – men in uniform and some not laughing and drinking uproariously along with female counterparts to Benny Goodman’s “Wartime Swing”; a .50 cent per dance club- a lone woman sits with her back to the party dance holding on tightly to an empty glass eyeing the clock above the bar fervently – deep frowns crowd her face; she is named LuLu; she is wearing a black wrap dress with red lipstick on pencil thin lips; her skin is pale & she has thick, black hair which is rather tangled up like a spider’s web)
BARTENDER
You want another drink, LuLu?
LULU
(a raspy voice, tired)
Yeah, sure! Why not?
BARTENDER
(suspicious)
You got money to pay for this one? We’re closed for freebies, girl.
LULU
(closes her eyes and shakes her head no)
But I’m good for it, Frank. I swear. I got money comin’ tonight.
BARTENDER
You’ve been saying that every night now for 3 weeks.
(leans in closely)
He ain’t comin’ back, LuLu. There ain’t no money.
LULU
(near broken now)
You don’t know him, Frank. He wouldn’t lie to me. Not Jimmy. Not now. He knows how badly I need to return home. He wouldn’t leave me here … alone.
STRANGER
(grabbing LuLu)
Hey, sugar! You wanna dance?
LULU
Leave me alone!
(pushes him violently and flashes a small pocket knife at him)
STRANGER
Hey, you ain’t gotta be nasty about it! Bitch!
(storms off sloppily)
BARTENDER
Calm down, LuLu! We don’t need no trouble in here tonight. Here’s a drink. It’s on me this time.
LULU
(eyes Frank suspiciously, but then downs the cool drink)
What’s the date, Frank?
BARTENDER
June 2 … 1943.
LULU
1943. Are you sure?
(bartender nods his head in confirmation)
That long?! It’s been years … since I came here? All those many years gone by … that fast.
Isn’t that funny, Frank? Seems like centuries, even.
BARTENDER
(nods his head watching her closely – she is a danger to herself and others, he knows)
Yeah! Time don’t seem to move around here.
(the music stops and the dancers clamour gloriously back to their tables for fantasy and more drinks – LuLu watches the door intently, waiting)
LULU
Remember when he first came here, Frank? I … I was new, fresh off the bus.
BARTENDER
Yeah, came here to find your fortune … same as everyone else.
LULU
(glares at him for interrupting)
I wasn’t like them other girls, Frank, and you know it. I had big plans for my life … real plans. I’d already saved $10 when he came here. You know how hard it is to save that kind of money these days, Frank? The war has everyone clutching their wallets close to their hearts. You need a knife to remove it, but back then, it was so much easier.
BARTENDER
LuLu, ain’t nothing easy no matter what it look like on the outside.
LULU
What?
BARTENDER
(pouring her another drink)
Drink?
LULU
(looks at the glass softly then back to the door waiting)
He’s gonna come tonight, Frank. I can feel it. None of these guppies got anything on him. We’re gonna make it big, I tell you.
(pause)
Hey, remember when he proposed to me? Right here!
(she tries to stand up, but must use the chair as support)
He got down on one knee … right here. He didn’t care I was a … a … dance girl. No, he saw somethin’ special in me. I always knew I had it, too. All that travelin’, I knew it.
(the band starts playing again, a swing, Glenn Miller’s “One O’Clock Jump” ; the dance floor is alive and breathing again; LuLu glares heatedly at the dancers and then gives up; her eyes soften towards the door)
Why’d he have to go over there? They could’ve got on without him. Time is leaving me behind, Frank. I gotta catch up soon.
(in walks a lone man in an Army uniform – tall and dark, he looks unsure at first, hesitant, but then he storms in with fake exurberance and heads for the bar where LuLu is watching him)
SOLDIER
Bartender, a bourbon, please.
(he turns to notice LuLu staring at him; a small smile crosses his face reluctantly)
And one for the lady?
LULU
(silent, staring)
SOLDIER
You like bourbon?
LULU
(finds her voice)
It’ll do.
BARTENDER
(eyeing LuLu carefully)
Sure thing.
(pours more drinks for the two)
SOLDIER
My name’s John.
(LuLu is still silent; Ellington’s “Take the a Train” serenades the dancers)
What’s yours?
LULU
(eyes him squarely, sizing him up)
Are you sure it’s not Jimmy? You look like a Jimmy.
JOHN
(laughs a little squeamishly)
No, I know my name. It’s John.
LULU
(inhales and returns to looking at the clock above the bar)
It’s .50 cents to dance; a quarter to know my name.
JOHN
Whoa! Ok, then! Let’s dance.
(pulls .75 cents from his pocket and places it in her outstretched hand – they exit to the dance floor where Ellington’s “In a Sentimental Mood” now plays)
I paid. Now can I know your name?
LULU
(crestfallen)
You mean you don’t know already?
JOHN
(smiles sheepishly)
No I don’t. Why? Should I? Have we met before? I think I’d remember if we did. You’re not the kind of girl a man could forget.
LULU
What kind of girl am I to you?
JOHN
Oh, I don’t know. A nice girl … to hold onto in a dance.
(a little nervous)
(Maxine Sullivan’s “When Your Lover Has Gone”)
LULU
I love this song. It makes me whimsical.
(chuckles)
JOHN
What’s so funny?
(turns her round, dancing)
LULU
Where are you from, John?
JOHN
Oklahoma. This is my first tour of duty. I ship out tomorrow for Europe.
LULU
So you came here for one last dance, then?
JOHN
Yes … something like that. I mean … Where I come from, there aren’t too many pretty girls like you to dance with.
(the band has stopped playing for another rest; LuLu and John go back to the bar)
LULU
You think I’m pretty?
(sips her drink)
JOHN
Why yes!!!!! The most beautiful girl in the room! I noticed you first … as soon as I came in … So where are you from?
LULU
Does it matter where I come from?
JOHN
Oh, I don’t know. Just making conversation, I guess.
LULU
I’ve been waiting here for a long time … for someone special … to return. We have plans to marry and move to my home … where I’m from … to start a family.
JOHN
Really? A family … well, I … wish you luck with that.
(prepares to leave)
LULU
Where are you going?
JOHN
Well, I don’t want to intrude on some other man’s space, you see.
LULU
(narrowed eyes; John wonders if she can see him out of them)
Texas. I’m from Texas. Yes, there’s plenty of space there … and time.
JOHN
(anxious to leave now)
That’s nice. Why, we practically live right next door to each other. Well, I gotta be going now.
(stands to leave)
JOHN
(grabs his arm)
LULU
Won’t you stay a minute and buy me another drink? It feels as if I’ve been waiting forever and I’m awfully lonely.
JOHN
Lonely?! But you can’t be … wait? What is your name? You never told me.
LULU
My name?
(pauses)
I’m whomever you want me to be, John. I’m your private dancer, you see.
JOHN
(nervous again)
My pri … well that sounds crazy¸ you know! You gotta have your own name. I can’t give you one.
(Band plays Glen Miller’s “In the Mood” – the soldiers and girls dance)
LULU
Do you want to dance?
JOHN
No … I …
LULU
(smiles sweetly into his face and lays her hand on his arm)
No charge, John. Please. I have to earn my keep or I can’t go … home, you see. We must all earn our way home … John.
JOHN
Oh, alright! I don’t like to see a pretty girl such as yourself put out. But I really must go afterward.
LULU
Yes, you will go … afterwards.
(they dance in the middle of the crowd – John is beginning to enjoy himself as they twirl around to “In the Mood”; LuLu takes out the small pocket knife and stabs him in the heart where her head had laid as they embraced in the dance; no one notices his body fall to the ground)
LULU
It seems we’ve run out of time after all, Jimmy.
(LuLu walks back to the bar, blood dripping from the knife onto the dance floor creating a trail)
BARTENDER
What happened? Wasn’t that him?
LULU
(looking earnestly at the door to the club)
No. He didn’t even know my name.
BARTENDER
Oh, well. Maybe tomorrow night! Another drink?
LULU
(slides a quarter absentmindedly towards him as she eyes the clock once more)
Yes. Maybe.
(the end)
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