The Pearls Scene Four

July 1946

The little girl has just turned three, She is standing on the stone porch of the red brick house where she lives with her mother and father and her sister, born a year earlier. She is waiting for a taxi which is bringing her Uncle Harry. He gets out of the car, and there is light all over him. In his arms he is carrying a tiny four month old baby, her cousin Eric. Only three, and she has two babies to take care of! What a big job for a little girl. But she will do it well.

She loves her handsome Uncle. He is a soldier. He wears his uniform when he comes to visit from America. He smokes Marlboro cigarettes. She watches, fascinated, as he taps them on his wrist watch, tamping down the tobacco. He is dark, with big brown eyes, a deep hearty laugh, an eloquent articulate voice, tanned skin, a man's man. Children adore him. He brings his Purple Heart Medals for the children to play with.

As they get older, he teaches her and her sister to sun tan, lying under the tree in the front yard, counting the minutes until everybody must turn over. When he comes from New York to visit his son, he brings wonderful presents for all three children; a wooden Noah' s Ark, with carved animals, books, The most memorable gift when the Queen of England is crowned in 1953. He presents a golden Coronation Coach and six white horses.

The little girl has a sister named, and a cousin that she treats as a brother. Her father seems very close to the boy. Perhaps he reminds him of himself as a little boy, adopted by another family. There are hushed conversations about the boy's mother. She comes to visit once. She is very pretty. But she never comes back again. When Harry is there, every second weekend, he sleeps on the couch in the living room.