Tiny

Dolly, a clown in her early twenties. Minnie, a trapeze artist of the same age.

SETTING:

A dressing room, present day.

AT RISE:

DOLLY, a young woman dressed like a clown, is sitting at a dressing table, taking off her costume. After a moment, MINNIE, a woman of the same age, dressed in a tutu and holding a parasol, enters in a fury. When MINNIE enters, the two exchange a glance. MINNIE avoids DOLLY, who is obviously waiting for a response from MINNIE.

DOLLY Are you finished? Did you really do it? Minnie!

(MINNIE stops and looks intensely right at DOLLY.)

DOLLY You did. Oh, God . . .

MINNIE It wasn’t just me, you know. We both—

DOLLY Do you think we did the right thing? Do you thing she’ll be okay? What do you think she’ll—

MINNIE Stop it! It’s done.

(Pause.)

DOLLY When will we know?

MINNIE We’ll hear.

DOLLY We’ll hear . . . You’re right.

(Pause)

Oh, God . . . I can’t stand it . . .

MINNIE Well, it’s done.

DOLLY I had to do my entire act, knowing, smiling big clown-smiles at kids, and mothers and grandmothers . . . I’m sure they all thought everything was . . . okay . . . that I was really happy.

MINNIE They thought that you were acting like a clown.

DOLLY Yes. Yes, they did.

(Pause.)

I want you to tell me about it, but I don’t want to ask.

MINNIE There’s nothing to tell.

DOLLY How did you do it?

MINNIE I just let her go.

DOLLY Just like that?

MINNIE Yes.

(Pause.)

DOLLY I suppose we’ll hear.

MINNIE I suppose we will.

DOLLY Do you think she’ll be okay?

MINNIE Dolly, anything’s better than how she was.

DOLLY I know, but—

MINNIE What are you saying?

DOLLY Nothing. I’m just worried—

MINNIE It’s too late, Dolly. We made the decision to do it. We made the decision together.

DOLLY I know, I know—

MINNIE You knew it had to be all or nothing. Why are you doing this to me? I won’t feel guilty about it. I won’t! Whatever happens to her is not my fault. I was only trying to help her—

DOLLY Minnie, it’s okay. It’s not your fault. Whatever happens, it’s not your fault.

MINNIE Our fault. We decided together.

DOLLY Our fault. That’s what I meant. Whatever happens to her—

MINNIE I mean, she was—

DOLLY It wasn’t good for her. Did you see her?

MINNIE She was very unhappy—

DOLLY Poor Tiny. It was sad to watch it happen.

MINNIE At first I thought she’d be all right. At first—

DOLLY But then she got big. And she became so sad—

MINNIE Poor Tiny. She was so smart. That was her problem.

DOLLY She was smart, yes. But so trained—

MINNIE So trained she couldn’t even move—

DOLLY They had her so trained she didn’t even try—

MINNIE But she did try. At first . . . at first she tried, when she was small. And they locked her up with a big, steel chain. Do you remember?

DOLLY I remember.

MINNIE They knew. They knew just what to do to make her stay. They started out with big chains around her ankles, around her neck. And as soon as she got used to them, they made the chains smaller. She got bigger and her chains got smaller. And now she doesnt even know how big she really is. She doesn’t know her own strength.

(Beat.)

Oh God, Dolly . . . She doesn’t know her own strength. What do you think they’ll do to her? Do you think we did the right thing?

DOLLY Minnie, stop! We did the right thing. Anything’s better than where she was.

MINNIE She wanted to get out. She knew—

DOLLY She knew a lot. She was very smart—

MINNIE She was very, very smart. And she knew she was trained. She knew, but she couldn’t get out.

DOLLY Trained is trained. No matter how smart you are.

MINNIE All she had to do was pull, just a little bit—

DOLLY I tried to encourage her—

MINNIE I tried, too! I’d say, “C’mon Tiny! Just pull on that chain a little bit!”

DOLLY I coaxed her with food.

MINNIE I hit her.

(Pause.)

I did. I thought it would get her to go.

DOLLY You hit her?

MINNIE I thought I’d scare her. I whapped her real hard. More than once. I thought I could scare her.

(Pause. DOLLY is obviously disturbed by this.)

MINNIE I did it for her own good—

DOLLY I know, Minnie. But you know what that means?

MINNIE

(Close to tears.)

Yes.

DOLLY They—

MINNIE Dolly, don’t.

DOLLY She’s—

MINNIE Please!

(Pause.)

MINNIE That’s when I knew we had to.

DOLLY She’ll be better off.

MINNIE Yes. I know it for sure.

DOLLY What did she do when you . . . hit her?

MINNIE I can’t say it.

DOLLY Minnie, I have to know. Please.

MINNIE

(Having trouble speaking.)

She . . . she put her trunk down on the ground . . . and lifted up her back legs.

DOLLY

(Devastated.)

No!

MINNIE Yes.

DOLLY What did you do?

MINNIE I climbed up on top of her. And I cried.

(Long pause.)

DOLLY How did it go tonight? The act, I mean.

MINNIE Surprisingly well.

DOLLY Even the tightrope?

MINNIE I didn’t teeter at all.

DOLLY Not even a little bit?

MINNIE No. I was totally calm.

DOLLY Even though you were about to—

MINNIE Yes. It calmed me.

DOLLY And the trapeze?

MINNIE Fine. I can do all that blindfolded. I did, as a matter of fact. You? Did you get a lot of laughs tonight?

DOLLY Laughs? Yeah. They laughed. It’s funny, really . . . this isn’t what I thought I’d be doing with my life.

MINNIE You didn’t always want to be a clown?

DOLLY No. I wanted to be a nurse.

MINNIE A nurse? Wow! Why didn’t you?

DOLLY I didn’t have the money and . . . I had a little trouble with school. My dad always used to say, “Better do somethin’ with your body ’cause God knows you can’t do nothin’ with your head.”

(DOLLY chuckles, nostalgically.)

I have a little trouble reading. So, I became a clown. Just seemed like the natural thing to do.

MINNIE You still wanna be a nurse?

DOLLY Sometimes I do. I don’t know . . .

MINNIE Well, I think clowning’s better. Your uniform’s got more color and you’re still making people feel better. Right?

DOLLY What about you? Did you always have dreams of flying from a trapeze and riding horses bareback?

MINNIE No, no. I wanted to be a ballerina. But . . . I married young and divorced young and felt that I really didn’t have much of a choice. But I have no regrets. Everything worked out for the best, right?

DOLLY Amen.

MINNIE I mean, I don’t know too many ballerinas who get to star in their own show every night. Besides, we have free housing and stuff.

DOLLY Oh, there are perks. I don’t deny that

MINNIE Neither do I! I have no regrets.

DOLLY I have no regrets. I’m quite happy actually.

MINNIE Me, too.

(Pause.)

DOLLY Can I ask you a personal question?

MINNIE Anything.

DOLLY When you got hired . . . Dickie hired you, right?

MINNIE Dickie hires all the women.

DOLLY Well, when you went for your audition . . . did he—

MINNIE Don’t ask.

DOLLY Did you have to—

MINNIE Don’t ask. Forget it. Just put it out of your mind.

DOLLY Is that normal?

MINNIE Sure it’s normal. It’s the right thing to do.

DOLLY I don’t think so, Minnie.

MINNIE You don’t? Well, what do you suggest, Dolly? Talk about it? Mull over it? Make ourselves crazy—

DOLLY I don’t think it’s right, Minnie!

MINNIE It is! It’s right. It’s okay.

DOLLY Maybe I should go somewhere else. Maybe I could be a waitress!

MINNIE No, no! Don’t leave me, Dolly!

DOLLY We both could! We could work in a restaurant or a shoe store like other people!

MINNIE I can’t, Dolly! I can’t!

DOLLY Yes! You can! We’ll do it together!

MINNIE We’re in this together, right Dolly?

DOLLY I won’t leave you, Minnie! You’ll come with me! We’ll go together!

MINNIE We’ll leave tonight. We’ll sneak out.

DOLLY We’ll leave with Tiny!

MINNIE Yes! Tiny!

(Beat. They scramble to finish getting changed and collecting their things.)

DOLLY We’ll ride her right out of the gates!

MINNIE We’ll ride her to Africa where she can be with her family!

DOLLY I hope she runs things over!

MINNIE I hope she stampedes!

DOLLY We’ll ride her all the way to a brand new life!

MINNIE Oh, Dolly!

DOLLY Minnie! This is it!

MINNIE We’re going with Tiny!

(Twelve gunshots can be heard off in the distance. MINNIE and DOLLY are completely still for a long time.)

DOLLY Minnie?

MINNIE Dolly?

DOLLY Tiny.

MINNIE I hear.

DOLLY I hear them. There are lots of them.

MINNIE I hear them.

DOLLY We did the right thing—

MINNIE It’s over.

DOLLY She was so unhappy—

MINNIE Dolly, it’s over.

(Pause. MINNIE picks up her tutu.)

DOLLY Minnie?

MINNIE It’ll be okay.

DOLLY Minnie!

MINNIE Dolly . . . Everything works out for the best. Right? We need to trust that everything works out for the best. It’s normal. What we have is normal. And it’s the best we’ll ever have. I’m happy. You’re happy. And Tiny . . .

(Pause. DOLLY picks up her clown hat.)

DOLLY Amen.

END OF PLAY