Loretta, Act Three: Balloons for Easter
Loretta’s pop-pop didn’t tell Loretta’s mom-mom what she made out of balloons during the matinee last week, so in her Easter basket are four balloon animal kits. Her pop-pop didn’t recognize the female genitalia balloon at all during the matinee. The audience laughed at that. Since then, she’s decided to do the penis and testicles first, because he recognized those right away. Of course.
Her mother’s face bruise has faded and she’s in a different mood now. Happier, but more tired. Living with her pop-pop and mom-mom isn’t always easy. Loretta is still getting used to the food and her mother can’t seem to sleep at night.
No one has found her father yet, but they’re looking.
This morning Loretta woke up to her first Easter basket and she ate three marshmallow chicks before her mom-mom said, “Save that for later! When your cousins get here.”
Loretta doesn’t really remember her cousins. She’s excited to meet them. She put on her red dress first thing, and her mother asked her to wear the stiff flowered dress her mom-mom bought her instead.
The audience grumbled. Loretta looked out into the bright lights and asked, “Do you really think this suits me? Looks like something Mom-Mom would wear.”
“Don’t do it!” the audience yelled.
“You do you!” they screamed.
“Burn it!” someone yelled, and then the audience turned on him.
Loretta put the dress on and thankfully it was too big. Right size, but didn’t take into account that Loretta is only ninety-five pounds.
“We have to go out and buy flowers,” her mother said to her.
“For what?” Loretta asked.
“Tradition! I used to always bring my mother flowers on Easter.”
“Do I have to come with?”
“Yes.”
“I like you better without Dad,” Loretta said.
At the flower stall, Loretta’s mother can’t seem to function. She’s always a solid performer on set, but location work isn’t her strong suit. She needs Loretta to help her pick the right plants and to make the right calculations. She drives okay, Loretta notes, but she can’t seem to figure out how much money to give the man.
And the man keeps flirting with her.
Loretta says, “He’d better back off.”
“He’s sweet!” her mother says.
“He’s creepy. Trust me,” Loretta says.
Loretta is afraid for her mother. She refuses to live with another man in the house again. Except her pop-pop, who seems to love her more than he loves anything.
The audience interrupts her thoughts.
“No!”
“You don’t know the whole story!”
“What?” she asks. “He’s a nice old man!”
“Talk to your cousins,” the audience answers.
“I will,” Loretta says. She turns to her mother. “Get the hyacinths. They smell so nice.”
Her mother picks up two pots of hyacinths.
“And those. Whatever they are.” Loretta points to tulips.
“They’re tulips,” her mother says.
“Really?”
“You don’t know what tulips look like?” Loretta shrugs it off like it’s no big deal, but her mother starts to form tears in her eyes. “You should know what tulips look like at your age.”
“Who cares? Let’s get back.”
Loretta helps her mother figure out how much money to give the creepy flower guy. He tries to flirt one more time, but Loretta puts her hand out like the choreographer taught her. “Save it for the next lady, okay, buddy?”