A Family Reunion To Die For Beatrice Flashcards
Goes through?
You know… (Indicates chopping the neck as if being beheaded.)
Oh dear! Yes, ma’am. (Gretchen exits up right.)
I’d be on my toes if I were you. I’ve seen more young girls pass through this place than you can imagine. The old bat goes through two or three maids a season.
She murders them? Oh, dear! What have I gotten myself into, Beatrice?
No! She gives them the axe!
Huh?
Ugh! Not literally the axe. She just– (Tries to think of a simple explnation.) –sends them away.
To where?
The unemployment line.
Oh, dear! She fires them?
Either that or they quit. They can’t handle the pressure.
Oh, dear! Well, it’s a good thing I have a charming presence and a sweet face. At least that’s what my trainer down at Maids-R-Us said about me when I graduated from their training program. Yes, she said I have what it takes to succeed in any bed and breakfast. “Good service,” she said, “requires nothing more than a charming presence, a sweet face and a plate piled high with pancakes.” Pancakes for the guests, that is.
Ha! Well, she never stayed at this place. With all the running around we do, you’ll need bandages for the blisters on your feet to go along with those pancakes. And to think I once had a charming presence and a sweet face, too.
Oh, dear! What happened?
The old lady used some of her own “charm” to make this face turn sour.
We must be nearly a mile inland. And the sky is getting awfully dark. I thought for sure it would start pouring rain before we made it.
(To Christine and Freddie, as if she said it a hundred times.) Welcome to Wilcox’s Western Bed and Breakfast, the best place for a little taste of the wild, wild West in the tropics.
Hello, we’re here to check in. Christine and Freddie Franklin.
Oh, Christine! It’s so wonderful to have you back! Do you remember me?
Um…
Eh, no worries. (To Connie.) See? The sweet face is gone. (To Christine.) I’m Beatrice Googleheimer, the cook.
Oh, Beatrice, I didn’t even recognize you. How are you?
Fine, thank you. Your aunt said you’d be staying here this week.
We were married just yesterday.
Is that so? Well, congratulations! (To Connie.) Connie, could you find Mrs. Wilcox and let her know that her niece Christine has arrived?
I’ll find your aunt right away. (Exits up right.)
Poor thing is gonna get eaten alive. Well, I have to get back to the kitchen and finish preparing the afternoon chuck. That’s a snack–in Western terms. Christine’s aunt makes us talk like cow people to the guests. (Mutters as she exits down left.) Stupid…
No, she’s not unconscious. She dead. (Beatrice and Connie enter down left.)
What’s all that racket?
The old lady’s dead.
Dead?
Is he serious?
That knife came from the kitchen. Someone must have taken it when I wasn’t there. Mrs. Wilcox was murdered with her own knife.
(Beatrice and Connie enter down left.)
I’m going to prepare a smorgasbord tonight– stuffed chicken, fried chicken, roasted chicken, and chicken potpie. We decided to put Mrs. Wilcox in the freezer, and I had to take most of the food out to for the body in there.
We’re not the only people on this island. Is there any way we can reach someone else for help?
The island has our bed and breakfast, a large inn, a surf-and-turf restaurant. The authorities are on another island.
One of us can walk to the inn, or maybe there are people at the restaurant.
They’re both nearly a mile away, closer to the coast, where this tropical storm is even worse. I don’t think it’s safe to go outside in conditions like this.
You mean we’re trapped here with a murderer?
Trust me, you’d be worse off out there in that weather than in here with a murderer.
The phone lines must be down due to the storm.
And you know there’s no cell service on the island.
You won’t be fired. Your boss is dead.
He has a point. (Beatrice and Connie sit. There is a pause while everyone stares at Freddie, waiting for him to do something.
I suppose my comment was in poor taste.
Now what?
I suppose only the guests who were in their rooms.
Not necessarily. The kitchen has an entrance into the dining room and that leads directly into the hallway. You can get anywhere in this place from that hallway.
She seems to be in a bad mood, as well.
Speaking of skin and flesh being peeled from dead bones, I think I better prepare the chicken we’re going to have for supper. It’s almost six o’clock, and I haven’t even started cooking yet. (Mutters as she exits down left.) Stupid…
Rachel! (Checks Rachel’s pulse.) Shes dead.
(Enters down left.) there’s no need to panic. We just had a Buick blackout. It must have been the storm.
It’s a trail of blood leading right to the body.
Where’s Connie? It’s her job to clean it up.
Oh, my. The blood leads directly to the secret.
Yes, it does.
