Second scene in Things Were Different Then

(Setting:  The living room of 1950’s home.  It is night outside.  MOM 2 is sitting at a kitchen table finishing a paint-by-numbers painting.  GIRL 2 enters.)

GIRL 2:  Hey, Mom!

MOM 2:  In here, Betty.

GIRL 2:  Hi, Mumsy.  What are you doing up so late?

MOM 2:  Just waiting for you and finishing up my painting.

GIRL 2:  Wow!  I didn’t know a paint-by-numbers would look like that.  That is really good!  Cool!

MOM 2:  Thank you, sweetheart.  And thank you for coming home on time.  Did you have fun at the Sock Hop?

GIRL 2:  Oh, Mom.  It was so dreamy!

MOM 2: Well, good.  Did Debby’s mother bring you home?

GIRL 2:  Yeah.

MOM 2:  Did someone ask you to dance this time?

GIRL 2:  Yeah.

MOM 2:  That’s good.  You see, all those cotillion lessons finally paid off!  Well, we better go to bed.  We’ve got a busy day tomorrow.  We’ve got to go to Sears and find you a dress for Easter, and then you have your Girl Scout meeting.  And then, after that, I’m going to Canasta.  Good night, sweetheart.

GIRL 2:  Mom, I need to tell you something.

MOM 2:  What dear?  Is something wrong?  What happened tonight?  Was Debby a little snot to you again?

GIRL 2:  No, Mom.  Debby was fine.

MOM 2:  What’s wrong then?

GIRL 2:  Oh, Mom, Jimmy Prohaska asked me to go to the movies with him next Friday night.  Isn’t that just too much?!

MOM 2:  Yes, it seems like too much to me.

GIRL 2:  Oh, Mom, he is soooo dreamy.  I can hardly wait!  Can I get a new dress?  When I was in Penneys the other day, I saw the dreamiest light blue sundress with big yellow flowers all over it!  Can we go look at it, Mom?

MOM 2:  A sundress!  But it’s March!  It’s too cold to wear a sundress.

GIRL 2:  Oh, it is not.

MOM 2:  It is, too.  Now just a minute.  Who is this Jimmy Prohaska?  Is his dad Prohaska Insurance?  Who is his mother?  Do I know her?

GIRL 2:  Oh, Mom, I don’t know if you know her or not!

MOM 2:  What church do they go to?  Are they Catholic?  Prohaska sounds Catholic.  Who are you going with?

GIRL 2:  Nobody.  Just Jimmy and me.  Jimmy has a car.

MOM 2:  Oh, great.  You want to go on a car date alone with this boy?  Where are you going?

GIRL 2:  Just to the movies.

MOM 2:  What’s the movie?  What’s playing down at the Star Theater?  What time is the show? (The names of these theaters can be changed to better suit producing theater’s location.)

GIRL 2:  Mom, we’re not going to the Star.  We’re going to the Texas.  REBEL WITHOUT A CAUSE is showing.  With James Dean.

MOM 2:  The Texas is a drive-in!  You can’t go to the drive-in!  And I don’t know if I allow you to see a movie about a rebel!  Isn’t James Dean a rebellious teenager or something?

GIRL 2:  Mom!

MOM 2:  Oh, this isn’t going to make your Daddy very happy!

GIRL 2:  Daddy’s overprotective!  Will you tell him for me, Mom?  Please?  He won’t let me go if I talk to him.  Please.

MOM 2:  I know he thinks sixteen is too young to go on a car date.  And I think I agree with him.

GIRL 2:  Oh, Mom, please.  You were sixteen when Daddy was your boyfriend.  You told me you wrote him during the war.  And he was a lot older than you.  At least Jimmy is only one year older than me.

MOM 2:  Yes, but . . . things were different then.

GIRL 2:  How?  Why were they different?

MOM 2:  Oh, I don’t know.  They were just different!