FullReads

ANNABELLE.
I Won’t!

JIMMY
. Yes you will. It’s human nature. Face the facts.

ANNABELLE
. ( tearfully ) Facing the facts is one thing and being in love is another,

JIMMY.
Quite so. Well, how long do you think your love for me will last?

ANNABELLE.
For ever!

JIMMY.
H’m! I predict that you will fall in love with the next man you meet.

ANNABELLE.
I think you’re perfectly horrid.

JIMMY.
So do I. I disapprove of myself violently. I’m a doddering lunatic, incapable of thinking of anything but you. I can’t work. I can’t eat, I can’t sleep. I’m no use to the world. I’m not a man, I’m a mess. I’m about to do something silly because I can’t do anything else.

ANNABELLE.
( pouting )

You’ve no respect for me.

JIMMY.
None whatever. I love you. And I’m going to carry you off.

ANNABELLE.
You’re a brute.

JIMMY.
Absolutely. I’d advise you to go straight home.

ANNABELLE.
( defiantly )

Perhaps I shall!

JIMMY.
Then go quick.

( He takes out his watch.)

In one minute, if you are still here, I shall pick
you up and carry you off to South America.–Quick! there’s the door!

ANNABELLE.
( faintly )

I–I want to go. . . .

JIMMY.
Well, why don’t you? . . . Thirty seconds!

ANNABELLE.
I–I can’t!

JIMMY.
( shutting his watch )

Time’s up. The die is cast!

( He lifts her from the chair. She clings to him helplessly.)

My darling! My treasure! My beloved!–Idiot that I am!

He kisses her fiercely.

ANNABELLE.
( struggling in his arms )

No! No! No! Stop!

JIMMY.
Never!

ANNABELLE.
Stop! Please! Please! Oh! . . .

The light suddenly goes out, and an instant later blazes out again, revealing the Angel, who has suddenly arrived in the middle of the room. The two of them stare at the apparition.

THE ANGEL.
( politely )

I hope I am not intruding?

JIMMY.
Why–why–not exactly!

ANNABELLE.
( in his arms, indignantly )

Jimmy! who is that man?

JIMMY.
( becoming aware of her and putting her down carefully )

I–why–the fact is, I don’t–

THE ANGEL.
The fact is, madam, I am his Guardian Angel.

ANNABELLE.
An Angel! Oh!

THE ANGEL.
Tell me, have I intruded?

ANNABELLE.
No, not at all!

THE ANGEL.
Thank you for reassuring me. I feared for a moment that I had made an inopportune entrance. I was about to suggest that I withdraw until you had finished the–er–ceremony–which I seem to have interrupted.

JIMMY.
( surprised )

But wasn’t that what you came for–to interrupt?

THE ANGEL.
I beg your pardon!

JIMMY.
( bewilderedly )

I mean–if you are my Guardian Angel, and all that sort of thing,
you must have come to–to interfere!

THE ANGEL.
I hope you will not think I would be capable of such presumption.