Women Are Extraordinary by Wilfrido Guerrero

Women Are Extraordinary By Wilfrido Ma. Guerrero CHARACTERS: CORINTA LEOGARDO TIA CLARITA JESUSA ALBERTO Time: The early part of December. Midday. Place: Manila. SCENE: A middle-class sala but well-furnished and well decorated. At the rear, a corridor leading to the entrance and to the dining room. A window at left, opening on the street. A door at right leads to the bedrooms. As the curtain rises, TIA CLARITA is seen looking out the window. Presently she scurries to the dining room, right. A few seconds letter, LEOGARDO enters from left of corridor, throws his hat on a chair, removes his coat, and places it carelessly on another chair. He sees the paper lying on a table, takes it up and sits down in a siesta chair to read. LEOGARDO is in his early thirties, youthful-looking, but with a slight paunch. He is in an irritable mood now. LEOGARDO: (After a pause) Tia Clarita! Tia Clarita! (TIA CLARITA enters from the corridor, right. In her late fifties, she is a thin, white-haired, nervous woman wearing thick glasses who, after her husband’s death, was forced to live with her niece CORINTA, and has acted as housekeeper ever since. LEOGARDO and TIA CLARITA, having little in common, are always at odds.) CLARITA: What is it? LEOGARDO: Is lunch ready? CLARITA: No—not yet. LEOGARDO: Why not? It’s nearly twelve-thirty. CLARITA: Corinta left this morning— LEOGARDO: What if she did? She always does, morning and afternoon. You know that. CLARITA: Of course, I know it. But today was different. LEOGARDO: What do you mean, different? CLARITA: She forgot to leave the money for the marketing.

LEOGARDO: (Absentmindedly) She would. (Suddenly) What! CLARITA: I said she forgot to leave the money for the marketing. LEOGARDO: Do you mean to tell me you didn’t go to the market? CLARITA: How could I? She didn’t leave any money for the marketing. LEOGARDO: Have you cooked anything? CLARITA: Yes. The rice. LEOGARDO: What else? CLARITA: Just the rice. LEOGARDO: Just the rice? Do you think I’m on a rice diet? CLARITA: I don’t think that it will harm you if you try eating only rice sometimes. You eat too much anyway. LEOGARDO: I’m not asking for your medical advice, Tia Clarita. Well, haven’t you done anything about it. Didn’t you call her up at the office? CLARITA: I did, but I was told that she was in conference or something—then I rang up again, but she had already left to confer with Mrs. Muños on some important matters. LEOGARDO: Important matters indeed! You’re as much to blame as my wife! CLARITA: I? How, why? LEOGARDO: For being, like her, a woman. CLARITA: I don’t understand. LEOGARDO: Never mind. Open the refrigerator and get us something to eat. CLARITA: There’s nothing in there except— LEOGARDO: Some pickles, I suppose? CLARITA: That’s right. Some sweet pickles, a dozen tomatoes, and three or four sour mangoes. LEOGARDO: How do you expect me to eat sweet pickles, tomatoes, and mangoes when I am hungry? CLARITA: Well, there’s nothing else. Oh yes, there’s some bucayo. My cousin Adela—your Tia Adela—sent it this morning. LEOGARDO: Bucayo! Throw it in the garbage can! CLARITA: Throw it away! She said it was her pasalubong from Dagupan. She arrived only last night. LEOGARDO: I don’t like bucayo! Besides your cousin Adela has a face like bucayo! CLARITA: A face like what? LEOGARDO: Like bucayo! CLARITA: (Scandalized) Oh, oh, oh! LEOGARDO: Never mind! Haven’t we got two cans of meat, a piece of Holland cheese, some large cans of pork and beans— CLARITA: You mean, we did have.

LEOGARDO: I saw them myself last night before going to bed when I drank a glass of milk. CLARITA: But Corinta took them all this morning when she left. LEOGARDO: Was she going to eat her lunch at the office? CLARITA: No, and don’t say sarcastic things about your wife. She said something about it being her share for the Christmas party for the poor children of Tondo two weeks from now. LEOGARDO: What Christmas party? CLARITA: The Women’s Protective Association’s Christmas party—she’s vicepresident there, you know. LEOGARDO: (Sarcastically) Fine! How generous of her! So she gives our food to the poor and before long we’ll starve too. CLARITA: I can’t see how giving away a few cans of food can make us poor. Why, we— LEOGARDO: You women always use your feet for thinking. No wonder women make good classical dancers. CLARITA: Stop calling me names, Leogardo! LEOGARDO: I’m not calling you names, Tia Clarita. I’m applying them to your entire sex. CLARITA: Remember, Adam and Eve were both expelled from Paradise at the same time! LEOGARDO: You and your biblical allusions! Demonios! CLARITA: You know very well how Corinta objects to your use of improper words, especially before women. LEOGARDO: Demonios! Mil demonios! CLARITA: Naku! Hmph! Well, if you won’t listen to advice— LEOGARDO: If I want your advice, Tia Clarita, I’ll ask for it. Well, what am I supposed to do now? Go back to the office without eating? Why didn’t you borrow some food from our neighbor Doña Ticang? CLARITA: I did—rather, I tried to, but she wouldn’t lend me any. LEOGARDO: Don’t we always pay her back? CLARITA: She said we broke two of her plates last week. She said she loved those plates very much, because they had blue borders and were a gift of her husband. LEOGARDO: I don’t care to listen to our stupid neighbors’ lives! Why didn’t you use your money then? I would have paid it back. CLARITA: That’s what you said last week when you came home in a taxi and borrowed thirty centavos from me. You said you had no change—but you haven’t paid it back yet! LEOGARDO: Diablos! Why didn't’ you remind me? CLARITA: Oh didn’t I? Didn’t I?

LEOGARDO: You don’t have to remind me! You went reminding me about your thirty centavos as if it had been thirty pesos. CLARITA: Hmp! Why didn’t I remind you, eh? LEOGARDO: Woman suffrage—woman boloney. CLARITA: And I hear Corinta say she was going to the doctor. LEOGARDO: The doctor too! Why, has she got cancer? CLARITA: Cancer! Are you out of your mind? (Deliberately annoying) However, I wouldn’t at all be surprised if Corinta has a case of acute neurasthenia—from the barbarous way you’ve been treating her. LEOGARDO: Barbarous way! Are you implying I slap and beat my wife? CLARITA: No. Not yet LEOGARDO: (With violent grimaces and gestures) Women should be forced to fight in the next war, so they can be exterminated like rats. Women are like cockroaches: there are too many of them. CLARITA: See? A barbarian—as I thought! (Unable to control his temper, LEOGARDO looks about for the first handy thing, sees a vase, hurls it on the floor) Hmp! A barbarian—in modern clothes!—And please—if you don’t mind—don’t compare women with rats or cockroaches. Compare them—if you please—with something dainty— LEOGARDO: Like termites! CLARITA: Or something gliding— LEOGARDO: Like lizards! CLARITA: Or something perfumed— LEOGARDO: Like bedbugs! (LEOGARDO again looks about, sees another vase, but CLARITA gets ahead and hids it behind her back. LEOGARDO sees the newspaper, tears it to pieces. But he leaves one page on the sofa.) CLARITA: Why can’t you control your feelings? Why can’t you learn more equanimity? Have you forgotten what the Bible says that he who conquers his passio9ns is stronger than he who conquers a citadel? By the way, when was the last time you read the Bible? (LEOGARDO lies on the sofa, exhausted. CLARITA picks up the untorn pages) Thank God the society page is intact. (Scanning the paper) Hm. Mrs. Amorsolo is sporting a new hair-do. (She imitates the hairdo. Then looking about.) Where’s the sports page? LEOGARDO: Since when, Doña. Clarita, have you been interested in the men’ s page? CLARITA: (Finding the page) I just want to know if Miss Gaston won the tennis championship over Mister Ampon. (Brightening) Oh yes, she did! The score: 8-0, 10-0, 6-0.

LEOGARDO: Women, pueh! (TIA CLARITA is about to go) Hey! Here’s five pesos—tell the boy to go to the grocery store at the corner—I said, the one at the corner, not the one five blocks away—(She begins to sniff). CLARITA: Prices are lower in the father one— LEOGARDO: Tell him to get me something to eat—canned soup, canned pork and beans, canned meat, canned fruit salad— CLARITA: Naku! (She hastens out to the kitchen.) LEOGARDO: What the--! (Shrugs shoulders and replaces pocketbook. He sits down in despair. TIA CLARITA comes back.) CLARITA: It’s your fault! If you hadn’t stood there talking— LEOGARDO: What happened? CLARITA: The rice. It burned! LEOGARDO: Mil diablos! Get me canned bread then! CLARITA: There’s no canned bread! LEOGARDO: Never mind! Get anything! And before you go, tell the boy to bring me a glass of milk while I change my clothes. CLARITA: Er—er— LEOGARDO: What now? CLARITA: Well, this morning while I was cleaning the refrigerator, I left the bottle on the floor—just for a minute—it wasn’t my fault—when the cat—well, the cat was playing nearby and— LEOGARDO: I suppose it was the female cat! Rayos y centellas! Condenadas mujeres! Not to see a woman for a least one whole hour—what a relief it would be! (The bell rings. CLARITA, glad to cut LEOGARDO’s wrath short, hastens to the corridor, left. Presently she comes back, with JESUSA and ALBERTO. JESUSA is about thirty, wears a European dress, too bright-colored and too youthful for her age. JESUSA typifies the uneducated Filipino woman who tries to impress others. Having a strong sense of imitation, she imitates everything her more intelligent sisters do, and succeeds in imitation the wrong things. ALBERTO—BERTO to them—is younger than his wife and having allowed her to dominate him since their early courtship days, he has now lost all chances of getting the upper hand, though heaven knows he brags that he hasn’t. He is slim and good-looking in a mild looking way. The couple enter with some packages under their arms. ALBERTO carries the heavier load.) JESUSA: Good morning, Leogardo! LEOGARDO: Good morning Jesusa! How are you, Berto? ALBERTO: Just the same, Leogardo, just the same. CLARITA: Where have you been? JESUSA: Shopping. I bought some curtains for the party I’m giving next week. We thought we’d drop in for a short visit. We’re like part of the family, you know. CLARITA: We haven’t seen you for nearly a month.

ALBERT: We couldn’t find an auto-calesa. JESUSA: Torpe! We never ride in an auto-calesa—they are so small, so dirty— you can’t even breathe in them. ALBERTO: Why not? Open all around, aren’t they? JESUSA: (Glaring at ALBERTO). We always ride in a taxi—those new large ones. CLARITA: What a pretty dress you’re wearing! JESUSA: Naku! You see— LEOGARDO: You still like using the word naku, Jesusa? JESUSA: Naku, I forgot. I always say naku when I’m excited. ALBERTO: It’s an ugly word, if you ask me. JESUSA: (Irritably) Never mind, Berto. I didn’t ask you. CLARITA: Er—the dress— JESUSA: I was coming to that. I copied it from Vogue. CLARITA: It’s nicely cut. Who made it? ALBERTO: Aling Goria! JESUSA: Stupid! You see at first I wanted it made at Ada’s—you know all society girls have their dresses made there—but she told me she was very busy— CLARITA: Perhaps she charges a high price. JESUSA: Yes—no—I mean, why, I don’t mind the price— ALBERTO: More women would mind if they paid for their dresses. (JESUSA glares at ALBERTO with ferocious intensity.) LEOGARDO: Er—Jesusa—you always wore the Filipino dress before, didn’t you? JESUSA: That was before we women began to manage our own affairs. The Filipino dress is so tight and so warm—you use so many pins—sometimes I think it doesn’t suit the Philippines. ALBERTO: (Who has been waiting for some opening) What do you mean it doesn’t suit the Philippines? Where do you think the Filipino dress originated—in Mexico? Doña Jesusa, the Filipino dress was being worn centuries before—centuries before— JESUSA: Berto, keep quiet! You’re disturbing our conversation. You see, Clarita, when you wear the Filipino dress in a business meeting, it gets all crumpled— LEOGARDO: Business meeting? JESUSA: Yes, Didn’t you know? I’m a member of the Filipino Women’s Emancipated Association. We fight for our rights! LEOGARDO: What rights? JESUSA: (Caught unawares) Ha? Oh—well, our rights –women’s rights. Men can’t fool us anymore. ALBERTO: I should say not.

JESUSA: What are you mumbling about, Berto? You see, Leogardo, when we got the vote in 1937— LEOGARDO: But Jesusa, Corinta hasn’t stopped wearing the Filipino dress. That’s one good thing about her. JESUSA: I’ve noticed that too. It’s very strange. LEOGARDO: Neither has Mrs. Ramos, Mrs. Salvador— ALBERTO: Or Mrs. Tongco, Miss Gan— LEOGARDO: And so many others. ALBERTO: Even our cocinera has not— JESUSA: Berto! Leogardo, probably it’s because the party to which Corinta belongs is very conservative. Our organization is radical. LEOGARDO: Radical? JESUA: Yes, for one thing we favor (saying the big word glibly) the liberalization of the divorce law. CLARITA: (Shocked) Jesusa! Why, do you intend to divorce—? I mean— ALBERTO: Hmm—! A splendid idea—liberalizing the divorce law. JESUSA: Why, no, Clarita, of course we don’t favor divorce completely, but we’re living in a modern age—we women are more—(hesitates). LOGARDO: Emancipated? JESUSA: That’s the right word, Leogardo! CLARITA: (Suddenly remembering something) Naku! I forgot all about it! JESUSA: What is it? CLARITA: I forgot to send the servant to the grocery! (Leogardo glares at her.) JESUSA: Where’s Corinta? CLARITA: She’ll be home any minute. Excuse me, Jesusa. JESUSA: Where are you going? CLARITA: To the kitchen JESUSA: Let me help you. Besides I want to see your new refrigerator. I heard I cost you a lot. (Both women go out, corridor right) LEOGARDO: Well, for once, we men are left to ourselves. ALBERTO: Rightly said, Leogardo, rightly said. LEOGARDO: You know, Corinta is changed. ALBERTO: So is Jesusa. She has joined several organizations, when she has no talent whatsoever for that sort of thing. In the first place she doesn’t speak even fair English. LEOGARDO: Corinta belongs to only one organization. She speaks good English and Spanish, that’s true, and she has great talent for meeting, people and doing things—you know, charitable work, and all that sort of thing. But our house is changed. I

miss something. I see her only in the evening—that is, when we don’t go to some party which she says she has to attend. ALBERTO: Jesusa has got it into her head that she must go to every party—and that means new dresses—and I can’t afford them. LEOGARDO: In my case, the expenses don’t matter much. I can afford to give Corinta what she wants. Of course, we can’t spend money like water. I just paid the last installment on the car last month. But I believe that a wife should stay at home and take care of the house. ALBERTO: At least your house looks decent. Everything is so clean while at home Jesusa has cluttered up the sala with all sorts of ridiculous furniture and it’s always dusty. LEOGARDO: If my wife would only stay more at home— ALBERTO: Perhaps if you had some children— LEOGARDO: I was wondering about that too. All these years not one child. I wish we had one, at least. ALBERTO: Do you think it would change Corinta? LEOGARDO: I don’t know, Berto, I don’t know. ALBERTO: I have seven, but it doesn’t do Jesusa any good! (JESUSA comes in, corridor, right.) JESUSA: What a beautiful refrigerator you have, Leogardo, I’m always telling Berto to buy me one ALBERTO: We can’t afford it. Our house is mortgaged. JESUSA: We can pay by installments. How much did it cost you, Leogardo? LEOGARDO: I don’t remember the exact price, Jesusa. Corinta can tell you about it. She ordered it. JESUSA: Aren’t you going to the Assemblymen’s Ball next week? LEOGARDO: I don’t think so, but Corinta is. JESUSA: You know, last week I was able to dance with Secretary Reyes, with Speaker Cruz, and with many others. I was even about to dance with the High Commissioner, but he’s too tall—besides, General Vera asked me for the dance first. I was afraid he would do some tango nowadays. ALBERTO: Yes, and tango their husbands, too! ( A dirty look from JESUSA.) LEOGARDO: I wonder if Tia Clarita has set the table then. Have lunch with us. JESUSAL Why, haven’t you eaten yet? LEOGARDO: Er—no—we were delayed a little. Have you had lunch? JESUSA: No, but we’re going home now. LEOGARDO: Don’t go home JESUSA: (Standing) Naku, what will you think of us, Leogardo—that we came here just in time for lunch? Come Berto, we must go. LEOGARDO: No, Jesusa—Berto—now that you’re here you must stay.

JESUSA: Some other day, Leogardo. ALBERTO: Yes. LEOGARDO: Never mind being formal, Jesusa. Corinta will be home any minute and she’ll want you to stay. Of course we’ve nothing special to offer—just canned food. JESUSA: Well, if you insist. (Sits down. Signals BERTO to do the same.) Anyhow, we’re like part of the family, eh, Leogardo? ALBERTO: Yes, yes. (JESUSA glares at Berto. CORINTA comes in, corridor, left. She is a tall, attractive woman of twenty-five. She has great poise and equanimity. Having studied in a local university, she has kept herself interested in outside activities, even though she married before twenty. She has been able thus far to combine successfully both the duties of home and the duties of public life. She speaks always in a soft, low voice.) CORINTA: How nice to see you, Jesusa! JESUSA: Why so late, Corinta? CORINTA: Have you been here long? Hello, Berto. JESUSA: Half an hour. Leogardo insists that we stay for lunch. CORINTA: Fine! You must stay. (Calling) Tia Clarita! LEOGARDO: She’s in the kitchen. (Leogardo stands at ertreme left, front.) CORINTA: Never mind, then. Did anybody call me up, Leogardo? (She goes towards him.) LEOGARDO: I don’t know! Ask your Tia Clarita! CORINTA: But why haven’t you eaten yet? It’s nearly one. LEOGARDO: (Whispering to her but suppressing his irritation.) Eat what? When you didn’t leave the money for marketing! There’s nothing a bite to eat! CORINTA: Virgen del Carmen! (Looks behind to see that they are not being heard.) What a memory! I thought I left it on the table. (Opens her bag and laughs.) Look, it’s here, I forgot. LEOGARDO: But your memory never fails you when it comes to one of your meetings. CORINTA: Really, Leogardo, I can’t help laughing, for it seems so funny. It’s just as if it had been planned. But Tia Clarita should have reminded me. LEOGARDO: Your Tia Clarita—che! CORINTA: You haven’t been picking at each other again, Leogardo? (Turning to JESUSA and ALBERTO.) Oh, Jesusa, Berto, please go to my room. You may want to wash your hands. We’ll join you in a minute. You’ll find a clean towel on my bed. JESUSA: It’s all right, Corinta. Don’t bother. (They go out, right door. TIA CLARITA enter from corridor, right.) CLARITA: So you’re here at last, Corinta? LEOGARDO: Well, did you buy the canned food? CLARITA: No, the boys says both groceries are closed.

LEOGARDO: Closed when it’s one o’clock? CLARITA: They’re closed, and I don’t usually inquire their reasons for doing it. That’s their business! LEOGARDO: Ha! That’s the first time you haven’t tried to find out other people’s business! CLARITA: Look here, Legardo— CORINTA: Here, here, what’s this about going to the grocery? CLARITA: You forgot to leave the money for marketing— CORINTA: (Laughing) Yes, yes, I know— LEOGARDO: You certainly find humor in the wrong things. CORINTA: You’ll soon find out, Leogardo, why I’m laughing. CLARITA: Well, Leogardo gave me five pesos— CORINTA: (Laughing) I understand now, Tia Clarita. Never mind. LEOGARDO: Well, we won’t eat today then! Fine time to fast when Lent is still four months away! What shall we tell our visitor? Send them away—that’s the best way! Yes, tell them to go home! Tell them there’s no food in this house! Tell them we’re starving! CLARITA: Send them away! Why, that’s poor manner. CORINTA: Don’t worry, Leogardo— LEOGARDO: Don’t worry! You women may like to go on a diet we men, never! CLARITA: There you go again, including all the women! I never dieted in my life, let me tell you! CORINTA: I said don’t worry, because you’ll eat and eat good food, too. LEOGARDO: Do you intend to take us all to Manila Hotel? CORINTA: Don’t act like a child, Leogardo. LEOGARDO: Ah! Now I am like a child! CORINTA: Leogardo, your sarcasm is out of place, especially when we’ve visitors. I’ve a surprise for you and don’t spoil it by getting angry. LEOGARDO: What surprise? CORINTA: You’ll soon know. It will be here soon. LEOGARDO: It had better be sooner or I’ll get my coat and eat elsewhere! CORINTA: Tia Clarita, will you go in and see that Jesusa and Berto find out the clean towels? Tell them we’ll be ready for lunch soon. Use the blue napkins. And tell the boy to serve on the left side, and to put the ice in the glasses. (TIA CLARITA leaves by right door.) LEOGARDO: This house is changed since you entered public life, as you call it. Things are different. I see you very seldom now—in the evenings. Why should you go into publics life when your duty is— CONRINTA: At home? LEOGARDO: Where else?

CORINTA: It’s one of your moods again, because I’ve been in public life for some time now—even before the suffrage was granted. LEOGARDO: I know, Corinta but there comes a time— CORINTA: Leogardo, I’ve been a pretty good wife, haven’t I? (LEOGARDO stares at her, then looks away) Today’s slip— LEOGARDO: Do you call forgetting to have lunch ready only a slip? CORINTA: It’s the first time, isn’t it? Tell me, have you missed your meals before? Of course, during our suffrage campaign, once or twice, but then I was busy, and you understood it. You always have your clothes clean on tour bed every morning. you can’t complain that the house is dirty or dusty, for it isn’t. is it.? LEOGARDO: Well, I suppose you’re partly right. CORINTA: As you can see, Leogardo, I do my duties as a wife. LEOGARDO: But sometimes— CORINTA: Sometimes—of course—we make mistakes, as who doesn’t? but to quarrel about today’s little incident— LEOGARDO: But the daily routine— CORINTA: (Laughing softly) There you go, Leogardo—the routine of daily life. You men attach so much importance to your daily routine. You hate the slightest change. You want everything always fixed, definite. But doesn’t it feel fine to break your routine sometimes, to break the monotony of things? LEOGARDO: No, I don’t feel fine when I break my routine. Besides, my digestion— CORINTA: Your digestion hasn’t suffered any harm, Leogardo. Look at that paunch of yours! (She laughs. LEOGARDO, finding this mild teasing a way of relieving the tension smiles) See? It doesn’t harm anybody to fast occasionally. LEOGARDO: But I don’t like it! CORINTA: (Seriously) Can you remember any other instance when I neglected — rather, when the routine in this house was seriously upset? LEOGARDO: I can’t recall now—but if you’ll give me times— CORINTA: Surely you would remember if there had been any, wouldn’t you? LEOGARDO: Well, I suppose so. CORINTA: You’re always right, Leogardo, but I only wish to put things in their proper light, to show things as they really are and not as you imagine them to be. Today’s incident was unimportant in itself, bit it acted as a spark, which set fire to your wounded vanity. LEOGARDO: Vanity? CORINTA: If you’ll be honest, Leogardo, yes. You were brought up with the idea women should stay at home even if they had no children and even if they could do some good work outside the home. LEOGARDO: But the home is the wife’s places.

CORINTA: How selfish, Leogardo. You remember in our courtship days when you used to admire my—charm, as you used to say, any gracious way of meeting people, or knowing how to deal with them. LEOGARDO: And you still have that charm, Corinta. CORINTA: Well, then why not use the talents given us by nature, if in using them we can make other people happy? Must we hide our talents under a bushel? Of course we could—but how very selfish, don’t you think? LEOGARDO: Well,— er —I— CORINTA: If some wives can do good work for some worthy cause outside their homes, why not let them? My work, for instance, is to help the poor children in the slums of Manila. LEOGARDO: Your work may be praiseworthy, but your appearing constantly in the public eye, in the newspaper—why, for a wife— CORINTA: Come, come now, Leogardo. You’re acting like a spoiled child. The truth is— and this may hurt you— that you resent the attention paid to me. But your prestige and your name in the community haven’t suffered a bit. Your name is still one to conjure with in business. In other words, the community knows that you still are the head of the family. LEOGARDO: But Corinta— CORINTA: Furthermore, don’t you want to believe that all this attention given to me is only because I am a woman—and men will always be courteous and polite to women? (LEOGARDO, charmed by this slight display of coquetry and teasing on his wife’s part, smiles tenderly. But because he still feels his sense of pride smarting, he kills his smile outright). LEOGARDO: But your going out—women, married women especially, should take care of themselves—people gossip— CORINTA: Be honest, Leogardo. That isn’t the reason. LEOGARDO: (Caught unawares by her direct gaze). Eh? Why—er—what do you mean? CORINTA: (Softly) Isn’t it— LEOGARDO: What? CORINTA: Jealousy? LEOGARDO: How did you— CORINTA: (Insistingly) True, then? (Leogardo looks away). LEOGARDO: But, Corinta, when one loves— CORINTA: When one loves, he gives complete trust—not a sign of love. Why should a husband always fear that his wife will be unfaithful? (A knock is heard at left end of corridor. TIA CLARITA crosses from right end to left)

LEOGARDO: But, Corinta—there have been cases—many of them—of unfaithful wives— CORINTA: Of course there have been, and are. But there are unfaithful wives— and husbands—all over the world. (TIA CLARITA comes in, corridor left, with a large covered tray). CLARITA: Look, Corinta, a boy brought this. He didn’t say anything. CORINTA: Take it to the dining room and put the food on the table, Tia Clarita. Jesusa and Berto must be hungry. (LEOGARDO folds back the cover of the tray and shows great surprise) CORINTA: This is a surprise, Leogardo! CLARITA: This is a royal meal, if you ask me! Roast chicken hm—m—m—fruit salad. And this chocolate cake looks delicious. CORINTA: Take it inside, Tia Clarita. Tell Jesusa and Berto to begin. We’ll be in right away. (TIA CLARITA goes out) I studied cooking at the school near my office, Leogardo. I wasn’t satisfied with my cooking, so I tried to learn new recipes. LEOGARDO: You didn’t tell me. You didn’t ask me for money. CORINTA: If I had told you it wouldn’t have been a surprise. I used my own money. Go inside now, I’ll just take off my pañuelo. LEOGARDO: Corinta—if you’ll forgive— CORINTA: No, Leogardo—forgive my thoughtlessness. It won’t happen again. Go in now, Leogardo. I’ll tell you something very important later. (LEOGARDO goes out. Presently, JESUSA comes in) JESUSA: Corinta! CORINTA Why don’t you eat, Jesusa? JESUSA: Well—later—er—I overheard what you said. CORINTA: You heard? JESUSA: Well, not at all— just the last part. Anyhow, I’m one of the family. Tell me, Corinta, if you’ve a child, do you think Leogardo will allow you to go in for public life? CORINTA: I think so, Jesusa. JESUSA: How will you do it? CORINTA: I don’t know yet. JESUSA: I want to help you, Corinta. CORINTAL Help you? JESUSA: It’s about Berto. He’s so stubborn sometimes. He keeps saying it’s the husband who rules the home. CORINTA: (Laughing softly) Men don’t know it, Jesusa, —but it iswe women who rule the home, though we make the men believe they do. JESUSA: Yes, yes, that’s what I want to find out. How do you do it? CORINTA: There’s a right way , and a wrong way, Jesusa.

JESUSA: You mean mine is wrong? CORINTA: Yes—for Berto’s type. Men are really children at heart. Feed their vanity and sense of importance in the right way— and you can handle them the way you want the right way—and you can handle them the way you want. JESUSA: Naku, Corinta! That’s very interesting! (Shouting) Berto! Berto! CORINTA: What are you going to do? JESUSA: Just a little practice, Corinta. (BERTO comes in corridor, right with a napkin in one hand and a chicken leg in the other). ALBERTO: What do you want! (JESUSA’s voice becomes sugary). JESUSA: Ay, Berto, you are so brave and so wise, —let’s go home now. Will you call a taxi, de—ar? ALBERTO: (Dumbfounded). Ha! Call it yourself! Dear—ha—ha! (ALBERTO goes back to the dining room. JESUSA sobs exaggeratedly). JESUSA: (As she was going out). Ay, naku, Corinta! It didn’t work! It didn’t work! (CORINTA covers her mouth, laughing. LEOGARDO enters). LEOGARDO: What’s the joke? CORINTA: Huh? Oh well, it won’t interest you. LEOGARDO: What was the important thing you were going to tell me? CORINTA: Leogardo— LEOGARDO: Yes? CORINTA: Leogardo—I’m going to break away from social work. LEOGARDO: What! CORINTA: Yes, I’m retiring in a few days. LEOGARDO: Retiring? CORINTA: You see—you—see—well, I hope he looks like you. LEOGARDO: You hope—he—looks like me? (Suddenly getting the meaning) Do you mean—do you mean—? CORINTA: Yes. LEOGARDO: After seven years? CORINTA: After seven years. (He embraces her). LEOGARDO: Why—you women are extraordinary! (TIA CLARITA comes in). CLARITA: Here’s the money, Leogardo! LEOGARDO: I gave you a two-peso bill! This in only one-seventy! CLARITA: Well, you still owed me for the taxi remember? LEOGARDO: Oh, well, I still think women—some women—are extraordinary! CLARITA: What do you mean some? All women! (CURTAIN)