Everyone at school dislikes Buddy's bohemian friend (Dinah Manoff, in an Empty Nest rehearsal); Kate gives Doug a plaid jacket he doesn't much care for.
Written by Richard Kramer; produced by Nigel McKeand; directed by Stuart Millar.
Dinah Manoff: Mara.
Jenny O'Hara: Miss Montebello.
Louise Foley: Audrey Pfeiffer.
Heather Totten: Pam.
Laurie Jefferson: teacher.
Buddy: Why do you make everything so hard, Mara? Mara: It's the only way I know.
Kate: I'm glad you're here, Mara. Mara: I am, too. Kate: I got a card from your parents. Mara: Really? Me too. Kate: If you'd like to call them... Mara: No! I mean, not unless you insist. Look, they'd only do a big number and come rushing back. Let them enjoy their vacation, and I'll enjoy mine. Kate: All right -- for tonight, we'll leave it at that. Mara: And now, get ready, get set -- a Mara Ireland cheese soufflé... [drums her hands on the counter] coming up. Kate: Ho ho. I remember the first time you ever made one of those. You were nine. I couldn't believe my eyes. Mara: My aunt Rita taught me. Do you remember her? Kate: Yes, I do, very well. I haven't seen her for a long time. Mara: Oh, neither have I -- she lives in New York. We write, though. You know, until I learned to read, I thought her name was "RitatheGypsy" -- all one word. Kate: I remember your mother called her that. Mara: Well, my mother meant it as a putdown. But I loved it, and so did Rita. So she gave me a secret name: Mara the Sleeping Gypsy. Where's the grater? Kate: It's under the counter. Mara: Oh. Kate: Why the sleeping gypsy? Mara: Well, she said I had a gypsy inside me, asleep, and that the day I realized it was there, I'd be on my way. Kate: To where? Mara: She said that was between me and the gypsy.
Kate: It's not that Buddy stopped loving you, you know. It's just that you threatened her. Mara: Threatened her? Kate: She's still scrambling around, trying to figure out who she's gonna be, when she grows up. Mara: Well, who isn't? Kate: You aren't. Mara: Hah. Wrong. Kate: If I were wrong, I don't think any of this would've happened. You would've painted the Hawaiian luau, as instructed. And everybody would've forgiven you your old trespasses. Mara: And I'd be in with the in crowd! That's what I wanted. I tried to do what they wanted me to do. I -- I sketched out a beach, and a moon, and a hula girl. It filled me with ennui. [sighs] So the hula girl turned into a lion... the beach turned into a jungle clearing... it just happened. Kate: You wanted it to be special. Mara: Well, why can't I leave well enough alone? Everybody else does. Kate: I remember myself when I was about your age. I was desperate to be just like all the rest of my friends. I shudder to think of it, now. I wore what they wore, ate what they ate, I liked what they liked. Mara: It must have been the pits for you. Kate: No, it wasn't. I didn't have a sleeping gypsy to contend with.
