Scene 7: Summary: Half an hour later, as dinner is finishing up, the lights go out. Tom feigns ignorance of the cause. Amanda, unfazed, continues to be as charming as she can be. She lights candles and asks Jim to check the fuse box.
After Jim tells her that the fuse box looks fine, Amanda suggests that he go spend time with Laura in the living room. As Amanda and Tom do dishes in the kitchen, Laura warms up to Jim, who is charming enough to put her ease. She reminds him that they knew each other in high school, and that he used to call her “Blue Roses.” Jim feels ashamed that he did not recognize her at once. They reminisce about the class they had together, a singing class to which Laura, because of her leg, was always late. She always felt that the brace on her leg made a clumping sound “like thunder,” but Jim insists that he never noticed it.
They have a friendly conversation by candlelight. Jim reveals that he was never engaged, and that his old girlfriend was the one who put the announcement in the yearbook. They no longer see each other. Laura speaks admirably of Jim’s voice, and he autographs the program of the show he was in, The Pirates of Penzance.
