City of Girls

In the summer of 1965, Peg receives a request to put on a final memorial show before the Brooklyn Navy Yard is shut down for good. Now in poor health, Peg asks Vivian to handle the production. Drawing on her years in the theater, Vivian is able to cobble together an entertaining play using high school students as her cast. Afterward, a policeman unexpectedly asks to speak to her. His name is Frank Grecco, and he says he was aboard the USS Franklin, the same boat as Walter, when it was attacked. Vivian notices that Frank has severe burn scars all down the side of his neck. She’s upset to be reminded of the loss of her brother.

Even more upsetting than the memory of her dead brother is the news that Frank was the young officer who acted as chauffeur the night Walter took Vivian back home to Clinton in disgrace. This is the same man who called her a dirty little whore. Frank wants to offer an apology to Vivian, but she refuses to speak to him. She says, “I got on the bus and left him standing there by his patrol car—hat in hand, like a man begging for alms.