Monologue Mania Day #177 by Janet S. Tiger For Tea Aug. 8 , 2014

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Monologue Mania Day #177     by Janet S. Tiger  For Tea  Aug. 8 , 2014

                             

                                                   For Tea

                                         A monologue by Janet S. Tiger   © all rights reserved

                                                     tigerteam1@gmail.com        

                (Ella and T are onstage together with Vivien, all still with Southern accents)

I told you we'd have to tell the truth one day, Ella, and today is that day.

You are thinkin now -'how awful the South was!  Always pickin on black folk!  How did people ever live through those times!'  because you are sure that Ella, our dear Ella was innocent, just like Sheriff Wilkens thought.  And you are probably adding, 'Oh, T, how you helped by telling the truth and making Sheriff Wilkens see it!'

But until this moment, only three people knew the truth.  (Very quiet)  You see, I didn't help Ella because I thought she was innocent......I helped because I knew she was guilty.

How can I say this?

Well, at 8:45 am on that mornin, Ella arrived at our front door, luckily unseen by anyone else, covered in blood, sayin' (imitates) 'Oh, Mz T, I done chopped off Mr. Fitzhugh's fingers, I chopped off his fingers!  What am I gonna do?'

Those were my first clues.

           (We see the younger T and younger Ella in the kitchen now.)

First, we burned her clothin.

           (T is putting something into the stove while Ella is quickly putting on a new dress.)

Luckily no one remembered what Ella had been wearin that day, and no one thought to ask, just like Sheriff Wilkens didn't ask about Ella's car, which had blood in it.... until we cleaned it out so we could put all the muffins in...

Next, we baked up a storm!

          (The two women are moving at lightnin speed to get the muffins ready.)

Luckily, I have never been good with numbers, and when they told me to make muffins, they actually said FOUR dozen, not FORTY, like we made.  For those also unhappy with math, forty dozen is just about 500 muffins, and only about 100 people come to the church for the fair, so 500 was an awful lot.

          (We see the sheriff near Ella, watching her carefully, then sniffing her)

But no one ever questioned this, because my math prowess is reknowned - and because
we had so many muffins, and Ella was covered in flour and peach juice, Sheriff Wilkens believed our story......and when the news spread - news which Sheriff Wilkens was very happy to share with all - about Fitzhugh and his proclivity for young flesh, another strange thing happened, Mr. Fitzhugh committed suicide by shootin himself .......amazingly in the back, which is quite a feat, but a perfect ending for a very imperfect man.  And a closed case for the Sheriff!

My Daddy always said, 'don't lie, but if you do, make it a whopper.'

Did I regret doing that?  Not for one minute, not one time in my life.

So no one has ever known the truth until this day.

         (Listens)

Why?  Because I love Ella like a sister, and I know, if the tables were reversed, she would do the same for me.

         (Listens)

Oh, you mean, why did she chop off his fingers?  Oh, that's a different question.....one for Ella to answer....

        (She turns to Ella and the spotlight switches.  End of T's monologue)


Janet S. Tiger    858-736-6315
www.JanetSTiger.weebly.com
Member Dramatists Guild since 1983
Playwright-in-Residence
Swedenborg Hall 2006-8

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