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Note: A few words about 'free' - all these monologues are protected under copyright law and are free to read, free to perform and video as long as no money is charged. Once you charge admission or a donation, or include my work in an anthology, you need to contact me for royalty info.
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Monologue
Mania Day #290 by Janet S. Tiger Quiet Nights Nov. 29, 2014 Note: A few words about 'free' - all these monologues are protected under copyright law and are free to read, free to perform and video as long as no money is charged. Once you charge admission or a donation, or include my work in an anthology, you need to contact me for royalty info.
If you just started this blog and want to read the earlier monologues, please
scroll down for the previous days or go to http://www.monologuestore.com/ -click on the Monologue Mania button please scroll down.
To start at the beginning - Feb. 13, - click here.
For a list of the blurbs from each day, click here
Help a playwright and get more great award-winning monologues - MonologueZone.com
Thank you for your comments - and for liking and sharing this site
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Warning- strong language
Quiet Nights
A monologue by Janet S.
Tiger © all rights reserved
tigerteam1@gmail.com
Hi, folks, hope you're having a good evening.....I'm glad you're here waitin' for the bus instead of driving after a few drinks, it's a smart move......I'm happy to wait here with you, it's late and the buses don't run as often after midnight, ya know......
(He looks around, relaxes some more)
Quiet nights. I've been on the force now for twenty-two years and every night I go out, my wife says, have a quiet night.....and I've been pretty lucky......of course, for the last ten years I've had desk work, but our policy has been every officer has to do two weeks of in the street every year, the official reason is to keep in touch with the people, but everyone knows it's to remind you what it's like on the front lines.....
This is my last night of the two weeks, and I have another hour.......
(Listens)
Actually, the desk work was because of an injury from a not quiet night...I was chasing someone and I fell down a flight of stairs, and my knee has never been the same, so, I get to do the desk work that when you see a show on TV, they say (imitates TV voice) 'Find out everything you can about that car.....or that house, or that building......' and you never see the person who does that background work, because it's amazingly boring........that's me, that's what I usually do.
(Listens)
Nah, it's safer, not as much excitement, and my wife prefers it......
(Listens)
Ferguson......boy, I sure am glad I'm not in that guy's shoes. I heard he just had to quit.....not surprised. These things never end well......for anyone. It's funny, before it was in the news, I used to complain about the desk work, but then, hey, it's front page you can't miss it, and it made me remember stuff.....
(He takes his hat off and wipes his forehead.)
Warm night.......that guy in Ferguson could have been any one of us policeman.....(quieter) could have been me. I was a rookie, it was my first year, near the end, so I thought I was gettin' to be smart......warm night like this......my partner saw a light in an alley. I went to check it out, he went around the front of the building......
(He is back to the time)
It's scary, and exciting.....and I see the light and there's a guy comin' out of a window.....broken window......and I'm just close enough to see that this is just a skinny kid, in a T-shirt and jeans.....maybe fourteen, fifteen at the most, black or Mexican......and I put my flashlight on him as he hits the cement and and I say.....Police.....and I see he has a gun....a big one, a 45, bigger than his head...... and that moment is frozen in my brain even to this day......I said, 'Police, drop the gun and put your hands on your head.......
(He puts his hand on his holster, remembering)
He looked at me, and I looked at him......and he lifted the gun to aim it at me and all the training I had told me to shoot, but because the moment was frozen, all I could say was.....'is it worth it?' because I had a boy, only four, but, I don't know......he was just a kid......
(He takes his hand off the holster)
And he dropped the gun and the bag of stuff he had taken and he ran......like a sonofabitch.....and I chased him and my partner was coming around from the front and we chased him for three blocks and that kid could run......I remember thinking, 'hell, if anyone had given this kid one lick of encouragement he coulda been gettin' a track scholarship one day with these feet, what a waste.....but he outran us, and my partner had me go back and find the gun and the stuff, and I put in the report and thought, that's one kid who's got a lot of trouble coming......
When I got home that night, got into bed, my wife looked at me, like she always does and asked, so, was it a quiet night, and I said, yeah. It was a quiet night. And we both knew I was half tellin' the truth, but sometimes, ya know, the 'whole' truth isn't what it's cracked up to be.
(He shakes off the memory)
Then, it was a few years later, I was getting some donuts and coffee at a 7/11 and I go to the cashier, and he looks at me, and I look at him....and it's the same kid. A little taller, a little older, but the same kid. And he knew it was me, and I could see he was nervous, but we just looked at each other and I paid and left. And as I left, he said to me.....'you wanna buy a lottery ticket, sir, sometimes it's worth it...' And I looked at him and said, 'yeah, it is'
(He looks down the street)
Well, your bus is coming, have a good night......
(He turns to leave, stops, looks back)
It coulda been me in Ferguson.......that guy coulda been me......
(He walks off slowly. Maybe one day, the end of senseless violence.)
Janet S. Tiger 858-736-6315
(A policeman comes onstage, he’s in his
forties, he’s walking carefully, but alertly. He sees the audience and
relaxes just a bit)
Hi, folks, hope you're having a good evening.....I'm glad you're here waitin' for the bus instead of driving after a few drinks, it's a smart move......I'm happy to wait here with you, it's late and the buses don't run as often after midnight, ya know......
(He looks around, relaxes some more)
Quiet nights. I've been on the force now for twenty-two years and every night I go out, my wife says, have a quiet night.....and I've been pretty lucky......of course, for the last ten years I've had desk work, but our policy has been every officer has to do two weeks of in the street every year, the official reason is to keep in touch with the people, but everyone knows it's to remind you what it's like on the front lines.....
This is my last night of the two weeks, and I have another hour.......
(Listens)
Actually, the desk work was because of an injury from a not quiet night...I was chasing someone and I fell down a flight of stairs, and my knee has never been the same, so, I get to do the desk work that when you see a show on TV, they say (imitates TV voice) 'Find out everything you can about that car.....or that house, or that building......' and you never see the person who does that background work, because it's amazingly boring........that's me, that's what I usually do.
(Listens)
Nah, it's safer, not as much excitement, and my wife prefers it......
(Listens)
Ferguson......boy, I sure am glad I'm not in that guy's shoes. I heard he just had to quit.....not surprised. These things never end well......for anyone. It's funny, before it was in the news, I used to complain about the desk work, but then, hey, it's front page you can't miss it, and it made me remember stuff.....
(He takes his hat off and wipes his forehead.)
Warm night.......that guy in Ferguson could have been any one of us policeman.....(quieter) could have been me. I was a rookie, it was my first year, near the end, so I thought I was gettin' to be smart......warm night like this......my partner saw a light in an alley. I went to check it out, he went around the front of the building......
(He is back to the time)
It's scary, and exciting.....and I see the light and there's a guy comin' out of a window.....broken window......and I'm just close enough to see that this is just a skinny kid, in a T-shirt and jeans.....maybe fourteen, fifteen at the most, black or Mexican......and I put my flashlight on him as he hits the cement and and I say.....Police.....and I see he has a gun....a big one, a 45, bigger than his head...... and that moment is frozen in my brain even to this day......I said, 'Police, drop the gun and put your hands on your head.......
(He puts his hand on his holster, remembering)
He looked at me, and I looked at him......and he lifted the gun to aim it at me and all the training I had told me to shoot, but because the moment was frozen, all I could say was.....'is it worth it?' because I had a boy, only four, but, I don't know......he was just a kid......
(He takes his hand off the holster)
And he dropped the gun and the bag of stuff he had taken and he ran......like a sonofabitch.....and I chased him and my partner was coming around from the front and we chased him for three blocks and that kid could run......I remember thinking, 'hell, if anyone had given this kid one lick of encouragement he coulda been gettin' a track scholarship one day with these feet, what a waste.....but he outran us, and my partner had me go back and find the gun and the stuff, and I put in the report and thought, that's one kid who's got a lot of trouble coming......
When I got home that night, got into bed, my wife looked at me, like she always does and asked, so, was it a quiet night, and I said, yeah. It was a quiet night. And we both knew I was half tellin' the truth, but sometimes, ya know, the 'whole' truth isn't what it's cracked up to be.
(He shakes off the memory)
Then, it was a few years later, I was getting some donuts and coffee at a 7/11 and I go to the cashier, and he looks at me, and I look at him....and it's the same kid. A little taller, a little older, but the same kid. And he knew it was me, and I could see he was nervous, but we just looked at each other and I paid and left. And as I left, he said to me.....'you wanna buy a lottery ticket, sir, sometimes it's worth it...' And I looked at him and said, 'yeah, it is'
(He looks down the street)
Well, your bus is coming, have a good night......
(He turns to leave, stops, looks back)
It coulda been me in Ferguson.......that guy coulda been me......
(He walks off slowly. Maybe one day, the end of senseless violence.)
------------------------------------------
Janet S. Tiger 858-736-6315
Member Dramatists Guild since 1983
Playwright-in-Residence
Swedenborg Hall 2006-8
--------------------------------------------------------
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