Monologue Mania Day # 706 Sticky by Janet S. Tiger Jan. 18, 2016

Welcome to Monologue Mania- one new free* monologue a day- for a whole year-and still going!
                                                                    first year -  Feb. 13, 2014 - Feb. 13, 2015
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Monologue Mania Day # 706 Sticky by Janet S. Tiger Jan. 18, 2016

         

                                   Sticky

                                              ©Janet S. Tiger all rights reserved Jan. 16, 2016

                                                           tigerteam1@gmail.com

        (Older woman enters with knitting bag, opens it, starts to knit)

Yes dear, I remember everything you've been talking about - a new topic for the ages.  Your baby is leaving home, and it is traumatic.  I get it.  From experience.....and memory.

Your father was only seventeen when he enlisted in the Army.  It was 1945, almost the end of World War II, and he didn't want to...(sighs)....miss anything.

We begged him not to volunteer, but they took boys almost 18 at that point, with parents’ permission.  And by that time, he was no good to us here on the farm.  He was sullen, he had just about stopped working, he would practice marching and shooting, and he studied all the newspapers for all the battles.

I begged him to go visit the state hospital and see all the boys who were...missing things from their bodies, so maybe it would get him to realize he wasn't missing much.

But boys will be boys.  That's what they are.  You know that.  You've learned that.

So he enlisted, and he finished his basic, and they gave him a leave to say goodbye before being shipped overseas….to the Pacific, where the last battles were happening.  He was so happy!

He was due to leave on the evening train.  8:05 p.m..... and it was one of the most terrible moments in my life.  Of course, I was very proud - he looked so handsome in that uniform....yes, your father was a handsome man in his day.....but I could barely watch him get on that train.  

        (She looks into the distance, remembering the time)

Goodbyes are sticky things......they are sticky so you remember them, like a kind of glue on your heartstrings......you can't get rid of it, and you don't really want to......

And then we waited.  But the train didn't pull out....it was 9pm, then 10pm.......and then...at 11:30 came the announcement.  The conductor and the… I don't know what you call him, the semi-conductor?  The two men who could move that train....both had gotten very sick after eating at the local diner.  

They couldn't stand, let alone get the train going, and the result was having to wait for another conductor to come from the nearest town, which was 4 hours away, and since it was the middle of the night, no one was available until the next day....or until they got well, if they survived whatever they ate!

So we went home to wait for the word, and..... because your father didn't leave until the next day, he missed the sailing of his troop transport.....and he missed the last battle of the Pacific......and maybe...he just missed dying.

Why do I tell you this story?  Because your boy had car trouble and it slowed him down, but that doesn't mean he's not leaving.  Just means, he might've missed a bullet along the way....or not.  But you didn't sabotage his car, did you?

        (Listens, laughs)

I didn't think so!  He's just going for his first job out of the state, not into war......now, me...

        (Folds up the knitting and stands)

I was working at that diner to make a little extra money…..and I was the one who served those fine train gentlemen their pie......sprinkled with the medicine we used to give our cows when they were feeling poorly......it helps the cows.....and it helped my boy......

        (She turns to leave, stops, looks back)

Please don't tell your father.......he got to see as much of the war as he was supposed to....Did I do wrong?  You're a mother....you decide.....

         (She exits, as we all do from our parents-  in one way or another)

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Janet S. Tiger    858-736-6315

JanetSTigerMonologueMania.blogspot.com

www.JanetSTiger.weebly.com

Member Dramatists Guild since 1983

Playwright-in-Residence

Swedenborg Hall 2006-8

* 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.