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Monologue Mania Day # 156 by Janet S. Tiger A Possumability July 18, 2014
Monologue Mania Day # 156 by Janet S. Tiger A Possumability July 18, 2014
A Possumability (for Book of Teas)
A monologue by Janet S. Tiger ©
all rights reserved
tigerteam1@gmail.com
(T enters, she is dressed for the day, looking at a photo album, still with a Southern accent.)
My goodness, what did people do before they had photographs? Of course, there were portraits, and no one lived that long, but still, how did you remember your babies? Just in your mind? Perhaps those people had it better....(thinks) no, they didn't.
(She holds open a page)
There, Viv, you see how your baby looks just the same as you in this photo? If I didn't know better, I'd say it's the same picture!
(Starts to laugh)
I don't know if you remember when this photo was taken, do you? You were only, how old? Were you four yet? I think it was just before your birthday, because the possum incident almost delayed the party!
(Nods)
That you remember! Oh, God, my mother used to love possums...and more than the possums, she would love sayin 'possumability'
She said possums were cleaner animals in general and best of all, they were good for eatin rats, an animal my mother hated. She did not like that people that possums were stupid, or rodents....she would show me pictures of kangaroos and say, 'that's the possum's relatives, and they live far away, so we should be kind to them, and maybe if their kangaroo relatives visit, we could have them over for tea! And she would laugh when I said I didn't think that was gonna happen. She would say....(imitates) 'you never know, T, it's an inneresting ....possumability!' And she would laugh, and if her friends were havin tea with her, they would all get hysterical.
Me, I was terrified of anythin I thought was a rat...and possums looked like rats, so you do the math. And then, one day, someone...I will not mention which father of yours, but you might have your suspicions, left the back door open and a mama possum just waltzed right in to our house and made a bee-line...or would it be a possum-line?....to your room, where she jumped into your dollhouse where there was a lovely little bed and she proceeded to have her babies, right in your room!
(Laughs)
I knew you'd remember! And there was the mother, and when anyone tried to approach her, she would bare those five hundred teeth and hiss! So we had you sleep in our room. We opened the window, but she didn't want to leave those babies! She would walk around the room with them, like the Queen of England!
And, of course, your father would feed it, to try to get it to leave, which is like saying that by feedin your visitin relatives they will leave sooner. Doesn't work in either case.
Then I called my momma, and she must have laughed for an hour, and next thing I know she is here at my door, with her overnight bag and some nectarines from her tree.
She tells me that the mother needs a little friendly female conversation and then will be going soon, and proceeds into the room with the possum, carryin her nectarines.
We hear her talkin to the possum like it was an old friend! She told it all about possums she knew as a young girl, and how she hated when people killed the possums for the fur, and how the possum was very unappreciated - and how even the name was silly - Virignia possum when everyone knew they lived in Georgia!
After about an hour of this, which was fascinatin only because I wondered if it might be time to have my mother carefully examined, out comes my mother, shooin everyone out of her way.
(Imitates, very loud) Outa here! Move it! We got a momma comin through! With babies! And I don't want anyone to bother them - they are my friends!
And out she marches to the yard, and I'll be damned, that possum is trailin right behind her with the babies on her back......just as if they had known each other for years!
She marched into the trees down by the creek, and the possum followed. We watched her say goodbye to the possum, and I swear, it looked as if that possum was actually talkin to her!
The possum went into some woody area, and my mother came back to the house, shakin her head.
Life is just one big...possumability! And she proceeded to laugh for five minutes over that.
That was a good visit.....(she takes a deep breath)... and it was the last time I saw your grandma alive. She died two months later, and I sometimes wonder what happened to her possum friend. And then, one night, when I was very sad, thinkin about your grandma, missin her, and I was walkin there in the woods, I heard a noise and I looked around.. The moon was out, and I could see these giant teeth starin at me.....it was the possum, same one, I believe. She had more babies on her back, and for some reason, I told her about grandma. I swear she listened and she knew what I was sayin.....
For the next week, I would go out walkin in the same spot, and she would be there, and we would talk, and sometimes she would listen, and sometimes I would listen. Life is not easy for possums. There are a million ways for possum babies to die, and she had lost a few already from the first batch.
Somehow, talkin to her made losing grandma a little easier - it was as if we shared a special time. One night I went, and she told me that was it, she had to move on, and I never saw her again. But sometimes, I see a possum, and I know it's one of her offspring, all these years later.
Whaddaya mean is that a true story? It's as true as any I tell, because in the heart, every thing is a ...possumability!
(She laughs and turns to go)
I think that's the title for this chapter - stretched again, but mama and her possum friend would like it .....what is it? Can't you guess? Possumabili...tea!
(She exits, still laughing. End of scene)
(T enters, she is dressed for the day, looking at a photo album, still with a Southern accent.)
My goodness, what did people do before they had photographs? Of course, there were portraits, and no one lived that long, but still, how did you remember your babies? Just in your mind? Perhaps those people had it better....(thinks) no, they didn't.
(She holds open a page)
There, Viv, you see how your baby looks just the same as you in this photo? If I didn't know better, I'd say it's the same picture!
(Starts to laugh)
I don't know if you remember when this photo was taken, do you? You were only, how old? Were you four yet? I think it was just before your birthday, because the possum incident almost delayed the party!
(Nods)
That you remember! Oh, God, my mother used to love possums...and more than the possums, she would love sayin 'possumability'
She said possums were cleaner animals in general and best of all, they were good for eatin rats, an animal my mother hated. She did not like that people that possums were stupid, or rodents....she would show me pictures of kangaroos and say, 'that's the possum's relatives, and they live far away, so we should be kind to them, and maybe if their kangaroo relatives visit, we could have them over for tea! And she would laugh when I said I didn't think that was gonna happen. She would say....(imitates) 'you never know, T, it's an inneresting ....possumability!' And she would laugh, and if her friends were havin tea with her, they would all get hysterical.
Me, I was terrified of anythin I thought was a rat...and possums looked like rats, so you do the math. And then, one day, someone...I will not mention which father of yours, but you might have your suspicions, left the back door open and a mama possum just waltzed right in to our house and made a bee-line...or would it be a possum-line?....to your room, where she jumped into your dollhouse where there was a lovely little bed and she proceeded to have her babies, right in your room!
(Laughs)
I knew you'd remember! And there was the mother, and when anyone tried to approach her, she would bare those five hundred teeth and hiss! So we had you sleep in our room. We opened the window, but she didn't want to leave those babies! She would walk around the room with them, like the Queen of England!
And, of course, your father would feed it, to try to get it to leave, which is like saying that by feedin your visitin relatives they will leave sooner. Doesn't work in either case.
Then I called my momma, and she must have laughed for an hour, and next thing I know she is here at my door, with her overnight bag and some nectarines from her tree.
She tells me that the mother needs a little friendly female conversation and then will be going soon, and proceeds into the room with the possum, carryin her nectarines.
We hear her talkin to the possum like it was an old friend! She told it all about possums she knew as a young girl, and how she hated when people killed the possums for the fur, and how the possum was very unappreciated - and how even the name was silly - Virignia possum when everyone knew they lived in Georgia!
After about an hour of this, which was fascinatin only because I wondered if it might be time to have my mother carefully examined, out comes my mother, shooin everyone out of her way.
(Imitates, very loud) Outa here! Move it! We got a momma comin through! With babies! And I don't want anyone to bother them - they are my friends!
And out she marches to the yard, and I'll be damned, that possum is trailin right behind her with the babies on her back......just as if they had known each other for years!
She marched into the trees down by the creek, and the possum followed. We watched her say goodbye to the possum, and I swear, it looked as if that possum was actually talkin to her!
The possum went into some woody area, and my mother came back to the house, shakin her head.
Life is just one big...possumability! And she proceeded to laugh for five minutes over that.
That was a good visit.....(she takes a deep breath)... and it was the last time I saw your grandma alive. She died two months later, and I sometimes wonder what happened to her possum friend. And then, one night, when I was very sad, thinkin about your grandma, missin her, and I was walkin there in the woods, I heard a noise and I looked around.. The moon was out, and I could see these giant teeth starin at me.....it was the possum, same one, I believe. She had more babies on her back, and for some reason, I told her about grandma. I swear she listened and she knew what I was sayin.....
For the next week, I would go out walkin in the same spot, and she would be there, and we would talk, and sometimes she would listen, and sometimes I would listen. Life is not easy for possums. There are a million ways for possum babies to die, and she had lost a few already from the first batch.
Somehow, talkin to her made losing grandma a little easier - it was as if we shared a special time. One night I went, and she told me that was it, she had to move on, and I never saw her again. But sometimes, I see a possum, and I know it's one of her offspring, all these years later.
Whaddaya mean is that a true story? It's as true as any I tell, because in the heart, every thing is a ...possumability!
(She laughs and turns to go)
I think that's the title for this chapter - stretched again, but mama and her possum friend would like it .....what is it? Can't you guess? Possumabili...tea!
(She exits, still laughing. End of scene)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Janet S. Tiger 858-736-6315
www.JanetSTiger.weebly.com
Member Dramatists Guild since 1983
Playwright-in-Residence
Swedenborg Hall 2006-8
www.JanetSTiger.weebly.com
Member Dramatists Guild since 1983
Playwright-in-Residence
Swedenborg Hall 2006-8
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