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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.
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
------------------------------
Monologue
Mania Day # 180 by Janet S. Tiger The Fallen Aug.11,
2014
Note - Robin Williams died
today- he was a great comic and dramatic actor -may he rest in peace..
Nanoo nanoo!
A monologue by
Janet S. Tiger ©
all rights reserved
tigerteam1@gmail.com
(An older gentleman comes onstage, he is waving at the crowd,
then he trips and falls - a very big fall, and he gets up quickly.)
I'm all right! Don't worry!
No problems! I'll call my attorney later! Seriously, this
chance to talk to everyone on the Senior Channel is wonderful.....and I won't
sue! That's a promise!
I'm here to talk about something
everyone is afraid of, getting cheated. Scams. People who are out to put one over on you. How do I know so much? Because I am one of those people!
Let me tell you about myself. People
always ask what I do, and I tell them the truth. I'm in the insurance
business.
That usually finishes all
questions! But most think I work for a company - that's not accurate -
turns out, the company works for me.
No, I don't own a company......but
they do pay me. In fact, many of them have paid me...off.
That's right, I am.....a
faller. One of the fallen few.....I make my living by....falling.
And it's a family tradition, too,
my mother taught me everything I know.
After my father left, things were
pretty tough. It was just before World War II, and I was only about six,
but I knew things had gotten.....let's say, difficult for my mother.
I heard her talking to a man about
an insurance policy, and even though I had no idea what she was talking about,
there was something in the tone of her voice I didn't like at all.
So I decided that, instead of
playing with my friends whenever I could, I was gonna keep an eye on her.
I would follow her around, and now I know what she was doing - scouting it
out. The perfect time to step in front of a car or bus. She studied
the lights.....I saw her practicing stepping off just as the red went to
green...it was very scary.....and then one day, she told me if anything
happened to her, I was to go stay with Uncle Barry and Aunt Sylvia.......and I
didn't even know who they were!
So the big day dawned, and my
mother hugged me extra hard when she left to go 'look for work' was the way she
put it. 'have fun, and don't play in the street.'
I hugged her back and told her I
wouldn't play in the street - which for that day was the truth.
She left, looking at me in a very
strange way, and after the door closed I raced to follow her like a spy in one
of the movies I would sneak into.
She walked over to one of the
busiest streets, and she waited, and I waited. Then I saw it, a
bus. A city bus. Big and scary, and she watched the lights and I
watched her.....just as the bus approached, the light changed to red for the
bus....and green for my mother!
She stepped off right in the path
of the bus..... and I ran towards her, screaming.....
(He runs, yelling waving wildly)
Momma, momma, watch out!
(He stops, horrified)
She heard and....she turned to look
at me......
(Throws up his hands)
Momma!
(Breathing hard)
And when she turned, the bus hit
her......but just knocked her to the curb! She was bleeding and battered
and people ran to help and the bus driver was really upset and it was the most
frightening moment in my entire life up to that point!
(He sits down, as if on a curb)
And she was.....hurt, but still
alive. Two broken ribs, all her clothing ruined...... And ....the
insurance company for the bus paid us $25,000, which, in those days, was a lot
of money.
More money than the life insurance policy. Also, you can only die once, but you can fall a million times!
So a family dynasty was
born.......when that money ran out in a few years, my mother had another
accident, this time in Macy's......and that money got me through
college......where I studied anatomy, and took gymnastics, so I learned how to
fall, and that got me out of the military, and my first car.
As I got better at falling, I was
able to really do some damage.....to the insurance companies.
But then....I really fell.
Not on cement....but in love.....and that was a costly fall!
It was amazing, and I still
remember how good that felt......and we were married for 32 years, and she
never suspected that I was one of the fallen, because she thought I was just
clumsy!
(He
smiles at this)
Clumsy. A faller has to be
very agile, and look very clumsy. Unlucky. But you have to choose
where you do this, do the research. Big grocery stores that have water
spilled on a slippery floor, I see that kind of like a big open bank!
With a sign that says - 'come on in!'
(Starts
to rub his arm)
But of course, there is a
price....a very physical price.....even though I practiced, there were times I
truly did hurt myself. My left knee, this elbow....ribs and coccyx....
twice My back is in constant pain, and due to all the falls, I have
trouble standing up straight.
I didn't mind, because my
family had it good, better than before my mom discovered the value of being
flat on your back!
(He shakes his
head, takes a deep sigh)
Here's the tough thing about
falling....in love. There is just no insurance that will cover...... the
pain of losing someone you care about, especially if that someone....is your
baby.
Want to hear the funny part?
The baby, my oldest, my precious baby, was not insured against polio.
Most people didn't die from polio, but my first born did - one of the last
deaths in this country.
So we collected nothing .....except
sympathy.
Go ahead, judge me. But you should also ask - why is this guy telling me this? Here's why - I am
telling you all this so that you will know about people who might fall on your
doorstep, or come to paint your house - and the ladder tips over....like it has
at five other houses for these guys.......if someone falls and you have to pay,
do a little digging, it's worth having an attorney check it out.....before the fallen are YOUR downfall!
(He turns to go, looks back)
And also, because.....I love the winter, spring and summer.... but I'm just too old for...the fall!
(He walks off, almost
falls again, gets up smiling, dusts himself off. The end.)
Janet S. Tiger
858-736-6315
Member Dramatists Guild since 1983
Playwright-in-Residence
Swedenborg Hall 2006-8
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