Monologue Mania Day #304 by Janet S. Tiger For Jonathan Dec. 13, 2014

Monologue Mania Day #304 by Janet S. Tiger  For Jonathan Dec. 13, 2014 

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Monologue Mania Day #304 by Janet S. Tiger  For Jonathan Dec. 13, 2014 

                                                     For Jonathan

                             A monologue by Janet S. Tiger   © all rights reserved

                                                      tigerteam1@gmail.com 

                 (The person comes out onstage, dressed in black, wiping away tears.  The person is me)

I think grieving for a lost friend is one of the hardest things, as love for friends is not genetic, it is chosen, so the bonds are forged in a different type of way, a way that involves not covalent bonds of atoms, but the bonds forged like a chef when making a delicious dish.  There is the introduction, the first discovery of the flavors together, the meeting of the two minds, and, the instant aroma that happens when you know something is going to taste good.

Then you continue on with the dish over the years, adding memories, some like large chunks of chicken, the major events shared, others like pinches of spices, the shared laughter of private jokes.

Sometimes, there is a pot left simmering too long, and the worry is that the mix is now too hot, or the bottom burned, but when you check, you discover the extra heat of anger or upset or trouble made the contents come together more evenly, and the taste, when left to cool a bit, even more amazing.

I am torn to continue the analogy, because it makes me giggle a bit, and I can hear Jonathan reading this aloud in his wonderful Southern or British accent -can't decide which is better for this monologue - maybe actor's choice.

But then the years pass, and the dish, re-constituted from what was left in the freezer to save it during months apart in other countries or busy with family or ...just too busy to remember how delicious the dish was - and you find the container, and re-open it, warm it slowly and the aroma of that friendship warms the room, then the entire house, and your heart.......

And then, the dish is finished, the last bits scraped from the sides of the pot or the pan, the container washed, the knowledge there will be no more of that wondrous flavor ever again on this side of heaven, and the final seasoning is the salty tears.

It is a deep sadness, because we humans are selfish - we always want more of anything that tastes so good, even if we sometimes forget it, and leave it on a shelf or in the fridge.....but once it is gone forever because the key ingredient is no longer made, we mourn bitterly all the times we missed having it.  Until, along the way, the scrumptious scent wafts in from somewhere - an article, a photo, a laugh, and we recall that beloved friend again in all the glory of their youth and first flavors, and we smile through our tears.

And we go out and cry and share the memory with others, and we have a taste of something good and we remember, and we still love.......

I can hear you reading this Jonathan, and I can see you smiling and maybe even offering me some ways to make it better.  Thank you, dear friend.  I will miss you.  We will all miss you.

          (I turns to exit, look back)

And thank God for kleenexes!

          (I exit.  The final curtain for a dear friend, Jonathan Dunn-Rankin, may he rest in peace in that glorious theater in the sky!)

 

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Final notes- This piece will be my only one this year in the first person because of the very personal nature of my grief today.  The reference to kleenexes is one Jonathan (and a few others) will spot - he performed one of my monologues 'Get a Cold' (wonderfully, of course, I can still hear him say -

                'I went into the archives...... these (he would hold up the kleenex box).... ingenious!  See how they pop up all by themselves!  I could do this all day!'  

 It would always get a laugh.......because he would always do it perfectly.  I mention this because.....even with all the tears,  I just couldn't end on a sad note, I had to give one last look...........

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