Friday, January 30, 2015

Monologue Mania Day# 352 by Janet S. Tiger Almost There Jan. 30, 2015

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Monologue Mania Day# 352 by Janet S. Tiger Almost There  Jan. 30, 2015
    
                                            Almost There
                                                 by Janet S. Tiger   
                                     (c) 2015     all rights reserved
                                          tigerteam1@gmail.com




          (The runner races through the audience, comes to the stage, flops down, exhausted.)



I made it.  No one thought I could do this distance - a half marathon!  I did it!  In under a million hours!   Lemme catch my breath......



           (Breathes heavily, wipes sweat from face)



You know, in every race, there comes a moment, well, to be honest, sometimes more than one - where you want to quit, no actually, you wanna die, you wanna shoot yourself for ever thinking you could finish this.  To start with, everything hurts, and I mean EVERYTHING!



           (Gets up, illustrates the different areas of pain)



If it's even a slightly warm day, your mouth is dry, no matter how much water you drink.  And your knees are aching, and your elbows are tired and your shoulders, and your hips, and then, of course, there are your feet.  Boy, are they complaining!  They want you to stop, stop in the name of God, but, for some crazy reason, you keep going. 



          (Starts to run, through the audience, up to the stage again)



And, unless you are at the front of the pack, where I never am, you are now completely running on some internal steam.  Something that oozes up from deep within ….. that keeps you going.



I know, because I am filled with that ooze......it is the essence of....success.



I started running after I was in a car accident, and my doctors told me I would never be able to walk again, let alone run.  I had to prove them wrong.  And I did.  One of my doctors died last year, he was older, but he never thought I'd outlive him, and look at me, here I am.  Okay, I may come in the last half, okay, the last quarter.  But I get there.



             (Falls down again, not as tired this time, but much sadder)



I..... used the same stride when I had to face the death of someone very close.  At the end, it was amazing, the same feelings as in the final stretch of the race.  Fear, horror, knowing the end is coming, wanting it to come, because.....the one you love is in horrible pain, and you hate seeing them like that......not wanting the finish line to come, because, inside, you know this race will never be run again, and you loved it.......with all the pain, it was a wonderful race.



           (Gets up slowly)



And so you keep going, remembering that race, and even if you keep racing...... no race will ever be the same.



            (Touches something hanging around the neck)



You keep the medal close, as a reminder of that race.  So that, every race after will be compared to it...



            (Turns to leave, stops looks back)



….. and so will....everyone you love.



            (Exits, running)

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





1 comment:

Jennifer Silva Redmond said...

Beautiful and heartfelt, Janet!