Thursday, December 10, 2015

Monologue Mania Day # 667 Swimming Against the Tide by Janet S. Tiger Dec. 10, 2015

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 # 667 Swimming Against the Tide by Janet S. Tiger Dec. 10, 2015
                                  
                                 Swimming Against the Tide
                                       by  Janet S. Tiger    
                                © 2015  all rights reserved 
                                     tigerteam1@gmail.com

       (The actor will be a Japanese young man- early 20s, nice-looking, slight accent - he is obviously troubled and has finally decided to ask the grandmother of his girlfriend for advice)

Thank you for talking with me, I have a problem with your granddaughter, and I need help.  The problem is with.....I hope it is all right to discuss these things, in Japan I would not even think about it, but here, in the United States, things are different.

You see, the problem is with....sex.

         (Sees the reaction and throws his hands up)

I am so sorry!  I did not want to offend you!  I am concerned because, you see, my family is Japanese, you know, I mean I know you know, but, we are different than most other Japanese.....we are not Buddhist, we are Catholic......for many hundreds of years......and......well, the problem is that I wanted to marry your granddaughter......(listens)....no the problem is not that she does not want to get married, well, yes, that is a small problem, all right, a big problem, but......you see.....my family is very religious......which has not been easy for us......

Let me explain a little about my family......two days before I was to come here to study, my father had a heart attack.  (Difficult to remember this)  He was very sick, and we were at the hospital, and he asked to see me.

I told him I was going to cancel coming here, and he was very upset.  He told me that all his life he had saved so that I could come here, to UCLA.....it was a dream....his dream, and he made it mine.  How could I leave him?  He told me, if he died, I could go to mass here in the US.....but that if I stayed, he would forbid me to come to the tomb!  He was...what is the word?....he insisted that I not give up the chance to start school.

I begged him, I said I could start after the funeral, but he refused.  He said there is only one time to start the first time - that to stay with the dead, is to not go on with life, and I had to choose life.

So, I came here, and ....as a swimmer, I am always in the ocean, and I met your granddaughter at the beach in Santa Barbara.  She was protesting the pollution from the oil spill, and I loved her from the first minute I saw her arguing with a man - shaking a picture of dead birds covered in oil!

        (Listens, nods)

The problem with sex.  (Listens)  Oh, no, I like sex.  Sex is good.  In Japan, girls who have sex are expensive, but here, things are different.  Everything is very different.  But one thing is the same, babies.

I did not think this would be a problem, but now I find out, your granddaughter believes that to kill the baby is all right.  And that is now the law in this country, that if a woman does not want the baby, she can have an.....(hard to say)  an abortion.

So now there is a problem with sex.  I want to marry her, but I also want her to have my babies.

It is very confusing for me!  Swimming is much easier!  I dive in, I swim, I lose the race, I win the race, it is simple.  I like when things are simple.

So what do I do?

         (He is a little nervous)

I ask you because, I do like to have the sex, but if she were pregnant, I would not want my baby to be......killed.   This is more than just confusing.....(searches for the words)....it is .....like swimming.... against the tide.......

Thank you for listening I am waiting for your advice.....

          (He bows, lights down)

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

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