Wednesday, December 30, 2015

Monologue Mania Day # 687 End of Year Memories by Janet S. Tiger Dec. 30, 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
I've continued with a monologue a day until the spirit moves me to stop, so if you have any ideas for a monologue you want me to write, please let me know at tigerteam1@gmail.com.


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Monologue Mania Day # 687 End of Year Memories  by Janet S. Tiger Dec. 30, 2015

                           End of Year Memories 
                                     by  Janet S. Tiger    
                                © 2015  all rights reserved 
                                     tigerteam1@gmail.com

        (An older man enters, holding a 3-oz paper cup, staring at it in awe)

(Over the top Shakespeare-ish)  Alas, poor cuppy, I drank from him well!

        (He takes the cup as if to crush it, then stops)

Why am I holding this silly little useless cup?  I mean, it wasn't useless when I used it to rinse my mouth out a few minutes ago, but now, it is merely detritus.....which is to be distinguished from mere garbage by the way.....and, as it is no longer sanitary, and it is all wilted from the water, by rights I should be discarding it.....my wife has told me...often!....that I need to discard it.

She has told me when I forget to do so.....and sometimes, even when I remember, she reminds me of the...according to her...THOUSANDS ...of times that I have...forgotten.

That is what makes this innocuous little cup so formidable.  For, when I do forget, which happens...even more as I age and have a legitimate reason to forget.....when I forget, she reminds me....because this cup represents not just this cup....but ALL the things I have forgotten.

It is a ...what's the word... a SYMBOL...of my many and varied mistakes over our 42 years of marriage.  Depending on how irritated she is....we could go back as far as our wedding, where I insulted her cousin Wilma by not dancing with her.....even though the hairs on Wilma's chin were longer than my beard......no matter....still remembered!

And let's not forget the horror of our 25th wedding anniversary, where she had hinted for weeks, no, make that months as the story grows over the years, like a tree of Missed Knowledge.....she had hinted that she wanted this special pearl necklace where the pearls were etched in a BRAND NEW method to say 25 years if you looked at them just so in the right light......but I....I was foolish, and missed these hints, only responding to the fact that our refrigerator broke the day before our anniversary, and I bought a new one and had in installed with a bow on it!

I still don't know why she was so mad......but she has spent the last 17 years trying to explain it! As I'm sure all the women in this audience will be trying to do to their spouses......

And let's not forget the ongoing issue of the cup itself......I take a sip, and I am supposed to put the used utensil into the garbage pail about three feet away. (Smiling)  Sometimes I do....and sometimes......ooh, sometimes....I do not....and sometimes she throws it out without saying a word.  That's when things are calm on the ocean, when we are laughing and having fun.....but the other times...oh, that's when I see the clouds in the distance, scudding across the sky.....ready to dump their wrath on me!

And so....I make the grievous error of......

        (He puts the cup down as if on a counter)


.....not discarding!  And then......the clouds burst!

I am entreated to every memory of my forgetfulness!  This is the end of the year, and all the stations do their.....'big events of the past 12 months' well, my wife does 42 YEARS of memories ......of my mistakes!  I have no worry about her mind slipping because I doubt if any one transgression has been forgotten!  Me, on the other hand, I can't remember any of them until she reminds me.....because, to me, they were never that important!  And when I tell her that, it is as if - in the midst of the hurricane - she stops to develop a tornado!

I wait until the winds have whipped into a fury, and then.....then I tell her she's always most beautiful when she's angry, and, just like that day 42 years ago, during our first big fight after being married, she stops, and starts to smile, and then she laughs, and the storm is instantly over, and the sun comes through.

          (He holds the cup high)

To discard, or not to discard....aye, there's the question......

         (He turns to leave, stops, looks back, listens,)

Why not just throw it out now?  Now what would be the fun in that!

         (He exits, still contemplating the cup and smiling....to another year of memories - wishing everyone a Happy, Healthy and Successful New Year!)
         
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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

1 comment:

Jennifer Silva Redmond said...

As usual, you hit it just right! (Where do you do your research? Hahaha)