first year - Feb. 13, 2014 - Feb. 12, 2015 second year - Feb. 13, 2015 - Feb. 12, 2016 third year - Feb. 13, 2016 - today! *********
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.
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 #1005 Horse monologue from Upside Down by Janet S. Tiger (c) Nov. 13, 2016
This monologue will fit into Upside Down (Day # 999) -to see how, please see below
This monologue will fit into Upside Down (Day # 999) -to see how, please see below
Horse monologue (from Upside Down)
A monologue by Janet S. Tiger © all rights reserved
tigerteam1@gmail.com
Can you explain something to me? Something I just can't understand?
(She listens, nods)
You know I love horses.....I have since I was a little girl! They are so......(searches for the word)....beautiful....no,.....magnificent! They have a strength, a majesty that is like looking at .....at the wind come to earth!
(She waves her arms in a graceful swing)
When they move, and start to gallop, and you hold on for your life and the joy is like riding on a gust!....and then they slow, and you bring them back, slowly, to calm them.....to turn the cyclone into the breeze, and then brushing them down to smooth out the brambles caught in their hair......as their breathing turns quiet.......
(She reaches out her fingers)
....... they are now eating sugar from your hand....the tamed storm.....that we can touch and journey on for just brief moments, but while we do, we are no longer on this earth!........
(She sighs and drops her head)
.So.....why is it, when a horse is no longer able to stand.....we don't force that horse to lie in a stall in its own filth, we very kindly put that horse, that horse we love, out of its misery?
(She turns to leave, stops, looks back)
Why are we kinder to the horse....than we are to each other?
(Lights down)
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Originally posted - Monologue Mania Day #999 Upside Down by Janet S. Tiger (c) Nov. 7, 2016
Below is the original with the new lines added- in italics
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Upside Down (scene 1)
(Not) A monologue by Janet S. Tiger © all rights reserved
tigerteam1@gmail.com
(An older woman enters with a small blanket and pillow, which she places on the floor, smiling, this is the MOTHER)
MOTHER - There, I found your bed, and I know you'll be very happy, Betsy....you always loved a nice warm bed!
(She neatens the blanket and smooths the pillow as a younger woman enters. This is ELIZABETH)
ELIZABETH - (Calm, but it's not easy) Mom? Is this the bed you're making for little Betsy?
MOTHER- Of course it is! Where would she sleep? She needs to have a place to sleep!
ELIZABETH - Mom, I have a place to sleep, in my home, with Danny and the boys......
MOTHER - Well, that may very well be true, but little Betsy needs her own bed....
ELIZABETH - It's not a bed, Mom, it's a blanket and pillow on the floor.....
MOTHER - Picky, picky, picky.....when did you get to be such a picky girl?
ELIZABETH - Okay, I knew your birthday was going to put some stress on you , but you seemed to do ok, I mean, with all the people....
MOTHER - It was a lovely party, dear! You did yourself proud! Everyone came.....Annie, and Ben, and Brandy....it was wonderful to see her after so many years!
ELIZABETH - (A little relieved) That's good Mom, you remembered who was here.....
MOTHER - It was the best party ever! Way better than last year!
ELIZABETH - That's true, you were in the hospital last year, with that broken arm, and that was no picnic...
MOTHER - Oh, the broken arm, I fell out of that tree and did it hurt! Momma ran and got Daddy from the kitchen and they drove me to the hospital! Oh, what a day!
ELIZABETH - (Sighs) No, Mom...... I'm talking about ....never mind....
MOTHER - Everyone wrote on my cast! All the kids in school and in Sunday school, too! I could barely see the cast with all the writing!
(Starting to look in a closet)
MOTHER - I think I saved that cast somewhere.....
(She starts to wobble and Elizabeth comes over to her and guides her to a chair)
ELIZABETH - Maybe you should look....another time.
MOTHER - You're so right, I have to save some energy to make dinner for Betsy and Susie......
ELIZABETH - (A little afraid to ask) Mom, do you remember it was your birthday today?
MOTHER - (Indignant) How silly! Of course I do! I blew out the candles, didn't I?
ELIZABETH - Yes, you did, and a very good job of it, too! (Quieter) And which birthday was it?
MOTHER - (Thinking) Twenty!
ELIZABETH - I wouldn't be here if you were only twenty.....
MOTHER - (Thinking hard, brightening) Twenty-one? That sounds right!
ELIZABETH - (Gentle) Then I would be one year old.....
MOTHER - And I have just the bed for you.....
(She indicates the floor with the blanket)
MOTHER - And after a nice nap for the two of us, we can go out and feed the horses.....
ELIZABETH - Oh, Mom, please don't.....
MOTHER - (Horrified) Betsy! We have to feed the horses or they will die! You know that!
ELIZABETH - (Sad) Know....what do I know....
MOTHER - From when you were little, that's the first thing you do on a farm.....feed the animals! And especially the horses.....they are our prize animals! Oh, how could you be so cruel...come right now and we can do it together....
(She goes to the door and Elizabeth stops her)
ELIZABETH - (Upset) Mom, there are no horses...
MOTHER - (Almost crying) Don't say that! That's a lie! You say I'm losing my mind, but I know about horses! And you need to feed them!
ELIZABETH - .Not anymore......not since the fire last year, where you broke your arm and almost died trying to save them.....but you couldn't and now.......everything is different......
(The mother rubs at her eyes as if trying to see the truth)
MOTHER - I'm very confused.....
ELIZABETH - Mom...I know it's tough, but we think...that's all of us...that maybe..., you can't really live alone anymore....and I think, you know it, too.....
(Her mother takes a deep breath)
MOTHER - All right, if that's what everyone is talking about behind my back.....I'll agree, but first, we have to ask your father......
(Elizabeth shakes her head, as her mother looks around)
MOTHER - Jack? Please come here now! Your children are trying to kick us out of this house!
(Elizabeth puts an arm around her, and her mother slumps, grasping at the blanket on the floor)
MOTHER - . I'm never going to find him because.... your father is....dead....You are right, I am crazy..
ELIZABETH - Mom, you're not crazy, you're just......(searches for the right words) ....getting older....and.....
MOTHER - And losing my mind....or my marbles, or my grasp on reality....or just plain losing it....whatever name you have for it....probably a name I've forgotten like all the other names....I am upside down, the world is upside down as if I am looking through the wrong end of the telescope and I am getting smaller by the minute......Elizabeth?
ELIZABETH - Yes, Mom....
MOTHER - Can you explain something to me? Something I just can't understand?
ELIZABETH - I'll do my best....
MOTHER - You always do....(She takes a deep breath)...You know I love horses.....I have since I was a little girl! They are so......(searches for the word)....beautiful....no,.....magnificent! They have a strength, a majesty that is like looking at .....at the wind come to earth!
(She waves her arms in a graceful swing)
When they move, and start to gallop, and you hold on for your life and the joy is like riding on a gust!....and then they slow, and you bring them back, slowly, to calm them.....to turn the cyclone into the breeze, and then brushing them down to smooth out the brambles caught in their hair......as their breathing turns quiet.......
(She reaches out her fingers)
....... they are now eating sugar from your hand....the tamed storm.....that we can touch and journey on for just brief moments, but while we do, we are no longer on this earth!........
(She sighs and drops her head)
.So.....why is it, when a horse is no longer able to stand.....we don't force that horse to lie in a stall in its own filth, we very kindly put that horse, that horse we love, out of its misery?
Why are we kinder to the horse....than we are to each other?
ELIZABETH - (Horrified) Mom, you're not a horse!
MOTHER - But that's not an answer....Are they really all gone, Betsy? Even Hurricane?
(Elizabeth wipes her eyes and nods, reaches out and strokes her mother's hair)
ELIZABETH - How about if we....just take a little nap here.....
(She hugs her mother and the mother nods)
ELIZABETH - I am tired, it was a busy day. Birthdays always are......how old are you today, Betsy?
(As Elizabeth takes the blanket and puts it over her mother, she smooths her hair and gives a kiss on the cheek)
ELIZABETH - Old enough......
(Lights down, end of scene)
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Janet S. Tiger 858-736-6315 CaregiversAnon.org
JanetSTigerMonologueMania.blogspot.com
Member Dramatists Guild since 1983
Playwright-in-Residence
Swedenborg Hall 2006-8
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