Monday, January 15, 2018

Monologue Mania Day # 1433 Pudding by Janet S. Tiger (c) Jan. 16, 2018

Welcome to Monologue Mania- one new free* monologue a day- -and still going!
Today is Day # 1433!  To look at the other 1432 titles - click here
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Monologue Mania Day # 1433 Pudding by Janet S. Tiger (c) Jan. 16, 2018   
                                                Pudding
                                       A monologue by Janet S. Tiger 
                                             ©  all rights reserved
                                                tigerteam1@gmail.com
       
           (The actor has a large spoon, smiles)

Pudding.  Mmmmm.

I remember being little, and standing on a chair to help my mother stir the pudding.  That was in the days when you made pudding at home, not dragged home from the store in plastic cups, pudding that tasted real.....not like plastic.

The stirring took forever, especially when you're little.

How long, mama?  Am I gonna hafta stir this for a thousand years?

(Mama's voice)  No, dear, to make good pudding, it takes TWO thousand years!

And she would laugh, and I would laugh, and after the two thousand years of stirring, something would start to happen.

Until that instant, the pot just had a bunch of ingredients.  Droste's chocolate - the best in the world.  Milk  Not the pale white non-fat type, but whole milk.  And it was just dark fluid, swirling in the pot...

       (Illustrates with the giant spoon)

Can I taste it, Mama?

Not yet.

How much longer momma?  My arm is getting tired!

Well, if your arm is too tired, I can take over....of course, the last to stir is the first to taste....


I'm not tired!  And I would stir and stir....and suddenly, it happened.  The first signs were subtle, a little bit of thickness.....no lumps because you squashed those out!

But then, the thickness grew!  And grew!  And it was not fluid anymore, but something else!  And that something else was almost pudding!  

The difference was mere seconds.....and then, you couldn't stir anymore and mommma came and grabbed it off the stove before it could burn. And she poured it into the special glass holders, and what was left....what MAGIC was left in the pot....well, I could get that!  With the spoon, and my fingers when momma wasn't looking.....the most delicious flavor.  

Then I wrote a play.  Okay, it was a few decades later, but the process...amazingly similar.  I watched rehearsals.  It was tedious, like stirring the pot of characters, and costumes, and music and lighting, all swirling in a giant darkened theater.

So much work!  So much stirring!  Were these the same lines I thought were so great?  That the director had swooned over?  That the producer had loved?  I shuddered at what was coming up in just a few days - opening night!  The horror!  Would it ever be ready?  Would it ever.....congeal?

And then it happened.  After my arm was tired and I was ready to walk away.....the actors said the lines just like I heard them in my head, only better, with movement and lights, and in that instant, I saw the pudding was almost ready.......It gave me the strength to go on, knowing that.....with a few more stirs......something delicious would be here!

       (Turns to leave, stops, looks back)

Is all the pudding great?  Of course not!  Some burns and sticks to the pot.  Sometimes the chocolate you use isn't Drostes, but a cheap knockoff that tastes like cardboard.......no matter......I will always keep stirring the pot......because when it all comes together - the pudding, the play....life......it is so worth it!

       (Smiles and exits, licking spoon)
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Note: A few words about 'free' -  all these monologues are protected under copyright law and are free to read, free to perform and video as long as no money is charged. Once you charge admission or a donation, or include my work in an anthology, you need to contact me for royalty 

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Janet S. Tiger    858-736-6315                CaregiversAnon.org
Member Dramatists Guild since 1983

Playwright-in-Residence
Swedenborg Hall 2006-8

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