Welcome to Today, Saturday July 10, 2010
A Play in Three Acts
ACT I
Scene: Gregory is sitting on stool in kitchen while I am watering plants.
G: What day of the week is this, Sunday?
M: No, tomorrow is Sunday. And yesterday was Friday. So what is today?
G: WOW, I REALLY am ahead of myself!
M: No, only one day behind. So what is today?
G: You tell me.
M: Saturday?
laughter
M: Do you know how much I love you? Without you I'd have nothing to write about!"
more laughter
ACT II
Scene: Lunch time and G's preparing a cold plate of tuna salad and raw veggies.
G: (calling out) How do I warm this up?
M: (going into the kitchen to see what "this" is) How do you usually make toast in the morning?
G: (points to toaster oven and begins to open door)
M: Try again.
G: (looks around) Oh! (pulls out regular toaster and continues preparing lunch)
ACT III
Scene: Kitchen after lunch. Gregory is cleaning his dishes.
G: (calling out again) What do I do with these pips? (Referring to the cherry pits and meaning where do they go: recycle, garbage can, garbage disposal.)
M: In the YUCK! (Affectionate nickname for "dirty garbage" vs "recycle")
G: OK
Curtain
Michael, I can't help but think you should expand this into a book - open with vignettes like this - or maybe do the whole book with snapshots like this woven in and out of a narrative on the topic - making it somewhat disjointed like the mind of someone with the disease. I love this - it really provides insight into what this disease is really like, day-to-day. Fascinating! You are really a talented writer.
ReplyDeleteNina, You have no idea how much your comments meant to me. A book is exactly what I am in the process of creating and your feedback and ideas are intriguing especially creating the "disjoined" feeling. Keep reading, keep commenting, I appreciate you.
ReplyDeleteMichael, Thank you! I'm touched by these thoughts. I'm wondering if you would enjoy reading: but beautiful, a book about jazz, by Geoff Dyer. He uses this technique in writing about jazz (weaves together vignettes about jazz musicians' lives - similar to the way jazz works). This was a book I read for a writing course taken during my doctoral work. I loved it as a piece to think about writing, but also,for its list of "select discography." After reading the book, I ended up buying many of the CDs - all by the artists featured. (I'm a music nut.) One caution: Their lives are pretty depressing.
ReplyDelete