After my first sleepless night in my apartment after having been away for awhile, I noted, first the sound of gentle rain out my open bedroom window. Then I glanced at the alarm clock on my nightstand.
8:00 AM
I debated. Should I get up despite the late hour and enjoy a walk in the rain (as is my thing), or skip it and get to the business of the day ahead.
I opted for the walk.
On my way out of the building I noted with surprise that the overnight doorman was there chatting with a woman with a gorgeous dog waiting patiently.
I turned back toward them and asked a question we don't ask much these days in a world where "smartphones" are ubiquitous.
"Excuse me."
"Yes," they both answered in unison.
"I'm sorry. Do you happen to know what time it is?"
"Sure. It's 6:31."
"I have this clock that's always off. So... Thanks."
And just like that I seemed to have an extra hour and a half! Thanks to my impossible-to-tame alarm clock. Yay!
I emerged beyond the edge of the scaffolding, tilted my head skyward letting the gentle drops of rain wet my face my eyelids my hair and my mask and took a short walk.
As I walked I imagined my departed friend August sending this rain down to me as a gift. And I let myself enjoy it.
I thought about what a gift it was to suddenly find I had an hour and a half extra, like finding a lost $20 in one pocket of a winter coat on the first day of snow.
And then I recalled Catherine Rush's arresting monologue, An Hour and a Half. Wow! How that 90 minutes can take on such wildly disparate tones depending on one's circumstances. An Hour and a Half was one of the finely wrought monologues submitted to the 'Me & My Masks' competition this past summer that inspired me to need to continue our monologue program with monthly Some1Speaking events all year long. Here's Catherine performing her own piece. Warning: this contains disturbing subject matter. But I assure you, if you're an adult, it'll be well worth watching to the end.
And for more on this gifted playwright, here's a link to her website.
On the 1st Monday of each month we gather online for an hour or so to meet 5 characters through 5 new monologues, often performed by the writers themselves. We call this Some1Speaking. Subscribe to Me&MyMasks YouTube.
