Butterflies are Free Monologue

34
MONOLOGUES FOR YOUNG ACTORS
open right there in front of us ... And I remember standing there looking at his bloody open
face thinking that was the end of Rufus. But the
ambulance came and they took him to the hospital and they fixed the broken bones and they
sewed it all up ... and the next time I saw Rufus
he just had a little line down the middle of his
face ... I never got over that ...
*
*
*
Leonard Gershe
*
That that was what one person could do for another, fix him up-sew up the problem, make him
all right again. That was the most 'marvelous
thing in the world ... I wanted to do that. J
always thought it was the one concrete thing
in the world that a human being could do. Fix
up the sick, you know-and make them 'whole
again. This was truly being God ...
*
BUTTERFLIES ARE FREE
Jill is nineteen and has just come "in for coffee to
meet her neighbor, Don. In this scene, they are
getting to know each other. Don's lines have been
deleted and marked by asterisks as Jill talks about
an early, failed marriage. She hasn't, as yet, caught
on
161.to his blindness. For more on this play, see page
..•..
*
JILL.
NO-I wanted to cure. It used to be so impor-
tant to me. I wanted to cure. It used to matter. I
used to care. I mean about people and how their
bodies hurt ...
No, I will talk about him. (Crosses above coffee table.)
Once in a while it's good for you to do something
you don't want to do. It cleanses the insides. He
was terribly sweet and groovy-looking, but kind
of adolescent, you know what I mean? (Flicks ash
into ashtray.) Girls mature faster than boys. Boys
are neater, but girls mature faster. (Sits in director's chair.) When we met it was like fireworks. I
don't know if I'm saying it right, but it was a
marvelous kind of passion that made every day
like the Fourth of July. Anyway, the next thing
I knew we were standing in front of a justice of
the peace gettin2 married.
36
MONOLOGUES
FOR YOUNG ACTORS
*
*
*
*
(Crosses below to R. bench.) You know that wedding
ceremony is very morbid when you think about
it. I hate anything morbid and there I was being
buried alive ... under Jack Benson. I wanted to
run screaming out into the night!
*
*
*
(Turns, crosses D.R. post.) I couldn't. It was ten
in the morning. I mean you can't go
screaming out into ten o'clock in tl~emorning ...
so I passed out. If only I'd fainted before I said "I
do."
0' clock
*
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*
*
Two or three weeks, but I mean there we were
getting married! (Sits back in chair,jeet on stool.) I
hadn't even finished high school and I,had two
exams the next day and they were on my mind,
too. (Rises, crosses through kitchen to D. L. post.) I
heard the justice of the peace saying, "Do you,
Jack, take Jill to be your lawfully wedded wife?"
Can you imagine going through life as Jack and
Jill? And then I heard "Till death do you part"
and, suddenly, it wasn't a wedding ceremony. It
was a funeral service.
*
BUTTERFLIES ARE FREE
*
(Crosses to coffee table, picks up ashtray.) I did try_
believe me. I tried for six days, but I knew it wa
no good.
*
'!1
*
(Crosses to ladder, climbs to second or third tv)
Well, I think just becauseyx
love someone that doesn't necessarily meantia
you want to spend the rest of your life with in,
But Jack loved me. I mean he really, really lrel
me and I hurt him and that's what I can't SU1(.
I just never want to hurt anybody. (Off lullt:.
through kitchen to u. end of table.) I mean marrge
is a commitment, isn't it? I just can't be comnt
ted or involved. Can you understand?
I don't know ....