My Mynah

 

by: Easter Sunshine Catedral, Kelly Marie Conlon, Hiyasmin Gabriela Espejo, Alpha Khristine Fortun

 

CAST

Gabriel Angelus, 15, a sacristan

TIME

Dawn, nearing time for mass

(Around four-thirty in the morning)

PLACE

A dark and silent room in the seminary

 

(Gabriel walks into the room, dressed in a sacristan’s traditional white garb. He seats himself in a winged armchair. A black bird sits in a rusting metal cage.)

(Music emanates from the room but the source of such is unknown.)

(Open Curtains. Music stops abruptly.)

 

Gabriel: Lot. I call my bird that. It hithers and takes shelter in the darkness of this humble abode. Stupid bird, you think I can’t see you?

 

(The bird sings a single quavering low note.)

 

What a beautiful song you sing, Lot. I learn something from you again…no, rather, I remember it now, and it was Father Alexander who taught me about it- to love mirrors and black birds- what beauty. Looking into a mirror, just before I’m off to another hour at the altar, I see a handsome sacristan indeed. I am pleased. Just like angels who love their white wings.

I’m no angel though, just a child – a child of God. A child who walks closer to the shaking black bird…

 

(Walks up to the bird’s cage.)

 

…pulls his feathers out…one by one… then breaks its dark wings.

 

(He takes the bird out of the cage and then strokes the length of the birds’ feathers.)

 

I wouldn’t really, my sweet Lot. You wouldn’t think I’d actually do that to you, would you? Would you?

 

(Gabriel returns the bird to its cage and then gives it a lopsided leer. He bangs the cage with his fist. )

 

Stupid bird, you think I can’t see you? I feel the very shivers that run down your spine, how your heartbeat races. Even in the darkness of this room, you can’t hide… sweet one.

 

(He settles into his armchair once again.)

 

I love you, my Lot. You should sing just for me. Or caw. Or screech. I don’t really mind …as long as it is for me. You should look up at each moment and see only me.

 

(Silence)

 

Oh Lot! Even in the darkness of this chapel you are unable to hide! I love you with a love that burns my very skin. Skin as richly colored as your fine plumage, my mynah.

 

See the blue in my eyes, dark murky color, and the thin curve of my lips?

 

(Touches his lips gently tracing them with his fingertips.)

 

These are all hers, my mother’s heirlooms.

And now here I am, living off of your fear. You created me, stupid mynah, and now…now you can’t fly…away.

(The sound of a few gruff coughs and a couple of footsteps come from the room next door. Gabriel inclines his head to the right, where on the wall, a crucifix lays.)

 

But father Alexander! It isn’t time for children like me to hear mass yet–why, my mynah hasn’t sung his piece! That lady, Magdalene, she loves my mynah too. Poor woman, she loves my mynah.

You remember her, don’t you?

Poor mother, did you ever really think that he could be yours?

 

(Beat.)

 

Love gets you nowhere.

Such a small price to pay for beauty-even the demons couldn’t keep away. They hurt her. Poor mother. Pray for us, Mary, Mother of us all, my Mary Magdalene can’t call on you now.

 

(Gabriel closes his eyes.)

 

I have one too many brothers under this very roof. Hypocrites. Then he comes along, one who remains not a brother but a father to me- Father Alexander.

 

(He smiles)

 

Hello father, that was all you said, am I right, Lot? He didn’t see me then. I was seated on one of the pews at the back. I wasn’t on mass duty that day. Then he began shaking, his face turning white. I adored the look on his face- pure fear at its finest. Stupid bird, you think I can’t see you? I’m one of your brethren, Father Alexander. Still, the black bird shakes in its cage.

 

Plain delight, entirely delectable, the way Father Alexander makes me feel.

 

(Beat.)

 

Too bad old man, even the saints can’t hear you pray. Even in the darkness of this room, you can’t hide, my sweet one, my mynah.

 

(A bell tolls in the distance. Light streams through an open window. Gabriel completely ignores these distractions.)

(The bird begins cawing in its cage.)

Time for mass. Mass at dawn.

 

(The Grandfather clock chimes as it strikes five in the morning.)

 

The clock never lets me sleep. It always keeps me up…reminding me of what my father did to my mother Magdalene…how I love stupid black birds. I know so many secrets. Wonderful, Gabriel.

 

(The sound of louder footsteps, rough voices is heard from outside. A knock sounds at his door. This shakes Gabriel out of his reverie.)

(Gabriel looks at the door then back at the audience. He proceeds to open the door, singing all the while in a low voice.)

 

But, I can only tell you when my mynah dares sing…when my mynah dares sing…

Tags: alpha, bird, dramatic monologue, kelly, my mynah, shyne, yas