Oddities
A One Act Resolution
by
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[LIGHT DIMS FROM THE FOUNDER. LIGHT BRIGHTENS ON PONDER AND PASSIVE. PONDER AND PASSIVE BOTH RISE] PONDER: PASSIVE, THRU MY MANY MEDITATIONS, I HAVE COME TO APPRECIATE THE REST OF OUR INTERESTING CAST, ESPECIALLY YOU. BUT EVEN I AM AT A LOSS AS TO WHO THIS MYSTERY IS [POINTING TO THE LAST CHAIR IN THE ROW] PASSIVE: I TOO HAVE TRIED TO DISCERN WHO THIS CLANDESTINE FIGURE IS, BUT I SURMISE MY OBJECTIVITY IN TRANCE HAS FAILED. IT IS IRRATIONAL FOR THE FOUNDER TO TAMPER WITH THE THRESHOLD SO PREMATURELY. I HAVE OFTEN FELT THAT MY COUNSELS WITH THE FOUNDER HAS HAD BASE. IT APPEARS THAT I HAVE MISLED MYSELF. I MUST CONFESS, PONDER THAT THIS UNIQUE BOND WITH THE FOUNDER HAS GIVEN ME A SENSE OF SUPERIORITY ABOVE THE REST, EVEN YOU, DEAR PONDER. AN ERROR IN INTROSPECTION. I HAVE OFTEN FELT THAT YOU ARE ALL IMMATURE, TOO EMOTIONAL, TOO CONFLICTING. TOO MUCH OF A STORM FOR THE FOUNDER. FOR THIS LAPSE, I APOLOGIZE. PONDER: WE ALL NEED EACH OTHER, PASSIVE. AT THE SAME TIME, WE ALSO HAVE OUR OWN NATURES. WE BREATHE AFTER OUR OWN FASHIONS. WE CONFLICT AND LOVE EACH OTHER. WHILE YOU CHOOSE TO STAY YOUR ROOTS IN THE GROUNDS OF THE PRACTICAL, SO DO I SOW MY SEEDS IN THE ASTRAL. CAVALIER, IS THE CLOWN, THE JESTER WITH THE PRESUMPTUOUS ARROGANT DEMEANORS. SOMBER QUESTIONS HER MOODS AND INSIGHTS; THEY HAVE OFTEN BEEN NOT WITHOUT BASE. RIOT, THE SUBTLE ANARCHIST, AWARE OF THE GREAT ETHICAL CONSPIRACY SO FOOLISHLY DISMISSED BY THE PRETENSIOUS MINDED. AND OF COURSE, OUR LITTLE DONUT. [BOTH MUSE] PASSIVE: THE NIAVE, ROMANTIC, PERPETUAL YOUTH. SHE HAS THE POTENTIAL SO EASILY LOST WITH AGE. HER HEART IS TRULY… [PASSIVE PAUSES. LIGHT BRIGHTENS OF THE FIGURE AS HE LIMPS ACROSS THE STAGE. LIGHT BRIGHTENS ON THE FOUNDER AS HE DRINKS FROM HIS BOTTLE. LIGHT DIMS ON THE FOUNDER.] PONDER: [TURNING TO THE FIGURE.] EVEN IN MY DEEPEST REFLECTIONS, I HAVE NEVER ENCOUNTERED HIS LIKE BEFORE. PASSIVE: PERHAPS THAT IS THE ONE WHO FITS THIS SEAT. CAVALIER HAS FIRST PERCEIVED HIM, BUT I DISMISSED THIS VIEW AS ANOTHER OF HIS ILLUSIONS IN STUPOR. PONDER: THIS IS OUR FIRST ENCOUNTER WITH HIM; UNTIL TODAY, WE ARE ALL THAT WERE. [TO HIMSELF] BLACK DAY, BLACK DAY INDEED. PASSIVE: PERHAPS HE IS THAT BEARER OF BURDENS: PROMETHEUS, GILGAMESH, BHISHMA, ISSA. PROMETHEUS, TO ACHE WITH ETERNAL TORTURE OF HIS TORN FLANK BY THE EAGLE, THOUGH HUMANITY NOW GLOWS WITH HIS GIFT OF FIRE. GILGAMESH, TO ACHE AS THE SERPENT CLAIMS THE WATER FLORA OF IMMORTALITY TO REVIVE HIS BELOVED, ENKIDU, AS HE CANNOT WAKE FOR SEVEN DAYS. BHISMA, TO ACHE AS HIS CLAN DIVIDES AND DESTROY EACH OTHER ON THE RED FIELDS OF KURUKSHETRA. ISSA, FORGIVING KERIOTH INDEED, AS HE IS PIERCED IN THE FLANK AS HE HANGS FROM THE STAKE ON THE SKULL IN THE DARKNESS OF NOON, ONLY TO SHED THE ETERNAL WATERS THAT ARE THE TEARS OF PROMETHEUS, GILGAMESH, BHISMA. PERHAPS THE ENDURING OBSTINATE, DANTE ALIGHIERI WAS INCORRECT IN THE NINETH CIRCLE OF HELL AS HE WAS SUICIDAL, IN CONDEMNING THE SON OF SIMON. PONDER: INDEED YOU ARE SENSIBLE PASSIVE. BUT THE BEARER’S PRESENCE IS TRANSIENT FOR HE VANISHES AFTER TWELVE STRIDING LIMPS. INDEED THE FOUNDER WORKS IN PECULIAR WAYS. PASSIVE: PECULIAR, IS A WISE WORD TO DESCRIBE THE FOUNDER, BUT FOOLISH? PONDER: THERE HAS BEEN AN EQUILIBRIUM BETWEEN THE SIX OF US. NOW, THE CALL FOR A NEW VOICE HAS TILTED OUR DELICATE SCALE…… PONDER AND PASSIVE: [TOGETHER] TOWARDS THE TERMINAL HOUR. [BOTH BACK AWAY FROM THE STAGE. LIGHT DIMS ON PONDER AND PASSIVE]
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About the Book
Oddities, A One Act Resolution is a play about one's ache and loneliness when secluded by the wraith of suicidal ideation. The mind reacts as Nature has gifted us to: fight or flight. In fight does the Founder wrestle with reality splintered into various archetypes that evolve from a maelstrom of confusion. He becomes psychotic. He becomes delusional. He jumps into the bottle, the flask, the flagon for comfort, though delirium and ache come parading in the form of Death and the Bearer of Burdens. But still he clings onto reality as tightly as he can, as his Archetypes of Donut, Cavalier, Somber, Riot, Passive, and Ponder gather in the mist of the Mind, called Yonder Town. Thru allegories and allusions these Archetypes clash and comfort each other as they aim to break the suicidal hold that Death and desperation wrap around the throat of the Founder, who is not able to appreciate the honey river of the Stream, from where the six originate, the Stream that floats from the Garden, a Sanctum for the Founder. There is a fusion of Eastern and Western thought as a peculiar mythology develops.
About the Author
Shivcharran Hulasie is a General Pediatrician. His interest in writing stems from his exposure to many classical writing as a Freshman during his first years, both in High School and College. He is currently in the process of writing two more manuscripts, one an epic poem on human nature and salvation, a fusion of Eastern and Western thought originating in ancient Rome; and a historical mythology of Great Britain originating in Sherwood Forest with an interesting band of English outlaws including the immortal Robin Hood. Shiv lives in Springfield Gardens, New York City. He has a desire to become a drug and alcohol counselor.