Dear ACS friends,
I'm really not sure this is on-topic, or right to share this here, but I
feel some personal self-expression that doesn't definitely relate to cancer,
once in a while, might be okay.
And I would predict that many of you, in your roller-coaster ride through
cancer, have had such moments.
The idea for this dialogue came to me in one of those moments that is
related to my cancer : I was sitting outside my house, enjoying the cool
night fragrances of early rainy-season Chiang Mai.
I felt myself starting to cry (very difficult for me to do, the old macho
thing literally "beaten" into me), and I thought : "at last, I'm going to
let it all it out, and probably feel better."
Just at that moment a whopper of a big "tookay" (talking lizard) started his
mate calling thing with the warm-up that sounds like some strange mocking
laughter : my guess this was an 16-18 inch big tookay, probably weighing
four to five pounds. One of the most baritone Romeo lizards I've ever heard.
Suddenly the "mocking laugh" turned into the usual "too-kay, too-kay,
too-kay."
Suddenly my one or two first-born tears turned off, and I was filled with
.... well, an emptiness, a wistfulness, a sense of the complete comedy and
emptiness of life.
Which led to this :
I pray it makes you laugh, or entertains you in some way.
best, Uncle Sally
Duet for Elephants in Banana-Minor
copyright 2007, Uncle Sally
"You just coming off your shift ?"
"Yeah."
"You just going on your shift ?
"Yeah."
"This stalk of bananas over here is pretty good ... not too ripe"
"Hey, thanks !"
"You look pretty beat."
"I bet I do."
"The usual ?"
"The usual ! 5 Schizo-Sufis, 4 Grand Muftis, One Ayatollah, Three Rabbis,
Four New-Age Pot-Head Lesbian Goddess Junkies."
"You should be getting over-time."
"I'll say ... hey have a carrot on me, Old Man."
"Why, thank you, I surely will."
"How long you been here ?"
"I figure out about 25 years."
"Wow, that's heavy man."
"What can you do ?"
"I dunno."
"Have you ever thought about why you're Here ?"
"You don't believe that stuff they told me ... they did tell you ... ? ...
uhhhh ?"
"You mean that we were born to do this because we screwed up
in some previous life big-time ?"
"Yeah, man, re-incarnation. Karma, that stuff."
"I don't believe any of it; it's just an excuse !"
"Whoa, brother, I mean what do you think is happening ?"
"I think we were taken away from our families, fed a bunch of crap,
and then stuck in this shit job ..."
"Well, come on now, 'shit job' is a little uhhhh ... too strong ?"
"Think about it now brother : we go in the same goddamn dark
room every day, and then a bunch of humans who are supposed
to be "Wise Men" and "Wise Women" come in and grope us,
and we get to smell their breath stinking of garlic and meat, and
then they get high and say things like 'Eureka' and 'Wham,' and
then they take them out."
"Yeah, that's about how it goes, all right. But is it possible that
it's part of the 'Divine Plan' ?"
"Oh ... no ... the 'Divine Plan' thing : can't you see it's just a scam.
There hasn't been anything 'Divine' around here in centuries. It's
just a machine running by habit ... it's a ..."
"Oh, there's the bell; gotta get in there and get to work."
"Hey man, sorry if I bummed you out ..."
"Oh no ... hey ... don't worry ... I'm going to think about
what you said ... really, man, that's some heavy stuff ...
I gotta think about that deep."
"Okay, but you know what is really fun to do ?"
"Uhhh ... what ... ?"
"Wait until one of those garlic-mouth bearded bastards puts
his head up close to your ass and just blast him with an enormous
fart before he can say 'Wham' or 'Hum' or whatever."
"Hey, great idea, bro', I'm going to try that."
(OT : original short dialog) "Duet for Elephants in Banana-Minor" 
Linear Mode
