ITTHOBAAL’S INVENTIONS 7 – ONE UNSUPECTING BITE

(MUSIC)

(SOUND OF A QUILL)

ITTHOBAAL

(IN A PHILOSOPHICAL MOOD, DEEPLY AFFECTED BY JOAN'S STORY)

Dear old friend, the keeper of my thoughts, my heart of hearts, the soul of all my souls...

Why do I keep coming back to you? Tell me... To unburden my heart? To find a reflection that I might have simply missed? To hear my own sounds from a distance perhaps... Whatever it is, you do not disappoint. You just sit and pay attention, the loyal listener that you are. Always faithful and never in judgment.

The year is 1318 and today is... (SIGHS) ...the day after yesterday.

And today... ah, today I come to you with a heavy heart. As you see, I am overtaken by melancholy. What greater tragedy is there but love unfulfilled, passion short-lived, distance in place and in time, imposed on two hearts yearning for each other. Who is anyone to tell anyone who to love? Or that they are not allowed to love freely.

(DISPLEASED, ALMOST ANGRY)

I remember, old as it may be, a time when nobody would dare. Those stunning ancient Athenian nights and plenty before that, all over the lands. But here we are. The year is 1318 and now, people are living in fear and misery for who they are. Why are we regressing? All those years of change, getting better, collecting stories and knowledge. How is it that we are going back?

(PAUSE)

There must be another way. A way to say the shame and blame belongs to those who hate and not love. Is that not plain as day to see?

Perhaps I need some time, to really understand what happens when fear casts its shadows on those primal dreams of ours. For what else gets in the way of love but that?

(FIRST, A THEORY, AN ANALYSIS)

You always see it in the eyes, eventually, but maybe something else changes in your body much sooner, in your blood, your chemistry and maybe there is a way to measure that and stop it instantly before it takes hold, before that fear plants itself in you like a dark little seed and insidiously begins to take control, turns you into a hollow reflection of what you could have become - passing judgement, claiming superiority, thinking your way is better than others, so much so that you believe it is acceptable to burn those who disagree. This fear is a form of illness after all, is it not? And to stop its terrifying spread... should be easy! There are… Plenty of natural stuff for that - herbs, fungi, roots you can digest-

(THEN, GRADUALLY, AN IDEA FORMS)

Maybe... there is a way to turn these natural remedies into a small, unsuspecting bite you can swallow without a second thought. A piece of cake or little bit of bread?

(SUDDEN IDEA, EXCITED) The sacramental bread! The body of Christ, hah! Now, would that not be a communal, religious experience? A mass of complete ecstasy - of love, of unconditional love - of self and the others, in fact the entire human race, of all divine creation, stardust and all. The whole bleeding universe! A big carnival of joy and pride - and to dance endlessly. Ah!

Celebrating... the fact that we exist - right now and right here, nothing else. What else is there to celebrate? Ah, it is all so simple.

(SIGHS)

Well, you have cheered me right up dear diary. You worked your magic again. I told you, did I not? I will work on this. One unsuspecting bite...

(CHUCKLES JOYFULLY)

Till next time, old friend, till next time.

(MUSIC)

END.