Old Man and the PC
ACT
–I
The
scene opens with the jeans and T-shirt clad Mr.Marpy –a gray- haired and
bearded fat old man of ninety - sitting on the bathroom floor by the commode,
reclining against the wall . He seems to be writhing
and growling in pain while holding his left chest with right hand.After a few
minutes , both his hands fall numb on either side and the man sits
motionless , staring at the audience.
Mr.Marpy: (speaks to himself in a subdued
voice )Am I going to die?...Is this the end of grandpa Marpy?...( He
I can’t die now
(opening his eyes at once and looking at the audience),I don’t want to go like this, man!..This isn’t the way I
thought I would die.(He glaces about himself dejectedly)…
Not that I mind dying in a toilet..
I’m not finished yet.
The pain’s killing me inch by inch
(clutching his heart)…I can’t bear this..
No
man, I shouldn’t be caught off guard like this by my fate.(he tries to get up
but in vain and falls back into his previous position) There is just this one last thing
I so badly want to do before I pop off.
All my life ,you know, I ’d been a good
husband to my wife Mothy…an affectionate father to my children ….and an
endearing grandfather to my sons’ daughters…
But
..but
that’s not the problem.
Honestly,
..can’t imagine a more ignominous exit
from this world for a man of my age.
Mothy
isn’t home,she has gone for the Carnival with her elder son’s family and I
was browsing the internet -my latest passtime-as I always do when I ‘m alone . I skimmed through my mails and at some point I
had a mild chest pain and later I just felt like peeing and
walked into the toilet.And here I am..left to die uncared for .
But
that’s not the real problem.
Ah..(suddenly
crying in agony and striking his legs on the floor) this.. this takes my life off...That’s it…(Panting for a while and
rolling his eye- balls before settling
down where he was )
It doesn’t mean
much whether you have somebody by your bed
or not , does it? …Well , if they can’t avert your death.,that is…Man,am I waxing philosophical?
Even Alexander the great did that…,(Coughing
with closed eyes and then
resuming the talk)
My unfinished
autobiography - a polished one at that- lies password
protected! You know what I mean-
It would never be read by my people, leave alone the public.
But that’s not a
problem at all.
I have left my inbox open…You
see,
anyone can view my e-mails,even check
my bank account statements, if they so wish…
To be frank , there
is another problem.
If only I could get back to my
computer and sign out before my folks return
home!
I‘ve been receiving mails from all my six girl
friends across the globe,man. And , yes,..You’re right, I posed as a young boy
on social net-working sites-a hadsome guy with De Caprio’s face and Tom
Cruise’s hair style…and.. and I’m not sorry about it either,well , I ‘m not .
Now
that is the problem.
…My
wife ,children ,daughter-in-Laws and grandkids…they are all going to know just what I had been up to..
Surely , It doesn’t help to have a grandpa who
tweets and chats with teenaged girls , I know…
Hh
..the pain , It kind of slashes my heart.(Marpy rubs down his chest and gasps
for breath)
..come
to think of it ,there is something else I forgot!(He now looks at the roof ,in confusion)
Hell, the porn site (hitting
his forehead with a shaking right hand ,alarmed and startled)- it’s
still running!
It’s
real trouble ,man, I tell you, (Ogles
at the audience,helplessly). It can spell disaster!
(He
struggles to get to his feet but fails miserably and then starts crawling
towards the door.Suddenly the sounds of doors opening and footsteps are heard
in the background followed by an old female voice yelling “ Marpee.. ,we’re
home! ”)
The
old man, in a state of shock, stops his effort and raises his head like a snake
,only to fall unconscious over to the side the next moment.
(CURTAINS)
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