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A monologue from the play by Tina Howe
MAGS
It was wintertime, because I noticed I’d left some crayons on top of my radiator and they’d melted down into these beautiful shimmering globs, like spilled jello, trembling and pulsing.
Naturally, I wanted to try it myself, so I grabbed a red one and pressed it down against the hissing lid. It oozed and bubbled like raspberry jam!
I mean, that radiator was really hot! It took incredible will power not to let go, but I held on, whispering,
“Mags, if you let go of this crayon, you’ll be run over by a truck on Newberry Street, so help you God!” . . .
So I pressed down harder, my fingers steaming and blistering. Once I’d melted one, I was hooked!
I finished off my entire supply in one night, mixing color over color until my head swam! . . . The heat, the smell, the brilliance that sank and rose . . .
I’d never felt such exhilaration! . . . Every week I spent my allowance on crayons. I must have cleared out every box of Crayolas in the city!
AFTER THREE MONTHS THAT RADIATOR WAS . . . SPECTACULAR! I MEAN, IT LOOKED LIKE SOME COLOSSAL FRUITCAKE, FIVE FEET TALL . . .!
It was a knockout; shimmering with pinks and blues, lavenders and maroons, turquoise and golds, oranges and creams. . . . For every color, I imagined a taste . . .
YELLOW: lemon curls dipped in sugar . . . RED: glazed cherries laced with rum . . . GREEN: tiny peppermint leaves veined with chocolate . . .
PURPLE:— And then the frosting . . .ahhhh, the frosting! A satiny mix of white and silver . . . I kept it hidden under blankets during the day. . . .
My huge . . . (She starts laughing) looming . . . teetering sweet—I was so . . . hungry. . . losing weight every week.
I looked like a scarecrow what with the bags under my eyes and bits of crayon wrapper leaking out of my clothes.
It’s a wonder you didn’t notice. But finally you came to my rescue . . . if you could call what happened a rescue. It was more like a rout! The winter was almost over. . . .
It was very late at night. . . . I must have been having a nightmare because suddenly you and Daddy were at my bed, shaking me. . . .
I quickly glanced towards the radiator to see if it was covered. . . .It wasn’t! It glittered and towered in the moonlight like some . . . gigantic Viennese pastry!
You followed my gaze and saw it. Mummy screamed . . . “WHAT HAVE YOU GOT IN HERE? . . .MAGS, WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN DOING?” . . .
She crept forward and touched it, and then jumped back. “IT’S FOOD!” she cried. . . “IT’S ALL THE FOOD SHE’S BEEN SPITTING OUT!
OH, GARDNER, IT’S A MOUNTAIN OF ROTTING GARBAGE!” Of course in a sense you were right. It was a monument of my castoff dinners, only I hadn’t built it with food. . . .
I found my own materials. I was languishing with hunger, but oh, dear Mother . . . I FOUND MY OWN MATERIALS . . . !
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