A monologue
By: Scott T. Starbuck
The rock where the scene takes place is before a backdrop of Biosphere II in Oracle, Arizona. Cactus and sage props give the illusion of a natural desert setting. Dawn is breaking. There is a light breeze. A large live lizard stands before the rock. The entire scene is addressed to the lizard with only short moments of reflection, or gestures toward The Dome. The speaker is a Yakima Elder, with a small flask, who decided to die instead of entering The Dome with his tribe.
I already know I won’t go in. I know I’ll die out here. Survival may be the greatest form of justice; and greed, the greatest evil. Right now, I’m fighting for the survival of my soul, gazing as deeply into the ancestral waters as I can. Honoring what’s there in my pinhole of light in the universe. It’s the best I can do.