Title: “Grandmother’s gift”
Author: Silvina Carrasco
2 Characters:
- Lucy: She is a young woman of about 21 years old. She has recently become the mother of a baby girl named Abby. Over the years and the arrival of Abby, her outlook on life has changed.
- Monica: She is Lucy’s mother.
SINGLE ACT
Characters involved in this act: Lucy and Monica.
Setting: The setting is pleasant and rather uncluttered; a couch, warm lighting and a very hand-knitted and stuffed teddy bear (it is old and already a bit misshapen).
Introduction: Lucy remembers her grandmother on the anniversary of her passing.
Lucy is sitting on her couch, pensive, with her bear in her hand.
(Monica creeps in)
-Monica: Hi daughter, how are you? Is Abby sleeping?
-Lucy: Yes, she fell asleep a while ago.
-Monica: I thought so, that’s why I tried not to make any noise.
-Lucy: Did you bring flowers to grandma?
-Monica: Yes, I just came from there. (Looks at the teddy bear her daughter is holding in her hand) Have you been thinking about her too?
-Lucy: Yes, it’s been seven years but I still can’t get used to her not being with us… and I miss her, there are so many things I would like to share with her today. (Short pause) I was remembering the day she gave me this bear.
-Monica: Yes, I remember; she spent days looking for the perfect color wool and fabric and days knitting and sewing. He wanted it to be a special gift for you.
-Lucy: I didn’t know, I do remember the day he gave it to me. It was my birthday, I was expecting a talking doll and instead this handmade teddy bear appeared… It pains me to admit it, but my disappointment was great.
-Monica: (Laughing) I almost had to force you to thank your grandmother for the gift and change your face.
-Lucy: I was really disappointed at that moment, but it’s amazing how when you grow up, the smallest gestures become the most important.
-Monica: You don’t have to feel bad, you were a six year old girl, it’s logical that you preferred something else.
-Yet your grandmother felt she wanted to show you her love in that way: by making you something herself and not buying you something extravagant.
-Lucy: If she had given me the doll, I would have played with it for a while and then thrown it in a corner or in the trash. But this bear has been with me all my life and is one of the most valuable things I have.
-Monica: Well, she finally achieved her goal: to give you a special gift.
-Lucy: She was a wonderful grandmother. I wish Abby could have met her and enjoyed her like I did.
-Monica: She will get to know her through you; when you tell her the memories you have of her: the things she cooked for you, the places she took you for walks, the games she played with you, the stories she told you….
-Lucy: Yes, that’s true. It’s that the people we love very much, never go away completely.
-Monica: No. They stay in the memories, in the things they taught us and even in those little gestures, which, as you say, become the most important thing.
-Lucy: Yes, my teddy bear for example, which for me represents everything that was good about my grandmother.
-Monica: And that surely one day will be Abby’s.
-Lucy: Yes, one day I will give it to her, along with all the other memories.
(Lucy and Monica hold hands with the teddy bear present).
THE END