(WRITING AS HE SPEAKS) “ In the midwa...

(WRITING AS HE SPEAKS)

“ In the midway of this our mortal life,

I found me in a gloomy wood astray.”

(TO AUDIENCE) Did you see that light the other night ? The blinding

flash. Incredible wasn’t it. I was up on the roof, hanging out some laundry.

I was standing right on the edge, looking out over the park. Bats

screaming in the trees. Then it happened. This huge brilliant light in the

sky. Bloody thing almost swallowed me up. Then afterwards -silence. This

beautiful silence. I couldn’t talk. Made me forget about myself, forget. For

a whole five minutes.

You see recently I've become obsessed with the idea of killing myself.

I have these fantasies about a train slicing me in two, my guts spilling

all over the track. Or throwing myself off a tall building – or not so tall

building - smashing my body on the concrete below.

I don't think the anti-depressants are working. Maybe I should

increase my dosage. Six a day probably isn't really enough. The

problem is I'm just really depressed. I mean really, really depressed.

But I’m not letting it get me down.

(HE SMILES) In fact I’ve come to a decision. It came to me in the

flash. Well I saw it in the flash. The graffiti. On the wall, across from

my building, scrawled in red paint:

(READS FROM WALL) “In the midway of this our mortal life

I found me in a gloomy wood astray.”

Dante. Inferno. You know ? Inferno.

So in that moment – when I saw those words - I thought: “Why not ? If

I go through nine circles of hell maybe I can get a little Paradise too.”

“Through me you pass into the city of woe

All hope abandon, ye who enter here.”

But pass through here we must to attain paradise