"My Friend Larry" a monlogue from Buddha Bomb
“My Friend Larry”
Copyright 2005 - Buddha Bomb
[Lights On]
[Sitting at an outdoor iron-wrought table with a lush setting of flowers, juices, fruits, vodkas, 2 Martini glasses and shaker with occasional Martini sips.]
My friend Larry died this morning.
So, why I am celebrating like this in my backyard? [Martini sips]
You’d understand…if you knew Larry. [Martini sips]
You’d understand…if you knew what I went through with Larry.
I spent the end of Larry’s life with him…almost by accident.
I was delivering a message from a mutual friend when I got to know Larry. It was then I learned of his illness.
Larry told me that melanoma skin cancer was killing him, and he would be dead within a month or two.
But Larry wasn’t one to dwell on his own misery and he insisted we change the topic.
We quickly found common interests…Larry and I are Buddhist men who like…Sports…Poetry…Partying…Music…and Cooking…
We grew up in tough neighborhoods, Larry from south Boston and I from New Jersey. We played rough sports; Larry was a college hockey player and I played college football.
Muhammad Ali is one of our heroes…we both hate George W. Bush.
Larry is highly intelligent, and very direct. No bullshit. I like that about him.
Once he gave me a teaching. Larry simply pointed his finger and said, “don’t believe in anything from this world; it’s nothing but a con job.” [Point finger like Larry did]‘
I became one of Larry’s regular caregivers; soon I became his closest friend.
I learned about Larry during life review sessions with him.
We discovered a mutual appreciation for Vodka Martinis. [Martini sips]
We often lamented that by the time we met, drinking Martinis was completely out of the question, considering Larry’s condition.
And that’s how it was; Larry and I never had a single Martini together.
But that didn’t stop us from having fun; that didn’t stop us from having a party.
Larry and I toasted each other with whatever we had to share, glasses of water or juice, watermelon squares skewered on forks, and spoonfuls of delicious berries. [Show these things to the audience]
We would clink together fruit Popsicles and other delights with boisterous toasts in many languages, shouting “Cheers, Salud, Skoal, Laheim, Na zdorovia, Chin-Chin, Compai, Cho Yoho Heo.” [Clink together Popsicles, juices, fruit…shout out the toasts]
Larry and I had many such celebrations.
But dying is a brutal process; it isn’t always fun.
Larry’s cancer was spreading rapidly…his condition worsened daily.
I had never seen his wounds until…the night he asked me to fix his bandage.
Suddenly, there was it was, a massive tumor exposed in all its GLORY.
It was HORRIBLE.
The tumor was devouring Larry, eating him way…piece-by-piece…inch-by-inch.
Larry said it felt like “an alien” was eating him alive.
Larry explained that one of his substitute nurses was “gravity challenged” and it was up to me to fix her mistake.
Larry held the bandage in place, covering his wounds, as I applied the tape in strips from the top of Larry’s left shoulder. I quickly got the hang of it…and within minutes Larry’s bandage was secure.
Although Larry suffered terribly, I consider him to have been an extremely lucky person.
Just two days ago he was visited by five Tibetan Lamas several of them high-ranking Rinpoches.
We got a call they were coming…and…like magic…they appeared. [Tibetan Mudra]
The Lamas chanted and said prayers in Tibetan.
Larry was quite thin by then, in fact he was wasting away. His skin was pale and his hair white. Larry held his hands at his heart in devotional prayer. He looked like a skeleton, a corpse. [Hold hands at heart in devotional prayer]
I looked at each person in the room. Everyone, including me, appeared as skeletons. [Martini sips]
We are all walking corpses.
The Tibetans talked to Larry through an interpreter, and gave him pith instructions for the moment of death. Larry listened carefully.
Larry was blessed by each of the Lamas, and then they left…as suddenly as they had appeared. [Tibetan Mudra]
Did I mention that Larry was a lucky person?
Five Tibetan Lamas came to visit him on his death bead. They blessed Larry, and gave him clear instructions…HOW LUCKY IS THAT?
Just yesterday…I fed Larry his last meal.
Larry loved fruit, and strawberries were his favorite. I mashed up the berries and prepared them for Larry. [Mash up the strawberries for the audience to see]
Larry couldn’t feed himself since he was too weak to hold his spoon. I fed him as though he were an infant…tenderly placing the strawberries in his mouth. [Feed myself several spoonfuls of strawberries, just as I had fed Larry]
After several spoonfuls, Larry looked at me, his voice was shaking, and said, “You’re such a good buddy.”
I looked back at Larry and said, “You’re such a good buddy.”
And there we were…two grown men…a hockey player and a football player…and we loved each other.
It made me feel sad…I had found such a good friend…and soon…he would be gone…forever...
I said, ”Larry…I don’t want you to die.”
Larry told me that appreciated what I had done for him. But, now that he had received instructions from the Tibetan Lamas…he was ready.
Larry asked me…to let him go.
Larry asked me…to let him die.
Then Larry told me to go home and get some rest.
He said to have a relaxing morning and reminded me to water my lawn and garden.
At that, Larry pressed the button…to lower his bed.
It would be the last time…Larry pressed that button…it would be the last time…Larry would press any button.
I did what Larry told me to…slept in a little…watered my lawn and all my plants…both inside and outside my house.
I arrived at the hospice center soon after…my heart sank…when the nurse told me…that Larry had passed away…just moments before.
She said I could be with Larry, but that didn’t ease my pain. I had wanted to be with Larry for that final moment…but it didn’t happen that way. A sense of sadness and regret engulfed me…“Why wasn’t I with Larry when he died?”
Then I walked into the room and saw Larry.
The nurse had raised his bed…Larry was sitting up…his eyes were open…his face calm.
Larry didn’t appear dead at all, and what struck me most was the look on Larry’s face. It was the look of intelligence and inquisitiveness.
The exclamation “AHA!” was written all over his face, and I knew that Larry had indeed “gotten it.”
His nurses told me how courageous Larry had been. All night long Larry battled between life and death like Muhammad Ali in the 15th round.
His nurses were surprised because Larry refused pain medications. One nurse told me that no one in his condition ever refuses the meds.
Preparation for the moment of death is essential to the Buddhist meditator.
Larry wanted to be completely present and awake for that moment…with all his mental faculties intact…that’s why Larry chose to die naturally.
I’m going to miss Larry…I already do.
But, you know what? I feel good right now.
I feel good because Larry died on his own terms…he called the shots to the end.
Larry told me something…that I’ll never forget. [Martini sips]
He said to have fun…and to continue our party on the day he died. [Martini sips]
Yes…I feel good…although he is dead, I don’t have to party without Larry.
I can feel him…he is with me…he is all around.
Larry is here in my backyard, present in the lawn I had watered earlier this morning.
He is over there, in my flowerbeds, and the stream flowing alongside my house.
I hear Larry speaking through distant barking dogs…whispering in the cool breeze...
Larry is all over the place, he is in the midst of our celebration, steeping in the sweet berries, shimmering in our delicious drinks.
“…Hey…Larry…Thanks for dropping by…”
“…You know, we waited long enough…”
“…Isn’t it BEAUTIFUL?…”
“…We are FINALLY having MARTINIS…TOGETHER!
[Shake…shake…shake…shake…shake…shake…shake…Pour…]
[Move around with Martini glasses, offering toasts, each one louder…]
“…Cheers…”
“…Salud…”
“…Skoal…”
“…Laheim…”
“…Na zdorovia…”
“…Chin-Chin…”
“…Compai…”
“…Cho Yoho Heo…” [Drink the Martini]
[Lights Out]
THE END |
