Monk

[BRENT]
Side 2, Track 8. “Monk.”

(Dave plays “Ruby, My Dear.”)

[BRITTAIN (Dunyazad)]
But Scheherazade, how did Rose Red steal the Starchild from Roxie? I mean surely Lady Usher had a security system? Were they outside, in a park?

[GELSEY (Scheherazade)]
Yes, they were outside. In a park.

[BRITTAIN]
Oh. Oh, of course.
You tell such wonderful stories Scheherazade.

[GELSEY]
Thank you Dunyazad.
(Shouted to Brent) I sure hope the Shah thinks so!

(Brent grunts.)

I’m glad you’re here. It's good to be with you.

[BRITTAIN]
Yeah.

(They listen for a bit.)

Hey, what’s behind that door?

[GELSEY]
David thinks Monk.

[BRITTAIN]
A monk? Like you?

[GELSEY]
Ha. No, no not like me.
Monk. Thelonious Monk.
He thinks that the ghost of Thelonious Monk is living behind that door, this hidden door in the 14th century Persian palace of Shah Zaman. David serenades him every night with music from that piano. And it’s the last piano in the world, and its keys cut his fingers with every note he plays, because the Gods have decreed that humans don’t deserve music anymore, because they think we don’t treat it holy enough. And every sound gives him migraine thickness, blinding pressure, bamboo shoots in the fingernail. Yet, listen.

He plays Thelonious Monk’s music every night in the hope that Monk’s ghost will awaken from his slumber, open the door and forgive him, and grant him a smile, a kiss, and a meaning for all of his pain.

[BRITTAIN]
Oh.

[GELSEY]
Will you dance with me?

[BRITTAIN]
Okay.

(They dance.)

[GELSEY]
Do you remember a time when we weren’t just sisters?
Do you remember anything else?

[BRITTAIN]
No, not yet.
But…I’m getting there.