From the play "Tea"
written by Velina Hasu Houston
Himiko: War's over. Strange-looking tall men with big noses and loud mouths are running our country. Our new supreme commander is called MacArthur, the great military savior who will preserve our ravaged nation,…but who cannot preserve the common soul. (a beat) Last night, coming home from a wedding, I see my mother in her best kimono walking by the river. She takes off her geta and puts her feet in the water. Her face is peaceful. So lovely, like the moon in the shadows of the clouds. She slips her small hand into the river and picks up a large stone. I try to stop her, but she fights. The same stones I played with as a child sagging in her kimono sleeves, she jumps into the currents. I watch her sink, her long black hair swirling around her neck like a silk noose. Her white face, a fragile lily; the river, a taifun. I wondered what it felt like to be a flower in a storm.
Kudos and much thanks go to Meredith for this monologue, it is very much appreciated.