Prompts: What things remind you of those no longer with us or not with you regularly?
There’s this song called One Red Leaf by Ana Porter that a friend gave to me on a mixtape in high school. I haven’t found any music by Ana since then, but the song is very much about totems:
”Sometimes I think I’m getting by
Sometimes I think I’m getting over you, right on time.
Sometimes I even think I see someone across the room with whom I could make memories
But all it takes is one red leaf, and I see us lying in the mounds, in the fall, in your arms, sky spinning round and round
And sometimes I think: nothing can heal this.”
I have a lot of totems in my life. A lot of them are songs. My Maternal Grandmother used to sing “You Are My Sunshine” to me. I’ve often thought about getting a little sun tattoo to memorialize her.
Magnolias remind me of my dad’s side, for multiple reasons, but the main one is the matriarch lives on Magnolia Avenue.
My brother is obsessed with moose, so any moose item makes me think of him. Strawberries remind me of one of my cousins… seems like I might be stalling from the scene listing all these. No more.
LISA and BEATRICE lay in a field, looking up at the sky. Dandelions all around them. LISA picks a dandelion and blows.
BEATRICE
I promise I will always remember you like this.
LISA
Good. This is how I would like to be remembered.
[Lights out. A song to be decided on later plays giving the characters enough time to get in position. When the lights come back up, LISA is in a hospital bed, BEATRICE is beside the bed, a handpick bouquet of dandelions. They are both too young to be where they are.]
LISA
Bea… I told you I didn’t want you to see me like this.
BEATRICE
Like what? All I see is us in that field.
[She hands the bouquet to LISA and kisses her cheek.]
I’ll keep my promise.
LISA
Good.
[Lights out. Same song while we change to: BEATRICE with TRIXIE - BEATRICE’S daughter - at a grave. They both have bouquets of handpicked dandelions.]
BEATRICE
This is your Aunt Lisa. I’m very sorry that you never got to meet her. She would have loved you. And I’m sure you would have loved her.
TRIXIE
What happened to her?
BEATRICE
She asked me not to remember what happened to her. Only to remember that she loved making wishes on dandelions.
TRIXIE
Is that why you always pick the ones that are ready to blow?
BEATRICE
Yes. It reminds me of her.