Presents
One Dark Night
Actors: Narrator 1, Narrator 2,Grandfather, Grandmother, Jonathan
Narrator 1: One dark night, lightning flashes.
Grandfather: Count the seconds before the thunder rolls.
Jonathan: One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten.
All: Baroom!
Grandmother: A summer storm is two miles away and
coming closer.
Grandfather: Jonathan looks into the night. Something small and dark is looking back at him.
Narrator 2: He races downstairs and throws open the screen door.
Jonathan: The stray cat’s afraid of the thunder!
Narrator 1: he tells his grandparents. Grandfather then says,
Grandfather: Stray cats aren’t afraid of storms.
Grandmother: Look out! I think she’s got a mouse!
Narrator 2: cries Grandmother.
Narrator 1: But the stray cat is already inside and laying her prize on the rug. Jonathan says,
Jonathan: It’s a kitten!
Narrator 2: One small kitten-soft as whispers, gray as dawn.
Narrator 1: Lightning spills into the room.
Grandfather: Count the seconds before the thunder rolls.
Jonathan: One, two, three, four, five…
All: BAROOM!
Grandmother: The storm is one mile away and coming closer.
Narrator 2: Stray cat disappears into the night. Jonathan calls out,
Jonathan: Come back!
Narrator 1: He steps into the brooding dark, but Grandfather gently draws him inside and pulls the screen door shut.
Grandfather: Jonathan lays his bathrobe on the rug.
Grandmother: He snuggles the kitten within its folds. Then he asks us,
Jonathan: We’ll take care of it, won’t we?
Grandmother: As ever best we can, I tell him.
Jonathan: But how can we take care of anything so small?
Narrator 2: A scratching at the door. Two green eyes peer in at them.
Anthony: She’s back! She’s back!
Narrator 1: Jonathan cries out and races to the door.
Grandfather: Stray cat enters, carrying a second kitten-soft as stuffing, white as snow.
Narrator 2: Lightning flashes.
Grandfather: Count the seconds before the
thunder rolls.
Jonathan: One, two, thr-
All: BARRROOOMMM!
Grandmother: The storm is half a mile away and coming closer.
Narrator 1: Stray cat darts into the night before the last echo fades.
Narrator 2: Out side a great wind whips the trees and hurtles single drops of rain.
All: Splat! Splat!
Grandfather: Jonathan warms the
kittens in their bed and looks into the
night.
Grandfather & Grandmother: Watching.
Narrator 1 & 2: Waiting.
Grandmother: This time when the lightning comes it splits the sky with wild, white brightness.
Jonathan: There is no time to count before the thunder cracks.
All:BAAAARRRROOOOM!
Narrator 1: A hard rain drums the roof and
pounds into the grass like something angry.
Jonathan cries out,
Jonathan: There she is!
Narrator 2: The next moment Jonathan is
outside too, to help them battle through the rain.
Grandfather: One boy,
Grandmother: one cat,
Jonathan: and a third small kitten-
Narrator 1: wet as water,
Narrator 2: black as night.
Grandfather: The rain pours. Jonathan drips puddles on the floor.
Grandmother: I hear Jonathan ask stray cat.
Jonathan: Are there any more? Do we need another trip?
Narrator 1: But stray cat climbs into the bathrobe, licking, nudging, and arranging her family.
Narrator 2: They are all here.
Grandfather: One stray cat
Jonathan: and three small kittens
Grandmother: safe from the rain and the wind
Narrator 1: and the rolling thunder,
Narrator 2: safe with Jonathan,
Grandfather & Grandmother: safe with his grandparents,
All: one dark night.
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