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THE JACK & JILL STORY |
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AUTHOR'S NOTE: Please children, when you
read my words to your friends, keep your voices hushed as whispers are,
uttered only in the silence of the night or against the crackle of burning
logs. Keep the message carefully enclosed in narrow boundaries within the
light of a solitary lamp or candle, away from the darkness which surrounds
us... * THE JACK AND JILL STORY (AS TOLD BY A CHILD) I would like to tell you the
story of my life. The story of my life is what I'd
like to tell you. The drama. The tragedy. The comedy. The ecstasy... ...will mummy understand ? My life. *
* * Scene One, The Drama. The atmosphere was quite
tepid. Jack and Jill went up the
hill - Jack was a boy, Jill was a girl... Jack and Jill went up the hill - They were people... Jack and Jill went up the hill - But they'd already forgotten why... How well did Jack know Jill - ? - did Jill know Jack - ? - Were they lovers ? ...Mummy told me that Jack and
Jill climbed the hill to fetch a bucket of water. But where was the bucket
? In mummy's books the drawings always showed Jack and Jill carrying the
bucket; they carried the bucket between them, Jack held the bucket with
his right hand, Jill carried it with her left... and the bucket was
between them. In the drawings they carried the bucket up the hill, to the
well on top... Well, well, well... But mummy didn't mention the well
- not when she told the story - it was just there - in the picture - on
top of the hill. Silly artist ! who drew Jack and
Jill with a bucket, climbing up a hill to a well; don't you know that
wells shouldn't be on hills but in valleys or somewhere central in the
village itself - don't you know ? Silly mummy ! you told me that
Jack and Jill climbed that hill to fetch a bucket of water, but there's no
reason for the bucket to be there, none at all... I don't believe that a bucket of
water would be sitting on a hill, who would have put it there ?, and it
couldn't have got there under its own steam, so I don't believe it was
really there at all, I believe that it was really somewhere else... ...Perhaps not on a hill at
all. Imagine that... mummy lied. So, if the bucket; the pail,
for it was a pail not a bucket, if the pail was not really there, was
their journey justifiable ? I suspect them to be lovers. And the atmosphere was
quite tepid still... There... ...on the hill. *
* * Jack met Jill in the forest. Jill was hiding amongst the trees,
Jack was picking berries. Neither saw the other, there, in the forest,
because they were both too green. Neither said hello, because both were
scared: Jill was scared of seeing
beyond the tree she was sitting under. Jack, who was climbing the tree,
was scared of heights. - Why do you climb Jack ?
To reach the top ? ... Jack didn't answer.
Perhaps he couldn't hear. Perhaps he didn't know. ... But at the top of the tree
grew wild berries, at least that's what we were told, at least that's what
mummy told me. When the woodcutter came,
Jack heard the crashing timber and slid down his pole, his tree - and fell
on Jill. It was love at first sight. They never spoke, they just
looked at each other. They looked into each other's
eyes... ...so romantic. Both looked for diamonds, but were content with pupils. Both knew how to smile. When they ran off, hand in
hand, to grandma's house, one would have believed them to be brother and
sister. I love my brother. I love my sister. Then the noise came and the
earth trembled and all the trees crashed into a splintered pile. And when the snow fell, Jack and
Jill hugged each other and wondered why grandma had moved. They never suspected her to be
dead. Jack hugged Jill and Jill
hugged Jack, they hugged each other amongst the wood while the snow
caressed their ears and froze their fingers and toes, and neither knew how
to fire the fuel around them. The situation was romantic... ... but cold. So Jill sang a song which
went like this: I dream of the day of
rainbows, When the sun will melt away all
these snows. I sing to the night of morning, Before the smell of fishes
spawning Will struggle with the cold
wind's breath And give us life from this cold
death. La, la, la,
la, la, la... La, la, la,
la, la, la... And Jack sat behind Jill, beating
his fist on the snow and singing: Umpa, Stumpa, stick it up yer
jumpa ! Such was the harmony of
Jack and Jill. *
* * When Jack sang his song
Jill listened. When Jack had finished singing his song he waited for Jill
to laugh. When Jill didn't laugh, Jack laughed. When Jack laughed, Jill
ran away. When Jill ran away, Jack ran after her. He chased her... through
the snow. Jack ran after Jill... through
the snow. Jill ran before Jack... through
the snow. And as they ran the sun rose and
the snow melted. And Jack and Jill were running on
grass when the snow melted - and the grass was green. ...When Jack caught Jill they were running up a hill... And somewhere there was a bucket. ...Jack be nimble Jack be quick Jack jumped over the candlestick. Jack could jump over any
candlestick that had ever been made. This was his claim to fame. But he had to run up the hill...
it was too high to jump. He had to run to the top, before
he could descend. And Jill had to run with him. ...Jack and Jill ran up the
hill, but Jack was slack and had
no skill, - You're not jumping over
candlesticks now Jack! so Jill was always a pace ahead. But both were breathing
heavy and wheezing. *
* * Mummy coughed when she told
the story... Mummy smoked too much - I knew because she had yellow fingers. One day mummy would die. One day I will die and one day
Jack and Jill will die. But still they kept running up
that hill. ... Run Jack, run Jack, As fast as you can, When you reach the top You'll be a man... So they ran. Jack and Jill
ran. And when they were half way to the top, when they were half way from
the bottom, they stopped and
rested behind a rock. They puffed and panted and hugged each other. Jack
hugged Jill and Jill hugged Jack and their backs pushed against
the rock. ... And when the day of the
rainbows came To the time before the shame Had man loved all of woman kind And woman all men's pain Then Jack and Jill could climb
the hill And neither state a claim. La, la, la,
la, la, la.... La, la, la,
la, la, la.... And the atmosphere was quite... quite... quiet... and tepid. *
* * Scene Two, The Comedy. I was alone then, that is,
I was on my own, do you understand that? I want to make it clear - I - was
on my own. I was young then, and for that
very reason strong and weak. My strengths: Compassion - I had compassion/I
knew how to feel/I was
sensitive/I could forgive... My weaknesses: Compassion - I was sensitive... My strengths: I had ideals/ideals that would
shape, and improve things... My weaknesses: I was idealistic... My strengths: Love - I knew how to love with
passion. I knew how to
transcend this wordly being... My weaknesses: I knew how to love with passion -
with compassion - I was idealistic. The "I" of course
becomes all important, it is myself, it is what I am, it is all I can be
sure of. You can see with eyes. - I love you Jack... - I love you Jill... "Love" - a clich‚,
I have heard it all before, it tells me nothing new! "I love you",
"My love", it tells me nothing ! - I know love, you needn't remind
me ! - I hate you Jack... - I hate you Jill... ...extremists. *
* * - Jack, let's talk. - What
do you want to talk
about ? - Anything. - What ? - Let's just talk for a change. - You can't just talk. - Why ? - You've got to have something to
talk about. - Let's talk about me. - Your life? - Yes. - What would you say ? - I love you... - I love you... Thus the conversation ends/it
finishes/it completes itself. Thus the conversation terminates, Is terminated by itself or is terminated. The atmosphere was quite
tepid at the end too. - But this isn't the end,
this is only scene two ! ...And I promised to tell
you the story of my life, remember. Then I went to school/I was
sent to school/my mother sent me to school/the law told my mother to send
me to school/my mother believed the law/my mother did what she was told/I
did what my mother told me... One day I betrayed her. One day I didn't go to school/I
didn't want to go to school because I wanted to stay home with my mother
because I loved her/I didn't want to betray her, but I did, because I
loved her. I stayed home and wept on my bed because I didn't want to go to
school/my mother wept on the bed in her bedroom/she wept because the law
would catch her and put her in prison because I didn't go to school/she
wept because the law would put her in prison and she would lose her
freedom because I wouldn't go to school when the law said that I must... My mother believed in freedom... I sacrificed my freedom and went
to school and hated it... I learned to hate my mother. *
* * I loved my mother I hated my mother I hated my school I loved myself I loved my freedom I was not free I hated myself. *
* * I loved Jack and loved Jill
too. I loved them both 'cause they
climbed the hill... ...And then they fell. *
* * But before we look at the
fall, before we concern ourselves with the gory details, I would like to
go back. This is the story of my life, Jack and Jill can wait. I would
like to go to the very beginning - even before scene one - I would like to
go back that far because... I don't know... I can't remember... I want to
go back to the beginning when all things were enigmatic, when all things
were new, when I couldn't recall, when I couldn't speak - could I think
then, before I could speak ? - I can't remember and no one else knows
because I couldn't tell them, not before I could speak. I suspect I used
to think in pictures - before I knew any words - pictures before words... I suspect I used to see shapes
then -in my memory - shapes and colours - I suspect that the world was so
colourful before I knew any words - so bright... I always wanted a pet
rainbow. My own rainbow to play with. Imagine that -I could have my own
pot of gold if I had a rainbow. But what makes rainbows ?... And
why is grass green?... If we could but solve all
mysteries... if all enigmas were simple... *
* * "Little Jack Horner
sat in the corner Eating his Christmas pie. He stuck in his thumb and pulled
out a plumb, And said, `What a good boy am Iï
..." Jack really believed he was
good. He told Jill, and to prove it he danced for her... And the dance he danced was
danced like this... (THE DANCE IS DANCED) *
* * La,
la, la, la, la, la... La, la, la,
la, la, la... *
* * I would like to tell you
the story of my life. My problems. Let's begin with blood. This is the colour red, or
perhaps it is crimson... Can you tell ? Can you differentiate ? I imagine Jack red. I imagine Jill crimson. Is there a difference ? ... Jack is Jack and Jill is Jill,
but... is there a difference? I read about little Red little Red Riding Hood. I read about her. I remember Riding Hood's
mother sending her daughter out into the forest. The forest so dark. The
horror. The black shadows. Red Riding Hood loved her mother. ... Why didn't your mother
go with you Red Riding Hood ? ... Why didn't she hold your
little hand and guide you to Granny's ? ...out there in the
darkness, where the owls ask "Who-o-o?" and the ants eat beetle
meat. The forest is no place for a little girl Red Riding Hood - a little
girl with a big picnic basket- yet they all blamed you -they said you were
deserving of all that happened - because you took the short cut - because
you wandered off the path your mother had told you to follow so closely - because you chose to walk amongst the trees they blamed you ! Your mother told you, she ordered
you, commanded you, to stay on the main road -but still you took the short
cut and that is why they blamed you. They would rather you had stayed on
the highway and taken your chances with the cars... that is how they think
Red Riding Hood, that is how they think. *
* * When Red Riding Hood
entered the forest that greedy wolf was able to smell her. He followed her
and drooled after her. And when he saw Granny, oh, how
he drooled. For such a wolf as he would have eaten any woman, no matter
how bony. Poor, helpless Granny... How did
she survive ? That awful scene at
Granny's house - those big eyes, that big nose, those big ears and those
sharp teeth... Which were all the better... which were all the better. Oh, that the woodcutter
could resurrect all grannies so easily. *
* * Granny sat in that wolf's
stomach, but no one knows what she was thinking about. No one knows if she
could move in there... if she could speak... There... ...in the wolf's stomach.. ...amongst the gizzards and
intestines. Poor Granny. Yet she survived ! because the
woodcutter was brave and he had a sharp axe. He opened up that wolf's
stomach wherein Granny sat and Granny emerged - Alive! My grandmother died... all
of them... One died of cancer, another was consumptive and passed away
gasping, and my third grandma went mad and was put away. I had three grandmothers because
my grandfather married twice... one of my grandfathers. This is the story of my life. I can hardly remember my grannies.
All I know is that one had cancer, one bad lungs, and the other was crazy.
All I know is that none of them exist anymore. I think I liked the crazy one
best. They say she used to talk to
herself all the time. All the time she talked to herself and to other
people who only she could see. My mother told me this. My mother told me about little
Red Riding Hood. She told me about it before I
read it. I read about it after she had told me... Just to reaffirm the facts. My mother told me about
little Red Riding Hood and Jack and Jill. And she told me about
little Boy Blue... And Baa-Baa Black Sheep. "Baa-Baa Black Sheep Have you any wool Yes sir, yes sir, three bags
full." The black sheep had one bag
of wool for the master, he had one bag of wool for the dame, and he had
one bag of wool for the little boy who lived down the lane... What compassion, black sheep !
... to share your wool so graciously. What great strength !... to be so
kind. What a weakness... he should have
kept it all for himself. And yet the black sheep
gave nothing to Jack and Jill for they were self-contained entities, their
universe was completely enclosed. They had themselves, and they had
everything; until they fell, and then they had nothing. They lost everything, and the
black sheep refused to compensate. Greedy black sheep. Your distribution
is unfair. You should give nothing to the master because he has everything
and will always have everything until you decide to give him nothing. You
should give nothing to the dame because she has vanity and will
misinterpret your action for flattery, and you should give nothing to the
little boy that lives down the lane because he is too young and stupid, he
will waste it, squander it - Give it all to Jack and Jill !
Help them get back on their feet, help them to establish themselves for
they have lost what they used to have, and that is the most cruel kind of
poverty. R.I.P. Jack and Jill, Who were lovers, But lost sight of each other. *
* * I realized this when I
thought about it. When I thought I realized... What will ever come of thoughts ? What will ever come of Jack and
Jill ?... Destined to fall, They climb and fall... The same old story always. Climb
and fall. How now Jack and Jill,
prithee, what is your lot ? Perhaps Jack and Jill will
always climb that hill.... Perhaps they will always stive to
find the pail... Perhaps they will always be
together, holding hands... But I thought I saw them
fall, And I can only relate what I saw. The atmosphere was quite
turbid. *
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