(MUSIC: SILVER LINING NOODLE)
GK: It's easy to be happy in a city as beautiful as Savannah, but up north, where the climate pounds on you so hard, and the cities look as if they were designed by engineers, you have to work to keep your spirits up.
You gotta look for the silver lining
Whene'er a cloud appears in the blue
Remember somewhere the sun is shining
And so the best thing to do is make it shine for you---
I went out to dinner in Savannah last night, the waiter asked where are you from, I said Minnesota, he said it gets cold there doesn't it. I said it's cold there now. It is? he said. Yes, I said, we got an inch of snow yesterday. He was pretty amazed. An inch of snow. It made him feel better about Savannah, you could tell.
SS: They say it's supposed to be nice today.
GK: That's what we say every morning in Minnesota and then after we get an inch of snow in late June, we say----
SS: They say this is supposed to clear up later.
GK: We keep hoping. Keep walking through the storm, keeping our heads held high.
SS: They say it should melt before the 4th of July weekend.
(MUSIC BRIDGE)
GK: I was brought up to be cheerful and nice. My father was a humble woodcutter and he was cheerful about it (TR OLD MAN HUMMING) though it was tough for woodcutters because there weren't many trees on the prairie. Prairies don't have the trees that, for example, forests do ---- just as you won't find as many fish in a gravel pit as you will in the ocean --- but people don't always make rational choices in their lives, do they, so Daddy tried to support us by cutting grass instead.
TR: Yeah, ya can't let yourself get discouraged. (STARTS LAWNMOWER) Ya gotta look for the silver lining.
GK: And in the winter, when there was no grass to cut, he clipped toenails.
TR: How do you want em?
TK (GRUFF MAN): Not too short on the sides.
TR: Okay. (SNIP, SNIP)
GK: I was brought up to obey my parents. I brought up my children to express themselves.
SS TEEN: You are so, like, loathesome. You are so, like, reprehensible or something.
GK: But when I was a child, children knew their place. There was freedom of expression, just as there was freedom to jump off the roof and fly --- you could do it but you had to take the consequences. So you didn't.
TR (OLD MAN): You're a good boy. And you don't talk back.
SS (OLD): Such a good boy. Thank God for repression.
TR (OLD MAN): Yes. All those bedtime stories about the bogeyman really paid off, didn't they.
GK: So when your parents told you not to be gloomy, you quit being gloomy.
TR (OLD MAN): You quit mopin around here or I'll slap you one and give you something to mope about!
GK: So I didn't mope. I sang.
Somewhere the sun is shining
And so the right thing to do is make it shine for you.
(TK PANTING)---- Hi, Rex.
TK (DOG): Hi. Heard ya singing. How you feeling?
GK: Not so good.
TK (DOG): I know what ya mean---
GK: Do you? I feel like I'm just grinding along--- day after day--- same old thing....and now there's snow on the ground. I try to look on the bright side, but....
TK (DOG): Yeah, it's a bummer--- get up in the morning--- same old food in the dish---
GK: And now here I am, 3 a.m., I'm sitting talking to my dog--- what kind of life is that---
TK (DOG): But I'm your best friend--- (HE PANTS)
GK: You are. And what does that say about me?
(A HURT PAUSE)
TK (DOG): Well, we dogs have a code of silence, you know. If other dogs knew I was talking to you, they'd never come around and sniff my butt again, I can tell you that.
GK: Boy, is this depressing or what.
TK (DOG): Boy, is it ever. Give me a beer.
(POP BEER CAN)
TK (DOG): Thanks. (HE LAPS) Good. Still snowing out there?
GK: They say it's supposed to melt by the 4th.
TK (DOG): Good. (LAPPING)
(MUSIC)
GK: Snow in the flower beds, a dog lying next to you with beer on his breath...I try to cheer myself up cooking, I make penne, with mushrooms sauteed in olive oil --- and not just extra-virgin oil, but guaranteed celibate, cloistered olive oil --- and fresh basil and garlic and ground pepper and parmesan cheese --- and it's good, and if I served it to Italians, they'd be ecstatic (TR ITALIAN: Bene, signore, bene bene bene, molto bene, grazie. TWO BIG KISSES ON THE CHEEKS. Grazissima. Benissima. Kissima. TWO MORE KISSES) but you serve it to Minnesotans.....
SS: This is not bad.
GK: You like it?
SS: It's not bad.
GK: I'm glad you like it so much.
SS: It's not that bad, really. I've had worse.
GK: I know you've had worse. When you cooked it....
SS: I said. It's okay.
GK: I made it from scratch--- everything's fresh.....I went to a lot of trouble....I had to clear the snow away to find this fresh basil.....
SS: That's what I say. It's not bad.
(MUSIC)
GK: So that's what it's like in Minnesota. It gets cold there. People are low-key. And aimals talk to you.
TK (GOAT): Hello.
GK: Good afternoon, Mr. Goat.
TK (GOAT): Listen, this is your lucky day. I've got a spectaaaaaacular offer for you.
GK: Oh?
TK (GOAT): Two weeks in Savannah. All you can eat. Expenses paid. Take the bus tours. See the mansions. See the garden of good and evil. Sit by the pool and get a tan.
GK: And there's a princess there, too, right?
TK (GOAT): Actually, yes. There is.
GK: Okay, so this is one of those fairy-tale deals, isn't it, where I solve a riddle and then an owl comes out of a tree and gives me a gold ring and with that ring I can make any wish come true and so I go around doing good until a witch puts me under an evil spell and I lose the ring and I live in a hut and an ugly old woman comes and asks me for a meal and I give it to her and she turns into the princess and she has the gold ring on her finger and I go to Savannah and become rich, right?
TK (GOAT): Exactly.
GK: That's what I thought. Look, it's a nice story, but I'm a Minnesotan so I don't think it's going to work for me, okay?
TK (GOAT): Savannah is magic!
GK: Don't need magic. I just need to
Look for the silver lining, whene'er a cloud appears in the blue
Remember somewhere the sun is shining and so the right thing to do....
SS (OFF): You going to shovel out the roses?
GK: Isn't it melting?
SS (OFF): No, it's snowing.
GK: Oh. Okay. (FOOTSTEPS) I'll go down and get the snow shovel. (CLOSE DOOR) I don't know why I put it down here...(STEPS ON STAIRS, CREAKING, THEN CONCRETE, SLOWLY. ECHO.)....it's so musty and dark down here...(CLICKS LIGHT SWITCH) darn....should've remembered to replace that light bulb. Well---- it's probably over there past the wash tubs.
TK: Hi, it's me.
GK: Larry?
TK: Yes.
GK: Larry, I thought you left.
TK: No.
GK: You said you were going, Larry.
TK: I know.
GK: Larry, you can't live in the laundry room like this.
TK: I've got really bad hair, don't I.
GK: I don't know. Let's turn on the light and see.
TK: No!
GK: What's that shining in your hand, Larry?
TK: This? Oh.
GK: Is that a knife?
TK: It's a letter opener. I took it when I got fired at the post office.
GK: Larry, you can't spend your life in a dark basement.
TK: I feel safe here. Nobody can see my hair.
GK: Larry, it's not too late to be normal.
TK: It is too. I'm your age.
GK: Larry, you've got to get out, meet people.
TK: Nobody wants to meet a weird guy with bad hair.
GK: You're not that weird.
TK: You ever read the poems I've written?
GK: No, I haven't.
TK: Neither have I. I'm afraid to see them. That's why I like it dark.
GK: Okay. Larry--- you take it easy, okay?
TK: OKay.
GK: You stay down here, and if you decide to leave, use the outside steps, okay? don't come up through the kitchen.
TK: Okay. I promise.
GK: Good. And remember, Larry ----
A heart filled with joy and gladness
Can always banish sadness and strife,
So always look for the silver lining
And try to find the sunny side of life.
TK: You looking for the snow shovel?
GK: No.
TK: It's right here.
GK: Good.
TK: You want it?
GK: No, that's okay. The snow'll melt, Larry.
So always look for the silver lining
And try to find the sunny side of life.
(BAND CHORD BUTTON)
© 1996 Garrison Keillor