Let Him Go Monologue
Let Him Go
“Let him go, let him tarry, let him sink or let him swim.
He doesn’t care for me nor I don’t care for him.”
—Unknown, traditional Irish verse
Ralph’s face is puffy, eyes red and watery, cheeks heavily veined.
At the Good Fortune Bar and Grill, he chats up Kathy, its buxom waitress. Eventually, she moves from her single-wide trailer into his grungy rooms.
They are above Earl’s Dollar Store on Main Street. Ralph is Kathy’s meal ticket. He moves in and out of nickel-and-dime jobs, selling door-to-door housecleaning products, vacuum cleaners, aluminum siding, cemetery plots.
Kathy’s feet ache following her double shift at the Bar and Grill. She gets a ride home and hunkers down in front of a flat-screen TV, her replacement for delightfully tender acts of love. For her, it’s the worst of …show more content…
We have a Ralph Richards in our emergency room. He keeps asking for you.”
Kathy couldn’t care less about Ralph. Enough is more than enough. Inconvenienced and in a foul mood, days later, she hobbles out to the highway on ridiculously high heels to hitchhike a ride into town.
The hospital room has a single bed. She lowers the bed-rail to enter Ralph’s personal space. “My, what have you done to yourself this time, eh? You don’t look at all well.”
He’s trussed up like a Christmas goose. Silence is broken by the ventilator’s shushing, the monitor’s beep. There are wires and tubes. Urine trickles into a bag. Mucus and drool cruise leisurely down his face. Ralph’s head is wrapped in gauze. He’s trapped in an abused body.
“You’re not going anywhere, Ralph. You’ve seen to that. I’m out of here. I’ll pack my things, and I’m away. It’s payback time. This time it’s for good, boyo. I’ll drop off the keys here on my way to the bus depot. It’s going to be an awfully long time before you’ll be able to use them—if ever. So long, Ralph. I wish I could say it’s been good to know
“Let him go, let him tarry, let him sink or let him swim.
He doesn’t care for me nor I don’t care for him.”
—Unknown, traditional Irish verse
Ralph’s face is puffy, eyes red and watery, cheeks heavily veined.
At the Good Fortune Bar and Grill, he chats up Kathy, its buxom waitress. Eventually, she moves from her single-wide trailer into his grungy rooms.
They are above Earl’s Dollar Store on Main Street. Ralph is Kathy’s meal ticket. He moves in and out of nickel-and-dime jobs, selling door-to-door housecleaning products, vacuum cleaners, aluminum siding, cemetery plots.
Kathy’s feet ache following her double shift at the Bar and Grill. She gets a ride home and hunkers down in front of a flat-screen TV, her replacement for delightfully tender acts of love. For her, it’s the worst of …show more content…
We have a Ralph Richards in our emergency room. He keeps asking for you.”
Kathy couldn’t care less about Ralph. Enough is more than enough. Inconvenienced and in a foul mood, days later, she hobbles out to the highway on ridiculously high heels to hitchhike a ride into town.
The hospital room has a single bed. She lowers the bed-rail to enter Ralph’s personal space. “My, what have you done to yourself this time, eh? You don’t look at all well.”
He’s trussed up like a Christmas goose. Silence is broken by the ventilator’s shushing, the monitor’s beep. There are wires and tubes. Urine trickles into a bag. Mucus and drool cruise leisurely down his face. Ralph’s head is wrapped in gauze. He’s trapped in an abused body.
“You’re not going anywhere, Ralph. You’ve seen to that. I’m out of here. I’ll pack my things, and I’m away. It’s payback time. This time it’s for good, boyo. I’ll drop off the keys here on my way to the bus depot. It’s going to be an awfully long time before you’ll be able to use them—if ever. So long, Ralph. I wish I could say it’s been good to know