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| Character | Greystrands (Goldilocks, in her youth) | |
|---|---|---|
| Gender | Female | |
| Age Range(s) | Senior (>50) | |
| Type of monologue / Character is | Angry, Scolding, Depressed, Lamenting, Frustrated, Afraid, Talking to the audience | |
| Type | Dramatic | |
| Period | Contemporary | |
| Genre | Tragedy | |
| Description | Greystrands: Goldilocks got old. | |
Summary
Goldilocks got old.
Written by chris wind
| Excerpt |
|---|
| Once upon a time I had pretty little golden locks. Now all I have are grey strands. And as I was walking along one day with my cart full of all of my things if you didnt take it with you, somebody would steal it and I had a lot of things people would well, theyd kill for my plastic bags, great big green ones with no tears at all, just a little one in the corner, still keeps you dry though dont you worry, and Ive got a big long stick with a nail stuck in the end, one of the city workers fell asleep on the bench next to me one afternoon, you know those old geezers ready to retire that they put on the Parks Sanitation Crew, well that stick sure is good at sticking things, I cant reach down anymore, my back is falling apart, and you miss a lot of good stuff at the bottom of the bins if you cant just reach down and grab it, well, see, now I just poke in my stick, a few times, because my eyes arent so good these days, and there, Ive got it. But do you know what people most want to grab off me? My little black book. Thats why I keep it on my person, its too precious. I have a list, all written down of all the places that give away their leftovers good leftovers and Ive got a star beside the ones that do it without making you feel like a beggar. What was I saying? Oh yes, I was walking along, feeling right smart in my new rubber boots yesterdays find a bit big but if I wear all my socks and suddenly I smelled this delicious porridge. Now you have to understand that hot food is a real treat for most of us. How are we ever going to make ourselves a hot meal on the streets in our corners plug in a hot plate to the nearest parking meter? So I checked my list quick to see if this address was on it. (I forget easy, thats why Ive got them written down it does no good to go the same place three times to ask when they said no the first time, they ll think youre being a pest. They dont realize how easy it is to just forget day to day where youve been. Why I hardly remember where I am sometimes). But no, these people werent on the list, under the yess or the nos. So I knocked on the door, politely, to ask if they could spare some of their nice hot porridge. No answer. Well, the door was open a bit, so I peeked in. No one there. But I saw the porridge steaming in bowls on the table. Brown sugar in a little dish even. Well I was hungry and so I confess I went straight to it. Serves me right, I burnt the whole roof of my mouth! Ooh, I yelled! Then I laughed! I havent burnt my mouth since, well since I was a lot younger, but eating pizza! Yes, thats it, the first slice from a box when it was just delivered I tried the next bowl too hot too, darn! But the smallest bowl was cool enough, so I ate it all without another thought. Then I felt awfully sleepy. Again when was the last time I ate so much I got tired? Well I headed for a comfy chair, but then I saw a bedroom sure enough, there were beds! I mean oh, this one is too hard I knew theyd have beds, its just I havent slept this ones too soft in a bed but this one is just right since Delivered pizza! Can you believe I was once rich enough can you believe I once had an address they could deliver it too? So what happened? How did I get from a little apartment on King and Third with flower pots on the balcony and a cat that knew its name and a cup of tea in the afternoons with Cheers reruns and Gus snoring in the lazyboy, his pipe fallen into his lap Gus died. Gus who loved my golden locks, my prince charming for fifty-five years died. So his pension stopped. And of course, as a homemaker for most of my life, and a part-time this and that, here and there, I had no pension of my own. The government well, the government pension is based on how much you earned and how long you worked, so in my case it didnt come to much. The OAS and the GIS together came to about $450 a month. Well, what do you think my rent was? $400. That leaves $50 a month for food and and some of the pills I was on werent covered, and theres extra billing every time I Sure, we had savings, but that was running out. Of course I looked for a cheaper place to live, the shared accommodation column had some pretty good possibilities, but no one wants to live with There were a couple months I couldnt make rent Boots got sick once and that cost, and I dropped my glasses and they broke and I had to buy another pair I cant see at all without them and I splurged, God knows why, and went to the dentist after all about that pain in my tooth, and, well I was evicted: I found myself out on the street with all of my things (what I had left by this time it wasnt much, I had sold the radio, the tv of course, and my good set of dishes, things I didnt really need). And then I soon found out that if you have no fixed address, you get no fixed income. The OAS and GIS stopped. I woke up. I mean these people came back into their house and found this smelly old lady asleep in one of their beds and they woke me up. As soon as I remembered where I was, I got all embarrassed. And then I felt the bed, oh my God, I didnt I stumbled up, hoping they wouldnt notice, but theyd seen my cart and of course theyd called the hospital already. They apologized, I apologized, I tried just to be on my way, bundling up my big coat trying to hide the holes under the arms, thank you, Im sorry, I I couldnt get away, the attendants were there already Is this a happy ending? |
