Female Monologue

Eastern Standard 

by Richard Greenberg

Phoebe:

Peter, he wants to be good. Have we ever known anyone who’s even thought that way? It’s driving him crazy, lying around here, doing nothing. I see him late at night, making lists, thinking things through, scouting for ways to make himself useful. And he looks at me and I realize that what he wants is to be good enough for me- which is completely absurd- but it touches me and it makes me happy and I think “life can be something completely different from anything I’d planned.” Things can be calm, and simple, and complete. Except Loomis is there. I never see him but he’s there. He’s taken root in my life and I can’t get rid of him... and then Stephen comes along, this accident, this surprise. Offering the best life I could possibly hope to have and I never quite take it. And I never let him in on how much I feel about him because I know I can’t be counted on.