The Erskineville Kings
written by Marty Denniss
Wace: I don't owe anybody anything. He couldn't lift up his fucking arms. He couldn't even hold a fucking fork. Ya know, there was nothing wrong with his brain. He even fucking knew what was going on, I knew what was going on. We both just kept on together, day after day, and he's just wasting away. All those nurses, they're flinging him about, ya know and they're saying "stand back, we know what we're doing." And I said, "well, if you know what you're fucking doing why does he look like a ragdoll? Fucking hold him up!" Oh, and then they had to have someone with him, ya know, to help wipe his ass, help him piss. He would've had to have someone with him every fucking minute for the rest of his fucking life waiting around with a shit bucket and a mop. And this one day, this first-year fuck of a nurse comes in and she just dumps down this tray of shit in front of dad, this brown shit and a cup of jello, this children's lime green shit, just dumps it in front of him. And he's just looking at it. And he's just humiliated. Just dumps it in front of him. Ya know, and I saw him, I saw his eyes. Everything just disappeared. I was holding his hand and he squeezed it and I- I said, "Do you wanna say something, dad?" And he- he said something, I didn't understand what it was. So I said, "Why don't you just whisper, dad. Just whisper it." He whispers it in my ear. I said "No, dad. No, I can't do that." But he just looks at me and he says it again. I just stood there... I just stood there. And then I did it. I just did it. He told me to do it so I did what I was told. He shouldna hit you so hard, he shouldna hit you so hard. And now what was inside of him is inside me.
Kudos and much thanks go to Lynsey for this monologue, it is very much appreciated.