The Author's Voice
By Richard GreenbergGene is a deformed "gnome" who has been taken in by a gorgeous and charming bachelor named Todd, on the condition that Gene will write, and Todd will pass of Gene's work as his own. In this monologue, Gene admits to Todd that he went out into the world, which is forbidden to him.
GENE:
It came to me: Why not? You were gone, and I wasn't physically restrained. The outside world might be a painful place but every place is a painful one, so why not? I put on your raincoat and your glasses and your fedora and looked almost hardly abnormal at all. I was careful, Todd, don't look at me like that, I was so careful, no neighbor saw, not the super, no one. I walked in shadows exclusively.
I know you've taken me on at great financial and personal sacrifice to yourself, I know I've altered your life completely, I know with me on your hands no sane life is possible, I'm grateful, I truly am, I'm not an ingrate, don't look at me like that!
I got these at a used-book store, a place, I swear to you, as musty as myself. I fit right in. Todd, I had to do this for both of us. I was forgetting things, words lost their attachments. Without this little trip, this one-time-only trip, you would have had a book full of nonsense, a mere crunch of syllables.
It's not a place I want to be anymore, the world. I promise. This isn't fair! Look, burn this coat, buy another one on our royalties! Another hat, too, and new glasses, I know I'm an infection, I won't be insulted! Please, please talk! I'm sure I must have been laughed at on the street... You don't have to worry, Todd.
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