Monologue II

“Don’t bother to wash your cup, just put it down in the sink. Robert got me a dishwasher for Christmas last year. I think it’s the nicest present he ever got me.

“Yes, well anyway, about the letter I got today. It was from my granddaughter, can you imagine. I didn’t even know I had a granddaughter and now I find out that I not only have one that is old enough to write in a lovely hand, but also to know her own mind.

“She wrote to me that she had always wondered why it was that she never went to go see her other grandparents. They went to see Maria’s parents but never her father’s. When she had asked she had been told that it was because her father didn’t get along with his parents. She had thought about this for several years and finally decided that her father’s argument with his parents wasn’t hers. Like I said, she’s old enough to know her own mind. So she wrote to us. Robert isn’t here, he’s away on business. We’re buying a car we saw for sale in an ad a couple hundred miles from here and he won’t be back until tomorrow night. I just had to talk to someone, with Robert not here, so I called you.

“I knew you’d understand. It’s true I didn’t approve of Maria but they still could have invited me to the wedding. I am not as angry with George as I am hurt. He is my only child, he’s important to me. Did he not understand that no matter how angry I was with him I didn’t want him out of my life forever? Didn’t he know I would be willing to forgive him for anything for the ability to hold my granddaughter? Well I suppose he didn’t.

“I still haven’t decided what to write to my granddaughter yet. Really I would like to see her but I am afraid it is too early to suggest something like that. I want to make it so that she keeps writing off course. What would you write to a fourteen year old girl who is going against her parents by writing to you?

“You don’t think that would be too discouraging for future correspondence? I really don’t want to scare her away. Her name is Felicity. Such a lovely name, I wonder who chose it, her mother or her father? I suppose that would be a strange question to ask her in my first letter. Oh dear, I really don’t know what to write, I think of things to write in my head but I just throw out the ideas as soon as I come up with them. I can’t count how many times I have written that letter in my head already.

“Do you have to go so soon? Well I suppose I can’t make you late to work. I am sorry for calling you over on such short notice. I will be sure to keep you posted with everything. I’m going to try to write that letter tonight so it’s in the post by tomorrow. The sooner the better I suppose. If I put it off she might not think that I want to have anything to do with her. I'll see you to the door.”