Lionel Monologue

Ever since I was two, I had tried to run away. I had wanted to escape from my life, from the hate, from the people who were mean, like Sandra and Mrs. Snell. They did things like calling my dad a “kike.” I didn’t even know what that meant when I heard it first. I was four. How could I have known? But I knew it was a bad thing- that much was clear to me, even then. That was why I tried to run away again.

When my mother came to me in the boat, I didn’t want to talk to her. I said she was lying when she said she was an admiral, I throw the goggles in the lake, I threw her gift in the lake, I wouldn’t let her into my boat. I did these things because I wanted her to go away, because I didn’t think she could understand why I wanted to run, but when she talked to me, I couldn’t help opening up to her. When I told her what I had heard, that Sandra had called dad a kike, I felt better. When we raced to the house and I won- I realize now she let me- I realized that my life was good, that I could be happy. That was the last time I tried to run away.

It was years ago now that my mother died. I still miss her, but I remember what she showed me that night, and I know her strength is in me, and that, thanks to her, I will never run away again.