WAITING FOR THE BUS IN RED-CHECKERED EARMUFFS
(previously title THE BUS STOP)
A dramatic monologue
By Tara Meddaugh
Lawrence, a man in his 80s or so, stands at a bus stop. It is cold. He has just been to the grocery store. He talks to a woman in her 70s or so, who is also waiting at the bus stop. He expresses his frustration at a bad driver who almost hit him with his car, yet Lawrence’s license has been taken away from him because he’s “too old” to drive. He expresses how difficult it is to accept that he’s at the age where he won’t be given second chances for many things anymore because there isn’t the time or the opportunity.
DETAILS:
Genre: Drama
Running time: Approximately 2-3 minutes
Cast: Male (Any gender ok)
Age range: 60s-90s
Setting: bus stop, night, Fall/Winter
Time period: contemporary
LAWRENCE
I’m walking outta the damn food store carrying this bag of clementines—that’s all I got. Not even pushing a damn shopping cart. And some idiot with a Korean car almost runs me over! Some teenage kid driving, no doubt. Spikey hair. Playing games on his damn iphone, no doubt. Some lady behind me yanks on my elbow. She’s got her other hand holding some smart-allack kid’s hand and she says, “You all right?” and he copies her like some damn parrot and says, “You all right?” I jerk her hand off my damn elbow and tell her and her smart-allack parrot-kid I’m fine. And I walk to the bus stop ‘cause I gotta take a damn bus and I think, this kid almost runs me over and I’m the one who can’t drive anymore?
(shakes his head)
Not right.
(pause)
Not right for a damn second.
(pause)
And I could tell you about how I served this country and put in my time and how Americans don’t give a damn about the elderly, when we should be respected because we’ve been places and built things and dammit we’re still here.
(pause)
But it’s mostly…it gets me…because this is it—END OF EXCERPT
Click here for the complete WAITING FOR THE BUS IN RED-CHECKERED EARMUFFS monologue (previously title THE BUS STOP) This monologue is free to download, but if you would like to support the playwright and her craft, you may do so below: