SOOZE: I had a brother who was, you know, retarded? Down’s syndrome. Mikey was always eating because he wasn’t that good at doing things? He could walk places by himself, that was it. It was safe to let him do that in those days. So he used to walk over here in the afternoon, and this lady who worked in the bakery would give him a doughnut, and he would sit on the steps and eat the doughnut. I think the lady used to talk to him. And he liked that. Mikey was getting pretty fat from all the doughnuts and s—, but you figure, let him have his fun, you know? That winter it got wicked cold, and that same year the bakery closed. No more nice lady. No more doughnuts. But Mikey’d still come down here, looking for the doughnut lady. And one day, Mikey didn’t come home when he was supposed to. (Pause) We didn’t find him until the spring when the ice melted. They figured he had fallen through the ice on the pond. Then he got sucked under, down the stream. He had been pushed under the ice all the way down the stream to a place where there was an old shopping cart some kids had tossed in. (Pause) And there he was underwater in the rusty old cart, still wearing his overalls, all decayed. But it was him.
It was ten years ago. I‘m over it. My mother’s not, she blames herself. All she does is watch the Home Shopping Network and drink. I keep telling her to go to therapy, you know? My Dad, I never see my Dad. Vietnam vet. I think he killed people over there. I used to wonder if Mikey was like his bad karma come back to get us. Anyway, he lives in Florida, skippers deep-sea fishing parties. (Pause) I hate it here. It’s ugly. It’s like being dead. You went away. I want to go away.
*From the Play
