You may think it's funny but I was the last one to see them alive last summer. There were only seven left in the world and the zoo had four of them. I used to walk there every night to watch them stand so still in the water. They walked so gracefully, in slow motion. And they have legs as skinny as my little finger. And there were only seven left in the world because they killed them off for feathers for ladies hats or something. And one night this gang of boys came with their radios by their ears and cursing real bad, you know, fuck, and everything. They started saying things to me, you know, dirty things, and laughing at the birds. And then one boy threw a stone to see how close he could splash the birds, and then another threw a stone to see how close he could splash the birds and then they all started throwing stones to splash the birds and then they started throwing stones at the birds and I started screaming STOP IT! and then a stone hit a bird's leg and it bended like a straw and the birds went down, wings flapping in the water, and I kept screaming STOP IT! STOP IT! and they kept laughing and cursing and throwing stones and I ran and got the zoo guard and he got his club and we ran to were the boys were but they were gone. And there were white feathers on the water. And the water was real still. And there were big swirls of blood on the water. And the birds were real still. Beaks a little open. Legs broke. Toes curled. Still. Like the world had stopped. The guard said something to me but I didn't hear him. I just saw his mouth moving. And I started screaming. And the cops came and took me to the hospital and they gave me a shot to make me stop screaming. They never caught the gang. But even if they did, what good's that? They can't make the birds come alive again.

My monologue. Which I'm getting better on.

Which I'll have to perform in two days.

*gasP*

*choke*

*prematuredeath*

.

Rosie.

Before&After