I Am Yours

By Judith Thompson

MERCY.
Don’t put down television. DON’T YOU FUCKING PUT DOWN
TELEVISION, YOU SNOT, TELEVISION HAS SAVED MY LIFE. IT HAS
LITERALLY SAVED MY LIFE, WHEN YOU’RE SO LONELY YOU COULD
DIE. I MEAN SHRIVEL UP AND DIE BECAUSE NOBODY CARES
WHETHER YOU GET UP OR STAY IN BED OR DON’T EAT, WHEN
YOU’RE SO LONELY EVERY PORE IN YOUR SKIN IS SCREAMING TO
BE TOUCHED, THE TELEVISION IS A SAVIOUR. IT IS A VOICE A WARM
VOICE. THERE ARE FUNNY TALK SHOWS WITH HOSTS WHO THINK
EXACTLY LIKE I DO. And when the silence in your apartment, the silence is
like a big nothing and you’re thinking, my God, my God, is this what life is?
Years and years and years of this? You turn on the television and you forget
about it. Often all I’ll think about all day at work is what’s on TV that night,
especially in the fall, with the new shows, I get really, genuinely excited. I…
I love television. I love it. It makes me happy so don’t put it down. (She exits.)