Defender Of The Faith – Monologue (Thomas)

A monologue from the play by Stuart Carolan

Thomas’s family is under suspicion. The IRA thinks there might be an informer in their midst.

Here, Thomas talks with a farmhand, Barney, about the death of his brother Seamus.

THOMAS (twenty)

All the time, Barney. All the time. I think about him all the time. Every day. Sure, it’s only been a year.

There was only a year and a half between us. Barney. Fourteen months. . . . But I thought of him I suppose like a child. . . . I know.

The worst thing is I can look at him in the picture but I can’t picture him in my head . . . And sometimes I have dreams where I see him getting shot in the dreams or somebody’s tellin’ me he’s dead. 

Coming up to the backdoor of the house and saying your brother Shamey’s been shot. And I’m going sweet God no, please no, no, please God, let him be OK.

You can get shot and survive. He’ll be all right. He’s not dead. And the person’s saying, it’s too late, Shamey’s dead.

He’s dead. And I’m saying no, no way, this is my worst nightmare. 

Shamey’s dead and then just like that, Shamey walks in the door and says what’s all the fuss about boy,

and I’m thinking thank you God, thank you God, Shamey’s all right. He’s not dead. 

And then I’m happy like I’ve never been happy and then, and then, then I wake up. And for the first couple of minutes I’m happy.

I’m still half asleep and I’m thinking Jasus, that was some nightmare that was. Shamey dead. Jasus.

I must tell Shamey I had this nightmare where I thought he was dead. . . . And then I wake up proper and I remember he is dead.

He’s cold and he’s in the ground. Shamey is dead and I can’t go and tell him about my dream. Shamey is dead.

Read the play here

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