Tell Hector I Miss Him – Monologue (TOÑO)

A monologue from the play by Paola Lázaro

Toño has been kicked out of school for sexually harassing a teacher. then he has been beaten by his mother.

Now, he tells Mostro, the owner of the corner store, and his wife Samira what happened.

TOÑO (fifteen, Puerto Rican)

Missis Vargas. English teacher. I thought she loved me Samira. I mean, El Catcher in the Rye. She showed me El Catcher in the Rye. I thought she loved me.

I thought she loved me. She taught me so much. She taught me so much. Like, I think, when I think about it. I think, that nobody understood me, but her. Ella na’ más.

And now not even her. But, I really thought she loved me. That’s why I tried what I tried. I knew she had to grade papers and she usually does it in our classroom after all the kids leave.

She’s not like the other teachers that go home after the day is done. She stays until she’s done correcting cause I guess she doesn’t want to bring the work over to home.

You know? Keeping it separate? So she was gonna grade papers in our classroom after she got her café cortadito in the faculty room. I hid under her desk and then when she came back into the classroom after all the kids had left. 

I had a (he points to his pants) cause I usually have one all throughout her class and I sit in the front and I can smell her and this time she was even closer and I was under her so I could really smell her so I had a… 

And I went to touch her and I may have fallen on her- I fell on her with the… and. And she thought—- I think she thought– I know she thought— I was gonna you know sexually do something to her, but that’s not it! 

That’s not it! That’s not what I was trying to do! I just wanted to read her a poem. She didn’t wanna hear me. She didn’t wanna hear it. She didn’t wanna hear me.

I just have a lot of energy, you know?

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