The Ticking

(Spot light on a woman)

WOMAN

It's weird, I've never wanted to have children...Ok, once I wanted a child. I saw my ex holding our newborn nephew, and I don’t know...he had this look in his eyes…like he knew the meaning of life and it was in his arms. When I held the baby, I didn’t get that at all. But that’s the moment I knew I had to give him children. I made up my mind to do it although I never got the chance. Looking back, I've been glad that things ended without bringing offspring into it. It's been seven years since I saw that look and longed to give him what he wanted most. Other than that, there hasn't been a day that I have thought "I want kids." I started thinking that, maybe I was born without a biological clock, ticking away making me baby crazed. Maybe this is the next step in the evolutionary chain...no more ticking. And then it happens. I'm walking to the train in the bustling Chicago metropolis and it hits me: I have to have children! I can’t let my father not be a grandfather. So, here I am 27, blissfully single, trying to make it in the big bad world. And now I want a child? I have this rush of questions. What is it like to live for another person? Am I capable of giving every part of me to someone else? How does it feel to love someone so much? I don’t know that I’m ready for that…so for now it’s a maybe…maybe I want children…maybe I don’t…maybe…but I don’t know. I think there are too many “maybes” in this equation. So, for now, I’ll just buy a puppy and hit snooze on the alarm that just went off and see where this life takes me. Who knows, one day it could happen, but for now I’ll be satisfied with what I have.

(As lights fade to black, sound effects of children laughing and playing.)

END