{"id":27,"date":"2016-06-06T00:18:02","date_gmt":"2016-06-06T00:18:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/agoodhurt.com\/monology\/?p=27"},"modified":"2016-06-14T21:43:35","modified_gmt":"2016-06-15T04:43:35","slug":"border-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/agoodhurt.com\/monology\/border-law\/","title":{"rendered":"BORDER LAW"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

[A man of thirty, military type, with muscles and a crewcut. He expresses himself with pride and confidence, but his eyes reveal doubt.]<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

I was always very much “by the book,” you know? Follow the rules. Respect the Law. That made sense to me. We’re given a set of instructions to live by so everything is clearly defined, good and bad, right and wrong\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

My father thought the same way. He was a border patrol agent, and proud of it. Just as proud as I was of him, which is why I became one too.<\/span><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t want to come off as soft, but I hope people can understand we also feel bad for some of the illegals we detain at the border\u2026 mothers with babies, kids too young to be on their own\u2026. we realize\u00a0most of them are just trying to make a living, provide for their families.<\/span><\/p>\n

But there\u2019s a law. And someone needs to enforce it.<\/span><\/p>\n

Still, I admit there are some\u2026\u201cspecial cases\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

Like this guy we caught about a year ago. Sergio was his name.<\/span><\/p>\n

Homeland Security was holding him indefinitely. The guy had crossed the border one too many times before, and they suspected he might be in cahoots with something bigger\u2026 maybe terrorism or whatever.<\/span><\/p>\n

He swore up and down he was just a cook though.<\/span><\/p>\n

It was hard not to like the man; he joked around a lot and cracked everyone up\u2026 even the guards.<\/span><\/p>\n

Anyway, about a week later, they said he was free to go. He was clean.<\/span><\/p>\n

The night before the deportation, he offered to cook for us. He said he wanted to thank us for treating him so well\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

We let him use our kitchen and even kept it secret from the higher-ups.<\/span><\/p>\n

He made ribs. We all pitched in to buy them.<\/span><\/p>\n

I swear you\u2019ve never tasted ribs like those. Juicy, smoky, tangy\u2026 Dad would turn over in his grave if he heard me say it but, they were better than his… And my old man was as proud of his ribs as he was of his badge.<\/span><\/p>\n

Everybody got a taste, including the other detainees. It turned into a party of sorts. It was fun\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

The next morning Sergio was chaperoned back across the border, and all the time I kept thinking, how can doing the right thing feel so wrong?<\/span><\/p>\n

Don’t get it twisted, I\u2019m still an agent. I still believe in the Law.<\/span><\/p>\n

But something in me changed that day.<\/span><\/p>\n

I know\u00a0because, last week, I stopped off at a random restaurant and ordered some ribs.<\/span><\/p>\n

I immediately recognized the flavor.<\/span><\/p>\n

So I ate, paid, and left… before I ran into the cook.<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

Are you an actor or director interested in using this monologue? Contact us in ABOUT MONOLOGY!<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0Copyright Abel Gonzalez 2016<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

[A man of thirty, military type, with muscles and a crewcut. He expresses himself with pride and confidence, but his eyes reveal doubt.] I was always very much “by the book,” you know? Follow the rules. Respect the Law. That made sense to me. We’re given a set of instructions to live by so everything … Continue reading BORDER LAW<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":73,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"__cvm_playback_settings":[],"__cvm_video_id":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12,10],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-inmigration","category-politics"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\nBORDER LAW - A monologue about following the rules<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I was always very much "by the book," you know? 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