Steve Denyes: Music

Bridges of my Own to Build

(Steve Denyes)

(excerpt from "Waiting on Arleen" monologue)

Well, it’s been an hour since I left the wedding. As two of Tom’s groomsmen kindly escorted me to the door, I shouted out to Arleen that I still loved her. I told her that it wasn’t too late for her to live happily ever after with me. I told her all she needed to do was meet me here at our bench—you know, just as soon as she was able to wrap things up there at the wedding.

The thing is, it’s been an hour—she’s not coming. She’d be here by now if she was.

It hurts but, the good news is, it’s finally over. I don’t just mean in the sense of the last few weeks but more in the sense of, well let’s just say more years that I care to admit.

I’ve been working hard, living cheap and saving money just like our original plan with the vague hope in the back of my head that Arleen would come waltzing back into town someday and we could pick up where we left off—or do whatever she wanted to do. It’s pretty clear now that there’s not much point in waiting around.

I could go back into town and find Will and he’d give me my job back if I asked him to. I could probably even learn to live with seeing Tom and Arleen live happily ever after but that’s no way to live. I’ve got a decent chunk of money saved up and now there’s nothing holding me back. I say, let Arleen and Tom have Havasu City. I’ve got bridges of my own to build.