By
William E. Spear
Volume 1, Issue 18
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Full Transcript –
LET ME GO TO HER, PODCAST EPISODE ONE – Two Tragedies
ORIGINAL DATE: 2 MAY 2023
(Cold open)
A car crash ends two lives and disrupts a third . . . here on The 3:57 by William E. Spear.
(Theme for Let Me Go To Her comes up)
Hello my name is William Spear and this is our new series titled LET ME GO TO HER.
It is interpreted from Elizabeth Gaskell’s THE OLD NURSE’S STORY.
In this episode, a little girl is orphaned and her nearest relatives take her in. But that disrupts the plans of her cousin who is only a few days away from starting university.
Now, Episode One . . . Two Tragedies.
(Theme for Let Me Go To Her fades under and out)
The funeral was over and Rosie stood holding my hand. She pointed at a tree and asked to play with the little girl but no one was there.
Her parents had died in a car crash three days ago and she was an orphan.
And an only child.
They had been looking for jobs in the central part of the state. Her mom and my dad were cousins. No jobs were found and we had a hot meal before they left.
They were on Route 78 in the western part of Hunterdon county when their car hit a patch of wet pavement and spun out of control. It flipped over and wrapped around a metal light pole. Rosie’s dad died instantly but her mom lived long enough to get to the Medical Center. She begged my dad to take care of Rosie as if she was his, hugged her child one last time, and died.
Although I was sad about her parents, and grateful Rosie was alive, my future was now scrambled. She would have to move in with us. We were already poor. Mom and dad both worked two jobs to make ends meet and get me to college.
But she had no family. She was one more mouth to feed and one more set of clothes to buy. Plus, we couldn’t afford to send her to daycare so that meant my studies would be interrupted to watch her.
Rosie pulled me to the tree and called to the still unseen little girl. I walked her over to the tree show no one was there. We went home where the neighbors had made dinner for us.
But the only food I wanted was a wilted salad and black coffee on a northern New Jersey campus that seemed a million miles away. My parents tried to console me. Dad said we had to honor his cousin’s last wish and Mom said it was best for Rosie. They were both right, of course, but I wanted what was right for me.
I went to bed and had a nightmare of six-year-old Rosie graduating from high school and my parents giving her my money for college.
The next day I settled into having no future. Rosie was looking out the window. The television show EIGHTTEEN AND NOWHERE was playing and fit the mood.
There was a knock on the door. An attorney presented papers for Rosie to be adopted by distant members of her deceased mother’s family – the Furnivalls.
Maybe college was still on.
(Theme for Let Me Go To Her fades up and under)
You’ve just listened to the First Episode of LET ME GO TO HER.
Theme music is through the courtesy of DSTechnician at PixaBay.
The Three Fifty-seven is written and produced by William Spear.
Thank you for listening.
(Theme for Let Me Go To Her fades out)
End of transcript.
The 3:57 by William E. Spear 