All That Matters Most

In All That Matters Most, Clyde is on the verge of losing his business during a time when his family needs him the most financially.

CLYDE: I think we should sell the house. Nothing’s picking up…had two customers today and one of them was the gunner, so…I’m doing everything I can do with the business and nothing is working out…nothing.

This has never happened to me before. I’ve always been able to figure something out…I’m squeezed, squeezed to my max…I can’t make people come into my store…doing all kinds of marketing, everything’s draining whatever money I have left in the budget…nothing works and time is running out, fast…we’re on the brink…living day to day is haunting me, making me remember the early years when we were first starting out together…in some ways those were the best years of my life, but we struggled a whole lot, didn’t we?

I remember when twenty bucks was a lot of money to buy groceries; remember when the lights were off for months and we had candles for light at night? I never told you this story but—I think you were away visiting family and I was in the apartment by myself and the lights were out. It was just me and the cat and I had to go to the toilet and brought a candle in the bathroom with me. I set it down on the sink and after I went to the bathroom and started wiping, I leaned over and my shoulder touched the candle and the sweater I was wearing caught on fire. Within seconds, my entire sweater went up in flames and I dove directly into the cat litter box and put myself out. Had a knot on my forehead from the whole episode from the dive, but I stopped myself from getting burned, oh, except for my eyebrow, I had one eyebrow that got singed but it grew back in time before you came back home. Oh, and my eyelid hairs got burnt on one eye, kept sticking together whenever I blinked. For three days I had to deal with that sh’t, until finally they stopped sticking together. Absolute torture.

It’s alright to laugh. (he laughs) Get it all out. (sighs) You’re out there having a great vacation and I’m having yet another near death experience. Story of my life. (beat) I’m accident prone. What can I say? (sighs)

…I don’t want to sell our home, especially after how hard we worked to get here, but it’s a matter of survival. I thought things would kick back by now but things keep holding on and holding on and business is suffering and now…

I made mistakes. Spent too much time focused on having a good time, trying to make memories with you and the kids and have a good life, but now it’s all coming back to blow up in my face cause I didn’t plan right. I didn’t think far enough ahead, I didn’t think my business would ever take such a hit for so long a period of time.

I just care about things being good for you and the kids. That’s all I care about. I don’t give a damn about me. Sometimes I wish I did die, so you can collect the insurance policy and I’d know yo were all okay…I just want things to work out for my family. That’s all that matters most.

  • To read the full one-act ePlay, find purchase link below:

All That Matters MostIn this one-act ePlay, Clyde and Rosa are on the verge of losing their home because of Clyde’s failing business but that may not be all that they are losing.

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