The slow reveal over the course of this monologue as to what happened to our narrator, the fetus, leaves the reader/audience with haunting lines. I also appreciated that the character spoke about how they were wanted and loved vs. people who may deal with unwanted pregnancies: this is all the more important in our post-Roe world. It makes it all the more visceral and disturbing that Egypt's and their mother's life was cut so short by such horrific violence. Featuring this in some scripts literary magazine Issue 5 was a privilege.

A devastating monologue, and the Housebound Series performance for Mind The Gap Theatre is easily findable on YouTube. Check it out. What stays with me most is the sense of utter isolation that O'Grady expresses through the protagonist. It is both visceral and poetic.

This haunting monologue shifts us to a place we rarely think about: a womb carrying an unborn child. The glimpse she has garnered of the world to date is a sad one although she knows she is loved. And she is no more. She has lived all the life she was granted - and was old beyond her days. Haunting.