A monologue based on a Better Than Ezra song of the same name.
You died on graduation day. It was awful. You were one of those kids who always had to be early for everything, you know? A real go-getter. You wanted to get there real early, and help set up, or get your parents nice seats... I don’t know, really. All I know is what the police released – You lost control of your car somewhere along the way, and slammed into the telephone pole in front of Starbucks. You loved Starbucks, too, which made it ironic – You were going to work there this summer. It was sad, real sad.
We arrived late to the wake. I felt like shit, because I loved you, I really did, and it pissed me off that we couldn’t get there on time and pay you the proper respect you deserved. And you would’ve been early, if it was one of us in your place. Dave got lost on the way... Your parents had you cremated, and when everyone went outside to the luncheon, we stayed after to pay our respects, our way. We stole your urn when nobody was looking, and we drove to the beach. That’s how you would have wanted it.
We drove my car right to the edge, up on the point, so it was just the sand and the water and my car and us, and we stood up on my car, and just as the sun came up, we started singing, and we poured away the ashes. You scattered into the wind, early in the morning, and blew away, forever. We were singing that REM song, and for the rest of the day, the rest of the week, hell, the rest of the month, that song was playing in my mind. And we just stood there, the three of us, Me, Dave and Jessie, singing out loud and watching Alli scatter. And you blew into the wind forever.
When I got home that night, your parents were waiting. They knew. But the thing is, they got it, you know? They knew, and they understood. They just wanted to know where to go to talk to you. I told them, and I gave them both hugs, and I told them I loved you, and they told me they knew. And I went upstairs to my room, and I played that CD you gave me. And right there, track one, that REM song... And I just thought about you, about everything, about graduation, and college, and getting lost, about Starbucks, about singing out loud when the sun came up, about blowing into the wind forever, and I shut my eyes and I swear I could hear the sea. And three and a half minutes felt like a lifetime.