A Monster Within Us All

“I’m not afraid to die…I wouldn’t want to live like this much longer,” said Edna Kelly from Jon Franklin’s Mrs. Kelly’s Monster.  Mrs. Kelly shared 57 long years of her life with a monster. A monster more commonly known as cancer. Today was the day she was going to separate herself from this parasite, that was slowly but surely deteriorating her into nothing.

Personally, this is one of the most heart-felt and emotional stories I have read in a long time.  A twelve page narrative takes the reader through one specifically momentous day in the life of Edna, her monster and Dr. Ducker—the man who battled to save her.

The writing style in this grim story is perfect, given the circumstance. The lead in automatically hooks the reader and gives an immediate visual. I can imagine an older man quietly eating the waffles his loyal wife in a bath robe served him.  I can see her pull her bath robe tighter as she shivers on that bitter, winter day. I can imagine the eerie silence between the couple, as they both focus on what the fateful day will bring. A life will either continue, or end. Everything falls into one man’s hands.

Franklin’s descriptive writing is so eloquent and moving. However, it sometimes was too much for me, as someone with a weak stomach. Describing the veins, suctioning and flowing of blood was almost enough to make me sick. Even giving the sound effect of “pop pop pop” to her hear beat was a bit eerie for me. But then he would throw in beautiful analogies like, “The grey convolutions of the brain, wet with secretions, sparkle beneath the powerful operating theater spotlights.” The illusion that the operating room lights were theater spotlights showed me the real-life significance this story has. To me, this meant that we all have monsters within us, maybe not aneurysms or cancer, but deep-rooted underlying issues that can only be surpassed with the help of others. However, sometimes we try and we fail. But the point of life is to bear what we can, and gracefully bow out when we finally have to surrender. Like Edna and Dr. Ducker, we endure what we must in order to survive, and then try to survive after we have lost a battle.