Tralfamadore Monologue

Days and nights would pass by with Barbara unable to spot any difference in between. The routine had been formed; she’d wake up, go to work, visit the elderly house, return home to sleep. Repeat. Barbara at the age of 30 was worn out and exhausted. Her mother’s death had scarred her deeply, her children hated her and her husband had left her for some woman he had found at some bar. So it goes. Barbara had this special talent to repel people away. Her biggest worry however had always been her gone-absolutely-bonkers-father. She had taken Billy to an elderly house shortly after he’d decided to write letters about Tralfamadore to the local newspaper.

Billy had always lived a life full of indignity and so, perhaps, had no great fear of death. He
It was very hard for me to stare at the lack of understanding between Mr. Pilgrim and his daughter. Sometimes I would sneak into his room and listen to the stories he wanted to share with the world so much when his daughter was not there. He’d tell me all about Tralfamadore and how he became unstuck in time in 1944. Mr. Pilgrim never chose to tell me about the events of his wartime life even though according to his daughter, he had been through a lot. I later realised what Billy wanted to do was to soothe the world with the news of Tralfamadore: to tell the world that it’s okay that he had suffered horribly and that he would die eventually. Daughter Pilgrim had trouble understanding that.

For some unexplainable reason I was very interested in the case of Billy Pilgrim. I searched for the significance of the date February 13. In World War Two, year 1945, it was the day the siege of Budapest concluded with the unconditional surrender of German and Hungarian forces to the Red Army. It also happened to be the day when the Royal Air Force bombers were dispatched to Dresden, Germany to attack the city with a massive aerial bombardment. One hundred thirty thousand innocent people died in Dresden. So it goes.