Monty and Julie by C T (books for 7th graders TXT) 📕

Monty was a blind man in a night club...a night club with pole dancers in a city where Julie asked him, “Can you see anything?” after he hit her foot four times with his cane.

“Not what I want to see,” answered Monty who was wearing dark glasses and a baseball cap.

"You want to see poll dancers?" asked Julie.

"No," said Monty.  "I want to see more light, not so much darkness."

“There isn't much light in these sort of places,” said Julie. "If someone turned out the lights in here, I wouldn't notice or care."

"Why are you here?" asked Monty.

"Capulet birthday party," answered Julie.  "My cousin turned twenty one today.  She is happy to be here."

“Please take my card,” said Monty holding out a card with his first name address and phone number. “I want you to have it.”

“Why?” asked Julie.

“Because you don't see enough light either,” said Monty. “Maybe we could be friends.”

Julie knocked on Monty's door the next day. Monty answered with the cane and glasses. “Hello,” she said.“You gave me your card last night. Do you remember me? You wrote HELP ME on the back of the card?”

“Yes!” said Monty smiling. “Can you please get my mail?  Then come in and have some tea.” he asked holding out his keys. “The mail boxes are  near the elevator.”

“Sure,” said Julie. She took the keys. She walked to the elevator and soon removed the mail from the locked box in the hallway. “ Montague,” she read off every envelope. When she returned, Monty was not in the doorway. “ Hello? I have your mail, “called Julie . She was not afraid of the night club where she had been last night. All the nakedness onstage there  seemed so much less naked than she felt now.

“I'm in the kitchen,” answered Monty. “Please come in and have some tea.”

“Sorry. I think I better leave,” said Julie hesitating and holding  the mail.  "You are a Montague."

“Is that something you should have seen earlier?” asked Monty. "Should I be wearing a name tag?"

“No,” answered Julie.

"Do we have insurmountable invisible differences?" asked Monty.  "Do you hate me?"

“No but how do I know this is not a trap?” asked Julie.

“What is in a name other than the mistakes of our parents?” asked Monty.

“Blood of an old feud,” said Julie about the years of war between their families which constantly erupted into bar room and school yard fights, grocery store food fights, slashed tires, mail box bashing, window smashing, injury, and incarceration.

“It is not my feud. Will you please come in and have some tea?” he asked again. Then he was sitting at the table in the kitchen. “Did the mailman bring me anything interesting?”

“Bills,” said Julie placing the mail on the table.

“You can make the tea yourself so you know it is not poisoned,” said Monty.

Julie filled the kettle at the sink. “How come nobody ever told me about a really blind Monty?” she asked.

“I was raised in an attic ,” said Monty.

“Did they  teach  you hate up there?” asked Julie.

“Yep,” said Monty.

“Very sad,” said Julie.

"But it is difficult to teach hate to a blind child,” said Monty.

“I've never thought about that...rasing a blind child to hate the neighbors,” said Julie.

“It is funny.  Most Monties have eyes that can see but are more blind with hate than me. I  have to see the world without eyes.  Will you help me?” asked Monty, taking off his dark glasses.

Julie stared at Monty. "How can I help you?" asked Julie.  Then her cell phone started ringing.

“Answer it,”said Monty.

“Hello? What? How? Oh no. Okay. Bye,” said Julie on her phone.

“What is happening?” asked Monty.

“My cousin said a Montague has killed my cat,” answered Julie. “My cat is hanging from a big old oak tree in the park....dead...with a note addressed to my dad. ”

Monty hung his head ." I am sorry,” he said. The tea water began to boil.

"God damn it! You guys are so sick! What did my cat ever do to you?  He was the sweetest cat ever!" said Julie.

 "Please believe me that I am sorry!" said Monty. "I didn't kill your cat.  I wouldn't kill your cat. Do you believe me that I am sorry?"

"Yes. But I don't know if I should. I've got to go,” said Julie.

“Don't go,” said Monty leaving the table and feeling his way along the counter to the cupboard. He removed two cups. "It is a trap.  I am not a trap.  The cat was caught in the trap! Don't get caught in the trap!"

“I have to go  bury my cat,” said Julie.  "I don't leave my friends hanging in trees."

“They just want you to fight because they are stupid, and they are bored, and they can't think of anything else to do. Stay and have tea with me,” said Monty.

“I can't stay,” said Julie. "I am sorry."

“Then call me, later,” said Monty.  "Please call me."

"Maybe," said Julie.

“Perhaps someday the Montagues will all repent,” said Monty when Julie later called him.

“They will not,” said Juile. “ And neither will the stupid Capulets."

“Make a truce with me,” said Monty.  "Please make a truce with me!"

“I have no war with you... the really blind Monty,” said Juile.

“What if we could mend this feud between our families?” asked Monty.

“In madness or dreams?” asked Julie.

“In bed,” said Monty.

"What?" asked Julie.

“Did you ever think that your children could be neither and both Capulets and Montagues?” said Monty.

"They would kill us," said Julie.  "Or they would kill our kids."

"They might," said Monty.

One evening ,several days later, Julie was watching the evening news when she learned that Monty was a Montague. This she knew. She also learned that he was not blind and he was going to be married. That was news to Julie. The white cane was a fake. He was suppose to marry a daughter of a friend of the Montagues next week, but he was now missing and feared dead. The reporter explained that Monty's truck had exploded in a parking structure last night. His body had not been found.

Two sad months later, Julies phone rang. "Hello Julie!" said Monty who was not in his truck when it exploded. He had made the bomb himself and escaped to live in  some far off city. "When are you going to have tea with me?" he asked Julie.

Two weeks later, Julie's car also exploded in that same parking garage and her body was also never found.

Text: CT
Publication Date: 09-07-2014

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