Prayers

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Hear,
O Lord,
when I
cry aloud,
be gracious
to me
and
answer me!
[Psalms 27:7]
**********************
"I really wanna...
PRAY,
Lord."

[QUIET VOICE.]
"I'm
listening,
child."

(Shrug.)
(Look away.)
"I just keep hitting
this BLOCK."

[PATIENT NOD.]
"Go on,
kin'der."

(Shrug.)
"Maybe, it's a little
bit a' PRIDE;
I dunno."

[FAR OFF RUMBLE.]

"Yeah;
YEAH!
I KNOW!
I HEARD!
Ya HATE PRIDE!"

[ANSWERING RUMBLE.]

"The thing IS....."

[PATIENT SIGH.]
"What,
o' beloved."

"Well......"
(Look up, hesitantly.)
"Sometimes....
the thing is..."

[PATIENT VOICE.]
"Spit it out,
Mein kin'der."

"Sometimes...
well.."
(Pause.)
"It's like....."
(Yell to the ceiling.)
"...It's like...
SWEET-TALKIN'
THE GUY WHO JUST
ROBBED
YOU...!"

[PATIENT SILENCE.]

"...INTO GIVIN' BACK,
Y'UR STUFF!"

[GLANCING TO HIS
RIGHT, SAYING
'NU*?']
[RESPONDING
GENTLE CHUCKLE.]

(Ornery glance.)
"WELL?"
(Stare up at the ceiling.)
"IT'S TRUE!"

[PATIENT SIGH.]
"What is,
My child?"

(Yell, once more.)
"IT'S LIKE TELLIN'
THE THIEF, THAT
YOU'LL BAKE HIM A
CAKE,
IF HE'LL JUST GIVE BACK,
ALL Y'UR STUFF!"

[SIGH.]
[GAZE PATIENTLY,
AT THE FIRE OF THE SUN
BATHING ONE SIDE
OF THE COLD MOON.]

(Shrug.)
"..And,
in THAT LIGHT,
praying seems kind'a
SENSELESS;
Ya KNOW?"
(Thougtful squint.)
"FOOLISH..
almost!"

[SORROWFUL GAZE.]
[TOUCH THE SIDE
OF THE MOON
BATHED IN LIGHT.]
"Perhaps,
child;
almost."
**********************
O God,
thou art
my God,
I seek thee,
my soul
thirsts
for thee,
my flesh
faints for thee,
as in a dry
and weary land
where
no water
is.
[Psalms 63:1]
[A Psalm of
David, when he
was in the
Wilderness
of Judah.]

_________________
*Yiddish: 'Can you
believe this?'

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