Short Stories

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Shall
words of
wind
have
an end?
[Job 16:3]
************************
(Peter is frowning,
and shaking his head.
He and the other disciples
are sitting, with their
backs against the trees,
in the soft summer
grass. The smell of
the sea is in their
nostrils, and hopping
about here and there,
are little sparrows:
chirping, and waiting
for small crumbs.)
"I don't
UNDERSTAND..
....LORD?"

[CHUCKLING!]
"Do you not understand
the words,
My child?"

(Peter grimmaces,
and turns to look
at his friends. He
scratches his head.)
"Well.....YES!
YES! We can
understand...the
WORDS!"
(He nods, furiously.)
"It IS in our LANGUAGE*,
Lord! But......
.......what they
are SAYING......
is...is....
SILLY,
and......
and,
just,
plain...
NONSENSE!"

[BURST OUT LAUGHING.]
[TURN TO GAZE
AT THE STRANGE-LOOKING
BOX. LIGHT AND SOUND
WAS COMING OUT OF
IT; IT WAS A MOVING
PICTURE OF WHAT
SEEMED TO BE AKIN
TO A GREEK PLAY.]

(John, who had finished
his piece of summer fruit
and tossed its moist seed
into the grass,
spoke up.)
"Peter is RIGHT,
Lord. You have told
us, that we were going
to watch a COMEDY PLAY...
of Greek ACTORS?"
(Squinting up at his Lord.)
"But....this....this...
PLAY...doesn't seem
to make any SENSE!
And......"
(Squint back at the box.)
"WHY is that WOMAN..
dressed up,
like a MAN?
And....not SERVING
them? And....
WHY is she making
FACES, at
EVERYONE?"

[CHUCKLE.]

(Peter tossed a bit
of bread out, to one
particularly persistant
sparrow. He nodded:
frowning at the lighted
box. The people inside
the box were all sitting
at a ridiculously
high table: sipping water
out of strange-looking cups,
and talking, and laughing:
only, what they were
talking and laughing about,
seemed to be a bit
of a mystery.)
"And, what is THAT....
which,
that smaller,
PLUMP actor....
has on his
FACE?"

[SMILING.]
"They are EYE-glasses,
Peter: they are
small pieces of
GLASS: which help
him to SEE,
better."

"Ahh!
I SEE!"
(Frown.)
"But.....what is it,
that.......they are...
DISCUSSING?
It doesn't SEEM..
to make,
any SENSE!"

[SMILING,
WITH DELIGHT.]
"It is not supposed
to, My children.
It is only entertainment:
like a PLAY."

(Peter suddenly
lets out a bark,
of laughter. He
points to the lighted
box, with enthusiasm.)
"HE is FUNNY!
That.....ONE!
That...rather TALL,
UGLY fellow:
the one,
with....
the strange HAIR!"

(The other disciples
nod, and give a
general mumur
of consent.
Now, they are all
laughing, and
chuckling.)

(Jesus steps closer
to the strangely-lit
box. He points to it.)
"Do you see THIS one,
My children?
He.....
is an
ISRAELITE."

(The laughter dies down.)
(His disciples look up
at their Rabbi and Lord,
and then,
turn to stare at one
another: their eyes
open wide, with horror.)
(Peter speaks up.)
"NO, LORD!
But....THAT CANNOT BE!
NO! But...
is he, then....
a Greek SLAVE?"

[BURST INTO MORE
LAUGHTER!]
"He is hardly
that,
My children!"

(John reaches over,
to grab another piece
of fruit. He shakes
his head: frowning.)
"BUT...he HAS to be
a slave,
My LORD!
He would NEVER
do this...of his
own free WILL!"
(Rubs the fruit
against his cotton tunic.)
(Takes a noisy bite.)
(Chomps.)
(Mouth full.)
"THAT could never
BE! A Jew would
NEVER take part
in such GENTILE
pursuits!"
(Noisy chomping.)
"Or.....EVEN...
to SIT AMONGST
them....or,
EAT with them!
No, never.....
NEVER,
My Lord!
HE should be STONED!"

[SUDDEN BURST
OF LAUGHTER!]

(John, still chomping
on the juicy piece
of fruit, looks up.)
"What IS it,
My LORD?"

"On the CONTRARY,
My children! He is most
LOVED.....amongst
his PEOPLE!"

(Everyone just sits
and stares, dumbfounded:
In the play, nothing
has changed;
the actors are still sitting
at the oddly high table:
sitting, and talking,
and eating.....in
what seems to be
a rather crowded inn,
in a very large town.
Other actors,
wearing rather odd
garments, and...
even odder-looking
shoes, walk about
paying no attention
to the Israelite,
nor to his odd,
Gentile friends.)

(Peter breaks the
dumbfounded silence.)
"Do these ACTORS...
BEG for a living,
My Lord? Do they
STAND in the STREETS
.....after,
the PLAY? And,
have COINS...
thrown at THEM?"

[CHUCKLING.]
"Oh YES,
My Peter."
[LONG PAUSE.]
"Many,
MANY.....
COINS."
[SMILE!]
*********************
And,
God saw
that
it
was
good.
[Genesis 1:12]


______________________
*Dubbed in Aramaic.



To Fellow-Seinfeld-Fans:
the episode,
which Jesus let
His disciples
watch, was
the one where
Elaine sneezes
on the pasta-
primavera dish,
that Mr. Dalrimple,
of NBC, was
eating, at the
place where one
of Seinfeld's old
girlfriends was
a chef.

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