Previous Challenge Entry (Level 4 – Masters)
Topic: UNBORN (07/27/23)
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TITLE: Just a Blob of Tissue, a Dialogue | Previous Challenge Entry
By Laurie Kiel
08/03/23 -
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Carol, a modern, middle-aged woman
Elizabeth, mother of John the Baptist
CAROL IS ON STAGE AND PICKS UP CELLPHONE
“Hello?”
Jennifer?
You have exciting news? Let me guess. You’ve been accepted to Harvard. No, Yale, no, both!
It’s better than that?
You’re what?
Jennifer, I thought you and Eric were going to wait. Thank goodness you found out so early. Do you have your appointment at the clinic? Do you need me to drive you?
What do you mean it would be a huge mistake to have an abortion. (STAGE WHISPER) You and Eric aren’t even married yet. You made a little mistake. That’s why there are erasers on pencils. Letting a blob of tissue ruin your future would be a huge mistake.
I bet you can’t ever feel the embryo yet. Years ago, it was only a baby once it “quickened” in the womb.
Jennifer. Stop. Don’t cry. You thought that I would be happy to become a grandmother. When the time is right, when you are Eric are married and have graduated from college, I will be the happiest grandmother in the world. It is my hope and prayer to be a grandmother, When the time is right.
Jennifer, don’t go.
Jennifer.
Jennifer?
PUTS PHONE DOWN
She told me,“I’m going to have a baby.” She was so happy. So joyful. And I just stomped on her joy.
But I spoke the truth. It is just a blob of tissue. It’s not a baby if you don’t feel it move.
ELIZABETH, DRESSED IN BIBLICAL GARB WALKS ONTO THE STAGE BEHIND CAROL.
ELIZABETH: I can see why the Lord let me come and visit you. You think your daughter’s baby is a blob of tissue, a mistake.
CAROL JUMPS AND TURNS TO FACE ELIZABETH
ELIZABETH: I hear that you think it’s not a baby in the womb, until you feel it move. I think I’ve met you before. Well, not you of course, but a village of women like you. Every day when I would go out to the village square, one of the women would say, “So, Elizabeth, have you felt the baby move yet?” And then the knowing nods when I shook my head, “No.” They would walk away cackling and I would hear words such as “So deluded.” “A child at her age?” “Her husband should have divorced her years ago.” “A priest should never be childless.”
To protect myself, I secluded myself in my home, my silent home. For my husband Zachary had been struck mute by the angel who had told him that I would bear a child. And Zachary had doubted. So the angel silenced Zachary’s doubting words.
Six months and the baby had not moved.
Six months.
Had Zachary somehow misheard the angel?
I clung desperately to God’s promise.
And then, I heard that Mary was coming to visit. I would be glad to see her no matter what, but the rumor, the incredible rumor was that Mary had been chosen by God to bear the Messiah!
Of course she had to come seek sanctuary with me.
Mary! “Blessed are you among women, and blessed is the child you will bear! But why am I so favored, that the mother of my Lord should come to me? As soon as the sound of your greeting reached my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. Luke 1:42-44 NIV
Was Jesus just a blob of tissue in Mary when my baby jumped with joy at her being the mother of the Messiah? Was my son John just a blob of tissue the six months he lay still in my womb, not moving?
I’ve got to get back. I think you know what to do.
ELIZABETH EXITS
CAROL PICKS UP PHONE AND DIALS
“Jennifer! I’m so glad you picked up.
You don’t need to worry about arguing with me about it. I was wrong. Do you have an appointment to see the doctor?
Yes I meant the obstetrician. May I come with you and Eric? After all, I want to be involved from the very beginning with my grandchild. Love you Jennifer.
PUSHES HANG UP BUTTON ON PHONE
Thank you Lord, for setting me straight. I nearly made a horrible mistake, one that an eraser could never fix.
This work is fiction.
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