Act 3

Scene 1

SETTING: Day Three, morning. The same jail

interview room, with the addition

of a table stage right of the

dividing pane.

AT RISE: Ron is sitting in a chair at the

table. Jeremiah enters stage left,

passes in front of the dividing

pane, and approaches the table.

(Projected text: Isaiah 51:15-16 But

I am the Lord thy God, that divided

the sea, whose waves roared: The Lord

of hosts is his name. And I have put

my words in thy mouth, and I have

covered thee in the shadow of mine

hand, that I may plant the heavens,

and lay the foundations of the earth,

and say unto Zion, Thou art my

people.)

RON

Sit down, please.

(Projected text: Isaiah 52:14 As many

were astonied at thee; his visage was

so marred more than any man, and his

form more than the sons of men.)

JEREMIAH

I have a question to ask of you.

RON

What is it?

JEREMIAH

To increase the time I am allowed to spend on the telephone, your approval is required. Currently I get 15 minutes a week. I proposed trading information about crimes for minutes on the phone. I've already mentioned it to the police. I would like to have half an hour to talk on the phone every day. I have a lot of explaining to do to a lot of people.

(Projected text: Isaiah 53:12

Therefore will I divide him a portion

with the great, and he shall divide

the spoil with the strong; because he

hath poured out his soul unto death:

and he was numbered with the

transgressors; and he bare the sin of

many, and made intercession for the

transgressors.)

RON

How does my recommendation come to be relevant regarding your phone time?

JEREMIAH

They didn't say. I guess that they probably want to make sure that they are getting the most information out of me that is possible.

RON

Are they?

JEREMIAH

Hell no. So far I have only been talking about killings they already knew about. Legally they can't make me tell about crimes they otherwise have no ability to link to me. To get back, however, to the subject of my phone use. Privacy I do not insist upon.

(Projected text: Isaiah 54:6-7 For

the Lord hath called thee as a woman

forsaken and grieved in spirit, and a

wife of youth, when thou wast

refused, saith thy God. For a small

moment have I forsaken thee; but with

great mercies will I gather thee.)

RON

You think they will tape your phone conversation?

JEREMIAH

I have supposed that is their motivation.

RON

OK, as you say, leaving that aside, what salient issue ought my recommendation address?

JEREMIAH

I don't know about that. But I would like to tell you how it has been going for me the last couple of days.

RON

Going well, is it?

(Projected text: Isaiah 55:11 So

shall my word be that goeth forth out

of my mouth: it shall not return unto

me void, but it shall accomplish that

which I please, and it shall prosper

in the thing whereto I sent it.)

JEREMIAH

Very well, the only trouble being I can't sleep.

RON

Do you want to take sleeping pills?

JEREMIAH

All night I only get one or two hours of sleep.

RON

What are you thinking about?

JEREMIAH

Why I did it. What it means that I did it. How I can somehow start to make amends to those I have hurt.

(Projected text: Isaiah 56:10 His

watchmen are blind: they are all

ignorant, they are all dumb dogs,

they cannot bark; sleeping, lying

down, loving to slumber.)

RON

What exactly would this making amends be like?

JEREMIAH

Some of them have written me letters. I could try to answer their letters. I've been thinking about what I would say when the communications blackout is lifted.

RON

Give me a sample of what you would say.

(Projected text: Isaiah 57:20-21 But

the wicked are like the troubled sea,

when it cannot rest, whose waters

cast up mire and dirt. There is no

peace, saith my God, to the wicked.)

JEREMIAH

I say, don't listen to me because I want to suck you into helping me deal with my own guilt. Listen to me if it is helping you deal with your situation. I know that the reporters have been saying I am stupid because I was a D student and didn't graduate from high school. One thing I do know for sure is who I killed and who I didn't. The police don't know that. In some cases I would be willing to join a phone conference call and go into a séance state and contact the spirit of the deceased.

RON

I want to know why you committed each of your crimes, charged and uncharged, legal and moral.

JEREMIAH

So, it is true that you are just another member of the criminal justice team?

RON

No, as your mental health care provider, I come from a separate system. I care about what makes you tick.

JEREMIAH

Oh. Interesting. Why did I never pick that up about you before.

RON

I presume you are being ironic.

JEREMIAH

Maybe I'm just being stupid. I am getting off my subject. I need to get engaged in figuring out what makes me tick. If people want to know, I should honor that and get engaged in figuring it out myself.

RON

That would be my recommendation.

(Projected text: Isaiah 59:1-3

Behold, the Lord's hand is not

shortened, that it cannot save;

neither his ear heavy, that it cannot

hear: But your iniquities have

separated between you and your God,

and your sins have hid his face from

you, that he will not hear. For your

hands are defiled with blood, and

your fingers with iniquity; your lips

have spoken lies, your tongue hath

muttered perverseness.)

JEREMIAH

Sure I had a rough childhood, like a billion other kids.

RON

More like two billion.

JEREMIAH

My dad was a strange man. I never have figured out what he is about.

RON

You never thought that he would have lived this long.

JEREMIAH

You know, sometimes I am grateful that he is totally demented. Even if he saw my face on TV, he wouldn't have a clue. The other patients wouldn't either. My father is one person that I don't have to worry about feeling shame before.

RON

An infinitesimally small consolation.

JEREMIAH

I think my father was a child molester.

RON

Definitely a clinical marker.

JEREMIAH

He probably molested me.

RON

Right now, I don't really want to go there.

(Projected text: Isaiah 61:11 For as

the earth bringeth forth her bud, and

as the garden causeth the things that

are sown in it to spring forth; so

the Lord God will cause righteousness

and praise to spring forth before all

the nations.)

JEREMIAH

OK, how about this. As far back as I can remember, I have never felt like an observer, you know what I mean?

RON

No, try again.

JEREMIAH

OK, I am the person inside me, what I see, hear taste, touch, feel. Technological processes deliver information to me decision making capabilities. For me, inside the observer inside the person is another observer, an observer of the observer who is totally detached.

RON

Detached? As in nonchalant?

JEREMIAH

Detached as in removed, alien, out of touch, out of reach. The detached observer of the observer doesn't feel or believe anything.

RON

How does this fit with your role as Bible quoting fundamentalist? Was that just a total con?

(Projected text: Isaiah 62:4 Thou

shalt no more be termed Forsaken;

neither shall thy land any more be

termed Desolate: but thou shalt be

called Hephzi-bah, and thy land

Beulah: for the Lord delighteth in

thee, and thy land shall be married.)

JEREMIAH

No, it wasn't a con. I am good, but not that good. I wanted the Bible to be true. If it was true, I didn't have to be who I was. Unfortunately, I kept on being who I was.

RON

Did you pray to be reborn?

JEREMIAH

Of course. Daily. Often 5 or 6 times. It never worked.

RON

No, It didn't. Not yet.

(Projected text: Isaiah 63:8 For he

said, Surely they are my people,

children that will not lie: so he was

their Saviour.)

JEREMIAH

The being inside the person was a Christian, but the creature inside the observer was totally in rebellion against God.

RON

First, all the levels inside the levels - that is all crap. We all have one level - part of God. Period.

JEREMIAH

You can't mean that feeling like an observer is psychotic.

RON

What ever label you use, still realize. You won't get better until you can let go of it.

JEREMIAH

I have never known anything else.

RON

Get over it. And secondly. God made your emotions. You better start finding out what they are. You don't really have anything else to do.

JEREMIAH

The farther inside I go, the less contact I have with emotions.

(Projected text: Isaiah 64:6-7 But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away. And there is none that calleth upon thy name, that stirreth up himself to take hold of thee: for thou hast hid thy face from us, and hast consumed us, because of our iniquities.)

RON

Emotions are the key to your growth right now.

JEREMIAH

The first emotion I want to learn is love for God.

RON

You get to make the choice.

JEREMIAH

With the stripping away of the layers of observer shells, it becomes clear that I am making choices? Is that it?

(Projected text: Isaiah 65:17 For,

behold, I create new heavens and a

new earth: and the former shall not

be remembered, nor come into mind.)

RON

It cannot be escaped. We all make choices constantly. That is what life is - a process of incessant positive choice. Wrong choices lead to the end of life. Good choices lead to life. Bad choices lead to death.

JEREMIAH

Bad choices aren't the only things that lead to death.

RON

As far as our earthly bodies go, all things lead to death. We try to grow in the process.

JEREMIAH

Grow what?

RON

You make the choice.

JEREMIAH

I want to grow in my love for God.

(Projected text: Isaiah 66:23-24 And

it shall come to pass, that from one

new moon to another, and from one

sabbath to another, shall all flesh

come to worship before me, saith the

Lord. And they shall go forth, and

look upon the carcases of the men

that have transgressed against me:

for their worm shall not die, neither

shall their fire be quenched; and

they shall be an abhorring unto all

flesh.)

RON

Then do it.

JEREMIAH

I will try.

RON

Don't do anything but try.

JEREMIAH

I'll keep it on my heart, that I can choose.

(BLACKOUT)

(END OF SCENE)

Scene 2

SETTING: Day Three, evening. Paul's living

room. Jeremiah remains seated on a

platform, stage left and rear.

AT RISE: Paul and Gina sharing some relaxed

moments together.

(Text projected over picture of Gina:

"Kiss me on the mouth! /Your love is

better than wine. /Draw me after

you." Text projected over picture of

others: "We will exult and rejoice in

you.")

PAUL

I've been thinking about spirit a lot lately, about the interplay or dynamics between the Power, the Almighty, if you will, on one hand, and the Seeker, or the spirit activated side of every person, on the other hand, let's say the left hand. So there are only five ways that the Power and the Seeker can interrelate. A. The Power and the Seeker are united in a mystical relationship, somewhat dissolving the difference between them. B. The Power and the Seeker collaborate, as say, to pick but one example among thousands, Samuel collaborated with Yahweh. C. While the Power no doubt exists, she attracts no seekers, because the potential seekers are preoccupied with pursuing material gain and personal pleasure. D. While the true, ancient Power has become a dead coal, the potential seekers still anxiously try to pursue the Power that was spoken of in ancient texts, or worse, false power. E. Having dispensed with both power and seekers, the modernist is prepared to let pragmatism guide him through life.

(Text projected over picture of Gina:

I am very dark, /like the curtains of

Solomon. / The sun has looked upon

me. /Tell me, you whom my soul loves,

/where you lie down at noon.)

GINA

That's interesting. I've been thinking lately about how neurosis gets started, about to what extent every woman is neurotic, and why, about where neurosis comes from. Have you thought about applying your paradigm to the teleology of neurosis? Isn't neurosis kind of like wanting as a seeker, to relate to the Power, all five ways at once?

(Text projected over picture of Paul:

If you do not know, /O most beautiful

among women, /follow the tracks of my

flock, /to my tent. /Your cheeks are

lovely, /your neck with strings of

jewels.)

PAUL

As if there is a side of us that wants all possibilities all the time?

GINA

Call it the infant.

(Text projected over picture of

others: We will make you rings.)

PAUL

Where as the mature seeker will aspire to fitting the seeking style to the context, mystical one moment, pragmatic the next?

(Text projected over picture of Gina:

While we are on our couch,/I give

forth my fragrance. /Your head lies

between my breasts.)

GINA

In real time.

PAUL

That is really, fundamentally, different than all at once.

GINA

Let's think about that some more. Let's be absolutely certain.

(Text projected over picture of Paul:

You are beautiful, my love.)

PAUL

For example, I am meditating like crazy. I am all blessed out. And the phone rings. You are calling. You have a flat tire. Immediately I move from a mystical state to a pragmatic one. This is good.

(Text projected over picture of Gina:

You are beautiful, my beloved, truly

delightful./Our couch is green. /I am

a rose of Sharon, a lily of the valleys.)

GINA

To play the devil's advocate. Have you ever known a person who wished he had a vibrant mystical side, but could never seem to experience it because he was so intensely committed to being pragmatic? Being in control. Being aware of all the options. Being aware of all the psycho babble. And being deathly afraid of being taken for a fool. While at the same time, having that darn urge to merge going in the back of his head all the time, he just can't really do a top class job of focusing on the present. The voice keeps whispering, disturbing his concentration, "Get high. Let go. Trust God."

(Text projected over picture of Paul:

As a lily among brambles,/so are you

among the young women.)

PAUL

When you put it that way, that sort of describes a part of all of us.

(Text projected over picture of Gina:

As an apple tree among the trees of

the forest,/so are you among the

young men./With great delight I sit

in your shadow,/and your fruit is

sweet to my taste. /Sustain me with

raisins; /refresh me with apples,/for

I am sick with love. /Your left hand

is under my head,/And your right hand

embraces me!)

GINA

Yes. The neurotic part. And maybe it isn't all bad. It generates a certain amount of energy.

PAUL

In a way you're saying that the way we choose matters as much as the outcome of the choice.

(Text projected over picture of Gina:

I adjure you, O daughters of

Jerusalem,/Do not stir up or awaken

love/until it pleases. /The voice of

my beloved! /Behold, you, come,

/leaping over the mountains,

bounding over the hills. /Behold,

there you stand behind our wall,

/gazing through the windows,

/looking through the lattice.)

GINA

What's important is not to make nonsense of life. A nonsensical life does not feel good.

PAUL

But nonsense may be preferable to making the wrong choice.

GINA

I am going to play with your model, see what it looks like from another angle. Where you put Power, put in its place Sex Object. That is me, the Sex Object. I have union with the seeker. I collaborate with the seeker. When I am ugly and repulsive, I have no suitors. When the suitors are ugly and repulsive, I make them pay. What would a society look like that had no prostitutes and no johns?

(Text projected over picture of Paul:

Arise, my love, my beautiful one,

/and come away./Winter is past;

/the rain is over and gone.

/The voice of the turtledove

/is heard in our land.

/The fig tree ripens its figs,

/and the vines are in blossom;

/they give forth fragrance.)

PAUL

You don't know, ...

(Paul fights back tears.)

You have touched one delicate territory here.

GINA

I know. I am the one who has prostituted myself.

(Text projected over picture of Paul:

Arise, my love, my beautiful one,

/and come away. /O my dove, in the

clefts of the rock, /in the crannies

of the cliff,/let me see your face,

/let me hear your voice, /for your

voice is sweet,and your face is lovely.)

PAUL

(Paul just realizes that Gina's

point is not entirely abstract.)

You took money for sex?

GINA

A lot of women do that. I had an advertisement in the back of the paper. But I stopped about a year ago. I've been tested three times over that year. I have no sexually transmitted diseases. I never had so much as a rash on my pussy.

PAUL

I've never been tested.

( He pauses thoughtfully.)

I've never had sex. Except with myself. If I don't seem properly astonished at your confessing, it is because I have been holding back on a confession of my own.

(Text projected over picture of Gina:

You are mine and I am yours. /You

graze among the lilies. /Until the

day breathes and the shadows flee,

/turn, my beloved, be like a gazelle

/or a young stag on cleft mountains.)

GINA

Oh, really. Please. Go on.

PAUL

My name is not really Paul Fleet. I am named after my father. My real name is Jeremiah Slowway Jr..

(Text projected over picture of Gina:

On my bed by night I seek you whom my

soul loves; /I seek you, but find you not. /I rise and go about the city,

/in the streets and in the squares;

/I seek you whom my soul loves.

/I seek you, but find you not.

/The watchmen find me /as they go

about in the city./"Have you seen

him whom my soul loves?")

(They have a long, sobbing hug.)

GINA

I submit myself to your feeling about whether my sinful recent past changes the way you felt about me yesterday. I should have told you sooner. I really didn't expect it to turn out the way it has, or I would certainly have told you. As for my feelings for you, I saw you on the television news last night, and loved you even more than I had before. It clears up some of the mysteries of your personality for me.

PAUL

Every people has a creation myth. Unless you accept that God created physical reality, how could you accept that God created a spiritual reality? But for the sake of developing a cogent argument, I am going to leave that aside for the time being. I will grant that it is a given that people can not now know how the universe was created. Perhaps people evolved from primitive life forms in a universe devoid of God. And then perhaps those people evolved a concept of God strictly out of their own consciousness: minds that insisted on worshipping the One God. And later in their evolution, those minds would unite in universal worship of God, without division by race, creed or bias. Even if by scientific standards this God could not be proven to exist outside human consciousness, would this worship still not be a tremendous blessing?

(Text projected over picture of Gina:

Scarcely do I pass them /when I find

you whom my soul loves./I hold you,

and do not let you go /until I bring

you into my /mother's house, /and into

the chamber of her who conceived me.

/I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,

/by the gazelles or the does of the field,

/that you not stir up or awaken love

/until it pleases.)

GINA

Is the delusion beneficial, benign or malignant?

PAUL

Now just replace the word delusion with a term like archetype or collective unconscious. That provides a wu-wu connotation rather than psycho. One is left with the same basic premise, that man created God, that many men created many gods, that allegiance to one as opposed to another is usually a matter of heritage, and that all people are required to submit to a local governing authority whose sanctions take precedence over those of God. Pluralistic religiosity in a secular society. Creating God is mankind's noblest accomplishment. Having created God, people now want to relegate Him to a back shelf.

(Text projected over picture of Gina:

What is that coming up from the

wilderness /like columns of smoke,

/perfumed with myrrh and

frankincense,/with all the fragrant

powders of a merchant?)

GINA

So they can shine the spotlight on themselves, which is not necessarily all bad. Ever since Michelangelo the West has specialized in shining a spotlight on man. We don't want to stop doing that. We just want to get God back in the balance.

PAUL

Having put absolutely everything onto the table, for the first time in my life, it is possible to feel something absolutely monumental is about to happen. All praise is yours, Lord.

GINA

Thy will be done.

(Text projected over picture of others: Behold, it is the litter of Solomon! /Around it are sixty mighty men, /some of the mighty men of Israel, /all of them wearing swords

and expert in war,/each with his sword at his thigh, /King Solomon made himself a carriage /from the wood of Lebanon.

He made its posts of silver,/its back of gold, its seat of purple; /its interior was inlaid with love /by the daughters of Jerusalem.)

PAUL

I see a paradox. Man creates God. But then man creates Satan as well. And then man goes on a rampage, murdering other men in the name of God and violating God's commandments right and left. If man is so noble as to create this extensive mental construct, why is man so weak in implementing it? Is that the fault of the construct or of man?

GINA

Man, simultaneously the noblest and most ignoble being in the universe.

(Text projected over picture of others: Go out, O daughters of Zion,

and look upon King Solomon, /with the crown with which his mother crowned him /on the day of his wedding,/on the day of the gladness of his heart.)

PAUL

Of the most ignoble, Jeremiah Slowway leading up the pack, while preaching the gospel of Christ. Mankind just doesn't know how to leave well enough alone.

(Paul sits down. )

We have come late to learning restraint, having spent decades watching people sink to succeeding new low levels.

GINA

Like that Raffleson video we watched the other night, Blood and Wine.

(Text projected over picture of Paul:

Behold, you are beautiful, my love,

/behold, you are beautiful! /Your

eyes are doves /behind your veil.

/Your hair is like a flock of goats

/leaping down the slopes of Gilead.

/Your teeth are like a flock of shorn

ewes /that have come up from the

washing, /all of which bear twins,

/and not one among them has lost its

young.)

PAUL

People do seem to like to watch others fail, more than they like to watch others succeed, unless they have a cut of the action. And it takes a wise man indeed to profit from overestimating the taste of our contemporaries.

GINA

Why don't we write a play about all of this?

(Text projected over picture of Paul:

Your lips are like a scarlet thread,

and your mouth is lovely./Your cheeks

are like halves of a pomegranate/

behind your veil. /Your neck is like

the tower of David, /built in rows of

stone; /on it hang a thousand shields,

/all of them shields of warriors.

/Your two breasts are like two fawns,

/twins of a gazelle, /that graze among

the lilies.)

PAUL

All of what?

GINA

About you and your dad, you and your mom, you and me.

(Text projected over picture of both

Gina and Paul: Until the day breathes

/and the shadows flee, /I will go away

to the mountain of myrrh /and the hill

of frankincense. /You are altogether

beautiful, my love; /there is no flaw

in you. /Come with me from Lebanon, my

bride; /come with me from Lebanon.

Depart from the peak of Amana, /from

the peak of Senir and Hermon,/from the

dens of lions, /from the mountains of

leopards.)

PAUL

I'm not a writer, not a playwright. I write computer programs. Are you a writer?

GINA

I've kept a diary, and written a couple dozen poems. We'll work up the parts playing ourselves. Christians have all but abandoned theater and film. Right now it is unlikely we will get film back. But once upon a time all theater was Christian. Small budget big idea Christian productions ought to be supported by churches if nothing else. Four of us could tour the country, going from church to church.

PAUL

I can think about that. And, if you would, please think about this. I love you. I propose that we agree officially to be engaged to be married in about a year.

GINA

Yes to the engagement. Let's think about that year.

(Text projected over picture of Paul:

You have captivated my heart, my

sister, my bride; /you have

captivated my heart with one glance

of your eyes, /with one jewel of your

necklace. /How beautiful is your

love, my sister, my bride! /How much

better is your love than wine, /and the

fragrance of your oils than any spice!

/Your lips drip nectar, my bride; /honey

and milk are under your tongue;

/the fragrance of your garments is like

the fragrance of Lebanon.)

PAUL

The fact is modern societies as a whole aren't satisfied with what God has done. They take everything they like for granted. Everything they don't like is God's fault. So they set about trying to do a better job than God. They don't even wonder if there might be any limit to their imagination. They demand the right to remake reality to whatever they want whenever they want it. No questions answered.

(Text projected over picture of Paul:

A garden locked is my sister, my bride,

/a spring locked, a fountain sealed.

/Your shoots are an orchard of

pomegranates /with all choicest fruits,

/henna with nard, /nard and saffron,

calamus and cinnamon, /with all trees

of frankincense, myrrh and aloes,

/with all chief spices- /a garden

fountain, a well of living water,

/and flowing streams from Lebanon.

/Awake, O north wind, /and come, O

south wind!Blow upon my garden, /let

its spices flow.)

(Text projected over picture of Gina:

Let my beloved come to his garden,

/and eat its choicest fruits.)

(Jeremiah makes a call on the jail phone.

Gina's cell phone rings. Paul and Gina

exchange looks. Gina answers.)

JEREMIAH

This is Jeremiah Slowway. Will Paul talk to me?

GINA

Maybe later. Right now, it would be better for you to talk to me.

JEREMIAH

Who are you?

GINA

Gina.

JEREMIAH

What is Gina short for?

GINA

Giovanna. Johanna you might say.

JEREMIAH

You're Spanish.

GINA

My parents are Mexican-American.

(Text projected over picture of Paul:

I come to my garden, my sister, my

bride, /I gather my myrrh with my

spice, /I eat my honeycomb with my

honey, /I drink my wine with my milk.)

(Text projected over picture of others:

Eat, friends, drink, /and be drunk with

love!)

(Flute music in minor pentatonic scale

plays in background.)

GINA

Are you looking for some action?

JEREMIAH

Do I look like a pool player?

(Text projected over picture of Gina:

I sleep, but my heart is awake. /A

sound! My beloved is knocking. /"Open

to me, my sister, my love, /my dove,

my perfect one, /for my head is wet

with dew, /my locks with the drops of

the night." /I had put off my garment;

/how could I put it on? /I had bathed

my feet; /how could I soil them?)

GINA

Yes, you do. And like a poker player too.

JEREMIAH

That's funny, because they call me Action Jackson.

(Text projected over picture of Gina:

My beloved puts his hand to the latch,

/and my heart is thrilled within me. /

I arise to open to my beloved, /and my

hands drip with myrrh, /my fingers with

liquid myrrh, /on the handles of the bolt.

/I open to my beloved, /but my beloved

turns and leaves. /My soul fails me when

he speaks.)

GINA

If they do, they've got to be kidding. But seriously, you know I can already tell one thing about you. You don't like to be rushed. How long does it take you to buy a truck?

JEREMIAH

You got me there. I sure wear the salesmen out. I've got more time to spend buying than they have to spend selling.

GINA

You've got patience. I don't. If you are looking for some fun, why don't I sell you $50 worth.

JEREMIAH

I guess that I don't look like a cop.

GINA

No, but you act like one.

JEREMIAH

Say, I'm not looking for a comedian. I can find jokes for free in the Reader's Digest.

GINA

Make that patient, and cheap.

(Jeremiah turns angry.)

JEREMIAH

Make that , the customer is always right. Tell me how far $50 will get me.

(Text projected over picture of Gina:

I seek him, but find him not; /I call

him, but he gives no answer. /The

watchmen find me /as they go about in

the city; /they beat me, they bruise me,

/they take away my veil, /those watchmen

of the walls. /I adjure you, O daughters

of Jerusalem, /if you find my beloved,

/that you tell him /I am sick with love.)

GINA

Better yet, let me show you.

JEREMIAH

Where?

GINA

I have a lair in the bushes near here. It's nice tonight.

JEREMIAH

Get in. I'll go park in the movie theater parking lot while we reach an agreement.

GINA

You get out. I'm not getting in your car.

JEREMIAH

You haven't even asked me what I am looking for.

(Jeremiah stares at Gina and she

stares back.)

I'm looking for an all-nighter. I'll throw in dinner and a hot tub.

GINA

That will cost you $500.

(Text projected over picture of others:

What is your beloved more than another

beloved, /O most beautiful among women?

/What is your beloved more than another

beloved,/that you thus adjure us?)

JEREMIAH

No problem. I can see that you are worth every penny of it.

GINA

What are you into?

JEREMIAH

Straight ahead missionary. I'm old fashioned but insist on a condom. I'm not big on foreplay. I'm looking to get my nut at least three times for $500.

GINA

I have demonstrated my love for you right in your life.

JEREMIAH

I did not know that. How?

(Text projected over picture of Gina:

My beloved is radiant and ruddy,

/distinguished among ten thousand.

/His head is the finest gold; /his

locks are wavy, /black as a raven.

/His eyes are like doves /beside

streams of water, /bathed in milk,

/sitting beside a full pool. /His

cheeks are like beds of spices,

/mounds of sweet-smelling herbs.

/His lips are lilies, /dripping

liquid myrrh.)

GINA

Have I not distinguished between the saved and the nonbelievers? I turn the endeavors of the nonbelievers into waste. Should the nonbelievers say, "Fine, we will rebuild these ruins," that is fine. Let them try to regroup. Every time they will be smashed. The price that they will pay for disregarding me will be destruction. Upon this destruction the saved will look and say, "God rules his worshippers and his mockers alike." The child respects the parent. The employee respects the employer. As parent, who respects me? As employer, who respects me? I particularly ask this of clergy who give me a bad name.

JEREMIAH

There are clergy who do not respect God? How so?

GINA

You do not dedicate your best to me.

JEREMIAH

In what way do I not give you my best?

(Text projected over picture of Gina:

His arms are rods of gold, /set with

jewels. /His body is polished ivory, /bedecked with sapphires. /His legs

are alabaster columns, /set on bases

of gold. /His appearance is like

Lebanon, /choice as the cedars.

/His mouth is most sweet, and he is

altogether desirable. /This is my

beloved and this is my friend,

/O daughters of Jerusalem.)

GINA

In a week you give me a few dollars or a few hours. Yet you waste countless dollars on foolish consumerism and countless hours trying to manipulate others. When you spend money wastefully on yourself that could be spent feeding the hungry, is that not disrespectful? When you manipulate somebody into doing what you want, rather than supporting them in doing my will, is that not disrespectful? Try ignoring your boss like you ignore me, and see whether or not you still have a job. You have all made your own choices. Most have chosen poorly. You better get on your knees and ask me to show some forgiveness. Do you think I answer ridiculous prayers? What I need is one righteous pastor to lock up the church to prevent you from indulging in such paltry worship. I am not happy with your devotion. Your puny offerings are disgusting. All over the world people bow to me themselves, not some little corner o themselves. You think I should be satisfied with whatever you decide to give me and think that I won't notice how cheap it is?

JEREMIAH

How old fashioned all your offering business is.

(Jeremiah sniffs disdainfully.)

(Text projected over picture of others:

Where has your beloved gone, /O most

beautiful among women? /Where has your

beloved turned, /that we may seek him

with you?)

GINA

You bring me a counterfeit dollar. Am I to look the other way? I curse those who give me their second or third best, for without me the universe would have no order. I am worshipped on all planets.

(Gina wipes her brow.)

All you clergy, listen well to this. Keep up this lukewarm praise and I will curse you as well. The collection plate will be brought in empty. As you raise your arm to gesticulate, it will freeze. I will throw shit in your face and then grind your church to dust and sweep it away in a flood. Then you will remember the conditions upon my blessing, which is only for the holy. To those who worship me, life and peace is due. And I provide. I am to be worshipped with reverence and passion. I am the source of holiness. Not the clergy. Don't be putting yourself between me and my people. I want to hear more Bible in church and less pop psychology. Quit glossing over parts of the Bible that you don't like. Quit plucking scripture out of context and twisting it around. Rather than teaching all of me, you teach a little part of me. I did not lavish so much beauty on my Bible to see it ripped apart and bastardized. Worshipping me consists of knowing the Bible and implementing it. Those who can not follow my commandments, those who drag the Bible down to their own level, are not going to stop anybody else from sinning.

JEREMIAH

I consider myself to be an avid student of your Word.

GINA

Your worship has not been reverent and passionate. You are not worthy of my blessing.

JEREMIAH

Well I am getting blessed anyway.

(Text projected over picture of Gina: My beloved has gone down to his garden /to the beds of spices, /to graze in the gardens /and to gather lilies. /I am my belove

d's and my beloved is mine; /he grazes

among the lilies.)

GINA

You have not kept up your end of the deal. I have made the people turn away from you in disgust. People puke when they think of you. You have not done things my way. You have not done things your way. All of us were created by the same God. Our individual fathers were only the vehicle, not the source. Why then do we treat each other with condemnation? Why do we rebel against and dilute and forget the Word of God? Why do we repress and disparage the ancient ways? The so-called saved have become complacent. Ugly crimes are being committed in so-called communities of believers. Society's pollution has swilled into the sanctuary. The so-called holy worship alternative Gods. The chaste marry the profligate, the hypocritically holy are dragging the rest of us down. The body of Christ must expel those who make a sham of belief. Only those who are filled with total joy in presence of God ought be allowed to approach the altar. From now on, God will spurn offerings not made in joy.

(Gina now uses the first person

when speaking for God.)

I stand between a man and wife even when they are apart. I do not forget the meaning of "'til death do us part." Husband and wife make a contract. They become one flesh, so that they might have children together.

(Text projected over picture of Paul:

You are beautiful as Tirzah, my love,

/lovely as Jerusalem, /awesome as an

army with banners. /Turn away your eyes

from me, /for they overwhelm me- /Your

hair is like a flock of goats /leaping

down the slopes of Gilead. /Your teeth

are like a flock of ewes /that have

come up from the washing; /all of them

bear twins; /not one among them has

lost its young. /Your cheeks are like

halves of a pomegranate /behind your

veil.)

(Gina continuing)

One flesh groping and thrusting toward procreation. I create the possibility. You create physical reality. Bringing your children to Jesus pleases me the most of all your offerings. As my child, and your child's parent, watch yourself. Rededicate yourself to becoming one flesh with your mate. I hate divorce. I am the one God. I also hate to see people showing their sins off in public. Stay with the person to whom you have given your word. I am so tired of hearing all your excuses.

JEREMIAH

Why do you get tired of listening to us? Your strength is unlimited. You sent your only begotten Son to save us? We sinners. Indeed, the greater the sinner, the greater your move to induce repentance in him. I can see, though, why you might get tired of people standing around wondering every time there is a horrible mess and asking, "Why did God let this happen?"

(Text projected over picture of Paul:

There are sixty queens and eighty

concubines, /and virgins without

number. /My dove, my perfect one, is

the only one, /the only one of her

mother, /pure to her who bore her.

/The young women saw her and called her blessed; /the queens and concubines

also, and they praised her. /"Who is

this who looks down like the dawn,

/beautiful as the moon, bright as

the sun, /awesome as an army with

banners?")

GINA

Take a deep breath, focus your mind on the one God. Open your defenses so that I may enter. I sent my only begotten Son to initiate repentance. I send the Holy Spirit to be present in your churches. Jesus is implementing my understanding with you. Nobody should try to resist opening their heart to Him. Nobody forgets coming face to face with Jesus, for He is like a blast furnace, like a caustic bath. He supports those who grow toward holiness and purity. He will purify those who worship Him as if they were silver or gold. Finally you will make a proper offering to your God. Then offerings will once again please me as they did in times past, ancient times. Then I will attend the final judgment.

JEREMIAH

What will God be looking for on judgment day? Who first will you be looking to send to hell?

(Text projected over picture of Gina: I went down to the nut orchard /to look at the blossoms of the valley, /to see whether the vines had budded, /whether the pom

egranates were in bloom. /Before I was

aware, my desire set me /among the

chariots of my kinsman, a prince.)

GINA

First I look to spot the sorcerer.

JEREMIAH

Who secondly will you be looking to send to hell?

GINA

Secondly I look to spot the adulterer.

JEREMIAH

Who thirdly will you be looking to send to hell?

GINA

Thirdly I look to spot the perjurer in cases involving either oppressed wage earners, widows, orphans or settlers. Why? Do you worry that you yourself will not pass the test on Judgment Day?

(Text projected over picture of others:

Return, return, O Shulammite, /return,

return, that we may look upon you.)

JEREMIAH

Truthfully?

GINA

I know what you are thinking even before you say it.

(Text projected over picture of Paul:

Why should you look upon the Shulammite,

/as upon a dance before two armies?

/How beautiful are your feet in sandals,

/O noble daughter!/Your rounded thighs

are like jewels, /the work of a master

hand. /Your navel is a rounded bowl

/that never lacks mixed wine./Your

belly is a heap of wheat, /encircled

with lilies. /Your two breasts are

like two fawns, /twins of a gazelle.

/Your neck is like an ivory tower.)

JEREMIAH

But this is drama. So yes, I am not really sure one way or the other on Judgment Day, on whether or not there will ever be one. But if there is one, I am in deep trouble. Unless Your mercy is infinite, I would be going to hell.

GINA

What will be will be. The one God does not fluctuate, waver, or evolve. You shouldn't consign yourself to hell before I do. Keep trying to walk with the Lord. Keep your spirit growing toward the light. Since ancient times you have failed to follow my commandments. You have failed to offer appropriate praise. Return to my ways. You will be forgiven. I will return to your heart.

JEREMIAH

But how are we to return to your way? We have to live in the world, which cares not the least for your ways. We don't have a chance caught in the world, a mere mortal can not oppose God's will.

GINA

You have been given choice. You do oppose my will all the time.

(Text projected over picture of Paul:

Your eyes are pools in Heshbon, /by

the gate of Bath-rabbim. /Your nose

is like a tower of Lebanon, /which

looks toward Damascus. /Your head

crowns you like Carmel, /and your

flowing locks are like purple; /a

king is held captive in the tresses.

/How beautiful and pleasant you are,

/O loved one, with all your delights!

/Your stature is like a palm tree,

/and your breasts are like its clusters.

/I say I will climb the palm tree

/and lay hold of its fruit. /Oh may

your breasts be like clusters of the

vine, /and the scent of your breath

like apples, /and your mouth like the best wine.)

JEREMIAH

How do I oppose your will?

GINA

I have said, Feed the Hungry, of whom you have approximately one billion. My curse is on your entire nation for tolerating starvation. After hunger has been driven out of existence, then you may return and bother me with prayers for your own abundance.

JEREMIAH

How would our lives be different if we were living in your blessing now?

GINA

Your agriculture would be extremely pure and fruitful. Your social intercourse would be delightful.

JEREMIAH

Delightful?

GINA

You would be saints of international acclaim, taking profound pleasure in developing my grace. Your inner reality will be evident to all.

JEREMIAH

I still don't see why you made it so hard for us to succeed.

GINA

You make me sound like some crusty old son of a bitch who is out of touch with the times. You think I don't know what you are doing right now?

JEREMIAH

What have I said that has offended you?

(Text projected over picture of Gina: It goes down smoothly for my beloved, /gliding over lips and teeth. /I am my beloved's, /and his desire is for me. /Come, m

y beloved, /let us go out into the

fields /and lodge in the villages;

/let us go out early to the vineyards

/and see whether the vines have budded,

/whether the grape blossoms have opened

/and the pomegranates are in bloom.

/There I will give you my love.)

GINA

It saddens me that you don't understand true delight.

JEREMIAH

Then fix me, in the name of Jesus. Thank you, Lord. I am fixed. Praise be to God.

GINA

But you haven't stopped doing what you are doing.

JEREMIAH

Stop me, Lord. All praise be to you. Unless you help me, it is a waste of my time believing in you.

(Text projected over a picture of Gina:

The mandrakes give forth fragrance,

/and beside our doors are all choice fruits, /new as well as old, /which I

have laid up for you, O my beloved.

/Oh that you were like a brother to me

/who nursed at my mother's breasts!

/If I found you outside, I would kiss

you, /and none would despise me. /I

would lead you and bring you /into the

house of my mother- /she who used to

teach me./I would give you spiced wine

to drink, /the juice of my pomegranate.

/Your left hand is under my head, /and

your right hand embraces me!)

GINA

Now you are at least being honest.

JEREMIAH

In keeping your commandments, what is in it for me?

GINA

Abundant blessing.

JEREMIAH

I see that all around me. I want to get a piece of it for myself right now. I am tired of denying myself while everybody else is getting theirs. The worst among us are doing quite well, thank you. They don't seem to have any trouble running up their records. I can't stop this slide into hypocrisy and depravity. But you can. Yet you don't seem to lift a finger.

GINA

I don't use a finger.

JEREMIAH

In this world people often don't pay a price for doing evil. I know. I've done plenty of it. I've murdered over four dozen women. It is the people I did it to, and their families, who are paying the price. I kept waiting for You to do something to me, and You never did.

(Text projected over a picture of Gina:

I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem,

/that you not stir up or awaken love

/until it pleases. /Who is that coming

up from the wilderness, /leaning on her

beloved? /Under the apple tree I

awakened you. /Thereyour mother was in

labor with you; /there she who bore you

was in labor.)

GINA

I hear a lot of chatter like that. Always have. That's why I have directed the angels to keep a list - to keep a list of those who love me, and build their lives inside my name. Judgment Day I will take them to me - those on the list, both the living and the dead. For those who have loved me, I will forgive small sins.

JEREMIAH

So, nothing will really make sense until Judgment Day?

GINA

Judgment Day will only enhance the reality that prevailed throughout the ages. There really is a huge difference between the holy and the wicked. The difference is always there, but naturally the wicked want to deny it. The holy have no problem feeling the difference. If the wicked could feel the difference themselves, maybe they would no longer want to remain wicked.

JEREMIAH

I want to be one who serves God. I renounce serving myself and serving the Devil, in the name of Jesus.I repent.

(Text projected over picture of Gina: Set me as a seal upon your heart, /as a seal upon your arm, /for love is strong as death, /jealousy is fierce as the grave. /I

ts flashes are flashes of fire, /the

very flame of the Lord. /Many waters cannot quench love, /neither can

floods drown it. /If a man offered

for love /all the wealth of his house,

/he would be utterly despised.)

GINA

Judgment Day will be like a blast furnace for the proud and the wicked, dross to be evaporated, leaving nothing.

JEREMIAH

Not even something left that you can send to hell?

GINA

A little ash will remain, on which the holy might trample.

JEREMIAH

And what of the holy?

GINA

They will be at one with a world without sin. I am preparing for the day when the holy will prevail.

(Text projected over picture of others:

We have a little sister, /and she has

no breasts. /What shall we do for our

sister /on the day when she is spoken

for? /If she is a wall, /we will build

on her a battlement of silver, /but if

she is a door, /we will enclose her

with boards of cedar.)

JEREMIAH

Will I live to see it?

GINA

You'll find that out with everybody else, on that great and terrible day before Jesus. Until then, parents love your children. Children, love your parents. Grow your spirits, let the Holy Spirit lead you, if you would avoid my curse.

PAUL

(Paul stands next to Gina so that the

cell phone camera picks them both up

together.)

I've got an awful lot going on right now. I don't know if I can stand more growth opportunities for a while.

(Jeremiah combs his hair

with his fingers, and tucks in

his shirt.)

GINA

From now on, if you must titillate yourself, you can do it with mere thoughts rather than being compelled to act out your fantasies.

JEREMIAH

Wicked satisfaction flees in a second. Holy satisfaction lasts an eternity. What I can do, I will do, make amends to those I have harmed. Stop sinning in the present. Avoid planning future opportunities to sin. Catalog and seek to pay penance for the full history of my sins. Speak out for the Lord.

PAUL

The Lord doesn't need any plugs from you.

(Text projected over picture of Gina:

I am a wall, /and my breasts are like

towers; /then I am in your eyes /as

one who finds peace. /Solomon has a

vineyard at Baal-hamon; /he lets out

the vineyard to keepers; /each one is

to bring for its fruit a thousand

pieces of silver. /My vineyard, my

very own, is before me; /you, O

Solomon, may have the thousand, /and

the keepers of the fruit two hundred.)

GINA

Slow and easy. Let me dictate the experience from start to finish. Then everything you feel for me, turn it to the Lord.

PAUL

How many more are there that they don't know about?

JEREMIAH

(Jeremiah returns to the edge of

the perch stage rear and left.)

Nine, I think.

(Text projected over picture of Paul:

O you who dwell in the gardens,

/with companions listening for your

voice; /let me hear it.)

PAUL

Has anybody thought to try hypnotic regression?

JEREMIAH

For nearly a week.

GINA

That was some twisted energy. Now I can see why you

(to Paul)

spend so much energy not being something, specifically not being Jeremiah. That is exactly what perpetuates the curse unto the seventh generation. Your heavenly father is for eternity. Your earthly father is dross.

PAUL

Something tells me that you won't live long in prison.

(Text projected over picture of Gina:

/Make haste, my beloved, /and be like

a gazelle /or a young stag /on the mountains of spices.)

GINA

They've probably already figured out who is gong to get first stab at you.

JEREMIAH

Unless one was God it would be hard to know what God was thinking when He lets a lot of bad things happen , although it's not really things happening at all. It's bad people. Bad people happening. What makes it more difficult , is that I am one of them. I certainly don't want to try to blame it on God. I did it. How can we say He should have stopped me. Can he keep track of what every Tom, Dick and Harry is up to? I would hope that that is not the level to which He has sunk. If I was God, I wouldn't want to be occupied with the likes of me. Not by a long shot. That would be pretty merciful of Him.I am hoping that he will arrange for me to be killed quickly.

GINA

And me, I've had a change in my heart regarding you, Jeremiah.

JEREMIAH

Why?

GINA

I am commanded to forgive. Our Maker doesn't need my help in settling the score with you.

JEREMIAH

What about you, son?

PAUL

If you will stop calling me son, I'll stop wishing you were dead. Gina and I are getting engaged. With her help, and the Lord's, I hope to transcend this mess you've made of my life.

JEREMIAH

May I call you Paul?

PAUL

Yes.

JEREMIAH

Of everything on this planet, for you I came closest to actually feeling love.

PAUL

Right now, that's too little too late for me, man.

GINA

Jerry, perhaps this all makes more sense if we imagine that this life is but one in a series, and our confusion is because we don't know past and future lives.

JEREMIAH

The Bible says each soul has one life.

GINA

The Bible is not always right. I sometimes feel my past lives pulling at me.

JEREMIAH

I have nightmares about turning into an insect in my next life.

GINA

Maybe there are still some things you can do to change that outcome.

(PARTIAL BACKOUT)

VOICE ONLY

(Off stage, amplified, slowly. Matthew

18:12-18. Flute music in minor

pentatonic scales plays in background.)

How think ye? if a man have an hundred sheep, and one of them be gone astray, doth he not leave the ninety and nine, and goeth into the mountains, and seeketh that which is gone astray? And if so be that he find it, verily I say unto you, he rejoiceth more of that sheep, than of the ninety and nine which went not astray. Even so it is not the will of your Father which is in heaven, that one of these little ones should perish. Moreover if thy brother shall trespass against thee, go and tell him his fault between thee and him alone: if he shall hear thee, thou hast gained thy brother. But if he will not hear thee, then take with thee one or two more, that in the mouth of two or three witnesses every word may be established. And if he shall neglect to hear them, tell it unto the church: but if he neglect to hear the church, let him be unto thee as an heathen man and a publican. Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.

(BLACKOUT)

(END OF SCENE)