A Second Chance

                       SCENE ONE

                       (Heaven. The stage is mostly dark with a few pinpricks of stars. Lights shine upon God and the two angels at his side. God wears his pure white robe while his angels wear white street clothes from the 1940s. Both of these angels wear wings.)

 

GOD

Send for Lawrence, please, Judith.

 

JUDITH

(exits)

 

THOMAS

Lawrence, Father? Perhaps you should send an angel wiser than old Lawrence. I mean, not to say Lawrence is a bad soul, but he seems sort of odd, don’t you think?

 

GOD

Odd, did you say, Thomas? Sure, Lawrence is stranger than most who make it here, but we are all strange in our own way. Lawrence is perfect for this assignment. I have no doubt.

 

THOMAS

But he has failed countless times. He has not shown that he is capable of making even one person’s life better. If anything, Lawrence has ruined them, the most recent being Mr. Berkley and Miss Blossomwood, and ".

 

GOD

                        (interrupting)

Silence! Being zero for ninety-nine may be failure after failure, but this soul has suffered so greatly in his life that he alone will account for the other ninety-nine.

 

(another light shines directly below the divine figure. A man in his sixties lies in his death bed accompanied by no one. He has bed curtains, a bookshelf with a couple prized possessions, and a beautiful portrait. He coughs and tosses himself around in his bed.)

 

THOMAS

Do you really believe that? That Lawrence will be able to handle this sort of assignment? I can feel this man’s pain from here.

 

GOD

We all can. I have faith in Lawrence. Though he has botched ninety-nine souls, one for each of the past ninety-nine years, I have a hunch he will pull through this time.

                        (Lights dim on the dying man. The DYING MAN freezes in the middle of his tossing and turning.)

 

He is a better soul than most can see, even I, but there is still hope for redemption.

 

THOMAS

Redemption? I am sorry for doubting you, father, but Lawrence has a debt so deep that I don’t think any kind of redemption would be possible.

 

GOD

            Then, we will hope Lawrence is up to the challenge.

 

            (ANGELICA and LAWRENCE enter from the top left, above the DYING MAN. ANGELICA has ahold of LAWRENCE by his arm and he is trying to escape. LAWRENCE can be easily described as a second class angel. He is dirty. His street clothes used to be white but have now turned brown, and he has no wings.)

 

ANGELICA

I have brought him, Father, though he was tough to find. Hiding among the periodicals in Purgatory, he was.

 

LAWRENCE

Unhand me, strumpet! What is it your business what I do in my spare time? I have an eternity of it.

 

GOD

            That is enough, Lawrence.

            (signals the other angels to leave. ANGELICA and THOMAS exit to opposite ends of the stage.)

 

            Sit with me, Lawrence.

 

LAWRENCE

            At your right hand, sir?

 

GOD

            Of course. Hurry. We do not have much time to talk.

 

LAWRENCE

            (sits carefully beside GOD as if trying not to get anything dirty and takes a sip out of his flask from the inside pocket of his coat.)

 

GOD

            (stares disapprovingly and fans the air, disgusted with LAWRENCE’s lack of hygiene, but he recovers quickly enough.)

 

            There is a man who requires your help.

 

LAWRENCE

Another? Father, haven’t I proven myself worthless to you? For the last hundred years I have wrecked people’s lives without really meaning to. I am zero ".

 

GOD

Zero for ninety-nine. One soul lost for each of the years you have been here, wasting your eternity.

 

LAWRENCE

            And so what? I enjoy wasting my eternity playing pool at the bar with my friends.

 

GOD

First of all, it is called a cocktail venue, not a bar. This isn’t Hell. That is not the point. This man has grieved a hundred times more than any man and suffered a thousand times that. Look below.

 

                        (Light shines on the DYING MAN)

 

Feel his pain. He has gone quite mad. Well, he went mad twenty years before this and he is about to be freed of it.

 

LAWRENCE

            I don’t understand, Father. If he is being freed, then why must I go to him?

 

GOD

Because it is right. He must be given a second chance to do what he didn’t do for most of his entire life. You must show him.

 

LAWRENCE

A second chance, huh. I can feel his agony, his anguish. It’s, my lord, more suffering than a hundred men have ever suffered. No offense to you, of course, Father. But why me? I mean, why not someone else?

 

GOD

None taken. You must show him because it is right, and if you succeed in showing him his way, you will be honored like no other angel. This man accounts for more than your ninety-nine souls you have ruined and even that may be an underestimate.

 

LAWRENCE

Hmm. I don’t know. I like the idea of having honor, but honor is nothing without my wings.

 

GOD

            You shall have them and more. Do you accept?

 

LAWRENCE

                        (nodding enthusiastically)

Of course, I do! Let me pack my things. What time are we traveling to? I’m deciding whether I’ll need my vest from 1853 or not.

 

GOD

Settle down, Lawrence. Come with me, and I will tell you everything you need to know about this man.

 

            (Lights darken above the DYING MAN, leaving only him tossing and turning in his bed. Light shines brighter on him.)

 

DYING MAN

            (shakes and tosses himself around blabbing nonsense like “Natalia, oh dear Natalia, why?” and “The Devil’s work, the Devil’s work.” The clock strikes eight times and with the last strike the DYING MAN lies limp.

 

            After a few seconds, a MAID enters from the right, peeking into the room. She shrieks in delight when she finds her master is dead. She strips the bed curtains from the bed, the couple books from the bookshelf, and the portrait off the wall. The MAID exits the way she came.

 

            The scene darkens.

            End of Scene One.)

Author's Note

Enjoy! Please give feedback.