You are currently in 3-4/Features  

Scene 4

 

 

( Lights come up on a small cave. Children are walking around, doing various things. Aida, Pater, and Simeon enter. Pater walks over to where a short blonde-haired girl is standing and begins to talk to her.)

 

Simeon- So here it is- home sweet home.

 

Aida- You all live here? There’s hardly even enough room for four people to stand!

 

Esther- Well, actually, I found a way to make it much more comfortable for all of us. See if you just-

 

Dayla (calls mournfully from back in the cave)- Yes, this is the torment I have to endure daily in the bowels of this wretched cave!

 

Esther- Don’t mind Dayla -- she can be a bit dramatic. She really does mean well, and if you get to know her-

 

Simeon- (laughs) I know it’s small, but we make do. We didn’t always live here. See, our families…well, were in danger, and we were sent to live with Julia- such a good, kind woman- until it was safe. When things began to get dangerous, Julia sent us to live here until things were safer. I’m sure they will be soon, but for now this is what we call home. I’m sure Julia will come back for us any day.

 

Aida- I don’t think she will.

 

Simeon- What do you mean? What do you know about Julia?

 

Aida- She helped my family as well…but, on her way taking me to her house, she -- German soldiers stopped her -- and captured her. I barely escaped myself.

 

(By now the all the children have gathered around, and many of them cry out in surprise at Aida’s statement.)

 

   

Rose- Oh, poor Julia! I prayed that this wouldn’t happen. Oh, no.

 

(Dayla and Esther come over to Rose and start talking worriedly to her).

 

Simeon (takes Aida aside)- That’s Rose. See, this news about Julia -- well, it’s bad news for us all, but most of all for Rose. If you didn’t notice, Rose is sick. Nobody knows quite what it is; Julia says there is probably something wrong with her heart. Julia has always known how to care for Rose in a way none of use quite know how, and every time she comes she brings medicine that helps Rose feel better. Without Julia here -- I worry for Rose.

 

Aida- You…you mean it will be my fault -- if Rose dies?

 

Simeon- I didn’t say that-

 

Aida- I shouldn’t have come here -- first, because of me, Julia ends up captured, and because of me -- because Julia helped hide me and my family, Rose may die!

 

Simeon- Aida, that’s not necessarily true -- there is hope. Ask Rose, she has more than all of us put together. Julia may be freed, or perhaps Rose may be miraculously cured.

 

Rose (walks up to Aida)- My parents were taken away too, Aida.

 

Aida- Wait? How’d you know my name?

 

Rose- (laughs) Pater told me.

 

Aida- Oh. My parents are Christians. We were part of the underground.

 

Rose- My parents were Christians as well, and our family hid Jews in our house all the time. Then, one day when I came home from school -- my parents weren’t there. I ran through my house, calling for them, but nobody answered. Finally, a kind old woman down the street was able to tell me that she had seen them being loaded into a truck with other people…taken away by the Nazis. I knew it wasn’t safe to stay where I was, and nobody wanted to take me in, so I lived on the streets. It was such a blessing when Julia found me, living in a produce box, and took me home with her.

 

Aida- Oh…I’m so sorry, Rose.

 

Rose- Don’t be. I’ve learned that God has a purpose for everything.

 

Aida- (scoffing) Right…

 

Rose- You know Aida, we should talk more. I was just about to make supper for everyone. If you’d like to help me, we could get to know each other better.

 

Aida- Well, all right.

 

Rose- You know, everyone in the cave has someone. Pater has Simeon, and Dayla has Esther, but I didn’t really have anyone. Now I…I have you.

 

(Lights go out on scene. Lights come up on Aida, Simeon, Rose, and Pater sitting together at a table, talking.)

 

Pater- Look, Simeon, I’m telling you, the world is coming to an end!

 

Dayla- What have I been saying for ages? This day has only grown closer with each passing night, and you, you have foolishly ignored the prophecy!

 

Pater- Yes! Doom and destruction are here! Our hour of death-

 

Simeon- For crying out loud, Pater, the world is not ending!

 

Esther- You know, Pater, that when the rock crumbles from the cave, it doesn’t always mean the world is ending, in fact, I was reading in something a few days ago that it means-

 

Pater- Oh? Well, I have evidence to the contrary, my friend! (reaches under the table and grabs a large rock). I found this in the cave a few days ago. I’m sure that the world is slowly crumbling and will soon completely collapse, and I for one am not going to-

 

Aida- Pater, why don’t you just listen to Simeon?

 

Esther- Or I could explain-

 

Pater- Does he have evidence? Does he have proof? No! But I do, and I am here to tell you that I-

 

Aida- Just shut up Pater! I can’t take this anymore! (She gets up from the table angrily and walks outside the cave. Rose looks worriedly at the others and follows Aida).

 

Pater- All right, all right! Touchy touchy!

 

(Rose finds Aida outside the cave and finds Aida sitting on the ground, frowning.)

 

Rose- I was angry when my parents were first taken away, too.

 

Aida (looks at her)- How do you know that’s what I’m upset about? It could be that Pater’s getting on my nerves.

 

Rose- (sighs) I went through it too, Aida.

 

Aida- How come you still aren’t angry now?

 

Rose- Well…it’s a long story. My parents were taken away- just for hiding people who needed help. I started hating everyone around me. My parents were both strong believers in Christ. I soon realized they would have wanted me to forgive those who persecuted me. We are called to love our enemies, and the Bible also says, “Blessed are those who are persecuted”. Once I was able to forgive the people who hurt my parents, I was able to give my life back to the One who gave it to me. And from then on, I’ve been serving the Lord Jesus Christ with all that I have, in any that He needs me. I think of it like this- if Jesus could forgive and love and have mercy on us while we were still sinners, then who am I, Rose Patterson, to withhold forgiveness on those who hurt my earthly parents? 

 

Aida- You have a lot of faith, don’t you?

 

Rose- Well, I suppose my faith is kind of like my name.

 

Aida- Like a Rose? What is that suppose to mean?

 

Rose- I look at faith, by looking at my name. See this rose bush?

 

Aida- Yes-

 

Rose- I love this bush. It’s one of the only rose bush I’ve seen in this forest so far. It’s very beautiful, isn’t it?

 

Aida- Well, yes. Besides for the thorns, of course.

 

Rose- Exactly. But when you look through the thorns, you can see the rose in all its true beauty.

 

Aida- What does this have to do with anything?

 

Rose- Well, the love of Christ is kind of like a rose. It’s lovely, perfect, and beautiful, but if you only focus on the thorns, or the trials in life, you aren’t able to fully see the perfect love of Christ. The thorns represent Satan in our lives. He tries to prick away at our flesh and make our hearts bleed. I had to remember that even though, like the thorns, what happened to my parents was horrible and tragic, the love of Christ was perfect.

 

Little things in our lives bring us closer to the One who made them. I have the hope -- and the joy that comes with that hope -- that each day I will grow closer to being able to see His beautiful face, and one day, Aida, I will be able to see the Creator, face-to-face. The One who saved me, the One who made the rose, my Savior, the one and only.

 

Aida- I have a hard time seeing it that way. The rose is just – a rose.

 

Rose- Well, I said the same thing when my mother told me that. Whenever I felt particularly hopeless or depressed at the end of the day, my mother would sit with me, and explain the concept of the rose to me. I used to laugh at it- but now…I think I really understand.

 

Aida- If you could forgive them…well, could you forgive me?

 

Rose- Why, Aida, what for?

 

Aida- For being the reason Julia isn’t here right now, helping cure you.

 

Rose- Aida, don’t blame yourself for anything. It’s not your fault all of this is happening.

 

Aida- But if Julia-

 

Rose- I have perfect trust in God and that he’s taking care of me. I know everything will work out in the end.

 

(Music swells, lights fade, and scene ends).

 

Print       E-mail      

A Christian's Perspective on the Downfall of the Hawaiian Kingdom Abraham Lincoln Book Review - To Say Nothing of the Dog Book Review - A Girl from Schindler's List