Photo by Ron Lach from Pexels
O Moon, Earth wanderer in ancient silver white,
you’ve sown a poet’s truth.
My Feminine in childhood, pregnant, graying years,
my barefoot in the night,
you filled my eyes with mystery in Maiden youth,
owned love, then kissed my tears.
TIME AND PLACE
Present.
The house where SIR and JACK live.
CHARACTERS
JACK DAWKINS, a child.
SIR, Jack’s father.
A LION, named Aslan.
EYE OF THE MOON, an oracle clad in glowing white with a glowing white scarf around her hair.
… in the dialogue indicates a thoughtful break.
SCENE 1 – WEDNESDAY BEDTIME
SIR carries JACK into the child’s bedroom, tucks him into bed, and sits down close to him on the bed.
SIR
What are your two questions tonight?
JACK
Snuggles into his father’s arms, JACK pulling Sir’s open hand up against his face.
What should I confess, when I say my prayers?
SIR
Your prayers are your own, Jack. All your own, with no badgers attached.
No spies and no rules. We never spy. You know that.
Say whatever means something to you. Confession’s all right, but not necessary.
Helpful, but hardly the only thing prayers are made for.
JACK
It’s so unfair, not knowing what God wants to hear me say.
SIR
God wants to hear just what you want to say. That’s what God wants.
Just what is real. Just what you feel.
JACK
But I don’t know, when I pray, if I say what I feel.
What I feel I don’t show.
What is real, Sir, I don’t know.
It’s so sad, Sir, I just don’t know.
Do you know what I mean, Sir?
I don’t. I just don’t know.
SIR
What’s the matter, Son?
JACK
I don’t want Mommy to die.
I’m afraid I’ll be so lonely without her,
even if I can see her every night in heaven.
And I don’t want children to die, either,
even if we can play together every night when I visit Mommy.
I want everyone down here with us, alive.
SIR
Mommy’s in hospital right now, getting better.
JACK
She doesn’t think so.
And she’s not afraid of dying. That’s not it.
We know what heaven is like,
and that we can be together there whenever we want.
But I don’t want Mommy to die,
even if I can visit her every night in heaven, for the rest of my life.
I want her with you and me, and our cuddles.
SIR
You’ve talked with Mommy?
JACK
I see her every night.
SIR
Where?
JACK
In heaven.
SIR
But Mommy’s not dead.
JACK
I know that.
And I’m not dead, either.
You don’t have to be dead to go to heaven.
SIR
What do you mean?
JACK
Heaven’s right out there. Almost in front of us.
Like the moon when it’s full and so close.
You can go there when you’re completely quiet, anytime you want.
And Mommy’s very quiet now.
SIR
I don’t understand what you’re saying.
JACK
You go there in your mind.
SIR
Oh, in your mind. That’s what you mean.
You imagine it.
JACK
You go everywhere in your mind.
And not imagine it. It’s real.
And you know it’s real because it is in your mind.
And not in your imagination.
SIR
But heaven isn’t real like that.
JACK
Why isn’t it?… It is. I know it is. Because heaven is out there, and inside you.
SIR
Both at the same time?
JACK
Yes. Both. At the same time. Like a roller coaster. Or ice cream.
SIR
Who’s told you all this?
JACK
I’ve been there myself.
I know.
I’ve seen it, and heard it.
But the first person who told me was Aslan.
SIR
Who?
JACK
Aslan.
He comes here every night, after I go to sleep.
SIR
Aslan, the lion?
JACK
Yes.
The lion.
Do you know him, Sir?