Cast:
VICTIM – ordinary boy (or girl) who has been set upon by bullies
Costume:
Modern dress. Clothes are torn and bloodied to show signs of a struggle. Should also be bandaged.
(The VICTIM stumbles into room bandaged and moaning. This can be done while a teacher or other person is talking, interrupting the class.)
VICTIM: Oh, it hurts so much. I was on my way here this morning, when I was jumped by these big kids. These bullies stole my offering and beat the tar out of me. (waving off assistance) I’ll be fine. It only hurts when I laugh. Ha ha – oh! (miming hits and kicks) They hit me and kicked me and spit on me and called me names. I thought I was going to die. Then they just left me there by the road.
I don’t know how long I had been lying there when I saw Biff. Biff is the minister's son. He's always busy doing something around church. I called out to him to help me. He said he was really busy, and maybe he could help me on his way back. But there may not be any me by the time he gets back!
A few minutes later I saw Holly. She's in the choir and has the most beautiful singing voice. I was in the Christmas play with her last year. She's so nice. She once said 'hi' to me. I just knew she would help me. I called out to her, but she got this look of disgust on her face. I know I was all bloody and bruised – but how rude! When I asked her for help, she looked at me like I'd asked her to eat kitty litter. She said something about her new dress and her nails, then she just crossed over to the other side of the street.
What was I going to do? I was feeling weak. I think I even saw part of my life flash before my eyes, and I didn’t like the ending. I kept thinking, “Don’t go into the light.”
I lay there for what felt like hours when I saw Lewis. Not Lewis! He is the biggest nerd in the school. No one likes Lewis. He is SO strange! He goes to some weirdo church. He always wears dress pants, and they don’t even come down to his ankles. And he carries this Star Wars lunch box (rolls eyes). Everyone is always so mean to him. I’ve never said anything mean to him – in fact, I usually try to avoid eye contact with him – but I have laughed when others have made fun of him. I didn’t even bother to call out to him. Everyone is always so mean to him, why would he be nice to anyone else. When he saw me, he ran right over – man, he even runs like a dork – and got down on one knee and asked how I was. Boy, do I feel bad now. I told him what happened. He opened his Star Wars lunch box and gave me a drink from his R2D2 Thermos. He used the water from the Thermos and his handkerchief to clean my wounds. He had some Band-Aids in his lunch box and put them on me. He said he had to be somewhere but that the school nurse lived right around the corner. He took me there, so she could finish bandaging me up and make sure I was okay. He said he would be back later to check on me.
He was so nice to me. Why?!? I’ve never been nice to him. I’ve never even spoken to him. He has every reason in the world to be mad at everyone in school and could have – and maybe should have – just left me there like Biff and Holly did, but he didn’t.
Anyway, I think I want to catch up to Lewis. I think I can learn a lot from Lewis about what it means to be a good neighbor.
No comments:
Post a Comment