LITTLE MARY - PART IV - The recap: A 15-year-old Mexican-Ameican virgin claims to be carrying the children of God. The Catholic mission at which she is housed brings in the Cardinal Secretary, SAVICI, from Rome who, based on the international sensation that they teenager has become, decides that the Catholic Church should make no statement denying her claim. Meanwhile, GIAN, the conservative Cardinal Dean, believes that God has spoken to him through these unborn children. BISHOP TIVOLI, Gian's progressive protege, wonders whether Gian has suffered a stroke, as he cannot believe Christina's story for a moment.
SCENE
SEVEN
Outside the mission,
night, a few days later. Christina sits on the ground, looking up at the heavens,
her eyes closed.
CHRISTINA
(slowly, quietly, listening carefully)
Yes…
Yes… Our sacrifice? What is it?
Lulit emerges from the
shadows.
LULIT
Christina?
(no
response)
Christina?
Christina becomes aware of
her, but doesn’t turn.
CHRISTINA
Mother
Lulit.
LULIT
The desert is cold tonight. Aren’t you cold?
CHRISTINA
No.
LULIT
You cannot sleep again?
CHRISTINA
I
like to be awake now. It’s quiet. They’re
all
asleep out there.
LULIT
(beat)
Who
were you talking to?
Christian shrugs. Pause,
Mother Lulit sits down beside her.
CHRISTINA
Will
Cardinal Gian be the next Pope?
LULIT
Such
questions are not asked, nor answered.
CHRISTINA
Peter--
Bishop Tivoli-- thinks
people
will get angry on Suinday
when Cardinal Gian declares me a miracle.
LULIT
Do
you feel badly about that?
CHRISTINA
A
little .
(beat)
Mother
Lulit, I felt so incredible at first.
But something’s wrong now. I just
feel fat and confused.
LULIT
That is normal, I think.
(pause)
Do
you still “see” your babies?
Christina looks at her,
about to answer, but she doesn’t.
LULIT
I
had a vision once, Christina.
CHRISTINA
(encouraged)
You
did? Here?
LULIT
In
Africa.
CHRISTINA
Of
God?
LULIT
No.
When Father Tivoli arrived, I was
the
shaman in my village. So he was
not
welcomed.
CHRISTINA
Until
he talked you into letting Jesus
into
your heart?
LULIT
(beat)
Yes.
(beat)
First,
I let into my heart the man who
brought
Jesus. Bishop Tivoli’s
face
glowed like a full moon in a clear
sky.
Even before I believed, I saw this.
CHRISTINA
Was
that all right? To do that?
LULIT
Didn’t
your father bring Christ to you?
CHRISTINA
I
guess. But you made it sound-- Or, rather, I thought--
LULIT
I
am a virgin, Christina... Like you?
CHRISTINA
Yes.
(realizes
implication)
Yes,
I am. I think I’ll go back to my room--
Lulit gently restrains
her.
LULIT
Be
still, child, I am telling a story.
Father
Tivoli embraced my people.
Showed
them the connections between
our
Gods and his. He took part in
our
ceremonies, wore our clothing...
CHRISTINA
No
wonder you liked him.
LULIT
I
hated him for that. My people
turned to him
more
and more, but I refused to accept Christ as my savior.
Then
the albino came to our village.
CHRISTINA
The
albino?
LULIT
The
one from my vision. While in trance, I had
seen
a black albino woman whose
appearance
would bring about the
destruction
of our village. I warned
of
this for two years, but nothing.
There
were malaria epidemics, a short
war,
the Jesuits came-- People forgot.
Except
one man, Asnake. A crazy man. Harmless.
Asnake
remembered my prophecy.
The
albino woman came. Daughter of a diplomat,
on
her way to the city. He cut off her head
and
left it stuck on a spear in my yard.
CHRISTINA
Sick.
LULIT
I
went to Father Tivoli and accused
him.
His Jesus Christ had done
this
in vengeance. He said God
in
Heaven was all powerful and all loving.
But on Earth, any wicknedness was of our own doing.
CHRISTINA
What
about the man? Who
was
crazy?
LULIT
The
albino’s family hacked Asnake into pieces.
I
began helping Father Tivoli after that.
Converted
thousands to Christianity.
Became
a wife of Christ. Still, each night,
I
pray for His forgiveness for the
two
lives I took away by my vanity.
CHRISTINA
Vanity?
LULIT
If
my vision was not divine, then it
was
my vanity that made me
believe
it.
She looks into Christina’s
eyes. Christina gets it.
CHRISTINA
Oh.
(beat)
Is
that what you and Peter think this is?
LULIT
Bishop
Tivoli is very wise.
(beat)
He
understands that you are… embarrassed.
That
it is hard to admit some things. You
want
to respect your father.
CHRISTINA
(pause)
I
love Bishop Tivoli. I thought I wanted to be him.
His
ideas... When we discuss God, he’s...
amazing.
But I’m afraid that’s all he’s
able
to do. Discuss God. Now that God
is here...
Christina looks at Lulit,
her eyes imploring her. Christina takes Lulit’s hand and puts it on her belly.
CHRISTINA
Look
into me, Mother Lulit. Do you see the light
that
I feel?
(Lulit
looks for a long moment)
Bishop
Tivoli is wise. But he’s wrong.
Christina gets up and
goes. Lulit rises, looks after her, deep in thought. A moment later, Tivoli
appears from the shadows where he has been listening.
LULIT
You
can never ask me to do something like that again.
TIVOLI
I
don’t understand, Lulit. She believes it, absolutely.
LULIT
(pause)
I
believe it, too, Peter.
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