Summary: The story of Paul and Silas's encounter with the fortune-telling slave girl, done as a Western.
Style: Light-hearted Duration: 8min
Actors: 6M, 1F
Characters : Narrator, Paul, Silas, Kaye-Sarah Sera, Black Jack, Sheriff, Deputy, Posse
Script
Scenes : saloon (one end) , jail (other end) , street (in the middle). Originally in the Greek town of Phillippi, but in this case in a western town. This was the first souvlaki western.
( The story is mimed by the characters, like a silent movie, while read in a broad Southern accent. The reader should pause to allow time for the actions to be completed.)
Narrator: Once upon a time in the little biddy Middle East western town of Phillippi, there lived a li’l slave girl. She done gone crazy in the mind. But she had a job in the Phillippi Saloon tellin’ fortunes for five cents. They called ’er Kaye-Sarah Sera. She was real good at her job an’ she made a heap of money for the man that run the saloon. His name was Black Jack.
One day two preacher men rode into town to tell the people all ‘bout God. Their names was Paul and Silas. They’d walk along preachin’ on the sidewalk and talkin’ to folks. Poor crazy li’l Kaye-Sarah, she done follow ’em around askin’, “Be’n’t you the men of God?” ’n callin’ out, “You all come here ‘n listen to the preacher men. They gonna tell you how to be saved.” She done this night ’n day until one of the preacher men, Paul, couldn’ take it no longer. He jus’ turn around ‘n said “ In the name of Jesus Christ come out of that li’l girl.” An’ would you believe it ? She wan’ crazy no more.
Trouble was, she wouldn’ tell fortunes no more neither. Black Jack, he was mighty mad. He done send for the sheriff right then n’ there. He said these preacher men was really Jews n’ they’s causin’ a heap o’ trouble. When th’ other people in the town heard that the preacher men were Jews, they made a posse n’ followed the sheriff when he went to bring ‘em in. The sheriff pulled out his gun ‘n told the preacher men they better come quiet like n’ not make any fuss. He marched ‘em right down to the jail an’ ‘e told the deputy to lock ‘em up real good. An’ ‘e done it too, no mistake.
That night the preacher men couldn’ sleep real well, so they sat up a-singin’ hymns ‘n all, keepin’ everyone else awake as well. Then, all of a sudden-like, there’s this mighty big bang out o’ nowhere, ‘n the whole place shook like a jelly. It was an earthquake. The jail wan’ built real good an’ it split in half like a Virginny pea. Even the bars in the windows ‘n all fell out. The deputy came a-runnin’ quick, ‘n when ‘e saw all this ‘e thought, “Sure as hell they’s all ‘scaped now.” He was so upset ‘e’s a gunna shoot his self right then ‘n there in the head. But Paul the preacher man called out “Don’ do nothin’. We’s all here.” The deputy lit a match an’ ‘e looked around. Sure was. They’s all there. Not a one was gone. An’ the deputy ‘e was right thankful. He says to the preacher men “What I gotta do to be saved ?” They says “Believe in the Lord Jesus n’ that’s all you gotta do.” An’ ‘e done it. An’ ‘e was. An’ ‘is wife n’ kin folks too. An’ you know, they looked after them preacher fellas real well after that. They was happy ‘cos they’d heard all ‘bout God.
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© Copyright John Steele, all rights reserved. The script may not be reproduced, translated or copied in any medium, including books, CDs and on the Internet, without written permission of the author.
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