Christmas Musicals for Church
Issue link: https://read.jwpepper.com/i/519438
KYLE: (firmly) No. (softening a bit) Another time. I've got a lot of un- packing to do… sleep to catch up on… you understand… CAPT. WILCOX: (smiling) I understand. If you change your mind, we'll be in the mess hall around 2100 hours. Good night, Kyle. (CAPT. WILCOX starts to exit.) KYLE: Captain? CAPT. WILCOX: (turning back) Yes? KYLE: (pointing at the trunk) Someone's forgotten their trunk. This isn't mine. CAPT. WILCOX: No. It belonged to Major Robert James… sorry, Rev. Major James. He was chaplain here for almost 40 years; just retired last October. I understand he left the trunk for you. KYLE: For me? I've never met him. CAPT. WILCOX: I know. His instructions were to pass it on to the new chaplain. KYLE: Huh. (moving to the trunk) So what's in it? Manuals? Rations? That kind of thing? CAPT. WILCOX: I don't know. Guess you'll need to find out. (exiting) Have a merry Christmas, Lieutenant. KYLE: The same to you, Captain. (CAPT. WILCOX exits. KYLE stares at the trunk, then moves to sit beside it.) KYLE: (to himself) I'd have a merry Christmas if I could find a remnant of it around here. (opens the trunk) Well, let's see what I've inher- ited. (He pulls out a few old, dog-eared books.) What did I expect from a chaplain? Forty years of collected books, papers and dust. Probably commentaries on Leviticus and church bulletins from 1983. (He pulls out one book and looks at it curiously; several worn papers are stuck in the middle.) What's this? (opening the book) The Story of My Life by… Helen Keller? (pause, looking up) Helen Keller? (A light comes up on the figure of HELEN KELLER, writing at a desk.) I didn't even know she wrote anything… I mean, blind and deaf practically her whole life. (opens the papers in the book) What's 116 For Preview Only