THE FRUIT OF THE SPIRIT
GOES WEST
The Mysterious Stranger
By Bob Allen
“The fruit of the
Spirit is…goodness.” (Galatians 5:22)
Rocky Rodes – A true-blue, rootin’-tootin’
Western cowboy.
Herod
the Kid -
A rogue sheriff.
Captain
Bentnail - A
riverboat pilot.
The Mysterious
Stranger - A mysterious
stranger.
SCENE
The
main street of a western cattle town.
Herod and the Captain stand at one end of the street, ready for a
gunfight, just as Rocky comes out of a storefront.
HEROD: Hold
it right there, Rodes. Got’ya covered.
ROCKY: What
kin I do for you, sheriff?
HEROD: Like
I said, hold it right there.
CAPTAIN: And go
for your gun. (PUSHES HEROD TOWARD
ROCKY A STEP.)
ROCKY: I
ain’t got no quarrel with neither of you.
CAPTAIN: Well,
we got one with you, you low-down, dirty rotten scoundrel. (DANCES
AROUND THE SHERIFF AND TRIES TO MOVE HIM TOWARD
ROCKY AGAIN.)
HEROD: Them’s
fightin’ words, Rodes. Now fight.
ROCKY: Them’s
just words, Sheriff. What does your
friend here think I’ve done
to him?
CAPTAIN: You
been stealing the mail.
HEROD: He
has? I thought he was deliverin’ the
mail.
CAPTAIN: He is
deliverin’ the mail. But I should be
deliverin’ the mail. By riverboat.
ROCKY: Why
should people wait a week to get their mail by boat when my men can deliver
it in two days on horseback?
CAPTAIN: See
there. A confession. He’s been stealing my business. (PUSHES THE
SHERIFF TOWARD ROCKY AGAIN.)
HEROD: You
been stealing his business. Get your
hands up.
CAPTAIN: Not on
your life. Go for your gun. We need to plug him. Frontier justice. Fastest man to the draw.
HEROD: I
can’t draw first. Wouldn’t be sportin’.
CAPTAIN: Draw
at the same time, then. When I count
three. One.
(AS
HEROD AND THE CAPTAIN PREPARE FOR A FAST DRAW GUNFIGHT, THE MYSTERIOUS STRANGER
APPEARS AND STEPS IN FRONT OF ROCKY.)
HEROD: Hey
there, stranger. Get out of the
way. You’re interferin’ with the law.
CAPTAIN: Right. We done this all legal-like. Condemned him on his own confession.
STRANGER: If
your’re goin’ to shoot. You’ll have to
shoot me.
HEROD: But
you ain’t done nothing wrong. That scamp
behind you is the thief.
(HEROD TRIES TO FIND A NEW POSITION WHERE HE CAN
DRAW A BEAD ON ROCKY, BUT THE STRANGER STAYS BETWEEN
THEM.)
CAPTAIN: Ah, go
ahead and plug him. Two!
ROCKY: (TRYING
TO MOVE FROM BEHIND THE STRANGER). I
can’t let you do
this. It’s not right. What are you trying to do?
STRANGER: I’m
protecting a friend.
ROCKY: But
I don’t even know you.
STRANGER: You
will. In fact, you’ll never be able to
forget me.
CAPTAIN: Come
on, Sheriff. Go for your gun.
HEROD: Not
on your life. I can’t shoot an innocent
man.
CAPTAIN: Well,
I can. Three! (CAPTAIN GOES FOR HIS REVOLVER AND SHOOTS THE MYSTERIOUS
STRANGER, WHO FALLS IN THE ROAD.
ROCKY KNEELS BESIDE HIM.)
HEROD: I
wish I had a friend like that.
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