READ through (NO AUDIO) the following narrative introduction for Book Five

(Lights up on Pleasant Grove in its darkest hour)

(Giselle is perched on the hill overlooking the town where this all started)

GISELLE:

(closing the book she’s reading…)

Well, here we are. I told you it was going to get sad.

(Glancing at the cover of the book…)

Just one stupid lie…

(...then to a sticker that says ‘New York Times Best Seller - Over 5 Million Copies Sold!’)

Told millions and millions of times.

This poor little town never knew what hit them.

We never do.

And then some of us just get stuck in these lies.

(Flashback to a woman caught up in the "news")

(Back to Seamus in the present, still stuck in his shame)

Some of us……get stuck in a lot of them.

(Giselle watches from afar)

And some of us just hear the same lies so many times …it’s easier to believe them than to pass all these years pretending that some of them…

(Pulls a pocket mirror up from her little clutch as if looking back at her old self on the streets)

(And still sees the smeared makeup and bruises on her face)

…most of them… …aren’t true.

(Puts her mirror away and closes her little clutch)

And, I get it, we don’t want to kid ourselves?

(She looks again across the way towards Seamus’ direction but now her eyes drift up towards the “G” on the mountain)

It is easier to believe those lies, than to wait around for some “knight in shining armor” to fix it all, who...

...we’re convinced, is never coming for us.

(Fade up to the gloomy town)

(Alden watches on from the “G” on the mountain)

ALDEN:

Tell me again

about the land
of living waters
‍
And how the Lord there
comes around
‍
For I’ve heard it said
so many times
by the great deceiver
‍
A place for me
there won’t be found...
‍
not in this town
‍
On the day those trumpets sound

And the drummers begin to pound
‍
Saying the Lord is coming down!

GISELLE:

(Joins in from her own kind of purgatory)

God forbade
and I partook
so long and often

That I forgot
my own name
just the same

DAVEY CAGE:

(Still behind bars)

And how it was

His as well
for so He called me

SEAMUS SONNES (the homeless vet):

But I heard not

through the pain

and all the shame

ALDEN:

But I want to hear those trumpets sound

GISELLE:

I want to feel the drummers pound

SEAMUS SONNES:

And I want to see the rushing clouds

DAVEY CAGE:

I want to fear the quaking ground

ALL THE BROKEN PEOPLE TOGETHER:

When the angels circle ‘round
the glory of the crown
‍
and call out to the ground
“Yield forth your bound!
‍
The Lord is coming down!”
Even to this side of town

ALDEN:

Well I’d heard it said a thousand times
Someday He’s going to come back down

But I never
In a million years
Believed that I was worth the pounds

Of flesh alone it must have
taken to bleed to
make my loss be found

As if the Lord Himself
Would even come to this side of town
And I could hear those fateful words

ALL THE BROKEN PEOPLE:

“Hold off those hounds”

Dear Lord, for me
Would you please come down?

(A soft light begins to glow on everyone, signifying some kind of healing and cleansing moment from above)

(Other lights fade as Alden’s soft spotlight remains)

ALDEN:

Dear Lord, for me
Would you please come down!

(Long pause as if it’s the last time he’ll try to pray like this)

Dear Lord, seriously
I could sure use you now!

(Alden begins to gradually feel a change coming)

(And, suddenly, he sees a new way, an answer to his prayer)

(Alden gains enough hope and strength to raise himself to the occasion)

ALDEN:

(Opening his eyes)

Okay! I get it now!
‍
Okay! I’ll do it!
‍
Yes! I will do this!

(SCENE CHANGE TO: Doyle alone in his sparsely finished apartment)

(Alden enters Doyle’s “space”)

ALDEN:

(Encouraging Doyle)

Private Barrett straighten up!

(Doyle looks up as if he hears Alden)

Grab the phone and pick it up

(Doyle looks at the phone)

Be the man you were before

(Doyle begins to reach for the phone)

Apologize and ask her for

(Doyle picks up the phone)

DOYLE and ALDEN:

Just one more chance

DOYLE:

Forget the phone!

ALDEN:

(Yes dad! You can do this!)

DOYLE:

It’s time for me to go back home!

ALDEN:

(Yes!)

(Doyle grabs his jacket and bags and heads off)

(Bishop is in his office at the church still surrounded by demons)

(He picks up his daily newspaper and reads the headline: Dr. Sparks exposed as a complete fraud - none of her books were true)

(Outside the church the whole town is reading the same news)

BISHOP:

What in the world? What is this?
Dr. Sparks was not a real therapist!?

She never earned a Ph.D!

BISHOP and CONGREGATION:

And all her books were totally phony!

She made them up! A total fraud!

(Picks up his copy of Jay’s Journal)

(then that means…)

EVERYONE:

we’ve all been duped by a bat-shit crazy broad!

BISHOP:

(Gasp! I just swore!)

(But it felt so good!)

(I shouldn’t swear inside the church!)

(I guess I’m going to have to go outside then!)

(The Bishop heads outside only to find what feels like the entire congregation reading the same news for themselves)

BISHOP and CONGREGATION:

(Yelling at them from the top of the church steps)

None of this was true at all

None of it! None of it!

None of it was true
and that means none of it actually is!

FAITH, HOPE, and CHARITY:

(Looking at Constance, Prudence, and Verity)

Look what we did!

CONSTANCE, PRUDENCE, and VERITY:

(Trying to defend themselves)

We thought that “Jay” was their kid!

CONGREGATION:

(Yelling at Constance, Prudence, and Verity)

Page after page of lies

We heard over parent’s cries
‍
Begging us not to believe
and yet all of us did!

BISHOP:

Did we just fall along the way!

CONGREGATION:

We should all be ashamed!

BISHOP:

Perdition holds a special place!

(Everyone turns at looks at Constance, Prudence, and Verity)

BISHOP, CONGREGATION:

If God don’t see some real change!

(Constance, Prudence, and Verity are shocked, defensive, and speechless)

BISHOP:

(Angrily at everyone...including himself)

And now what of our glorious run?
(Anyone?! Anyone?!)

(The crowd collectively looks at each other and then the ground in shame)

Doyle and Marcella what have we done?!!!

(The Bishop throws the paper at Constance, Prudence, and Verity and bursts through the crowd enroute to the Barrett’s home)

(The rest of the congregation look at Constance, Prudence, and Verity in disgust. Ashamed, they turn and follow the Bishop, tossing the newspapers at their feet as they pass)

(At the Barrett home, Marcella is carefully reading through Alden’s journal)

(Alden enters from the other side of the room and Marcella ‘senses’ him)

MARCELLA:

I wonder if he’s here
I wonder if he sees

I wonder if he’s helping
“you and…”

(Marcella catches herself as she sees Alden)

ALDEN:

Me?

(Marcella drops the journal)

Can you see?

MARCELLA:

(Nodding in disbelief)

I can see!

ALDEN:

(Stepping towards his mom)

Can you really see Me?

MARCELLA:

(Stepping towards her son)

Yes, (gasp), I can see!

ALDEN and MARCELLA:

Finally!
Just you and me!

(Alden and Marcella move in for a big embrace)

I can see!

(The gravity of this moment, the thing she’s been almost singularly focused on, shakes her deeply. Suddenly, Marcella is overwhelmed by a different kind of sadness)

(Just) you and…?

(Marcella steps back)

MARCELLA:

(Wait Alden, wait)
(It’s not “just” you and me)

(The truth is hitting her…)

Suddenly I see
The way it all must be

(Now trying to explain to Alden)

(Alden, you see…)

A long time ago not so very far away
I fell in love with the man of my dreams and it was
To BOTH of us that you came
‍
I can’t believe I’m really saying this! (out loud)
‍
I never thought I’d have to swallow this pill!
‍
But I must let you go for the sake of our home
‍
Please forgive me baby if you will but
He’s my Doyle!
‍
Yes! You’re my boy!
But I miss his eyes!

(Marcella stares off into the distance as if to remember)

I miss his big, strong hands
gripping me tight and his beautiful smile!

And I’m almost glad I didn’t
know
‍
That this would be the road I’d have to
go down one day cause

If it was all up to me
You know I’d never let you go free

(Marcella doesn’t think she can go through with it)

So how can I finally now say good bye

To my own child?!

(Alden pauses… as if to deliberate on what this will mean)

ALDEN:

Mom,

...it’s going to be alright!

(Alden’s blue light then fades and is replaced by his original color and a soft glow)

(He sees his last task is completed)

(Alden and Marcella lift their hands up as if to touch each other through a glass wall)

(Marcella and Alden slowly separate for the last time)

(A knock comes on the front door and Marcella looks to see who is there)

(When she turns back, Alden is gone)

(At the front door is the Bishop followed by the congregation, approaching Marcella’s door)

(As Marcella opens, the Bishop wastes no time)

BISHOP (w/ CONGREGATION):

Cella I’m old and ought to have lived a full life

(Stunned to see him, Marcella places her hands over her mouth)

Instead I carry a searing shame

(Marcella steps back as if she’s not sure she can trust him again)

For, years ago, I taught and believed so many lies
And turned my back on a family in pain

(Marcella remains frozen as if she’s been waiting for this moment she thought would never come)

And now I’ve learned
but I (we) fear it’s too late
‍
I hope there’s
some kind of change this close to the grave
‍
Cause if I could, I would, [We all would]
roll back the years
‍
And succor your family in their tears

(The Bishop steps inside, Marcella embraces him, and a light comes down on them)

MARCELLA:

There’s always time to begin a new life

The time to just leave the past behind
The greatest truth I learned from hard times
Is that holding on is the greatest lie

(Suddenly Doyle come bursting up to the open door)

DOYLE:

I’ve learned as well
but I fear it’s too late!

MARCELLA:

Doyle! How’d you know I’d wait for you!

DOYLE:

Forgive me for quitting you
back in those days!

MARCELLA:

I’m the one who needs forgiveness from you!

DOYLE:

If I could, I would, also,
roll back the years (forgive me please!)

MARCELLA:

I’ve wasted so many years!

DOYLE:

I’d succor our family in their tears!

MARCELLA:

I’m just so glad you’re here!

(The bishop can’t hold back anymore)

BISHOP:

Forgive me Doyle!
For the way I treated your child

And your family too!
‘Cella, please!
I have no excuse!

DOYLE and MARCELLA:

You’re forgiven all

It’s not like
He was a perfect kid
you know with his tormented soul
‍
Alden did what he did
and that’s the truth

(The bishop now instinctively calls everyone together to pray)

BISHOP, DOYLE, MARCELLA w/CONGREGATION:

Forgive us Lord
as each other we forgive
Take our pain away
before we die

(Now praying as a community for Alden)

And forgive us Lord
as we forgive our child
Take this stain away
and let him fly
to your...

(Doyle sees Alden’s journal on the floor where Marcella had dropped it)

BISHOP, DOYLE, MARCELLA w/CONGREGATION:

side...

(Doyle picks up Alden’s journal and begins reading the familiar words again to Marcella)

DOYLE:

Hello world
it’s just me

I guess the world never got to hear his story

MARCELLA:

The truth never came out
They never heard about it

DOYLE:

they never heard a sound

MARCELLA:

(No) About his magical world

across the sea
Where our baby, won the crown
and the glory

DOYLE:

You forgot to say the girl

MARCELLA:

What?

DOYLE:

Let’s not forget the girl

MARCELLA:

What about... this girl?

DOYLE:

I’ve seen that look before
Are you saying what I think?

MARCELLA:

(I’m just saying that)
Maybe this time we should write
an ending about you and me?

DOYLE:

Cella that’s crazy

(Marcella longingly looks up at him)

MARCELLA:

Please call me baby

DOYLE:

okay, "baby"

(Taking each other by the hands)

MARCELLA and DOYLE:

Eternity and then...

“Baby…”
‍
Baby we just gotta write this down!

(The writing will have to wait...they start leaning in for a kiss)

Ohhh…Ahhhhh…

(Bishop, who is a bit awkwardly still standing nearby, senses the significance of what might be happening before his eyes, and pops up right in between them)

BISHOP:

Did I hear just what I heard?

DOYLE and MARCELLA:

We know it sounds absurd!

BISHOP:

No...you’ve said those words before

DOYLE and MARCELLA:

(Singing their familiar old marriage vows)

Ohhh… Ahhhhh…

BISHOP:

Doyle?

DOYLE:

I do!

BISHOP:

And ‘Cella?

MARCELLA:

(gulp)

I do too!

DOYLE and MARCELLA::

Ohhh… Ahhhh… “I really, really, really do!”

BISHOP:

Then by the power still in me

(Wait! What about the ring?!)

MARCELLA:

(Pulls her necklace out that’s still holding her old ring)

Well, just in case,
I held on to this cheap little
thing you once gave to me

(The bishop is overjoyed and a little shocked that after all these tumultuous years his promises to them and their promises to each other really are going to come true)

BISHOP:

It’s “forever”!?!?

(Doyle slides the ring back on just as the Bishop asks for them to take their vows one last time)

(Pauses as they go in for the kiss...and...)

(A flood of all the “good” memories come rushing back)

(...maybe the little ring wasn’t so ‘cheap’ after all…)

(As the guitar starts coming in, Doyle and Marcella emerge from their walk down memory lane but remain locked in their kiss)

(A soft warm light slowly re-appears)

(The bishop instinctively rises and calls everyone together for one last sermon)

BISHOP:

Together we sing
The lost they are found
And the bells they all ring
We’re no longer bound
‍
Together we sing
The lost they are found
And the bells they all ring
We’re no longer bound

EVERYONE ELSE:

(People join in)

Together we sing
The lost they are found
And the bells they all ring
We’re no longer bound

(The clouds begin to break)

(Rays of sunlight start spreading over the mountains)

(Trumpets are heard from over the hills)

(Then THUNDERING DRUMS rock the entire valley)

UNSEEN ENSEMBLE OF ANGELS:

Rise from your bed!
Come to the door!
Lift up your heads!
Smile once more!

(The authoritarian MPS flags all fall from the church and are devoured by some kind of fire and wind)

(The entire town is bathed in a beautiful light of rebirth)

(...and an unseen angelic choir from the great beyond)

UNSEEN ENSEMBLE OF ANGELS:

Now all angels sing,
Commanding the ground,
In the name of the King,
Yield forth your bound!

(The jail breaks open…)

(...and Davey Cage emerges, alongside Kem Lewis and Johnny Lundgren…)

(... and all the other ‘hippies, whores, and junkies’)

(Seamus Sonnes throws his beer bottle away…)

(...then removes his hat to feel the sun, and steps out from the alley behind the bar)

(The entire “poor” side of town beyond the railroad tracks erupts in a huge celebration with dancing)

(Doyle, Marcella, remain locked in their kiss…)

(...all the way to their home on Maple Lane…)

(...with their remaining kids and their loving neighbors - “cookies, jam, and homemade bread!”)

********

( Then… )

[Rising up above Maple Lane]

(...somewhere up towards the clouds beyond the mountains the silhouette of a knight can be seen riding towards a castle…)

(...and in the most cliche’ of all storybook endings, it appears that the knight scoops up his ‘Fair Maiden in Waiting’ (whose silhouette strangely resembles that of Giselle...)

(…and rides away…)

(…as the hero)

THE END