THE MEADOWS (Andrew, Sloan)

Andrew:	(with quilt) OK, William.  This is where you're going to live.

Sloan:	Andrew!  Stop.  Give that to me.

Andrew:	No, Dad.

Sloan:	Please.  You shouldn't have to do this alone...
	What do we do?

Andrew:	We spread it out on the ground.  It's called a signature panel.

Sloan:	(unfolding the quilt)  A kite.

Andrew:	Yeah.  William loved kites - even though for a long time he 
	couldn't even look at them.  He was -  you know - funny like that.

Sloan:	Did he tell you about the dragon kite?

Andrew:	Dragon kite?  No.

Sloan:	In Tokyo, I went into a shop where I saw the most magnificent
	kite I'd ever seen ... a dragon with fierce, blazing eyes and I 
	thought 'That's for my William.'  All the way home, I sat with that
	kite in my lap thinking about him and how that kite would make 
	his eyes blaze ... and he'd be strong like that dragon.  

Andrew:	I do remember you bringing that kite home, Dad.  I do.  I guess
	William must have been about eight.

Sloan:	The weather was grey and raw and William had the sniffles.  But 
	there was a wind up and I was determined he was going to fly that 
	kite.  Over your mother's protests, I marched him down to 
	Tidewater Park and said 'Let 'er rip.'  I was so fascinated by the
	prospect of watching my son mastering the wind, on his way to 
	mastering the world.  I didn't pay attention to him when he was
	telling me it was too cold and he didn't want to do it.  I said,
	'Stop whining!  Stop whining, be a man!'  Well, William fell down
	crying and the kite wound up in the branches - a total wreck.
	And I looked at that shredded wreck and I looked at my son and I 
	said, 'Is this a Carpenter?  This is a disgrace!' and I raised my
	hand and I slapped him and I called him a sissy and I dragged him
	off and slapped him again.  Oh, I knew it was wrong.  But I wouldn't
	apologize.  Too proud.  I pretended it didn't happen.  (Breaks down
	in tears)  But you couldn't pretend, could you William?  He just
	looked at me with those grey eyes and I saw a veil come over him.
	Over the years, it became a shield and then a wall.  I lost you.
	I lost you because I couldn't tell you I was sorry.  I am sorry,
	I am sorry!  Oh, my beautiful boy, my precious son, I miss you so.

Andrew:	Don't you think you can forgive yourself?  Don't you?

Sloan:	When I was in Korea, your mother sent me a picture of William
	asleep in his crib.  A few hours later, we were hit hard - a mortar
	attack.  It was horrible and afterwards I came across a young
	marine.  He was just a boy, just been killed ... and they put a 
	tarp over him.  One of his hands was sticking up and it was curled
	up just like William's in the photograph.  Well, in that instant I
	knew the horror of loss and the feeling of my insides just turning
	to water and flowing out of me.  Flowing out - unstoppable.
	And I vowed to never feel that again.  So I became strong,
	disciplined, distant.  It just seemed better to be rigid than have
	to touch the terrible fragility of this life.

Andrew:	And now?

Sloan:	Now ... Now, I have to touch it ... in what time I have left, if I'm
	to live it at all.

Andrew:	You are still the bravest man I know.  I love you, Dad.

Sloan:	I love you, son.  I love you.

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		THERE WILL COME A TIME
				Words by Cynthia Weil
				Music by Lee Holdridge
				Sung by Robert Ingram

	There will come a time
	When the darkness will give way to light
	There will come a time
	When our spirits and souls will unite
	And that moment will come to be
	When we find our humanity
	And we see one another
	As brothers.

	There will come a time
	When you see yourself in my eyes
	There will come a time
	When I hear my pain in your cries
	And if we can see through our tears
	And if we can break through our fears
	When we all come together we'll know
	Love is why we're here.

	So reach out and take my hand
	Believe with me if you can.

	There will come a time
	When our difference won't keep us apart
	There will come a time
	When our lives will be joined at the heart
	And if I give my strength to you
	And if your faith can see me through
	Then I know for every mountain we must climb
	There will come a time.

				- Contributed by Marg Harris

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