CHARACTERS:

ZEKE: high school outcast, lead singer and songwriter for a band.
JAKE: an unpopular gay student, who has just been "outed" by his classmates.
WENDY: the high school Bible-study leader.

SETTING: A garage has been converted into ZEKE'S bedroom–bed, dresser, a table by the bed, a chair, a keyboard, a microphone, posters of alternative rock bands and movies, a dart board on the wall, a phone, a lava lamp.

AT RISE: Evening. SOUND: Bizarre, spacey music coming from the stereo. ZEKE is painting a poster for his band. He is a scrawny high school kid, and by his appearance, one can tell he is definitely an outsider who embraces his eccentricity.

(SOUND: the phone rings. ZEKE allows it to ring about four times before putting down his brush. He casually turns off the music and picks up the phone.)

ZEKE: Zeke here...Oh, hi Jake. How are you? Sure you've had better days. I've w ritten that song you requested, but...The point of view may be a bit off, since I'm not gay. You feel like coming over? Okay. I'll see you soon.

(ZEKE hangs up. He picks up his microphone, turns on the amplifier, and picks up a sheet of paper with scrawled lyrics written on it. He actually performs this number extemporaneously.)

ZEKE: Who the fuck are you
To tell me what to do?
I'll kiss a man in public and I'll say I love him too
You can punch me in the face
And say I'm outta place
And I'll say I have a bigger better heart than you.

You say I am dirty
You look for things filthy
You scream and holler, never bother
To get to know me
Well let me tell you this
I'm really gettin' pissed
If you stop calling me names
You'll realize we're the same.

Everybody lusts
And everybody busts
Out of the prison of conformist regulation
Once in a while
And if they smile
It must mean they've not
Gotten caught

Everybody aches
And everybody breaks
All kinds of rules and they feel like a fool
And they feel really bad
Maybe even mad
But then they do it again
Living in sin

I like it up the ass
I realize you will pass
But that don't mean I have
Being a lower class
I feel like breaking glass
I like to roll in grass
I like to be inside a man
For orgasms that last.

(SOUND: a KNOCK on the door. ZEKE turns off the amplifier, puts down the mike and paper, and gets the door. WENDY is standing there. She is an attractive girl who dresses stylish, but conservative. She is both friendly and charismatic. She caries a Bible under her arm.)

ZEKE (Surprised): Wendy.

WENDY: Hi Zeke. I hope you don't mind me dropping by. I just wanted to talk to you for a few minutes if it's okay.

(ZEKE motions for WENDY to come in.)

WENDY: I know we're not exactly best buds, so I won't take up too much of your time.

ZEKE: Don't worry about that. But you should know, Jake Nelson's on his way over...

WENDY (Caught off guard): Oh...I didn't know you two were friends.

ZEKE: I don't know that we are either. But he wanted me to write a song for him, so... Do you want any coffee or anything?

WENDY: No thanks.

ZEKE (Sensing her uneasiness): This doesn't mean you have to leave.

WENDY: Do you think he might feel threatened by me?

ZEKE: Not if you don't preach at him. But that can't be what you came here to talk about.

WENDY: No. When we met at that Bible study a week ago, you said you were interested in learning more. Have you thought about coming to church with me?

ZEKE: Yeah, look...I probably gave you the wrong idea. I seem to recall being sort of depressed that day, looking for a pick-me-up. You guys were there. But I wish you hadn't been because now you feel some kind of great burden for my soul. And I'm afraid you're wasting your time and energy. You don't mind if I work on my poster while we talk? We're having a concert next Friday during lunch.

(ZEKE begins to make finishing touches on the band's promotional poster.)

ZEKE: I'm sorry. That's just how I feel. I join your little group and pretty soon they're going to tell me they don't like how I live, especially my music which is essentially my life. They're going to start telling me what to do. And how can I possibly know if it's God or their ego talking? I don't want to go soul searching. I don't want to struggle with Heaven's entrance exam. It's impossible to pass. You know why?

WENDY: Why?

ZEKE: Because I would feel like I was giving myself over to slavery.

WENDY: Come to church with me on Sunday. Give it a chance, just once. There's a guest speaker. It's quite a story. He used to be...

(SOUND: KNOCKING.)

ZEKE: Used to be what?

WENDY (Awkwardly): He used to be a homosexual.

(ZEKE gives Wendy a look of reproach, then gets the door. JAKE stand there, surprised at seeing Wendy. Jake is attractive, but he has no self esteem. His posture is less than wonderful. His attire is very minimal--jeans and a plain colored T-shirt, sweat jacket, Keds. His hair may be slightly messed up, and he may have a five o'clock shadow.)

JAKE (Coming in): Hi...you two.

WENDY: You know what? I can come back another time.

JAKE: Oh you don't have to do that...I guess you both know. Well, I told Zeke before, that's how this mess got started.

ZEKE: Yeah, stay away from me, you flamin' queer.

JAKE: You invited me over.

ZEKE: I'm kidding.

JAKE (Changing the subject): Hey, cool poster.

ZEKE: Thank you. Our concert's next Friday.

JAKE: I'll have to be sure to catch that.

WENDY (to Jake): I think I can understand why you might not want me to know.

JAKE (Awkward laugh): Well, actually, perhaps we should talk. Maybe it'll help deal with my feelings, get a well-rounded perspective.

WENDY: That sounds like a plan.

ZEKE: Sounds like a recipe for disaster, but what do I know?

(WENDY begins to look up verses in her Bible. SOUND: the phone rings. ZEKE answers.)

ZEKE: Hello? Scott? Oh hi. Yeah, he's here, just...What? I thought you two were friends. Yes he talked to me about it...No, I'm not...I don't think he'll want to speak to you after what you just...Oh, fuck off.

WENDY: Of course this would have to happen.

ZEKE: I'm going to step out a minute. You want anything to drink?

WENDY: Whatever.

JAKE: Yeah.

ZEKE: At least you didn't say beer. There's only one left, and that's mine.

(ZEKE exits.)

WENDY: I've got to start praying for him more. (Pause) You were great in Fiddler On The Roof.

JAKE: Thanks. I'm glad I had the chance to be in at least one show before I graduated.

WENDY: Are you going to continue acting in college?

JAKE: Yeah, I think so. I've just finished writing a play, actually.

WENDY: Oh? What's it about?

JAKE: Oh, probably nothing you'd like.

(JAKE, wanting to change the subject, notices that WENDY has opened her Bible to a highlighted passage.)

JAKE: So what do you got there?

WENDY (Awkwardly) Oh...Let me see... I Corinthians 6:9-10. "Do you not know that the wicked will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God."

(JAKE just looks at Wendy for a long moment, part anger, part confusion. ZEKE enters with a plate of brownies and drinks.)

ZEKE: I'm back. Rejoice.

JAKE (Ignoring Zeke): There must be a lot of empty space in the kingdom of God if there's no place in it for so many people.

ZEKE: I've missed something, haven't I?

WENDY: It was talking about people who make a lifestyle out of such things, not everyone who makes a few mistakes. If you repent, you can have a place in the kingdom of God.

JAKE: Repent from what? I haven't done anything.

ZEKE: Maybe he doesn't want a place in the kingdom of God.

(WENDY gives ZEKE the evil eye.)

ZEKE: What's that group you're in at school that's just for "A" students and has all these special academic opportunities?

WENDY: TAG. Talented And Gifted.

(ZEKE starts to hand out some drinks and brownies.)

ZEKE: That's right. Well, I have no place in TAG or the Honor Society; being emotionally disturbed fucked up my grades, kept me out of that. I have no place on the athletic field, not that I'd want to. Jake wouldn't have a place in the military. Or any job where his boss has the same moral standards as you. We're both freaks. Why should either of us have a place in heaven? Doesn't it go against the nature of things?

JAKE: What you must think of me after reading that...What the hell do you think I am, anyway?

ZEKE: I think she thinks you're gay.

JAKE: But how does she know that, save for the bitches that overheard us talking and told everyone in the fuckin' school? Do I cross-dress? Do I dance naked on floats?

ZEKE: How do we know you don't?

JAKE: You have this image of what you think I'm like when you really don't know shit.

ZEKE: You're so expressive all the sudden. I didn't know you could talk like this.

WENDY: I wasn't accusing you--

JAKE: Weren't you?

WENDY: No.

JAKE (In a low voice): I've never had sex, alright? But I know who I am. I know what I want.

WENDY (Disgusted): But why? How could you possibly want to...you know...

ZEKE (Trying to be helpful): ...Fuck a guy's ass?

JAKE: Oh Jesus Christ. What does it matter what hole you go into? It's not the orifice you're attracted to. If women didn't have vaginas, you don't think men would fuck ‘em up the ass?

WENDY: That's sick! I think it's the sickest thing I've ever heard of!

(JAKE throws Wendy's pop in her face. WENDY can only stand there in shock for a long moment.)

JAKE (Surprised at himself): Oh...Sorry. It was just something you said.

(JAKE sits on the bed. WENDY gets up to leaves, but stops to watch what ZEKE does with JAKE.)

ZEKE: Okay Jake. Maybe it isn't sick. But there are sick people. Maybe you're smart and safe, but what if you meet some asshole who's not smart, who's stronger than you. He'll get you in bed...

(ZEKE moves towards and on top of JAKE.)

ZEKE: He'll fuck your ass whether you want him to or not. He'll inflict pain.

(ZEKE pinches JAKE's ears while JAKE struggles.)

ZEKE: He'll then proceed to piss on you and shit on you and cram his fuckin' fist up your ass, and once he's got his fist out of your ass, he'll lick your ass, make you lick his. Maybe he likes the taste of shit.

(ZEKE shoves a brownie into JAKE's mouth.)

JAKE: Get the hell off me! ZEKE: That's what you'll say, but he won't listen.

(ZEKE gets off, and JAKE gets up to leave.)

JAKE: Goddamn motherfuckin'...You think you know a person.

ZEKE: Nobody knows anybody...You started this, by the way. Sit the fuck down.

(JAKE stands, undecided for a long moment. Then he relents and sits down.)

ZEKE: I'm sorry. Misguided concern.

JAKE: You're just talking about sex. Sex and love are two different things.

WENDY: Are you sure about that?

JAKE: Jesus!

WENDY: Why do people have so much hatred for God that they have to go around mocking His name?

JAKE: Do you really have to ask?

WENDY: Yes. As a matter of fact. Some of this "music" you like is so hateful and anti-Christian; don't they know how hypocritical that is? Screaming from alienation while alienating someone else.

JAKE: You want to talk about alienation? How about these oppressive ballot measures that pop up every other year with their nasty accusations. They claim, "Homosexuals want to impose their behavior on others." They judge a whole group of people they don't even know. That's called bigotry. What the fuck do they think they're doing? Imposing their fanatical views on everyone. Some paranoid Christian idiots thought they should be afraid of all the queers, cos we're so evil, and they have to protect their children from the lepers. (A beat) Fuck their children! They can go to hell. What about me? Protect me from prejudice and isolation. But that doesn't matter to them. I have hate too, and it's all in Jesus' name.

(SOUND: the phone rings. ZEKE answers.)

ZEKE: Hello. What the hell are you doing? No, you can't speak to him, I already told you, so why don't you just hang up the fuckin' phone and give Rover some more head. I can hear him panting in the background.

(ZEKE hangs up.)

ZEKE: Anyway...Where were we? Oh yeah. Religion shouldn't be used as an excuse for cruelty to others. That's turning a good idea into something bad.

WENDY: A good idea?

ZEKE: When a person gives of himself on behalf of others, that's like Jesus. Meals on Wheels...The Cascade AIDS Project...public television. There's a bit of Christ everywhere. Like me, I suppose. I listen to people's problems and write songs about them, so they know there's someone out there to empathize. In that sense, I'm a social savior, a Christ, if you will.

WENDY: I won't.

(WENDY gets up to leave. ZEKE gets up to stop her.)

ZEKE: Hey I'm sorry. Now I've offended both of you. You two have gotta get me back pretty soon here. Come on, sit back down. We're just trying to figure things out.

WENDY: Figure what out? The answers are all there. It's an open-book test.

JAKE: Open book, closed mind.

WENDY: Oh, okay. Closed mind, cold heart. Fear and ignorance. Prejudice. Homophobia. You don't understand where I'm coming from. I would like you to understand me before you dismiss me as a religiously fanatical bigot.

JAKE: Why does it matter what I think of you? So you can reach me at some time later? (Pause.) I'm sorry. I've heard the story, how Christ died to save everybody. I guess I'm grateful for that, if it's true. I mean, that's a lot of love to go through what he supposedly went through. But...There are some things that don't make sense.

WENDY: Such as?

JAKE: Well, Christ was sin free, right?

WENDY: Right.

JAKE: But he was God, right?

WENDY: Right. Still is.

JAKE: Even when he was human, he was God.

WENDY: Uh huh.

JAKE: He worked miracles, he raised people from the dead.

WENDY: Your point?

JAKE: If I was God, I would probably have the ability to be sin-free too. Don't you think? He asks an awful lot, doesn't he?

WENDY: I don't think so. The Bible says you're saved not by works, but by grace.

JAKE: But being celibate...Denying yourself passion and love. That's quite a work.

WENDY: The idea isn't that you have to do nothing. You have to make some kind of commitment, some sacrifice

JAKE: Some of us sacrifice more than others, huh?

WENDY: God can help you if you ask.

JAKE (Kneeling): Lord, let me be gay, okay? Let it be alright. Or just heal me now, make me straight. So there's no struggle, no second thoughts. Will he grant me that?

WENDY: You have to ask the right things. A humble heart. A willingness to accept God's will for your life.

JAKE: Sounds like Hell on Earth.

WENDY: You don't want to talk about hell.

JAKE: I've tried to imagine what hell would be like.

WENDY: You don't want to go there. And I sure don't want you to. Neither does God.

JAKE: Then how could he be so willing to send me there?

WENDY: We're all given a choice. We weren't put on this Earth to sit around, doing whatever we feel like. We were made to have fellowship with Him. But He gave us choice, free will.

JAKE: Why?

WENDY: Because He loves us--

ZEKE: He loves us so...he lets us sin if we want to, so that we can go to hell.

WENDY: It's not his will that any should parish.

ZEKE: But...he'll let them anyway. Definitely a different view of love.

WENDY: Do you know where hell is, Zeke? It's the earth's core. Many thousands of degrees. No sight, I would imagine. No light, just the sound of screaming. No love. No good thing, no good feeling. That's why you can't rely on feelings in this world.

JAKE: I once believed in heaven and hell. When I realized I was gay and could do nothing about it, didn't want to do anything about it, I started to grieve for myself. I went through all the stages. First denial. No, I'm not going to hell; I'm a good person. Then anger. Why do I have to go to hell for loving when this bigot who hates me is bragging about how he's going to heaven? Then bargaining. Lord, if I be good in everything else, let the sex I'm going to have slide. Then finally acceptance.

WENDY: Do you know that when people get to heaven, God makes them forget their loved ones who were lost? But you wouldn't forget them. How can you accept that?

JAKE: Makes Greek mythology look like fuckin' fairy tales. (Pause.) I just want to love. How can God send a person to hell for loving someone?

ZEKE: Damn! You people are so deep. We need to lighten things up around here. I have an idea. I got this new Coil CD yesterday and I haven't listened to it yet. Whenever I put on a Coil CD, I don't like to just listen to it. I like to sort of let my imagination run away with me, and I come up with these story ideas. When I have friends over, we act out the stories.

WENDY: Aren't you a little old to play pretend?

ZEKE: No.

WENDY: I can't act.

ZEKE: It's not that hard. .Imagine--three animals: a lion, a lamb, and a snake, all going around minding their own business, looking for food, and then... their paths cross unexpectedly.

WENDY: What are we supposed to do?

ZEKE: I'm the lion, Jake is the snake. You're the innocent lamb. And when the music begins, it becomes the soundtrack for our story, whatever happens. Who knows, maybe–to quote the Bible–the lion will sleep with the lamb...

WENDY: In your dreams.

ZEKE: Who will win the kingdom?

WENDY: You're really strange, you know that?

(ZEKE goes to the stereo and turns on the Coil CD. SOUND: eerie, bizarre music, or noise. The lights fade to a red strobe. In a moment, ZEKE starts to crawl around the room like a lion. Shortly after, JAKE follows suit, slithering like a snake. WENDY eventually joins in. They charge at each other in their individual ways. The lion and the snake go after the lamb. Then the lion falls asleep next to the lamb, and the lamb falls still. The snake looks on for awhile, and when his guard is dropped, both the lion and the lamb charge at the snake. The snake snaps at the lamb, hurting her. The lamb is put off for a moment. Then the lamb starts to charge on the snake with the lion looking on.)

WENDY (Quoting the Bible): Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked or stand in the way of sinners or sit in the seat of mockers.

(WENDY attacks JAKE, pinning him down on the floor.)

WENDY: Not so the wicked! They are like chaff that the wind blows away.

(JAKE angrily pushes his way out from under WENDY and stands up while the other two just look at him.)

JAKE: Enough.

WENDY: What? Can't handle being beaten by a girl? A little bit of stereotypical heterosexual male ego threatened here?

JAKE: Shut the fuck up.

(ZEKE turns off the CD.)

ZEKE: You're right, Jake. That's enough.

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