The Rapture Page #5

SHARON:

Hold for the number. Hi. Who's this?

... Hi, Susanna, this is Sharon.

Have you met Jesus? ... Well, I'm

sure you're in a hurry, but don't

you think you could take time out

to get to know your Lord and Savior?

... well okay, well, you have a good

day too. What was the number you

wanted? Here you go ...

(Pause.)

Hi, this is Sharon. Who's this? Hi,

Maria. Have you met God? You have?

Isn't He wonderful?

She looks up and sees HENRY, her supervisor.

Cut to:

INTERIOR:
TELEPHONE COMPANY. HENRY'S OFFICE. DAY.

The door is closed.

HENRY:

You're supposed to spend a maximum

of fifteen seconds on each call. Do

you know what your average has been?

SHARON:

No.

HENRY:

Take a guess.

SHARON:

Twenty seconds? Twenty-five?

HENRY:

Two minutes. You were clocked on one

call at seven minutes fifteen.

SHARON:

I am just trying to do my job.

HENRY:

It seems like you're trying to do

two jobs.

SHARON:

(a little defiantly)

We only have one job.

HENRY:

That's right. And you're not doing

the one you're being paid for.

SHARON:

Henry, God made me an information

operator for a reason. I'm in a

position to spread His word to

hundreds of people every day,

personally. One-to-one.

HENRY:

God.

SHARON:

I know you can't believe this, but

God is coming back to judge the

world. And it's important, I have to

tell people. We have to prepare for

His return.

HENRY takes his time before speaking.

HENRY:

When did you first see the light?

SHARON:

A few days ago.

HENRY:

(neutral)

Mmm-hmm.

SHARON:

You don't believe me.

HENRY:

Sometimes people have heard about

the Pearl and they try to pretend

like they've seen it, but you can

always tell when they're lying. You

just can't fake it.

SHARON:

You?

SHARON puts her hand on her heart.

HENRY:

When they first meet Him, everyone

thinks that Judgement Day is just

around the corner. I remember that

feeling very well; it's a powerful

feeling. But ... that sense that

it's going to happen tomorrow

passes when tomorrow comes and He

doesn't. And then you understand

that those feelings, as powerful as

they are, and the dreams, as real as

they are, are still just shadows of

the real thing, and no one can say

how far away that real thing really

is.

SHARON:

The feeling is so strong.

HENRY studies her.

HENRY:

I don't know you, but I know you. A

lot of people who have come to God

are broken. They've been messed up

by life. The unbelievers try to make

it seem like there's something wrong

with us, that we're stupid, but only

the humble hear the voice of God.

You're alone, aren't you?

SHARON:

(tears forming)

Yes.

HENRY:

It's hard at the beginning. You give

up your old life, and it's like

you've come to a new country. Your

old friends can not really be your

friends anymore.

SHARON:

What do I do?

HENRY:

Trust in God, and take it easy on

the phones.

SHARON smiles.

SHARON:

Who's The Boy?

He looks at her.

Cut to:

INTERIOR:
CHURCH. DAY.

A small, spare room. No pews, only a circle of folding

chairs. Perhaps twenty people are there. We're watching

HENRY and his son, THE BOY, about ten years old. He never

speaks out loud; he whispers behind a cupped hand into his

father's ear.

On SHARON, across from them, watching.

On THE BOY:
he cups a hand and speaks to HENRY. HENRY

addresses the room.

HENRY:

God is coming back. There are wars

and rumors of wars, and a curse

devours the Earth, and those who

live in it are held guilty.

THE BOY again whispers to his father.

HENRY:

We have to wait.

An OLDER WOMAN in the circle.

SHARON:

For how long?

THE BOY whispers to his father.

HENRY:

Probably a few years. Five years,

six years.

The people in the room hug each other. SHARON gives herself

to the hugs and gives hugs. Love without sex.

Dissolve to:

INTERIOR:
RANDY'S WORKPLACE.

RANDY sprays coating on a metal gate. SHARON arrives.

SHARON:

Hi, Randy.

RANDY:

(pretends to struggle

to remember her name)

Ohh, uhh, Sharon. Sharon. How's that

apartment coming? Is it still

unclean?

SHARON:

No.

RANDY:

So you found your salvation.

Congratulations.

SHARON:

I found God.

RANDY:

Oh yeah? Is he going to move in, or

did he keep his own place, or are

you going to do that commuting

thing? You've got to watch that;

it's very tough on a relationship.

Why are you here?

They walk into an adjoining woodshop.

SHARON:

I know you are as lost as I was,

Randy, and I wanted to tell you that

you could know God. If you just

surrender your pride, you can know

God.

RANDY:

Sharon, it's just a drug. Instead of

doing heroin, you're doing God, and

I need sandpaper.

SHARON:

Randy, God is real. God is not make-

believe, and you know that. You

don't want to admit that, because

you're afraid.

RANDY:

What am I afraid of?

SHARON:

What we are all afraid of: God's

judgement.

RANDY:

No. I'm not.

SHARON:

I don't want to lose you.

RANDY:

You just want to save my soul.

SHARON:

At least you know you have one.

RANDY:

I don't want to tell my secrets in

church.

SHARON:

I'll pray for both of us.

RANDY:

You'd stay with me even if I didn't

pray?

SHARON kisses RANDY. They hug.

TITLE SUPERIMPOSED: SIX YEARS LATER

INTERIOR:
CHURCH. NIGHT.

There are more people in the room now. THE BOY is older now;

and although HENRY is beside him, he speaks directly.

THE BOY:

So far, we're still in the realm of

signs and wonders ... But the Rapture

is coming. It says so in the Bible.

Our bodies will be transformed into

spirit. And then we will be caught

up in a cloud to meet God. The end

is coming soon ... This year ...

RANDY takes SHARON'S hand.

Cut to:

INTERIOR:
SHARON AND RANDY'S TOWN HOUSE. BEDROOM. NIGHT.

The bedroom is now filled with Christian icons. SHARON and

RANDY wake up together, shaken by the same image.

RANDY:

Ever since I was a kid, I've had the

feeling that something was going to

happen to me. I always knew that

when it happened, I would recognize

it, and that I wouldn't mistake it

for something else. I wouldn't have

something happen to me and I would

say, this is it! and then later on

say, no, that wasn't it. It was a

secret feeling, and I never told

anybody about it.

SHARON:

And what's the feeling now?

RANDY:

Something's going to happen.

INTERIOR:
RANDY AND SHARON'S KITCHEN. DAY.

SHARON and her daughter, MARY, six years old, sit at the

kitchen table.

MARY:

Where's Heaven?

SHARON:

It's in the sky.

MARY:

Why can't we see it?

SHARON:

You will.

MARY:

But why can't we see it now?

SHARON:

Mary? Do you love Baby Jesus?

MARY:

Yes.

SHARON:

Then you'll see him really soon.

Slowly dissolve to:

EXTERIOR:
SWIMMING POOL. DAY.

We move through the water, and the change from the light is

easy, gradual. The water is ethereal; we don't even know

this is a pool yet; it could be a body of heavenly water.

The calm surface of the pool explodes as a six-year-old-

girl, MARY, bursts to the surface. SHARON moves through the

water. Her friend PAULA floats on a raft.

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