The Lord's Work

For complete short please contact Antonio "Tone" Stone to discuss confidentiality agreement.

INT. HOSPITAL MATERNITY WARD – NIGHT

Quiet. Dimly lit. Minimal number of staff on duty. Babies and mothers mostly resting. The LORD and The DEVIL are walking side by side throughout the facility, unnoticed. The two of them are both clean, dressed stylishly, groomed neatly, and respectfully mannered. They are scouting the newborn babies.

INT. DELIVERY ROOM - NIGHT

They enter a room where the MOTHER is sound asleep. The CHILD, a boy, is wide awake, and gazing crazily at the ceiling.

The Devil walks straight over to observe the baby.

The Lord takes a moment to inspect the sleeping mother.

THE DEVIL

(grinning)

I believe I’m going to enjoy this

one. Already he is curious and

restless – so anxious to do something.

The Devil turns to The Lord.

The DEVIL

Should I have first go?

The Lord backs away from the woman and turns to look at The Devil, disappointedly.

THE LORD

It’s as if sometimes you simply

expect me to forfeit. Our rules are our only limitations. Now, I have my reasons to believe that perhaps you don’t respect me. However, if you don’t respect the rules that we’ve agreed upon to assure the fairness of our contest then – perhaps I should accept that as your way of acknowledging my will as superior to yours.

THE DEVIL

For God’s sake! I was only asking.

You never know. If you’re a nice

guy, you might’ve just said okay

like it was the decent thing to do.

THE LORD

Well, it is my preference to be fair in all things. The last child, the little girl born to a mother who’s an environmental scientist and a father who is a humanitarian – it is my estimate that she will be provided with plenty of positive influence by them, and my intervention will be less necessary. So, in accordance with our rules, I allowed you to show her a first peek of what might be expected from this world.

THE DEVIL

And in the case of this young boy,

how do you argue in his favor?

THE LORD

This young boy will be prompted by

trouble most of his days. His father is a wayward soul, quite on the verge of settling as an agent of yours. As we speak at this moment he is surrendering to his lust and vice, with seemingly no concern for this chance at redemption that has just been born in his honor.

The Devil turns to look at the mother.

THE DEVIL

She seems to be up to your standards.

THE LORD

The mother is a gentle soul. But she will have to make some changes. Until she can take a stance against the father’s mischief and provide the appropriate example of strength

for her son, then the boy will be

mislead as a result of their

relationship.

THE DEVIL

So you believe that you ought to

have first go?

THE LORD

Because it is likely that without

my direct intervention this child

might have quite some difficulty

beholding the light, or possibly

even feeling warmth, I will grace

him, so that his first visions from this life are testaments of the beauty and power accessible through love.

THE DEVIL

So be it. The competition never

scares me.

The Devil leans in closer to the infant boy.

THE DEVIL

We’ll get to know each other better later, you and I.

The Devil resumes his fully erect position and turns his back to The Lord and the child. As The Lord proceeds to do his “work”, The Devil approaches the door...

copyright 2011 Antonio "Tone" Stone A.M.H

For complete short please contact Antonio "Tone" Stone to discuss confidentiality agreement.