Chapter 23
"The play’s the thing wherein I’ll catch the conscience of the king."
Hamlet Act 2. Scene 2. William Shakespeare
They gathered the next morning at the play house. Those who had been active in Shakespeare's reality play gathered near the stage. The stage was barely raised above the floor, and the seat rows elevated nicely as they progressed to the rear. The play house could hold a thousand people, but the town's population was only 300. They slowly began to filter in and filled the front rows. Shakespeare was nowhere in sight.
When all had entered and show time had come, Shakespeare entered, then called his players to the stage. John and the group stepped up and stood before Shakespeare. This play is called 'The New Tempest.' You are on a ship crossing a sea, about a mile from an island.
"A violent storm attacks you from nowhere" Shakespeare swatted at the ship like swatting a bug, then holding it between two hands, he shook it up and down and around. "The ship tosses to and fro like a madman has it in his grasp. People are screaming! The sails are still dangerously on the masts because the crew couldn't get them down in time. You, William, the Captain, are worried sick.
"The center mast violently snaps off, falling seaward and the yardarm punches through the deck and the side of the ship. Waves surge into the guts of the ship. You are going to go down soon. No life boat. You only have a small empty rum barrel with room for one. Which person will be saved?! You decide. Go!" Shakespeare jumped off the stage and ran out the exit.
Everyone looked at everyone else on stage for a brief moment, then Jerry spoke up. "Not me. I'm the least of you. I'm a demon. Look at me, all grey skin and ashes."
William put his hand on Jerry's shoulder. "You're t' one who has made t' most progress. And you've been farmin' and raisin' our food. We depend on you, Jerry."
"Yeah, but I can't even figure out right from wrong, or who is good or bad. I'm telling you, I'm not worth having."
Cat jumped in. "Thou can't beest any lower than me. Hither I wast decidin' who we wast goin' to putteth in the Lake Of Fire. Playin' God, I wast. No, I am worthless. Better the Enumi receiveth me, or the Lake Of Fire, than I wend in the barrel."
Mary joined her. "Me, too. I wast in this final death spree with Cat."
Persiphus jumped to the front of the stage, looked into the audience, and shouted, "I am the one lower than Cat and Mary. I allowed religion, my knowing things, to stand in the way of helping Lester, and then we were trying to kill each other in the name of God. So ridiculous. So blind to the truth of God's love."
Bryan stepped in front of him. "We are both equally guilty! We took what is good and turned it into evil. Nothing is more corrupt than that! Neither of us can go in that barrel. We should be despised among you."
William pushed them all back. "T' Captain o' t' ship goes down with her. Besides, I'm too fat t' fit in a water barrel!" He laughed at himself.
"Maybe you deserve to live," John moved to stand before him.
"I've sent too many men t' see their maker. Cat and Mary be saints compared t' me. I don't deserve a thin'."
Victor boomed, "I couldn't get one foot in that barrel, nor could I get a woman in there." Everyone burst out laughing. "I'm staying right here. Besides, who are we without each other?" Everyone nodded in agreement.
"We all needeth each other," Mary said.
Cat waved her knife. "Right. What's the point in bein' hither if 't I canst threaten to carve someone up?" Those on stage and the audience roared in laughter.
They all looked to John. He held up his hands. "No! I refuse. It is my job here to help you become better, not take your place."
They all moved to in front of John. "Grab him and put him in t' barrel!" William shouted.
John shouted back, "I will kick the slats out of the barrel and drown! It is not my place to be in the barrel! I'm just as bad as any of you. Without you I'm nothing! We have each other and we care about each other. That's love."
Their shoulders and heads all slunk in unison. "Nary a one of us can beest saved," Mary grumbled. "We art all lost to the storm and the mighty ocean." She gave Cat a hug, and then William, then John, then Jerry. Mary followed suit.
William bellowed, "Then we all go t' our just fate, and none o' us get t' privilege o' savin' anybody!"
"This is too much tragedy!" Persiphus shouted. "Cat and Mary deserve a life. We can't let them die!"
Victor shouted, "John is my friend! He never hurt any of us, he has only done kind things. We can't let him die!"
Cat spoke up, "Bryan and Persiphus - those lads didn't hurt anyone hither. Those lads didst try t' fetch God, no matter how errantly, and should wend on livin' and becometh valorous people."
Jerry suddenly beamed. "Wait! Why don't we save everyone?! Look out there, the mast floats on the waves. It won't sink. We can all sit astride her like a whore!" Cat smacked him, glared into his eyes from inches away, then jabbed her knife to his throat.
"Sorry, ladies, in my excitement I forgot. So, let's all grab a piece of broken ship decking to use for oars, get to the mast, and row ourselves to the island!"
Mary protested, "But Shakespeare said we only had a barrel!" She turned to John.
"Shakespeare isn't the one going to the bottom of the sea. He didn't say we couldn't use the mast."
"So is it right?" Victor asked.
John shrugged. "I don't know the answers to anything. I'm as confused as Jerry about right and wrong. Pirates have their own code. Jurists have their code. Priests have their code. Lawyers have their code. Physicians have their own code. Even Jerry has a code -"
"Had a code! I've changed my thieving ways." Everyone laughed.
"Bankers have a code: take all you can get - "
"They be pirates. But we have our code now, 'Do to others what you would have them do to you.'"
"Except for masochists and those wanting punishment," Jerry shot back. Everyone laughed.
Shakespeare dropped down on a rigging cable. "Voila! I believe you have found your answers!" He jumped away from the cable toward them. "Which one of you can see the heart of another to judge?"
"Not I," Jerry responded sullenly. "I would punish the wrong people."
"Which one of you has the right to throw people into the Lake Of Fire?"
Cat and Mary shook their heads and bowed them in shame.
"Which one of you has the right to make laws for another to observe?"
Persiphus and Bryan shook their heads, as did the others.
"Which one of you has nothing to live for?" They each gave Shakespeare a puzzled look.
"Truth! What is the grand truth? Did you not, each and every one, find others more worthy than yourselves? You would die for them, and give each other life?" He looked at each one of them. "You all already said the magic words, 'you have each other and care about each other?'"
They nodded in unison.
Shakespeare turned to John. "What is your truth, John?"
The people on stage and in the audience grew perfectly still. All eyes were on John. He thought for a while, then said slowly, "I can only do so much.... I can lead to build a community in which... people want to help each other.... And have the mechanisms to do that.... But there is a limit to what I can do. We... live for each other. It can't get any more real than that. And that's my truth."
"So as long as you have each other, you have a reason to live?!" Shakespeare turned to the crowd. "Ladies and gentlemen, care about one another and take care of each other. God is love."
Shakespeare waved his hand and the curtain fell. The crowd burst into applause. Everyone ran in front of the curtain and bowed to much applause, then faded into the crowd.
From the stage, John saw Peira, Vagabones, and Orpheus watching them all and clapping. He smiled at them. They smiled back. Peira gave him a nod of approval, then they disappeared.
The End
Liars Truth Page 23