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A Soldier’s Heart Adapted By Sherry Marshall (Setting is an airport. There are four chairs that face the audience. A dignified looking man is sitting reading the newspaper, an overnight suitcase at his feet. Dan Browning enters dressed in military camouflage fatigues and carrying a large duffle bag. Danny sits two seats away from the man. He is fidgety and begins looking around nervously. The man glances over at him a few times with a questioning look.) MAN: (finally curious enough and sets down his newspaper) Are you alright? DANNY: (startled) What?! Me? MAN: (obvious) Yes. DANNY: Oh yeah…fine. MAN: OK…just checking. (still wearing a funny look) DANNY: (nervously unzips his duffle bag and pulls out a Bible. He then drops it on the floor and many letters spill out.) Aw man! MAN: (begins to help him pick up the letters) Here, let me help you with that. DANNY: (puts the letters into his duffle bag instead) Thanks. (laughs nervously) I guess I’m really not OK after all. MAN: Wanna talk about it? DANNY: Nah…you don’t wanna hear about my problems. MAN: (looks at his watch) OK by me…my flight’s been delayed two hours. DANNY: (gives heavy sigh) Man it’s good to be home! I’ve been serving over in the Middle East for the last three years. And I am done! My post is the good old USA from now on. MAN: Congrats. DANNY: Yeah…life’s good. No more worrying about hidden land mines or being shot in your sleep….and yet I don’t think I’ve ever been so nervous in my whole life. I’ll be seeing “her” (emphasis) in just a little while. MAN: (unsurprised) Yep…knew there had to be a woman in there somewhere. DANNY: (looks out almost dreamily) Claire. (snapping back) I just…I don’t know what to say to her. MAN: Well, when you see her… just tell her the truth about how you feel. DANNY: (deep in thought) Hmmm….. MAN: You DO know how you feel about her, right? DANNY: Well yeah…kinda. MAN: Kinda? DANNY: Well yes…but the hard part is seeing her. I...I don’t know what she looks like. I’ve never seen her before. MAN: Oh geez…please tell me this isn’t one of those internet romances! DANNY: No, no…it’s not like that. See, Claire and I have been like pen pals for over a year. MAN: Same thing. DANNY: No it isn’t, really. Let me explain how it happened. See, Claire is a school teacher. Her school started a “Help The Troops” campaign over a year ago. The teachers and parents were encouraged to donate what they could of items that we could use overseas like toiletry items, snack foods, books, electronics, batteries…stuff like that. The kids were encouraged to write us letters to lift our spirits. Claire herself sent Bibles with her personal testimony including how she accepted Christ into her life. That letter touched me so much, I wrote her back telling her how much her gift and her letter meant to me personally. From there, we started writing back and forth…and in the process, I gave my life to Jesus Christ too. I guess I also kind of fell in love with Claire along the way. (quickly corrects) Well, I mean…I love her like a sister…(thinks)…I think. MAN: (laughing) You “think” you have fallen in love with a woman you have never met? Have you ever talked to her on the phone? DANNY: No. MAN: Do you have a picture of her? DANNY: Well, no. We haven’t exchanged pictures. She never mentioned it and I was afraid to ask. We don’t have any cameras overseas to use for recreational purposes…so I wouldn’t have had a photo to exchange with her. MAN: (nodding) And she never mentioned it either. Yep…she’s a dog. (goes back to his newspaper) DANNY: What? MAN: A dog. You know “bow wow”? Either that or she’s like a 90 year old granny with wrinkled stockings. Hate to burst your bubble “soldier boy”. DANNY: (taken aback) But… well I don’t care about that. She’s Claire. You have no idea what she is like…she MAN: (interrupting) Yeah, and neither do you. DANNY: Yes I do. She has the most wonderful spirit. Her letters touched me so much…there were some really tough spots out there in the field. I don’t think I would have made it without her words. She would find the most perfect Bible scripture for what I was going through at the time. I…I can’t even explain it. It was like, only God could have told her what to write. MAN: God told her? DANNY: Absolutely! MAN: OK. (makes “woof” sound like a dog) DANNY: Hey, cut it out man! Look, it doesn’t matter what she looks like. All that matters is that she is Claire…the Claire that got me through the last year of being stuck in the worst place on earth. She’s like my own personal angel. And I’m meeting her right here in just a few minutes. (Man is distracted as he sees an attractive woman walk by. She smiles at Danny) WOMAN #1: Going my way soldier? (Danny is stunned and smiles nervously but doesn’t move as the woman walks on) MAN: It’s her! What are ya waiting for! She’s HOT! DANNY: No…that wasn’t her. MAN: How do you know…you’ve never seen her? DANNY: Because I know. MAN: OK Einstein. So if you have no clue what she looks like, then how are you going to know it’s her when you see her? DANNY: Problem solved…she said she would be wearing a red rose corsage. MAN: (smirks as he spots woman with rose) Oh…well then here comes your ol’ “angel granny” now! (Danny turns and stands when he sees her) MAN: (snickering) I can hear the wedding bells already! DANNY: Hey, there’s nothing wrong with being just friends. (woman #2 approaches Danny) DANNY: (takes her hand and kisses it) A pleasure to finally meet you, Claire. I’m Dan Browning. WOMAN #2: (looking a little confused) I’m not sure what this is about, but that pretty woman in the pink suit gave me this corsage to wear and asked me to give you this note if you introduced yourself to me. (gives him the note) Please tell her thank you for the lovely rose for me, would you son? (she exits) DANNY: (Danny and the man look at each other a second puzzled…then Danny reads) “Dearest Danny, please meet me at the delicatessen just outside gate #5. With love, Claire” (beaming, he picks up his bag…then hesitates as he looks at his Bible. He then gives it to the man) MAN: What’s this for? DANNY: Maybe you’ll find a Claire. (thinking) No…better yet…maybe you’ll find Jesus. (exits) (back to the scripts page)