A Messenger

by Mary Raymond Shipman Andrews

Genre: Drama
Setting:
Format of Original Source: Short Story
Recommended Adaptation Length: 15 Minutes

Candidate for Adaptation? Not Likely

EXCERPT:

Now here we are caught like rats in a trap; and who’s to do my work and save Thornton’s troop–who’s to save them–God!” The name was a prayer, not an oath.

“Yes,” said the quiet voice at his side, “God,”–and for a second there was a silence that was like an Amen.

COMMENTS:

A battalion of American soldiers are up against an impossible battle (against Indians); they haven’t a change. Unless…prayer can help them.

The stark realism of the scene sets up the reader to believe that there will be no such thing as heavenly intervention for these soldiers, and the story is going to have a terrible ending. But the spirituality holds strong to the end, making this storyline ultimately about faith and heavenly guardians. If that’s your cup of tea, this might make a satisfying TWO-person one-act. (An officer and an underling.) But there’s no real plot; it’s a dire situation with a resolution…so an adaptation would likely need to be a short piece.

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