JEANNE
My... visions...
MAN
They're going to come and visit you
in here?
JEANNE
Yes... that's what I pray for...!
MAN
I want to see that. Do you mind if
I stay... on the side? I won't
bother you.
JEANNE
No, no -- you can't stay or they
won't come!
MAN
Why not?
JEANNE
Because... I have to be alone!
He smiles regretfully.
MAN
They won't come anyway.
JEANNE
What do you mean, they won't come?
MAN
Why would they?
JEANNE
Because! Because I've always been
faithful to God, and I've followed
everything he said... and I've done
everything he asked me...
MAN
God asked you to do something?
JEANNE
Yes... lots of things!
MAN
You mean God said, "I need you,
Jeanne?"
JEANNE
No, but... he sent me so many signs!
MAN
What signs?
JEANNE
Like... like the wind... and the
clouds... and... the bells... and
what about that sword lying in the
field... that was a sign...!
MAN
No. That was a sword in a field.
JEANNE
But... it didn't just get there by
itself.
MAN
True -- every event has an infinite
number of causes -- but why pick one
rather than another? There are many
ways a sword might find itself in a
field...
FLASH: A group of soldiers on horseback trot across the
field of Jeanne's childhood. The last soldier's sword is
coming loose, and ends up falling into the long grass...
MAN
Seems a perfectly valid
explanation... but how about this
one...
FLASH: Two young children are hurrying with the sword
when an old man calls them from far away --
OLD MAN
Hey, you little devils -- come back!
The two children drop the sword in the long grass (in the
same spot as before) and run off...
MAN
But then again, there are other
possibilities...
FLASH: A man is being chased across the field by a couple
of English soldiers out looting. His heavy sword is
slowing him down -- he flings it into the long grass...
MAN
... or even faster...
FLASH: The same man running across the field is suddenly
hit by an arrow from nowhere. He drops the sword in the
long grass, but manages to stagger off into the forest...
MAN
... and that's without counting the
inexplicable...
FLASH: A man crosses the field. For no apparent reason
whatsoever, he drops the sword and keeps on walking...
MAN
Yet from an infinite number of
possibilities, you had to pick this
one...
FLASH: A peel of thunder -- clouds swirl -- a familiar
wind stirs the long grass -- a fabulous shaft of light
illuminates the patch -- the sword slowly descends from
the heavens and lands gently in the grass. Mission
accomplished, the shaft of heavenly light disappears.
Jeanne is bewildered...
MAN
You didn't see what was, Jeanne.
You saw what you wanted to see.
... speechless. 
discoflamingo) wrote, 