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When Anton died I came to him and looked at Anton’s beautiful face, his expression was calm now and seemed to be smiling as if he just understood something that still remains a mystery to me…

(Pause)

I didn’t know then, that Anton would become immortal… and… that I would not ever part from him… during my long, long life…

THE END

THE SAINTLY LIE

CAST:

MOTHER: Thirty-five years old

KATYA: Daughter, twelve years old

SCENES

: It’s night, by lamp light Katya is kneeling, bowing to the floor, and crossing herself. It’s the Soviet era. A picture of Stalin is on the wall. Mother enters quietly closing the door. She stands stock still, resigned, watching her daughter pray. Finally she strides up to her daughter.

MOTHER: Katya! Dear, Katya! What are you doing?

KATYA (frightened, jumping to her feet): I… I was looking for a crayon. It dropped on the floor.

MOTHER: Don’t lie to your mother. You were praying! I saw you crossing yourself!

KATYA: You yourself told me that I shouldn’t spy on people…

MOTHER: Enough! Who taught you to lie?

(Pause)

KATYA: Why shouldn’t I pray?

MOTHER (concerned): It’s very… very dangerous… and… you are still too young and carefree to know more. You wouldn’t understand yet.

KATYA: Mama, I understand more than you think.

MOTHER: What if a neighbor should see you bowing like I did?

KATYA: So what? I would say I was practicing for a play, crying…

MOTHER: Where did you learn to pray?

(Pause)

KATYA: Grandmother… She talked to me while we baked cookies. She talked to me about prayers, about sins.

MOTHER: What prayers do you say?

(Pause)

KATYA: “Our Father whom art in Heaven”… “Virgin Mary Mother of God…”

MOTHER: Does your friend Lucy know those words?

KATYA: I asked her once, but she said she had never heard them.

MOTHER: Why do you think she doesn’t know the words?

KATYA: I don’t know. Maybe because she has no… Grandmother and she doesn’t need to pray…

(Pause)

Lucy is not alone all the time… She has a brother. I am alone, and It’s dark out. I hear creaks and bumps. The house shakes. When I get afraid I say Grandmother’s prayers and cross myself. They make me feel better… I forget my fear.

MOTHER (resigned): I’m trying to change my shifts at the hospital, but I just have to work… There are so many things to buy and food…

KATYA: But I have to talk to somebody.

MOTHER: You… you talk to God?

KATYA: Yes…

MOTHER: What about?

KATYA: My sins… I ask his advice….. I tell him about my fear…

MOTHER: He answers you?

KATYA: Sometimes. It depends on his mood.

(Pause)

MOTHER (sighs and confidently): So! Katya, we have to live; we have to live in this society… Soon you must be a “Komsomol” member…

KATYA: I know. Every body has to be.

MOTHER: What will you say when they ask if you believe in God?