Coming Home

They discuss the hurts and suffering he caused by his absence and how he never let them know how he was doing. He is prepared to beg forgiveness of his Dad and wants to make everything right, but the sister doesn’t give him much hope that it will go well. When the dad walks in, there is genuine love and forgiveness and acceptance.

only 3 actors, male or female. About 9 minutes.

Excerpt:

As the scene opens, a young girl (teen or early 20’s) is sitting
and reading when a young man, preferably older, sneaks in and comes
up from behind and puts his hands over her eyes)

JEREMY: Guess who?

NICOLE: Jeremy? (She jumps up and spins around not knowing exactly
how to react)

JEREMY: Hey, Sis! What’s going on?

NICOLE: What are you doing here?

JEREMY: What? Am I not allowed to come home?

NICOLE: It’s just that we haven’t heard from you in so long…

JEREMY: I know. I really blew it. But it’s Father’s Day, and I
thought I would try to make things right some how.

NICOLE: Make things right? What do you mean?

JEREMY: Well, you know. I kind of disappointed everybody.

NICOLE: Kind of?

JEREMY: Ok, ok, I don’t need you to preach to me, I’m sure I’ll get
enough lectures from Dad about the errors of my ways.

NICOLE: Who says I’m preaching? I just said, “kind of” because
that just sounded so strange.

JEREMY: I made a lot of mistakes.

NICOLE: At least you realize it.

JEREMY: Yeah, I’ll own up to everything. I have a lot of work to
do, I know, to get things right again.

NICOLE: I don’t think it’s that simple. What’s done is done. You
really hurt Dad a lot. How do you expect to make it up to him?

JEREMY: I don’t know. Do you think he would let me work for him?

NICOLE: You want to go to work at the shop? I thought you hated
working there!

JEREMY: I did. But it’s better than doing what I was doing.

NICOLE: So you had some lousy jobs, huh? I thought you wanted to
go and make something out of yourself, some place far away from here.

JEREMY: I was stupid. I did a lot of stupid things.

NICOLE: So, are we going to hear about all your adventures in life
on your own, or are you going to just keep it all a dark secret?

JEREMY: I have nothing to hide. But I don’t think you really want
to hear it. I am ashamed of what I did and I don’t want to live
that way anymore.

NICOLE: I guess the difference between you and me is that I knew
that I could not live out there in that environment on my own without
my family’s blessing, and you just had to find out for yourself what
it was like.

JEREMY: Yeah, I guess so. And I found out.

NICOLE: So, is it out of your system now?

JEREMY: Sure. Believe me, I don’t want to be trying to survive any
longer. It was really getting tough.

NICOLE: I take it you have run out of money.

JEREMY: Yes, but before you start thinking that I came home just to
ask for money, that is not it at all. I was just hoping that Dad
would give me job. Let me work off my debts, so to speak.

NICOLE: I don’t think he needs any new employees right now. You
can’t expect him to fire someone else because his wandering son has
come home and needs a job.

JEREMY: I don’t want to get paid. I just want to work for him, to
try and pay him back. He can create jobs for me to do if he wants.
I’ll do any mundane thing he can think of.

NICOLE: You never liked working there even when you were getting
paid. You think he’s going to buy this? You think he’ll believe
that you’re different? You know how the two of you clashed so much
before.

JEREMY: That was my fault. He doesn’t have to buy anything. I’m
just going to plead with him. You know, the way we plead with God
for mercy.

NICOLE: Dad’s not God you know. I mean… you go off and live a wild
life and then suddenly you come home and expect everything to be
like it was before, and no one will treat you any different? You
have people here that have been worried sick about you and then
practically given you up for dead. I mean you never called or wrote…
what were we supposed to think?

JEREMY: How do you know I was living a wild life?

NICOLE: I just figured that you must be and be feeling a lot of
guilt and that is why you didn’t contact us, because you didn’t want
any of us to know what you were doing.

JEREMY: I guess I can’t pull any wool over your eyes?

NICOLE: What do you expect? When someone never tells you where
they are or what they are doing, you think the worst. Were we
supposed to try to forget all about you?

JEREMY: I know, I was terrible.

NICOLE: And now you come home and expect us to act like nothing ever
happened? What if Dad won’t give you the job? What will you do?
Where will you go?

JEREMY: I don’t know. I have no plan B. I just came home to plead
with him for forgiveness and see if I can find a place to work and
sleep. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy.

NICOLE: You know… we turned your old bedroom into a den. Plus, I’m
not sure that Dad will let you stay here. We have only assumed that
you have not been living for the Lord these past few years.

JEREMY: No, you’re right, I haven’t. But I have repented of that.
I realize those are only empty words for you to hear, but it is true.
I know that I will have to prove it to you with my life. I also
know that Dad is concerned about Benji, and how I might influence
him, and I plan to explain to him that everything I did was absolutely
wrong, and that he should avoid all of it at all costs.

NICOLE: You don’t know anything about Ben. He has grown up a lot
since you left. Sure he used to look up to you, but you hurt him,
and I would be surprised if he even talks to you now. Things are
not like they were, Jeremy. We have learned how to go on and live
without you in our lives.

JEREMY: What are you suggesting? That I never come back?

NICOLE: I’m not saying that. Your coming home was all any of us
ever wanted, but now that you are here, well…. There is just a lot
of water under the bridge, you know?

JEREMY: Nicky, I’m glad I saw you first. I knew it would be hard
to face everybody, and that is one reason why I took so long to
finally come home. But, I got to the end of everything. I didn’t
have a job, and all I could get was far worse than working at the
shop ever could be. I realized that I ate better here, and I slept
better here, and I even missed all the stuff that I was leaving to
get away from in the first place. I missed Dad’s strict ways and
going to church all the time and all the stuff I used to complain
about. I really missed you and Benji.

NICOLE: Well, don’t call him Benji when you see him.