No Room at the Inn

No Room At The Inn

Script

Copyright Carol Dickson 2003

The Inn Keeper wife's perspective

Staging Information

Cast

The Innkeeper's wife in Bethlehem

Props

As indicated.

Costumes

Traditional Costume for the day

Sound and Lighting

As indicated.

Run Time - (approx)

6 minutes

Script

In keeper' wife" (walk in wiping her hands on her dress) Now you kids--- go play outside- If you can't find anything to do I have lots of floor you can sweep- ha ha that always gets em running-Oh, hi there. Nice to see you-Will you be needing one room (looks as if counting all the people) or two. Three!!! Well, your timing is just right, You can have as many rooms as you want. It's good you came today. Why? Well, we have had a lot of excitement around here and it all started with that silly old census.

Now I'm not complaining about the business. We were full to the rafters every night for a week. That will keep us out of the poor house, ha at least this month, but boy these poor hands were red and raw with all the cleaning and cooking I had to do. Yea, yea that is an Inn keeper's wife's job to keep the rooms clean and cook the best food on the block. If I say so myself my lamb stew has won awards, heck that's probably why my husband married me. ( ha ha) What, oh yea back to the rooms, well they are all clean with fresh linens. It took a lot for me to get them that way, let me tell you. what with the baby and all. Huh, baby, oh I didn't mention the most exciting thing that happened? Well, sit down, take a load off while I tell you a story of a life time, at least my life time. (sits down)

Like I told you everyone was in town for the census, that's the only reason anyone would want to come to this town. Of course every room we had was full with people. Well, that might be great for business, but let me tell you it's not great for my back.

At first I was so excited. I could see the money just pouring in. When all the rooms were full I thought my husband would just say "No" go on to another place, but does he say that-let me tell you what he says, He says Well, all our rooms are full, but how badly do you need a space? How badly do you need a space Ha! Not once did he think of my poor hands, all he saw was that money .

Well anyway, around midnight I had finally cleaned my last dish when this knock comes on the door, well let me tell you I just about wanted to cry. We had no space, absolutely no space. There were people sleeping EVERYWHERE even in my room. I didn't even know where I was going to sleep, but of course I was so tired they could just prop me up against the wall and I would sleep like a baby.

Well anyway, back to my story, This knock came on our door, and I'm saying "Don't answer it, maybe they'll go away", but noooooo my money hungry husband had to open the door. When I saw that young couple I knew I didn't want to give them any thing. I didn't want to give them food, space, or my time. When I saw her waddle toward the house I got a closer look at her, she stuck out to here. I changed my mind I decided I did want to give her something I wanted to give her a piece of my mind. I wanted to yell Don't you know you're too young to be bringing a child into this world. Don't you know that you are ruining your life, having a baby this young. You have your whole life in front of you. I could tell my husband was trying to figure out how to get their money. Well, I didn't want that woman in my house. Who knows when she would pop, and that would be double work for me… I just wasn't having it. I pulled my husband aside, and shut the door. I gave him a piece of my mind and yep he listened sooooo well. I stormed out of the room telling him "There's no more room at this Inn" and went to find a place to sleep.

I was sleeping like a baby, that is until around midnight, when this loud scream scared me almost to death and made me run outside. Here I am in my night clothes standing around and there it was again, from the stable and it sounded human. I crept over there and peeked in, well what do you know, old money bags did it again. He put that foolish young couple out in our stable. and then it happened again. This time the scream was so loud it might near broke my ears. I walked in and saw that young girl in agony and her husband just standing by twiddling his thumbs. Men are so useless when it comes to the down and dirty part of child bearing. I sent him away to get some bedding and to stir the fire. I guess I was going to have to guide this child in having a child.

First thing I asked was, "Young Lady, you do know you are having a baby?" With a nod of her head she let out another scream that could pierce armor. I repositioned her on the hay and tried to make her comfortable, we wouldn't have to wait long. This baby was on it's way. Between contractions, I heard a story that was so remarkable if I wasn't sure if I could believe it. This young girl, her name was Mary, said that the boy she was with, Joseph, was her new husband. They had never consumated their marriage and she had never been with a man. I had a chuckle out of that. There's only one way to get in the condition that woman was in.

Anyway, Mary told me that an angel of the Lord visited her and told her that she would be the mother of God's baby, and Joseph would be the earthly father. At first I laughed until I saw her face. There was something about the way she looked when she talked about the angel of God. I almost believed. She was almost telling about their journey when the baby decided to finish it's journey. I want to tell you that when I pulled that baby out of it's mother I felt this energy travel from the baby up my arm and through my body. That was the most beautiful baby in all my life. He had this glow about him. He was perfect with ten beautiful toes and ten beautiful fingers, and something else, I can't describe it… There was this presence around him, it was like a fog but warm and inviting. I laid the baby on his mother and he was such a hungry little guy.

Let me tell you I don't quite know it the story of the mother was true, but when I touched that baby I …. I… changed. I didn't care about the age of the parents, I didn't care about how much work I had to do, I didn't care that the bedding would take a week to clean. All I wanted was to sit and stare at that beautiful baby. I just wanted to be in his presence. I just wanted to sit by his side and feel the warmth that came from that stable crib. I have never seen a baby like him-oh, by the way they named him Jesus. Remember that name, I bet someday he will be famous.

The rest of the night was so busy time just flew by. I'll say that the experience changed my life, and taught me a lesson or two about turning people away. Next time, there will always be room in MY Inn for strangers.

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