Barbara's Scripts
Synopsis of Silent Crossing

On Easter Saturday, Ezekiel gathers together his closest friends for one last barbecue. Years ago, Ezekiel had left behind a successful career, prestige, and money to go on a spiritual journey seeking inner peace and serenity.  He settled in a trailer park in the Texas Hill Country where he found contentment as well as a strange assortment of friends who became his new family. Like Ezekiel, his new family all had names from Old Testament figures in the Bible.

They were: Rebecca who was raped by her uncle as a teenager and then delivered his daughter, Angelina;  Joshua, a recovering drug addict, afraid of and unable to cope with life’s downside; Naomi, who fell asleep while driving, and had a wreck that killed her son and left her physically and psychologically maimed; Daniel, whose dangerous temper has gotten him thrown into several juvenile homes and in trouble with the law numerous times; and Leah, whose lifelong obesity has made her believe that she is an inadequate and inferior being.

On this particular evening, Ezekial has decided to let his friends know of a great decision he’s made.  The pain of his cancer has gone as far as he’s willing to go with it, and he wants to share the very private experience of dying with his acquired family. The festive evening turns tragic as his friends struggle to cope with Ezekiel's desire to die. Since Ezekiel has been their spiritual teacher who could fast for days and meditate for hours, they believe that he can will himself to die.  When they find out that he’s going to help the process along by eating a pudding laced with potent drugs, they turn on him rather than help him.  The evening’s circumstances are further complicated by a winning lotto ticket.  One is suddenly rich, while one is dying. As Ezekiel says, "The two monsters, wealth and death.  One, we are constantly running after, and the other, we are constantly running from."  Add to this, an unexpected visit from Ezekiel's estranged son, and we have a night that goes through the dark to the light of Easter sunrise.