Tanglewoods' Secret

[first lines]

[Ruth is lying in bed as Philip comes into her room, sits on her bed and reaches inside a sock]

Philip:
[as Ruth excitedly tries to feel the contents of the sock] Careful!

[Philip takes out a bun covered with white icing and gives it to Ruth]

Ruth:
[excitedly taking the bun] Philip!

[Ruth starts eating the bun]

Ruth:
[happily] What else did you have for supper?

Philip:
I'm afraid we had meatballs, but they weren't very nice so you didn't miss much.

Aunt Margaret:
[sighs] Ruth I'm not going to punish you, 'cause it doesn't seem to do much good. But I've been thinking things out on the way home, I don't seem able to manage you or bring you up as I ought. You have ten days more of holidays, then if they can take you I'm going to send you to Boarding School. Your mother suggested it at Christmas but... well I-I wanted to keep you then. It will be a big extra expense, but anything is better than you growing up as, selfish, obstinate and ill-mannered as you are now.

Ruth:
[firmly] I shan't go!

Aunt Margaret:
You won't be asked.

Ruth:
[shouts] VERY WELL THEN! I SHALL RUN AWAY AND I SHAN'T COME BACK!

[Ruth runs out of the house]

Ruth:
[voice only as she and Philip run across a field full of sheep] What with Spring bursting out everywhere there was just no stopping us! Poor Aunt Margaret didn't quite know what had hit her. She'd agreed to look after us while our parents were in India, but I think by this time she was regretting it!

Philip:
[looking at the cameras in a shop window] That one there on the left.

Ruth:
What would we use it for?

Philip:
To take bird pictures with it of course!

Ruth:
[excited] You mean like the pheasants hatching out?

Philip:
[downcast] No. They'd be hatched out within a few days. It'll take *ages* to buy a camera.

Ruth:
Well how much have we got now?

Philip:
I don't know. Just over a pound I think.

Ruth:
[encouraging] Oh Philip! It won't take long to save! I'm *sure* it won't!

Ruth:
Hello Mr. Tandy.

Mr. Tandy:
[cheerfully] Hello. Heh-heh-heh-heh, well then Ruth, and how are you eh?

Ruth:
Very well thank you. We've just built a wigwam over there, by the pond.

Mr. Tandy:
By Hill Farm there? Well I know that! And who's "we"?

Ruth:
Me and my brother Philip, but he's hurt his ankle today so he had to stay at home.

Mr. Tandy:
I'm sorry to hear that. One of my sheep's lost himself. And I'm thinking maybe he's got stuck in some of these bushes somewhere. Y... you can stop and help me find him if you like.

[Ruth nods happily]

Mr. Tandy:
[kindly] Come along!

Ruth:
Have you always been a shepherd?

Mr. Tandy:
[cheerfully] That's right. Always have been. Now see through here.

[they pass some big trees]

Ruth:
Why doesn't he stay?

Mr. Tandy:
Well, I expect he's like the rest of us: He likes his own way. And his own way has got him into a *deal* of trouble.

Ruth:
Well, I expect he's sorry for it now, all caught up in the bushes and wishing he'd stayed in the meadow.

Mr. Tandy:
Yep. Aye. Takes a deal of thorns and briers to teach these lambs that their own way ain't the best.

Mr. Robinson:
[finding Ruth in his church] Come on there's no need to be frightened. No need for you to hide. I don't mind little children coming into my church. But I-I was a bit surprised to find someone here this time of the morning.

Ruth:
I couldn't help being here. I came in last night when the door was open. Fell asleep my mistake.

Mr. Robinson:
Do you mean you've been here all night? Whatever is your mother thinking?

Ruth:
It's not my mother it's my Aunt. I wouldn't have done it with my mother.

Mr. Robinson:
[as Ruth is having breakfast] What are you going to do now? Do you *really* think your Aunt would send you to Boarding School if you went back to her?

[Ruth notices a portrait on the opposite wall]

Mr. Robinson:
Do you like it?

Ruth:
Reminds me of a shepherd at home. He lost one of his lambs and was looking for it. I went too. Do you know we wouldn't have found it if it hadn't started crying. Mr. Tandy heard it, and there it was all caught up in the bushes. It couldn't get out. The poor little thing must've gone an awful long way.

Mr. Robinson:
That was a daft thing for it to do wasn't it? Got itself into a whole pile of trouble. It reminds me a bit of you.

Ruth:
What do you mean?

Mr. Robinson:
Well you looked cold and lost when I found you in my church this morning. You'd run as far as you could, you didn't want to go home, you were stuck, and you don't know what to do now do you? Do you know who that shepherd is?

[Ruth shakes her head]

Mr. Robinson:
It's Jesus, the Good Shepherd. And we're, we're like the sheep. We all run off, do what we want to do, and it lands us in trouble. Sometimes much worse trouble than you're in. But like your friend Mr. Tandy, the Good Shepherd doesn't forget us, and all we have to do is, is cry out.

Ruth:
[puts the breakfast tray on a table] Then what?

Mr. Robinson:
I know you can't see Him, but He's here, now with you and me, waiting for you to be found. If you ask the Good Shepherd to go home with you, He will. And He'll start to mend things for you.

Mr. Robinson:
Ruth, he loves you so much. [meaning Jesus] You know all those naughty things you said to your Aunt and, and all the times she was angry with you, He's taken all the hurt for that onto Himself, so that He could say to you, "Come on Ruth, put all that behind you. Make a fresh start." I think it's wonderful. Don't you?

Terry:
[climbing a tree with Ruth and Philip] Can you see 'em?

[Ruth notices a bird's nest]

Ruth:
[excited] Yes!

Philip:
[excited] Gosh look at that!

Ruth:
How does it not fall off?

Philip:
I don't know. Wood pigeon's nests are always like that.

Terry:
[climbing higher up] I've got a better place to watch the eggs from!

Philip:
It'll never hold you!

Ruth:
Terry be careful!

[Terry edges along a thin branch whilst holding onto an even thinner one]

Terry:
[swinging out] Wahoo!

[Ruth screams and Terry laughs as he steadies himself on another thin branch]

Ruth:
Terry don't do that!

[Terry laughs and edges along another thin branch, which snaps]

Ruth:
[screams] TERRY!

[Terry falls out of the tree and lands on the grass]

Philip:
[quickly climbs down and runs over to Terry] Ruth, I'm not quite sure but I think he's alive.

Philip:
[as he, Ruth and Terry are running down a hill in the woods] What's your name?

Terry:
Terry.

Ruth:
Where do you live?

Terry:
At the cottage in the euro, down Tanglewoods way.

Philip:
Have you got any brothers and sisters?

Terry:
No, it's only me and my Mum.

Ruth:
Where's your father?

Terry:
Ain't got none.

Ruth:
What are you collecting flowers for?

Terry:
Mum sells them in the town. She's a flower seller.

[Terry points to a nest]

Terry:
There you are. There's one of your pheasant's nests.

Ruth:
[opening a parcel containing a picture of Jesus with a flock of sheep] Mr. Robinson it's lovely!

Terry:
[lying in bed] Where are they going?

Mr. Robinson:
He's taking him home.

Terry:
[weakly] Where's home?

Mr. Robinson:
It's where the Shepherd lives. Would you like me to read you something about it? What it's like there?

[Terry nods and Mr. Robinson opens his Bible and reads Revelation 21:
4]

Mr. Robinson:
[reading] "And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain."

Terry:
[weakly] No more pain. Cor, that would be smashing. Can anyone go?

Mr. Robinson:
[wisely] Yes. *Anyone.* Anyone who belongs to him. Anyone who comes to the Good Shepherd.

[Ruth and Terry look at each other, then at the picture of Jesus]

Ruth:
[voice only, as Winter trees are seen] Just a few weeks later, when... Autumn had turned to Winter... Terry died.

Mr. Tandy:
Hello littlein'!

[Ruth stops by a tree]

Mr. Tandy:
Hey, what's the trouble then, eh? Is it your Terry? Hmm, I 'erd about that in the village. It was sad for you.

Ruth:
[sadly] I prayed so hard he'd get better, didn't do any good. God didn't even listen.

Mr. Tandy:
[kindly and wisely] Littlein', if you were to come to me and say... there's a little lamb down there yonder, who can't run about and can't do the pasture being so steep and the stones are sharp. Hmm? I used to go down there, pick that little lamb up in my arms and carry it... to another pasture... where the grass was sweet and ground more, well easy like. Heh-heh. You wouldn't come to me and say that I hadn't needed you would you? No. You see, the Shepherd took his lamb *home*. That's all. You've no caused a fret.

Ruth:
[sadly] But it didn't seem like that at all.

[Ruth walks away]

Ruth:
[sadly] We buried Terry in the earth, and we left him there. Seems so sad and lonely. How could Terry be with the Shepherd when we left him lying in the earth?

Mr. Tandy:
Yes. Here.

[picks up a conker]

Mr. Tandy:
[wisely] You see this conker? Hmm? Well what's gonna happen to it, eh? And what's gonna happen to its shell?

Ruth:
Well... it-its shell will probably get covered and... wither away, and the... conker will grow into a Chestnut Tree.

Mr. Tandy:
That's it! Heh-heh. You couldn't have said it better! Now, when you see that Chestnut Tree blowing in the wind, you're not gonna fret about its case mongering under the leaves are you?

Ruth:
No.

Mr. Tandy:
[wisely] No. Heh-heh. Then, cease to fret about what's laid in the earth! 'Tis only the case. Your Terry is growing strong up there, with his Saviour. That's the truth.

[last lines]

Terry:
[voice only as Ruth climbs over a fence and stops in a field to think] No more pain. Cor, that would be smashing. Can anyone go?

Mr. Robinson:
[voice only, wisely] Yes. *Anyone*. Anyone who belongs to him. Anyone who comes to the Good Sheperd.

Mr. Tandy:
[voice only, wisely] Your Terry is growing strong up there, with his Saviour.

[Ruth realizes what it all means and excitedly looks at the sky as the Sun shines brighter]

Ruth:
[running happily through the fields to tell Philip the good news] Philip! Philip! Philip? Philip! Philip! Philip!