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The Dramatic Narrative Synopsis of Opening Sequence
A young woman approaches a microphone on a stage. She looks
out across a room full of people who have eaten dinner and are now watching
her with rapt attention. A sign indicates that this is a fundraising
dinner for the Crisis Pregnancy Center.
MEREDITH WILSON introduces herself and begins to tell a story
– her story – about her recent experience with the Crisis Pregnancy Center.
As she speaks, we fade into flashback.
It's early evening and Meredith is just finishing dressing in front of the mirror in her room. She is a young and pretty high school age girl. As she is buttoning her blouse, checking her makeup and touching up her hair, she is swaying to a pop song playing on the radio, humming to the tune. Her attire is casual yet sexy.
Meredith turns off the radio, exits her room, and goes downstairs, where her MOM is waiting. Her mom confirms again that Meredith is going to spend the evening studying at her friend JULIE'S house. A typical teenager, Meredith resents her mother's intrusive questions, and answers her with little patience.
A car horn sounds outside, and Meredith goes out to Julie's car, which is sitting by the curb, engine running. Julie waves at Mrs. Wilson as they drive away. When they have turned the corner, two boys rise up from the back seat where they have been hiding. One is Meredith's boyfriend, WADE. The other, Julie's boyfriend, MARK. The car pulls to the curb, Mark and Meredith exchange places, and the car takes off again.
Summarizing the Action of Act 1:
The kids wind up parked at a remote wooded area. Meredith
and Wade sit in the car and talk for awhile, while Julie and Mark are making
out on the car's hood. Wade talks about the new school year which
is about to begin. They will be seniors, and Wade plans after graduation
to go off to college at State. Meredith is not troubled by this.
Her relationship with Wade is apparently not very deep emotionally.
She mentions she has thought of going to a local computer school, and then
getting a job as a database developer.
They drink a lot of beer and start making out. Mark and Julie pull a blanket from the trunk of the car and announce they're going for a "walk." Meredith and Wade are still in the back seat of the car, and they start kissing passionately. Wade begins to unbutton Meredith's blouse, and she does not resist. We can tell by their actions that they have done this before. They slowly slide down until they are laying on the back seat. Fade to black.
The Dramatic Narrative Synopsis of Plot Point 1:
Fade in. It's morning, some weeks later. Meredith’s
mom is knocking on her room door, telling Meredith she’ll be late for school
if she doesn’t hurry. Meredith is in her bathroom vomiting violently.
She comes out looking very pale and unwell. Her mom is concerned,
and insists that she see a doctor. Meredith finally does go to the
doctor, where she finds out she is pregnant.
Meredith is stunned. She doesn't know what to do. She tells Wade about the pregnancy, and he tells her that he'll do whatever he can to help. When Meredith tells Julie, her immediate response is that of course Meredith will have to have an abortion. Meredith does not like this idea, mainly because it involves physical discomfort for her. But she decides she has no other choice. She asks Wade to go with her, but he doesn’t want to take time off from his after school job. Julie won’t go either -- doctors make her squeamish. Meredith must go alone.
Summarizing the Obstacles of Act 2:
Meredith walks into the CRISIS PREGNANCY CENTER and tells HARRIET,
the receptionist, that she wants to schedule an abortion. The receptionist
introduces herself, asks Meredith for her first name, then asks her to
take a seat and a counselor will see her. Harriet asks Meredith if
she would like anything -- a Coke, a snack. Meredith shakes her head
no.
After a few minutes, a counselor – JEAN – comes. Harriet introduces Jean to Meredith, they shake hands warmly, and Jean leads the girl to a small office. In the office, Jean tells Meredith that the Crisis Pregnancy Center does not do abortions, but rather is a Christian organization that provides people like her with alternatives to abortion. Meredith rolls her eyes at the mention of "Christian", but continues to listen.
Jean outlines the various options for Meredith. Meredith tells her all the reasons why she can’t have this baby, and why she has to have an abortion. For each objection Meredith raises, Jean offers an alternative solution -- lovingly, and with compassion. Meredith still thinks an abortion is the only solution, but promises Jean she will think about it. Before Meredith leaves, Jean prays with the girl. It is clear that Meredith is uncomfortable with prayer or talking about God and Jesus Christ.
Meredith thinks about what Jean told her. She tries to talk with Julie about it, but Julie’s no help. One of Meredith’s teachers, MS. HARRINGTON, notices that she is preoccupied. She talks with Meredith, who confides the problem to her. Ms. Harrington doesn’t take sides on the abortion issue, but she encourages Meredith to think long and hard about all of the ramifications, and to make her decision carefully.
Finally, Meredith has made up her mind. We see her enter a building whose door is labeled simply "Women’s Clinic". It is an abortion clinic.
Once inside, Meredith is surprised by how different the atmosphere is here to that of the Crisis Pregnancy Center. The people are more cold, distant and formal, not friendly. It seems like an abortion assembly line, where the counselor gives her no choice other than abortion. And the most important thing seems to be the money. Does she have the fee? The full fee? In cash?
Finally, they call her name. She goes into the procedure room, dons the hospital gown, and lies on the table, feet in the stirrups. The DOCTOR -- a man -- comes in, his manner brusque and impatient. When he is ready, he tells Meredith, "Okay -- let’s get this thing out of you."
Time passes, and we see Meredith exiting the Women’s Clinic. She is pale and shaken, quite upset. As she walks down the street towards where she parked her car, she sees children playing in a small park. Mothers with babies, smiling, cooing, laughing. This overwhelms her, and she breaks down in tears.
The Dramatic Narrative Synopsis of Plot Point 2:
Jean is standing in the lobby of the Crisis Pregnancy Center
talking with Harriet. She looks up and sees Meredith standing in
the doorway looking pale, shaken, her eyes red from crying. She crosses
the room quickly and takes Meredith into her arms. The young girl
dissolves into tears as Jean comforts her sympathetically.
"Oh Jean!" Meredith cries. "I came so close! It scares me. I came SO close to killing my baby!" Meredith is frightened. She went to have the abortion, but the doctor's cold attitude about her baby – calling her a "thing" – was more than she could take. In that moment, she suddenly realized what she was about to do – to kill an innocent child. She couldn't go through with it. Now she is afraid of what lies ahead for her, but she knows she can't kill the baby that is growing inside of her.
Jean comforts the girl. When she is calmer, Jean prays with her. After much prayer and consideration they decide that the best thing for Meredith to do is to have the baby and place it for adoption, even though having the baby will be very difficult for her and cause her to make many sacrifices. Nonetheless, Meredith wants to do this now.
Jean goes with Meredith to tell her family about the pregnancy. To Meredith's surprise, they are very sympathetic and supportive. Jean leads them all in prayer, and Meredith is surprised again to find her parents – particularly her mother – receptive to praying and talking about God. This is something new to all of them, yet they seem almost relieved to have God to lean on now.
Although Meredith's old friends, including her boyfriend Wade, have faded out of her life, she has the love and support of Jean and the others at the Crisis Pregnancy Center to help her through her pregnancy. And her mother is never far from her side, with love, support and encouragement. Finally, Meredith has her baby – a beautiful, perfect baby girl.
Summarizing Act 3:
We fade into the present. Meredith is again at the microphone
speaking to the assembled guests at the fundraising dinner. She tells
them how difficult it was to set herself and her own desires aside and
to focus on what was best for her baby. But she tells how Jean and
the Crisis Pregnancy Center gave her so much love and support, and how
she could not have done it without them.
She tells about her beautiful baby, and about the wonderful adoptive parents that God provided for her. She brings the parents out onto the stage, and they are carrying the baby. Jean is with them, and Meredith introduces them all. She says that they have a very open adoption, and she can be as involved in her daughter's life as she wants to be. Tears are in her eyes as she speaks of this. The audience applauds vigorously.
Then she tells the audience how her life has been changed because of that one simple act – that accidental act – of walking through the door of the Crisis Pregnancy Center. Before, she was on the road that most teenagers are on – a road of ignorance and self-indulgence. She never thought about God very much, and it showed in her life. She made all the mistakes, and never concerned herself with consequences. She didn't care about anything or anyone – not even herself, really. The people she thought were her friends were actually shallow and cared nothing about her. And she pushed her own family away – the people who loved her the most.
But walking into the Crisis Pregnancy Center changed all of that forever. There she found people who loved and cared for her unconditionally. And they loved and cared for her little girl, who wasn't even born yet. This had a tremendous impact on Meredith. It became something nagging in her conscience – something that wouldn't let go of her. It was this nagging feeling that saved her daughter's life.
And, she tells the audience, in the very most real sense, it saved her life too. For in the delivery room, while waiting for her daughter to arrive and with Jean and her mother holding her hands, Meredith accepted Jesus Christ as her savior.
The applause from the audience is thunderous. They are on their feet, and many are wiping away tears. Meredith looks at Jean, both of them with tears in their eyes. They hug. Meredith's mom is in the audience, crying openly, as is her dad. Both are smiling.
Fade to black.
*****