Silent Crossing by Barbara Frances

Hamlet said, “Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage and then is heard no more.”

Ezekiel, the main character in the following novel-play, is strutting his final hour upon the stage. Like the Biblical Ezekiel, he’s been a mover and a shaker.

Even in the face of death, he wants to control, not on a grand scale as he once did, but in a utopian village that he’s created. He gathers together the people of his village, believing he’s going to help them. All of those he’s assembled also have Old Testament Biblical names:

There’s Jonah who’s been swallowed by the whale of injustice and prejudice;

Naomi who’s suffered the terrible loss of a child; Leah who’s physical appearance ignited abuse from a family member;

Daniel who struggles with the lions of religion and alcohol;

Rebecca, whose pregnancy forces her to runs away her from a well-to-do family;

Saul or Rolling Thunder who presents a commanding presence but is frightened by his weakness;

Ruth or Singing Cloud who’s loyal to her grandmother and husband to the end;

Elizabeth who has waited for deliverance from her suffering;

Nathanial, the baby who’s eager to experience all he can.