MRS. CHRISTOPHER: Well, I’d better go on and see about Mr. Christopher. But I wanted you to know that I’m just as proud of you as I would be of my own boy. (She looks at HORACE.) Why, hello there, Horace. How you doing today?

HORACE: Fine, Mrs. Christopher. And you?

MRS. CHRISTOPHER: Fine. Fine. Good. I’ll see you all later.

JIMMY: Thank you, Mrs. Christopher. You have a good day now.

HORACE: Goodbye.

(MRS. CHRISTOPHER walks away smiling.)

JIMMY: Well, Horace. How’re you today?

HORACE: Fine. (Pause.) Jim? Can I . . . can we . . . talk . . . I mean—

JIMMY: Is something wrong?

HORACE: No. No. I . . . I just want to talk.

JIMMY: Okay.

(Two more men walk out and past the two.)

HORACE: No. Not here.

JIMMY (smiling knowingly): Okay, where then?

HORACE: Over here. (He points to tree at the side of the church, away from the people.)

(They walk over, and stand beneath the tree.)

JIMMY: Okay.

HORACE (soberly): Jimmy . . . I got a problem.

JIMMY: What’s the problem?

HORACE: I—

JIMMY (jokingly): It’s not a girl, is it?

HORACE (almost yelling): No! It’s . . . well, sort of.

JIMMY: Sort of? (Pause.) What’s wrong, Horace?

HORACE: It’s really hard to talk about this.

JIMMY (becoming visibly concerned): What is it, Horace, you’re—

HORACE (quickly): I think I’m a homosexual.

(JIMMY pauses; makes no motion, but is obviously thinking.)

JIMMY: You “think”? Why do you think? Have you been with a man?

HORACE: Yes.

JIMMY (smiling, puts his hand on Horace’s shoulder): Horace, we’ve all done a little . . . you know . . . experimenting. It’s a part of growing up. It’s . . . well, it’s kind of important to—

HORACE: But it’s not experimenting. I like men. I don’t like women. There’s something wrong with me.

JIMMY: Horace, really. I have reason to believe it’s just a phase. I went through a period where I . . . you know, experimented.

HORACE: Did you enjoy it?

JIMMY (slightly stunned): En . . . Enjoy it? Well . . . I . . . you know. Well, the physical pleasure was . . . I guess pleasant. I really don’t remember.

HORACE: Did you ever fall in love with a man?

JIMMY: Fall in love? No. (Laughs.) Oh, Horace. Don’t be so somber. Really. I think this is something that will pass. I’ve known you all your life. You’re perfectly normal.

HORACE: But what if I’m not? What if there is something really wrong with me? I mean . . . can it be okay? You know. To go on . . . being . . . like this?

JIMMY (rubbing his eyes wearily): “Okay”? What exactly do you mean, “okay”? Okay to be gay? Well, you know as well as I what the Bible says. But I think—

HORACE: It’s wrong.

JIMMY: Yes.

HORACE: What if I can’t change?