The PlayFinder™

THE STORY: Bobby lives with his maternal grandmother, Martha, in Waylon, Texas, where not much goes on and work is hard to come by. Martha has worked for thirty years in the local beauty shop, and has raised Bobby since her daughter and son-in-law’s death in a car accident, which Bobby, as a young boy, survived. Even after he’d grown and moved away, Bobby would return to Martha after each financial failure and drunken stupor. But it was always a tough living arrangement since Martha maintained incredible optimism and total belief in God, and Bobby rejected religion, was always pessimistic and remained angry over his parents’ death. Bobby’s latest business adventure has him set up a used appliance shop right on Martha’s front lawn—used appliances and paraphernalia litter the yard. The business goes nowhere, sending Bobby into another tailspin and more fights with Martha over whether God will help him through another tough time. After taking a part-time job as a guard—and getting fired from it—Bobby challenges Martha to a duel: If God produces a miracle in twentyfour hours, he will change his ways; if not, Martha must give up religion. Within just a few minutes, the face of Jesus appears on one of the abandoned refrigerators. Martha’s good friend Jesse witnesses it but also knows it’s not a real miracle. She keeps quiet while watching Bobby parade the phenomenon and market it like crazy. Martha, at first delighted by her very own miracle, becomes increasingly upset as she looses her job, and any sense of privacy, to the mobs and the cameras. Jessie finally calls Bobby’s bluff and turns off her porch light—the real reason the face appeared, coupled with some well-placed trees. Bobby’s trumped-up world collapses, but with a little help from a stranger and Martha’s regained world, Bobby sheds some of his anger, Martha relaxes in her views and they come together with a better understanding that believing in themselves and each other will make their lives full again.