Saints get tired, too

Players
Robb “Stormy” Cummings,
volunteer
Channel 2 camera guy
Evelyn Mount, benefactress
Ebenezer Scrooge (David J. Winter)
Fezziwig partier (Sondra Herbert)
Fezziwig child partier (Riley Herbert, 4)
Carol Infranca, Nevada Performing Arts press rep

A one-story home in a residential neighborhood. Stormy Cummings, Community Outreach volunteer and Washoe County Sheriff’s deputy, carries bags of food to semi-trailer-sized storage unit parked on the street. Strains of the Bobbie Blue Band come from the garage, its shelves stacked high with Oroweat dressing, Hy-Top mac and cheese, scalloped potatoes and canned green beans. A TV station van pulls up.

STORMY: I see Channel 2. Media event, you say? Must be something.

CHANNEL 2 GUY, dressed in khakis and fleece, walks up carrying camera and stand.

C-2: So this thing is supposed to start at 3?

STORMY smiles and shrugs.

C-2: Is Evelyn around?

STORMY: She’s napping. Do you want to talk to her?

C-2: I guess, yeah, sure.

STORMY: I’ll get her.

STORMY enters house and returns with EVELYN MOUNT, a 78-year-old saint to the thousands of families in Reno and Sparks for whom she’s provided holiday food packages since 1979. MOUNT, with tiny braids pulled back from her face looks much younger than her years,

MOUNT: (to Stormy) I guess I’ll get to sleep tomorrow night.

A car alarm howls. The phone rings.

C-2: Do you mind if I ask you some questions?

MOUNT: (smiles) OK.

C-2: What does it mean to you to have the cast of the Christmas Carol come by with food?

MOUNT: That tells me they care and are concerned about the needy. I think it’s wonderful.

Another van pulls up. C-2 aims his camera down the sidewalk as three cast members from the Nevada Performing Arts production of A Christmas Carol walk up with food baskets for Mount’s Community Outreach, the help agency she runs out of her home.

ALL: They’re coming. They’re coming.

SCROOGE (with affected English accent): And a merry Christmas to everyone! Where shall I set this, Ma’am?

MOUNT: Right here. And how are you?

SCROOGE: Well, thank you.

Sondra Herbert of Reno and her 4-year-old daughter, Riley, both dressed elegantly as Fezziwig partiers, arrive with baskets.

MOUNT: Well, look at this. An angel fairy child. Look at that pretty girl! And look at those baskets!

The players go off to get more food.

MOUNT: (reflects) I’ve got to be to church at 6 tonight, then a meeting at 7:30 and another meeting at 9. It’ll be 11:30 before I get out of there.

Riley comes back with more baskets, providing a photo op for the media. Carol Infranca arrives. Her press releases say, “Timeless Classic ‘Christmas Carol’ Message Still Relevant Today.”

SCROOGE: God bless us everyone, and with that I will be off!

INFRANCA: (to Mount) Did you get a chance to see the play last year?

MOUNT: No, my daughter went, and the kids. They liked it.

INFRANCA: Would you like to go?

MOUNT: That’d be nice.

Cast prepares to leave. RILEY whispers a holiday greeting to MOUNT.

MOUNT: (to Riley) Merry Christmas to you, sweetheart.

She waves. The cast departs. Supplies have been running low, and Mount’s volunteers still have hundreds of holiday food packages to prepare.

MOUNT: I guess I won’t get much rest until about February 3. That’s just the way it’s gotta be.