Act 1. Scene 1.

PADDISH stands at the water’s edge awaiting his old friend EELS, who swims up from the distant low-water.

PADDISH: Come, come to the high-water, Eels!

EELS: I draw nearer despite the failings of—

PADDISH: Water, Eels, never mistake the failings of water for the failings of man.

A machine composed of three parts falls to the ground at the edge of the water.

EELS: Some things touch more in the third part than the first, Paddy. Which is it, this?

PADDISH inspects the fallen machine, touching each of its three parts and offering audible appraisals.

PADDISH: No part more than the other, no part less than the last.

EELS: Bad sign.

PADDISH: I’ve heard legends of signs in four-color print.

EELS: And pasted to alley walls—yes, yes, we’ve all heard legends such as these.

PADDISH: I’ve seen bad signs in taste and scope.

EELS: As have I.

PADDISH: Then what does this sign portent, pray, Eels?

EELS: An open eye, old friend, at the edge of a thing outsourced to distant Asia.

PADDISH: A thing of metal.

EELS: A thing of claw.

CURTAIN

Timestamp: 02.18.07 at 02:22 PM. Filed under: Drama.