A restaurant. A man and woman sit at dinner. A bluejay perches on a chair nearby.
Man: I had the funniest dream last night.
Woman: Did you write it down?
Man: No; it was so funny that I was sure to remember in the morning. I woke up at three thirty and thought, Oh, that was funny: I’ll write that down in the morning.
Woman: You hate seeing patterns, but you do this every week; I bought you that dream journal for a reason.
Man: I should buy you a meta-narrative slash critique-of-Capitalism slash banal-praise-of-Marxism slash why-is-Fascism-on-the-rise-in-our-society journal.
Woman: I’ve been meaning to buy myself one of those.
Man: And a red pen so you can symbolically write in the blood of the bourgeoisie.
Woman: This wine is good.
Man: I’m not going to let you distract me with wine, but I agree the wine is very good.
The bluejay caws; at the sound of the caw, the woman’s wine glass shatters in her hand.
Woman: I don’t know my own strength! And you’ll never guess what I was thinking about, though.
The man stands and takes an empty wine glass from a neighboring table; he pours her another glass.
Man: I love guessing games.
Woman: Go on.
Man: Why do the rich people keep stealing from the poor people?
Woman: No.
Man: If we could all have a living wage and wear virtual-reality headsets, societal problems will disappear—oh, and free bags of potato chips to eat while in virtual reality.
Woman: No, but you are warm. Very.
The bird caws again.
Man: What is up with the animals in this restaurant?
Woman: Oh, come on, guess again!
Man: But at least the power hasn’t gone out.
Woman: That’s it!
Man: Wow, I got it in three tries.
Woman: Yes, I was thinking about the power going out, and the darkness, if the floor under this table is clean enough, and if the darkness lasts long enough, and, I was thinking, well, maybe, you know…
Man: Why do you care if the floor is clean?
Woman: Well, Nigel, I said “clean enough” and I emphasized the enough when I said it, and, as I was saying, I was thinking, well, maybe, you know…
The power goes out; the three sit in darkness.
Woman: Darling, I’m getting under the table now.
Man: Why?
Woman: Can jays see in the dark by the way?
The jay caws loudly again.
Man: No, I don’t believe they can.
Woman: Good; bring the wine bottle, darling!
Man: I suppose they have an incredible sense of hearing though.
The jay caws loudly again.
Woman: I was hopeful we would navigate the next few moments without conversation.
The end.