A cafe. X is reading a book and eating a muffin. Q is perusing through a phone. The year is 2010. It is the afternoon following the official secession of a new state called Bitmint, formed from small sections of New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts. In 2010, theater is still relevant.
X looks up, keeps reading.
Q: Bitmint! Simply amazing!
X: Excuse me, but I'm trying to read.
Q: They've done it! A new state! God bless Bitmint! I say, I say! Sorry to bother you, but are you unemployed?
X: Why do you want to know?
Q: I asked my question first.
X: But mine is less presumptuous.
Q: Very well. The fact is, you're sitting in a cafe on a Wednesday afternoon reading a book while many people are slaving away down at the office.
X: I might work for myself.
Q: Do you?
X: No. I'm unemployed.
Q: Marvelous!
X: And I like to spend my unemployed hours reading fiction, so...
Q: Sir, how would you react if I told you that I've been appointed interim Governor of Bitmint?
X: You have?
Q: Oh, yes. (Holds up his phone.) Just got the text.
X: You did?
Q: And I'd like to offer you a job.
X: You would?
Q: A job like no other: Cultural Ambassador of Bitmint!
X: But I don't live in Bitmint.
Q: Yet. You don't live in Bitmint yet. Don't worry. There's good state funding to go towards your pay check. Now, all you need to do is fill out my survey here and make some creative decisions about the state insignia.
X: Survey?
Q: Oh, come on. It will take two mintues.
X: If you say so...
Q--X: Postal code?--BT. State flower?--Forsythia. State bird?--Horned owl thrush. Tree?--Bonsai. Colors?--Vermillion and mocha. Nickname?--The Manatee State, Land of Manatees, Little Bitty. Motto?--"Venia, Veneratio, Manatees" ("Grace, Honor, Manatees"). And on the flag?--A checkered vermillion and mocha background, horned owl thrush with a forsythia in its mouth, sitting on the shoulder of a manatee in the foreground.
Q: Bitmint doesn't really have a sprawling manatee population, you know.
X: Does that mean I'm not getting paid?
Q: It's possible.
X: Can I ask you something? Why "Bitmint"?
Q: I thought there should be a state that begins with the letter "B".
The End
No comments:
Post a Comment