Slurred And Over-Excited

At first Gaius didn't want to come in.

All that noise, the flashing lights, and the drinking.

He has wheeled his bicycle through the Baw Baw Alpine Village looking for somewhere more suited to his abstemious nature.

But it is three in the morning. All those of abstemious nature are asleep in their alpine chalets and back packer dorms. Doors locked, lights out.

And again, snow is falling.

He wheels his bicycle back to the nightclub, sets down the bicycle, and steps inside.

It is warm, hot even. The music is loud.

He can't see either Arthur or Sweezus.

Perhaps they are among the crowd over there, round that table.

What are they looking at? Why are they laughing?

Ha ha!

A young voice, slurred and over-excited: I used to live in a palace!

A parroty voice: Now we live in a hat.

The young voice: On a bicycle.

The parroty voice: With dinosaur teeth!

The crowd: Ha ha!

Gaius pushes his way through.

Enough of this circus! says Gaius. The infant and parrot are with me.

How come you left them unattended? says a woman.

Yeah? says another. They've been drinking. It's probly illegal.

Probly? says Gaius. I'll give them probly!

What's probly? asks Terence.

Prob-AB-ly. says the Elegant Parrot. It means what's going to happen, but it might not, so it's a maybe.

Yay! I get a maybe! says Terence. Saint Joseph never gave me a maybe. Whack, no questions. That's why I jumped off the palace.

Gaius picks him up by the back of his neck and the shorts.

Where is Arthur?

Over there, says the Elegant Parrot, indicating the bar where Arthur is talking to Heron, the ornithologist.

They are on their second todka.

A sweet mixture of toffee syrup and vodka.

What's that in your pocket? asks Heron. It's sighing.

What? says Arthur. He had forgotten the Green Grocer Cicada in his pocket.

He lifts out the Green Grocer Cicada, and sets him down on the bar.

Hu-uuh..... sighs the Green Grocer Cicada. My life is no longer worth living.

Without the frog? says Arthur.

Without the Honourable Mention, says the Green Grocer Cicada

What frog? asks Heron.

Long story, says Arthur. He's only got a week left.

Then what? asks Heron.

The eternal question, says Arthur. Then what? But, look at him closely.

Heron looks closely at the Green Grocer Cicada.

He's wearing a hat, spun out of........ what is it ?

Dental floss, says Arthur. He made a poem, He said the poem made him feel better. Reconciled him to the Then What. But apparently, he's already forgotten....

I had forgotten, says the Green Grocer Cicada. What was it?

Song of Peach Blossom River, says Arthur. About a secret place where people are immortal, and a fisherman finds it, but when he leaves, he can't find it again.

Why did he leave? asks Heron.

He had other fish to fry, says Arthur.

Heron laughs. He thinks Arthur is funny.