You Can't Die

It's morning, or could be.

Let's say, it must be morning somewhere.

Arthur wakes up, feeling seedy. Ying hasn't slept.

Daniel O'Connell has slept like a spider, wrapped in a sticky white hanky.

In the red box, Geoff Darwin and Cedric Walnut have enjoyed the extra space.

The plane lands in Dubai.

......

You know what? says Ying. I'm going to snooze in a Snoozecube. We've got three hours here.

What'll I do? asks Arthur.

Perhaps she will give him some money.

She doesn't.

She turns, to look about for a Snoozecube.

Arthur says: Hey.

What, Arthur?

Money?

Oh, yes? Have a few euros.

She hands him a wad of fresh euros.

Don't spend it all at once.

Arthur replies that he won't spend it, unless he has to.

He sets off to explore Dubai airport, with the red box in his shorts pocket.

So many shops. So many consumerist items. Watches. Sunglasses. Donuts. Giraffe!

Giraffe is a café.

Arthur isn't hungry. But Daniel O'Connell has spotted Giraffe through the red box's thumb hole.

I'm mightily famished, says Daniel O'Connell.

Arthur hears him. They enter Giraffe, where Daniel O'Connell orders the Nachos Nirvana.

Arthur pays for the Nachos Nirvana and leaves Daniel to eat it.

Arthur has decided he needs a new phone.

........

Ying is asleep in her Snoozecube.

It is soundproof.

She dreams she is lying beside Arthur, and Arthur is reciting...in French, something ....

DEPART.....assez vu ......la vision s'est rencontrée à tous les airs......assez eu....rumeurs des villes, le soir, et au soleil....et toujours....assez connu....

She rolls over, in the compact Snoozecube bed.

......

Daniel O'Connell feels sick. He has only eaten one corn kernel. The rest of the plate looks like vomit.

Where is Arthur, when we need him? says Cedric Walnut.

He's turning out to be unreliable, says Geoff Darwin.

They help Daniel O'Connell back into the box, through the thumb hole.

........

Arthur has bought a new phone and returned to Giraffe.

He plays with the touchscreen.

He sits down at the table with the red box.

Geoff Darwin looks out.

Daniel O'Connell is not a good traveller, says Geoff Darwin.

Arthur looks into the box.

Daniel O'Connell, smeared with Nachos Nirvana, lies prostrate on the bottom.

At last, croaks Daniel O'Connell. I fear I am dying.

You can't die, says Arthur.

Powerful words, and no one should say them unless they mean it.

Daniel O'Connell does not die. He sits up and spits out a lump of corn kernel.

Got a new phone? asks Daniel O'Connell. What is it? Not one of those exploding Samsungs?

Ha ha, laughs Cedric Walnut.

No, says Arthur. A Huawei.

Well done, says Daniel O'Connell. And would you now be making a phone call?

Who to? asks Arthur.

Baby Pierre, says Daniel O'Connell. Tell him I apologise. Tell him....

But Arthur has no time to do it.

Ying appears, with her hair in a flurry.