Hope Remains Inside The Jar

At the Miami International Airport, waiting for their flight to Barbados.....

Gaius and Griff are already on their second cup of coffee.

Terence is lecturing Nose on How To Be A Better Parrot.

You have to obey me, says Terence.

Okay, says Nose. Let's try it.

Get me a red drink, says Terence.

Okay, says Nose.

She wanders away, in search of a red drink.

Hey! says Terence. Don't go far off.

Okay, says Nose.

She comes back.

What about the red drink? asks Terence.

Choose, says Nose. Red drink or Don't go far off.

Okay, says Terence. Don't go far off. Make someone else do it.

I'll ask Ageless, says Nose.

Ageless is only too glad of an excuse to get away from his beloved, who is ranting, on feminist themes.

What is it? asks Ageless.

Terence wants a red drink, says Nose. Can you go and get one?

Certainly, says Ageless. Kobo, my delicious little fritter, excuse me for a moment. Duty calls.

He levers himself out of the basket and heads for a cafe.

In the cafe he sees, at a table, a lobster he knows.

Stede! cries Ageless. What are you doing here?

Ageless, by the devil! says Stede. You tough old crustacean! Still kicking?

Still kicking, says Ageless. What are you drinking?

Filthy muck! says Stede. Hey ho! Let us repair to a tavern and get a real drink inside us!

Rum? suggests Ageless hopefully.

Rum, says his old acquaintance.

They repair to a tavern (an airport bar).

Stede orders two stiff ones.

Where are you off to? asks Stede.

Barbados, says Ageless.

Rock my old pirate's balls! says Stede. That's where I'm heading. Come and see me, in Bridgetown. I'll take you out sailing. Are you on your own?

O yes, says Ageless.

Let's have another! says Stede.

.......

Ageless staggers back to the basket.

Kobo hasn't even noticed he'd gone. She has been deconstructing Hesiod's version of the Pandora myth to her own satisfaction.

So.....Ageless. What do you think?

Err...m, says Ageless, emitting rum fumes.

She lets all the ills of mankind out of a jar.

Yes, says Ageless. Terrible.

And only hope remains, says Kobo.

That's a wonderful thing, beloved, says Ageless.

INSIDE THE JAR! says Kobo.

Oops. Ageless can't get his befuddled head around this one.

Hesiod didn't think his metaphor through, says Kobo.

How so? says Ageless, courting danger.

Weren't you LISTENING? asks Kobo.

Hope remains, says Ageless.

Inside the jar, says Kobo. What use is that to anyone?

Where's my red drink? asks Terence, leaning over the basket.

I knew there was something, says Ageless.