Drat Those Nocturnal Creatures

I was, says Ageless, from not far away.

He approaches.

Was WHAT? asks Terence.

Trying to please them, says Ageless. How was I to know the snake was defective?

Defective! cries Kobo. You exhausted it. You gave it the raw end of the circumference.

I think you have muddled your metaphor, dear one, says Pinky.

What? O yes! says Kobo. A circumference with a raw end. How funny. You see Ageless has upset my equilibrium.

Calm down, Kobo, says Gaius. Are you more upset because the snake died or because the wheel contraption failed, and with it your means of running over the sand with Pinky?

Kobo is silent. Good question. Which is it?

Humboldt examines the snake.

It's a vermicella parscauda, if I'm not mistaken, says Humboldt. What a loss to natural science.

I apologise, says Ageless. If I'd known, I'd have reinvented the wheel with the snake in the middle.

Ha ha! laughs Pinky. Imagine that. You on the outside.

Cracking open, says Terence. Your insides oozing out.

No matter, says Ageless. My life is over.

He glances sideways at Kobo. His life is over. How does his sweet cream puff like that?

Tch! says Gaius. No more talk of that sort. As for the snake, being dead is not the worst thing. Of the five vermicella parscaudas so far recorded, at least three have been dead ones.

That is all very well, says Humboldt, but not promising for the survival of the species.

Or mine, says Ageless.

Come here, Ageless, says Kobo.

He sidles over. Crik-crik,,,,,,,,is she melting towards him?

She whispers: Ageless, you toss pot. Get over yourself.

He whispers back: sweetness,,,,,crik-crik,,,,,i would rather,,,,,ach! get over your umbo and explore your private escutcheon,,,,ach!,,,,ach!,,,,i'm choked with emotion,,,,

She whispers: I know what you would rather, so.... find me a wheeled box, big enough for me and for Pinky, and some means of setting it in motion.

Ageless looks around.

There's the plum box, says Terence.

Excellent, says Ageless.

The bandy bandies are sleeping in it, says Terence.

Drat! says Ageless. These nocturnal creatures. Asleep in the day time. Wrecking the flow of the narrative.

Yes. My thoughts exactly.