Serious
Persons of the Dialogue
Newscaster
Director
Student
Silliness
"But why did you laugh?" Student asked.
Newscaster shrugged. "It was out of silliness."
"About a triple homicide?"
"What can I say? Almost everything we talk about is serious. You get slap happy after a while."
"Well," Student admitted, "I thought it was kind of funny, too."
"How do you know when something you are casting is serious?" Director asked.
"You're serious? Is death ever not serious, funny even?"
"If it isn't, why do you think that is? Piety?"
Newscaster looked at Director for a moment then waved to the bartender to bring him another drink. "People are afraid of death," he said simply. "What you're afraid of generally isn't very funny."
"And yet people laugh at times when they are afraid, because they are afraid. They call it nervous laughter, right?"
"Nerves and fear are two different things."
"If only by degree?"
"Long live death!" cried Student with a wicked grin and finished his drink.
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Nick Pappas, pappasnick.typepad.com
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