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Authors: Sergio De La Pava
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passed between them at respective first glance. So palpable that I began to reconsider my position. But then when nothing seemed to germinate from there I remembered how you and Clarissa had shared something similar on your first meeting.
LUDWIG: Not true.
NESTOR: And so concluded that calling these admittedly charged interactions Love was highly presumptuous at best and I was safe in my earlier position. But now see for yourself. What they’re obviously experiencing now was apparently evident from their outset. So there you have it. Against all impediments, love at first sight. A glimpse into the future of a two always meant to be one.
LUDWIG: Good for them I guess.
NESTOR: Of course…
LUDWIG: What?
NESTOR: Well only that if I’m right about what previously passed between you two.
LUDWIG: You’re not.
NESTOR: Then it seems what we’re seeing is more like happy happenstance, happy for them anyway. Ironic too.
LUDWIG: If you say so.
NESTOR: Adam convinces you to risk your life and leave them for the benefit of the group and your absence just happens to open the door to their obvious connection.
LUDWIG: You mean our absence
NESTOR: Obviously if the roles had been reversed or, I would argue, even if they were to reverse now and Adam were to absent himself, that could easily be you in the breathless throes of love.
LUDWIG: I’d rather breathe.
NESTOR: Of course, ( solicitous ) I didn’t mean to suggest otherwise. Just that… this can be a lonely place. Charles has what’s left in his neurons of Linda. Clarissa and Adam now have each other. I guess you could argue that the spare tire’s just as important as the four that spin.
LUDWIG: What does that make you?
NESTOR: I drive, or else I get dizzy.
LUDWIG: I’ll be all right Nestor, but thanks for the concern.
( Clarissa notices them. )
CLARISSA: Guys! You’re back! What news if any?
( Ludwig looks at Nestor who smiles but doesn’t respond. )
CLARISSA: Well?
LUDWIG: Um…
CLARISSA: Nestor?
( He doesn’t respond so Clarissa looks to Ludwig. )
What’s with him?
LUDWIG: Oh, probably that vow of silence you made him take.
CLARISSA: Goodness. Fine, you can disavow your silence. Now what happened?
( Nestor crosses his arms and ruefully nods no. Adam and even Charles to the extent possible have joined Clarissa in hopeful expectation. )
LUDWIG: I don’t think he’s going to spill it.
CLARISSA: You then. What did you find?
LUDWIG: Well ( hesitant ) it’s not easy to explain.
( Nestor hits him on shoulder. )
But I will say this: ( clears his throat ) the trajectory of human progress has rarely if ever formed a straight line.
( Their interest is piqued. )
If, as some suspect, we are what’s left of humanity then nothing short of cosmological propulsion has landed this burden on our lap. History will record our reaction but more crucial than that our reaction will determine history. Not just its content but whether such an entity will even endure.
At issue is what will become of this grand edifice. We built it up and into the sky in the hopes of reaching heaven and now as it crumbles down around us we find that this great distance we thought we’d traveled can close in an instant. So what now? Because a person flung backward by adversity can run away in the direction flung, meekly stay put, or slowly, grudgingly, inch-by-inch until foot-by-foot begin the journey back whence she came to resume the struggle.
I won’t pretend that what Nestor and I learned is encouraging in the classic sense, he loves and respects you all too much for that, but it does have the power to encourage in this respect. In the agency of Man lies his majesty. What will become of us is largely a function of us. I urge you to take action as it is only in acting that the actor becomes fully human. A second act is guaranteed
LUDWIG: Not true.
NESTOR: And so concluded that calling these admittedly charged interactions Love was highly presumptuous at best and I was safe in my earlier position. But now see for yourself. What they’re obviously experiencing now was apparently evident from their outset. So there you have it. Against all impediments, love at first sight. A glimpse into the future of a two always meant to be one.
LUDWIG: Good for them I guess.
NESTOR: Of course…
LUDWIG: What?
NESTOR: Well only that if I’m right about what previously passed between you two.
LUDWIG: You’re not.
NESTOR: Then it seems what we’re seeing is more like happy happenstance, happy for them anyway. Ironic too.
LUDWIG: If you say so.
NESTOR: Adam convinces you to risk your life and leave them for the benefit of the group and your absence just happens to open the door to their obvious connection.
LUDWIG: You mean our absence
NESTOR: Obviously if the roles had been reversed or, I would argue, even if they were to reverse now and Adam were to absent himself, that could easily be you in the breathless throes of love.
LUDWIG: I’d rather breathe.
NESTOR: Of course, ( solicitous ) I didn’t mean to suggest otherwise. Just that… this can be a lonely place. Charles has what’s left in his neurons of Linda. Clarissa and Adam now have each other. I guess you could argue that the spare tire’s just as important as the four that spin.
LUDWIG: What does that make you?
NESTOR: I drive, or else I get dizzy.
LUDWIG: I’ll be all right Nestor, but thanks for the concern.
( Clarissa notices them. )
CLARISSA: Guys! You’re back! What news if any?
( Ludwig looks at Nestor who smiles but doesn’t respond. )
CLARISSA: Well?
LUDWIG: Um…
CLARISSA: Nestor?
( He doesn’t respond so Clarissa looks to Ludwig. )
What’s with him?
LUDWIG: Oh, probably that vow of silence you made him take.
CLARISSA: Goodness. Fine, you can disavow your silence. Now what happened?
( Nestor crosses his arms and ruefully nods no. Adam and even Charles to the extent possible have joined Clarissa in hopeful expectation. )
LUDWIG: I don’t think he’s going to spill it.
CLARISSA: You then. What did you find?
LUDWIG: Well ( hesitant ) it’s not easy to explain.
( Nestor hits him on shoulder. )
But I will say this: ( clears his throat ) the trajectory of human progress has rarely if ever formed a straight line.
( Their interest is piqued. )
If, as some suspect, we are what’s left of humanity then nothing short of cosmological propulsion has landed this burden on our lap. History will record our reaction but more crucial than that our reaction will determine history. Not just its content but whether such an entity will even endure.
At issue is what will become of this grand edifice. We built it up and into the sky in the hopes of reaching heaven and now as it crumbles down around us we find that this great distance we thought we’d traveled can close in an instant. So what now? Because a person flung backward by adversity can run away in the direction flung, meekly stay put, or slowly, grudgingly, inch-by-inch until foot-by-foot begin the journey back whence she came to resume the struggle.
I won’t pretend that what Nestor and I learned is encouraging in the classic sense, he loves and respects you all too much for that, but it does have the power to encourage in this respect. In the agency of Man lies his majesty. What will become of us is largely a function of us. I urge you to take action as it is only in acting that the actor becomes fully human. A second act is guaranteed
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