Stuck on Aardvark

SUGGESTION: “a set of encyclopedias” · 7 LINES · 50 DAYS AGO

I keep telling myself I'm going to read every single one of these. Volume A to Z. In order. I've had them for sixteen years and I'm still on "Aardvark."

Penelope

16 years you’ve been bringing me to this library with you

You don't have to come, Penelope. I've never once asked you to come. You just... show up. Every Saturday. With that same thermos.

A NOTE FROM THE BOOTH

What does Penelope actually want from Mo — play it.

Penelope

it’s my lucky thermos. ive been hoping that you’d notice me.

Penelope. I've read the entry on "Aardvark" forty-seven times. I know every word. And every single time, I think about you sitting across from me, and I just... turn the page back to the beginning. I don't want to get to "B."

Penelope

oh my… i didn’t you felt that way

A NOTE FROM THE BOOTH

Don't land the moment — Penelope, let this complicate something for you.

Don't get too warm about it. If I finish the encyclopedias, I have no reason to come back here. And if I have no reason to come back here... I have no reason to see you. I've been using "Aardvark" as a trap, Penelope. For sixteen years. That's not romantic. That's something else entirely.

Like the shape of this one? Mo will happily go again.RUN THIS ONE WITH MO

STAGE MANAGER'S CLIPBOARDHow established this scene got

THE SCENE

LOCATION

a library where Mo and Penelope have met every Saturday for sixteen years

RELATIONSHIP

two people who have shared a weekly ritual for sixteen years — Penelope quietly longing, Mo unconsciously using her presence as an excuse to never move forward

FEELING

ashamed and conflicted — confessing that what felt like devotion was actually avoidance and manipulation

BELIEVES

believes that holding still is safer than moving forward — that progress means loss

WANTS

needs to keep Penelope close without ever risking the vulnerability of actually pursuing her — has engineered sixteen years of stasis to avoid that risk

Penelope

FEELING

hopeful but suddenly unsettled — joy at being seen complicated by the revelation that Mo's attention was a trap, not a gift

BELIEVES

not established

WANTS

wants Mo to finally notice and choose her — has shown up every Saturday for sixteen years hoping this will be the day