Still Life by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview

Still Life

Page 63

Mime's Joke, translated: Knock knock. Who's there? Interrupting Ministry. Interrupting Ministry - Silence. Then a sudden burst of laughter from the walls themselves.

Finn: "The architecture remembers. That joke once caused a deputy minister to hiccup during a budget hearing."

The Last Laugh's voice echoes from nowhere and everywhere.

The Last Laugh: "Laughter is the archive of refusal. Tonight, you restore what was erased."

Guests begin to chant the sacred refrain: "Snortus Interruptus. Chortle Fugue. Sacred Wheeze."

The Codex levitates slightly. A new appendix forms:

Appendix 7B: The Feast Protocol - When joy is rationed, satire becomes sacrament. When memory is erased, laughter becomes prophecy.

Susie, to Finn, quietly: "Do you feel it? The emotional equilibrium is cracking. The seriousness economy won't survive the dessert course."

Finn: "Then let us serve the final dish, The Paradox Pie. Filled with contradictions, topped with whipped whimsy."