Pannos. How do you feel?
Ralis. I'm a bit nervous.
Pannos. I don't blame you.
Ralis. I can't calm down. I feel like a little boy. I can't get it out of me.
Pannos. Take a walk.
Ralis. Take a walk? Where do I go?
Pannos. I remember the day Artyom was born. I was so nervous, I couldn't just go to the hospital, so I took a walk. I didn't know where I was going, I was letting the crosswalk signs guide me. Then a couple of blocks from the hospital, I run into this bowling alley. I'm like, what the hell. I'll go bowling.
Ralis. You went bowling when your first son was born?
Pannos. Have you ever bowled by yourself, Ralis?
Ralis. No, I don't think so.
Pannos. It doesn't matter if you hit a strike or not. Everyone else is paying attention to their own games. I pick up a spilt spare, and no one witnesses it. I throw a gutter, and no one cares. So why am I trying to still throw strikes and pick up that spare?
Ralis. I guess that's what you're supposed to do in bowling.
Pannos. That's right. In bowling, you're supposed to try to get strikes and spares.
Ralis. So you think I should go bowling to calm down?
Pannos. I'm just saying that you should take a walk. You may run into a bowling alley or not. You'll run into something.
Ralis. Yeah, you're right. I gotta get out of here.
End. Rolling into Pins

Liliya. That looks nice. Can you make that?
Gediminas. It’s not too hard. Do you want me to make it?
Liliya. Go to the next page. Let’s see what else is there.
Gediminas. Here’re more fish dishes.
Liliya. These photos are really nice. I’m getting hungry.
Gediminas. Do you want me to make one of these dishes?
Liliya. I don’t know. Will it take long? I might need to eat something instantly.
Gediminas. How long is too long?
Liliya. Wait, what was that? Turn back.
Gediminas. Here?
Liliya. There. That’s so cute.
Gediminas. Which picture?
Liliya. The pink chicken chopped into neat little pieces. It’s adorable.
Gediminas. Perhaps we should get something from a street cart.
Liliya. I would like a cute hotdog.
End. Instantly Cute

Romualdas. Have you ever seen a man pull out a gun in the open before?
Liesel. No, I don’t think so. Oh, there’s always soldiers with automatic rifles at international airports it seems.
Romualdas. Yeah, they always have their rifles pointing down, slung around their shoulders.
Liesel. It’s a pretty normal sight, I think.
Romualdas. I was following two security guards transferring two bags on a hand truck today.
Liesel. Did they have rifles?
Romualdas. No, they had hand guns in their holsters sticking out of their sides, but one of them, the one who wasn’t pushing the hand truck had a hand on his gun.
Liesel. You felt like he was going to pull it out or something?
Romualdas. Yeah, the way he was touching the gun. He was thinking about his gun, ready to pull it out in case something wrong happened. He was going to pull it out and point it at someone.
Liesel. Did he? Did he pull it out?
Romualdas. When they got to their armored truck on the side of the road, the guard took it out of his holster. He pointed it down with his finger off the trigger and on the guard. Both of them were wearing bulletproof vests over their uniforms. I really felt he wanted something wrong to occur - any excuse for him to discharge a round or two into someone’s shoulder.
Liesel. I think you wanted something to go wrong.
End. Wanting Something Wrong

Inessa. I'm a little worried about Armen.
Gasan. Armen? Why? What's going on?
Inessa. I just saw him before he left for work. He looked like death was waiting to take him by the hand around the corner to disappear.
Gasan. I wonder what's wrong?
Inessa. I stopped him because he didn't recognize me. I asked him if there was something wrong. He told me that he just hopes someone, anyone would give him a smile, so I gave him a smile.
Gasan. That was nice. Did he feel better?
Inessa. I hope so.
Gasan. Sounds like he needs something good to affect his life.
Inessa. I feel like he's on the brink, but I don't know what he would do exactly. I'm a little afraid. He can be quite extreme.
Gasan. Violent?
Inessa. Yes, but more toward himself.
Gasan. Do you think he'll hurt himself?
Inessa. If he has reason to, I think so.
Gasan. Why would he hurt himself?
Inessa. Cause he doesn't like himself so much.
Gasan. So hurting himself would be a sort of self-punishment?
Inessa. But does it really help anything?
Gasan. If he doesn't think there's anything to help, then maybe self-punishment is the only thing he can take control of. Like people committing suicide, for some of them, taking one's life is almost like taking control of one's life.
Inessa. Gasan?
Gasan. Yes?
Inessa. I need a smile, too.
End. Gasan Smiles

Zhanna. What are we doing here?
Regimantas. Sometimes, I like coming here to listen to the Japanese customers speak Japanese.
Zhanna. That’s why we’re here?
Regimantas. I’m also having my vivid dreams again.
Zhanna. What did you dream?
Regimantas. I met this girl, and we were having a great time with each other. We walked up and down the streets, talking, I felt like my true self with her.
Zhanna. Sounds nice.
Regimantas. We ended up at a cross walk where we said good bye. Then she crossed the street to get on a bus at a bus stop. I woke up shortly after and realized that I was speaking to her in Japanese.
Zhanna. So that’s why we’re here? Because of your dream?
Regimantas. I just wondered if I would be able to understand the Japanese spoken here.
Zhanna. Well, do you?
Regimantas. No, not really.
End. Wagarimasen

Josie Cartin. Excuse me?
Fyodor. Hello? Where are you?
Josie Cartin. Here. Down here.
Fyodor. Oh, have you come to throw rocks at me?
Josie Cartin. No, that was my friend.
Fyodor. I saw you with her. You need to tell your friend that she needs to practice throwing, or was she trying to hit the tree?
Josie Cartin. She was trying to hit you. After we ran away, I told her that she shouldn’t have done it. We’re not talking anymore.
Fyodor. I’m sorry to hear that.
Josie Cartin. It’s okay. She does a lot of things I don’t like. There was one time when she didn’t have anywhere to put her gum, so she stuck it in one of your trees.
Fyodor. Yeah people do that.
Josie Cartin. Do you take care of all these trees?
Fyodor. That’s my job.
Josie Cartin. Aren’t you afraid to fall?
Fyodor. I fell once. I made sure I’d never do it again.
Josie Cartin. What happened?
Fyodor. I forgot to secure my harness. I just leaned all my weight on nothing and so I fell.
Josie Cartin. Did you hurt yourself?
Fyodor. Couple fractured ribs, burns on my hands from grabbing branches, nothing too bad, kind of lucky I suppose.
Josie Cartin. Are you okay now?
Fyodor. Sure I am.
Josie Cartin. My friend told me that you love trees so much that you only eat meat and not vegeatables.
Fyodor. Do you believe what she says?
Josie Cartin. No, but you love your trees, don’t you?
Fyodor. Yes, you could say that I do.
Josie Cartin. Do you only eat meat then?
Fyodor. I eat just about everything. I just don’t eat trees.
Josie Cartin. Well, I have to go home. It’s almost dinner time.
Fyodor. Maybe I’ll try to have some of this tree for dinner today.
Josie Cartin. Okay, um, bye.
Fyodor. Bye.
End. Talking to the Tree Climber

Arünas. Whoops, excuse me.
Gisela. Excuse me.
Arünas. Wow, that is a nice jacket. I mean really.
Gisela. Thank you.
Arünas. Okay well, bye.
Gisela. Bye.
Machteld. Will you stop flirting with strangers?
Arünas. I didn’t like her shirt, though.
End. Nice Jacket, Bad Shirt

Saulius. What are you doing?
Sofya. I don’t know. What am I doing?
Saulius. You’re peeling off the labels off your bottles of beer.
Sofya. It’s a good sign of how drunk I am. You see. You have to peel them with the right amount of tension or else the label doesn’t come off completely. Here, I’ll pull a perfect label just for you. Oh no, I’m messing up. This one’s a bad one. I’m sorry.
Saulius. It’s okay.
Sofya. I would give you these other labels, but they’re for the waiters and bartenders.
Saulius. Are you drunk?
Sofya. I feel drunk.
Saulius. Do you feel good?
Sofya. I think so, but I’ve run out of labels to peel. It might make me sad.
Saulius. I could order another round of beer.
Sofya. That’ll make me happy.
End. Labels to Peel

Saveli. Hey, can I ask you a question?
Grigori. What is it?
Saveli. Do you know Inga?
Grigori. Yeah, she's in my math class. Do you like her? Do you want to ask her out?
Saveli. How do I do that?
Grigori. You Freshman. Do you know her? Have you talked to her?
Saveli. Yeah, I know her.
Grigori. Then what's the problem? Just ask her. Tell her she looks cute, and then tell her that you'll win her teddy bears at carnivals.
Saveli. I'm serious. I like her.
Grigori. Then what's the problem? Just ask her out.
Saveli. Then what? I don't know what to do with her.
Grigori. What do you mean? Get a pizza. Have it at the cemetery. Go to the beach. Build a fire.
Saveli. That's what you'd do. I like her, Grigori. I want her to be my girlfriend, but I don't know what to do with her.
Grigori. You're such a Freshman. You catch a fish, you eat it.
Saveli. She's no fish.
End. Fishing for Paralysis

Marcos. I’ve finally figured out why strangers get into conversations of familiarity with other strangers.
Evgenia. What do you mean?
Marcos. You know how you’re at an airport or a park and the person next to you just gets into a conversation with you?
Evgenia. Yeah, it puts me off guard, but don’t they talk out of sheer loneliness?
Marcos. Yes, but more to the point is that they don’t have to show their faults or sadness to a complete stranger. I mean, usually a stranger’s going to be happy, maybe even too happy.
Evgenia. I’ve talked to strangers who’ve told me about their wives leaving them. They didn’t seem too happy.
Marcos. That’s when they have put an unusual amount of trust in a stranger, and in that case, they have something specific to talk about. I’m talking about those people who just come up and sit next to you then talk about whatever random thing appears in their minds. Now these people might have a husband, or a wife, boyfriend, girlfriend, mother, father, whatever; someone they’re close to, but that husband or wife or whoever knows the negative side of the stranger who will come up to me and just talk to me.
Evgenia. What are you saying? Do you mean that strangers approach other strangers simply to be in a conversation with someone does not know their bad qualities?
Marcos. It’s a relationship at an extremely safe and surface level. Take our relationship for example. When we first met each other, we didn’t know our faults as people, the initial time we’ve spent with each other were great because our faults were not apparent, but after time you come to know my faults and I come to know your faults, but it’s only because we’ve learned to trust one another.
Evgenia. Then these strangers have a difficult time trusting people?
Marcos. It more like they rather be seen in a good light than trust in people.
Evgenia. It’s much easier, I suppose, but if I were to talk to stranger after stranger, I’d think I would become numb to the individual. I would treat everyone in the same generic way.
Marcos. Kind of like how restaurants treat their customers.
Evgenia. But I know waitresses to personalize their treatment with regular customers.
Marcos. Those are the best restaurants.
Evgenia. I know one where they know me. Are you hungry? Want to go?
Marcos. Please.
End. Conversations of Familiarity

Artashes. There he is.
Pranod. Who?
Artashes. It's Uchkun. Quick, do you have twenty dollars? I just have thirty.
Pranod. What? Why do you need fifty dollars?
Artashes. Shoot, he's getting away. Do you have it or not?
Pranod. Yeah, I guess I do.
Artashes. Here, here. Give it up. I'll pay you back.
Pranod. What is going on? Who is that guy?
Artashes. Thanks. I'll see you later today. Can you take my bag? Here, can you take my jacket, too?
Pranod. Where are you going?
End. When Artashes gives Uchkun fifty dollars, Uchkun will run from being caught by Artashes. If Artashes catches Uchkun, Uchkun will give Artashes $500. If not, Uchkun keeps the fifty.

Rennae. Is it too late to have the peach-rasberry pie?
Waitress. You're just in time. It's our last day. Would you like an order?
Rennae. I'll have the baklava.
End. Something Else

Nestor. Look at this.
Sesil. What is it?
Nestor. It's a note I wrote to myself.
Sesil. "Leaving trees paper planes?" What does that mean?
Nestor. I don't know. I don't even remember writing it.
Sesil. This is your handwriting. I can barely read it. But you don't remember writing it? Where did you find it?
Nestor. On my kitchen table. I wonder if I was sleepwalking.
Sesil. It's kind of like you're communicating with yourself.
Nestor. It's weird, though. What was I trying to tell myself? Leaving trees paper planes? There's something familiar about it, but it makes no sense.
Sesil. You should write a note back.
Nestor. To myself? Will you be the first one to welcome me to the funny farm?
Sesil. I'll plan for your escape.
Nestor. What should I write?
Sesil. Just ask yourself what leaving trees paper planes means.
Nestor. Would I really know what it means?
Sesil. You wrote it. Then you should ask why you wrote it.
Nestor. I should write myself to stop writing notes to myself.
End. Leaving Trees Paper Planes