Hajrie. What are you making?
Veniamin. Pumpkin soup.
Hajrie. Isn’t cutting up the pumpkin tough to do?
Veniamin. It is, and I know one of these days this blade’ll slip into my fingers.
Hajrie. It’s possible. Why don’t you be careful?
Veniamin. I am, but there’ll be a moment when I’m not paying attention, and that’s that.
Hajrie. Sounds like you’ve created a traumatic event for yourself.
Veniamin. But if that’s true, then I would be afraid of chopping pumpkins.
Hajrie. Aren’t you?
Veniamin. I think I need to actually experience the trauma of cutting my hand before I can actually be afraid.
Hajrie. So until then, you’ll be making pumpkin soup.
Veniamin. I wonder how bad it would be.
End. Chopping Pumpkins for Soup

Suren. Sir, can you spare me some change?
Donatas. I’m sorry, no.
Suren. I can read your palm.
Donatas. It’s okay. I don’t need my palm read.
Suren. Please sir. Let me take your hand.
Donatas. I’m sorry I cannot give you change.
Suren. Here, give me your hand. I will give you a palm reading. You don’t need to give me change. Let me see your palm.
Donatas. Please.
Suren. Your palm. Believe me. You are a good man.
Donatas. Thank you.
Suren. Please, can you spare me some change? You are a good man.
Donatas. Please, I need to go.
End. Good Hands

Pranod. So what’s Uchkun’s story?
Artashes. What. Why does he want to be chased?
Pranod. Yeah, what’s the deal?
Artashes. He gets people to chase him so he’s not depressed.
Pranod. Being chased helps him with his depression?
Artashes. Say you’re depressed, and you have no motivation to do anything. What better way to get your ass moving than having someone chase you? Your instincts switch on. Depression takes a seat.
Pranod. That’s where the money comes in.
Artashes. Right. The chaser has to pay fifty dollars to chase Uchkun all over the city, but if the chaser catches Uchkun in an hour, he’ll win five hundred dollars. If not, then it’s fifty dollars in Uchkun’s pocket.
Pranod. You’d think that if Uchkun was extremely depressed, he wouldn’t care and get caught on purpose.
Artashes. That’s what I was thinking when he was getting away from me.
End. Running From

Nuno. Will you teach me how to float?
Serapion. Do you really believe that I can float?
Nuno. I saw you do it.
Serapion. But why me? Why is it that I can float? Who am I? I’m nobody.
Nuno. But you can. For some reason you can float.
Serapion. When I float, I feel nothing. I just float. That’s all. When I land, everyone around me is shocked. I feel I moved something inside their bodies, but I did nothing. There was a time when I video taped myself floating to watch myself so that maybe I could understand why I can float.
Nuno. What happened?
Serapion. The man in the television screen was not me. Someone else was floating, not me.
Nuno. But when I watched you float, you looked the same to me.
Serapion. It makes sense that it is not me floating though.
End. Floating Doubt

Perika. I have to tell you something.
Esat. What is it?
Perika. Coming here, I got into an accident.
Esat. What? Are you okay?
Perika. I’m fine, but your car. I hit your car.
Esat. What? My car? It was parked. What happened?
Perika. The roads are icy. I just lost control and hit your car.
Esat. Is it bad?
Perika. Yes. I’m so sorry.
Esat. I need my car to get to work. How am I going to get to work?
Perika. I don’t know.
Esat. I can’t believe this is happening.
Perika. I wish I hit a tree or even someone else’s car. I’m so sorry.
Esat. I need to go outside. See how bad it is.
Perika. Please, Esat. Will you forgive me?
Esat. Let’s go outside. I need to get my coat. Wait here for me.
End. Assessing the Damage

One.
Yoichi. It’s been a while since I sat down and read a book.
Kikuko. What’s stopping you?
Yoichi. I guess I forgot that I used to read often.
Kikuko. You’re lucky enough to remember.
Yoichi. Know any authors I can read?
Kikuko. John le Cárre.
Yoichi. Who’s that?
Kikuko. I don’t know really. I read this short story by Haruki Murakami, and the protagonist was on vacation reading a novel by John le Cárre by the side of a pool in Thailand. I’ve been meaning to pick up one of his novels to see any correlations. By the way John le Cárre was referenced, he seemed to be this chic author not many people know about. I’m not even sure he exists at all.
Yoichi. John le Cárre. I wonder who he is. Everything’s up in the air. I’ll look him up.

Two.
Yoichi. Hi, I’m looking for novels by an author named John le Cárre. I can’t seem to find him under “l” or “c.”
Clerk. You’ll find him under “l” in the mystery section.
Yoichi. Ah, mystery.
End. Under Mystery

Bahia. Did you do it?
Erast. I’ll be leaving the job in two weeks.
Bahia. Congratulations. How does it feel?
Erast. I feel guilty.
Bahia. Guilty? Really? Not relieved?
Erast. I met the manager to talk about my leaving.
Bahia. Ms. Sansushkin, right?
Erast. Right. When I told her that I was planning to leave, she asked me when, and I told her in two weeks, but then her face changed. It reminded me of Ginette.
Bahia. Ginette? Your ex-girlfriend?
Erast. Yeah. When I told Ms. Sansushkin I was leaving in two weeks, she looked the same Ginette looked when I broke up with her. She took a moment, looked down at nothing, then gathered herself to ask me more questions. It’s like she gave up and accepted that I was leaving.
Bahia. Do you regret it?
Erast. Why did I think leaving would be so easy?
End. Giving Notice

Silvija. Hey, come in.
Bentsion. So what’s going on?
Silvija. Take a look at this.
Bentsion. No one’s playing that piano.
Silvija. Right. It’s playing music by itself.
Bentsion. It’s not one of those self-playing pianos, is it?
Silvija. Not that I can tell. There’s no electricity going to the piano, and there’s no gears moving the keys.
Bentsion. I don’t get it. How is it playing by itself?
Silvija. I don’t know, but listen to the music. I’ve been listening to it for two hours now. I think it plays according to its environment.
Bentsion. Are you saying that it’s aware of its surroundings?
Silvija. I don’t know, maybe. I played with the piano, and it played along with what I was playing.
Bentsion. But you’ve had this piano for a couple of years now. All the sudden, it’s playing music for you?
Silvija. Yeah, it’s like a strange gift. I don’t know who to thank. What are you doing?
Bentsion. I want to know how it’s playing. It’s just amazing.
Silvija. I’ve already looked inside. For all I can tell it’s a normal piano.
Bentsion. Do you have a toolbox?
Silvija. What?
Bentsion. I want to try something.
Silvija. I don’t think you should.
Bentsion. Don’t you want to know why it’s playing by itself?
Silvija. No, not really.
End. The Music Modifies