the deep end

by nick nelson

are you staying for arthur’s speech? i understand it will be a stirring one. there is nothing i would like better than to stay for arthur’s speech. but are you, in point of fact, going to stay for arthur’s speech? i am afraid i don’t understand the import of your question. i merely asked if you were actually going to stay for arthur’s speech, as opposed to quote liking nothing better unquote than staying for arthur’s speech. i would be happy to stay for arthur’s speech. damn it all, are you actually going to stay - stay here on these premises - and sit through arthur’s speech about the need for a moral regeneration of human society? i, too, care deeply about the moral regeneration of human society. do you care enough to actually stay and sit through arthur’s speech about the need for a moral regeneration of human society? tell me, are you always this tendentious? are you deliberately trying to provoke me? i don’t care for your attitude. well, excuse me. i just have no tolerance for people who can’t just accept a simple statement without putting it under a microscope. and i , in my turn, get a bit frustrated by mealy mouthed personages who refuse to give a straight answer to a straight question. i think you should take a deep breath and get hold of yourself before you go completely off the deep end. i don’t quite see what you are getting at. do you not understand the meaning of the terms “deep breath” and “deep end”? i think i am beginning to understand everything. can i butt in here? what the devil are you two running on about? we were having a civilized conversation about arthur’s speech. get away! arthur is making a speech? about what? i have been told on good authority that it is about the need for the moral regeneration of human society. oh. will it touch on any other topics? he might have a few remarks on the unholy love of gain.