A Play

by Herschel Hardin

PAUL:
You have one minute to present your play.

HERSCHEL:
One minute? That’s outrageous! Do you know who I am? The greatest playwright since Shakespeare, and I’m not even sure about him. The ghost of George Bernard Shaw grovels at my feet!

PAUL:
Your time’s up!

HERSCHEL:
What? Already? Impossible!

PAUL:
Time’s up!

HERSCHEL:
You son of a harlot! I slipped some hemlock into my first line of dialogue. You’re going to die, like Hamlet!

PAUL:
Hemlock? Dialogue? You can’t! But wait! The minute will be over before I die. I’m saved!

HERSCHEL:
You fool! I’ve added a time extender in my second line of dialogue. You’re finished!

PAUL:
A time extender? No! No! Not a time extender! Agggggggggh!

(He dies.)

HERSCHEL:
Adieu, doux prince, O Prince of Wells. The fault was not in the stars, but in your clock.
(He points to the corpse.)
Your time’s up!