More Turtles (a quadrabble)
"I want more turtles," Frank shouted, waving his green flippers wildly.
Thomas stumbled over a box full of pink plastic turtles. "If there are any more turtles, there won't be room for the actors!"
Frank paused a moment, one flipper scratching at his nose, before grinning. "It'd be perfect! Actors always spoil my artistic vision with their interpretations."
Thomas went to the nearest wall and gently banged his head off it a few times, leaving a grimy dust mark on his forehead. "Frank. Remember when we had that conversation about angels?"
"Oh. Yeah."
"If this production doesn't at least break even I won't be able to get you financing for an afternoon in the kid's reading room at the library!" Thomas picked up a turtle and threw it at Frank, bouncing it off his head. "People do not pay to see a stage full of plastic turtles!"
"Yeah, you're right." Frank sat down on a turtle box, frowning.
Thomas sighed and went over to him. He kissed Frank's cheek, scrunching to sit on a corner of the box. "I believe in you, Frank, I really do. Your vision is innovative, your sets are...intriguing (Thomas nudged a box of inflatable palm trees to one side) but you have to let me do my job, too. Tell me again, what's the play really about?"
"A man who hides from his past. That's what the turtles signify. In another life, he murdered his best friend. He had to prove himself, had to risk it all. But he was afraid his men would listen to his friend, who wanted them to be cautious. So he killed his friend, and became rich and famous. The end." By the time he got to the end, Frank was cheerfully waving his flippers about again.
"It's a bit... of a downer, don't you think?"
"Hey, he became rich and famous! That's a happy ending!"
"Not for the friend. And I don't think your hero was all that happy, either, if he felt guilty about it in another life."
"Ok, so it's not a happy ending, but, but... it's thematically vital that the friend dies!" Frank looked appealingly at Thomas. "I can write a great death scene for him. The audience will eat it up."
"Does it have turtles in it?"
"Well... I can leave the turtles out of that scene."
"Great."
"And replace them with penguins!"
Thomas sighed.