[Excerpt]

 

LOUISE

         (Loudly, to THEO and FLORENCE)

Look who’s here, Mr. and Mrs. Stella.

         (THEO looks at BLAKE, SIDD and LOUISE and then continues hammering.          FLORENCE shifts one of the towers of books and squints in the direction of SIDD)

FLORENCE

How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is

To have a thankless child.

         (She returns to the book she was working on)

LOUISE

Your mother’s involved in her new translation.

         (To SIDD)

We haven’t seen much of you around here lately.

 SIDD

I’ve been up to my ears in doing deals, as I’m sure my girls told you.

LOUISE

You’re the father of the twins?

SIDD

Jan and Jen. They couldn’t come this time.

         (He walks toward FLORENCE and pushes aside a stack of books. BLAKE walks over          to THEO)

BLAKE

How are you, Dad?

         (She gives him a kiss on the cheek)

LOUISE

Fifty years. They’ve got a lot to celebrate.

BLAKE

So this is your new bricolage?

THEO

         (Still banging)

War of All Against All.

BLAKE

I loved the last one, about global warming with the map of the world made out of burnt breadcrumbs.

THEO

Toast.

BLAKE

It was an incredibly powerful piece, Dad.