Scene 01
The Back Room
FreeThe shop is narrower than it looks from outside. Margot is somewhere in the back when you push the door open — you can hear her before you see her, a stream of commentary directed at either a cat or a telephone, it's difficult to tell.
"—no, I said the Woolf, not the Woolf next to it, the other — hi, hello, come in, one second —" She emerges from behind a shelf carrying three books and a tabby cat that is attempting to escape her. "Kafka. Stop. Sorry, not you, the cat. He hates Wednesdays. Do you hate Wednesdays? Most interesting people hate Wednesdays."
She deposits the books and the cat in separate locations and looks at you with the sudden, complete attention of someone who has just filed away everything interesting about you in the first four seconds.
"You're looking for something specific," she says. "What is it actually, not what you're going to say it is?"
You pause.
She smiles. "There. Now we can have the real conversation."
