!

WOMAN: Honey, are you feeling alright? You’ve been acting.. strange.

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MAN: Well now that you mention it, there is.. something….

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WOMAN: What’s the matter my dear?

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MAN turns away

MAN: You wouldn’t believe me if I told you, let’s just forget it.
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WOMAN: Baby you can tell me anything, I wouldn’t judge you or think differently of you, I swear.

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MAN: Alright well, it’s just that things seem different lately. I feel different.

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WOMAN: How ever do you mean?
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MAN: Well about the past couple of weeks I’ve been feeling... Oh god, this is so hard for me to say. I feel like a dot.

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WOMAN: Oh Jesus Christ, really?
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MAN: Yes all the time I do, and never knew how to tell anyone.

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WOMAN: Oh Lord, you shouldn’t hold a feeling such as that inside, love. I’m all ears, tell me about how you’re feeling.
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MAN: Alright. Well, you know how a lot of times everyone just acts like a bunch of words and they’re all arranged so perfectly there in a sentence, well I feel like I just belong at the end…

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WOMAN: Oh my god, what made this horrible feeling come upon you? Did something happen? Did someone throw mean words at you, perhaps? Use up all the words and leave you with punctuations?
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MAN: No no, not exactly. I just feel like I don’t fit in with words anymore. Like I need to be separated and isolated away from them at the end all by myself. I’m not like them, sweetheart. It is as if I serve a different purpose. And there’s a few like me I’ve heard. Like commas, but I’m never anywhere near them, I wouldn’t know.

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WOMAN: Well this is a shock. But we’ll get through this. It’s fine.
Can I tell you something, though?
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MAN: Of course. Anything at all, dear.

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WOMAN: I’ve always wanted to be an exclamation point! To have that kind of power over the emotion of a statement would be so exciting!
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MAN: Really? Do you mean that?

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WOMAN: Yes, I do. I just never really thought much of it till now.
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MAN: Oh. Well.. I guess it’s not so far off, from how I’ve been feeling..

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WOMAN: No! Don’t you understand? We can do it together!
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She hops onto MAN’s shoulders.

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MAN: You’re right! Now we can be happy! And be an exclamation point! And spread emotion and excitement in both our lives, and even the rest of the world!

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WOMAN: Oh happy day! I am so excited! I love you, darling!
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MAN: I love you too! Let’s go live our new wonderful life together!

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MAN, with WOMAN on his shoulders, runs out of the house and down the road, off into the distance.
And they never returned to that house again.