Scene VI - What The Hell is a Skink?
1: ... Oh shit.
5: What?
1: That’s Jimmy Swiney behind the reincarnation desk.
5: Who’s Jimmy Swiney?
1: A jerk with no sense of humour.
5: Oh.
1: Damn, you look familiar. Are you sure we didn’t meet the day I died?
5: Pretty sure. Say, you go in and get us reincarnated and I’ll wait here.
1: Sure, good buddy. Uh, hello. Me and my friend would like to get
reincarnated.
7: Lew! Long time no see.
1: Oh, hi Jimmy. Didn’t recognize you for a moment.
7: Would it help if I smeared some mud on myself?
1: Oh, yeah. You’re still mad about that, huh?
7: Nah. We don’t hold grudges here.
1: Great. We were just kids, man.
7: You did it less than a year ago.
1: Right. Sorry.
7: No worries. So, let’s get down to business.
1: Good idea.
7: You get a totally new start. Most of your memories are erased, although
you do get the occasional flash of insight, intuition or deja vu stemming
from things you’ve learned in previous lives.
1: Really? I should have read that book on reptiles Grandma Edith gave me
last Christmas.
7: Why?
1: Well, it might be cool to subconsciously know stuff about reptiles.
7: If you say so.
1: So, what’ve you got for my buddy and me?
7: Uh, for your friend, I’ve got Russel Gardener, destined to become a truck
driver in Texas.
1: And for me?
7: Uh, let’s see here... sorry, all I have for you is a deformed skink.
1: A deformed what?
7: Skink. It’s a kind of lizard.
1: Oh. See, I told you I should have read about the reptiles! Life as a
deformed skink doesn’t sound too fun.
7: I’m sure you’ll learn to love it. You know, I still can’t get all the mud
out of my ears.
1: I didn’t mean to step on your head when you fell in the mud.
7: I didn’t “fall”. I was pushed.
1: I thought you said we didn’t hold grudges here.
7: We don’t, but I’m afraid the deformed skink is all we have for you.
1: He ran me over!!
7: What?
1: Uh, nothing. Just remembered something, that’s all.
7: Did you remember the way it felt to lie there in the mud, unable to
breath while laughter echoed around you as if you were in a tunnel, and you
just felt so trapped in your life, like you wanted to just fly but you
didn’t know where and Jesus Christ I couldn’t breath and that foot on my
head and...
1: No. That doesn’t have anything to do with somebody running me over.
Weren’t you paying attention?
7: ... and... huh?
1: C’mon, Swiney, wake up!
7: Oh. Sorry about that. Uh, here, this special blue reincarnation token is
for you and this one is for your friend.
1: Sure. Thanks a ton, Swinemeister.
7: It made me feel three inches tall whenever you called me that.
1: Didn’t make you look three inches wide, though. Catch ya later.
5: Oh, hey, man. How’d it go?
1: Uh, fine. Say, I remembered where I first saw you. It was an extreme
close up through the front windshield of a Volvo.
5: Uh... you don’t look too mad.
1: Nah. As an old buddy of mine says, we don’t hold grudges here.
5: Wow! You’re an awesome friend.
1: Yes. You too are an awesome... friend.
5: Oh, cool, can I have the blue one?
1: What? The blue one? Oh, I suppose so, if you really want it.
5: You are so great.
1: Yeah. Anyway, you ready to take on life again?
5: Am I!
1: Great. Catch you later, skink man!
5: What the hell is a skink?
