*

… A paper flyer blowing in the wind clings to my ankle.

I stoop and peel it from my trouser leg, unfurl it and read…

‘…LITTLE ACORNS…’

A Puppet-Play Figured in Three Acts

FEATURING THE REDOUBTABLE MR PUNCH

THE PUPPETS:

PUNCH

STATS-MAN (dress-coat and top-hat)

JUDY

OSAMA THE EXECUTIONER (Moor with straggly beard, caftan and turban)

I can see the wooden booth, its canvas covers rippling noisily in the sea breeze, from my vantage point on the top promenade and the close bunch of predominantly small forms huddled before it.

I walk down to the beach and reach the back of that small huddle just as the drum rolls cease… the curtain is raised, and the cheers of the audience go up…

Punch is busy scanning at a scanning machine.

PUNCH: (Humming) Hi-Ho… Hi-Ho…

He lifts a piece of paper shows it to the audience, turns, still humming, and pushes it through the scanning machine. The Scanning machine beeps. (SFX: Beep!)

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