A kid's curiosity

ACT 1. SCENE 3

Lights up on BEE and SVEN. BEE is sitting cross-legged on top of a table, on the right side of the stage. SVEN is lying on the floor, on the left side, with the lower part of his legs resting on top of a chair.

BEE: The other day.

SVEN: Yeah.

BEE: This one lady was really rude.

SVEN: What did you do?

BEE: Me! I didn't do shit! She was the problem.

SVEN: Then why was she rude?

BEE: She came out of nowhere, bumped into me and I just smiled at her, because well, it wasn't her fault. I thought so.

SVEN: (Sits upright and rests his hands on the chair.) Smiled for what?

BEE: I don't know. To show that I was fine.

SVEN: And she was rude.

BEE: A bitch.

SVEN: Respect your elders.

BEE: She looked at me like I was a piece of shit and said, "Watch where you are going, young man. Stop looking at your mobile phone while walking the streets." As if I put her in a dangerous situation.

SVEN: Well, you could have just ignored her.

BEE: Sven, please. She gave me a whole sermon in front of everyone there.

SVEN: Don't respect your elders.

BEE: Even after I smiled at her!

SVEN: Well, she could have taken it badly. Like you were laughing at her, you know.

BEE: I just lifted the corners up. Wasn't even showing teeth.

SVEN: Probably for the best.

BEE: Rude!

SVEN: What I meant, drama queen, was that teeth would have made it worse. Think "here's Johnny."

BEE: I'd like to think she was an undercover murderer.

SVEN: The chances of being killed by an old lady you meet on the street are low.

BEE: But never zero.

SVEN: So, you see how sometimes smiling isn't what it seems?

BEE: But the whole point of it is meaning something specific. Happiness or being comfortable.

SVEN: Who said that?

BEE: People.

SVEN: There's your answer. Smiling being equal to happiness is the same as the concept of time.

BEE: Makes me stressed out of my mind?

SVEN: We, as humans, decided to make this correlation. What time is it, six o'clock? Ok, well I declare that now it's actually two o'clock.

BEE: But it's six.

SVEN: Because we invented the concept of time. This time equals these numbers. Simple as that. Smiling is equal to happiness because we wanted it to.

BEE: Right. But then, the whole psychopath thing. Since when do you know about all of this?

SVEN: Smiling can hide emotions.

BEE: Did you just turn into a fucking Tumblr moodboard?

SVEN: I mean, you know that phrase? What the fuck did it say again?