Page 31 - Big Idea

The Big Idea – Act 2

WOMAN 2: What?

ENTREPRENEUR: That I did not know when I first arrived. All
they seemed to have in abundance was fish, and fish do not travel
well. So I was looking around for something else. After a while, I was
ready to give up; it was getting late, and I didn’t want to stay there
overnight with my precious salt untraded. Then I noticed something
very strange about the women.

WOMAN 3: Strange? Didn’t they look like us?

WOMAN 2: Yeah, what do you mean: strange? I think you really are
a wise guy.

ENTREPRENEUR: I’m sorry, I’m sorry! What I mean is, to get to
the point, that these women did not look old. Even when they were
old. Honestly. Their skin was just as smooth and soft as baby’s, uh,
face; hardly any wrinkles or dry spots or blotches.

WOMAN 3: Blotches? What are those? Do I have any?

ENTREPRENEUR: Oh, no, of course not. You’re much too
young. Blotches are a kind of funny patch that has a different color
and texture from the rest of your face.

WOMAN 2: (peers into WOMAN 3’s face) I don’t know, dear. You
may have the beginnings of one next to your nose there.

WOMAN 3: You vicious bitch! You should talk! Your face looks
like the bark of a baobab tree!

ENTREPRENEUR: Girls! Ladies! Please! Don’t you want to know
how those women avoided all that unpleasantness?

WOMAN 2: Yes, yes! Tell us: how?

ENTREPRENEUR: Mud.

WOMEN 2 and 3: (together) Mud?

ENTRPRENEUR: Yes, mud. But not your ordinary down-by-the-
pond mud; not your mix-a-little-dirt-with-some-water mud. No,
indeed! This is very special mud, found only in a certain backwater of
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