The trash can beside the armchairs, collecting the leak, is three-quarters full. The boiler directly below him gives off a series of weary creaks. We will all have to be strong, Bishop said. The coming events will test us in ways we cannot yet imagine.

Zeno

Questions chase one another around the carousel of his mind. Who shot Sharif and how severe are his injuries? Why did Sharif wave him back? If the lights outside the library are law enforcement or paramedics, why aren’t they rushing inside? Is it because the assailant is still here? Is there only one? Are parents being notified? What is he supposed to do?

Onstage Aethon-the-donkey is pacing along the frozen rim of the world. From Natalie’s speaker comes the sound of ocean waves collapsing onto gravel. Olivia, wearing a big soft gull head and yellow tights, points with one of her homemade wings to a pile of green tissue paper on the stage. “I’ve heard,” she says, “that if you eat enough of it, you’ll feel funny. Though I can tell you right now, a jackass like you is never going to grow wings.”

Alex-who-is-Aethon picks up some green tissue paper, jams it into his papier-mâché donkey mouth, and steps off the stage.

Olivia-the-gull turns to the chairs. “It’s no use for an ass like that to chase after castles in the sky. Being sensible is called being ‘down-to-earth’ for a reason.”

From offstage Alex calls, “Well, something’s happening, I can feel it.” Christopher converts the karaoke light from white to blue, and the towers of Cloud Cuckoo Land glimmer on the backdrop, and Natalie replaces the rumble of the waves with sunken bubbling and gurgling and trickling.

Alex steps onstage holding his papier-mâché fish head. Sweat has glued his bangs to his forehead. “Can we take a break, Mr. Ninis? Halftime?”

“He means intermission,” says Rachel.

Zeno looks up from his trembling hands. “Yes, yes, of course, a nice quiet intermission. Good idea. You’re doing so wonderfully, all of you.”

Olivia lifts off her mask. “Mr. Ninis, do you really think I should say ‘jackass’? Some people from church are coming tomorrow night.”

Christopher heads for the light switch but Zeno says, “No, no, it’s better in the dark. Tomorrow you’ll be working backstage in low light. Come, let’s sit backstage, behind the shelves Sharif set up, away from the audience, just the way it will be tomorrow night, and we can talk about it, Olivia.”