PONY: Hi. We’re Pony and John. You must be the Joneses. It’s on your mailbox. We’re Joneses, too. We’re renting the house at the end of the road with the blue shutters and the—

JOHN (Interrupting): It’s like two-hundred feet from here. It’s right over there.

BOB: Sure, we know that house. Someone else used to live there.

JOHN: Wow. Who knew the place had such an interesting history.

PONY: Look at these salt and pepper shakers. Cute.

BOB (Picking one up): These were made at a factory.

JENNIFER: Bob is filled with fun facts like that. (To Pony and John) Can you sit down?

JOHN: I practically invented sitting down. Actually, that’s not true.

(Pony and John sit.)

PONY: It’s so nice here. Our old town was built right on top of this huge leak of dry-cleaning chemicals.

JOHN: The leak happened later. I don’t think they built the town on top of the leak.

PONY: Well, whichever— I think I was allergic. I’m just glad we’re gone.

JENNIFER: How’d you end up deciding on here?

PONY: I always wanted to live in one of these little towns near the mountains. So, one night, he comes home and literally just says, literally . . . I forget what you said exactly.

JOHN: Just, something about moving to one of these little towns near the mountains.

PONY: That was it. It was all sort of a whirlwind.

JOHN: The time had come. (Noticing a tiny white particle on Pony’s sweater, he gently removes it, while speaking) It’s what my lady wanted. And what my lady wants, with some huge and basic exceptions, my lady gets. (To Pony) Styrofoam.

PONY: It’s from that box. (To Jennifer) You must really like it, here. (To John) Is it still there?

JENNIFER: We do.

JOHN: I bet. (To Pony, referring to Styrofoam) No. All gone.

BOB: Moving is a pain.

JOHN: It is. Well said. Staying still is no picnic, either.

BOB: No.

JENNIFER: But here you are. I’m Jennifer, by the way.

PONY: My mom’s name was Jennifer. Hi.

JENNIFER: Pony is a wonderful name.

PONY: My dad thought it up.

BOB: Well, it was already a word.

PONY: Yeah, but it didn’t mean me. He said my arms and legs looked too long and weak. He’s, um, he— (She subtly and kind of lazily makes a throat-slitting gesture)

JENNIFER: He was murdered?

PONY: No. God, no. But, thank you. (Checking her sweater for bits of Styrofoam. To John) Is there any more? I got inside the big box our TV was in. I was calling out, “I’m in the secret room.”

JOHN: I started thinking, “Wow, this place has a secret room?” Then I heard you laughing. The whole box started shaking.

PONY: Then he tried climbing in with me.