The flow control manager steps out onto the mat, the stub of a fine cigar clutched between his lips.

MANAGER

No win, my cuadrilla.

I was the leading champion of a lost cause . . .

VOICE

What hears the ear close with meaning?

Among on the one hand, amidst on the other

insensible to the distraction

People don't think in dialect, do they?

words marshalling forces just this side of the curtain