Change of plans

Anti-wokeness goes another way

[The lobby of what appears to be a small, long-abandoned hotel. The front desk is covered with dust; the mailboxes, room key board, desk bells, etc. show signs of age and dilapidation. The sparse lobby furnishings are also dusty and in places torn. There are cobwebs at every corner; the light is dim, as if exclusively from skylights and bare bulbs. Young couple ADOLPHUS and INGRID stand in the middle of this; he is blond and balding (though he still has his sides buzzed) with a full and well-oiled beard, three-piece suit, and loafers without socks; she wears a navy-and-white polka-dot shirt dress, a hairband and hair buns, white stockings, and Mary Janes, and she carries an FTX tote bag. She is consulting papers; he is consulting his iPhone. They are surrounded by luggage.]

INGRID: [Calls out] Hello!

ADOLPHUS: Ingrid, there’s no need for that. I’m sure somebody will come by soon.

INGRID: We’ve been standing here for twenty minutes and something is definitely not right. [Calls out] Hello!

ADOLPHUS: Boy, some tradwife you turned out to be.

INGRID: Shh!

[In the silence we hear a shuffling gait in the wings; eventually an old man with longish but sparse and wispy hair, overalls and clodhoppers, carrying a dry mop and pushing a large tin bucket on rollers with a wooden lid, shambles over to them.]

MAN: You folks lost?

ADOLPHUS: Hi. Is this 8434 Kilkenny?

MAN: That it is.

ADOLPHUS: So, this is the main office of the University of Austin? UATX?

MAN: [Chuckles] Huh! Ain’t heard that name in a while!