Bill. Oh, oh! I wish he would mean something.
Ind. He is pulling your leg.
The next scene is The Lurch itself, a very horrible place, where we see all the people who have been left in it wishing they could get out of it; or at least we don’t see them because the whole place is full of a dense fog; but they are there, groping about and contemplating unutterably the opaque immensities of boredom. Their hands move visibly through the vast gloom, plying the instruments of Destiny; most of them knitting. You see, they are nearly all old maids. None of them can be got out of The Lurch until those who left them in it remember them and return. There are also, of course, large crowds of old men in all stages of decay. Many of them are Colonels who have been left in The Lurch by the Government and naturally there is no hope for them. It is all extremely sad.
In low tones they do a little dialogue, like sheep bleating on the Mountains of Eternity.
The Oldest Old Maid. Will he never come?
The Oldest Old Maid But One. He will never come.
A Frightfully Old Man. The fog is very foggy.
The O. O. M. It is difficult to see things in a fog.
The O. O. M. B. O. If he came I should not see him.
An Awfully Old Colonel. You are lucky.