• "I haven't always been this way, you know. No, you don't know. You don't know me at all. I could tell lies. I could lie like I could truth, you would never know."

    "I'm sorry, Gerald, but what are you talking about?"

    "Don't play like you don't know, Janet, because I know you don't. No need to say so. I've done bad things, Janet; terrible things. But good! It is good if they laugh, right Janet?"

    "Typically but..."

    "Good! Then I can't stop. It's progress. People like me, and I like people."

    "But do you still want to hurt them, Gerald?"

    "Hurt them? No, I could never hurt them. No one's happy if their hurting. No. No. NO! I just want them to be happy. It's not my fault if they get hurt. We wouldn't be here if they smiled, Janet; if they laughed. What is wrong with laughter, Janet? Do you like to laugh?

    "Yes, I do love to laugh and I don't suppose anything is wr..."

    "Then laugh."

    "What?"

    "Laugh."

    "I don't think my laughter is..."

    "Laugh."

    Janet pauses and sets the notepad on her desk.

    "Gerald. I am a very happy woman, but I don't feel that right now is an appropriate time for laughter."

    "Laughter is ALWAYS appropriate, Janet. It's a way to flaunt your true happiness. I won't believe that your happy until you laugh, Janet."

    "This is not a laughing matter, Gerald! People are dead!"

    "Dead!? Why of course their dead, Janet! You need not get angry. Rejoice! Never again shall they walk this miserable Earth! Rejoice! Never shall they have to worry! Rejoice! Never again shall they feel pain! Janet, this is more than enough reason to laugh! One should celebrate and cheer for lives that are lost. For sadness and tears have never accomplished anything, Janet...laugh."

    Janet rubs her head and takes a breath.

    "I'm not going to laugh for you, Gerald. My job is to help you and I really don't think that laughing is going to..."

    "Haven't you heard what they say, Janet!?"

    Janet looks up at Gerald, pauses, and picks up her notepad.

    "What who say, Gerald?"

    "The people! I know you've heard them. They always say it."

    "What people, Gerald? What do they say?"

    "The one who laughs always outlives the one who cries, Janet."