HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH [A comedian had told a joke.] HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH [People had taken it well.] HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH [Too well.] HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH [Freed from their senses, the crowd had taken on the characteristics of an apocalyptic wave.] HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH [Necks were bitten.] HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH [Chairs were thrown.] HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH. [Lightbulbs swayed and flickered on their lines.] HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH [A man shouted, “Come with me if you want to live!”] HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH. [And into the thicket of tumultuous maws the seven who hadn’t laughed plunged, making their way past tongues that vibrated like anemones offering up writhing supplication to the light that stood just beyond the reach of the surface of the sea.] HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH. [Was this the long-predicted David Foster Wallace ‘Tape Moment?’ Cars were left abandoned in the middle of the road.] HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH. [The survivors frog-hopped their way from the backside of car to car. A bottle flew over them all and hit another apocalyptic laugher. “It was funny, sure,” a stand-up in the group had said, “but it wasn’t that funny.” “Do you really think now is the time to do this?” “Have you ever met a comed —”] HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH [The comedian’s name was Olivia. As they ran to the protection of the next car, she suddenly had the image of herself, her cat, and her banjo all huddled together on an airplane, a small triangle’s worth of ... something pawing and plucking.] HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH. HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH. [“Hey!” Olivia shouted to the group. “What if I told an ‘Antidote Joke?’” “An ‘Antidote Joke?’” One man replied, incredulous. “How is that any different from standing up and shouting, ‘Be Reasonable?’] HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH HAH [“I’m going to do it,” Olivia said, scanning the street, looking for a supermarket with an oversized P.A. system or a concert with all the sound equipment still plugged in or something. She took a deep breath and repeated herself again.]
