Q. What’s happening now?
A. Embarrassment.
Q. What are you embarrassed about?
A. I scored a song in the wrong time signature.
Q. What song?
A. A song from my show. It’s called “The Word from Beyond” — but that’s beside the point. Why do you ask?
Q. Because I suspected you were the composer, and if you were the composer, then how can the time signature be wrong? Doesn’t the composer decide such things?
A. It was wrong, because the signature I chose made it hard for the musicians to read it. A different signature would have made it much easier.
Q. And the song would sound the same way with either signature?
A. Yes. But no other similar sounding piece would have been written in the signature I selected.
Q. Then why did you select that signature in the first place?
A. Because I simply did not know the correct signature.
Q. How did you find out?
A. From one of the other musicians.
Q. And then you became embarrassed?
A. A little bit. I guess to be honest with you, I’m more informed than embarrassed. And that’s a good thing. I learned something. Embarrassment is only a function of the Ego. Information is a function of the Mind. Mind over Ego – in all matters.
Q. May I quote you on that?
A. Spell my name right.
Q. Just in case there are any musicians reading, what was the signature you used to score the piece?
A. 6/8.
Q. What is the correct signature?
A. 4/4 swing.
Q. How did you find out?
A. One of the musicians told me.
Q. And you didn’t know?
A. Let’s put it this way. It would have been my second choice.
Q. Why would it not have been your first choice?
A. I shot for the easier way of the two, because I was in a hurry.
Q. And in making it easier on yourself, you made it harder on the people you were working with?
A. Yes. But this time I’l do things differently. This time I’ll start early in the week — in fact, I’ll begin today — and I’ll block out my time – and do it slowly but surely, and get it turned in to the musicians by Thursday.
Q. Promise?
A. I promise.
Q. What if something comes up?
A. Well – Friday at the latest.
Q. Promise?
A. I’ll do my best.
The Questioner is silent.
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Q. But what makes you think I’m a man? Couldn’t I be a woman? Why didn’t you call me “madam” instead? Why did you assume I am a man?
Q. Why?
Q. And the costs are?
Eden in Babylon 