Siete minutos by Ismael Camacho Arango (the little red hen read aloud TXT) 📖

CHUCHO
It’s ten, twenty two minutes, four seconds and two decimals.
ASTRONAUT
Bring breakfast at ten thirty flat.
CHUCHO
What do you want, sir?

ASTRONAUT
The menu is on the table.
Chucho picks up a paper from the table, reads it and then leaves the scene.
The astronaut goes on the bars and the trapeze with all the strength of an anthropoid as Chucho arrives with two litres of oil, two pounds of grease on a plate, petrol in a bottle and two one inch screws. After putting everything on a small table, he looks at the chronometer.
CHUCHO
Ten thirty flat.
The astronaut jumps down from the trapeze, cleans his face and hands while breathing deeply ten times, before nearing the breakfast table.
On tasting the grease from the motor with a spoon, he mixes it with a bit of petrol as Chucho waits nearby.
ASTRONAUT
I would have liked the grease a bit thicker, even though it is fresh.
CHUCHO
We use for that one for our diesel motor. You should have told us of your favourite
mark.

ASTRONAUT
I’m used to everything.
A calculator moving on four wheels and reading a paper appears through the door. He smiles as he sees the astronaut.
CALCULATOR
Hello Sompson.
ASTRONAUT
My name is Simpson.
CALCULATOR
I’m learning Spanish. I like the word sonso.
ASTRONAUT
I don’t like dialects.
CALCULATOR
Don’t be upset or you’ll get indigestion. You have an appetite.
The astronaut drinks the oil.
ASTRONAUT
I like this oil.
CALCULATOR
I love the sea. I’d like to be a submarine computer.
ASTRONAUT
You’d be rusty.
CALCULATOR
I like to be rusty.
ASTRONAUT
Uhmmmm!
He sips the oil.
The calculator gestures to Chucho.
CALCULATOR
Boy, I’m dying of hunger.
CHUCHO
How can I help you?
CALCULATOR
I want a beefsteak, toasts with butter and marmalade. Coffee with milk and cereal
as a starter.

ASTRONAUT
You must be careful. You’ll get an electric stroke in the system ZX34.
CALCULATOR