Waiting for Godot | Act II – “We’re waiting for Godot”, so goes Vladimir’s response to Estragon in the original play. It is a comedic refrain volleyed back and forth between the two characters throughout the play, “Let’s go”, “We can’t”, “Why not”, “We’re waiting for Godot”. Laughter ensues. It is similar to Abbott and Castello’s incomparable baseball skit, “Who’s on first?”, “What is the name of the guy on first base”, “No, What is on second”, “I’m not asking you who’s on second”, “Who’s on first”, “I don’t know”, spoken together “Third base”. Laughter ensues. Now comes the comedy of the Nihileafs, “Let’s go”, “We can’t”, “Why not”, “I don’t know”, spoken together “Third base”. Silence. Maybe the reason Godot hasn’t arrived yet is because he is playing shortstop in a tied baseball game that has gone into overtime and the inning is the bottom of eternity. Of course, in the comic it ends before we can see Stoke’s response to Brump’s question. Perhaps Stoke says they are waiting for Godot, or maybe Stoke says I don’t know, or just as equally likely Stoke doesn’t respond. How else can one respond to an absurd or nonsensical question as Brump’s must assuredly be. Or is there validity to the question, maybe Brump genuinely wants to know why they can’t go. Is it because they don’t have the physiology to move, is it because Stoke chooses for them to remain there, is there some other reason? They could be stuck there, after all there is no water visible for them to float away on. And even if there was, do the Nihileafs control where they float? And one wonders how did they get there in the first place? I must comment, before it is my turn to go, on the subtitle of Samuel Beckett’s play, ‘A Tragicomedy in Two Acts’. It is that word, Tragicomedy, that has enraptured my mind. Such a fitting way to describe the play, the Nihileafs, and life. It is both tragedy and comedy, both the response of “We can’t” and “Third base”. – Zachary