A cassette labeled FALSE ALARM TEST / RUTH VERSION / DO NOT ERASE, found in a cardboard coffin under extension cord and a silver shoe from an unfinished picture.

Perry Lask discovered the small tape recorder this afternoon—not missing, only

buried in Ed's prop coffin. Ruth played it once and stopped. On the recording,

Ed rehearses "No, really," tries again in a quieter voice, and says: "If I ever

say it and it is real, I don't know how you're supposed to know." Faintly, from

the house, a kettle whistles—or perhaps it is feedback. Ruth has not played the rest.