:A0700

        (A) TIME: 0700

                         MATRE'D
                I have things to take care of myself.

                        CYNDI
                Please don't leave.

                        MATRE'D
                Something you want?

                        CYNDI
                Yes.

                        MATRE'D
                Name it, I'll see what I can do.

                        CYNDI
                I have to know more first.  This is
                so sudden.

                        MATRE'D
                What is?

                        CYNDI
                Do you realize how rare an insight that
                is, to judge direction by the river?

                        MATRE'D
                Sailing is my hobby.  Navigation has been
                second-nature so long, I haven't
                really thought about it.  Most people
                do judge "up" by the map, though.

                        CYNDI
                The artificial map, the man-made map,
                while the map of Mother Nature is forgotten.

                        MATRE'D
                The world we live in, I guess.

                        CYNDI
                What do you think of that world, Mr. . . .?

                        MATRE'D
                Watson.  How do you mean?

                        CYNDI
                Is it moral, calling "down the valley"
                upriver?

                        MATRE'D
                I haven't thought of it as a matter of
                right and wrong, really.

                        CYNDI
                In your heart-of-hearts, it doesn't
                disturb you, to hear people speak
                such ignorance?

                        MATRE'D
                Oh, I suppose I get a chuckle out of
                it now and then.  Like people saying
                "irregardless."  It's nonsense but
                it's become habitual.

                        CYNDI
                Exactly: we have the habits of
                falsehood, everywhere you look.

                        MATRE'D
                This is really an important matter to you, I
                take it.

                        CYNDI
                If we ignore the primitive balance of
                nature, we are doomed.  Yes, I think
                that is an important matter.

                        MATRE'D
                I confess I don't know much about your
                religion, I believe it's a religion, but
                I take it you're a back-to-nature group,
                concerned with the environment and all
                that . . .?

                        CYNDI
                The Universal Church of Primitive Balance.
                We are concerned with everything the name implies.

                        MATRE'D
                I can sympathize with your concern for nature.
                On the other hand, there's not a lot you can do
                about the way things on.  Corporations rule the
                roost.

                        CYNDI
                I'm sorry to hear you say that.  I had an
                impulsive reaction a moment ago, quite
                contrary to my first impression of you.
                At first I saw you as a military man.  More
                correctly, a military mind.  The Matre'd,
                the Official Host, the Man in Charge, the
                Captain of the Lodge.  But then when
                you understood, as a matter of course, a
                matter of such importance, that direction
                depends on the river, not on the map -- the
                map is not the territory, as they say --
                I had a glandular impulse, I felt the
                chemistry of insight, that you truly belonged
                in our church, you were one of us-- . . .

                        MATRE'D
                Wait a minute, you're going too fast for me.

                        CYNDI
                I speak of love, Mr. Watson.  The spiritual
                love sharee by kindred minds. But perhaps I
                was wrong.

                        MATRE'D
                Frankly, I think so.

                        CYNDI
                Which saddens me.  You like to sail?  Well, we've
                got a yacht we harbor in Southern California,
                and it could use a permanent captain.  I was
                beginning to think you were the perfect man for
                the job.

                        MATRE'D
                I love my job right here.

                        CYNDI
                I suppose you do.

                        MATRE'D
                Well, I'm sorry to have disappointed you.

                        CYNDI
                It's very sad, that you have such wisdom
                but are afraid to act on it.

                        MATRE'D
                I have guests to look after -- which I'd better get
                to.  So if you'll excuse me . . .

                        CYNDI
                I'll always remember the possibility of
                you.  I haven't had such a strong glandular
                response in months.  For a moment, you seemed
                to be in perfect primitive balance.

                        MATRE'D
                I don't know what to tell you . . .

        He moves off, to area .  /ex7/

        TIME CODE: 09:00   /h10/

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