1523. What pathetic skits, he thought to himself. He bided his time, waiting for the exact right moment the next time the fish pie skit was enacted. The husband and wife are arguing. The son has not yet intervened. Very slowly, creeping along on his stomach, on stage comes Otis. He crawls across the stage in the direction of the fish pie, but constantly pauses and looks around cautiously.
1524. Finally, at the height of the argument, he stretches out his neck, and snatches the fish pie off the table and bounds out of the imaginary door. The comedians, unaware anything has happened, run through the skit to the end, only to stagger around in amazement finding the fish pie has disappeared.
1525. At the moment the fish pie is snatched, the audience erupted in uncontrollable laughter. Only later did the troupe realize what had happened. So the three of them set to work, patiently to teach Otis to repeat his actions in the skit on command. Teaching Otis to act his part of the skit he had re-written for them did not proved difficult.
1526. At the very moment that Otis snatched the pie from the table and the audience erupted in laughter, the lives of our wandering comedians was transformed in every detail. The road they had traveled for many years had been a desperate one. Their profession, indistinguishable from begging in many ways, often had to be augmented by activities none of them would have been willing to talk about.
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