- Our helpful stage directions inform us that it's the same day.
- We meet two men named Roy and Joe, who are in Roy's office.
- An elaborate phone system with tons of beepy flashy things is the only object on Roy's desk. Roy conducts business on his crazy phone system while Joe sits in a chair and waits for him to finish.
- "I wish I was an octopus," Roy tells Joe, as he presses a button to put somebody on hold. "Eight loving arms and all those suckers. Know what I mean?" (1.2.2.).
- Joe has no idea what he means.
- Roy flies through a million other people on the phone, pressing buttons and cursing all the way.
- Eventually he stops and gets all profound with Joe: "I see the universe, Joe, as a kind of sandstorm in outer space with winds of mega-hurricane velocity, but instead of sand it's shards and splinters of glass" (1.2.14).
- Joe doesn't seem to really get what he's talking about.
- Roy asks Joe how things are working at the Appeals Court.
- Joe says it's good.
- It comes out that Joe does most of the work for the judge down there, some of which it seems like the judge ought to be doing.
- Roy starts flying through people on the phone again.
- Mrs. Stopper pops up. It looks like Roy borrowed $87,000 that he may or may not be able to pay back.
- Roy spews one obscenity after another as he talks to the different people on the phone.
- Tentatively, Joe asks him to stop taking the Lord's name in vain.
- This seems to take Roy totally off guard. He laughs and apologizes.
- On the phone, Roy asks his secretary to tell everybody to leave him alone. All of Roy's attention is suddenly on Joe.
- Roy asks Joe what religion he follows.
- Joe says he's Mormon.
- Roy offers Joe a job in the Justice Department in Washington.
- The sudden offer surprises Joe, and he says he'll have to think about it. It seems like a great opportunity, but he's got to see what his wife has to say about it.