Chapter 7
Jeff's Moment of Realization
Shaken by Walter's outburst and the online reaction, Jeff confronts his puppet. He starts to see Walter's 'rebellion' not as defiance, but as a reflection of his own fears about aging and comedic stagnation.
The fluorescent hum of the backstage dressing room felt amplified, a buzzing counterpoint to the sudden, deafening silence that had descended the moment the curtain fell. Jeff, still buzzing from the adrenaline of the performance, felt a cold dread creep up his spine. He’d seen the look on Walter’s face, the stony, unyielding set of his painted mouth as he’d flat-out refused to deliver the punchline. And the audience… oh, the audience had been a sea of confused faces, followed by a ripple of nervous laughter, and then, the inevitable, awkward hush. It was the kind of silence that screamed “train wreck.”
He slumped onto the worn velvet chair, the springs groaning in protest. Walter sat perched on the table before him, his usual perch, but today he felt less like a companion and more like a particularly stubborn gargoyle. His glass eyes, usually fixed on Jeff with a knowing, world-weary glint, seemed to bore into him with an unnerving intensity.
“Well?” Jeff finally managed, his voice raspy. “Are you going to say anything? Or are you just going to sit there and judge my life choices with that smug… puppet face?”
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