Mata Nui and Kiina sat down to eat breakfast at a restaurant.

A waiter Agori came up to them and asked them what they wanted. Mata Nui said he'd take the deep fried ice cream sandwich, while Kiina wanted chocolate cabbage.

While they waited for their food to be done, Mata Nui said to Kiina, "So, how's life been treating you?"

"Pretty good," said Kiina. "How about you?"

It was just then that the waiter returned with their food, placing it on their table for them to eat.

"Why do we always come here?"

"I thought you said you liked this place's food."

"I do, but it gets a bit boring eating the same things every time we come here, you know?"

"You're the one who suggested we come here in the first place."

"Well, I'm sorry, but I thought you wanted to come here."

"You could have just asked me if I wanted to come, you know, rather than just assuming I did."

"But you always get so upset whenever I ask you anything, so I just assumed you wouldn't mind if we went here."

"I do not get upset whenever you ask me something."

"What's your favorite color?"

"That's not important to this discussion!"

"See, you got angry when I asked you something. I'm right."

"Just shut up."

"You shut up."

"No, you shut up."

"When I tell you to shut up-"

"Mata Nui!"

Mata Nui broke out of his reverie and shook his head. He looked at Kiina and said, "Huh? What?"

"You didn't answer my question," said Kiina.

Mata Nui glanced at the arguing couple he had been listening to, then turned back to Kiina and asked, "What question?"

Kiina sighed. "I asked how you've been doing. Weren't you paying attention?"

"I was paying attention, yeah, but not to you," said Mata Nui with a shrug.

Kiina sighed again, but said nothing as she ate her chocolate cabbage.

Mata Nui and Kiina finished their food and left, Mata Nui still zoned out as they exited the restaurant.

-

This was just a little joke I've had in my head for a while. It's a good example of why writers should be careful when choosing to omit dialogue tags for several lines of dialogue, otherwise you could easily confuse the readers about who is talking and who isn't.

Technically, I could have posted this in Comedies (it is 359 words, according to Microsoft Word), but I think it works better as a blog entry than as a comedy topic. It's more of a lesson in bad writing than a true comedy, IMO.

-TNTOS-