2a. In the narrative, Silences, Denis paints a beautiful scene of friends engaged in one another. However, this wholesome atmosphere soon turns sour. At the dinner table, the loudest thing they’d ever heard was being served. A somber voice. A pounding heart. One grandbaby hollering their lungs out. Tourettes’ Syndrome.

A shift in the power of the room is granted to Chris. He introduces his silence. “He said the most silent thing he’d ever heard was the land mine taking off his right leg outside Kabul, Afghanistan.” His vulnerability quiets the whole room. When someone blurts out something so heavy, many don’t know how to react. It puts a room in a sea of tension.

Curiosity gets the best of them. Jokes put the room at ease. “I’ll show you,” he said, “if you kiss it.” We stumble into major conflict from this point on. A new question is raised. This is the flow of Denis’s piece. An answer for every question. They started to talk about the most ridiculous things they’ve kissed. This is the second point event that leads up to the grand finale.

Chris eggs on Deidre to kiss his leg. She obliges. Everyone in the room is on the edge of their seats, awaiting. Deidre is before Chris on her bare knees staring down the stump. The reality of the situation brings her to tears.