New libretto

I sent John the libretto based on Maupassant's "Toine," which I've renamed "The Man Who Hatched Chickens." Excerpt:

DRINKING BUDDY
Of course he can get up!
(approaching the bed)
Toine! Remember the drinks
We consumed together?
How many do you think?

TOINE
Too many to count!
It’s a miracle we drank
As much as we did
And lived to tell the tale.

WIFE
He calls this living!

WIFE’S FRIEND
Men are like that.

DRINKING BUDDY & TOINE
When drinking buddies lift a glass
It’s more than friendship
More than partying
More than good cognac
When drinking buddies lift a glass
It’s a bond of steel
Joining them as brothers
Brothers to the end

TOINE
A drinking buddy’s there to laugh
At all my jokes

DRINKING BUDDY
A drinking buddy’s there to toast
My recent divorce

TOINE
A drinking buddy understands
The torment of a wife

DRINKING BUDDY
A drinking buddy understands
Injustice in a life

TOINE & DRINKING BUDDY
Drinking buddies stand as one
Brothers till the end
Sharing what they’ve lost
Sharing what they win
Drinking buddies stand as one
Closer than a wife
No woman understands
The truth of a man’s life

WIFE & WIFE’S FRIEND
Drinking buddies like to drink
Booze brings them together
Drinking buddies party long
In any kind of weather
Drink and drink and drink some more
A marriage suffers strife
Then a woman understands
The truth of a man’s life

TOINE & DRINKING BUDDY
No woman understands
The truth of a man’s life

WIFE & WIFE’S FRIEND
We women understand
The truth of a man’s life