"Triumphant"

Torbjørn — Norway

Kjetil — Denmark

Ingrid — Norway

Torbjørn stood in front of his piano and pressed down some of the keys. He began to push them down at different times, producing different notes. Kjetil pushed keys on a computer, producing different types of notes. Ingrid placed a record onto the record player. Drumsticks hung in the air and pushed down onto drums. At some moments plastic mallets bounced from the metal bars of a metallophone. Eventually those three stopped playing, and the drumsticks and mallets fell to the floor.


"Only This Moment"

Arthur — England

Marianne — France

Charles — France

Arthur sat in a wooden chair at a wooden table on the corner of a street dominated by a café marked by Ionic columns. An old Frenchwoman handed Marianne a book in a leather bag fitted to it. She glanced to different sides, and Arthur watched her, making eye contact once. A woman stood near a couple sitting at another table and wrote in a book as they spoke to her every few seconds. Behind them the clouds sped by.

Two men, one older than the other, one woman holding the younger man's hand, a boy wearing the same clothes as the man, and a cow stood in front of a camera. Again the clouds passed by with great speed. Charles took the photo.

Men and women in beige and tan coats walked in patterns, holding signs and fists in the air. Their signs featured the words "NON VIOLENTS", "ANGEL", "REASON WITH LUST", and "LOVE WITHOUT PAIN". Some held red flags. Standing in the middle of the crowd Arthur looked back and noticed Marianne standing on the elevated portion of that same café.

Still they stood in the square as Arthur raised a cup to his mouth. Marianne sat across from him, now, but faded in and out of his vision with erratic frequency. In another moment, though, he found himself standing in front of a dozen people, made up of people who looked just like those crowding the street. One by one they disappeared. He smiled up into the sky.


"49 Percent"

Jean-Éric — Cameroon

The moon stood behind Jean-Éric. Paint in shapes covered the walls. His eyes shone. At times he walked forwards, but his legs spasmed; in one space of time he moved with his feet and hands against the wall, and each time they touched, light appeared. Dust and sand hung in the air and blew through. Sweat rolled down Jean-Éric's face. Arranged on the floor near where he took one step sat a quarter, a dime, two nickels, and four pennies.

Soon he reached a sign that read, "WELCOME To Fabulous LAS VEGAS NEVADA". Neon flashed in different colors within the tubes that made up the red eight-pointed star on the top left corner. Lightbulbs surrounding the sign illuminated as well. On the ground lay a quarter dollar, two dimes, and four cents; the dimes reflected the red and yellow lights.


"Sombre Detune"

Alfred — United States

In a large, chrome-plated wind tunnel, two fans of equal size slowly began to spin.

Sheets of cotton-linen paper moved on a conveyor belt at great speed. Onto them were printed ink, mostly in green. The same image appeared multiple times on a sheet, spaced out equally. Each had a banner reading "THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA". Four instances of "2", in the four corners of a rectangle enclosing the image, and two instances of "TWO" between these, facing horizontally, appeared on a dark green background. Men stood in the center of a room around which others sat; papers and books sat on the table before which they stood. Other men were sitting around them. Banners at the bottom read "TWO DOLLARS"; "THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE"; and, "IN GOD WE TRUST." The sheets moved along the conveyor belt and then fell into stacks at the end, whereupon they were held upright and stood there for seventy-two hours.

In a different room, thousands of gold-colored coins passed through a small rectangular passage and piled up in hoppers. Others could be seen in small, white baskets moving on conveyor belts leading to large, open bags, where the baskets were tilted, and the coins thrown into said bags.

Alfred stood in another room and, hands folded behind his back, lifted himself off his toes, onto his feet, then off his heel, in a pattern, looking at bags of dollar coins. He could make out arrows, the faces of Rutherford B. Hayes and James K. Polk, and Sacagawea with a baby behind her.


"Follow My Ruin"

Torbjørn — Norway

Ingrid — Norway

Kjetil — Denmark

Peter — Sealand

Arthur — England

Antonio — Spain

Charles — France

Abel — Netherlands

Amelia — United States

Ingrid — Norway

In a red and white-striped shirt, white shorts, white socks, and black cleats, Torbjørn sang while juggling a soccer ball. Wearing all sky-blue, Kjetil headed the ball up and down, then let it fall onto the laces of his cleat-covered shoe, which he then held above the ground, until the ball fell and he placed his foot on top of it.

Peter inserted a disc into his PlayStation 2, sat on his bed with controller in hand, and began to push buttons.

Arthur dribbled the ball past Antonio and Charles, spinning himself round while keeping the ball moving in the direction of the eighteen-yard box where Abel stood, knees bent and hands open in front of him, stepping from side to side. Arthur lifted his foot behind him and kicked the ball, sending it flying past Abel and into the net. On his bed Peter jumped and let go of the controller, which dropped to the floor, while he clenched his fists and pumped them in the air.

Now Peter was standing behind a short wall on which appeared an electronic screen, showing logos and words like "adidas", "McDonald's", "Coca-Cola", and "MasterCard". In front of him sat some women wearing white uniforms. A man in a suit stood near a white line, which extended to form a rectangle. Women in white and red ran across the field. One blonde woman, with "JONES" and "76" on the back of her jersey, moved forward with the ball, followed by Ingrid, whose name "KRISTIANSEN" and the number "10" appeared on her shirt. At Amelia's left, Ingrid lunged forward and slid on the grass, her foot extended and aimed for the ball. Amelia lifted the ball with the laces on her cleat and pushed her other foot off the ground. She left Ingrid behind her to the right. A woman in gray, wearing white gloves, began running towards Amelia once Amelia crossed the eighteen-yard line; Amelia lifted the ball with the laces again and sent it into an arc, above the other's head; a different woman in white sprinted towards the ball and kicked it into the goal.

Peter stared wide-eyed and grinned, lifting his hands into the air as the crowd next to and behind him jumped, from their standing positions or seats, and let out cheers.


"Beautiful Day Without You"

Matteo — South Italy

Eva — Spain

Matteo stepped down the street in a black jacket, hands in his pockets. Behind him butterflies soared around, one alighting on a stack of red crates left outside a store. He stepped past piers, storefronts, houses, over bridges, through tunnels, up and down stairs. An octopus appeared on the street and whisked his jacket away, but he continued walking. Wadded paper in trash cans folded into birds and flew past him. Stingrays also flew in the air, behind him, and he kept on walking.

Underneath a bridge Eva stood on a wooden pier near a gondola and stared forwards as Matteo crossed the stone bridge.

His journey ended at a collapsed pier on the water as the sun set, and there sat the octopus on the surface of the water, and then the stingrays flew past him again.


"What Else Is There?"

Matilda — Sweden

Alice — England

A house was suspended in the air near a cliff overlooking the ocean. Matilda floated inside, through the hallways and rooms. Her clothes were torn and her glasses shattered, but still resting on her face. Exiting the house, feet suspended over the ground, broken glass, fibers, shreds of paper, and dust particles and small, broken wooden sticks floated around, spinning while gray clouds loomed overhead and rain fell around, though it did not seem to land on Matilda anywhere. Lightning flashed in the sky.

Inside a house lit by a candle, in front of a table upon which sat platters of food, Alice sat. She bit into an apple. Matilda floated into the room and sat across from her.

Glass flew around outside, once again, and Matilda and the house floated through the storm, yet again.


"Circuit Breaker"

Alfred — United States

Liên — Vietnam

Alfred sat at the bar and watched Liên. She sipped some clear liquid from a triangle-shaped glass. He shook his head. At different points in time the stool he sat on was one inch away or all the way outside, or at least, across the room, though still in front of the bar, or perhaps the jukebox. She remained in her spot.

Exiting together, hand in hand, the two made their way into a 7-Eleven.

Behind the 7-Eleven sat, with them, open boxes filled with cans and bottles. Some of them were emptied, and some lay horizontally on the blacktop beneath them.

Their faces were dirtied with soot. Alfred's jacket was falling apart. Next to him was a shopping cart filled with bottles of water and different rags. One was a towel; another a carpet; yet another a shirt with a logo reading "IN-N-OUT BURGER" on it. In the distance behind them was a building with neon words "at the Cal". Above flashed a sign: "EAT", "PARK", "PLAY", etc. Alfred stared up at the sky. Liên looked down at the ground and closed her eyes. She sang. Rain fell on them, and standing water flowed to one side, letting the cans float while the bottles resisted the movement.

Cards and chips flew around a table. Screens showed horses or cars moving with each other around a track. On others, players in helmets chased after one who was running with a brown, oblong object in his hand. Beer flowed from barrels through taps and into glasses with handles.


"Alpha Male"

Alfred — United States

Liên — Vietnam

Cards and chips flew around a table. Screens showed horses or cars moving with each other around a track. On others, players in helmets chased after one who was running with a brown, oblong object in his hand. Beer flowed from barrels through taps and into glasses with handles.

A man pulled a lever on a machine with three screens. Symbols moved up and down these screens, until the reels stopped. The image "BAR" appeared on all three. Half dollar coins flowed from a small slot. The man clapped.

Alfred put on a green hat that read "LAS VEGAS WASH COORDINATION COMMITTEE" and stood with Liên in front of the sign that Jean-Éric found. He produced a golden-colored coin from his pocket and flipped it into the air.


"Someone Like Me"

Arthur — England

Marianne — France

Charles — France

Antonio — Spain

Hermann — Prussia

Arthur stood in front of Marianne. His hands were in his pockets. He adjusted the tie that he wore and extended his hand to her. She stepped closer and poked his cheek. He blushed and furrowed his brow, and she giggled.

Charles, Antonio, and Hermann ran through bushes, patches of grass, and into a cornfield. Each one knelt; the first produced binoculars and looked through them, the second, a camera whose lens he glanced into, and the third, a notepad and pen.


"Dead to the World"

Kjetil — Denmark

Torbjørn — Norway

Amelia — United States

Kjetil hung his head, and tears flowed from his eyes. Torbjørn pat his back and sighed.

The Statue of Liberty appeared next to the characters "$1" on the coin that sat on the ground next to the quarter, two dimes, and four cents.

Amelia stood in front of a counter and extended a green piece of cotton-linen paper, a five-cent piece, and three cents to the young man in a light blue shirt and black pants, and he placed these in the till that opened up, and handed her a white piece of paper with ink on it and a clear cup.


"Tristesse Globale"

Torbjørn — Norway

Kjetil — Denmark

Ingrid — Norway

Torbjørn stood in front of his piano and pressed down some of the keys. He began to push them down at different times, producing different notes. Kjetil and Ingrid stood in the doorway and watched. Kjetil pushed a switch down and exited the room, and Ingrid followed afterwards. The notes continued, but became quieter, until there was silence.

Matteo and Eva sat in a gondola that moved down the river and underneath a stone bridge.