Boil Some Water — Lots of It by F. Scott Fitzgerald. Short summary

5 seconds

Pat inserts the doctor’s phrase in the script where he asks for hot water. In the dining room, Pat punches an insolent statistician. The doctor who appears repeats a line from the script.

1 minute

Loser Pat Hobby edits someone else’s manuscript. He inserts a phrase that the doctor should say in the script.

It must be supplemented by lines from the other characters. Pat invites a nurse to have lunch with him at the artist’s cafe to help him get the medical characters’ phrases right.

At this point, an extras show up at the café. Ordinary actors do not eat in this cafe; the elite of the film industry dine here. The man begins to behave very brazenly and reacts boorishly to remarks.

Pat hits the extra on the head with a tray. He falls unconscious.

It turns out that he is a popular screenwriter who has dressed up as a common actor for the sake of humor. Pat realizes that he is to be blamed for everything that has happened.

The doctor runs up to the wounded man and repeats a line from Hobby’s script.