Three scientists \u2014 Papaia, Banani, and Ravioli \u2014 and their assistant Igor work at NASAL. When they start taking an interest in creationism, their superiors send them to a psychologist for evaluation. The psychologist, Professor Faggioli, is a shady character, determined to get them fired by making them look crazy. Ravioli is the first to enter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We\u2019re in Professor Faggioli\u2019s office, where Ravioli is recounting the time he refused to eat boiled fish at afterschool care.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As Ravioli tells the story, we enter the flashback.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We\u2019re in Ravioli\u2019s afterschool classroom, where little Raviolino, as usual, has been kept in detention, while the other children are all outside playing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Teacher: Come on, Raviolino! Eat that fish, I\u2019m tired of having to watch you every day!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Raviolino: I really wish I could, teacher, but it just won\u2019t go down! Don\u2019t you have a plate of lasagna instead?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Teacher: Oh come on, Raviolino! Where do you think you are? This is the public school cafetria, not an Italian restaurant!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\ud83e\udd23\ud83e\udd23\ud83e\udd23<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Raviolino: Ugh! Another day of sadness\u2026 I can\u2019t wait for six o\u2019clock to come!<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The teacher sees a group of colleagues chatting in a circle just outside the classroom door.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Teacher: Raviolino, I\u2019m stepping out for a moment. Make sure you don\u2019t get up from your desk until you finish that fish.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Raviolino: Don\u2019t worry, teacher, just as that fish will stay on the plate until six o\u2019clock, I\u2019ll stay right here in my seat. Though I\u2019m not sure which of us got the better deal. At least the fish will end up in the trash and never come back. I, on the other hand, will be right here tomorrow, in the same spot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ravioli lifts his eyes, but realizes he\u2019s speaking to himself. The teacher has already joined her colleagues in the hallway conversation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Igor (voiceover, emotionally): Truly a pearl of childhood despair, worthy of a Russian novel\u2026 but for kids in detention\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\u2026When Raviolino said, \u201cThough I\u2019m not sure which of us got the better deal\u201d? I wasn\u2019t sure anymore if he was talking about lunch or the human condition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\u2026The teacher probably wasn\u2019t paid enough to deal with the artistic inner torment of a sensitive overweight child and his boiled fish fillet\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\u2026That day, in the school cafetria, a new artistic movement was born: Infantile Expressionism\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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\u2026Ravioli didn\u2019t just want to avoid the fish. He wanted to be understood. But the teacher wasn\u2019t paid enough to engage with new literary movements \u2014 she had the state curriculum to follow\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\ud83e\udd23\ud83e\udd23\ud83e\udd23<\/p>\n\n\n\n