Sheet · Object
The Egg Stand
AlsoFRESH EGGS; the egg with the crooked smile
The host's first story: at nineteen he painted a FRESH EGGS board with a plain white egg; somebody kept painting a crooked smile on it, and the smile is what lasted ("Usually it's the part you painted over"); the board turns up, smile and all, in Episode 3's far future and Episode 4's park.
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Used At a glance
- Kind
- Object
- In
- E1 E3 E4 dashed: not released yet
- Lines
- 20
- File
- things/egg-stand.md
The host's first story is about not getting to choose: he painted a plain egg, someone painted a smile on it, he painted the smile out, and it came back bigger, so he let it stay; twenty years later the board is on a barn and the smile is wider every year. It sets up the whole of Episode 1 ("Usually it's the part you painted over"), Jefrie's first remark ("I liked the egg.") and the X-ray's cabin. Later episodes put the sign up quietly, never mentioned: beside a market stall in Episode 3's sky age, at the park where Episode 4's old players sit.
What8 lines
- On screenAt nineteen the host painted signs; a farmer wanted FRESH EGGS and a plain white egg. {E1 06:16} edit
- On screenNext morning someone had given the egg a crooked smile; he painted it out; it came back bigger; he let it stay. {E1 06:25-06:32} edit
- On screenTwenty years later the board is nailed to a barn, and somebody keeps the smile going, wider every year. {E1 06:38} edit
- On screen"You don't get to choose which part of your work people keep. Usually it's the part you painted over." {E1 06:48-06:53} edit
- On screenTold over a fresh canvas and the imprimatura, overnight to DAY 2. {E1 06:00-06:58} edit
- On screenJefrie's first remark, at the rag's first find after the window: "I liked the egg." {E1 08:52-08:59} edit
- On screenThe X-ray echoes it: "I always put one in. Usually it's the part you paint over." {E1 21:32} edit
- RunningThe longer version: eleven days of painting it out, and the stand sold out by ten on the twelfth. {E1 treatment §4.1} edit
On the Y axis1 line
- Runningabout Y-20 The host, nineteen, paints the FRESH EGGS board; somebody keeps painting a smile on it; at least twenty years before Y0, since he saw it again "twenty years later". {E1 06:16-06:38} edit
By episode3 lines
- EggAt the park where the instructor shows Evans-Reshevsky, a FRESH EGGS stand with an egg wearing a crooked smile. {E4 15:38; E4-EGG-07} edit
Look2 lines
- On screenA hand-painted board: FRESH EGGS over one plain white egg with a crooked smile. {E3 27:19.2; E4 15:38} edit
- IdeaFor our own reference: the lettering is a nineteen-year-old sign painter's capitals, a little too careful; the smile is in a different hand and a slightly different white. {lore crew 2026-10-22} edit
Ties2 lines
Must stay true1 line
- RunningThe smile was not the painter's; it keeps coming back; he lets it stay. {E1 06:25-06:38} edit
Open3 lines
- OpenWho kept painting the smile. {E1 06:25} edit
- IdeaThe smile that keeps coming back is the face somebody keeps adding (Rosie's "little face", the tiny face in the seeds); if jojo.builds is Noor, she is the one who keeps painting it back. {eggs sweep} edit
- IdeaFor our own reference: the farmer's daughter painted it, every night for eleven nights, and never told him. {lore crew 2026-10-22} edit