NARRATOR
The Stratford Family paper stand
In New York's Printing House Square
Established eighteen-seventeen
You'll always find a Stratford there
Merchants of the written word
Every single kind of prose
The Stratford Family paper stand
Run by Samuel's sister

SAMUEL
Rose!

ROSE
Samuel, look what I have: the latest Edinburgh Journal of Science!

SAMUEL
Your favorite magazine... (sniffs) It smells like fish

ROSE
It spent the last two weeks sailing on a cargo ship from Europe. So, it doesn’t smell like fish, it smells like knowledge and adventure

SAMUEL
Knowledge and adventure smell a lot like fish

ROSE
So do you
SAMUEL
(laughing) Did you read anything Interesting?

ROSE
A man named Samuel Morse
Has left a code for us to crack

SAMUEL
I like his name

ROSE
Almost eighty years, and
Halley's Comet has come back

SAMUEL
T'll keep an eye out

ROSE
The Royal Astronomical Society
Is letting women in

SAMUEL
About time!

ROSE
And cell division is a thing
The proof is on page ten
But the most amazing part
Comes from the god of modern astronomy
SAMUEL
Let me guess

ROSE, SAMUEL
John Herschel

ROSE
The man that I adore
He's been in South Africa
Since eighteen thirty four
Probably the greatest mind
To come from England's shore
There's an illustration
I might hang it on the door
It makes him look older than he is, though
Not sure if I like it

SAMUEL
The printing press adds at least a decade

ROSE
He's our age, and he’s already accomplished
So much...
He's owns a telescope so large
To pinpoint every point of light
Until they form a pattern
Four new moons on Jupiter and Saturn
Worlds that human eyes have never seen
Places that no living thing has ever been
Nebulae and comets that he gets to name
No one more deserving of fortune and fame
If I ever met him
I think that I would die
I'd have so many questions
‘Bout his mapping of the sky...
Samuel - where's your notebook?
SAMUEL
L.. left it at work

ROSE
Did Thomas like our story? Oh no, did you get nervous again?

SAMUEL
No, no, I said something this time. Although I might have picked a bad day to finally speak up
There's a million ways to get your news
From trusted sources, older publications

ROSE
Unless you offer something new

ROSE, SAMUEL
A different style or point of view

SAMUEL
The Sun will go down

ROSE
Everybody knows it
It’s basic astronomy

SAMUEL
Very clever

ROSE
The earth revolves around the sun
And everybody knows it

SAMUEL
Thomas doesn’t know it
He fired me today

ROSE
Really?

SAMUEL
The office was attentive
As he dealt the final blow
He tore our words to pieces
Rose, I'd never felt so low
We can’t get by on just the money
From the Stratford Paper Stand

ROSE
Mom and dad did it for years
If they could, I'm sure we can

SAMUEL
I feel like I let you down

ROSE
Samuel, no

SAMUEL
What are we gonna do?

ROSE
We keep going, baby brother

SAMUEL
...We're twins, Rose

ROSE
I came out first, and as the elder Stratford, l am telling you not to give up. We are more than this

SAMUEL
How do you know? What if this is it?

ROSE
This is my life but it isn’t my fate
To be stuck in a booth
On the corner of Broadway
It can’t be
And when it is calm
I can read all the stories
‘Bout the folks that are doing
All the things that I want to do
You worked at a job
That drained you entirely
And made you feel
Like you can’t be who you are
So I write, and you write
And we write together
It’s a gift, and it sits
On the corner of Broadway
And it’s time to begin
To give in to imagination
See what's possible