The Breezie Street Line Painter

An older man, perhaps 67, paints lines down the middle of a street. A young girls walks up to him.

Girl : Hey. Mister. What are you doing?

Older Man : Well. I'm painting lines on the street.

Girl : Don't they have machines to do that?

Older Man : Well. Yes they do. But I've been doing this since before machines were popular to use. This is my only skill. The government has kept me on for all these years. And can a machine make such a perfect line? Thousands and thousands of lines, all perfect.

Girl : I think they can. That's why they are machines. Necessity is the mother of invention.

Older Man : Aren't you the precocious one! Did you ever hear the story of John Henry?

Girl : Yes.

Older Man : Well John Henry was a steel driving man. He was the best. He was fast, strong, and black, very black. And that, honey, meant that he was more physically adept to physical labor, or now, sports.

Girl : That's very racist of you.

Older Man : One day this cocky young inventor by the name of Gerard Depardieu , but not like the acclaimed actor. Gerard came along and said that his machine could drive steel faster than any man in the world. John Henry took great offense to this and challenged the machine. When the machine didn't respond, he challenged Gerard and said that he could beat that machine. So the race began a day or so later. It was close the whole time, but eventually, John Henry won against the machine. And that's why man will always conquer machine.

Girl : But John Henry died, and couldn't drive steel anymore. The machine could continue the next day. Actually the machine never had to be stopped. As long as someone operated it, it could go forever. John Henry had to stop, because he was dying of exhaustion.

Older Man : You are so precocious!

The older man smacks the girl with paintbrush. It is 1/3 playful, 2/3 not.