THE GHOST (aside)
They really think I’m an educational engineer. I’ll mystify them properly. (Silence) I’ll confess everything. I am the educational engineer. But there’s no point in accusing each other. I’ve been shirking myself. A little existential crisis. Who am I, where am I going? The engineers also have the right to comb the giraffe.
Mezzo and Alphonse enter in secret.
So, stop relying on me. Create, imagine, but leave me alone. I lived fifty years in this lamp post. I can tell you a lot of good ideas. (Silence). Tonight I have decided to leave the National Education. I am leaving the educational ship. You don’t need me anymore. And if you feel like praising a spiritual guide, ask this lunatic. (He points to the minister). We know each other, don’t we?

THE MINISTER
I thought we knew each other.

MRS. GRATTIN
You were in the same class, right?

THE MINISTER
The principle of networking at the National School of Education is cardinal. I’m sorry to have taken you down a peg. We could have created a real collective intelligence, you and me. I felt so bad when you were hanging yourself. All because I had been ministered to… And not you!

THE GHOST
Don’t worry. It was a resignation choice to remove me and I had enough time to bite off what’s left of my fingers. Since then, I’ve seen through the holes in my lamp what compromises you had to make to stay in office. I don’t regret anything. You may have pushed me to suicide, but I still led the elite of private schools for years.

THE MINISTER
We dehumanized ourselves, my dear. We had to be over-efficient, and we burned ourselves out. I myself burned out, I ran out of steam, and you, in your school, lost all relational hygiene. You prostituted yourself for a few crumbs of glory, my friend, and I pampered the Devil to remain a minister!