“If in the first act you have hung a pistol on the wall, then in the following one, it should be fired.” —Anton Chekhov
- - -
If a Lego is left on the floor in the first act, then in the following one, the mother will step on it.
If the mother writes an organic, spiritual, all-natural birth plan in the first act, in the second act, that same birth plan will fly out the window as the anesthesiologist plugs in her Triple Strength Super Max Turbo Blasted Epidural.
Any cylindrical object, like a paper towel tube, introduced in the first act will be used in the second act as a wand or a sword to mete out a harsh brand of sibling justice.
If slime is introduced in the first act, the mother will be removing it from a child’s hair or an animal’s fur in the second act.
In the first act, if a colicky baby falls asleep for the first time in seventeen hours, a delivery driver will ring the doorbell in the next act, triggering the dog’s apocalyptic response.