[Scene: A sunny afternoon in Lyon. Chloé and Sophie are walking together toward a café. Ahead of them, a maintenance worker has set up a ladder across the sidewalk to fix a streetlamp.]
Chloé (abruptly stopping): Oh non, non, non! We can’t go this way, Sophie. Look! There’s a ladder!
Sophie (grinning): Chloé, seriously? You’re going to cross the street just to avoid a ladder?
Chloé (nodding vigorously): Évidemment! Everyone knows walking under a ladder is bad luck. Why tempt fate?
Sophie (laughing): You do realize the “bad luck” is more about physics than magic, right? The only real risk is the guy on top dropping a wrench on your head.
Chloé (crossing her arms): Oh, you’re always so logical. But tell me, why do so many people believe it if it’s nonsense? My grandmother used to say her neighbor broke her leg the day after walking under a ladder. Coincidence?
Sophie: Probably. People remember the times things go wrong and blame the superstition — they forget the hundred times nothing happens. Confirmation bias, my dear Watson.
Chloé (with mock offense): Well, Watson, let me remind you: Last month, remember when I walked under that ladder near Bellecour? That evening, my phone fell into the toilet! And two days later, I got that parking ticket!
Sophie (chuckling): Okay, first, you were texting over the sink — that’s just asking for trouble. And the parking ticket… didn’t you park in a no-parking zone?
Chloé (huffing): Technicalities.
Sophie: Listen, the superstition probably started centuries ago when ladders were less stable. Walking under one could literally get you hurt — nothing to do with bad energy or cosmic punishment.
Chloé: Hmph. Well, I prefer not to risk it. Besides, I like believing in a little magic. It makes life interesting.
Sophie (grinning): Magic is fine, but let’s keep it to birthdays and Christmas, not ladders on sidewalks. Here — I’ll prove it’s harmless.
[Sophie confidently strolls under the ladder.]
Chloé (gasping): Sophie! What are you doing?! You’re going to jinx us both!
Sophie (turning back with a playful smile): Voilà! Still standing. No thunderbolts, no falling pianos.
[Suddenly, a pigeon flies overhead and drops something suspicious onto Sophie’s coat.]
Sophie (looking up in disbelief): …Okay, that was definitely bad timing.
Chloé (bursting into laughter): You see?! The universe has spoken! Come here, I have tissues.
Sophie (laughing as she tries to clean her coat): Fine, fine — maybe the universe has a sense of humor. But you know, pigeon droppings are actually considered good luck in some cultures!
Chloé (teasing): Oh, now you believe in superstition?
Sophie: Touché. But seriously, Chloé, if avoiding ladders makes you feel better, do it — just don’t let it control your life. Deal?
Chloé (smiling): Deal. And maybe next time, I’ll let you walk under the ladder alone.
Sophie: Fair enough — but only if you promise not to blame me if you drop your phone again!
[They both laugh and continue walking, weaving around the ladder together this time.]
End of Scene
Science Vs Superstition 
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