puddle

Cheap champagne and even cheaper beer flowed freely — mostly over people’s heads — before forming deep puddles on some plastic sheeting that had hastily been laid along the floor.

There was a stagnant puddle in the hallway of the university residence that opened only two years ago, but the rainy season had not yet started in Madagascar.

Across the room Pages stood in an expanding puddle of champagne, clutching a handful of Budweiser bottles as teammates took turns pouring beer over this head.

Holger Rune, one of the world’s best tennis players, was in Shanghai this month, sitting on court in a puddle of his own sweat, when he turned to the chair umpire in bewilderment.

With judicious trimming, particularly of the occasional puddle of expository or repetitive dialogue, the play would gain a tauter pace.