“Is it time?” The furtive whisper sprang from the darkness like a cannon shot.
He sighed. “Don’t do that to me.”
“Do what? I was quiet as I could be.”
“Too quiet. You made me jump.”
“Better to jump than to die, which is what just happened if I was a bad guy.”
“I know. That’s why I jumped, more than anything,” he admitted. “Sorry, I’m just jumpy.”
“Literally,” said his colleague, and they both chuckled.
This won’t do, thought the wannabe creator. A random scene between two whatever-they-ares on a quiet night. Who are they? Why are they skulking? Do I even care?
“Meaningless,” muttered the panicked writer. “Everything is meaningless.” He heard a bird sing through the glass. He had questions but did not know how to form them. He needed something he did not know how to define.
A smiling, cheerful somebody strolled by.
“Relax,” the somebody smiled. “Just relax. The world will neither rise nor fall as a result of what you produce today.”
“I just said that,” the morose creator said. “Everything is meaningless.”
“You said that, I didn’t,” said the smile. “The heavens declare the glory of God, who said ‘Yes’ to your question.”
“I didn’t ask a question.”
“And yet the answer is ‘Yes.’”
“What if I had asked if I am a fool?”
“Yes. But he uses the foolish of the world to confound the wise,” the smile smiled. “You believe you are the fool, and they think they’re wise guys, and yet you are closer to the truth.”
“The truth that I’m a fool?”
“No, silly. You’re not as foolish as you think, and they are nowhere near as wise as they think.”
“How does that help me?”
“For one thing, you’re willing to learn something you don’t know, and they think they know all they need to know. That makes you wiser than any of you can imagine.”
“OK, so teach me something, smart guy.”
“It’s not up to me to teach” — that smile again — “It’s up to you to learn. All that a so-called teacher can do is lead you to the water. It’s your decision whether you are thirsty enough to drink.”
OK, mission accomplished, thought the wannabe creator. This ought to make an interesting anecdote for tomorrow’s offering.
The smiling cheerful somebody looked up from the page. “You think you’re done? This is just the warmup exercise. Playtime is next.”
“What’s the game?”
“That’s the fun of it! You’ll learn as you play along.”
“What are we waiting for?” the two skulkers said in unison, which made everyone jump.
