"The only thing we can do now," said Benji, crouching and
stroking his whiskers in thought, "is to try and fake a question,
invent one that will sound plausible."
"Difficult," said Frankie. He thought. "How about What's yellow
and dangerous?"
Benji considered this for a moment.
"No, no good," he said. "Doesn't fit the answer."
They sank into silence for a few seconds.
"Alright," said Benji. "What do you get if you multiply six by
seven?"
"No, no, too literal, too factual," said Frankie, "wouldn't
sustain the punters' interest."
Again they thought.
Then Frankie said: "Here's a thought. How many roads must a man
walk down?"
"Ah," said Benji. "Aha, now that does sound promising!" He rolled
the phrase around a little. "Yes," he said, "that's excellent!
Sounds very significant without actually tying you down to
meaning anything at all. How many roads must a man walk down?
Forty-two. Excellent, excellent, that'll fox 'em. Frankie baby,
we are made!"
They performed a scampering dance in their excitement.
If you were silent, do you think your friends would notice? I'm usually loud, jovial. I like to be seen as happy, whether I am or not. One day at lunch, I sat down. Someone asked me a question, I nodded my head. Tim commented on my mace earrings. I grinned and shook my head from side to side so they would bounce off my cheeks. Andrew asked why I wasn't saying anything. "It's unusual to have a silent Mary." I laughed and said that I hadn't meant to be silent. We moved to talk about the random things that friends will often talk about. Today, I sat with my usual group of "friends;" the friends with whom I fit so well. And today, I was quiet. There is a difference between quiet and silent. Especially when the quiet is you sitting, unsmiling, going through the motions and the silent includes you grinning and playing with your earrings. However, no one noticed. Isn't it odd? I think if one of my friends was bummed, I'd notice. If the were quiet, d...
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