Name one thing that makes you happy. Then name another. Then name four more.
Wayside
can name a thousand. Wayside isn’t one to wallow. He isn’t one to turn
sour when he is told the Silence isn’t there anymore. He isn’t one to
get beaten up over a few teensy fights here and there.
No, Wayside
got better things to do than worry. What’s there to worry about? The
Noise is great! We’re all awake, ready to experience things, ready to
see the world, travel, make things, eat great food, and have experiences
like none they’ve had before.
And while sleeping was nice, there’s no saying this can’t be better until we’ve tried.
That’s
at least how Wayside sees things. He thinks the wayside is as pretty a
place as the road. He thinks the wayside is worth as much as the cars
driving it. He thinks the gutter is also the best of us.
So when the fighting started to die down on that fifth day, he was
ecstatic. There was less to talk about, less to figure out. The others
were beginning to come to agreements. There was little will to do
anything except accept the rules they had made—for fighting again
quickly made everyone tire—so they instead began living.
And life is
the greatest wayside of all. It isn’t like we’ve got anything better to
do than live, so might as well try to make the stops on the way
interesting.
The Silence was one of those stops, but now they were past it. Time to figure out what the Noise had to give.
Now,
if only it would tell them something. Anything. It wasn’t they could
make demands of something that doesn’t answer. They couldn’t call it or
ask for advice. Or find some other way to communicate. But they would
keep trying until something worked. At least, that was the plan from
Wayside’s point of view. It was as good a plan as any.
They had time.
They didn’t know how much. But hey, it’s probably more than they
needed. Of course it was. Why would the Noise be a time limit?
Once, someone asked him how he could see the cameras as anything
other than negative. But he ignored their complaints and argued that
they were probably there for their own sake. To make sure they were
happy, more than anything else. Had the cameras done anything yet? Had
anyone acted against them since they had awoken?
No, the others had to agree.
“Good”,
Wayside said, “stop worrying before you know there’s anything to worry
about. And even then, there’s bound to be something good from it. It’ll
only get better.”
It’ll only get better. As the days moved forward, it could only get better.