Two sisters – the older one ten years and the
younger seven – are in bed, tucked in under the covers. Their separate rooms lay side by side in the
far corner of the one-level house. This
night they smuggled walkie talkies into bed with them. Their room lights are off, but a small sliver
of light shines in from the hall through each cracked door. Their parents are on the other side of the
house, behind closed doors, out of earshot.
KB (the
younger sister): [crackle] Whatcha’ doin’?
EB: Jus’ thinkin’.
KB: About what?
EB: Today… tomorrow…
KB: What about them? [crackle]
EB: They are both always there… but they are both
always different…
KB: … [crackle]
EB: When I think about that too much… I start to
feel kinda scared...
KB: [crackle]
…
EB: Like, I saw this thing on the Discovery
Channel about Rogue Planets. When
universes form, sometimes planets can’t find their center, can’t get into the
groove of gravity, so they just spin out into and beyond their solar system…
KB: …
EB: And then they are just wandering, floating
through space. Alone.
KB: …
[crackle]
EB: So then the tv show said there are as many
solar systems as there are stars. And
there are, like, a billion starts, and that is just in our universe. And there are as many universes as there are
starts… or more! And in those other
universes, there are just as many Rogue Planets. But when I think about universes and
forever and infinity, I start to feel afraid.
[crackle]
KB: ... Yeah.
EB: I’m gonna stop thinking now.
KB: Okay.
EB: I think it’s time to go to sleep.
KB: Okay.
EB: See you in the morning.
KB: Okay.
Night.
EB: Good night.
[click]
[click]
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