The Meaning of Life
5 November 2007
Judy and the man in blue arrived in a part of town she had never been before. ``Are we still in Friedman?'', she asked while looking at what was around here.
``Of course not. Why the hell would we want to stay there? That place gives me the creeps - the public transport system alone.''
Judy interrupts, ``Where are we then?''
``Does it matter?''
``Yes.''
``Oh. Well. I still can't be bothering answering.''
Colours were starting to return to Judy now; everything was becoming sharper and sounds were returning though she couldn't see further than a few buildings in each direction, after that the entire world just faded away and Judy suddenly realised that everything had been suddenly reduced to this tiny bit of land.
``Look here you, I demand to know where we are. I mean quite frankly you have provided very poor service. You're rude, you won't tell me anything and your sense of dress is very disappointing.''
``It's the uniform. I have to wear it.''
``Where are we?''
The man just walked on ahead towards a run down building. Judy kept asking questions, ``I mean, what's your name? Who do you answer to? These are important questions.''
The man stayed quiet as he waited at the door of the building. Judy looked around and saw that everything around here looked run-down; never in her entire life had she been somewhere that was just so poor. She ignored the man in blue waiting at the door and looked at what was around her. To the left of the building was a diner - it was currently empty bar for one person sitting in a booth drinking coffee. The window next to the door had been smashed and the 'Diner' sign had been put up in a haphazard manner seeing how it slanted a good thirty degrees. The other buildings that made up the limited area around Judy were all exactly the same as the one the man was standing against - about five stories high and looking like they were bound to collapse the moment she went inside one. The man had now taken to leaning against the building in an impatient manner - ``there's really not much to look at! Come on!'' he yelled.
Judy walked up to him. ``Where are we?''
``I told you already. I can't be bothered telling you. Now we just need to go through this door and you'll be all set.''
``I'm not walking through this door until you tell me where we are!''
The man gave off a sigh, ``great, you're going to be one of those people aren't you?''
``What people?''
``Those people that try to blackmail answers out of us! Just because we have a duty to transport souls from one plane of existence to the next doesn't mean that we have to put up with this! Do you know how many people want to know what the meaning of life is the moment they die? And guess what happens when I don't tell them - they throw the chips out of the deep fryer and have a little temper tantrum! Honestly it's like...''
``Well.'' Judy interrupted before the man got his own reply in.
``What? You have something to say do you?''
``Death can be a little distressing. It's understandable that some people may feel a little...''
``Oh yes! Those poor people. How sad everything is for them now that their sad miserable lives are over! They should be over the moon. Life is nothing more than a giant cosmic joke.''
Judy and the man stood staring at each other, in the background a television fell from the top floor of one of the buildings that caused a large thud in the otherwise silent area.
``So is that the meaning of life?''
``No.''
There was another pause until the man finally broke it, ``so will you come inside now?''
Judy nodded; the man opened the door to the building delicately as to make sure the door didn't fall off its hinges and the both of them walked in.
Posted byBren at 12:19 am
