Black dot.
Since Lu met Dot, she started to visit silence more often. She liked his mysterious slowness and fearlessness to confront something Lu considered a source of discomfort. She felt inspired and perhaps even a little opportunistic, wishing to get familiar with this unknown territory of silence that scared her.
Having a friend who could support her in this was a wonderful chance Lu didn't want to miss. She decided to be liked by Dot, and the best strategy she learned while growing up into a social animal, was bringing presents. It wasn't obvious what kind of present Dot would like. He didn't share much in words, Lu's primary language. For hours, she stared into his deep eyes that resembled water wells reflecting fragments of the sky, catching moonlight once in a while. Dot never blinked and looked rather alert than relaxed, tracking her movements. At first, Lu interpreted it as disinterest or maybe even suspicion, but as time passed, she understood that Dot liked her. He never missed their eye-gazing dates in silence, being there when Lu wanted to visit.
One day, a thought woke up Lu from a dream.
What if Dot can't see properly? Spending so much time in the shadows behind the words, he must have lost clarity of his vision, wrestling with darkness.
She immediately ran to the shop and got a pair of glasses, a tiny gold frame embracing round-shaped lenses. Lu liked Dot's deep wells and wanted to preserve their beauty so she could still enjoy them in fullness. Feeling excited and proud of her sensitivity, picking up Dot's needs, Lu rushed into silence.
As always, Dot was resting on the invisible branch of a tree. It looked like he was hanging in nothingness, which was impossible. His head turned 180 degrees as Lu fell into the dark, making a lot of noise with her fastened heartbeat. Quickly becoming aware of the impact she had on silence and how inappropriate it was, she collected herself and, pretending to be in full awareness and without nervousness, moved towards Dot.
Lu was squeezing a small package in her hand, trying not to break the frame. It was the first gift she brought, and the excitement of it being wrong was skyrocketing. Lu was afraid to lose a new friend and shut off the door to silence, missing an opportunity to discover a new language. Lu unpacked the glasses, used her velvet skirt to wipe off the dust, and put them on Dot's autonomously rotating head, a phenomenon Lu attributed to some sort of magic. Dot impulsively flinched away, releasing a wave of antsy insecurity into Lu's system. Calm cozy silence turned into a sticky one. Waiting entered the space, a tight string between their gazes giving Lu shivers and all different kinds of discomforts. She truly hated waiting. Of all existential states Lu had ever been in, waiting was by far her least favorite. She struggled to understand why it should even exist. Despite her complicated relationship with waiting, Lu often found herself in it. Sometimes she didn't even realize she was hanging in it before a stretchy, pulling feeling on her skin would get so strong, and she would realize where she is. Luckily, Lu had a question that had the power to pull her out of the waiting void.
What are you waiting for?
Usually, immediate action followed, and Lu felt release.
Staring at Dot, who looked softer in his new glasses, Lu was waiting for his reaction, but nothing was coming out. Only two dark wells with a golden edge.
Come on, Dot! Do you like it? Do you like me? Will you teach me silence?
A train of thoughts rushed through her mind, bumping into a familiar semantic stop sign:
What are you waiting for?
She didn't know the answer, though. Opening the cupboards in her mind failed to be a successful strategy. There was nothing Lu was waiting for; Dot was still there, and it felt like nothing needed an action. The tense thread of waiting weakened, and Lu felt the soft blanket of silence hugging her from all sides. Corners of her mouth jumped up, a movement socially recognized as a smile. When the last bits of stretchy longing for something melted away, Lu noticed a subtle flicker in the right eye of her staring partner. At first, a small highlight, it started to grow, rapidly becoming a sphere. Dot remained uninvolved, as nothing strange was happening; he was still gazing at Lu with the same level of attentiveness. Everything happened rather quickly; Lu didn't catch how exactly. A small black pearl radiating oil-leak-like colors fell out of his eye. With the grace of a lynx, Lu jumped towards the pearl, adding a few silent, perfectly executed aikido rolls, not missing a chance to impress Dot with her physical abilities. In a free fall between words, Lu managed to catch Dot's little dot, squeezing it as hard as she can while finding an invisible branch to land on. She opened her hand and saw the most marvelous thing: a perfectly rounded Vantablack dot in the middle of her palm, as there was a hole in it. The darkness of silence was now in her hand, portable and compact.
Suddenly a sharp, dry sound, with little gracefulness, jumped into Lu's ear. She lifted her head and saw Dot, who in the meantime found some rice crackers to nibble on. She smelled cheese-flavored powder and saw white crumbles disappearing into the darkness. Lu felt a little hungry and loved rice crackers. Making sure the pearl is secure, she jumped on the tree where Dot was snacking, joining him in his unscrupulous mischievous behavior. Releasing crackling sounds which, like fishes, can swim freely in the vast ocean of silence.
Lu also felt release, silence was less serious than she thought. She could simply enjoy crackers with her friend Dot without talking. Finishing her last bites, she was ready to face the words again. She was leaving with a better idea about gifts for Dot and was already planning in mind which flavor should she bring, choosing between shrimp and sour cream. She still didn't know if Dot needed glasses, but decided to leave it with him as it looked like he was enjoying them. Lu felt remarkably calm, rested, and energized at the same time. She didn't know why exactly, but she knew it was a special day and that she received a very special present. The black dot of silence she could carry with her everywhere. She headed to Kenny's, where she was still crushing, excited to tell him everything about what happened. Kenny wasn't there yet; he was probably staying later at work, compensating for his messiness and escaping guilt by overworking. Bob was waiting for her on the couch, balancing a little box on his head, munching on cookies, and sipping coffee through a straw. The box had Lu's name on it. Overcoming her sentimental emotions, she opened the box and found a small metal cylinder with a wire attached to it.
Dot called. He said you got it. Congratulations, Lu, my little girl, I am proud of you.
Lu opened her hand, protecting the dot, unscrewed the cylinder, and put it around her neck. Silence walks with me. She moved into Bob, finding a comfy fit with his slimy body, and fell asleep again.