The Birth of the Concept
As the clock ticked closer to midnight and an incoming deadline, three teenagers sat curled in their blankets. They were polishing the final touches on a speech they were supposed to deliver the next day, or at least attempting too.
Work had dragged on as dinner time came and went, the sun set, and people fell deeply into slumber. They were all starting to get restless and short tempered. Aaron and Tessa were arguing over the wording of one sentence.
“If you say ‘jfdsla;fjkdsl;afjksld;afjsa,’” said Tessa, “then it means that jfsklfajslkd;aflksdjf.”
“But,” Aaron said, “it only makes sense grammatically if we say ‘fjdkslafjsdlfjsl.’”
Anastasia tuned them out as they began to argue the same thing in different ways, each attempting to change the other person’s opinion. She worked quietly on her section until she was pleased with it. Five minutes had gone by when she returned to Aaron’s and Tessa’s argument, and she realized that their debate had gone nowhere.
“What if,” she began, but was interrupted by Aaron reiterating his point once again.
“What if,” she said with more volume, “we said ‘fdjsalfkjdslakfjsdl.’ Would that work?”
Tessa and Aaron were silent for a moment.
“Perfect,” said Tessa.
“Brilliant,” Aaron said. “Anastasia, you are like a thesaurus.”
“Well, you’re like a dictionary!” said Anastasia, “and Tessa is an encyclopedia. She knows everything!”
Aaron laughed, “We’re a reference section!”
“Great name for a band,” Tessa said.
“Or,” said Anastasia, raising her eyebrows and grinning, “a slam poetry group.”
“Yeah!” said Aaron and Tessa at the same time. The threesome laughed so hard tears escaped from the corners of their eyes.
