The Unspoken Name

Betty 肖晓 200111025

In the depths of the night, when most are fast asleep, a bustling world comes alive. While you are dreaming, there are those who still remain wide awake. Who are they? During the day, they keep standing still on the pages, bottles, plastic bags, keyboards, screens, and any place you can imagine. When the clock strikes midnight, they simply zoom out and embrace the hours that belong solely to them. It’s not that hard to figure out they are the letters, or characters, in every scene of our daily lives.

Before we delve into their extraordinary lives, let's grasp a few ground rules. Firstly, they are connected by the font rather than the language, which means appreciate and merci can be close friends while story and story may be total strangers. Secondly, dancing is their true passion, transcending the font boundaries. It is believed that a letter who does not enjoy dancing is not a good letter. Also, the letter who has a gift in dancing is definitely popular. Usually, the squiggles win the annual dancing queen contest. However, the capital “X” is one of those particular letters that seldom find a word to fit into, so she is always like a passenger, witnessing of all the boisterousness. She comes from the plastic bags of bread, serving as part of the brand name.

On one normal night, when every letter came out and danced together, X just kept walking on in a reflective mood. She was a bit tired of this long-time loneliness and wonder whether it is time to change a little and step into the ordinary lifestyle. Then, she climbed up to the inside page of a historical book, which was dubbed as the most stable place because books are perceived as something precious and treated with care. Here, she met a host of new letters grooving to pop music. Plucking up her courage and she approached the letter “A” —— who had just finished the first dance.

“Hi! Are you having fun? Living in a book seems extraordinary.” Inarticulate and rather shy, speaking to strangers was not one of her strong points.

“Hello! Are you saying living here is a good thing? Don’t be silly, looking at how many letters are here! It’s impossible to feel happy in such a crowded place.” No sooner had the words escaped, A swiftly spun and plunged into the next dance.

X looked around and recalled that someone had told her about the powerful stress owing to the high-density living conditions here. She turned around, heading for the next place.

The next stop was some English notes. Letters here were very special as most of them come from handwriting. They listen to classical music and waltz along gracefully, dancing to the rhythm. X was fond of the atmosphere as well and rose on tiptoes, mimicking the others. Suddenly she heard a whisper.

“Look, she is a typed! Why is she here?”

X looked back and tried to find who was murmuring. “Hiii! I really like this place; can we be friends?”

Silence prevailed, leaving X feeling self-conscious and embarrassed.

She then realized, somehow, the letters here had developed a sense of privilege and arrogance. Disappointed, she left there.

Back to the familiar plastic bag, a place that consisted of many kinds of different letters, X figured out that perhaps she didn’t need to confirm the so-called social norms. She just needed to allow herself to live in a comfortable way, and being solitary can also be an enjoyable thing. Though rootless (because the next morning you may find yourself in the trash), living on a plastic bag is generally relaxed. As for the unspoken new friend’s name that she tried to search for, let time unveil the answer.

（肖晓）