“Don’t you have your lunchbox with you?”
“Lunchbox!? OF COURSE NOT?” I shouted.
“Oh wait!” Blue Pearl’s biscuit! I almost forgot!
The instant I swallowed the biscuit my hunger pain was gone. What an amazing biscuit!
“Now, the second test.” D said, while standing in front of another large white door.
“Since you already know how to See Through, now you have to learn how to Hear Through.”
“What’s that?”
“Sounds and objects are the same. They are all made by shapes. You have to find the Shape of the Sound before you can Hear Through everything.”
“No. I don’t get it. You can’t see sounds, so how can I find the shape of it?”
“They are invisible to your eyes, but they are visible to your ears and in your head.”
I narrowed my eyes to show my confusion.
“If you can learn how to Hear Through, then you can understand almost every language and sound in the universe.” D Said.
I didn’t even understand 99% of the languages on Earth, and you’re talking about Universe?
“But?” I raised my hand.
“No more question, just go find the shape of the sound. I’ll see you when you pass the test.”
“Ke wù!!!” I snarled.
“You know I understand that, right?”
This time I stepped into a classroom filled with a variety of students of different shape, color and texture.
A hairy kangaroo-like student with one eye jumped over me as I entered the room. In front of me was a yellow seahorse with wings communicating with something that looked like an earthworm except its body was separated into five detached pieces. Above my head, a translucent creature slowly floated pass by, constantly changing colors and shapes.
This place was much more intimidating than Steve’s farm.
I walked around in awe, admiring all these strange and beautiful creatures. Then, out of the corner of my eyes I noticed a car sized cockroach-like creature crawling towards me. It reminded me of something scary I once saw in a book but never wanted to see in real life, so I quickly walked away. It was incredibly frightening and ugly, I didn’t like it one bit. However, this cockroach continued to follow me. I quickly ducked in with a group of students hoping to join in their conversation and get rid of my pesky admirer. In this group there was a pencil-like robot, a flying dog-like creature and a dwarf, but they weren’t talking. They just stood there staring at each other. They were probably communicating with some sort of telepathy that I simply didn’t understand.
“Er- Good job, guys.” I walked away awkwardly.
The cockroach was still following me, so I decided to play dead. I knew it was a stupid idea, but I didn’t know what else to do. So I stopped walking, lie on the ground with my eyes closed and prayed that it wouldn’t eat me.
It stood next to me, extended a nasty tentacle and began scratching my entire body while making this unpleasant hissing sound. I held my breath while trying to stay completely still. All of a sudden, a strange feeling came over me. I began noticing the various sounds around me becoming much clearer and sharper. Whether it was loud or soft or a whisper or a scream? I still didn’t understand what these creatures were saying, but every pitch and tone suddenly became very distinct to my ears. While I was exploring this new experience I noticed that the scratching finally stopped. After a few seconds of silence I slowly opened my eyes to see if it was gone, but before I could see anything else a cold familiar slap across on my face made me jump up.
“COME ON, Robot! Can’t you tell I am much smaller than you?” I rubbed my cheek. “But well, good to see you again!”
“Okay, so, Robot, let’s try it together.” I made Robot sit down with me like last time.
“Beanie.” I pointed to myself.
“B-” It tried repeating what I said, but it just sounded funny.
“EYE.” I pointed to my own eyes and then to Robot’s.
“I-”
“Nose… okay never mind, you don’t have a nose.” “MOUTH.”
“MA---”
“Good Job! I’m sure you’ll be able to talk to people from Earth soon! Let’s do it one more time. EYE.”
“I-”
This time when I said eye a strange image popped into my head, but it didn’t look like the shape I would normally associate with an eye. It actually didn’t look like anything at all but a strange unfamiliar shape. And when I said Mouth, another image appeared, but again it looked nothing like a mouth.
“How do you say eyes in your language, Robot?” I pointed to its eyes.
“I—Gagougagowgoguwa.”
Despite never hearing this language or anything close to it, when Robot said eye in its native tongue an image popped into my head. And guess what!? This image was exactly the same as the previous one that came to mind when I said “EYE” in my own language!
WOW!
I started pointing to various parts of its body and asking for the names. Image after image appeared in my head that I could perfectly match up with its meaning in my language.
UNBELIEVABLE!
“Robot! I can understand you now! Can you understand me yet? This is EYE, mouth, hand. EYE. MOUTH. HAND.”
“I — Gagougagowgoguwa.”
“MA — Gugowgowagugawaw.”
“HEN —Gogugowogowagagowgou.”
“I — Gagougagowgoguwa.”
“MA — Gugowgowagugawaw.”
“HEN —Gogugowogowagagowgou.”
After talking for a bit, I began translating all the images in my head. Soon, I was finally able understand what it was saying and it too could understand me! Good Job, Robot!
We began having a conversation. Everything went smoothly until I told Robot that my name was Beanie, it laughed so hard it almost fell over. It said it couldn’t call me that because the word ‘Beanie’ in its native language meant something very funny and weird. It told me that it would rather just call me ‘Flower’ because I looked like a flower on its planet. Robot’s name was pretty strange too; roughly translated it means ‘Toothbrush Tire’, so I decided to just call it ROBOT.
“Oh, NO. Robot. You have to help me. That cockroach is after me again!”
That giant cockroach probably saw I was finally awake and began crawling toward us.
“Why are you scared of it?” (In Robot’s language)
“Don't you think it’s scary and ugly?”
“I think it’s beautiful!”
“Beautiful!?” I shivered and hid behind Robot.
The cockroach came over to us and again made some hissing sound, only this time I could understand what it was trying to say.
“Hello, my name is Shoe Seaweed. I really like those things on your legs. They look so warm. Can you tell me what they are? It is very cold where I from and we have really weak legs. I think it can really help us a lot.”
I was embarrassed. It was actually admiring my leg warmers and not trying to hurt me… Why would I ever assume it was coming to eat me? Was it because I simply hated its appearance? D was right, our vision sometimes did blur the true beauty of things. At this moment I felt quite ashamed of myself. Then I remembered back on how I used to treat Pudding. I so wished I could go back apologize to him.
So I calmly explained to Shoe Seaweed what my leg warmers were. It was so happy, saying that it was going to invent something like that when it got back home. The three of us sat together and practiced Hearing Through. It was fun and we were all confident that we could hear through, so we decided to head for the exit and take the test.
The exam room was very dark, and as soon as I walked in the door slammed shut behind me. I couldn’t see a thing.
“Where are you from, Key Holder?” (Something that sounded like gunshot spoke)
“Earth.” I answered.
“What’s your name?” (Something that sounded like thunder)
“Beanie.”
“W
rong answer.” (Something that sounded like bird chirping)
“WHAT!?” I exclaimed, feeling quite confused. “Beanie L.?”
“Wrong answer.” (Something that sounded like car engine)
“WHAT!??? Then what’s my name!? KEY HOLDER????”
“Absolutely wrong, no one is named Key Holder.” (Something that sounded like waterfall)
“Then I DON’T KNOW what my name is! You tell me!!!!!!!!” I was getting very irritated.
“How old are you?” (Something that sounded like drums)
“Eight? Wait? Nine? Or maybe TEN? I HAVE NO CLUE!!!!”
“Wrong answer.” (Something sounded like dog barking)
“WHAT!? BUT?”
“The test is over. Please close your eyes and count to 100, then open them.” (Something sounded like monkey)
“NO! You can’t fail me like that! I gave you the right answers!” I screamed.
“I didn’t say you failed. But if you don’t follow instructions, I’ll have to assume you don’t understand and really fail you.” (Something that sounded like tiger)
“WHAT? Okay… 1, 2, 3…”
When I opened my eyes the room was no longer dark and I could see that it was another white empty room with D standing in front of me.
“STRANGEST TEST EVER!” I exclaimed.
“But you passed.”
“Tài Bang Le!”
“Don't you think it’s scary and ugly?”
9
Shapeless
Mommy Taleah once told me a story. She said she had always been very close to her grandma and that she loved her very much. The day her grandma passed away was also the day she divorced her first husband. She was all alone and went through some hard times. One day, during a particularly hot summer month, she was doing some gardening outside. The heat was a little too much and as she got up to head inside she began feeling very dizzy and almost fainted. Her vision gradually became blurry, so much so she had to sit down on the grass. She began to panic until she saw a person walking towards her. However, she couldn’t tell who this person was. This stranger sat down next to her and began fanning air towards her face trying to cool her down. Little by little she started to feel better. When she finally recovered she turned to thank the person for helping her, but to her surprise there was no one there. But she clearly remembered that soft and sweet smell that was in the air. It was her grandma’s perfume.
I told Mommy Taleah that was a very scary ghost story. She laughed and shook her head.
“My grandma’s always here with me even though I can’t see her. She’s my guardian angel.”
“One more left!” I confidently said.
“Good job.”
“What’s the next test?”
“Give me your hand.”
D placed a little tiny white cube in my hand.
“What’s this?” I asked curiously.
“It’s a Magic Cube. It can transform into almost anything. Now, since you have learned how to See Through and Hear Through, you should already know that every object and sound has a shape.”
I nodded.
“The final test for you is finding that one thing on Earth that’s shapeless, that can’t be duplicated by this cube.”
“Huh? Didn’t you just say everything has a shape? And this cube can transform into anything?” I frowned.
“I said every object and sound has a shape and this cube can transform into almost anything. “
“That’s what I meant! What could be without a shape!?”
“That’s the test for you.”
“But…”
“That’s it.” D stopped me from asking more questions as usual.
“Give me a hint, please?” I begged.
“A shapeless thing is usually the thing you want the most.”
Oh please… there were a million things I was dying to have.
“Close your eyes, count one, two, three and then go find the answer. I’ll be waiting for you at the exit.”
I closed my eyes and counted like he wanted. When I opened them I was amazed to find myself in a complete different world, somewhere that reminded me of Neverland like from that book.
The sky was blue and pink. Moons of various sizes hung in the sky with fluffy clouds floating underneath them. This strange landscape was filled with unusual plants and trees and oddly shaped buildings. I ate the last biscuit and began exploring my new surroundings. Many familiar faces from the previous class were here exploring just like me
“Flower! Flower!”
Robot eagerly waved its long arms from the other side of a murky river.
“Hey, Robot!”
“Flower! Come over here! This bridge is too small for me!”
Spanning the river was a snake-like bridge that was probably thinner than Robot’s arm. I cheerfully nodded and ran onto the bridge. However, as soon as I stepped on, an unexpected and powerful jolt flung me up into the sky. I flew across the river and all the while was screaming at the top of my lungs. Robot nervously shuffled around and caught me at the last second. I was curled up in its arm crying and quivering like a little baby.
“I’M NOT A BRIDGE!”
The snake-like ‘bridge’ slithered upward towards the sky and let out an angry hiss. Robot and I froze for few seconds and then burst into laughter.
“We better watch out.” I gasped.
“Maybe we should go find a safe place to sit down!” It nodded.
We found a small colorful translucent bubble-like structure that we were both fond of, so we went in and sat on the ground.
“Robot, do you have this too?” I showed it the Magic Cube.
“Yes.” Robot pulled its cube out from…out of nowhere. (So strange, it just appeared on its hand)
“My teacher said it can transform into anything.” I said.
“That’s what mine told me too.”
“Let me try.” I cleared my throat. “Magic cube, I want you to become… the prettiest doll on Earth!”
Amazingly, the little white cube began to wobble and then transformed into a rough human figure in just few seconds. Little by little, more details materialized. The shape of the head, facial features, the body, the arms and the legs, one by one began to appear. Next, long beautiful hair started to grow from the top of doll’s head. Then a dazzling dress and a pair shoes became visible. Until finally, an invisible paint brush gave vibrant color to the once colorless doll.
“Wow!” I exclaimed.
“Hey, Flower! That looks just like you!”
“What? No way.” I gave Robot a frown. “She’s much prettier than me! Look at her! She can be a princess!”
“I think you are more beautiful than her!” Robot pouted with its big lips.
“You’re too nice, Robot. I’m not pretty at all, I’m ugly.” I sighed. “Anyway, it’s your turn now!”
Within 10 seconds, Robot was holding this frog-like doll in his arms. It had messy brownish hair and its entire body was covered with eyes, mouths and these strange looking pimples. I gasped in horror. I promised myself I would never again judge anything by its appearance but… Robot’s toy was just too much…
“Oh my, I can’t believe I have this in my hands!” Robot cried with excitement.
“Flower! It’s the limited edition from where I’m from! Look! It’s so cute!” Robot held up the doll in front of my face. I trembled.
“You’re… cuter than that… Robot…”
We began to play and experiment with the Magic Cube. It became like our own personal genie, but capable granting more than just three wishes. However, the more I played with it the less confident I became.
What could be SHAPELESS?
“Air?” The thought suddenly popped into my head.
The cube became invisible.
“Hey Robot! I guess I found the answer! Air has no shape!”
“Flower, but I can see it.”
“WHAT!? Are you serious?”
I supposed air ha
d a shape but it was too small for our human eyes to see.
“I wonder what can really be without a shape!” I muttered in frustration.
“Don’t worry, we’ll find the answer together. When there’s a question there’s always an answer, right? The previous tests were so hard for me at first and felt like it was almost impossible to pass.”
“They were not easy for me either.”
“But you helped me to figure them out! See, you’re very smart!”
“Robot, you’re so nice. But I’m not smart at all. I think I’m rather dumb.”
“Don’t say that, you should believe in yourself and have more confidence.”
“I wish I could. But it’s so hard for me. I’m an orphan. I have nothing in this world that gives me confidence. ”
“Orphan? What’s that?”
“An orphan is someone who has no family or parents.”
“What’s a family or parents?”
“You don’t know what they are? That’s something almost everyone has! Your parents gave birth to you! They’re your family! You have a daddy, a mommy and maybe brothers and sisters!”
“Oh, you mean the one who gives birth to you. On my planet, we don’t have a specific someone that gives birth to us. Nature gives birth to everyone.”
“Nature? But how?”
“You see these bricks on me? We call them NODES. It represents my age. Everyone from my planet was born from one single node that just keeps on multiplying as we age. Take me for example. I’m now 163 nodes old.”
“But where did the first node come from?”
“Every once a while, a new NODE appears in nature. “
“And you just grow up all by yourself without anyone taking care of you?”
“Yes, we grow up all by ourselves. When we reach a certain numbers of nodes, they’ll start to disappear one by one until only one node is left, and that’s when we’ll vanish into nature.”
“Wow, that’s sad.”
“Why sad?”
“Because I understand how you feel, you don’t have a family. That’s very lonely, right?”
“I still don’t understand. Why do you need a family?”
“You grow up with them. They raise you and they take care of you. You share your happiness and sadness with them.”
“Oh, if that is called a family then I have whole bunch of them. We always eat together, play together and do everything together. If someone is in trouble, we’ll all get together and help.”
“NO. That’s not a family, that’s more like friends! I guess it’s just different… To be a family on my planet, you need to share the same blood as them.”