Kappa. You know what? Now that I think of it, I argued a lot with many different people while I was reading Tom Sawyer!
Beta. Do you mean aunt Polly or Sid?
Kappa. No... Well, yes... Well, I don't know. It was like, say, I didn't like what Sid did, but, at the same time, I felt like it was my brother Jimmy, you know...
Gamma. Actually, when you are deep in a book, or music -- it does not matter what art we are talking about -- you forget yourself in a way. I realize very clearly that I felt like I was with Tom Sawyer... and all of his adventures... I was there. And, maybe, if it was me, my folks were with me... somewhere around, you know? It sometimes felt like I was talking to my dad, or mom, or Becky (I mean my sister). And when it was about Tom Sawyer, then, for me it was like talking to... some other boy.
Delta. I agree. I never thought about it, but I agree. Other people, those you know, they are like shadows that are always there, wherever you are, either in a real place, or in a book.
Kappa. Yeah! And they can be heroes from other books too!
Alpha. Yeah, Pinocchio fighting with Tom Sawyer! Guys, get real. We do not live in books.
Kappa. But it's true! If you love Tom Sawyer as much as a real person, you talk to him a thousand times a day, then he is around wherever you go! Delta is one hundred percent right!.. And Gamma... It's totally like that!
Alpha. Hey, someone's a little too excited here, don't you think?
Kappa. Wait, Alpha, don't you understand? This is just great! You always have your folks with you! Real ones and art heroes! You always have them!
Teacher. Actually, when you say "real ones," you don't mean "physical ones," correct?
Beta. Wow!
Delta. What?
Gamma. I got it.
Kappa. What?
Alpha. People, it is all your fantasy, and has nothing to do with real reality. I'm telling you, get real. After all, we got the question to answer: why do we read books? I don't feel that we are one step closer to an answer.
Beta. Wow and wow.
Alpha. What? Cat got your tongue?
Gamma. I am saying wow too.
Teacher. Thank you, students.
Kappa. What is this? Some sort of a plot! Say something already!
Gamma. Wait, I am thinking.
Beta. Oh it is cool.
Kappa. Come on, both of you! Let us in on it!
Gamma. All right. You know, who is your President?
Kappa. Our President, today?
Gamma. Yes.
Alpha. It is Trumpet. So?
Gamma. Is he a good guy or a bad guy?
Alpha. How should I know?
Beta. But you have to have some attitude, some understanding, some feelings about him, don't you?
Kappa. I do. I don't want him for the second term.
Gamma. Good! Tell us what made you think that?
Alpha. I see, where you are heading. It is all the newspapers, TV, radio, Internet... So?
Kappa. Ah! It is all artificial! President Trumpet is as much real to me as Tom Sawyer is! And all my likes and dislikes relate to stories I read, movies I watched, music I listened to, et cetera!
Teacher. Well, there is something there that was done by real people, like me, or your loving parents, or your smart classmates, or even your president...
Kappa. But now I don't even know who did what and who did more?
Beta. All our lives... This happens all our lives. We don't know what are we made of? Is it our parents who read us tales, or is this the _tales_ that were read to us by our parents?
Delta. Is it President Trumpet, cooked up by a journalist, or is it the journalist who shows his attitude writing about President Trumpet?
Gamma. Is it music, written by a composer, or the composer who writes the music?
Alpha. OK, I can play this game too: Tom Sawyer or Mark Twain, right?
Beta. Or yourself, when you read it.
Teacher. Or your classmates you are arguing with.
Beta. Or ideas, we are arguing about?
Gamma. Told you? Wow!
Kappa. You sure did! I join in: Wow!
Alpha. Everyone -- one, two three: Wow!
Delta. So you do join in, Alpha?
Alpha. Join what?
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