Lauren Ipsum: A Story About Computer Science and Other Improbable Things (14 page)

“I don’t like Noisy Things,” she said. “Tortoise is pretty
quiet.”

“What does that mean?” “
Plural
means more than one.
Singular
means only one,” Xor said. They went right.

“I know this one,” said Laurie. “
Native
means from
here.
Foreign
means from somewhere else. Native!”

“I wonder where we’ll end up,” she said as they turned right. “What is
Familiar, Old, Interesting, Mostly Lost, Bigger Than Me but Smaller Than a Mountain and Shorter Than
a Lighthouse, Friendly, On the Ground, Heavy, Lives Outside, Sleeps at Night—” (she
paused to breathe) “—has Many Colors and is Quiet, Singular, Native,
and
Unexpected?”

“MY wish!” said Xor and Laurie at the same time. They giggled and walked down the
left path. The next sign made them think for a moment. It asked

“Sure, I’m sure!” said Laurie. “Why would I ever want someone
else’s wish?” She went down the left-hand path. “I think we’re almost
through the Garden, Xor!”

She started walking fast, then jogging, then running again down the long green hallway. Xor
was getting excited too, turning all sorts of polka-dot colors. Laurie was already thinking about
what messages she wanted to send to Fresnel, and Tinker, and—

“Oh no!”

Laurie stopped dead in her tracks. In front of them was another forking. The last one.

The left-hand sign said

And the right-hand sign said

“The Garden guessed my wish!” Laurie said.