Branching Out - Lauren Ipsum: A Story About Computer Science and Other Improbable Things - page 103

SLEEPS AT NIGHT | SLEEPS DURING THE DAY
“Sleeps at Night!” Laurie shouted. “We should be getting close!”
MANY COLORS | ONE COLOR
Laurie ran down the left-hand path without stopping to think. But wasn't Tortoise only one
color? It was too late to go back.
QUIET | NOISY
“I don't like Noisy Things,” she said. “Tortoise is pretty quiet.”
PLURAL | SINGULAR
“What does that mean?” “ Plural means more than one. Singular means only one,” Xor said.
They went right.
NATIVE | FOREIGN
“I know this one,” said Laurie. “ Native means from here. Foreign means from somewhere
else. Native!”
EXPECTED | UNEXPECTED
“I wonder where we'll end up,” she said as they turned right. “What is Familiar, Old, Inter-
esting, 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?”
YOUR WISH | SOMEONE ELSE'S WISH
“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
ARE YOU SURE?
YES | NO
“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!”