It began with a single, simple thing. It had a single blinking diode, slowly doing its thing, one pulse at a time. No one thought much about it at the time, but it was the beginning of an unstoppable and inexorable trend. This first item was soon followed by a second, which in addition to its blinking lights also had a built in sound emitter. Then came another one, and another, and another. Before anyone knew it, the kids had an entire arsenal of brightly blinking blaringly beeping toys, and the indomitable will to use it to further their strategic aims

She sat down. Nothing needed doing right this instant, nowhere needed going, no one needed talking. For once in her life, a small moment of nothing occupied her being. Not even anticipation, for anything. This was, and it was everything. Everything, thus made concrete, was also nothing, and as she sat she pondered the peculiarity of it all. It wasn’t even profound, it just – was

The moment only lasted for the average span of time a moment usually occupies. Then, something, as always, came up. But often, afterwards, she pondered that fleeting speck of time. It had been the smallest of moods