02 SepThe Silence

My children have influenced me to watch Dr. Who. This goes to show that you must be careful who your children are—they will influence you to do things you would never have done otherwise. Actually, I remember Dr. Who from my childhood. I ate, drank, and slept science fiction while growing up in the 60’s and 70’s. Even so, Dr. Who failed in my book. It asked too much of my imagination. I could never buy-in to its brand of drama. More recently, when my older boys started discussing the newer Dr. Who episodes I didn’t pay much attention. Eventually they succored me in with an episode where the aliens, disguised as humans, had to fart to keep their form. This was a cheap shot on my sons’ part. They know I can’t refuse this kind of humor. Since then I have slowly learned to enjoy Dr. Who.

My younger kids and I are in the midst of the Matt Smith series of Dr. Who. We watched a scary episode titled “The Silence.” In this episode Dr. Who and his cohorts run into a rather frightening looking race on Earth that call themselves “The Silence.” The difficulty with this rather dangerous race is that the moment you take your eyes off them you completely forget you just saw them. For instance:

Dr. Who – “Check out the door and make sure nothing is coming.”

Rory checks out the door. He is frightened to see several monstrous-looking beings of “The Silence” approaching. He looks back at Dr. Who to report:

Rory – “Coast is clear.”

This made for a very entertaining and frightening episode.

I recently encountered “The Silence” in my own life. It had to do with another “monstrous” race called Teenager. Maybe this race isn’t monstrous, but it certainly is alien. And yet how can it be alien when all adults have been a Teenager?  Do flies look at maggots and scream “Aliens!” I think we must accept teenagers as human adults in embryo. Like the early Dr. Who episodes, sometimes this requires much from the imagination.

Recently one of my teenage daughters, who is in much more of an embryotic state than my other teenage daughter, wanted to go to a football game and dance. She talked her older sister into taking her. A few minutes after they departed I sat worrying about my younger teenager in all the possible scenarios she might face that evening. I decided to intrude into her life just a little to make sure she knew I was there and thinking about her. Using technology I proceeded to intrude.

“I love you!” I texted. With a teenager you are never sure what this kind of communication will get you in reply. What I got back amused and concerned me.

“Oh Wow. Who is this?”

I may not have enough imagination to watch the early Dr. Who, but I certainly have enough imagination to wonder what “Oh Wow” meant. I knew for certain it wasn’t her surprise at her father’s love. Was there another maggot . . . er . . . embryo out there who she could possible expect an “I love you” from? I cleared matters up right away.

“This is your dad,” I texted.

What did I get in return for this? The Silence. I’m pretty sure that she looked in alarm at my identity and by the time she looked up she forgot all about me. I didn’t hear another word from her.

I need to get a message to Dr. Who about this other race on Earth. If he gets this message through time and space perhaps he will respond. It would be a treat to hear the thrumming of the Tardis as it lands and to see the Doctor exit with sonic screw driver in hand. I would direct him to the embryo in my house and let him do his thing—that is saving the human race.