Dot & Line

The lawyer (previously known as the friend) once mentioned that we should create a book - I'd write and she'd illustrate - so we can hopefully earn a quick buck and more importantly, engage ourselves in something more... meaningful? than our mundane everyday lives.

The idea might have been thought up by her during a period when I was randomly scribbling little stories on the group blog. I think this, which was whipped up in 5 to 10 minutes one very bored evening to entertain myself with, might have been the first:

Dot and Line are best friends, if only because everyone thought they belong together. Which is weird because, really, they are as different as day and night. Which, in the greater scheme of things, are not that different I suppose, since the sun is still there and time is still ticking and things are still happening in reality or in the dream kingdom, day or night.

But anyway, Line and Dot are different. Dot really enjoys his time alone. He loves to admire his own symmetry in the mirror, and would sometimes take deep breaths to puff himself into a bigger dot, just for fun. Line, on the other hand, adores having fun. He likes to go line dancing (snigger) and he likes hanging out with other lines.

When Dot sniffs haughtily at him and says, "I don't know why you like prancing along with those fools," Line smiles patiently, as if he understands that Dot is just so insecure that he has become dotty, and says, "Dot, you need to go out and play. No dot is an island."

Which is kind of strange, since islands are essentially dots, just big or small.

One day, Line has a particularly fine time dancing with other lines. All the while, Dot sits at the side and sulks. Other dots dotted the dancing square. Some are dancing while tightly holding on to one another in long rows, because that is the only way they can dance the line dance. Some perch themselves around the border, simply watching. Very often, a line will mischievously stick himself to two dots to link them and then laugh heartily. Sometimes, many lines will come together to join up the dots scattered all over the square while a main line stands on an elevated podium and shouts out what the resultant shape is. Most dots giggle and run away to new spots when this happens, because they know that if they run, the game can continue. But Dot hates this game. Yet, he doesn't want to stray far away because he doesn't want Line out of his sight. But even if he doesn't move, as long as the other dots do, the game can still continue. Some nights, he gets jabbed so many times in his side by lines eager to join him with other dots that tears of anger and frustration well up in his eyes. But Line merely laughs with his linear friends.

._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._._

It's very scary to realise that that was written in Aug 2005. You know you're old when you remember things like they happened yesterday, only to realise it was actually years ago.

But anyway, I digress. The point is that we've always put it off because I was never inspired enough to actually think of a story good enough to even pitch to publishers, and she was never inspired enough to have a drawing concept. So no chicken and no egg.

Today she brought it up again in an email. And I'm thinking, maybe we should really just work on it instead of further procrastinating.