NO

• Annwen Roberts, Grade 7
• Short Story
• 2015

Dilly sat down next to Eileen and looked out the window at the throng of hunched people milling in the streets. Inside the comfort of the coffee house, it was warm and people were murmuring quietly – she caught snippets of conversation here and there as the coffee machine whirred in the background.
Suddenly, she tuned to her friend and asked sincerely, “Eileen, what do you think the most important word for human society is?” Eileen looked at Dilly in contemplation, quite used to these sudden and at times alarming types of philosophical dwelling from her old friend. She thought…
At the same time…
ABERDEEN
“No,” he said firmly. Emily looked at him imploringly, holding the phone in her left hand. “But Dad, it’s only one night! I’ll be back in the morning and Heather’s mum is really nice!” He shook his head. “You’ve got piano, and I haven’t met these people. No.” Emily scowled and stormed off.
He blew out and ran a hand through his hair. That ‘no’ had meant far more than it suggested – “Don’t leave me yet, Emily” being the most prominent of those meanings.
NEW YORK
“No,” she whispered, “No, that’s wrong.” She curled up into a ball as the girls crowed at her. “Ha! You’ll never grow up if you don’t, you realize!” She was replaying what they were saying in her head. Her brain comprehended far more than they could themselves, and it dramatized the situation at hand until the girls were swimming before her eyes, baring teeth, large claws extended. “No!” she yelled! “No, no, no!” she lashed out, sweeping her arm around the semicircle, fist curled, tears streaming down her face. “No!” she yelled, and ran from the room blindly, tears flying behind her.
CHICAGO
“No,” she said incredulously. “Why would I do something like that?” The police officer looked at her with raised eyebrows. “Read this.” She reached out and took it from him, scanned the letter. She said, simply, and with the air of one very tired, “No.” The police officer narrowed his eyes. “Be that as it may,” he said, “but we have to search your house.” She looked at him with wide eyes. The police officer looked down and stacked his papers, then shuffling them. “Well…” he pronounced, unfolding some glasses, sliding them on to his nose. He looked up. “No.” she said, patiently.
*
Dilly looked at Eileen again, who had been silent for rather longer than expected. She cradled the steaming mug of coffee in her hands, while the driving winds beat about the trees and blew papers scuttling across the cobblestones, and the Big Ben struck two in the distance.
Eileen glanced sidelong at Dilly and smiled. “In answer to your question,” she began, “The most important word in human society….” Dilly took a sip of her coffee. Eileen nodded to herself, and finished with, “…is ‘yes’.”
Dilly smiled, and nodded in acceptance, and the two elderly women stood up and walked toward the door.