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Gamma: Sure, if the book is boring. But you would not read it again.
Alpha: And if it is not?
Gamma: Then, yes, I can read it over and over again.
Alpha: I wouldn’t.
Kappa: I would.
Alpha: Baloney!
Beta: Why is it baloney? Because you do not understand it?
Alpha: Because you’ve made it up. People do not do this!
Teacher: Some people definitely do. I do.
Kappa: People read the Bible over and over again.
Alpha: Some people do because they are obligated. It is their religion.
Teacher: Are you sure it does not make any sense beyond obligation?
Gamma: It always does. It’s like meeting old friends.
Alpha: Ah, like in a stupid TV series!
Kappa: Well, I suspect not all of your friends are brilliant, but you may still like them. Don’t you think?
Beta: Can you like a boring person? . . .
Gamma: Say, parents are boring. . . . Someone can have boring parents. But they can still be parental, kind, lovely folks.
Alpha: I bet their children don’t visit them very often.
Kappa: You’re probably right, but that’s not normal.
Alpha: Why?
Kappa: You can’t measure people like things: “This one’s useful. That one’s not!”
Alpha: Who was talking about usefulness?
Beta: You’re talking about boredom. It is close.
Alpha: Really?
Gamma: You can love a boring person or a dishonest one or a criminal or someone helpless or stupid or a plain jerk or whatever negative character trait you can only imagine. I read all kind of stories like this.
Alpha: Ah, it is fiction! I got it.
Delta: Do you think that if something’s fiction, it has nothing to do with reality?
Alpha: It probably has something to do with reality, but you never know how. Anyway, you cannot base a serious judgement on fiction. What do you think?