The kids in what was just The City still eye everyone with great suspicion.
None know what to say.
But then an ordinary man, dressed shabby and strolling down Main Street, catches their eye and smiles a little too wide for it to be pretend. The man calls out to the kids in a bright and cheerful tone, though his words seem like an afterthought: “You’re absolutely beautiful! I just can’t get over it! Like TV stars, every one!”
“What about it?” the kids quietly ask each other later. “No reason to be so beautiful now…”
But there is, of course. And those kids go on to shine like stars, even as all remaining big screens get taken down to make more room. For no one sees anyone as needing to be replaced anymore.
An older child sits with a younger one, happily laughing along and not getting frustrated at all.
Then the younger child, who likes to watch things over and over to remember, grows up and forgets all but enough for watching and re-watching to feel a little stale. He feels compelled instead to be out doing fun things with his son.
I don't know anything 