"What channel do you watch?" asked Sandra.
Bill shrugged. "Actually, my TV is off right now. It's off most of the time."
"Yeah, but what channel do you watch? You have to be watching something."
Bill looked puzzled. "No... not really. I mean, I turned the TV off."
"Off?"
"Yes. Off."
Sandra gave him a conspiratorial grin. "Yeah, but really -- I mean, what happened? Did you get mad at the producers? Did they cancel a favorite show or something?"
"No, I just... look, I was watching this one channel, very popular, but the shows didn't seem to make any sense. I watched for a while longer -- I mean, my parents watched that channel, there must be something to it, right? -- only the shows made less and less sense the closer I looked at them. So finally I started surfing other channels, but... well... they didn't make much sense either. So finally, I turned the whole thing off."
"Okay, but what do you watch now?"
"I don't watch anything."
Sandra blinked twice, then said: "Are you watching yourself? Like, with a mirror, maybe? I mean, everyone watches something."
"I don't really watch anything. My television has been unplugged for about two years, now. I'm thinking of getting rid of it entirely."
"So you watch other people without televisions? You make them your choice of programming?"
"No." Bill frowned, then tried to smile, then gave it up. "I don't watch anything. You should try it sometime. It's kind of... freeing."
Sandra frowned, puzzled. "But everybody watches something."
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