Radio Line part 1 - humble beginnings and a strange box

The narrator reflects on growing up in a small community and feeling bored and curious. They meet a friend named Sam who introduces them to new experiences, such as watching their first movie, Shrek. The narrator realizes how much they don't know about the world and becomes eager to explore and discover new things. They both embrace their curiosity and are excited about the opportunities the world has to offer. To kick off our first episode, I'd like to offer a question that's a classic. If a tree falls in a forest and no one's around to hear it, does it ever truly make a sound? Now, depending on how you take that question, the answer might be obvious. Duh. Yes, of course it made a sound, you goof. Which, okay, yeah, that's fair. But how about we think about this in a less literal way? I think that's what this one friend meant when he asked that question, which was a little funny, considering he was never the type of guy to ask questions like that, or to ask questions in general, really, I guess. But to give him some context, this guy and I go way back, and I'm talking about, like, my version of the Dark Ages back. His name was Sam, and we grew up together. So, like a lot of people, Sam and I grew up in a community. It wasn't very big. I think there was around maybe 50 people in our little area, give or take a few. It was a community that was freshly established when I was born, so as I grew up, I grew up alongside this entirely new refugee camp as it tried to figure itself out for the decades to come. All my early memories are of watching people renovate ancient vacant housing and turn them into different kinds of shelters, and of my parents getting sorted into careers that they dedicate themselves to for a long time. You see, my mom was an engineer while my dad was a security guard guy. I've always appreciated my parents for the work they did. After all, they played an important role in keeping our area safe and functional for everyone. But I'd be lying if I said I liked the quiet when they left for work. I mean, it was okay, but it gets boring after a while, you know? I never had siblings, and with my parents spending so much time at work and only really being able to spend a little bit when they came back, it got lame after a while. I couldn't help but thinking, it's quiet. Ooh, quiet. I think my parents picked up on this after a while because they would have somebody babysit me for a little bit here and there. My babysitter was my mom's friend, and honestly, she was cool. I mean, she was a little intimidating at first, I'll admit. When I first met her, I cried because she looked so scary, but you can't judge a book by its cover, you know? Plus, she helped me meet Sam, who also made me want to cry because he had this intense, bug-eyed stare for an 8-year-old. And even though Sam's mom was taking care of me, she was also looking after other kids. And being a caretaker for the community and all, I always felt a little bit bad for her because there was 8 of us and one of her, and it's hard to take care of kids when your house was so tiny that you could barely even squeeze a total of 4 people in there. So we were always outside, and we played games and stuff out there. And for a while, it was really fun, but I always felt like there was something more to do. It really wasn't until I saw Sam sneak out from the group one time that I decided to do something about that feeling. It was in the middle of a game of kickball, and his mom just witnessed some kid get decked in the face hard with the ball and was actively scolding the other kids for being so reckless. Me and Sam were out of the current game, so we were just sitting and just watched everyone go down from a distance. We didn't talk too much during this time, mainly because I was scared of him, but when I saw that he was standing up and walking away, I felt weirded out. One, because adults told us that we were never to walk by ourselves anywhere, even if the community's safe, and two, because there was a huge scolding going on right in front of us. Seriously? You're going to walk off when some kid's getting in trouble? When your mom's right there? I mean, this guy was seriously messing with my little baby brain with his attitude, so when he was nearly out of sight, well, can you blame the kid for getting a little bit curious? Maybe it was my nerves being funny after sneaking off and running after this kid, because as soon as I caught up with him, I just shattered the first thing on my mind. What are you doing? I remember he stopped and looked at me and was really surprised. I guess I caught him off guard. I'm exploring, he just tells me, and it makes me ask, exploring what? It was just a simple question, nothing to it, but for some odd reason, it made his really scary, bug-eyed face morph into something that was a lot less scary and a lot more... friendly. I mean, he's smiling, which made me confused, and he confuses me even more when he just says, I'll show you, and starts walking off again. Remember, dear listeners, that you shouldn't follow strangers into unfamiliar areas, much less when they flash you a smile like they're about to be dying soon. Luckily for me, I didn't die that day. Instead, Sam took me to this little place where this older-looking guy was sitting outside his house. I think he was sleeping because when Sam called for him, he jumped out of his skin and sighed in relief to see these two goofy kids staring at him. I mean it when I say it, when Sam wasn't the type to ask a lot of questions. Instead, he just does things or says things. I mean, really, he boggles my mind when he just goes, I want to borrow your TV. Like, hello? Are you seriously not even going to frame that as a request or anything? Not from an adult much more? I mean, what's crazier is that the old man just nods and goes back to sleep, like they're part of some affiliation that I don't know about. Like he's some don that just walked in and said, I'm with Waste Management, and just lets them roll by. But regardless, as we go inside, there's this weird-looking rectangle in the middle with tons of wires hanging around. He just looks at me and says, you've never watched Shrek before. He sort of asks in his own weird little way, but it sounds more like a statement than honestly, I don't know what it is. I'm a little speechless to say anything, so I just shook my head. He holds out two discs, and he makes me pick one, all Matrix-style. But afterwards, I sit down, and he walks through the rectangle, slides in the chosen disc, and does something that causes the thing to light up. At this point, my killbrain is just, like, shitting its pants at this point. You've never seen a TV before, then? Sam comments, and when he probably saw my eyes bulging out, and again, I say no, I've heard of TVs because of my mom, but I've never seen one in person. And he smiles while the TV is flashing images on the screen, showing moving letters and stuff. I remember him cackling over the moments when the talking donkey is, like, cracking jokes, while I'm spending that entire hour in total awe, because, wow, this is my first time seeing technology like that. That was one thing about Sam. He loved to venture out a lot. Not that that was any different. I mean, even now, ever since that Shrek movie, it made me realize how much I don't actually even know about the world, and, well, any chance I got to see new things, I was game. Sure, maybe having two curious minds only meant total trouble, and maybe we had to face the wrath of Sam's mom from time to time, but none of us really cared. I mean, the world's huge, and it's filled with so many things that I want to see, and it's just... Well, when you're young, you can't help but be curious about it all.