The Day of the Dumbdeaffids
The world has changed. It is much more loud, because no one has to hush down whatever side sound effects does their immediate action produce. The final impression is so overwhelming one must be sure his head is about to burst. Except for that there are no ears to be disturbed by the cacophony any more, and no one has a voice left, to complain about it.
People are walking down the streets as usual, but no matter how cheerfully they still wave at each other from the other side of the pavement, or how vigorous is the nod of the head they greet each other with, they are all isolated from one another. Their lives are now constricted into a tiny bubble of silence each of them carries around their head as a halo. They finally hear their own thoughts, but they hear them too clearly and the words they cannot share with others bang against their skulls so violently it hurts. Everyone suddenly feels smaller, and deep down, fear creeps into the lonely minds like darkness into the forest…
Alzbeta Labusova
The Day of the Dumbdeaffids
It was 3 AM in the morning. Something had woken Lisa up, but she had no idea what it was. It felt strange, like there was something about to happen. She knew she wouldn’t fall back to sleep, so she put on her bathrobe and went to the kitchen. She poured herself a glass of milk and opened the book she had started reading just yesterday. The Day of the Triffids. “This is insane,” she thought as she was reading. She was wondering what it would be like, if this happened to her. “Or what would happen if all the people couldn’t talk and wouldn’t hear anything?” And then it happened. It was as quick as a tornado. Lisa wanted to scream, but she couldn’t. She was trying to tell something to her friend, but she couldn’t. “So what do we do now?” First, the catastrophic visions started to fill her mind, but since she was a very creative person, these visions were quickly substituted by ideas how to make this work. And when she was in the middle of designing the new global communication system, something shook her really hard. She thought that it was some kind of a monster that came to “give the earth the last stroke”. Luckily, it was just her mother waking her up and telling her, that she shouldn’t read that late at night, because sleeping on the chair in the kitchen wasn’t healthy for her back.
Roza Csesaná
The Day of the Dumbdeafids (extract from the first chapter)
It has been more than a year since the “D Day” and I still don´t realize, how lucky I am. Or I should be. On the other hand, I am not - it is driving me crazy! Just to explain, what happened, I have to tell you something about the “D Day” or “The Day of the Dumbdeafids” as I call it. You ask, why just I?
On that precise day, something went terribly wrong and it ended up in a catastrophe of gigantic proportions. It appears that everyone lost their ability to speak and to listen – except for me. From an inexplicable reason, I am probably the only man in the world, who can express himself by words. All the others are dumb and deaf.
It happened out of the blue. First, the earth quaked massively and as everyone fell down on their knees, a huge wave of a kind of a bass sound made everybody faint. When they regained consciousness, they started to walk randomly with their lips shivering in an intangible way. Why didn´t this happen to me? That is a mystery.
I remember walking down the street and meeting all the people. I don´t know, whose surprise was more intense – mine or theirs. It was a strange feeling to ask questions without getting answers to them. I hoped all this to be just a nightmare, which would end eventually. But it wasn´t…
The real disaster broke out in following few days. As the verbal communication failed, mass media, transportation and business (including stock market) collapsed. The educational system encountered the same fate. The entertainment industry bankrupted (which made me really upset).
On the other hand, newspapers achieved a big boom by getting a monopoly in the media field. Teacher of sign language became the most precious and most valued job. People re-found a new way to entertain themselves: by mime. Light showed up to be a good way to communicate. Most importantly, the new transportation system was based on light signals. In short, people had to be imaginative to adapt to new conditions.
The world changed completely in a short time. The “dumbdeafids” got used to it, they had to. Paradoxically, I think it was much harder for me not to get crazy. Even though it wasn´t me, who was unable to speak, I couldn´t communicate neither – there was no one to speak with. I felt like the chosen one, the one, who had to stay strong and calm. But why and what for was I chosen? I had to figure it out soon, to enable my mind to relax…
-Jan Kröbl-
The Day of the Dumbdeaffids
As soon as I woke up, in my mind I knew that something was wrong. It was just too quiet in our neighborhood. I went to the park to walk my dog as I usually do on a Sunday morning. When I tried to drag the dog outside, it didn’t even peek, no barking, nothing. I thought to myself that it finally started to like me. I felt proud.
When I got outside, there was nobody on the street. I started to wonder whether I am not sleeping or that lost my mind. I pinched myself and nothing changed. The thought of being crazy scared me. I tried to help it with singing and dancing, but it seemed wrong. I hurried to the park with hope that there would be somebody.
When I arrived, I felt a huge relieve. My friend Mark was there with his dog, so I went over to him to say hello and ask how is life. But he didn’t reply to me. He just stood there with an ice cold face. I went away, hoping that he would apologize some time later. I went to the square, to the stadium, to café, but nobody spoke to anybody. I started to worry.
Then one man came up to me with piece of paper with something written on it. As I looked at it, my brain stopped working properly, I was shocked. There was written that…
Sergei Gumilevkij
A Silent World
It all seems so far away now. Yes, I am talking about those times before the thing happened. People would normally listen to the radio or use their cell phones and talk to each other. I wish I hadn’t been listening to my i-Pod at that time when everyone went deaf. Maybe I wouldn’t feel so isolated now. The world has been so quiet for the past fifty years and the only thing I can listen to is my own voice. Of course, nobody bothers to speak.
I already got used to all of it. But it was very hard then. Especially when singing in our band was actually the only thing I could do. And I think I did it well. Obviously, no one cares about music anymore. Some people say that this fact is just marginal but I don’t agree with them. It is not. At least not for me.
It took the mankind years to settle a new type of communication. I remember schools being closed, which was good news for me then. However, the world became a little chaotic. I am so glad that things started to work again. It is not like I could have done much if I had told the truth. All the same, I was too scared to do it. This is a secret nobody will ever reveal.
The Day of the Dumbdeaffids
I woke up in my cell. I’ve been asleep for a long time, after I attacked the guard. What? He provoked me… So I tried to stab him with a fork, and he used his tazer, rendering me unconscious. I’m in jail waiting; I can’t remember the last time I saw the daylight. From the looks of it after that “incident” they put me into a soundproof cell, so I don’t have any contact with the outside world. My whole body hurts from the huge blast of electricity that went through my vanes.
I’m rubbing my eyes trying to open them. The excruciating pain isn’t getting any better. Finally I succeed to open them for a second, the first thing I notice is a small stripe of light on my legs, I look up, for a glance at the huge heavy door, for my surprise it is open, there’s just a tiny hole, but I can clearly see it isn’t locked and sealed the way it’s supposed to be. Someone must have opened it.
And then I notice it, I didn’t hear it before for the leftover droning noise in my ears, but now I can hear it clearly a very high pitched noise all around me, not showing any sign of origin. It’s like it’s chewing a hole to my brain, it feels like I’m loosing my hearing, no I’m actually loosing my hearing, what is happening? There’s something taking away my ability to hear, rendering me almost deaf. It looks like there’s no way to escape it…
František Michálek
The Day of the Dumbdeaffids
Sarah N. wakes up with a pleasant feeling that she overtook her alarm clock. The smile slips off her face when she opens her eyes and looks what time it is. 10.00. She should have gone to work almost three hours ago! Why didn't the alarm ring? Her lips form to utter a word that she only uses in the most urgent cases, but no sound comes out. Something is wrong. She tries to scream, but she can't here herself. Her heart starts to beat faster. She stands up, opens the window and looks out at the street, the large buildings, the cars. No noise. Silence everywhere.
George H. gets in the bus. It is strange, but he didn't realise something was different until he tried to order a sandwich at the stand and found out that he couldn't. He remembers the shocked saleslady and how they both stood there, starring at each other, their mouths opening and closing, unable to communicate. They end up by laughing silently, although the situation wasn't too funny indeed, and he got a sandwich for free. He observes the faces of the other people in the bus. They look nervous and scared. But George is smiling. Today his boss won't shout at him for coming late.
Clara D. is standing in front of the blackboard. The frightened parents who arrived today passed her short letters written in a hurry. We don't know what is happening. But we have to go to work and find out. Please take care of our children! She browses through the class. How nice and calm they are today...
All over the world the time seems to have slowed down. It takes people so long to express what they wanted to say. Looking at the traffic in a city feels like watching a movie without the sound. Everywhere you can meet people holding posters with The end of the world is coming. Join the Dumbdeaffids-church before it's too late! on them. Scientists are trying to figure out what mysterious bacterium caused the illness. Astronomers are looking for a planet that came close to the Earth and attracts all the sound so that it can't be heard over here. Technicians are planning to construct a new program which could make communication easier.
At the evening, everybody is watching TV. The news, broadcasted with subtitles, are two times as long as usually. Are we suffering for something which is our fault? and What will come next? Are we going to loose our sight tomorrow? are the main topics.
At night, people have difficulties while falling asleep. They are starring at the ceilings in the dark rooms, not sure what they should expect for the future.
The next day, Sarah N. wakes up at 7.00. It is the first time in her life she is glad to here the annoying sound of her alarm clock.
Thea Voráčková
The Day of the Dumbdeaffids
Little boy woke up and opened his eyes trying to remember where he was. It was so dark and quiet around him. He tried to call out for his mom. Nobody came so he tried one more time. Then he realized that something was not right. He couldn’t hear his own voice. He screamed at his loudest in hope that he would hear himself... or that somebody else would. Since nothing really happened his mind became overwhelmed by bloodcurdling thoughts. „I must be deaf then“ he realized and his heart skipped a beat in panic. „Why is it so dark?“ he asked himself. He pulled out his pocket torch out of his jacket and pressed a button to switch it on. The darkness was still surrounding him.
He cried out in fear as he found out that not only he was deaf but he was blind, too.
The boy woke up and tried to run desperately without knowing what to do. Since he couldn’t see, his foot slipped into a hole and he broke his shin. He could not walk anymore so he curled up on the ground waiting for his unevitable fate. The world was in chaos. Somebody was trying to find some food in rubbish, somebody just gave up and waited for their death. The world became a very dark and silent place.
The day of dumbdeaffids
In the last years, the popularity of elektronic music increased dramaticaly. Soon, there were no new ideas for music. To solve it, a group of fanatics around an ex-teacher in a privat highschool, named mr. Carbon, used a music editing program, Able*** to remix already existing songs together.
However, elektronic music is very agressive for ears, so the creators of the music heard worse with every single day. Soon, they couldn't hear the music, if it still was music, properly, so it went louder and louder. The music also got worse and worse, because they were overmixing it to create something new. Soon, it was so loud and awful, that noone could stand creating it, but it was als highly adictive as well, and the people wanted more and more music.
The creators didn't want to deal with the angry crowd, so they made Able*** fully automatic.
For some time, everything went well, but percizely on the 12. 12. 2011 everyone heard a sharp, high, aggresive sound and then - nothing. Everyone was screaming but they couldn't hear a thing.
And at night, the lights went out. Noone could hear, the only thing to be seen were short reflects of light, that reflected of blades of whippers, attached to lawns, terrifyingly spinning at high speed.
The next day, the all people were dead. It was Able***'s revenge for the desecration of music.
kvinta
10. 3. 2011
The Day of the Dumbdeaffids
What would world look like if suddenly nobody could hear and speak? It would probably be a very chaotic place in the beginning. People would be shouting everywhere, well of course they would be trying to shout, but they wouldn’t be able to, they would just be making some weird noises – but again, nobody would be able to hear them. Well, everyone would probably start to use sign language, or some form of it pretty soon. Everyone would start to look around them more often, since everyone would be afraid of the dumbdeaffids attacking them and probably become a little bit paranoid too, since they wouldn’t be able to hear if someone’s following them or not. After a few months of chaos and adapting to the new life, people would likely start smashing radios and iPods, because they would be reminding them of their condition and everyone would get upset. It would be very quiet everywhere, everyone would stop using cell phones too; well at least people would stop calling each other, maybe they’ll start to text more. I think that eventually everyone would get over it though and get used to the new way of life.
The day of the dumbdeaffids
The Land of the Dumbdeaffids is a very colorful one. The Dumbdeaffids cannot hear and speak, but they enjoy and see colors much more than we do. What do I mean by that? The color spectrum is not just “the rainbow”, but over one hundred other basic colors. The most popular is not blue, as on earth, but the color of electricity, which, for obvious reasons, doesn´t even have to be named in the Dumbdeaffid land.
It is a calm land, a land of sleep. There are no alarms to wake the Dumbdeaffids, so they just sleep until they like. They are thus very calm and energetic people, and they still haven´t invented coffee. In the afternoon, when our Dumbdeaffid, let’s call him Red Blue Green (well, Dumbdeaffids are not named, but marked), wakes up, he simply goes to work until he is tired. If he has time and does not forget, he buys “the Daily Pictograph” or any other well known cartoozine. His wife, however, sneak twice a month to buy “the Dumbdeaffids”, or, as Mr. Red Blue Green likes to draw “Nonsence”.
He returns home after work, and takes his wife to watch some slapstick, or they go to see the mime show. Kissing on the cheek is done when greeting neighbors or friends. If Red Blue Greens wife gets angry, he simply closes his eyes or turns of the lamp.
The Land of the Dumbdeaffids would have been perfect if people hadn´t discovered music…
