Who would make a red button that says “Don’t Press”? Isn’t the whole point of a button to press it? And if a button is not meant to be pressed, then what is it for?
And why did whoever made this giant plastic red button put it on a wooden crate behind the Ferris wheel at the county fair? Why is it that of the 1,783 people at the fair, it is 14-year-old Stephen who finds it? And why didn’t Stephen find what he was actually looking for, which was the key to his bicycle lock, which had fallen out of his pocket somewhere between the arcade and the churro stand?
Given that someone—at some point—would find the button, doesn’t it seem possible that the button is meant for pressing after all? Wouldn’t it be funny if the red button is a prank? If pressing it makes all the fireworks at the fair go off at once?
But what if the button-makers are sinister? What if pressing the button makes all the phones in the world stop working? Or all the water on Earth evaporate? Or all the things that are dead and buried suddenly spring back to life? Is the horror of that image the reason that Stephen is looking over his shoulder nervously?
Why is Stephen now squinting up at the sky? Is he wondering if something not of Earth put this button here? Maybe as some kind of test? And if that is true, shouldn’t everyone on Earth be appalled that a boy who just this afternoon dropped the piece of candy he was eating on the gunky, gum-encrusted sidewalk—only to pick it up, shrug, and eat it—is the one taking this test on behalf of all humankind?
Or should every person be relieved because, in fact, Stephen has the capacity for great wisdom, though he does not yet know this about himself?
Isn’t it possible that nothing at all will happen if the button is pressed? And if nothing will happen, what harm can come from pressing it?
And why is it that being told not to do a thing makes Stephen absolutely want to do that thing as soon as possible? Did the button-makers anticipate Stephen’s insatiable curiosity? Did they perhaps put this button here not for just anyone to find but for Stephen, specifically, to find? And is that why at this very moment, Stephen can think of nothing except how the giant red plastic button would feel under his finger?
Is that why Stephen is stepping closer to it? Is that why he is reaching his hand toward it? Is that why—