Inside Out is copyright Disney/Pixar. Finnegans Wake was initially published by Faber & Faber, and is now in the public domain.
It was a beautiful day in San Francisco. A beautiful, breezy day. There were clouds in the sky, but not so many that the Sun kept getting covered up all the time. Some birds skimmed the surface of the waters of San Francisco Bay, while others rested atop buildings near the shoreline, or on the towers of the Golden Gate Bridge.
And Riley Andersen was stuck in class.
"Australia is a constitutional monarchy…"
"Ugh! Could Mark seem any less enthused! I know it's pointless to even try topping our talk, but our classmates should at least put some effort in!" Riley's five Emotions were standing in front of the console in Headquarters, with Anger in his usual position at the left edge. He considered just storming off and retiring to the couch with his copy of The Mind Reader, but because school was nearly over for the day, he decided he would stay put since respite was not far off.
Due to the fact the teacher had decided to run through everyone's presentations on world nations in alphabetical order by surname, Riley had gotten hers out of the way nice and early. She found her gaze drifting from Mark at the front of the class, to out one of the windows on the left side of the room.
"There are six states and two territories, as well as some external territories…"
"Man, the weather outside is wonderful," Joy remarked. "The walk home from school is gonna be awesome!"
"I hope it's also going to be quick!" Fear said. As long as Riley was in the safety of the school building and classes, Fear's anxiety was lessened, somewhat. But heading out into the world for the trudge between school and home was one of his least favourite times of the day. "I wish there was a helicopter straight from the school roof. Oh no, wait…. All those spinning blades, eek!" He reached out to his left and clung to Joy's arm. Joy patted Fear's hand.
"Fear, we've been through this. Every time you think of an alternative mode of transport, it never ends up being as good as plain old walking."
"Federation took place in 1901…"
Joy sighed a little. It was almost the end of the day, and this Mark kid WAS being pretty boring.
"It should be against school regulations to make students sit and listen to each other giving talks, one at a time, one after the other, for a whole class!" Anger griped to no one in particular. "Spread it out over multiple days, or do some kind of desk-sharing rotation system so the kids can go out and have a break!" He focused his attention on the view outside the school window. "Man, I wish we were out there on the bay in a boat right now, no way we'd be able to hear or see Mark!"
Out there on the bay… Joy perked up. "Anger, thanks for reminding me! I've got just the thing to hold us over to the end of class!" She reached down and brought up a daydream, holding it high in her palm. "We can watch this until the bell rings!"
"That wouldn't be good." Sadness spoke for the first time in a little while. Joy and Anger turned and looked at the blue teardrop positioned between them at the console. "We might miss out on learning some interesting stuff. For instance, I bet nobody in class knew basketball was the national sport of Lithuania until we told them."
"The Governor-General is Queen Elizabeth the Second's representative…"
Joy turned back and looked at the daydream in her hand. She had been saving it for so long she had almost forgotten about it… how important was this stuff about other countries anyway?
"Yeah, and what if Miss Ford quizzes us on some knowledge before the bell rings?" Fear asked.
"We've been there before, we've handled it," Anger huffed. "Remember when she asked us what the answer was on page 7 of the history textbook?"
"That was a fluke, we aren't going to be able to improv our way to the sound of the bell ringing again!"
"A 1999 referendum to turn the country into a republic was unsuccessful…"
Joy was undeterred. The teacher, Miss Ford, hadn't quizzed the kids in the room following student presentations previously. "Look, I'm going to put it to a vote," she declared, holding the daydream proudly up in the air. A little while ago she would have put the daydream into the slot on the console without checking with anyone, but she was definitely trying to be more consultative. "We'll go from one end of the console to the other. First, Anger?"
"Yep, do it." Angered answered enthusiastically.
"All of the other kids would have paid attention to our presentation. We should do the same," Sadness stated, looking down and playing with her fingers.
"I wanna do it," Joy said predictably. "Fear?"
"Nope, nope nope nope, pay attention and study hard," Fear responded with quite a few shakes of his head.
"OK, it's up to Disgust. Disgust? Disgust?"
Fear, noticing Disgust wasn't saying anything, turned to his right and saw Disgust staring at her own reflection in her makeup mirror, dabbing on some rouge. He gently tapped her on the shoulder. "Um, Disgust?"
"Hmm? What are you all talking about?" she asked, turning her attention to the other Emotions. "I was bored with what was going on in class, something important happening?"
"The national capital is Canberra…"
"Do you wanna watch a daydream, Disgust?" Joy inquired.
"Huh? Oh, yeah." Disgust snapped her makeup mirror shut. "That would definitely be more interesting."
"OK then, here we go!"
Joy inserted the daydream into the slot on the console, and most of the viewing screen in Headquarters became filled with an image of Riley skating across a frozen San Francisco Bay. The snow fluttered down, landing on some candy canes stuck in the ground near the body of water….
"Candy canes? Joy, this daydream was meant for Christmas time," Disgust observed.
"It doesn't matter, any time of year is the right time for skating!" Joy said with a smile.
The Emotions stared at the viewscreen without saying anything, and even Fear, with his initial apprehension, began to settle back and enjoy it. Every Emotion was watching, that is, except Sadness, who was looking down, well, sadly. Eventually, she raised her eyes to the viewscreen, and her expression changed to one of concern. She could see there was movement on the peripheral of the screen. "Something's happening in class guys," she told everyone.
Joy glanced at Sadness, and then at the edge of the viewscreen. Sadness was right. Joy quickly removed the daydream from the slot, and Riley noticed her classmates were forming a queue leading up to Miss Ford's desk in front of the whiteboard.
"Mark must have finished, just do what everybody else is doing!" Fear pushed some buttons.
Riley quickly got up out of her chair and joined the end of the queue. She could see students were reaching into a box on Miss Ford's desk and taking out one book each. Being at the end of the line, by the time Riley got to the box, there was only one book left. Reaching into the box and picking it up, Riley looked at the front cover:
FINNEGANS WAKE
by
JAMES JOYCE
"Look at the name of the author!" Joy exclaimed happily. I'm loving this book already."
Miss Ford had already started speaking before Riley had made her way back to her seat. "OK class, so the homework assignment for creative writing is for you to read the first chapter of the book you've chosen and write a summary for tomorrow. Only needs to be a paragraph…" The end of school bell went. "…or two. Have a good afternoon, see you tomorrow!"
Not having had a chance to sit down again, Riley immediately put the book into her bag along with her notebook, as other students did the same. "Hey, what gives?" Anger wondered out loud. "The book that we got is the thickest one by far!" He started pulling a lever.
"We only have to do one chapter, and it is the only homework for tonight, let's just be glad about that." Joy turned a knob and yellow joined red on the console. Riley joined the procession of students leaving the room, chatting with some friends as she went, and Anger eventually let go of the lever he had been holding.