The silence between us was profound. I thought it was his job to say something. Only now do I understand it was mine.
Surely our job while we're here on Earth is to learn about the world, not to create parallel universes.
Writers always sound insufferably smug when they sit back and assert that their job is only to ask questions and not to answer them. But, in good part, it is true. And once you become committed to one particular answer, your freedom to ask new questions is seriously impaired.