Finally a Split Second Decision

It is nine o’clock sharp on a Saturday morning, and Jason is taking his regular route at his regular time for his regular breakfast at his usual place. He has done this every Saturday for over a year now, ever since his wife left him on his own. He can talk and listen to the people serving him at the restaurant, and catches bits of conversations coming from customers seated nearby, otherwise his Saturday would be speechless, both with his not talking to and not hearing anyone speak to him.

Jason Speaks to Himself Silently

‘Here I am doing exactly what I do at this time and on this day. I do not change it even the slightest bit. Do I think that if I take another route or go to another restaurant that I will be crushed by a car that slides into the sidewalk or get lost in a street that I have never walked along? My sisters are right (not anything that I would say out loud in their presence). They tell me that it is like I am programmed by AI. What path now must I take oh my computerized master? What must I avoid because I have never done it before? Why should I fear the new, and like only the often repeated.’

Jason Makes a Decision

Jason arrives in a spot where the road and sidewalk divide into two alternatives. He always takes the route to the right, never once has he turned to the one on the left. This time he stops and thinks. The restaurant that he is going to is at the corner of the two alternatives. He should not have any problems making it to his final destination if he chooses to take the route that he has never taken before. He stands still for several minutes, alternatively looking at each of the two routes back and forth, back and forth. He is still undecided

Then a few women walk past him while he is visually sampling each potential route. .While he stands still at the spot, head moving back and forth, left to right, he sees one of the women turn and point at him, and hears that person, making a loud comment that he cannot quite decipher, and then hears laughter from the others. He knows he is being mocked.

He speaks slightly above a whisper, saying to himself, ‘I will not be deterred by their laughter’. He summons up his gumption, and decides that he should not take the route that he has always previously taken, but should walk on the wild side and take the left route to his breakfast. He convinces himself that nothing bad will happen to him because he has made such a decision.

As he slowly walks down the sidewalk beside the road for him never trodden, Jason looks at the stores, the apartment buildings and other ordinary sights along the way, staring at them like he had entered a different country, or even a different planet. He keeps his viewing to the sides not the front so he will not see the women who had laughed at him. When he does finally look ahead of him, he sees that they are gone. He is glad of that. Near the end of the walk he sees that there is a bookstore. As he is an avid reader (although only of a limited number of authors), he makes mental note of going in there sometime. He prefers buying books in bookstores to ordering on-line. He regularly wants to flip through the pages before he decides to buy a book.

Eventually he makes his way to his Saturday morning breakfast restaurant. It took him approximately the same time as it normally did. He looked for that with his watch just to be absolutely certain.

When he is finished eating, paying and complimenting the chef, he leaves the restaurant and stands for a few minutes where the two routes meet. He ponders whether he should return the same way that he came, or go by the old familiar route. After standing still in front of the restaurant for several minutes thinking, he decides to return the way that he came. The deciding factor is the presence of the bookstore. He is almost finished the book that he is currently reading and enjoying. There is a sequel that has just come out, and he hopes that he could find it here..

In the Bookstore

Jason enters the bookstore. He nods his head to the person selling the books, and goes straight to the section that contains the books written by his favourite author. He finds the sequel and begins to flip through the first few pages. Then he hears a female voice saying with a little drama in her tone: “So you have returned to this road.” He looks in her direction, and recognizes her by her very red hair. She is one of the women who laughed at him.

Speaking more boldly than he usually does with women, Jason replied, “Yes, it was the bookstore that lured me to it.” He avoided saying ‘Not the rude women who laughed at me the first time that I took this particular path,’ although those very words were shouting quite loudly in his mind, almost shouting.

“I am sorry that my sister Joan made a joke about your intelligence, and that my friends laughed at it so loudly. I’m not one to make quick decisions myself, and Joan often insults me for it.”

They were both silent but not moving away from where they were standing.

Then she asks what seems to be an unrelated question. “So is this guy a really good author”. There was a surprisingly and unusually quick reply from Jason of “He’s my very favourite”.

“Could you tell me why that is?”

“That would be a long conversation?”

“Why don’t we go to the coffee shop next door so we can have that conversation?”

“Sure! But I have to buy this book first.”

Jason surprised himself with this split second, positive reply. It was so very uncharacteristic of his typical behaviour. When they sat, spoke, and drank coffee together, his life would change even more. It was a beginning – finally a split second decision.