Not Today

She walked to grab her daily ritual from the local coffee shop. It worked for her, she liked routine. Predictable, consistent, and no surprises. She walked the same way every day. Some might call it mundane, boring even, but that is what she liked. She knew it would take ten minutes to the coffee shop, her drink would be waiting and another five minutes to her office. She would always be the first to arrive, and that would give her time to quickly browse her emails and drink her perfect beverage, still at the ideal temperature. 

Today was not that day, she wasn't expecting it. None of us ever are, the day your whole world gets turned upside down, and nothing seems to be in your control. The things that are never planned for, the universe appears to step in and throw you around like a rag doll and let you know with absolute certainty that you are not in control. It started with a few subtle hints. First, the heel on her favourite pair of shoes broke. Fine, I will wear my sneakers today, she thought. I sit behind a desk all day, no one will know. Then she had trouble locking her front door, she struggled for a bit but managed. She took a quick look at her watch, just two extra minutes, she could easily make it up on her way to the coffee shop. She headed down the sidewalk with a little bit of a hurried pace, her drink would be waiting. When she got to the last intersection, she could see across the street to the coffee shop, and there was her beverage already sitting at the counter. The steam was rising from the cup, perfect. Back to normal. The light changed, and she was just stepping off the curb when a car came blaring through the intersection laying on the horn. 

From behind, someone grabbed her arm and pulled her backward. They both tumbled to the sidewalk, their briefcases opened on impact. Papers went flying everywhere. Both of them immediately jumped up and started chasing; scooping, grabbing, and stomping to collect the flying mess. She was so embarrassed, she tried not to make eye contact. She casually glanced to her side to catch a glimpse of the person that probably saved her life. She managed to muster up a "Thank you." He responded in kind with a "You're welcome." also trying not to make eye contact; he even seemed a little embarrassed. After the last paper was chased down and stomped, they finally had a moment to stand up and face each other. A proper introduction was in order.

"Hello, my name is Jessica." She said, trying to extend her hand without letting any of the papers escape. "And again thank you."

"Hello Jessica, no problem. It was just a knee jerk reaction. The car was just barreling through, and you totally didn't see it. I couldn't just stand there. Are you ok? I think we got all the papers, maybe we could go to the coffee shop across the street and sort it out. What a mess…"

What was he doing? I am standing here with my hand out, and he is just babbling. He hasn't even told me his name. He just seems so all over the place, and I am just standing here. 

She made full eye contact and raised her eyebrows. He suddenly shut up and stared. This guy had just saved her life, she was trying to be courteous and polite, but he was making it very difficult. He slowly raised his hand and shook hers. "Ummm my name is Jessie. I must apologize. My day is not going so well, and Ummm, I must say, you have the most beautiful eyes. I mean, Ummm I am not trying to hit on you. I just think you are very stunning."

She smiled and said, "You can stop shaking my hand now, how about we go and sort these papers." He smiled back, nodded in agreement, and immediately let go of her hand. As they headed across the street, she glanced at her watch again, late, she was going to be late. Her perfect beverage was probably cold now, she was going to have to call the office and explain herself. Not a good day, could have been worse, she could be in the hospital or dead. She could still salvage what was left of the day and do something productive, she just had to reschedule a couple things, no worries. She was good at organizing, she saw chaos and brought order. It was her thing, and now she just had to sort some papers, get a new drink, make a few phone calls, thank Jessie again and be on her way. Piece of cake. He was friendly but definitely not her type. 

As they entered the shop, there was an immediate, "Hello!" She was well known there, and her being late was more than likely going to prompt some questions. Jessie cut in front, plunked all the papers on the nearest table and started chatting with her barista like they had known each other forever. Wait a minute, what was going on here? She didn't have time for this. 

"Excuse me Jessie…" she said, nothing; he just kept talking with his back to her. She dropped her pile with his, cleared her throat with an "Ahem" and tapped him on the shoulder. He turned, smiled, and suddenly became all nervous again. "OH, this is Jessica. We kinda ran into each other this morning, we don't know each other, I mean, we do but we only just met this morning. Like I said we kinda ran into each other, literally. You can clearly see the mess on the table. Ummm we should get it sorted, and I will have my regular and Ummm; oh yes, would you like anything, Jessica? They have a lot of very pretty, umm I mean tasty beverages here."

Wow, just wow she thought to herself. Her place, her barista and now Jessie is telling her what is up. "I will have my regular as well please and I will get it, thank you very much, I will also pay for Jessie's. It's the least I could do," she said, trying hard not to look frustrated. The barista was just about to point to the beverage sitting on the counter when Jessie noticed and spoke up. "Umm, two hot beverages please" then he winked at the barista. "Coming right up, Jessie. Anything for you." She said with a smile. Again Jessica was not impressed, felt almost threatened by him invading her perfect world. She had to remind herself that this guy saved her life. She turned to the piled papers and sighed, Jessie, stepped up beside her and said, "Wow! What a mess, I'll find mine, and you find yours." Then he just started digging in and very roughly sorting through the piles. She did not approve of his seemingly unorganized approach. "Wait, wait, I will help you!” she said and quickly stepped in to try and take over. Jessie did not back off and let her sort, which made her work faster. Anything she recognized went straight into her briefcase, and everything else was left on the table. 

The barista called out the drinks on the counter, which caused Jessica to turn for what seemed like an instant. When she turned back, Jessie had the entire mess sorted and in neat piles. What is going on? Maybe there was hope for this guy yet. She went through her collection, it was all there, sorted, even the papers from her briefcase. She looked sideways at Jessie; this time, she was at a loss for words." Ummm, thank you again.” she said. "No problem, it's kinda my thing. I see chaos, and I have to fix it,” he answered. She smiled nervously, not sure how to respond. Who was this guy? A complete contradiction of what she saw or thought she saw.

"Ummm, I have to make a few phone calls, and I should get to my office. I am running late after all that happened this morning. Thank you again for all your help…" now Jessica was doing it, just blabbing away. "No problem, Jessica." Jessie cut in extending his hand for a handshake. "A pleasure meeting you and you are most welcome. Oh, and thank you for the drink." She slowly reached out and shook his hand, then he let go, grabbed his drink and briefcase, smiled one more time and disappeared out the door and down the street. 

The speed of time. When something moves from point A to point B, it travels a distance at a given speed in a given time. Each part can be calculated based on the other. When speed is increased, time is decreased. Is there a speed at which time would equal zero? Or what would happen past that speed? We know the speed of light, but this is where everything begins to breakdown, a barrier apparently put there which we can not pass. What if there is another variable that can be manipulated? An unseen force that can be harnessed to change not only speed but time itself. Being able to pause any moment at any time to change what is happening. How would our minds perceive this if we became caught in these pauses in time? This is only a theory, or it may already exist. A Quantum black hole, a field that can be created by cascading gravity through a series of magnetic fields to a focused point creating an area of distorted time, the centre of which is almost absolute zero. Containment of the time distortion would be done within something similar to a faraday cage to adjust the intensity. This device would, of course, have to be portable. Something not noticeable, easily hidden. A series of buttons on the lapel of a coat, a belt buckle perhaps or a seemingly insignificant pen in a shirt pocket. 

Jessie walked one more block after he turned the corner from the cafe, paused, looked around and dashed into the alley. He stepped into an offset doorway of a large brick building and took one more look around, all clear. He raised his arm and talked into his watch, “Success. Setting at 73.264 and only 43 percent." He took a pen out of his pocket and twisted the top, an alternating red and blue light began emanating. He held the pen close to the brick-wall, drew a doorway, and stepped through. The opening disappeared behind him, leaving no trace that he was ever there.