Lote vs. Gote

By Trevor Grinde

Greggor was at a crossroads. Not a literal crossroads but a mental one. A decision. A tough decision. A really tough decision. This decision will change the course of the rest of his life. Affect where he lives, who he associates with, even what he has for breakfast. One decision to set his life on course to…. where? He wouldn’t know till he got there and that was quite possibly the scariest thing. Where would he end up? Greggor was normally a confident man who made several snap business decisions every day. Who to hire for what job. What course of action would work best for which client and so on. But this! This was different. It was a decision that he was making for himself and not others. And only he would feel the repercussions from here to the end of his life. When making decisions for other people, he could see all sides of the situation and using that information, could choose with the upmost confidence, the best way for the client to go. It was way easier looking from the outside inward, but now that he was in the center of the details, they seemed all muddled. Nothing looked clear, just murky. What he really needed was an outside influence to tell him what to do.

As if on cue there was a knock at the door.

“Who could that be?” Greggor wondered to himself. Opening the door, he came face to face with a man dressed in red and black. Black shirt with red sleeves that came to the wrists. Black pants. A cape that stretched almost to the floor. Black on the outside and red underneath. Completing the ensemble was a black top hat that Greggor suspected was red on the inside.

“Hello my good man. How are you this fine day?” The man said briskly. Before Greggor could reply the man continued. “Excellent! Good to hear it! I’m here to assist you with your current pressing matter.”

Greggor put up his hand gesturing for the man to stop “I don’t understand what you are going on about”

“Apologies sir” taking off his hat with one hand in a swooping motion that turned into a slight bow. The other hand producing a small piece of paper which he handed to Greggor. “My card” the man said smoothly.

As Greggor took the card from the man he noticed that the inside of the hat was indeed red on the inside. Greggor stared at the card but he didn’t understand what the words meant. They were words he could read for sure, but they didn’t make sense. The card read ‘LESSER OF TWO EVILS”. Underneath the bold black writing in a smaller font were the words ‘Decisions made easy’

After staring at the card for some time he looked back at the man “I still don’t understand”

“I am Lesser Of Two Evils, but you can call me Lote. I am here to assist you with your current conundrum.” Lote executed another sweeping bow, and once he was erect again, he plucked the card form Greggors hand and said in a low voice “Ill need that back, it’s the only one I have.” Resuming his boisterous pitch and with a flourish he said now to the task at hand.”

Seeing that Greggor was still bewildered, Lote continued. “You sir are faced with a t bit of a predicament, Yes?”

Greggor nodded slightly. “and you are paralyzed with indecision, yes?”

Greggor repeated the nod

“Well then, looks like I got here just in time. Now tell me, this decision of yours, it is of a personal nature, yes?

Greggor nodded a third time.

“So, tell me” Lote continued “When thinking about your decision, what is your greatest fear?”

And without knowing it Greggor was firmly within the grasp of the two evils program.

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Not far from the house of Greggor walked a man. He was dressed in a red shirt with black sleeves that came to the wrists. Red pants. A cape that stretched almost to the ground. Red on the outside and black underneath. Completing the ensemble was a red top hat. He stopped. Cocked his head to one side as if listening to some faint noise in the distance. A smile crept across his face. As the smile crept, he turned on a heal and made directly for Greggor’s cabin.

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Greggor’s mind spun…he hadn’t thought of what his greatest fear might be, but he didn’t have to think long before he came up with an answer.

“I suppose my greatest fear is making the wrong decision. What if I marry the wrong girl? What if there is one perfect wife for me and I choose the wrong one?”

“Have you considered that both or neither lady could be the perfect wife for you?”

Greggor hadn’t.

“Let me ask you another question” Lote continued “When l considering your current dilemma, have you considered the short-term effects of your decision over the long-term goals.”

Greggor’s face was blank.

“Think about what you need now versus what you want over the long term. You would like companionship with a pretty lady now, but what about the future. Where would she like to live? What about kids?”

Something else that didn’t even cross Greggors mind.

“Furthermore,” Lote went on “what about your spiritual needs? Have you chatted with either of your lady friends about that? They are very strong feelings that are rarely revealed until it is too late, with potential catastrophic consequences.”

Greggor didn’t know what to say. Thoughts where whirling through is mind so fast that he had no chance of grabbing just one.

Lote could see that his latest client was just where he wanted him. He softened his face…and moved in close to Greggor…almost nose to nose and spoke just above a whisper.

“And what of the cost my friend? What will it cost you? What are you willing to give up? What must you give up?” Lote put on a smile filled with pity though he didn’t feel any.

A knock on the door.

Grateful for the distraction Greggor backed himself away from the face to face with Lote and walked quickly to the door. As soon has Greggor had turned the handle the door was pushed open and in walked Greggor's second strange visitor of the day. The man looked a lot like Lote, dressed exactly the same except the colors of the clothing were reversed.

“Good day, my good man. Looks like I arrived just in time. Let me introduce myself. My name is Gote.”

Gote produced a card and handed it to Greggor. The card was much nicer than the one that Lote had shown him, with color and embellishments around the outside edges and he thought it might of smelled like cinnamon. It read GREATER OF TWO EVILS, in smaller writing below, it read ‘Hard decisions made fun!’

“Yours to keep my good man. For future reference.” Gote wore a great smile showing perfect teeth, while Lote looked furious.

“Now” Gote said as he avoided Lote’s icy stare “Let’s get down to business. Real business. Not this….” Gote's voice shifted to falsetto and adopted a lilt “think about the future, make sure you don’t forget your finances…blah blah blah” At the last part Gote stuck out his tongue and flapped his hands.

“The thing is my good friend, there are more important things. Sure, money and a house is important but when it comes down to it, its just stuff. Stuff can be replaced, but people can’t. What you need to think about is what girl makes you happiest. Who makes you laugh? Who do you think about when you are at work? That’s the girl for you.”

Lote stepped in between Gote and Greggor.

“Just one minute! That is completely backwards. Your trying to convince him of the here-and-now when he should be thinking about the 20-30-40 years down the road.”

“You’re just muddying the waters Lote” answered Gote, the smooth pleasantness starting to slide out of his voice.

“Am not! We were doing just fine until YOU showed up” retorted Lote

Gote leaned over towards Greggor and forced a smile.

“Excuse us please” he said in a low voice as he ushered Lote out the door.

Outside the two kept arguing back and forth. Voices slowly escalating into shouts. The shouting was only loud for moment or two then slowly quieted as the two walked away from Greggors home still in animated discussion.

Greggor drew a deep breath and sighed as he dropped down into his kitchen chair. He stayed silent for a long time, considering. Despite the uninvited guests, they did give him a lot to think about. After a while longer he put his head in his hands when he realized he was no further ahead in his decision than he was this morning. In fact, he might actually be further away.