Tuesday, 18th August 2015, 08:06 by Turukano
Some story about always right/stupid choice (Douglas Adams, "Mostly Harmless")
`Oh yes, I noticed,' said Tricia. `All right. Here it is. It's
very simple. Many years ago I met a guy at a party. He said he
was from another planet and did I want to go along with him. I
said, yes, OK. It was that kind of party. I said to him to wait
while I went to get my bag and then I'd be happy to go off to
another planet with him. He said I wouldn't need my bag. I said
he obviously came from a very backward planet or he'd know
that a woman always needed to take her bag with her. He got a
bit impatient, but I wasn't gong to be a complete pushover just
because he said he was from another planet.
`I went upstairs. Took me a while to find my bag, and then
there was someone else in the bathroom. Came down and he
was gone.'
Tricia paused.
`And...?' said Gail.
`The garden door was open. I went outside. There were
lights. Some kind of gleaming thing. I was just in time to see
it rise up into the sky, shoot silently up through the clouds and
disappear. That was it. End of story. End of one life, beginning
of another. But hardly a moment of this life goes by that I don't
wonder about some other me. A me that didn't go back for her
bag. I feel like she's out there somewhere and I'm walking in
her shadow.'
************
Tricia was stunned.
`Mr Martin? You mean Andy Martin at NBS?'
`That's correct, lady. Screen test for US/AM.'
Tricia shot up out of her seat. She couldn't even bear to
think of all the messages she'd heard for Mr MacManus and
Mr Miller.
`Only we have to hurry,' said the chauffeur. `As I heard it Mr
Martin thinks it might be worth trying a British accent. His boss
at the network is dead against the idea. That's Mr Zwingler, and
I happen to know he's flying out to the coast this evening because
I'm the one has to pick him up and take him to the airport.'
`OK,' said Tricia, `I'm ready. Let's go.'
`OK, lady. It's the big limo out the front.'
Tricia turned back to Gail. `I'm sorry,' she said.
`Go! Go!' said Gail. `And good luck. I've enjoyed meeting
you.'
Tricia made to reach for her bag for some cash.
`Damn,' she said. She'd left it upstairs.
[...]
`You got everything?' said the chauffeur. `You don't want
to pick up your bag or anything?'
`If there's one thing that life's taught me,' said Tricia, `it's
never go back for your bag.'
************
Just a little over an hour later, Tricia sat on one of the pair of
beds in her hotel room. For a few minutes she didn't move. She
just stared at her bag, which was sitting innocently on top of the
other bed.
[...]
The chauffeur had been dead right. In fact the chauffeur
seemed to know more about what was going on inside NBS than
any other single person she had encountered in the organisation.
[...]
She had had her one shot at proving Martin right and she had blown it.
Oh well. Oh well, oh well, oh well.
[...]
She put down the directory again, picked up her handbag,
and took it through to the bathroom. She put it down and took
out the small plastic case which held her contact lenses, without
which she had been unable properly to read either the script or
the autocue.
As she dabbed each tiny plastic cup into her eyes she reflected
that if there was one thing life had taught her it was that there
are times when you do not go back for your bag and other times
when you do. It had yet to teach her to distinguish between the
two types of occasion.
- For this message the author Turukano has received thanks:
- scorpionwarrior
)
