Saving the World - Part 1
Did I tell you about the time when I saved the world?
No, really. I did.
It happened like this.
I was on my way home after a long day’s work. And I was really looking forward to some R & R, mindless channel surfing on the telly coupled with a hot cup of coffee and jelly-filled cream biscuits…
Along the way I was cogitating – thinking, that is – about the problem I had left half-solved on my lab desk.
The solution to it was just around the proverbial corner. Except, the proverbial corner was not in proverbial sight, far as the proverbial eye could see.
Too many proverbial what-have-yous spoiling the proverbial whats-it-called.
Engrossed in my thoughts thus, I was traversing my daily route, almost robotically, when I heard a wheezy, “Excuse me?”
I stopped to see who it was that the voice addressed.
Oddly, there was no one around. That meant only one thing – I was the one being addressed. And if I was the only person in that place, then the voice that was addressing me must be devoid of a body to go with it.
Certain paranormal and supernatural entities immediately lent themselves to reason. However, the brain decided to do a little more of the Sherlock exercise before jumping to finalities.
The part of the city I had reached in my perambulations was what one would call partially deserted. Partially, because it was architecturally bestowed, but the architectural efforts had never seem a human complement.
As I stood there pondering about my next move, I heard the same wheezy voice, and the same words, “Excuse me?”
Thoroughly confused, I said the first words that came to my mind, “Yes? How may I help you?”
That is what a Teaching Assistant’s job does to you.
“Erm, thank you for your kind assistance. You see, we are slightly lost…”
A weird thought crossed my mind. Talking to voices was exactly like teaching in a classroom full of sleeping students. They are there, but not THERE.
“Oh, ok! Go straight down the road, take the second left and the first right at the traffic signal, you’ll reach the Train station. Hard to miss.”
“Thank you, that’s very kind of you, but that’s where we just came from.”
“Ooops sorry, kinda jumped the gun!” I said grinning away to no one in particular.
No one in particular.
No one in…
No one.
That’s when the thought actually hit me in its entirety.
“Hey, wait a minute! Who am I talking to?”
Silence.
“Hello? Are you there?”
Silence.
I could have sworn a voice just spoke to me and said that they were slightly lost.
THEY??!!
Beads of sweat were beginning to form on my forehead, as the gravity of the situation came crashing down on me.
Very slowly, I started to back out, throwing occasional glances all around, trying to ascertain if the voice-without-a-body was just that, or if it had other surprises in store, hidden away somewhere.
I must have hardly taken a few steps, when I heard the same wheezy, “Excuse me?”
To be continued…
I know you hate those three words by now. But I LOVE them…
Evil Grin