Undermind: Nine Stories (21 page)

But what if it was your own life that seemed too
good to be true? Surely the Horowitz warning didn’t apply then,
right? Lance was so completely happy and satisfied with his life as
he drove down the highway he began to wonder what part of his life
couldn’t be true.

He had just completed his biggest and most
profitable job ever, netting him $12,000, which he should have in
the bank within a week. He would have preferred the client paying
him directly upon completion, but payment had to come from the
corporate office in Ohio which hadn’t caught up with the modern
world yet (which was why they needed Lance’s services to begin
with) and was thus sending him a paper check via the United States
Postal Service.  That was the only downside as far as his
income went. The same client had verbally contracted to have Lance
implement his security solution in all forty-two of their stores,
so the future looked incredibly bright as far as his income and
business was concerned.

Then there was Kim. For a long time the future
that he desired with her could never be counted on as a sure thing.
If Lance had met her when he was younger he was sure that he
would’ve killed any chance of their relationship turning serious.
But after observing and criticizing Tom’s approach with women for
many years, Lance had finally decided to incorporate the one thing
that Tom always did that would make practical sense for anyone – he
gave Kim as much space as she wanted; possibly even more than
that.

Tom was one of those guys who acted like he
couldn’t care less whether a woman was interested in him or not,
and consequently he had women falling all over him. Lance guessed
that this had to do with the psychology of being “hard-to-get.”
Since Tom didn’t seem to care about women, they were determined to
make him care. Lance didn’t know if Tom was even aware of what he
was doing or why it worked, or if he was actually doing this
intentionally. But he did know how Tom behaved and he knew the
results. Tom’s sexual promiscuity was the one thing that Lance
didn’t respect about him, but when Kim indicated that she might
need a break from Lance and wasn’t sure how she felt about their
future together, he realized he had been too clingy and that women
never said things like that to Tom. In fact, they could never get
enough of him.

So he tried to act more like Tom with her – to
an extent. He stopped calling and emailing her five times a day and
generally only talked to her when she initiated the contact.
Meanwhile, he focused on growing his business, and he got a puppy.
Using Tom’s approach worked almost immediately. Since the time that
Lance had stopped contacting Kim directly, he’d been in more
frequent communication with her than ever. It seemed that she was
now afraid of losing him and had become the pursuer.

And most shocking of all, it was Kim who brought
up getting engaged. Now he just hoped he hadn’t agreed too soon. He
thought maybe he should’ve kept the same approach going and acted
hesitant about getting engaged.  As long as the rabbit is
beyond the reach of the greyhound, the dog keeps chasing it,
doesn’t he? But what reason does he have to chase after it’s in his
mouth?

He hoped that the necessity of this game had run
its course though, and that Kim was mature enough now to embrace
love and commitment on the basis of their own rewards and not still
dependent on the dopamine rush that came from the pursuit, or in
Tom’s case, the catch and release.

He thought that he’d done the right thing by
agreeing to the engagement, but he was also determined to not get
clingy and he would continue to let Kim take the initiative more
often than not, just to be safe. And so now, two of his life’s
major goals were well on their way to being accomplished: being a
successful business owner, and marrying the girl he loved. There
was also a chance that Tom might either come to work for him as a
sales consultant, or maybe even buy into the business and become a
partner. Tom was still considering it. Tom was interested in being
his own boss and making a lot more money if what Lance was
promising him was true. But he couldn’t see himself replacing his
mechanic’s jumpsuit with a suit and tie and talking to people in
offices. It just wasn’t him. He believed it when Lance told him he
could do it – but he didn’t know if he would like doing it. So
Lance was still working on presenting it to him in a way that Tom
would find appealing. He knew that before long, he’d have Tom not
only as his best-man at his wedding, but as his business partner as
well.

Could his life get any better than that?
Actually, it could. He’d recently adopted a Dalmatian puppy from a
rescue society after reading an article about lots of people buying
Dalmatians after seeing one in a popular movie and then they’d no
longer want the dog a few months later. A recent movie featuring a
Dalmatian as a practical co-star had set the cycle in motion again
and now there were thousands of Dalmatians across the country being
neglected or living in shelters with a short lease on life if they
weren’t adopted before the holding time ran out. Then there were
the ones who’d been rescued by the Dalmatian Rescue Society where
Dalmatian lovers were committed to taking care of them until they
were adopted.

Adopting them wasn’t easy either. The
requirements, forms, interviews, financial statements and lifestyle
questionnaires that Lance had gone through made him wonder if this
was a dog he was trying to adopt, or a human. Eventually though, he
was approved and was finally allowed to bring home the puppy he had
named Domino. Having grown up as a ward of the state, Lance had
never had a dog before. It was one of many things he’d never had
the pleasure of experiencing as a child. Acquiring Domino was the
fulfillment of a lifelong desire.

Domino was turning out to be everything Lance
had hoped for and more. The two of them bonded instantly and Lance
felt like they shared a very special connection. He felt badly
whenever he left Domino alone, but he made up for it (he hoped) by
always coming home with a special treat. Often times though, Domino
was so excited at Lance’s return, he paid little attention to
whatever present Lance tried giving to him as he came through the
door. As far as Domino was concerned, Lance was the best treat
there was. Anything else was only good as a means of passing time
while Lance was away.

Lance knew that he couldn’t possibly be happier
with his life. His last thought before Corrine plowed into him,
was: what’s the best gift he could possibly buy for Domino after
his dinner with Tom and Kim. Then there was a horrendous sound from
the high-speed impact of steel and glass and Lance’s thought
process was instantly terminated for a while as he plunged into
darkness.

***

Corrine was driving home after completing her
shift at the restaurant where she worked as a waitress. She didn’t
have any plans yet for the evening, but there were possibilities.
She didn’t like to think about the fact that it was Friday night
and nothing was already setup, but she told herself that this was a
good thing. All of her options were open. This of course meant that
no one worthwhile had asked her out yet this week.

Being a waitress and being young and attractive
meant that she was frequently asked out, but along with such
frequency came the luxury of discretion, and Corrine had chosen
none of her would-be suitors this week.

She did however accept a few business cards. So
far though, she wasn’t feeling desperate enough to call back any of
the hopeful candidates who’d given her the cards along with very
generous tips. She thought that it was stupid how men with lots of
money always thought they could buy their way into a date. It was
fine with her if they wanted to tip her 30 or 40 percent. She could
definitely use the money. But accepting the grossly inflated tips
didn’t obligate her to anything.

So far, the one person who she wished would ask
her out hadn’t, and it didn’t look like he was going to. At least
not yet. Corrine was almost hoping something else would go wrong
with her Mazda Miata so she would have a good excuse for seeing Tom
again. Last weekend she had brought her car into the garage where
Tom worked and told him that it was making a funny noise –
especially when she was just starting off, and then it would go
away after she gained some speed. Tom determined instantly that the
problem was a fan belt and had her back on the road minus funny
noises in no time. When she got back to her apartment she told
Sarah about the extremely cute mechanic who had fixed her car and
Sarah immediately decided that she couldn’t put off having her VW
Beetle’s brakes looked at any longer.

Corrine thought it was odd that Sarah had
nothing to say about Tom or her car after she had returned from
having her brakes checked. She wondered if Sarah had hooked up with
Tom and didn’t want Corrine to know since she had seen him first.
She wondered if that was who Sarah had a date with tonight.
Why
 
had
 
she been so vague about who she was going
dancing with?

***

Devon spotted a really strong glow that was just
what he was looking for. Mostly white, fading grey patches
throughout, and light red streaks etched here and there. The glow
was coming from a car on the highway that was just changing lanes
into an off-ramp that fed into a street where not too far away
there was a driver entering a state of anxiety mixed with anger and
envy. These two people could be perfect, Devon thought, feeling
lucky.

He shifted his energy frequency completely into
the physical plane as far as he could. He descended into the second
car and settled into Corrine’s mind.  Upon his entry, he saw
and felt a barrage of images and emotions that came from her mind
and into his. Among them were: A young blonde woman in a revealing
top {envy}; a man wearing a cook’s uniform in a restaurant kitchen
{anger}; a computer monitor showing an AOL login screen {anxiety};
a closet filled with dresses and outfits {sadness/hope}; a mechanic
sliding out from under a car and smiling up at the
viewer{lust/desire}, an imagined scene of the blonde and the
mechanic kissing {jealousy} quickly followed by another made-up
image of Corrine slapping the blonde whose name was Sarah
{rage}.

Devon went back to the thought of the computer
screen to see how it fit in with what Corrine was experiencing. Ah,
Sarah’s email. Corrine is wondering if the mechanic named Tom may
have had email communication with Sarah about seeing each other
tonight and this is causing the anger and anxiety. He gathered
together images that related to the email and pushed them forward
into her mind, coupled with a sense of urgency. She responded to
this by thinking that if she hurried, she could possibly read
Sarah’s email before the website automatically signed out her
account due to inactivity. Sarah never signed out manually since
she checked her email every time she walked past her laptop on the
kitchen table.

Devon shifted his awareness for a moment to the
first car with the powerful glow of happiness and contentment and
he got a sense of its location, direction, trajectory and timing.
He could make this work. He started conjuring up images and
emotions and pushed them at Corrine. Sarah and Tom smiling at each
other. The computer screen with a warning message that the AOL
account will be logged out unless the user indicates they want to
stay logged in. Sarah and Tom dancing and kissing. The AOL inbox
with a red flag indicating that the user has mail. Sarah and Tom
undressing in Sarah’s room. The logout warning. Then he gave a big
push of urgency:
 
GO! GO!
GO!

Corrine slammed the gas pedal to the floor and
wished her car had more power as it sluggishly increased its speed.
She needed to get home fast to see if she could read Sarah’s email.
Or maybe, she thought, Sarah was even dumb enough to have left a
chat window open with Tom.

Corrine’s mind was so fully occupied now with
the images she and Devon were creating that she didn’t see the red
light in front of her which allowed highway traffic at the bottom
of the freeway off-ramp to turn left in front of her. She never
even hit her brakes before she slammed into the black Mustang that
might as well have been invisible to her.

The front of her Miata crumpled like an
accordion. Corrine flew forward. The steering wheel met her
halfway, breaking her ribs and pushing them straight through to her
lungs and heart. She died instantly and was so intent on getting
home before Sarah’s AOL account could get logged off,  she
just kept on going toward her house, picking up speed as she went
since she was no longer dependent on the acceleration capability of
her Miata, nor was she confined to a body that needed transporting.
Her speed of travel was now limited only by her thoughts.

***

“So, are you seeing anyone special?” Kim asked
Tom just as he stuffed his mouth with three pieces of Shrimp
Remoulade. He smiled at her with his mouth full, thinking that she
timed that deliberately. He chewed and swiveled his head left and
right one time indicating that he wasn’t seeing anyone special.
“Oh, come on! There has to be someone,” Kim replied.

Tom swallowed and said, “Oh there’s definitely
someone. I’m going dancing with a girl named Sarah after we finish
dinner with Lance. There just isn’t anyone
 
special.
” He reached for more shrimp.

He and Kim were in a private dining room at
Ruth’s Chris Steakhouse enjoying an appetizer. Kim had arrived
first and ordered the shrimp and a drink. Tom arrived shortly
thereafter along with the waiter and he promptly sent the waiter
back to get him a drink. He had showered and changed at work, then
came straight to the restaurant but was still uncomfortably
surprised to find that he had gotten there before Lance had.