Digital Diversion 7
The Trident Plan
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Chapter 7 The Confrontations
Jim managed to catch up on laundry, the dishes, and clean up the mess he made lashing out at the perceived unfairness of the day. The anger and shame burned hot and he was unable to sleep.
He made note of what he needed for the week and went to the all-night supermarket. He didn’t feel like a ghost this time. He felt like a raging barbarian right out of his MMO game. Other shoppers shrunk away from him and his angry aura.
He bought real food, fresh vegetables, chicken, barley noodles, spices, coffee beans. Nothing prepared or ready-to-eat. He was forcing himself into a corner. Cook or starve. He marched out of the supermarket feeling vindicated.
The time was growing late when he arrived home and unpacked the groceries, but he was no closer to sleep.
Instead he set up the desk calendar, with its own marker, checked his emails. There was an embarrassingly large volume of them, most all rendered moot because of his lack oof timeliness. Jim resolved to check email before adventuring in the future.
One email that was still semi-valid was from Samuel. “You haven’t contacted me for help. Either you are doing well or you haven’t started yet. Getting started can be tough, I know. Everything seems wrong in some way. But there’s only one way through it—Start! ;-) Don’t be afraid to reach out. Otherwise, you are not just not writing, you’re hiding.”
Jim replied, “You are right, I’m not writing, I’m floundering. Everything I start sounds stupid or unnecessary.”
He clicked ‘send’ before thinking about it too deeply and backing out.
The other email was from Marge. “Hi Jim, Hope you got my phone messages. I’m sorry about the timing but my mother is ill and needs someone to look after her. I’ll be back next quarter. Until then, there’s an online course I can recommend if you’re interested [link]. Hope to see you in a couple months. ttyl “
Jim replied: “Don’t know if you will see this message but, just in case, I hope your mom gets better soon. See you next quarter.”
Jim finished off the rest of the email, most going to archive or trash. He’d caught up, but the words of his boss, Sam and Marge kept ringing.
It’s hard to hide when someone finally starts looking for you.
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