Coffee Break

“I wouldn’t go out with you if you were the last man on Earth!” Laura scornfully hissed through clenched teeth. In spite of her scorn, her blue eyes against the smoothness of her skin stirred a deep passion within me. Her hair and her lips were the same deep shade of red. I had never known a woman as lovely as Laura, but I did not fit her idea of the perfect man. Too skinny and not at all interested in athletics, the physical dimension did not hold the same attraction for me as for her.

I felt a familiar bone-deep sadness wash over me. I knew she didn’t have any idea what she was really doing, but her ignorance didn’t lessen the impact. Suddenly I was weary and just wanted to leave. “It saddens me for you to say that, Laura. However, as you have spoken, so let it be.” I turned to leave. I just wanted to get away from any contact with her or her world.

I felt a fear wash through her mind as I was leaving. “Wait,” she cried out. “I didn’t mean it! I’m sorry! Come back!”

But it was too late. What I had hoped for could not be. “Laura, you may regret it, but you did mean it when you said it. I’m sorry too. You won’t see me again.”

I shut the door gently behind me. I could still feel the shock she was reeling from. She was learning the hard way that the spoken word is truly the beginning of reality. The emptiness of the long hall in front of me just emphasized that I was truly alone again. I stepped away from her door and felt for the invisible curtain between her world and mine. Reaching out with my mind, I opened the curtain and stepped through. The vivid colors and sounds of my world returned to my mind in stark contrast to the barrenness of the small world I had created in the holograph projection room. As I let the curtain fall back into place, she opened her door and desperately shouted, “Loki, wait!”

I saw her stunned expression when she realized the long hall was empty. To her, without the ability to sense my world, the hall was empty. “Oh, God. What have I done?” she whispered to the air as she finally realized that, to her, I was truly gone.

Once again, I had come to a world that was not ready for me. I took off the helmet and gloves and turned away from my created world. I stood up and walked away from the terminal. Anyway, my time had run out and the computer was demanding another quarter. It was time to go back to work. Coffee break was over.