15 January 2015

Starter Challenge: When he got back, it had all gone.

GONE IN THE FLASH!

It had only been an instant…really. How could this have happened to someone so serious and purposeful. His mind had been full of ideas about work and being a good man and doing the right thing. Mark had always been the adult in the room no matter what was going on. People trusted him. They wanted to be like him. They knew they could always count on him, Mr. Dependability. Nothing strange, or remotely thought of as unusual, had ever happened to Mark.

So when he walked through the revolving door of the Similtrip corporate headquarters after the new year’s holiday expecting to take the elevator to his 37th floor office, and back to his finance VP responsibility, he suddenly felt disoriented. Nothing was as it should be.

There was no uniformed guard on duty to check people in or out. In fact, now that he thought about it, there were no people there at all. Very unusual for a return day. The eager beavers in the company would always show up early, trusting that they would run into the “Old Man” as he went to the canteen for his daily 7:35 am cup of coffee.

The slimy toadies would fake importance and gravity, as they picked up their cups from the line, shuffling file folders under their arm. And with an acknowledgment of “Good morning Mr. Manzies”, they would rush off, apparently to undertake another busy day’s schedule.

Actually, the folders usually contained a newspaper and these self-inflated sycophants were on their way to the executive restroom for an hour of silence and privacy to read the sports pages. They knew the appearance of being the first in the office belied the accomplishment of actually getting jobs done. They would sneer at the “late comers” – those actually on time – implying that they had already single-handedly saved Similtrip Corp. billions while you were still home in bed.

But there was none of that this morning. Without thinking much about it, Mark walked across the darkened lobby to the bank of elevators, at least to where they used to be. As he turned the corner to the hall, there were instead three sets of opaque glass doors with no numbers above any of them. There was however, a panel to the right of each door with two buttons on it. He read the embossed instruction above each button. The first panel said, “Here”. The one below read, “There”.

Mark walked on to the second set of doors. It had different instructions above the two buttons: “Somewhere” above “Nowhere”.

The third panel stated: “Anywhere”, with “Everywhere” underneath.

Mark stood there unable to understand what had happened to his office and company. Everything had been as it was when he left two weeks ago on vacation. As he stood in his confused state, a man in a dark business suit carrying a briefcase walked down the hall, stood in front of the second set of doors, and without hesitating, pressed “Somewhere”.

As the man waited, he looked over at Mark whose disorientation was visible. “Are you ok?” he asked. Mark shook his head trying to clear away his confusion.

“I… I think so but, what has happened to the elevators?”

“What do you mean?” said the man. “They’re right here.”

“But they have no numbers,” Mark pointed out

“Yes…,” said the man, acknowledging the obvious, and beginning to feel a little nervous in Mark’s presence.

“But how do you know which button to push?” Mark asked.

“You just have to know where you want to go”, he replied. “Me, I’m off to a business meeting. The most important of my whole career. It will make my future”

Just then the middle doors whooshed open. Wishing him a good day, the man stepped through the doors into a white lit space. The doors closed immediately behind him and with a flash the hall was silent again.

“Now what do I do?” Mark asked himself. “Perhaps I came to the wrong building?” he thought, realizing he had a lot on his mind but this just made no sense as he walked back around the corner, through the lobby and into the revolving door. He found himself on the street, looked up and down, all was as it should be.

So he once more entered the revolving doors, passed through the lobby and around the corner to the hall with the glass doors .In front of him were two young people in casual clothes, each with a roller suitcase, standing at the third doors.

“Hello,” they said politely.

Mark paused a second as he saw them push the button for “Anywhere”, and asked haltingly, “Where are you going?”

“Oh” said the tanned young woman. “We’re going on vacation. We are so excited.

“But where are you going?” Mark repeated, with increasing emphasis.

“That’s the exciting part. We won’t know until we get there.” joined in her companion, as he wrapped his arm around her waist and they walked into the parted white light of the opened doors. With the same flash as before, the hall was again silent.

“OK” said Mark to himself. “I guess I have to do something so I’ll start with “Here”. After his push of the button, the doors opened and he walked into the intense white light. In what was an instant, there was a flash and the doors reopened. He was back in the lobby. “Well that made sense in a way,” he thought, “…but now what?

As he stood pondering, an elderly couple came around the corner, obviously with great difficulty. They made their way slowly, feebly, to the last set of doors. He reached out with a trembling hand, and pressed “Everywhere.” Mark could not avoid asking the couple as the doors opened, “Where are you going?”

“Away”, said the elderly man as helped his wife step into the light between the doors. “It is our time,” he said as the doors closed to the flash.

Mark not knowing what to do, finally thought, “Since, I don’t know how any of this works, perhaps I should push “Nowhere”.

As his arm stretched out to the button, his hand was stopped by a uniformed man who had suddenly appeared at his side. “Are you sure that’s where you want to go? Better think about that. You can never come back from “Nowhere”.

Mark hesitated once again, not knowing what he should do as the man stood waiting, patiently. “Well, I just wanted to go to my office. That’s where I wanted to go.”

“Then go there,” the uniformed man said.

Mark, seeming now to understand, walked back to the first set of doors and pushed the button for “There”. The doors opened to the light and he entered.

In a flash the doors reopened, revealing he was at his office. The Old Man was standing there, surrounded by the phalanx of phonies. Mr. Manzies looked at him with a raised eyebrow as Mark passed through the doors into the Similtrip Corporation waiting room.

“It’s about time you figured out where you were going,” he said, pointing to his watch.

Mark stood still, thinking for a moment as he took in the scene in front of him. “You are so right” he said coming to a decision. And with new found energy in his step, turned to the third set of doors, pushed the button for “Anywhere”, walked through when they opened, and was gone in the flash.