When you do have options and opinions

Partly because you felt like being a smart-ass, but mostly because it was kind of necessary –kind of, since there’s this thing about opinion being subjective– you tried to explain to the man sitting beside you that the word he was looking for was ‘sensitize’ but the word you thought he needed was ‘enlighten’. No surprise he was appalled by your intrusion, his expression told it all. Now all he needed to do thereof was any of the three options which you perceived were the only options he could possibly have in that situation.

The first being he could reject your opinion and ignore your insolence. The second, he could demand to know why you had taken interest in his conversation (with himself). The third one, he could be grateful for your suggestion and ask further for more input.

And just as you speculated, he picked the option you would have placed a bet he’d pick if you had extra money on you. He wanted to know why you had been keenly observing him. He didn’t just want to know, he demanded an explanation, and he demanded you gave him quickly before…

Before he got angry? Before he got bored with the reason he needed the word or the explanation? Before he got summoned and was required for something else? It could be any of those options and you needed to know which. But the man was cut short in the middle of the sentence by a distinctive jungle festival that seemed to have been going on behind you, why else would he have stared wide-eyed at the space beside your head.

So you slowly turned back to see what got to him, but what you saw was just about the option you figured he’d have drifted towards. He had gotten interested in something else.

The auditorium that initially had people who were dressed corporate-casually scattered around for a technology trial set-up (you were there for that reason), had transformed into an activity room controlled by people on red garments. There also was a certain lady at the center of what seemed to be like a feast, breastfeeding 2 babies on both her breasts, each baby on a separate breast, and she wasn’t so discreet about it.

And not so far from you, but close to one of the entrances, someone that looked like someone that mattered was being hushed and rushed into a seat that looked like a big deal- it was massively decorated and all.

You weren’t sure exactly what caught the attention of the man that sat beside you because any one of those activities was capable of throwing anyone off their train of thoughts. But when you turned around he was back to his distressed nature just as when you felt he was searching for a word to which you provided a solution he apparently had forgotten or refused to take heed to.

So you decided to help him again. You reiterate that ‘sensitize’ was the word he was looking for, but ‘enlighten’ should be just the word he needed.

The man, like he was in a trance before, looked at you and repeated what he said earlier and as before, demanded an explanation, and he demanded you gave him quickly before….

And he stopped there again. But this time, he stopped abruptly and as he stopped, he gesticulated towards his briefcase while gasping for air and banging his chest. So scared, you hurriedly grabbed the briefcase to get a clue on what he needed it for. While he gestured, you searched in it. You saw some keys –he probably wanted you to have the car or house or whatever the keys could open, or still, take him to whatever the keys could open; you saw some papers and a lighter –he probably wanted you to burn the papers or look for a cigarette he could use the lighter on.

And then you saw some business cards -perhaps they were his and he probably wanted you to look at it and see if you recognized the name so you act appropriately when you realized he was a big deal where he was from. Anyone of these options could be the correct one. And just as you thought, one was.

Per se. It was the closest correct option that led to what he was in need of. He needed his car keys to get to his car so he could get his inhaler. So many hand gestures later and you got the solution in time, and you helped him. You proceeded to wait for him to get his body right. You needed his full attention so you’d return to getting him to use your suggestion and be done with the unnecessary heart throb he was causing for himself and for you, the observer. God did not send you to him for nothing.