Logic and Whim, Reason and Folly
By Kim McLean
The woman looked at a reflection of herself and let out a deep sigh. "I am thirty years old, and what do I have to show for it? A job, but it is only a job. A lost love. A car. A degree. What else? Yeah, I have friends, but...they are only friends." Another sigh as the woman ran a hand through her shoulder length auburn hair, "Yeesh. Winter always gets me down. Soon...soon it will be spring. Not long after that, it will be time to make a decision about grad school or work...yuck" She gave a shrug, then put in her contacts and blinked her green eyes a couple of times, letting them get used to the lenses once again.
"I guess I'm ready to face the day," the woman said as she exited the bathroom and grabbed her purse and keys. She gave one last look in the full length mirror, and gave a tug on her suit jacket. With a satisfied nod, she exited the apartment, and headed down to the lobby.
"Good morning, Ms. Lewis," stated the security guard, who's name tag had "Johnson" printed on it.
"Morning, Tommy. How's your team doing?" Jessica Lewis asked, giving one more self-conscious tug at her jacket.
"The Kings one last night. They may just have a shot this year!" Tommy Johnson said with excitement.
"Great news then. I'll see you this afternoon," Jessica added before exiting the building and heading for the parking garage. The rude ring of her cell phone interrupted her quiet walk to the car, "Jessica Lewis here."
"Hey Jess, Lonni here. Are you coming in to the office this morning?" Lonni Davis, the manager with the gruff voice asked.
"No sir, Lonni. I'm meeting with InterTel Industries, and they are south of town by an hour. Going to the office would be out of my way," Jessica replied as she hit the button to unlock her car door.
"Ah, I see. Darn. I was hoping you'd stop by here first...we may have some new features to offer InterTel, and it'd be great if you could present them," Lonni stated.
Jessica answered as she struggled to get into the car without dropping her laptop or cell phone, "Lonni, you know I don't pitch products...that is not my job."
"I know, but I thought just this once, you could make an exception," Lonni protested, mildly. Jessica always found it odd how Lonni, who stood at 6'3" could whine like a baby when he really wanted something.
"Nope, not this time. I've got to get going, Lonni, or I'll be late. I'll see you tomorrow," Jessica didn't even give her co-worker a chance to reply as she ended the call. She hated listening to his whiney voice.
Jessica started her Jetta and eased out of her parking space before heading out of the garage, southward bound. In less than five minutes, she was in the suburbs of Nashville, and after another five minutes, she found herself in the country side. The InterTel office was located in cattle country, nestled among limestone hills covered in hardwood trees. There was a slight green tint to everything, Jessica noticed, and pleased to see the early signs of spring.
Turning off of the main highway, onto a small two lane highway, Jessica Lewis took in the scenery around her as her mind wandered about where she was in her life. Everything seemed to slow down in the country, and the stresses that seemed to bug her didn't seem as urgent, but they were still there, nagging her.
Perhaps it was the nagging thoughts that distracted her, or perhaps it was the scenery, but Jessica did not spot the cow in the middle of the road until she was nearly on top of it. She gasped in surprise and jerked the steering wheel hard to the right, and narrowly missed the bovine. Unfortunately, she lost control of the car, and drove into a ditch that paralleled the road. The world went black....
...but only for an instant.
"How...did I get here?" Jessica asked.
A voice in her head said, "You drove off the road, silly child." The voice was strong, but had an edge to it that indicated age and wisdom.
"Yup, you missed the cow though," a second voice said, this one sounding much younger.
Jessica furrowed her brows and looked around. Certainly she had imagined that, right?
"You may think we are imagination, child, but we are much more than that," answered that confident voice.
"Uh huh. We certainly are."
With a frown, Jessica ignored the voices that came from her head and climbed out of her car. She turned to inspect it, and gave a huge sigh, "Totaled."
Jessica turned around again, and very nearly ran over an old woman who stood right behind her, "Oh..pardon...I didn't know anyone was here."
"Are you so sure now?" a taunting, young voice called out behind her.
Jessica raised a brow, "Ok...enough with the smoke and mirrors, who are you?"
The old woman's face was stern, serious, "Need you ask, child? Don't you know? Don't you recognize?"
"I don't think she does...look...she looks more dumbfounded than me, Grams," the younger voice called out again, directly behind Jessica. She looked over her shoulder, and saw the younger girl, who couldn't have been more than 16.
"You know you are not to call me that, littling," the older woman looked to the girl before looking back to Jessica. "You know who we are, dear child. The answer is within yourself, and only you can find the answer."
"I can't even decide what to do with my life much less puzzle out who you are, or where you came from. Look at me...I'm 30 years old, with so little to show for my life. The car was one of those things...and look at it now. I am in no mood for games, ma'am," Jessica huffed.
"My she's impatient, Grams. She's a tough one," smirked the younger.
"As are you, bratling, and she gets that trait from you...you do realize that, don't you?" retorted the older woman.
"No no...impatience comes from you, grams. You're the one who gets angry at something as simple as a nickname. I really hope she doesn't get as stuffy as you are, though it seems she's headed that way," argued the youngster.
"Childling, you are lucky that I am not violent. You test anyone's nerve, and you always take risks that one should never take. You will get us all killed," a harder edge came to the old woman's voice.
"Me? What abou..."
"ENOUGH! Both of you....you are making my head hurt. Crone, tell me your business, or you girl, but stop bickering. My head is killing me," Jessica bellowed.
Both the girl and the old woman looked to Jessica with wide eyes, "If only you could be so strong when making decisions. The decision pressuring you right now, girl...you have the answer, in your head and in your heart. Listen to it....trust yourself."
"What are you on about Crone?" Jessica asked as the old woman placed a hand on Jessica's head. Jessica tried to step away, but the young girl prevented her, placing a hand on her head, and on her shoulder, "Listen to Grams, littling. She's steering you true."
"Littling? How old are you to call me that?"
"I am 15 to your 30, and Grams is 60, but that is not important. Listen to your heart now, littling," came the soft reply.
"But.."
"No buts this time, childling, listen to the youngster. Listen to yourself," the crone answered.
Silence held the three for quite a while. A light bulb went off in Jessica's head, "I...it's time for me to move on. Time for me to go back to school and get back to what I love."
The youngster smiled, "She listened!"
"Aye she did, childling, this time. There have been too many times when she hasn't. Of course...your rowdy cousins always seem to yell and scream and muddle the thoughts as she sorts through them...enough to cause anyone to ignore the argument and postpone the decision. Come, help me get her back into the car. The others...the people will be here soon," Crone answered.
Jessica found herself back in her seat, and the crone and teenager seemed to vanish, "Wait! Who are you?"
A voice, in her head answered, playfully, "You mean you still don't know? Yeesh you are slow!"
"We are parts of you, littling. Logic and Whim. Reason, and Folly. We go by either. I leave it to you to decide which is which," came the stronger voice of the crone.
The voices faded, both bickering over something else now, but the argument was replaced by the sound of a siren. Once again, she felt hands on her. They pulled her from the car, and laid her down on something soft...a bed?
Concerned blue eyes peered down at her, "Take it easy. You have a nasty head wound, but we're taking you for help. Everything will be ok."
Jessica simply smiled, because she knew things would only get better from here.
