making decisions

I am writing this on a 14" G4 iBook. here is why:

"..so i ended up walking home in my camoflauge pants and shirt from the bar alone. Anyways, what are you up to?" Prescott asked.

Prescott knows computers better than i know myself. So i decided to tell him exactly what i was doing.

"Well, i am having a dillema." i said into the cell phone. "I am driving to the Apple store right now and i can't decide if i should get a 15" powerbook, or just save my money and get a new G4 iBook. They both have the same RAM, same hard drive. they both have the same G4, a 933 MHz. or a 1Ghz."

The rain started coming down harder.

"You know, i have always wanted to buy a Mac." he said. "i would really like to work on an Apple sometime."

"Well if you have any advice for me let me know, i am getting off the interstate exit as we speak. i will be at the store in five minutes." i replied as i downshifted to 4th gear.

"It is a tough call, i know those titanium powerbooks are really cool. I guess you have to consider the differences." he said out of the cell phone speaker.

I saw the brake lights up ahead in the rain. I put my foot on the brake pedal.

"It is about a $600 difference." i said.

i wasn't slowing down.

Prescott began to reply. but the Toyota Sequoia idleing at the red light was approaching far too fast.

"I gotta go. i am going to get in a wreck." i said and threw the phone on the passenger's seat.

i put both hands on the wheel and my foot down hard on the brake. I still wasn't slowing down.

The giant black SUV was sitting still, 30 yards away. the light was still red. it was still raining.

i was still moving.

"What was i thinking?" i said to myself. "It is just a computer. i don't need the cool fancy one. i need to save my money."

the back of the jeep began to slide into the lane beside me. i let off the brakes and steered hard to the left. The giant black SUV was sitting still, 20 yards away. the light was still red. it was still raining.

i was still moving.

"Really, i said to myself, do i really need a computer at all?" my whole life was compressed and squeezed into my wet windshield right in front of me."They are a lot of money, and life is far too short to be worring about the difference between an 14" screen and a 15" screen.

The giant black SUV was sitting still, 10 yards away. the light was still red. it was still raining.

i was still moving.

"hell, i don't even need a computer. i just want to be able to walk." i finally announced to my entire life as it sat in front of me in the rainy windshield.

The chrome ball hitch on the Black SUV idleing at the red light in the rain knuckle punched the front of the jeep like Joe Avery used to hit Prescott and I in the back seat of the school bus in 7th grade.

The metal popped like a cherry bomb and my chest slammed into the steering wheel. I sat up as my momentum, at last, rocked backwards and came to a stop.

"looks like i am fine." the man in the black SUV said mildly aggravated to me as i climbed out of my jeep.

"are you okay?" i asked as we stood i the rain. the light was, still, red. "yeah, i am fine. but it looks like.... you're not."

We looked at the front of my jeep. it looked like a jack'o lantern grinnng wide and grotesque with missing teeth.

And finally, 30 seconds and a $500 deductable later, the light turned green.

"Well, i am okay, so i am going to go" he said and climbed back into the black SUV and drove away in the rain.

I got back in my jeep and put it in first gear. it moved. so i went.

my phone, now on the passenger side floor rang.

"dude. what happened? i thought i might be the last to hear your voice alive. Are you okay?" he asked anxioulsy over the phone.

"yeah. i just got a real close look at the back of a Toyota Sequioa... as i rammed into the back of it." i said.

"oh man. are you okay. is the other guy okay?"

"yeah" i replied.

"good. so did you say they have the same processor speeds?"

(*prescott has been known to fall asleep at 4:00 am while driving 95 mph on the highway in the dark coniferous forests of southwest michigan, and wake up as the drivers side door of his car is getting peeled down to primer by a red pine as he careens off the interstate and into the forest. and he will not think to mention it to us until weeks later.)

"um. no." i smiled. i pointed my toes out off the ends of my feet with my legs. looked at my policy statement on my insureance card clipped on my visor. and shook my head.

"but i think my decision was just made for me." i said to Prescott as i drove away in the rain.

Posted by Todd Roeth at November 2, 2003 10:58 PM