Momentary Lapses
“Sure, I’ll go. Public library?” I questioned.
“Yep,” she said cheerily.
“Well, it’s off to the library we go. But, I need to be at practice for a few hours, then I can meet you there.”
She looked at me, smiled her heart-melting smile and shook her head. “No, it’s ok. I’ll come with you and watch. Then we can go to the library afterward.”
For a momentary instant, my world came to a jarring halt. What did she say? Come with me? To hang out while I practiced? I wasn’t afraid of the prospect, but that was not something I had expected coming into this conversation. She actually seemed like she wanted to go, although I had no idea what she’d be doing for a few hours.
That moment seemed to last forever, as I swallowed my tongue, and all coherent thought vacated my mind. It felt as if I was struck a lightning because I had lost all fine motor control and my speech was impaired, coupled with this incessant buzzing inside of my head yelling at me to pull myself together.
“Oh, okay!” was the overly loud and hesitant answer that popped from my mouth. I prayed that I didn’t ruin it by waiting too long to answer. Luckily, she didn’t seem to notice the moment where I turned into a babbling idiot, standing beside a babbling brook.
The rest of the day went fairly smooth, even though I wandered the halls like an aimless soul, seeking direction from the signs that I was given, but yet still lost. As I went about my daily activities, there were many moments where I would blank out and forget what I was doing. I was so engaged in my own thoughts that I would not respond to outside stimuli. It didn’t matter if you called my name or even smacked me around; I’d probably respond like an overstuffed sloth after a long lunch break.
I eventually made it through the day without any serious injury to myself or others. When the last bell rang, I was out the door and onto the next step in my master plan. What the hell am I talking about? I had no idea what I was doing and what I was about to get into.
But surely, only time could tell.
Part: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22.
