He was wearing an olive green button-up dress shirt. If I could have gotten a good look at his eyes beneath those round-rimmed metal framed glasses, I think they might have matched the shirt. I fiddled with pens that lay on the shelves of his cubicle and took a last look out the window - so high in the air.
My attempts to entice him with thoughts of being outside in the crisp New York morning air were failing. So I decided to use a different tactic.
"But don't you think we should go get coffee? Coffee sounds perfect right now," I half-pleaded, thinly veiled and desperate now.
"I need to get this work done."
Neil was oblivious. And why shouldn't he be?
It was 5:45 AM. My own sense of urgency and responsibility was growing. Somehow, Neil would leave the building with me. Somehow, I had to make it happen. For some reason, I cared more about this stranger than I cared about most daily occurences. I didn't question how I had gotten there, or how time had been reversed; I just knew that I had to change it.
Why Neil? Why Me? I don't know that either.
I stared once more at his back-turned figure and his early-morning work-dedicated hair, dissheveled and dirty blond. He recommenced typing, more annoyed at my presence than at all aware of the dire situation now pulling Fate in two directions.
"Okay, Neil. Anything you want. I'll pay. Let's just take a little break from work, please." I was beginning to realize that sooner or later I should start caring about my own safety as well.
He stopped typing for a moment. Maybe he sensed my urgency. Maybe coffee really did sound perfect. Maybe my subconscious was throwing me a bone. For whatever reason, and with a slow, thoughtful determination, he spun his office chair to face me and looking up through those fluorescent-tinged glasses said, "Okay."
The next second, we were walking through an artsy district blocks from the buildings - reds and blues and purples on all shapes of artisan shops. Green-shirted Neil was by my side.
I don't remember if I even felt a sense of accomplishment. It was simply a feeling of things being set right. I smiled.
Before we said another word to each other, I was gone - in another place and another time, facing my own demons, saving myself.
My attempts to entice him with thoughts of being outside in the crisp New York morning air were failing. So I decided to use a different tactic.
"But don't you think we should go get coffee? Coffee sounds perfect right now," I half-pleaded, thinly veiled and desperate now.
"I need to get this work done."
Neil was oblivious. And why shouldn't he be?
It was 5:45 AM. My own sense of urgency and responsibility was growing. Somehow, Neil would leave the building with me. Somehow, I had to make it happen. For some reason, I cared more about this stranger than I cared about most daily occurences. I didn't question how I had gotten there, or how time had been reversed; I just knew that I had to change it.
Why Neil? Why Me? I don't know that either.
I stared once more at his back-turned figure and his early-morning work-dedicated hair, dissheveled and dirty blond. He recommenced typing, more annoyed at my presence than at all aware of the dire situation now pulling Fate in two directions.
"Okay, Neil. Anything you want. I'll pay. Let's just take a little break from work, please." I was beginning to realize that sooner or later I should start caring about my own safety as well.
He stopped typing for a moment. Maybe he sensed my urgency. Maybe coffee really did sound perfect. Maybe my subconscious was throwing me a bone. For whatever reason, and with a slow, thoughtful determination, he spun his office chair to face me and looking up through those fluorescent-tinged glasses said, "Okay."
The next second, we were walking through an artsy district blocks from the buildings - reds and blues and purples on all shapes of artisan shops. Green-shirted Neil was by my side.
I don't remember if I even felt a sense of accomplishment. It was simply a feeling of things being set right. I smiled.
Before we said another word to each other, I was gone - in another place and another time, facing my own demons, saving myself.
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