You enter a busy cafe. Customers are lined up, ready to order. People dart out after getting their coffee. Others stay for hours, glued to their computer. Some are chatting with friends, a couple flirts lost in romance. A muted TV is playing a news channel. Sun through the open windows light up art pieces on the opposite wall, which you are unable to see the original color from pisces plastered floor to wall. You come here everyday for lunch, and spend most of the time making phone calls, battling bureaucracy.
Today, you take a break. You sit down with your coffee and look around, glazing over details of paintings and drawings.
Your eyes fall to an un-glassed frame right above your table. It’s abstract, with crinkled papers of different shapes stacked on one another. The one on the top has a mathematical equation, with a sentence below that states:
One person dies every 10 seconds until you figure it out.
You laugh uncomfortably. Abstract art tends to have a knack for evoking negative emotions. As your mind wanders, thinking about art pieces, your eyes fall on the moving images on the TV screen. The newscaster is giving commentary to video clips of war. Cities are being blown to bits, gunfire blazes on civilians. Faces of people are constantly popping up on the side of the screen, personal photos of people apparently passing from the violence. Another movement catches your eye- the minute hand of a clock next to the TV. Every second it moves, a new face on the screen appears. You are mesmerized by the pattern.
“You know what they’re talking ‘bout?”
An older woman seated across from you _____.
“No, just thought the clock and the TV pictures were moving at the same time looked funny- anyway, lost in thought.”
She laughed. “That happens to me a lots these days… I was asking bout the story because I thought you might know about it… retired from teaching a few years back, one of my coworkers used to always talk about what was going on in the world in the teachers lounge, after I left I fell outta the loop.”
“Ah ya, I’ve fallen out of the loop myself just busy with work… lucky to get a slow day today.”
“What do you do?”
“Marketing. The creativity is nice but it can be a drag… what did you teach?”
“I taught math in high school. The kids were a handful… difficult for them to pay attention these days. Was lucky to have some very talented students.”
“You could probably solve this one then!” you say, pointing to the art piece”
“Oh let me look at that- how interesting! One person dies every ten seconds until you figure it out. That's dark.”
“Haha, ya it is. What type of equation is that? How do you solve it?”
“How much time you got?”
She explained the equation, did it herself and walked you through how to do it. After a bit, you finally figure it out.
She checks the time, and says she has to rush out for an appointment. You feel satisfied having figured out the equation- you never realized math could be so fun! As you think about how that lady must have been a great teacher, your eyes wander back to the screen. This time, the newscaster is smiling. The video clips are of celebration, people embracing each other and crying, flags waving. “Finally some good news!” you mutter. You notice the faces of those who’ve passed are still showed. The pattern with the clock and the images is gone- you figure advertisements pushed the rhythm out of line. You look away, lost in thought, looking back at the equation above the table and it’s ominous phrase.
Suddenly, you feel the urge to count the faces on the screen. You try counting the images, then realize you need to count seconds. Staring at the clock, you keep the seconds in your head and count the changing images on your finger.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 images, in ten seconds.
You must be wrong.
You count again.
1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 images, in ten seconds.
You count again. And again. And again. Everytime you count, a feeling of horror rises in your chest.
You rip the equation off the wall. You must be crazy. There’s no possible way figuring out the equation could influence events in another part of the world. It said one person dies every ten seconds until you figure it out- every ten seconds, the screen no longer shows the face of a person that has died. There's no way, you tell yourself.
You look at a group of college students studying nearby.
“Can I ask you something?”
“Sure!”
“The TV, showing people’s faces there in the corner of the screen, before it was in line with the clock, but now it’s not. It happened after the story about them celebrating.”
“Oh huh. I didn’t notice that.”
“Ya, before there was a new face every ten seconds and now it’s less than that. It’s not off, they’re showing less pictures.”
The student counted silently. “Oh ya, it does kinda look like that.”
Her friend asked what they were talking about and she explained.
“That’s funny. Maybe they’re running out of pictures. Or their imaging system glitched.”
The students went back to their studies. The news went back to war stories.
You look down at the ripped equation page in your hand, then look at the frame. The paper below, now exposed, has a different equation.
It says “___ people die every ____ seconds until ____ figures it out.”
___ people die every __ seconds until the students figure it out.
___ people die every ___ seconds until the owner figures it out.
___ people die every ___ seconds until the richest person in the room figures it out.
___ people die every ___ seconds until everyone figures it out.
At this point, the story becomes a choose-your-own adventure. It's about strategy. How would you do it?
Some initial thoughts is that a person with poor communication skills is not going to make it far, regardless of the cause of their skill level. You need persuasion. You need to advertise.
The owner of the store, you need to figure out what motivates her. Money? Someone to help in the kitchen? A friend she can trust?
The wealthiest person in the store- how do you deal with someone who has so much power, yet does not budge?
For the entire cafe, you could make an event out of it. Free meals, you're paying for everything everyone orders. Make a competition out of it.
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