Off the well-trodden path

Where am I, and how did I get here?

I was taking a nice stroll over a well-trodden path through familiar things: my favorite eatery, that warm cup of broccoli-cheddar soup, my usual table and chair near the fireplace. The place is crowded but not overly noisy. Subdued chatter back and forth.

Suddenly, I’m at a desk, staring at a computer in an office. Wait! I no longer have an office. Something’s happening here that seems bad. It almost looks like someone is breaking into the computer right in front of me and taking fistfuls of customer information from the screen. It’s not clear. I’m helpless to stop them. I don’t even think it’s my computer.

I notice the place is much noisier than before. The customers seem agitated. More back-and-forth chatter, now across tables. Are those notes they’re passing to each other? I’m trying to ignore the ruckus because I have my own issue with the guy who keeps fading in and out of the screen in front of me. Maybe I’ll move a little closer to the screen.

Good. The customers have quieted down. I can hear myself think again. But the guy taking data from the screen is now back clearer than ever.

Perhaps, he’s…Whoa, I’m moving again! Now it’s a few days earlier. A group familiar to me — they could be my old colleagues — is adding a new feature to the screen I’m looking at. They’re clapping, so I clap too. It seems the right thing to do in this place.

They’re explaining something to me about a new feature. But every time they start talking, I move to a new location along this terrain that seems to never end. I can’t see the edges; it is so vast. I’m trying to get back to that office where the guy is stealing from the computer. But I can’t quite get there.

That’s weird. I’m hearing a different voice now. But it’s coming from somewhere else. Maybe outside. I’ll check.

Words on cards are hitting me now and tossing me back inside. Each one is throwing me into a new place each time. It’s not always the restaurant, but there are always bystanders arguing over something.

That last word from outside has put me back at a desk. No, I’m mistaken. It’s more like a table in a conference room. There are people standing along a back wall, some I recognize from the restaurant. Fortunately, they all seem to be minding their own business. I just want to get back to that eatery and be at peace.

There are words on cards lying on the table. Let me take a look before whatever this meeting (if that’s what it is) starts up. The people along the back wall are all a buzz about me checking out the words. I’m trying to read them in order, but I think I dropped one or two by accident. And now they seem to have vanished.

I’m not sure why, but things have changed once again. I find myself back at the restaurant. No word cards are being tossed at me from outside. That’s a relief. The desk and computer are still here, but the image on the screen is still a blur. The patrons are starting up again, going to each other’s tables and chattering up a storm. Hold on…they stopped and are sitting quietly once more. There’s a bright light shining on the computer screen, revealing that guy from the screen, once again stealing something. Maybe I’ll see what he’s up to while I finish my soup.