Hello, world

In this little world of ours.

Allegra: It's like real life. There's just enough to make it interesting.

David Cronenberg, “Existenz”

David lazily pressed the button on the TV remote, the program changed. He was in the range of channels, where from 11 pm to 6 am shops on the sofa were broadcast. Up to the island of sports news, there were still about 15 shifts, but David did not want to fully dial the required number.

- ... Are you tired of life? No longer understand what is happening around? New food additive “Common sense 2.0” from the company “5th element” will solve all your problems.



Only natural ingredients. Before taking consult with our doctors.

David, almost falling asleep, involuntarily rubbed his eyes.

- Only one capsule per day, and your world view will change forever. If you order right now, you will receive John Lennon's rare rare Imagine as a gift.

“What can't you see after midnight,” thought David and went to sleep to the accompaniment of rain. He dreamed of a flying macaroni monster playing sitar. And then another dream that he almost immediately forgot.



The next morning, David found in his mailbox a letter with the theme “Common sense - wholesale and retail”, advertising the same tablets. Apparently, the TV set-top box handed it over to the marketers. To the letter, a discount coupon was attached, taking into account which the offer price was two times lower than the price in the night advertisement. “Two meanings for the price of one. Sale! ”- a large neon sign flashed in Dave's head, and he decided to call.

As it turned out, it is impossible to order a course for home delivery. I had to go to the next district, the benefit that David had an hour before the start of the working day. Office 1A, in which the Common Sense sales center is located, turned out to be a strange room, hung with large advertising banners. In the center of the room stood 5 chairs, forming a circle. A small door led to the second room, where a half-hour dialogue awaited him with a man in a white coat who introduced himself as Dr. Corwin.

When they said goodbye, Corwin said:

- To be honest, our therapy is a bit experimental. I give you a bottle of seven pills - one per day. Once a week, when you call in for a new dose of the drug, we will talk about your feelings and impressions. Please reserve 50 minutes in the morning on Tuesday.

- Doctor, can I drive after the reception?

- Oh yes of course. The drug does not affect your cognitive abilities, as I said, you just sometimes start to think.

David left the doctor, opened the vial, took out a small red pill and put it in his mouth.



On the way to work, David really did not feel any effects of the drug. Although most of the time he had to go no faster than 20 kilometers per hour, so David wondered if it was worth buying a car at all. Office plankton tightly scored all the entrances to the business center, so that he was late for work. A colleague, Paul, whom David did not like for the ability to throw work with burning deadlines at the last moment, was already waiting for him in the corridor.

- Oh, finally! And, you know that we have a meeting on the new project in an hour, ”Paul said,“ The chief told everyone to be. Planned nehily zavarushka.

- What's the matter?

- If in brief, we will discuss the start of the project "Dawn". His theme is at the junction of two departments: our analytical and neighboring operations. The project is in line with corporate strategy 2020, and it would be beneficial for us to get this project and close it by the end of the year. But this is possible only if we are given a couple of people from the fields from the operating room. The operations department will insist on joint project management and transferring people only for half of their time - which is guaranteed to overwhelm the project.

- But why?

- If you went to the smoking room more often, you would know that their chef got a parking place before our boss, and he had a rumor about the bonus last year. After that, there was still an incident at the corporate party, when our boss laid out on Youtube how their chef sings karaoke. He cried terribly, and in the end he almost fell off the stage. Listen further, to recognize that our department can not cope without the operating system, our boss does not want. Therefore, we will try to throw the project to them. If everything works out, we will see how they screw up - and the project will automatically come to us. But it seems we are waiting for resistance from the operating room. They will say that according to their data from the outlets, the direction has not yet matured, and it is too early to start it. So I think, after a couple of hours of debate, it will be decided to postpone the project indefinitely.

Paul's speech introduced David to a small trance. He seems to understand why at such meetings he, as a rule, loses the idea in the second minute. The doctor's words about the pills surfaced in my head “... you just start to think.” Apparently, the drug began to act, Dave began to catch the absurdity of what is happening.

- Hey, don't get involved with your “common sense” into corporate politics, okay? Let's go look at my PowerPoint presentation.

- Come on in 10 minutes, first I will go for a smoke.

David walked out onto the landing in front of the office and nervously lit a cigarette. He didn’t really like the work of a financial analyst. Like all analysts, David hated and loved Excel at the same time. Although he was good at assessing risks and several times earned the chief’s praise on time forwarded reports. What the chief did later with the reports he received was of little concern, he almost didn’t get into big meetings like today, and that was fine with him ...



In the evening in the parking lot, David thought about the past day. The first drop of the beginning rain fell on the windshield. He thought that spring can not be seen or heard, spring can only be felt.

"It deserves a good song." He got the drive, started the car and drove off. From the speakers came the first chords of the cover version of Where is my mind.



***



A month passed after David saw the “Common Sense” commercial on TV. In obedience to the first “fuck-this-shit” impulse in his life, he bought a one-way ticket to one of the Caribbean islands. There he bought a motor boat and began to ride tourists on it for a small fee. He liked to swim into a remote atoll, put his hand in salt water, splash onto floating little fish and feed them with bread.

To the question of tourists what he does on this island, he waved his hand toward the ocean and replied: "I just help people get there."