All Write, Already!

The house settled around Jon as he he sat, nearly motionless, in his over-stuffed chair. The lights were dimmed and ceiling fan was on medium. It was quiet like a normal home should be: creaking, clanking, the occasional clicking. Buildings were living organisms too, in a way, Jon thought. It's only natural for them to make some noise.

He stared carefully at a point on the wall opposite him. There was nothing particularly special about that point, but he had selected it for this evening. He looked at the spot without blinking and without once glancing away. His breaths became further apart and more evenly spaced. His muscles relaxed but his eyes did not waver. In his mind's eye he saw a door, he mentally reached out to it and swung it open. He let his mind step through the door and immerse itself.

The door closed behind him and melded seamlessly with the wall. The room was nondescript. The walls, ceiling, and floor were quintessentially white, a soft light radiating from them. There was no furniture. Jon looked to one wall, and he knew exactly which wall it was. Images began appear on it.

He saw the floor of the Senate. He saw a Member of Parliament being indiscreet with his secretary's daughter. He saw a beggar on the streets of Denver emptying his cup into a street-vendor's hand. He saw a million other images scroll by, but then he brought back the first.

He watched as a number of Senators each in turn came up to speak. They each began their speeches with the same drivel as always. But then each of them launched into a laundry list of wrongs that some bill would be perpetrating upon their constituents. Senator after senator went. It seemed that none of them wanted this bill to pass, and yet they all had this urgency in their voices. It sounded as if they all thought they were in the minority. They all sounded as if they thought that they were going to lose and the bill would pass.

Jon thought it was peculiar, but he had never quite understood politicians. He waved at the wall and the images disappeared. A door swung open and he stepped out into the world beyond his little white room. It was time he got to work.