Stop and Stare

15

Mahony nursed his soda and thought back to his life, miraculously he found he could remember every bit of it. Memories he couldn't realistically had been able to remember because he was still an infant. There're even snippets of memories that he's sure weren't from this life time. He had so many questions but he had the feeling that answers were short and far in-between. Maybe it's this place, that there're no answers to be had. Maybe it's the questions, that in the grand scheme of things were trivial.

A steaming hot cup of milk chai was served, just because Mahony had felt like it. He didn't even recall ordering it. An epiphany! He realized that everything unraveled when he happened on the conference room that particular night at the office. Life up till then wasn't perfect but there's nothing that he'd would want a redo. There're mistakes made he wished he hadn't but he overcame them but death wasn't something he could overcome by coming up with a solution and work harder to fix—until now.

The coins could fix things. All Mahony needed to do was to go back to that afternoon and go home like everyone else at the end of the day, like a normal person. Problem solved, no more Lisa's madness to contend with. It's a sound plan, what could go wrong? If this worked and anything did go awry, he still got two more coins. Feeling assured he began seeking Mona out. He swept the diner and was startled to see the place was filled to the brim, every seat was taken, there're even people standing around chatting.

Mona walked behind the counter and stopped at where Mahony had been sitting since he came in, as if she knew he was looking for her. It's an act that shouldn't have surprised Mahony anymore but he still couldn't wrap his brain around how she did that. Regardless, he had more pressing questions he wanted answers to, more specifically, just one.

"What do you need, hon?" Mona asked.

"It's about the coins, how do I use them?" Mahony asked.

"From what I know of them, you make your wish and find someone that would take the coin off of you and it's done," Mona repeated again patiently. "Make sure you explain about how the coins work to the person that received it."

"That's a strange rule," Mahony said. "I'd thought that you make your wish and the coin disappears, that sort of thing."

"Hon, you watch too much TV," Moan snorted. "The person that made these coins gets to dictate the rules. The wishing part is easy it's getting someone to take them off your hands that's the difficult part."

"Are you saying that the person that passed these coins was trying to get their wishes granted?" An idea formed in Mahony's mind. "The guy that gave me these coins all at ones, does that mean wished for more than one thing at a time?" Thinking back, Mahony recalled that the guy that gave him the coins said he didn't make any wishes. However, he had no way of knowing if the person was telling the truth. He could just be trying to pass the coins off to have his wish granted for all Mahony knew.

"I don't know." Mona shrugged. "You could always try and see what happens."

"What if my assumption was wrong then I'd be out of coins, I'd be stuck," Mahony said, doubt putting a damper on his renewed hope.

"Remember what I've said before, there're no right and wrong, simply choices," Mona reiterated.

"Yeah, I just needed one wish anyway. I've got insurance, if I mess up, I got two more tries," Mahony said more as an assurance to himself.

"Before you make your wish, why don't you go explore Main Street a little, talk to people," Mona suggested.

"No offense, Mona. You've been a great hostess. With my wish, I should be able to fix things so that I wouldn't have to be here, at least, not for a while still." Mahony stood up, ready to exact his plan.