Tiny Imperfect Fiction 07

Julian took everything too far, but that’s how he got to be CEO and majority shareholder of Global PSCIOPS, a.k.a. GPS International. His attitude was ruthless, his motivations were precise and clever, his mannerisms were elegant, effete. Everything Julian did from morning to night, he did with narrow and complete focus. Everything in his life was chiseled, sharp, and exacting. Even Julian‘s emotions had edges.

Last Thursday, though, Julian found himself at his very first crossroads. As he stood at the marble men’s room sink washing his manicured hands, admiring his intermittent fasting-sculpted form in the tailored suit, he went unexpectedly spelunking into his psyche, and was suddenly drowning in a terrifying sea of confusion.

“Holy shit. Can it be??! I have no idea!"  Julian exclaimed at his face in the mirror, eyes saucers, growth hormone-chiseled jawline agape.

What was the question he’d come face-to-face with?  The question that danced tauntingly, an uninvited court fool into the royal court of his smart-drugged-mind, was this:

“Do you want power or do you want control?”

This pair of options stunned Julian, as he had never thought that either was a choice that could potentially come at the expense of not having the other.

Julian dried his still-soapy hands in a hypnotic daze, exited the office suite, took the private elevator 42 floors down and walked to the park across the street. 

What was occurring inside Julian was the most magical and transformative moment of his life. To all passersby from the outside, he looked like an ordinary well-dressed man on a park bench getting a bit of sun on his face.