THE BOARDROOM WITHIN

 THE BOARDROOM WITHIN

Janice had a small catch up meeting with her friends at Java TRM on a Saturday afternoon. With her friends Eva, Emma and Lucia, such a catch up had become a norm for several years now. This was a college friendship that had stood the test of time. Eva and Lucia already had families. Emma always said that relationships were not her thing and would rather enjoy the blessings of singlehood. Janice was still dating Tom since college. And as the friends sat down to do their orders, the engine room of Janice's mind was at it again. It never seemed to sleep. Inside her psyche, a simple decision like choosing on what to order on such a date required a full boardroom meeting of clashing impulses. "We deserve the Chocolate Fudge cake and chocolate blush milkshake. We love anything chocolate. You know?" Her sweet tooth whispered, salivating and waiting for the wonderful bite and sip "It has been a brutal week. Softness is a human right." Janice's muscles retorted, enjoying the comfort the Java House offers "A brutal week? Not really." Janice thought. She knew that she had been sitting behind her desk the whole week trying to balance off her workplace accounts. Minimal movements. That week, she had only skipped the gym twice. That was not as bad as a whole week without gym like sometimes happens. "Sugar is a toxin, not a reward. Order the dawa drink and a bowl of fruit salad." Her blood vessels said. "Dawa tastes like grass clippings," Sweet tooth whined. "Exactly," her heart said. "But it builds character through mild suffering." Janice didn't know who to follow. There were now two competing parties within her. One said, "If we eat the chocolate, our cholesterol spikes, then at some point, the heart will get tired, we gasp for air, then faint right on the tile floor, probably be no more." The other group said, "Dying? Who lives forever? In some fifty years, everyone in this house will be dust. The Chocolate flavor context is statistically irrelevant." The Social Dilemma for Janice was real. She blinked, staring at the menu booklet. "If we are dust, then nothing matters, so eat the Chocolate Fudge cake!" Sweet tooth cheered. The internal voices screamed over each other, a deafening chorus of restraint and indulgence, terror and apathy.

"Chocolate Fudge cake and chocolate blush milkshake " Janice said aloud to the lady taking orders. The inner boardroom went dead silent.

"Cake?" Blood vessels muttered in disgust. "That is the compromise of a coward."

"We only live once" Sweet tooth offered weakly. "And we should enjoy the short life"

Sweet tooth won and Janice enjoyed the delicious cake and milkshake. And when their meeting was over, she walked out into the sun, entirely at war, and entirely at peace.

@Stephen Mungai