Respond? Or React?

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 We locked eyes, both of us itching to make a move, adrenaline pumping and fingers twitching, as a crowd gathered to witness our brawl. The most epic battle in history was about the commence, and yet somehow I feel as if this situation could have been avoided…


It was a warm summer day, the sun sizzling through the glass and magnifying on my forehead, as I collapsed onto my beanbag chair and toggled with the Xbox controller in my hand. For 17 year old me, the ideal summer break involved gaming, chips, and some ice cold cola. That was until my mom got involved, similar to this morning, and gave me her last two-bits.


“Roger, I need you to buy me this ceramic bowl from Macy’s. Can you go?”, she hollered, and disagreement simply was not an option. So I rolled out of the couch and trudged downstairs and into the home garage to get a move on. As I reached Walmart, I sighed, and felt as if my legs were weighing me down like an anchor, exhausted and ready for a nap. As I cruised around the store. My eyes locked onto the target, a single ceramic bowl, priced at 199.99, sitting in the middle of aisle 11. Then, as I made my way over, a challenger took her position.


She was a tall, lean lady, high heels strapped to her feet, lipstick the color of a tulip from spring, and a lady-gaga hairstyle that made her look like she had just come from Hollywood. She eyed the bowl lustfully, then dilated her pupils to slyly glance over in my direction. 


I was hardly bothered. I sauntered over to the bowl, and just as I was about to clutch it, her voice boomed over from the other end.


“Hey you! Be a good boy and hand over the bowl,” she grimaced. Her hubris was exceeding, and she promptly strolled over to me and snatched the bowl from my possession, snickering in glory as she left me, dumbstruck. Then I exploded. 


“How dare you take that from me!? I got to it first, and it is mine to take! Give that back to me right now!” I pointed a ridged finger at her and flashed a squalid look. I would not abate her actions. She winced, and raised an eyebrow in my direction.


We locked eyes, both of us itching to make a move, adrenaline pumping and fingers twitching, as a crowd gathered to witness our brawl. The most epic battle in history was about the commence, and yet somehow I feel as if this situation could have been avoided…


That's when it happened. She pounced, and we sent fist flying in every direction, like those rumbles you would see out of a cartoon. At one point, she jabbed her heels into my crotch, and at another, I had snatched the bowl out from under her.


Then it happened. As I was sprinting away with the bowl in my arms, she flung her heel straight into my calf, sending me tripping and crashing the bowl down onto the ground. We both stood there, paralyzed. From the brawl that was supposed to decide supremacy, that was supposed to fix the situation, it only made it worse, as both of us were now 100 dollars in debt.


But it was more than that. Had I chosen to respond to the situation, to perform a civil conversation and work this dilemma out with the manager, but no, my rash actions led to a lose-lose situation that ended up costing me a heavy sum of money. The lady and I profusely apologized to each other, and finally figured out a way to humanely resolve the situation, but it was too late. The damage was already done.

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