My entire life had led up to this moment. For six months I had deprived myself of sleep, friends, and even video games so that I could prepare. For my efforts I was awarded a number, but that number was meaningless until now.
I remember it as a cold place, a large room with white walls and white floors and nothing else that was worth remembering. It was just like a blank sheet of paper that I had stepped onto, and the god of this paper was a man. I’d describe his physical appearance, but I don’t want to bore you (and if I’ve bored you already, I apologize). He was overweight but not obese, well-dressed but not fashionable. That’s it.
“Congratulations, Evan,” he said, and I lit up almost immediately. Had he started with “I’m sorry” or something like that, my life may have taken a very different turn.
“The council has reviewed every moment of your life, and we would like to offer two doors for you.” He snapped his fingers and two doors appeared. One was blue, one was red, both were closed.
“You may step into door A,” he said, pointing at the red door, “or door B,” he continued, pointing to the blue door. “You have two minutes to decide.”
“Two minutes?” I asked, a little surprised, “isn’t this an important decision?”
“It’s the most important decision you will ever make in your life, but there are lots of people to get to today.”
“Which one is higher ranked?”
“Door B.”
“Which one offers me more financial aid?”
“Door A.”
“Which one is closer to a major city?”
“Door B.”
“Which one is closer to home?”
“Door A.”
I stared at both doors for a few seconds. Honestly, both doors looked pretty nice.
“If you’d like,” he said, “You can step through each door and check it out. We offer ten-second tours.”
“Really? Awesome.”
Approximately 20 seconds later, I had toured both. “Door A,” I said.
“Are you sure?”
“Yeah, definitely door A.”
“Did you not like door B?”
“I mean, I liked the beach at door B, but my ten seconds at door A were more enjoyable.”
“Fair enough.”