This is the third of four installments of a short story written under one of my pen names.
"Numbers Game," by Duncan Cary Palmer, is my original work, and was first published in a Science Fiction anthology of the Houston Writer's Guild, "Tides of Possibility," available from Amazon.
You can find the first installment of this story here:
"Numbers Game" by Duncan Cary Palmer - Part 1
I sincerely hope you'll enjoy the story!
Take A Number; It's a Statistical World...
Photo courtesy of Paul Bergmeir and http://unsplash.com
“How can this be happening?” I ask.
“It seems impossible that everybody would decide to do the same thing all at once. I mean, normally you'll see spikes in traffic, say, at lunch time when people are hungry... but why would everyone decide today's the day to eat at Marie Callender's?”
“Damned if I know," replies Suze, "but it's not impossible; just highly unlikely. As I said, there's absolutely no scientific reason why this couldn't or shouldn't be happening. Statistics don't make things happen, you know; they merely describe the way that things usually happen.”
“Well, I hope it doesn't last, it's downright spooky.”
Being an outstanding mathematician, my Susie is no slouch in the science and logic departments either. And, speaking of statistics, I wonder – for perhaps the millionth time – just how improbable it is that someone as beautiful and smart as my Susie would ever see anything in me. My lowly engineering abilities fall far short of her astuteness and mental skills, which is no doubt one of the reasons I'm so smitten by her. And so, I'm not surprised when Suze says:
“Maybe it's not everybody who's involved in this nonsense... maybe, just maybe, it's only a statistically unlikely number.”
“What do you mean?”
“Think about the remarkable things that have happened so far today. You're the one who tried to phone me, twice. People in your building all left at once. You and another couple of dozen people tried to call me or actually came looking for me. You decided we should eat at Marie's. But, aside from half the populace calling and converging on my apartment, I haven't had any problems yet today when I've set out to do things.”
“OK, go on.”
“Let's try an experiment. Suppose this anomaly isn't affecting everybody – suppose I'm an exception? Let's see what happens if I choose a place to eat. Let's try Denny's downtown.”
“OK.” I barely have time to exit on Santa Rosa, and head south to Dolorosa, my mind churning furiously, trying to catch up with Susie's intuitive insights. How can this be happening? Is there something we can do to stop it? Or, maybe, just maybe... but first, let's see if she's right.
Turning north on Bowie, we arrive at a Denny's with a completely empty parking lot. Hmmm. We walk in and are seated immediately.
“Light day?” I ask the waitress.
“Never seen anything like it.” she answers. “What can I get you?”
We place our brunch orders, but my mind is elsewhere. Me and Susie... so damned unlikely. Me; average looks and brains, kind of plodding, nothing special. Her; brilliant, beautiful, gifted. And yet, here we are, together. How might we leverage this...? While waiting for our food, I broach a half-formed notion that's been slowly brewing among my thoughts. I may not be quite as bright as Susie, but sometimes I can be a little more practical. “Baby, this could be our lucky day.”
“What do you mean?”
“You know how we've always talked about going to live on a tropical island? Well, I have an idea that just might get us there.”
“OK, go on.”
“If it's really true that I'm part of this statistically unlikely, but apparently vast group, all choosing the same things today... and, if you're not a part of the group... especially if you and I, as a pair, are outliers – you know, way out on the fringe of the “couples” bell curve – maybe we can turn this to our advantage.”
“How?”
I press on, pretending not to be hurt by her immediate tacit agreement that, as a couple, we're decidedly mismatched.
“All we have to do is figure out a way to leverage these eerie statistical anomalies in the other direction – in other words, capitalize on your evident ability to enable us to buck the crowds. We'll engineer a series of choices that ultimately put us in a situation so utterly, singularly unique that we can make a few bucks.”
Susie takes almost no time at all to think this over.
I told you she was bright. “What are we waiting for? Let's start swimming upstream, let's see where this takes us. So, Jon, what would your first choice be of what to do next?”
As I contemplate my response, we finish our meal and pay the waitress. “Would you mind if we leave our car here for a few hours?”
“Doesn't look like we've got a parking problem today” the waitress replies sardonically. I leave her an extra big tip, with my thanks, and we start walking, somewhat aimlessly at first. “Well, I was thinking we could maybe take in that new time-travel movie?”
“Surprise, surprise.” Suze points down Commerce.
Looks like a crowd forming...
Photo courtesy of David Marcu and http://unsplash.com
“Looks like a crowd forming over at the AMC.”
“Of course. It figures.”
“Let's cut over to Market – that way we'll bypass the mob by the theater.”
“OK.” We turn left toward Market. “So, what's your counter-suggestion? We need your input to further differentiate us from the madding crowd.”
“Let's go for a stroll along the Riverwalk.”
“OK,” I reply, and we start down an alley toward the water. It's cooler here, of course, and quite pleasant. Because the choice was hers, as we look up and down the sidewalks, there are
perhaps ten percent of the pedestrians we might normally expect to see here on a hot day, and seventy-five percent or better are on the other side of the river. Though this looks promising,
and seems to support our theory, I wonder out loud “How will we know for sure if our plan is really working?”
“Well, if each selection you would freely make takes us in the direction of today's mass-experienced probability, then each counter-choice that I make ought to take us in the direction of improbability. Theoretically, then, each step we take, based on each choice I make, ought to move us in a binary fashion in the direction of utter impossibility.”
“Wow, how cool is that. And, if that's what's really happening, we ought to be able to test the hypothesis in some way, don't you think?”
“Of course. But first, let's try making a couple more choices and counter-choices – it'll make our testing easier as the improbability factor increases.”
I look around, considering my next move.
“Alright, then, I say we ought to buy a couple of churros for dessert from that vendor over there.”
“And I'll counter that – No, Sweetie, I want an Italian lemon ice.”
Are my intentions being somehow broadcast to the surrounding crowds? This is pretty scary stuff. By the time we get to the Spanish-themed food cart, we have to squeeze past a suddenly growing knot of hungry consumers demanding churros. A few more inches and we'd be forced off the edge of the sidewalk into the water. Hastening to the next cart with the green, white, and red vertical stripes, we arrive, first in line.
The Lemon Ice Cart
Photo courtesy of Severinson and http://pixabay.com
“Two lemon ices, please.”
Handing me one ice, which I give Susie, and then the next, the little mustachioed man behind the cart says “Ya' got here in the nick of time, buddy. Hardly any business today – go figure – and I'm ready to pack it in. No customers, and the wife wants me to take her to Marie Callender's.” Susie and I just look at each other; this guy obviously hasn't been listening to the news. Thanking him, I take her arm and we walk on.
To Be Concluded....
Links to all installments of the story:
"Numbers Game" by Duncan Cary Palmer - Part 1
"Numbers Game" by Duncan Cary Palmer - Part 2
"Numbers Game" by Duncan Cary Palmer - Part 3
"Numbers Game" by Duncan Cary Palmer - Part 4
Thanks for your time and attention.
Thank you especially to Fiction-Trail readers; I welcome your feedback.
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This post is intended to count towards @dragosroua's Challenge30.
I have very eclectic interests and hope, over time, to write about all of them.
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