These sort of dilemmas cropped up every day for Josef. His mind was often made up, but only after some deliberation. Nothing was instantaneous; he was the equivalent to slow drip to Starbuck’s instant coffee. He always made a decision in the end, even if the path was not straight.
Crossing the street that day against a red light was not unusual for Josef; he weighed the risks versus the inconvenience of waiting and the decision was clear. It was easier to walk out into the street and let the cars deal with it. It was most logical. He was small, they were big, so it is their responsibility to stop.
So this day, a very temperate 65 degrees, partly cloudy, with Josef just having finished a nice lunch of a roast beef sandwich, potato chips and a coke, was the day that his assumptions were put to the test. Josef wasn’t actually hit by the car. The car was hit by another car when it had to slam on brakes to avoid him.
It was a false causality to link his actions to being hit in the head with a half full can of soda. He did nothing to warrant the driver’s outrage. In fact, he had tried hard to go on his merry way, leaving the scene of the accident.
The can of soda was lukewarm, and it gushed on him with enthusiasm. It left a small dent in his forehead. He says, and there is really no way to disprove it otherwise, that for a second he blacked out, and does not remember the next few minutes.
Accounts say that Josef chased the driver down and kicked him hard, yelling that it was a free country and he was a loyal american. Then he slipped and fell on his butt, got up, cursed a bit and left down the street, hair plastered with sugary liquid. By this point, the police showed up and Josef was dragged back to the scene of the accident.
In the end, nothing changed for Josef. He still crosses the street whenever he wants to. Often, you can see him not even bothering to look. What happened once can never happen again. That is what Josef decided.
