He responded to the front door bell.
The lady was flapping a religious pamphlet and saying that if he were to read it and open his heart, it would change his world. She looked to be around forty. A pleasant looking woman and certainly sincere. There was a passion about her; a force that was obviously driving her to get the message out to strangers. Complete strangers; anyone who’d listen. When she had finished her well-rehearsed introduction, he was gracious in his response, but projected a lack of interest. He wished her a good day. After closing the door, he moved to another window and watched as she moved on. He stood thinking about it for a while.
If it was another time of day and he wasn’t getting ready to catch the bus into town, well, it may have been different. He didn’t feel sorry for her, no, she was obviously doing something she believed in. That alone would give her a sense of doing something worthwhile. When he wished her a good day, he had meant it.
If it was another day, say, a Saturday afternoon around three, it may have been different. It was around that time that all shopping and chores were done. It was usually a time for him to relax. Sometimes the week’s crossword, sometimes a book or even a movie. He thought about what she was selling; maybe hope. Nothing wrong with that.
If it was another month, that would have been something else. He hated the cold. Standing with the door open was never something he was comfortable with. A sort of in limbo thing, neither in nor out. He had felt his knees getting cold when he was standing there. It was always his knees that got it. Yes. No doubt about it; if it had been a warmer time of year his attitude may have been very different.
If he lived in another country, he thought, what then? If it was his mother country, the country of his birth, who knows how they respond to religious callers? If it were him, a foreigner living there, he would no doubt observe the customs of those around him. When in Rome… He would probably be more aware about not causing offence, being an outsider. He would tend to be a lot more cautious. Would countries with nice climates compared with those with miserable weather respond differently to people showing up unannounced at their front door? Probably, he thought.
If he lived on another planet, ah! That would be something else again. Well, they may not have front doors. May not have houses! People have been talking about life on other planets for as long as he could remember. Whether it be in the form of the simplest microbial life or a type of totally powerful being, of some non-physical nature… almost Godlike, either way, something other out there, living. Such notions make it hard to compare the front door incident.
If he lived in another universe? Now, on this subject his comparison of the earlier domestic incident tends to evaporate entirely. Nevertheless, the topic of multi-universe theories had always fascinated him. Ranging from the parallel universe theory, through to the idea that there are many other universes. Between science and religion there have been many numbers of universes postulated.
All this reverie came to an end when he considered momentarily, what if he were another person.
He’d be thinking none of this.