Vincent had no sense of actually going anywhere but his surroundings changed. Instead of the all white, which deprived him of a sense of place, the new stage resembled a giant, luxurious hotel lobby with crystal chandeliers, marble columns and floors, well-appointed furnishings including magnificent paintings, carpets and other complimentary décor. Vincent stared up at the frescos on the arched ceiling and at the gold leaf trim on the moldings with open-mouthed awe. Meditatio directed him to a seating area near the center of the room, although he couldn't really see any defining walls, and they settled in front of a table laden with fruit and wine.

"What is this place?"

"Have some fruit and wine and I'll tell you."

Vincent chose a piece of fruit and bit into it. Never had he tasted anything so sweet and delicious and the wine sat on his tongue like velvet honey.

"Wow, that's great!"

Meditatio nodded his approval. "Nice choice, Vincent."

"There you go with that choice business again."

"That is because this is the Hall of Decision; this is where all your choices are made."

"Yeah? Well I choose to be back with my family." He said belligerently and took a gulp of the wine.

"Perhaps you should take a moment and consider that, Vincent. You see, choice is the only thing we have that is exclusively ours... the only thing. We are required to use it at all times and nobody can take it away from us. How we use it is our—"

"Choice, I know, I know." Vincent pushed the air with a bored hand. "Listen, there's been plenty of times when I didn't have a choice, pal."

"Never."

"You're nuts."

"Vincent, even when you felt you didn't have a choice, you made one."

"Yeah, like kill or be killed?"

"It's still a choice. I never said making one was easy."

"Fine, so what am I supposed to do in this, Hall of Decision?"

Meditatio suppressed a smile and clasped his fingers together. "Well, Vincent, you have a choice." The smile broke loose as Vincent groaned, rolling his eyes. "In this hall you can decide which of the moments you examined in the Reflection Lounge you would most like to change. They can't change of course but it will make a difference to you as we go forward."

"But I only looked at one period, that's not fair."

"That was your... option, Vincent. I asked you, remember?"

"But I didn't know about this place."

"You weren't supposed to. Like life, you experience each moment for the first time." Meditatio paused and waited for Vincent to calm. "Of course you can simply not make a decision and that will be... well, you get the idea."

"What happens if I don't?"

"We move on, but you really should think about that before you decide."

Vincent ran back over what he'd seen, the business with his parents and grandparents, his pursuit of Ginny and then meeting and marrying Maria and finally the disastrous affair with Ginny's daughter. That was his choice. If he could change anything it would be the affair.

"Okay I think I know what I'd change."

Meditatio produced a large ledger and opened it on the table in front of them. From his robe he produced a pen and handed it to Vincent.

"On the page headed with your name write in the change you'd like to make; remember only one is allowed." Vincent leaned over the ledger, found the correct page and made his entry. "Sign the page at the bottom please." Meditatio took the ledger when he was done and Vincent didn't see what happened to it but it simply disappeared.

"Now what?"

"The next stage, Vincent. Follow me please."

The great hall faded and Vincent suddenly found himself at his office desk at his place of work. He gaped about and caught some puzzled looks from a few employees but nobody seemed surprised to see him. He felt his arms and pinched himself then looked at the desk calendar. It was a year earlier than he remembered and it dawned on him that he was back to the time and place when he first saw Ginny's daughter.

Sure enough it was as he remembered. She came into the office with the personnel manager and went around to the different desks being introduced and when she came to Vincent's cubicle he stood and accepted her handshake, feeling the gentle pressure of her fingers in his palm. He even knew what she was going to say and he waited.

"Nice to meet you, Vincent, I hope we can work well together. I know I certainly want to try."

It was like a script he'd memorized. He made the same reply and then, as before, he stayed standing, watching her walk through the rest of the office and feeling the nudge of desire she provoked. Time seemed to move rapidly. The days passed and he was working more closely with her, just as before. When she made her move one night working late, Vincent felt something tug at his insides and he flashed on the sentence he'd entered in the journal.

******

Ginny McRae blew a long stream of smoke into the air and took a slug from her glass. She sat comfortably in the back booth of the bar, the hand with the cigarette draped casually over the back of the booth and her back in the corner. The man across from her was trying to coax her into going with him and she was enjoying every minute of his sorry attempts. The drinks had already set him back quite a bit and he was beginning to see his investment go down the drain, or more accurately, down Ginny's throat.

The door opened and she sat forward to see who had come in and she sat up, taking a final drag on her smoke and stubbing it out in the ashtray. The young woman came up to the booth and stood looking at the man until he swore, gathered up his change and slid out, making room for her. When she sat on the end he got the message and swearing again, stomped out of the bar empty handed.

"Hi hon, how did it go?"

"I got the job okay and I met your Vincent Marcos." He's cute."

"Yeah, well don't forget why you're there." Ginny lit another cigarette and waved for another drink. "Got any money, hon?"

"Not enough to float you in here, mother. It's going to take a while before I get assigned to his area."

"Don't be a little bitch about the money, it's been slow."

"If you took better care of yourself you might get a better clientele and do better financially."

"Miss Experience." Ginny slurred sarcastically.

"Hey, I don't need this extra business you want me to do, the job is a good one by itself. Wrecking this guy's marriage doesn't do anything for me."

"It's for your mother, Lori."

"Right. My mother's damaged ego."

"You know what he did." Ginny shouted. "He made me the school whore with his lies."

"The way I heard it he was telling the truth." Lori reeled from the slap to her face and the two women faced one another in a glaring standoff.

"Don't make me push your reputation into the same dumper, my dear, darling daughter. If I named your father you wouldn't get a job anywhere."

Lori felt the tears creep into her eyes and she backed down, defeated.

******

Vincent couldn't believe he was reliving the moment. He'd made his choice and written it down, signing his name yet here he was, locked in a heated embrace with Ginny's daughter just as before. He watched himself from outside his own body, wrestling her onto the top of the desk, both their hands pulling eagerly at the other's clothing the act itself, with him groaning as they consummated their lustful need. He shook his head and gaped about, the office was gone and so was Lori. He was standing alone in a blue hallway that had no visible end.

"Hello?" His voice echoed, on and on, down the endless hall but there was no reply. "Hey, Meditatio, where are you? Where am I?"

The blue hall suddenly turned a bright shade of red and a white door appeared before him. A sign on the door read, Contract Adjudications. Cautiously, Vincent tested the handle and the door opened. He found himself in a tiny room that looked like a business office with a desk and file cabinets and a chair for the occupant and one visitor.

"Take a seat please." The voice was crisp and rang with a, no nonsense tone. The owner was a squat little man with white hair that curved up in wisps over his ears and his eyes matched the colour of the hall outside.

Vincent sat and stared at the man and at the ledger, which he recognized from the Hall of Decision.

"What place is—?"

"Silence!" The man never looked up but continued to write. Finishing with a flourish, he set down his pen and stared at the pages then lifted his red eyes to Vincent's and pinned him with a fierce glare.

"Do you understand the principle of a contract?"

"Of course."

"Of course, is it? Well perhaps you'd care to comment on the one you just violated."

"Violated? I don't know what you mean, what contract?" The wall of the room suddenly filled with the images of Vincent and Meditatio in the Hall of Decision and Vincent was writing in the very ledger on the desk in this office.

"Is that you?"

"Yes, but—"

"Are you writing in this book?"

"Yes, I am but—"

"Did you not write, and I quote, 'The decision I made to have an affair with Lori McRae was wrong and it is one that I would change if I had the opportunity', end quote?"

"Well yes, but—"

"That was a contract, Vincent." The statement was firm and final.

He stared at the angry looking man, puzzled. "So what does that mean, I don't understand?"

"You were given the opportunity to make that change and you failed... miserably, I might add."

"But no one said I could change it! I didn't know that was what I was supposed to do!"

"Supposed to do? You didn't know? That was your decision, Vincent, it's right here in the book, signed by you!" His hand slapped the pages with a thunderous smack.

"But I didn't know that I was being given the chance to change anything, he told me it couldn't change."

"It can't change what happened in your life, Vincent, but it can change what happens here. The decisions you make here affect you here, as I'm sure you were informed."

"So now what happens?"

"You will be placed in Status Referrals."