the man in the gray pin-striped suit

page 128-129 his first appearance

Here is a man with a new job. Here is a man. he has a new job. So new that he hasn't actually gone to it yet. He is now only in the process of going to it. It is his first day. Not as a human, but at this job. It is approximately his ten thousand day as a human. And yet, for all his days, he is not very good at being a human. He still makes a lot of mistakes. All that time and he still is unsure of himself.

  He drives to his job. His car is nice. Nicer than he can afford, but just as nice as he hopes he can soon afford. His car is aspirational. His gray pin-striped suit, his smile, his silver watch, the way he walks, these are all also aspirational. He doesn't think of himself as the him that exists in this moment but as the him that will exist soon. He is not far away from the him that he really is. He will be that version of himself very soon. But then he sees something. It doesn't matter what. It's someone dying. It's sudden and not anyone's fault, but also could have been prevented. He is sitting in his nice car and he sees this death. He does not go to his new job. He never does. In fact, since he never actually goes to it, it is not accurate to call it his new job. It is the job he never had. It is a future that, like most futures never happened