I explained that I was really tired and needed to go to sleep in order to wake up early to go jogging. I halfheartedly asked her to join me, knowing she will say no. In fact, she looked at me like I was crazy and then started to laugh. We said goodnight and I head off to sleep.

  I arrived at the park early the next morning for my morning jog. I began to pick up the pace, breathing in and out evenly as the cold brisk morning air hit me in the face.

"Nice weather to be out jogging," a voice said beside me.

  I looked around and saw an older woman smiling at me and waving to me. She had short grey hair in a blunt cut. She wore a long blue peasant like shirt with a darker flowy long blue skirt and sandals.  She looked old but good for her age. It was difficult to tell if she was in her 70s or 80s.  I pointed to myself and said, "Me?"

  "Yes you, young lady. I wish I could still jog," she said.

  "Oh.." I said awkwardly. "You scared me for a moment there."

  "Sorry about that. I didn't mean to catch you off guard. I was just a little lonely and making some conversation," she said politely.

  I nodded. "You look a little tired, why don't you sit for a little while with me?" 

  "Uh ok," I said reluctantly. I sat down and turned to face the lady.

  "What's your name?" the lady replied.

"Olivia. And you?" I said shyly.

"I don't know what it is with people today. All that stranger talk and no one is friendly to each other anymore."

  I was blushing at her, wondering if she's talking about me or people in general. "Anyhow. My name's Gertrude, but you can call me Trudy."

"Hi Trudy."

"Hello. You'd think more people would take advantage of a nice day like this."

  She looked at me expectantly for an answer. I just thought she was making an observation. I finally said, "Well, it's early."

  "That's another thing. People don't like to get up early on the weekends."

  "Some people do," I replied.

  "That's true. Anyhow, have you been living in Philadelphia long?"

  "Just a few years and you?" 

  "Most of my life. Although I wish I decided to take a chance and move out to the country when I could," she said sadly.

  I was beginning to feel bored and wanted to leave, but I felt like I'd be rude to leave now, especially when she was feeling sad.

  Shrugging, I said, "Maybe, you just like the city better?"

"Or, maybe I was never open to change."

  That was kind of a random thing to say, I thought. "Oh...well, change isn't always good?"

  "That's what people tell themselves so they can make excuses about not trying something new," she said. Oh no, was she lecturing me? I thought. I was quickly brought out of my thoughts by her next question, "Anyhow, what do you do here in the city?"

  I was fidgeting in my seat. I hope it wasn't too obvious. "Uh..I work for an advertising firm."

  "Do you enjoy your job?" 

  At this point, I was starting to feel a little less guilty about leaving. "You know I'm getting a little hungry..." I said. I was hoping she'd get the hint and stop talking, but no, that definitely didn't work.  Before I got a chance to finish my thought, Trudy started talking again.

  "Could you please humor a lonely old lady? I know I can come on a little strong but I'm totally harmless." Oh, she's good, I thought. She totally knew how to bring on a guilt trip.

  However, even though Trudy did succeed in making me feel guilty, I was able to shake my guilt and replied, "Uh, that's what many crazy people say, you know."

  Trudy looked at me pensively, and said, "Granted you don't know me and have no reason to trust me." Exactly lady, I thought to myself. "However, I'm just lonely and want to talk to someone," she said. Ok, here's another guilt trip. Hold strong, I told myself silently. "If you're hungry, I can give you some candy to tie you over", she said. New strategy: bribe me into staying. It's not going to work with me, I thought.

  "Listen, uh, no thanks," I politely declined. As I got up to leave, a strange thing happened. I all of the sudden forgot why I wanted to leave and I sat back down. "I don't really need the candy. I guess I can stay a few minutes more and get food after."

  "Thank you. You may change your mind about the candy later. We'll see," she said confidently.

  I really wanted to roll my eyes at her, but I kept my cool and said, "Sure, right."

  "Back to our conversation, do you enjoy your job?" she questioned.

  Wow, I thought, she's really persistent. "It's ok. It could be worse."

  Trudy crossed her arms, she said, "That's not a ringing endorsement for a job."

  "Well, jobs aren't easy to come by," I said defensively.

  So, Trudy tried to fish for more information about why I wanted to stay at this job. I wonder if she even understood my situation. As if she could read my mind, she said, "I was too stuck in my ways. I lost out on some experiences I probably would have really enjoyed."

  I was annoyed at the turn this conversation was taking and I said, "Excuse me, but who are you to say? You didn't take a risk either."

  Trudy seemed unfazed about my responses, and just said nonchalantly, "You would never know unless you try."

  "No offense, but considering you didn't take many risks, are you a good judge?" 

  She knew I was right about my response and said, "Good point. However, I have many regrets and it's too late to change them."

  "Listen, ma'am.." I said. I was trying to try to ward off any additional questions about this topic. However, Trudy again didn't let me get a word in edgewise.

  "Call me Trudy please..." 

  "Trudy, I'm sure you mean well. However, I don't feel it's appropriate to have this conversation with you."

  I expected another retort regarding how I should be more open minded or something like that. I was surprised though when she said, "I wish you'd change your mind, but I know I can't force you to change the way you feel."

  I started to have enough and wanted to just leave. "Why do you care? You don't even know me!" I snapped.

  Trudy looked like she was going to say something but she stopped and paused for a moment.  "Listen, I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable." I thought, Why are you doing just that? "Please take this candy as a token of my apology and take care," she said.

  I looked at her strangely and shook my head.

  "I insist. Please take it." Before I had a chance to protest, she thrusted the candy into my hands.

  Looking resigned, I said, "Uh ok. Thanks."

  "Please don't feel you have to go. I won't talk," she said pleadingly. "I will just sit here and appreciate the company," she said reassuringly.

  I had the perfect opportunity to leave, but yet again, when I stood, I automatically sat down and forgot what I was supposed to do. What was going on? Was something stopping me from leaving? Is it because I'm lightheaded, I thought.

  Since I wasn't sure why that happened and I did feel a bit tired, I decided to sit down and said, "I'm feeling a little bit lightheaded, I guess I will stay a little bit longer."

  "Do you need any water?" Trudy offered.

  I said sheepishly, "It's ok. I have water with me."

  "Are you ok?" 

  "I feel a bit better now, thank you. However, I really do need to leave soon. I promised my roommate I'd get us breakfast."

  "Alright, just a few minutes longer please."

  "Anyhow, since I'm still here, can you tell me why you feel you regret not making certain choices"? I figured at this point, since I didn't have any success, I might as well just listen to what she had to say and then it would be easier to make my escape.

  Trudy was sitting and reminiscing. "There were two times in my life where I regret not making certain choices", she said thoughtfully. She looked into my eyes and I notice the sadness in her face. "My husband, John and I had a whirlwind relationship. From the day we met, I knew we were meant to be together. When I saw his gorgeous thick blond hair and striking blue eyes and his warm, inviting smile, I knew I was spoiled for any other man but him. We became engaged six months later and married six months after that. We were still newlyweds when he enlisted to become a fighter pilot in the Korean War. His plane was shot down and the plane and his body was never found. We were not even married two years yet and didn't have any children".

  At first I only half heard her story. I admit at first it was a little boring. It was something to the effect of her husband dying young and she was depressed I think? I pretty much tuned out until she got to the part about the fight with her sister and brother-in-law. I perked up when I heard Trudy said, "So the next time Patricia brought it up, I was defensive. I told her on no certain terms did I want a relationship with someone else. I admit, I was a bit brusque with her and I felt bad about that. She looked shocked and I felt sad. She paused for a minute and then asked me about finding something to do, like a job to keep me occupied. She had some great ideas but I acted non-commitial and that seemed to ward off any further conversation, at least for a month."

  Trudy stood and took a deep breath and sat back down. "But, this wasn't the end of the conversation. Therefore, I made it sound like I wasn't interested in going back to school and that I'd rather go back to the city and get a job there. Patricia joked that I rather just go back to the city and watch soap operas all day, like I did here. The truth was that I was scared out of my mind to take a risk like that and if my sister and brother-in-law helped and I failed, then not only I let myself down, but them too. I made them think I was just being stubborn and wanted to just be back in the city where I lived with my husband and just wanted to be closer to where he was. That was true on some level, but it wasn't really the whole story. And when they brought up again about me finding a new husband, I acted offended that my sister would even ask that. My sister was hurt, but it stopped her from bringing up that conversation again. In reality, just like I was scared to take a big risk and start school, I felt the same way about starting a new relationship. I was so out of practice and I was also afraid of getting hurt again. After constantly getting rejected by me from their requests for help, they finally gave up and reluctantly supported me to my move to the city".

  "Hmm", I said. Now the story was getting kind of interesting and I was no longer feeling obligated to stay and listen, but I actually wanted to listen.

  She mentioned working in some menial jobs and told me the story of how she took some classes and became a secretary. This was from an idea from a former coworker. She didn't initially go for the idea when her friend suggested it. Then she said, " I didn't take my friend up on her offer to get in touch with her other friend. However, I was smart enough to keep in touch with my friend who was the waitress and got in touch with her friend and was able to provide me with all the information I would need to apply to secretary school and live in the residential hotel".

  Trudy smiled at me at this point. "That was one of the best decisions I made, aside from marrying my husband and going to live with my sister and brother-in-law. Speaking of them, they were very proud at what I decided to do and attended my secretary school graduation. Eventually. I was able to get an affordable apartment in a decent neighborhood with one of my friends from the residential hotel, where a few of our other friends had lived in the building. So things had improved. I had a good job, great place to live and some friends. Yeah, I missed watching my soaps", she joked. "But I felt I was in a good place. I did occasionally have some regrets, but not enough to dwell on them at that time. Well, I still sometimes thought about getting married. In those days, being in my early 30s would have considered me an old maid, but now being in the more progressive 1960s, it was not looked upon as badly being unmarried, as long as you were a widow and not never married or divorced. So there was still a shot of me getting married or at least finding a serious relationship. My roommate and good friend and my other friend knew that, so they tried to set me up with some men. I didn't give any of them a chance, I was aloof and didn't make much conversation. My friends were mad at me. They didn't give up on me as a friend, but it did effect our friendship. Anyhow, my roommate friend got married a year later. She got back together with an old boyfriend and ended up marrying him. At that time, it wasn't looked down upon as much for a woman to live alone, so that's where I continued living and live there until today".

  She stopped and I thought she was finished with her story. However, she continued. "Yeah, I thought it was a great life, living alone with no one to answer to and my adorable cat for company. I could come home after work and watch some great tv shows, although not the soap operas because they were only on during the day and they didn't have VCRs yet. Have you ever watched those? They are addicting! I picked up watching my soaps as soon as VCRs came out".

  "What a story! I'm impressed! Thank you for sharing. I also wanted to tell you I watch "A Life's Journey too", I said. Trudy proceeded to tell me that she started watching it at her sister's house and picked it up again when she got a VCR.

  "Yes, I know that show. It got its start when I was living with Patricia, Tom and their family. That was one of the soaps I recorded on my VCR and watched after work and continuing watching when I retired. Sorry, I'm digressing. The point is that I used the soaps as a crutch instead of going out and meeting men and all. Who knows, if I took the risk, I might have met someone and fell in love, even as I had gotten older. Instead, I just ended up being alone anyhow".

  I made a mistake and defensively replied, "So what are you saying?! It's bad to sit home and watch soaps?" I should have just changed the topic or just said I had to go.

  "That's not what I mean at all. I meant that it's not good to substitute that for a social life and just relying on the fantasy world".

  Now, I was smart not to argue with her and shoot her a dirty look. Instead I just said, "I'm leaving now, thank you very much."

  Trudy looked a bit guilty and then said sheepishly. "I'm so sorry. That wasn't my intention. I was just trying to illustrate how important it is to take chances in life", she said embarrassed. "Um, are you feeling any better? Why don't you have one of those candies to raise your blood sugar before you go", she said blushing.

  I just stared at her in amazement. Trudy just wouldn't give up. "Uh.." I said. I was too tired to argue with her at this point.

  I was about to get up again when Trudy softly took hold of my hand and then said, "I swear on my life, that these candies are safe. I'll even have one with you". 

  "Alright...," I said reluctantly. It was as if something beyond my control moved my hand to my pocket to take a candy and put it in my mouth. Trudy took a candy too and ate one.

  I waited a minute, still nervous about the candy. A minute later after chewing it, I said, "Um..this is good. Thanks. You do realize though it's very weird to have a stranger tell me what to do with my life. I should go. Have a good day", I said.

Trudy's POV

   I didn't know if I should reveal more at this point, so I decided to just say goodbye to her. So I thought to myself, I guess we will see if your fantasy life lives up to the real thing. Will you prefer your "dream life" or take some risks in your real life?   

Olivia's POV

    I walked into our apartment and saw Esme glaring at me, arms crossed. "Hey! Where were you? You took a long time to answer my texts!"

    "I'll just quickly put this down and we'll talk."

    So, I got out our coffees and bagels.  We started eating and I noticed she was a bit calmer now.

   Still, I felt a little bad so I said sheepishly, "I'm sorry about that. I did send you a text saying I'd explain when I got home."

  Now that Esme was done eating, she remembered again she was still a little annoyed at me. "You did send me one, but it took a long time!" She took a deep breath and relaxed and said, "Anyhow, you told me you were going to explain your delay."

  "Well, there was this old lady who would not stop talking to me," I said awkwardly.

  Esme just shrugged and said, "In the park?"

  "Yes. I stopped to take a break from jogging and she started talking to me. She called me over and told me to sit and talk to her. I was tired, so I decided I would sit for a few minutes and humor her for a bit."

  Esme rolled her eyes at this and said, "I guess this woman likes to talk."

  I nodded and said, "She definitely did like to talk. And when I tried to leave, something stopped me from going."

  Esme looked puzzled at this statement. "Something stopped you from going? Was it something she said?"

  "It was strange. It was as if I physically could not leave," I said awkwardly.

  Esme looked at me strangely and is silent for a moment.

  "I know that makes no sense, but that is what happened," I said unsure.

  "Damn right, it makes no sense." I could tell Esme was frustrated at me, as she felt I was making either all or parts of this story.

  Esme looked doubtful, so I figure she's still questioning some of my story. "So what did she want anyhow?"

  "It was strange. She was asking me all these questions about my life", I said and blushed. "She was getting kind of personal with some of her questions."

  Esme seemed to be getting a kick out of this part of the story and said jokingly, "Did she ask you about your love life?"

  I was happy that she wasn't looking at me suspiciously and I made a joke back to her, "Now that would have been really awkward."

  "So what happened? Did you tell her to buzz off?"

  "I did tell her it wasn't appropriate to ask me all these questions. She kept on apologizing for coming on strong."

  "I don't get why this woman would ask all this and you would sit there and take it. Whatever! It doesn't matter, it's all done now," she said sighing. Suddenly, Esme appeared to be distracted by something "What's that over there?" she said excitedly.

  I turned around to see at what she's pointing. "This thing? Oh that? That was some candy from the old woman."

  Now, Esme started to look interested in the candy. "Didn't your parents tell you never to take candy from strangers!" she said jokingly wagging her finger at me.

  I laughed as I said, "Stranger danger!" Now I got Esme to join me in laughing too. We started to forget the drama from this morning.

  "In all seriousness, I kept on telling her it wasn't necessary to give me some," I said. I was fidgeting and then said, "She gave me the candy anyhow. Then listen to this! She insisted I eat it and that she would eat it with me. I started to refuse, but something stopped me. And the strange thing was that I just ended up having the candy anyhow."

  Esme was thinking about all of this, trying to see what she should make of the conversation, she replied, "Well, you are still here, so I guess the candy was ok." She then gave me an awkward smile. "Was it any good?" I wonder if she was just humoring me with parts of this story.

   "Yes, it was actually." If Esme was surprised by all of this, she didn't show it.

  "Okay, give me some and then we will watch the next episode of our show."

  "You don't find that all unusual?" I said sheepishly.

  "Maybe yes, but if you keeled over, I wouldn't take the candy," she said kiddingly.

  I pretended to be shocked at her comment. I realize she didn't believe that part of the story and was just humoring me. "I'm sorry. I was just kidding. Please still give me some," she said.

  I figured that it didn't matter that she didn't believe me because it wasn't like I was going to see the woman again. However, why was I still willing to give the candy to her and why did I want to have some more? And why did she still want the candy too? I thought. "Haha," I said.

  "You know I can be a bit sarcastic sometimes," she smiled.

  I did question her about wanting the candy. "So you weren't kidding though about wanting the candy?"

  "Yeah. You said it was alright and they were good."

   I was ready to question her again but what came out of my mouth was, "Alright then. I guess I will take another one for myself too." Before I can contradict my statement, Esme came over and grabbed the candy out of my hands. Then, she proceeded to take 2 candies for herself and gave me one. I'm about to protest, but she ate the candy before I had a chance to say anything and I found myself eating my candy too.

  Esme saw me looking confused and called out my name. I just shrugged and apologized awkwardly. "I'm going to put the show on now," she said.

  Scene 1, Episode 2, a restaurant with Rick and Jessie.

  The first scene was with aforementioned Rick, the supposed best friend of Kaleb. He was out at a nice restaurant with a woman who had been his girlfriend. "I can't believe it is our "second" first date," said the woman, named Jessie.

  He flirted with her and said, "Yes, after all we went through, I'm glad we are back together."

  They are an okay couple. They were not the most exciting though to watch, I thought. "I was worried you wouldn't give me a chance after I messed up with Renee," said Rick blushing.

  Jessie glared at him and said, "I almost didn't. It took a lot of convincing and making up, to get me back together with you."

  Rick smiled and said, "You don't know how happy and grateful I am that you did. But he looked sad as he said to her, "I only wish that I could've convinced Kaleb of that."

  Jessie's expression softened as she said, "I know. It will probably just take time to see that it was just a mistake. It took a lot of convincing for me, maybe it is the same for him."

  Rick looked unsure but said, "I guess."

  Jessie distracted Rick by replying. "No more talk about that. Let's sit and see what we want to order."

  All of the sudden I woke up. I must have fallen asleep during the show. I was paralyzed with shock when I look around and didn't see our couch or Esme around. What was going on? Was I still asleep? I thought. I noticed a pretty dark skinned woman looking at me and she said, "I can't believe I ran out of gas."

  I expected to say to her, "who the hell are you?" but I said instead, "When I fell asleep, you seemed to have enough gas." I was startled after I heard what I said. 

  The woman noticed and looked strangely at me. "Yeah. You were asleep for 2 hours. You must be a little out of it still."

  I was thinking to myself, what am I doing here? Is this a dream? Perhaps I didn't really wake up but I'm still part of a dream. But I was still reluctant, so I started to say, "Is..." and I didn't get a chance to finish what I was going to say.  I suddenly stopped speaking. Why can't I say what I want to say? It's as if I was frozen and can't speak, I thought. I was scared, but I told myself it's a dream, so I calmed down.

  "Is what?" she said puzzled. She had looked like more that she was puzzled at the situation, not at my behavior. 

  So I started to say, "Do you...," but, I ended up freezing again and stopped speaking.

  Either I misread her reaction or the moment has passed and she said, "I'm sorry but I don't understand you." She looked at me again like I was the one that was confused, not her.

  Well, this is some weird dream, I thought. When I wanted to ask the other woman if this was a dream, I froze and couldn't speak. That's weird. I don't remember that happening to me before, I thought. ''This isn't good!" I exclaimed. I thought I had also said the last part to myself but I must have said it out loud because that woman looked at me strangely and said, "What's not good?"

  Even if it was a dream, I still felt awkward and said, "Uh..this is about how we are stuck here with no gas. "