Choices

By this point, it would seem that it was a futile attempt for Tim. It wasn't for a lack of trying -- he was good at that sort of thing, the trying I mean -- but that at some point it becomes startlingly clear when, despite one's attempts, it would go to show that nothing good can ever come out of it.

Tim sighed. Yet another failed attempt. It was starting to get insufferable, all these failures upon failures upon failures. It was almost as though there were some sick countervailing force that was always acting up to ensure that no matter what it was that he attempted, it would fail. Tim didn't like that kind of preferential treatment. He found it ludicrous that in the grand scheme of things, there was actually a singular force designed solely to keep him from succeeding.

The phone rang. It startled Tim each time it did that, and only because it was one of those rare things . It wasn't that he failed to remember its existence, but that as the lab phone, there was literally no reason for it to ring at all.

Tim let the phone ring a couple times more, hoping that whoever was on that end would be bored eventually and hang up prematurely. After the eighth consecutive ring, it was clear that was never going to happen. Reluctantly, he picked the phone up.

``Finally! Tim, is that you?'' An irate voice came through.

``Sir? Yes it's me. I'm here. What is the matter?''

``The matter is,'' the belligerent voice continued, ``you were supposed to be in my office fifteen minutes ago to discuss about your research!''

Tim cursed quietly to himself. Time had slipped past him yet again, and once more he had nothing substantial to show for it. And there wasn't enough time to make things up.

``Well?'' The voice sneered through the phone. ``It's your PhD, and if you aren't interested in your work, we can always cancel this meeting and just stop here.''

A thousand thoughts sped through Tim's mind. The proposed resolution was tempting, but was akin to committing career suicide. He wasn't sure if he was ready to take such a drastic step yet.

``Sir, I'm sorry. I don't have any useful results there that we can discuss. Can we cancel this meeting and continue again next week?'' He hoped that he sounded sufficiently placating.

``Okay fine, bye.'' The line went dead.

Tim slumped back on his chair, relieved that he had averted the immediate crisis. But a thought had stuck itself at the back of his mind -- to quit the PhD programme, or not.