Of what was the splotch on the desk by the computer composed? Of ketchup, I’d found.
How had the ketchup gotten on the desk by the computer? By an accident. I had inadvertently laid a bag of chips on a puddle of ketchup in the kitchen then took the bag to the computer desk, where some of its ketchup rubbed off.
A puddle of ketchup? I had made a ketchup sandwich earlier in the day [delicious!] [yes, thank you] Squeezing the bottle I had lead the thread of the red back and forth across the bread perfectly for the most part, and well within the confines of the crust. It was actually only my very first squirt, when I wasn’t even sure if anything would come out, that missed the bread and made the puddle on the counter.
I see — and you were too eager to eat your ketchup sandwich to clean up the dollop right away? Correct.
And by the time you had finished your sandwich you had entirely forgotten it’s presence — the dollop’s presence? I did come across it later in the day and thought it might pose a problem but was in the midst of something else at the time.
One last thing, how were you able to determine the origin of the splotch on the desk, which had been such a mystery to you in the dim light by the computer? Back in the kitchen, I noticed that what had been previously a perfect circular “pool” of ketchup was now an irregular splotch of ketchup — it had turned from pool to splotch. In addition, this new kitchen splotch was the perfect mirror image of the one I’d seen by the computer, so the conclusion to be drawn was obvious.
Very good. Thank you. I would mention only one more thing, that it was only after I’d determined what the splotch on the desk was that I was able to summon the initiative to clean up the kitchen splotch — and I’m curious, why would this be? Perhaps I had suddenly realized there were real-world consequences to not cleaning up one’s spills; perhaps this “concurrence of splotches” simply focused my attention on an issue from which previously I had been all too easily distracted. In any case, it was only after having identified the splotch and its source that I actually felt compelled to get up from the computer for the specific purpose of cleaning up the messes I’d made.
Thanks again.
.i`` * ^ / . . . . . ` `~ 