“Alright, William,” Grant said, sitting at the table across from his friend at a Panda Express. “You heard my predicament. So now it’s time for advice.”
William considered for a moment. “Do you know the story of the two brothers and the lion-head statue now?”
“No stories,” Grant said. “I’m sick of stories. Just tell me what I need to do.”
“Are you going to follow my advice if I give it to you?” William asked.
“To the letter!” Grant insisted. “I trust your opinion so much.”
“Then I don’t want to give it to you,” William said. “It’s horrible to give advice and have someone follow it. Because if it doesn’t work out, then they blame you for giving bad advice.”
“Okay, then I won’t follow the advice,” Grant said.
“So, I’m wasting my time here?” William said, and then he got up. “Hold on a second.”
William went up to the counter and came back with a stack of fortune cookies.
“Really?” Grant questioned as William started peeling open the first one.
William handed the cookie to Grant, who started eating the cookie. William read the fortune. “A potentially interesting person will enter your life.”
Grant thought as he finished the cookie. “Well, that could mean I go forward. I don’t know. It doesn’t seem to fit.”
William opened another cookie to read as Grant ate the cookie, “You are wise in situations of the heart.”
“This really isn’t a matter of the heart,” Grant said. “These aren’t really fortunes, are they?”
William shrugged, opened another cookie, and handed it to Grant. “There are two paths in front of you. Choose wisely.”
Grant threw his arms up in exasperation. A piece of the fortune cookie landed in the bowl of the person behind him. After a quick apology and a free fortune cookie from the stack, Grant came back to the conversation.
“This is so frustrating,” Grant said. “What do we make of that one? We know there are two paths.”
William looked at Grant and said, “Can I tell you the story of the two brothers and the lion-head statue now?”
Grant nodded, “Pass the cookies.”