Flash Fiction: The Undo Button

Flash Fiction returns! This week – what if life had an undo button?

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Jenny sighed as she accidentally deleted a paragraph in her document. She clicked the undo button and the text reappeared.

If only life was that simple, she thought as she closed her laptop and headed for the coffee shop.

Jenny had a new phone and while she was waiting in the queue, she began to look through the options.

Hidden among the settings was an “undo button” marked “test only”. What did that do? Undo phone calls or texts? As she stared at the button, she was aware someone was nearby. The drop dead handsome guy from the office, her secret crush, was right behind her.

“Taking a break?” he smiled.

“Yes,” she said, grabbed her coffee and scuttled away.

I feel ridiculous, she thought as her cheeks burned. Why didn’t I just say hello?

Curious, she hit the undo button. And there she was, at the counter again.

“Taking a break?” he said.

“Why yes I am,” she replied.

“Hey, I’m Jim. I think we work together.”

“I think we do.”

“Did you want to sit down?”

“Sure.”

She couldn’t believe they were talking. Every time she said something she regretted, she tapped the undo button and started again.

The conversation was perfect. At the end, Jim asked her if she wanted to catch up on the weekend. He looked so happy, he stumbled on the step as they left the cafe.

He didn’t seem to have an undo button. Was it a function on the new phone? Or was Jenny the only one to have it?

It said “test only”. What would it mean, if everyone had the chance to change their lives all the time? What would the world be like? Should she use it? What would she miss out on if she did? What were the philosophical implications of such a power?

She should forget about it forever.

Jenny stepped into a puddle.

Maybe not forever.

She pressed the undo button, reversed a few seconds and walked happily on.

© M. C. Dulac 2015

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