Four Horsemen of the Shopocalypse

Timelord Becky called Kash Friday afternoon to talk about a mission that was under threat of not happening. Only Kash signed up but she was busy on Saturday morning and later in the afternoon. The only time Kash suggested was 11 am. But at that hour, the beneficiary, Ms M, had a commitment she couldn't let go.

Becky peeked into the future and saw four versions of it, each of them looking like an apocalyptic prophecy.

Red Horse

In this future, Kash agreed to go on a mission at 9 am. She skipped the Acton junior parkrun, and didn't gather Ealing and Hounslow GoodGym friends to celebrate together Sevan's 500th good deed. As a result, the relationship between the two GoodGyms became strained and turned into an ongoing conflict, with the contested territories being South Acton and Gunnersbury Park.

Black Horse

In this vision, Becky saw that Kash decided she could not prioritise doing the mission on Saturday over her other commitment and asked to cancel it. As a result, Ms M ran out of food.

Pale Horse

In this version of the future, Kash suggested she could do the task at 10 am. On the day of the mission, she didn't realise she had run out of mobile data. Thanks to that, she had trouble uploading the barcode scanning results at Acton junior parkrun before the start of Ms M's mission. That caused a delay. Because of no internet, Kash couldn't use online maps to estimate how long the run to Ms M's place would take. She desperately started running to the mission right away after finishing volunteering at junior parkrun and ran past three red lights for pedestrians. At the fourth crossing, she didn't see a bus coming from the side road. Bang.

White Horse

In this version of the future, Kash suggested she could do the task at 10 am. On the day of the mission, in Acton Park, waiting for junior parkrun to start, she attempted to call Ms M. Kash found out her phone needed a top-up first and did that over the phone. Ms M said she needed to leave her house around 10:30 which gave Kash very little time for the shopping. Kash told Ms M not to worry and that she would see what she could do. After the parkrun, Kash stayed with the group for celebrations for a very short time and decided not to get a coffee. Close to 10 am, she left her friends and sprinted to Tesco only to find out that on Sunday it does not open at 10 am but 11 am. Kash recalled there is a Co-Op in Shepherd's Bush, close to Ms M's house and decided to do the groceries there. She already had the shopping list that contained only essentials, not complicated items such as *malted milk biscuits or tea cakes. The store was small and everything was easy to locate. Kash filled the basket with 9 or 10 tins of soups, tomatoes, beans and pulses, then found the other items. The bulky cans and a milk bottle meant that Kash could not run with the shopping bags and had to walk. She called Ms M to say she would deliver the order by 10:35. Ms M was ok to wait for Kash and in the end GoodGym was victorious.*

Becky returned to the present and resumed the phone call with Kash to say there was a chance for the mission to be successful.

'And what must I give in return?', asked Kash.

'Everything.'

The silence filled the line, and then Becky added:

'Ms M is happy for you to give her a call if you have any questions on the day.'