“Oh bother,” he said. “I’m tired of it all; I’m never going to get everything done that needs to be done. I should just go take another nap.”
He looked up and caught his eyes in the mirror.
“Where did YOU come from? How did you get in?” he asked the image in the mirror.
The face grinned back at him. “Why, whatever do you mean?”
He scowled. “My evil twin, the eternal pessimist. I thought I told you to go away years ago.”
“You can’t get rid of me that easily,” the mirror smirked. “There’s too much evidence that I’m right. This world is a shambles — up is down, lefty is right, and the center just isn’t talking. And don’t get me started on your personal goals.”
“Yes, please don’t,” he said, and coaxing out his inner optimist, added, “When things are this dark, they can only get better.”
“Unless they get darker,” the mirror grinned humorlessly. “You know how life is, and then you die.”
“I would rather look for a future and a hope than find reasons to be unhappy,” he said.
“You know,” said his evil twin, “It’s not unreasonable to expect the worst and occasionally be pleasantly surprised.”
“I think it’s more reasonable to seek out ways to be pleasantly surprised,” he said. “It’s amazing how much good is being done in this world all the time.”
“A lot of that goodness wouldn’t be necessary, if people would stop treating each other badly,” snarled the evil twin.
“Yes, but a lot of it is just because people enjoy being good to one another.”
“Oh, keep telling yourself that, Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm.”
“I’m more of an Anne of Green Gables guy,” he said. “Now, get out of here, I have big plans for today.”
“You’ll never get them all done,” said the evil twin.
“Shoo,” he said.
It was a good day.
