take up an offer
open to offers
have much/nothing to offer
offer your hand
burnt offering
open to offers
have much/nothing to offer
offer your hand
burnt offering
So suddenly I found myself sitting in a derelict building opposite this bald man in sunglasses wearing a long black leather coat.
'Now then Neo,' he said. 'I have a question for you, a very simple question.'
'Neo?' I queried. ''That's wrong for starters. My name's Nigel. How do you do?' I.
'Nigel?' he repeated, not taking my hand.
'Nigel Didikins, yes.'
'Nigel Didikins,' he intoned, like I was some kind of at his favourite restaurant. He looked at a woman in a black leather coat standing next to him. 'Did you know this?'
She shrugged. 'He seemed a little geeky for, you know, the One,' she said, putting imaginary quotation marks around "the One" with her fingers.
The bald man in sunglasses put his head in his hands. 'A little geeky,' he whispered.
'Maybe there's more to him than meets the eye,' the woman suggested halfheartedly. 'He may.'
The bald man sighed and clapped his hands on his knees. 'O...k...,' he exhaled slowly. 'Nigel - would you be interested in irrevocably changing your life and saving what remains of human civilization?'
This wasn't quite the question I'd been expecting, but I was happy to think about it. 'I'm, yes.'
The bald man open the palm of his right hand to reveal a blue pill. 'It's quite simple Nigel. Take this pill and you'll wake up back inside your old life and you will remember none of this, except as a dream.'
'Couldn't I just walk out the door I came in?' I asked.
'I suppose you could, technically, yes. Anyway,' he continued, revealing a red pill in his left hand, 'take this pill and you'll see behind the looking glass and enter a world you didn't know existed. You'll see reality as it really is. Smell smells. Hear sounds.'
'O,'I said. 'I'm not sure I'd want that. The plumber's coming round at three this afternoon to fix my washing machine. If I missed him he wouldn't be able to come around again for another week. You know what plumbers are like.'
'So that's a "no" then?'
'Well, I wouldn't be as blunt as that. I'm afraid I won't be able to this time. But thank you ever so much. It was very thoughtful of you.'
'Sure,' said the bald man, pocketing the pills. 'Any time.'
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