-- That split second after you pull the trigger on your BB gun, when you realize that it is going to hit your brother square in the temple and that it will be a total surprise to him and that there will probably be blood.
-- That split second after your heart has been broken and you are pleading for what feels like your very life and you realize that your "lover" is just tired, not cruel, only exhausted; and its twin; that split second when the person whose heart you have just broken is pleading with you and you realize that you are too tired to care anymore.
-- That split second on the wet steps of the American Legion Hall when, after the cakewalk, and you are leaving with the biggest, most coveted chocolate cake in the room, a blush of pride and satisfaction suffusing your whole being, a feeling of actual divine reward for the patience you've shown at life's slings and arrows, as well as your perennial kindness towards others despite the fact that they sometimes don't deserve it (let's be honest) and your hard work to boot, which often goes sorely underappreciated, you slip and, not only are going to fall and lose your grip on the cake, but it is going to land, icing first, directly on your face, combined with the almost simultaneous knowledge that almost everyone you know is gathered around the parking lot and they are all now watching this unfold with not pity, but amusement.
-- that split second when you realize that voice in the Italian restaurant is coming from that flourescently brilliant blue fish in the aquarium and that it is talking to you.
-- that split second when you realize that your plane really is going to crash.
-- that split second when heaven, earth, traffic patterns, music and company combine to create the perfect road trip.
-- that split second when you finally admit to yourself that you will never learn to play guitar.
-- that split second after you come to grips with the fact that you are dead and in heaven (maybe?) and you hear the dogs baying and you realize that the afterlife (or at least your afterlife) is going to be a place where the gods hunt you for sport, possibly for all eternity.
-- that split second when the cop behind you on the interstate finally moves to go around you.
-- that split second when you come home from a trip and put down your suitcase and turn on a lamp and realize that you have no idea what to do with yourself.
-- that split second when the lights go down in the movie theater; and its close cousin; the split second when you finish reading a particularly long and engaging novel.
-- that split second just after you get a notice that you have mail after having written a risky, emotional email and you see that it is just another LL Bean special.
-- that split second when the power comes back on.
