While sitting in the waiting room, John noticed that everyone had been avoiding the yellow chair. He thought how strange and pointless it was. Then he sat down in a blue chair. While he was waiting, the other patients were coming to the room. Nobody sat in the yellow chair. He started to feel that there was something spooky about it.
When he left the hospital, this thought about the yellow chair kept popping up in his mind. He thought about superstitions. And why we behaved so irrationally, sometimes.
John's mind was set for his next appointment. When he got to the hospital, he came over and sat in the yellow chair. Nothing happened. Five minutes later, a nurse came into the waiting room. When she saw him sitting in the yellow chair, her eyes became wide with surprise. She rushed out.
Several minutes later a whole delegation entered the room. Grave men in business suits. Several women with long legs, cheerful smiles emanating sex appeal. The group was led by a middle-aged doctor wearing spectacles.
"Hello, my man," began the doctor cheerfully. "Congratulations!"
"Congratulations for what?" John asked suspiciously. The scene made him a bit nervous. Not something you usually see in a hospital waiting room
"Oh!" warbled the doctor, "You should know. You are the first person to sit in this chair since it had been brought here."
And?" asked John.
"And there is a prize of one million pesos for the first person having the courage to overcome superstitions and sit in this chair. This prize was proposed by our leading sociologist Amor Gonzales — twenty years ago. He is a rich man himself and ready to pay from his own pocket. He was certain that nobody was going to sit in this chair, ever. The power of superstitions you know...."
"Well, it makes sense," John said.
"Ok, let's proceed to my office, on the other side of this street, and take care of formalities," the doctor said shining with unadulterated glee.
The procession led by the doctor with John walking beside him exited the waiting room and started crossing the street. At the next moment, they had all been run over by a fire truck.