The next morning, Malibu showered, wrapped herself in a towel, and brushed her teeth. While going to work on her molars, she decided to take a walk that morning to the San Francisco Public Library and research cottages. Once the brushing was done, she grabbed a container of dental floss. As she slipped floss between her top row of teeth, she asked herself, Are you really going to burn down cottages? There was something about flossing that often pushed her to examine an issue head-on. When the top row was done, she dropped the used strand of floss into the garbage and pulled a new strand free. Before she attacked her bottom teeth, she realized in all likelihood—as absurd as it seemed—she would burn down a cottage. Really, she had worked her way to the decision on an unconscious level. Most
