That was her. My old lover.
She was sitting at the next table here in an ordinary cafe. We haven't seen each other for ages. And yet when I was just looking at her, it seemed that all we've been through had happened only yesterday...
I greeted her, and she smiled. She looked so lovely, as if none of those tiresome years of our separation had ever happened. Her silky hair was floating around her shoulders, the Japanese symbol "kanji", meaning "happiness" was as always hanging on a silver chain around her neck, a white silky fop flattered her tiny and elegant frame, and her eyes just brought back that spark and passion that I never had again for all these years.
"I met my old lover on the street last night. She seemed so glad to see me, I just smiled" - that was Paul Simon who started singing in my head.
I drew my chair to the table and sat opposite her.
"How have you been? What are you doing? Do you work around here? Do you like your new job as a technical writer?"
All those small talk questions were just an excuse to keep this remarkable conversation going longer and longer and to just to have some more precious moments to share and to gaze into these miraculous eyes.
"I'm fine, I'm doing good, and I even like my new job as a technical writer, can you believe it? And how about you? I'm good too. Lots of traveling lately, and Paris is really that great. Not quite satisfied with my current job though, but quite satisfied with the salary."
The time gets slower, and I'm savouring every glimpse I catch and subconsciously enjoy just the tone of her voice.
Some Austrian doctor was right when he suggested that love is just a reproduction of our emotion from early childhood? It looks so. And then I must have heard this voice already. Somewhere. Some when.
Our dishes are over, but we can't stop talking, and then we had a little walk. I suddenly realize that I'm head over heels in love again! As if none of those undistinguished years had passed. She seemed to be glad, too. Lunch break was never so short, but damn it - let's keep walking as long as we are together!
We walked for some another blessed hours. It occurred to me that however we might change externally as time goes by, somewhere deep inside we are quite the same.
So all those years of not knowing about each other don't actually matter. She left me her phone number. Call me, we will meet again tomorrow.
"Four in the morning, crapped out, yawning, longing my life away"
That is Paul singing again. He surely knows what life is, doesn't he? And although the time on the clock was not quite literally 4 AM, I felt quite the same as his lyrical hero probably did. Dreamy, inspired and thoughtful... Thinking of the promising future. What would it be like tomorrow? The answer is just a few hours away...
The morning of the next day was just torture. I was on pins and needles and couldn't wait to call her.
"Hi yesterday was great, yeah. Let's meet at your place at 2 PM."
Her voice was so soft and murmuring and sounded so warm, that I felt on the top of the world again.
The clock was ticking and measuring the last minutes to another miracle. It's time to do it!
The number you have dialed is not available... What the hell???
I need to try again... And again... And again...
What the hell is happening?
OK, we agreed to meet at 2 PM by my place, so I'll go out and wait.
2 PM... 2:15 PM... 2:30 PM... Nobody... And the phone is still dead.
Why? Why the hell couldn't she tell that she was just simply not interested??
"I'll never worry. Why should I? It's all gonna fade"
Sings Paul. He really knows what this life is.
-Secret Writer