After work I went to The Rideau Centre [a Mall] and grabbed a Second Cup coffee.Sat down and read a bit in this excellent book, the 2004 Booker Prize Winner, The Line of Beauty by Alan Hollinghurst.
After about an hour of reading, a man walked toward me and asked, "Are you Charles?"
"No," I replied and turned back to my book as the guy walked a bit further and then leaned on the counter facing the escalators of the Mall. From time to time I looked over at him, but soon he was gone.
A little while later, as I myself was gathering my stuff together to leave, another guy, much younger, walked up to my table and asked, "Are you James?"
"No," I replied -- and just as he said, "Sorry" and began to walk away I called out to him, asking, "Are you Charles?"
"Yes," he replied.
I said, "James was here just a few minutes ago, looking for you!"
The guy thanked me and as I walked away I saw that he borrowed a girl's cellphone and was calling someone, presumably James, while looking at a business card.
So there you have it. Even as I am out and about living my life in complete urban anonymity, I'm somehow managing to bring complete strangers together!
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3 comments:
That is brilliant! Good thing you put the two enquiries together :)
What a terrific story! Hey, maybe you'll end up being some sort of matchmaker.... or pimp.
C.
I was in and out of the mall all day Wednesday. I probably walked right past you and James and Charles.
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