I search for my cellphone in the folds of my jacket. My phone does not have a wallpaper, because I have nothing to say. I suddenly have this flash of a thought, and I feel like that protagonist in this book I read a few years ago, 'Catcher in the rye'. What was his name? Holden Caulfield, yeah. That story did not end too well, I stop to wonder how mine will.
I shake the thought off, and get to the contacts. There's his name, one of my two best friends. I dial up and wait. I get a busy tone.
I begin to wonder when it was that the three of us separated, when we got too busy for each other. I guess it was right after graduation, which was probably our last hurrah. Then each went to do his masters, MBA and whatnot. Then jobs, and the endless drag of daily work. Somehow all of that just didn't seem reason enough, and I felt a plummeting sense of despair course coldly through my insides. I tried to shake it aside, and not think about it.
I could blame fate, blame our lucks, maybe even blame God. But what was the point? Oh yeah, I believe in God. Bet you didn't see that coming. Yeah well, what I think is, if there's nothing to believe in, life gets boring. That's the only reason I believe; because there's nothing better to do.
I call again. This time it rings. He picks it up at the third ring.
'Hey man it's been so long! How you been?'
'Yeah man I'm good, how you doing?' I ask.
'Same old, same old. So what's up man, we should meet up sometime.'
'I called for the same reason. Let's meet up. The same old park in an hour? Can you make it?'
'Sure I can. What about him? I'll call him, I'll make him come don't worry.'
'Yeah sure. So I'll see you both at the park in an hour. See ya man.'
And that was that. Easy as pie.
He hangs up, but not before I can notice the sunniness in his voice, hear the spring in his step. I can tell he has been wanting this just as much as I, maybe more.
So I'm going to meet them again. I wonder why I didn't do this long ago. But it doesn't matter. It's been many long months since the three of us met. There will be a lot to catch up on, a lot to laugh over. I smile, a genuine smile. What can I do? Its wrested out of me.
As I walk under the streetlight, towards the park, the warmth I feel is more than it radiates. I walk slowly, the gait of a satisfied person.
I get this feeling, that maybe life isn't meant to be all that great, maybe it is just meant to be lived. But as long as you have your friends, everything becomes just about all right.
