Yesterday...A Lifetime Ago

A couple of incidents yesterday made me reflect.

Last night on my way to a friend's for dinner I got the privilege of watching a deal go down on 100th and West End. Some preppy kid--could've been anywhere from 16 to 20 (I can be a bad judge of age)--gets into a car (livery cab) where man is in back seat. Car moves forward all of three feet, kid jumps out of car. Almost felt like having some fun and a) stopping the kid as he walked back to his apartment and frisking him or b) jumping into the car and asking "hey man, what you got?"

Of course, I did neither, just thought back to different times, continued on my way and figured it could be a scene in a story that I will probably never write.

Last night, I was awoken by the phone ringing at 1:46 a.m. There was a time when I knew what a call that late meant. And, in fact, I thought that it was one of those calls again even though the person who makes them hasn't called in a few months and I kind of mentioned that this person might want to look at the underlying things going on that lead her to make these calls. Of course, that little thought wasn't appreciated and the calls stopped. It was just as well, there wasn't a place in my life for them anymore. There still isn't really but that doesn't mean I don't have lapses in judgement.

Anyway, I answered the phone expecting one female voice and got another. Instead of the usual "what are you doing" or "wanna come over," I got "do you have any vacancies?" I was pretty groggy and said, "huh?" She repeated herself. I think I said hello after that and then the person said she must have dialed a wrong number and apologized profusely. I think she thought she was dialing a hotel or something. I *69'd the number and it was a Maine area code but was a cellphone. Regardless, it wasn't the call I thought it was. It wasn't me in the car and today I had no regrets about any of that.