Disappearance

I received an email out of the blue from my friend working in the building across the road to ask why he has not seen me for the past 1 week.

Although we start work at different times (half an hour difference), we met each other daily on the way between train station and office the week before last. I will reach about 15 min before my official start time. He will reach about 15 min after his official start time. Even on the day when I took a later train than the normal, he has ended up in that later train as well.

Then for the past one week, we have stopped meeting each other. Hence, he dropped an email and sarcastically asked if I happened to be earlier than before. My equally sarcastic reply to him was that it was him who has been even later than before.

Even if I am merely a time landmark to this friend, ie he uses meeting me to benchmark how late he is, his email has still brought a smile to my face. Now, I know that if I suddenly disappear from the surface of the earth, at least someone, other than my immediate family, will notice.