Neither Had Touched the Eggs

I was only four minutes late.  But my colleague had already gotten started.  The traffic wasn’t bad this morning.  I’d determined to this last syllabus done.  All the parts that required thinking, and there were a few, as I had to completely redo what I’d already done to be in line with some new requirements, these sections that required concentration had already been settled.  Now all I had to do was arrange the reading in proper bibliographical format.  Busy work, that ended up taking two and a half hours.

I would be leaving today, to head down to Shenzhen for two nights.  No time for the gym, but I made time to make my girls breakfast as I wouldn’t be seeing them tomorrow morning or the next.  I chopped a bit of garlic and a bit of leeks to fry before the eggs, just to give them a bit of flavor even though they would otherwise insist they want them plain.  Pinch of salt, twist of pepper.  I laid out some blueberries and a small bowl of just-washed strawberries.  For the older one, plain toast.  The younger one had a swipe of butter.  Put the kettle on the boil so you can have some coffee for the Mrs. and yourself.

Laying it all out moments before they would come down, I went back to cut and paste a few more citations.  You’re almost there.  Back in the kitchen I went to give them a hug.  The younger one had had a yogurt.  Neither had touched the eggs.  “Yeah.  I still feel nauseous from the night before.” Said the older one, who spent the day before laid-low by a virus.  I gave them hugs as their mom took them off and finished this syllabus and worked at finishing my big mug of black coffee, as well. 

Call the Di Di, set up the conference bridge for the nine o’clock call, take a quick shower.  But no matter how hard you try you can’t shave your rough face quickly.  You need to scrape the lower chin, over and over and over again before all the stubble’s gone.  Still, no one on the bridge.  Pack, quick.  The car’s here.  The bell rings to say someone is on the bridge before long I’ve said “good bye” and I’m in the back of a Di Di heading across town to Zhong Guan Cun. 

The meeting, as I suggested, had already started.  I didn’t know the name of the corporate host I was meeting.  I only had his initials in WeChat.  So I called my colleague and before long a person came to meet me who I immediately recognized prompting me to say: “hey it’s been a long time."   But this was just a hunch, to buy time.  Could that be who I thought it was?  And slowly his name came to my mind, even though that person was from another time and another company.  Sure enough, the same person I’d thought it was had moved over to this company, now.  The perfunctory meeting, I thought I was going to have with a stranger, would now be with an old chum.  All sorts of possibilities now materialized before me as we marveled at all that had gone on since we last spoke.  I slapped him on the shoulder as we began the discussion.

Monday 03/11/19