When Olga met Vlad

The previous story was how Vlad described to me the meeting between him and Olga (they decided they were gods in their own little world, which, although beyond the 'conventional' world, is still subject to and dependent on the latter; so we might call them demi-gods).

I recently met Olga and she gave me her version of the event. I know I might be taking liberties by publishing it in this way, but in the grand scheme of things, I think she might forgive me, something she is very good at, although it occasionally takes a while.

Here goes her version, then:

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On Punctuality. Else, when Olga met Vlad. Part I

When Olga saw him walking around the one that turned out to be the second floor (a tag on the wall read ‘level 4’), according to him, she was furious. She had been wandering around the library for an hour with little success, involving people she barely knew in her search. He had said 9pm, she started searching at 9.15 -she thought ‘at least one of us has to be late’; little did she know that the Old Italian flaw had reached the green lands of Bavaria. Vlad was late, she was angry for no reason. She was surprised of her own reaction while he looked like a 5 year old boy that had been caught doing something he was not supposed to. ‘You are amazing, I can’t believe it’. He could not believe her reaction. She could not believe he could not believe it. He could not believe he was justifying himself to her. She could not believe that yet he had chosen to do so. A hot chocolate settled the dispute. Will either one of them learn the lesson? God knows... and it's written in the creamy yellow sand of a beautiful beach in Paradise, else, in the temporary absence on earth of such a place, East Sands will do.

Olga and Vlad met on the 5th of May. Despite a first very abusing show, they realized they could both benefit from being ‘sort of friends’, probably siblings in a previous life. Eight days have elapsed since they got introduced to each other, 12 to go till the end of something.


On punctuality, part II

Punctuality is not a matter of being there when the clock reaches the set time. Punctuality is a matter of luck, punctuality is a matter of being in the right place at the right moment, because a moment later could not give you as much as the one before. Punctuality is not only about crossing the street when cars will not run you over. It’s not even about getting to a meeting five minutes early. Punctuality is a risk; it’s a ‘what if?’; it’s a choice to be made step by step, knowing that at every step something unexpected and yet pleasant might happen, hoping that unwillingly someone will cross your way and walk along for a while. What if this will never happen? What if, despite living in the same tiny town, Olga and Vlad had never met? Life would have pursued its own goals as previously set, punctually, perhaps according to the schedule of those who live the ‘here and now’ as a daily appointment, but still punctually. Punctuality can simply be the fact that they were there, not even acknowledging the existence of the other, but open to the unbearable number of possibilities that the ‘what if’ carries along their paths. They were very punctual in that sense, lucky in another. Whether Olga will learn her lesson on punctuality or whether Vlad will learn to be more immediately affected by situations as this one only God knows. Time shall have the last word. The world is a small place, so what if…?

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