So the girl traveled back to her hometown. She went to the reunion, feeling giddy, completely nervous. Why the hell had she come? Because she needed to talk to the boy, to apologize, so she could move on with her life and figure out what she was supposed to do with it. She was doing this for herself, and that calmed her.

  Then, from the doorway, she looked up and saw the boy now looking like a man, standing ten feet away from her. She felt a smile spread over her face and walked over to greet him after ten years. He smiled back, and she immediately felt better.

  When they reached each other, he bent down to hug her. That's when she was convinced that time had passed---she didn't remember him being this big. But her heart was still pounding. She knew she had to say her words, and then she could get out and leave.

  Listening to the boy was fascinating. She loved hearing him speak of his adventures, his upcoming travels, plans for building his business, the homestead in the country. She smiled, thinking to herself the boy had turned into just the person she had imagined, and he even had the same dreams as she and Quietly did. Maybe he was meant to be one of her friends again. Maybe that's what the Being wanted her to see.

  So, she began telling the boy a little bit more about herself and her life, and what she wished to do with it. Since the boy was living his life so happily and successfully, he must know about the Being. So, she began talking about the Being, and all the events it had arranged to bring her this far. But, the boy immediately withdrew.

  The girl plowed ahead anyway, realizing that she was mistaken about the boy knowing about the Being, but she still had to get the words out that she had come to say. "I wanted to tell you why I came, and it goes back to high school, and everything that happened between us. I felt so bad afterwards..."

  "Aren't you over that yet?" he asked.

  The girl blinked. "I need to tell you why that all happened. I couldn't be alone then. I wasn't strong enough..."

  But, nothing would reach through---she could see the words bouncing off his forehead, off his dark suit. Finally he sat back.

  "Well, I didn't tell you this before, but I have a girlfriend."

  The girl's eyebrows rose. Maybe she hadn't screwed him up as much as she had thought. Maybe this was what the Being had wanted to show her.

  "She's broken up with me four times before..."

  The girl's face fell. Four times? Now that didn't sound promising.

  "But, I know what you mean about coincidence, and things happening just right. The last time she broke up with me I wrote her a book telling her why I loved her, how I needed her, and I sent it to her. She had just finished reading it, and reached for the phone just when I was calling her." The boy nodded the significance of the coincidence at her.

  She heard her voice, bewildered, say, "Why did you do that?"

  "To tell her how I felt about her, to show her. And it paid off."

  The girl stared at him, certain from deep within that this woman was about to betray the boy. They wouldn't last---that something was terribly wrong with the boy not to see the obviousness of it.

  "You're sure about this," the Being said.

  "As sure as if he shouted it in my ear," she replied.

  "Then it's time to go."

  She shook her head. "I just wanted to let you know, that I'm sorry for what happened ten years ago. I needed you then; needed your approval. I wanted you to save me. But, I'm whole now. I'm happy." As she said those words, she felt a jubilant grin stretch her face. She'd done it! Now it was time to get the hell out of there.

  She rose and walked away before the boy could make any more comments. She moved through the crowds of former students, happy to see how they had fared, and feeling a little weak in the knees.

  The boy approached from one side. "Listen, I'm sorry we couldn't talk better back there. This place, so many people..."

  She smiled at him. "Have a happy life," she said. Then she turned away to talk to someone else.

  At first, the girl thought she had put the boy forever into her past after speaking with him at the reunion. What a relief it was to finally be free and whole. And what a relief to have felt no attraction to the boy and complete loyalty to Quietly.

  But soon, thought of their conversation intruded, and the girl found herself becoming annoyed. She found herself defending herself and all that she had said inside her head.

  "Ten years a long time to get over him. What an arrogant butthead," she muttered to the Being.

  "Doesn't matter how long it takes, only that it's done."

  She looked at the Being. "I shouldn't care what he thinks, should I?"

  "Old habit."

  She turned around in her pacing. "What an idiot. Here I am, talking about you, and how things happen significantly, coincidentally, and he's telling me that it means nothing. Then he tells me of a situation in which coincidence mattered to him . But it couldn't be important in my life. What an asshole."

  The Being smiled indulgently, crossing its arms. "That's not a very nice thing to say. You have come to value my guidance only recently. Are you surprised that others are doubtful when you tell them about it?"

  "No, I guess not."

  "And besides, you already know something's going to happen to him."

  She sighed. "Yeah, that woman he's thinking of having for his wife---she's not real at all. She's gonna yank the rug right from under him, and he's going to fall on his butt." Then she crossed her arms in a pout. "But why did he have to make me feel bad?"

  "Why did you let him?"

  The girl stared at the Being, then looked away. "I wish I could see him land on his butt."

  The Being smiled, then sighed. "Remember what I told you about having everything that you want."

  The girl forgot this conversation. After a few months, she was so wrapped up in the many pleasant changes in her own life, that the boy no longer had a place in it. Her talking to the boy had finally brought closure and had freed her for taking action in the rest of her life. Suddenly, she was becoming prettier, smarter, quicker---just as she did things easily as a child, she was doing things easily as an adult.

  One day, she sat working on a project alone, she heard the mail fall into the slot. She rose, brushing off her clothes, to see what had arrived. As she held the stack in her hands, flipping through various cards and letters, she came across one she didn't recognize. The moment she put her hand on it, a wash of grief overcame her. She dropped it on the floor, rubbing her hand to dissipate the dread.

  She said to the Being, "It's from him, I can tell."

  "Well, open it."

  The girl knelt, retrieved the red envelope, opening it with steady fingers although her heart was pounding hard. The dread returned. She scanned the card, not really reading it carefully, but feeling pain, chagrin, and apology.

  "It happened," she said. "I gotta write him back and comfort him."

  "Sure you want to do that?"

  "Of course. He's hit the bottom. Why else would he write?"

  So the girl wrote a quick letter, pouring in all the support she could muster, then dashed down to the mail box to deliver it. She came home, feeling very relieved. Sitting down on the sofa, she picked up the card. The dread feelings were gone. That was curious. She read the letter carefully and realized that the words could be read as an apology either way, but not necessarily as a disaster. The card could be taken as success.

  She blinked at it then cried, "Oh my God, I read it wrong and now I've made a total fool of myself!"

  The Being murmured, "Trust me..."

  She didn't hear, her embarrassment had overtaken her. The phone rang. She picked it up, relieved to hear Quietly's voice. "Oh, Quietly, look what I've done now!"

  She read him the card.

  Quietly said, "You're right. It doesn't make any sense. But don't worry about it. He'll get your card when he gets it, and there's nothing to do about it now."

  "Ah, but I've made an ass of myself again."

  "So what? What do you care what he thinks?"

  She set the phone back in its cradle.

  "Trust me," the Being whispered. "Go do something else now. There's no need to worry."

Click here to read more...