Some weird start to a mystery story about time being broken, or something…
What’s weird about this is — I had this story idea when I was working with a team in Palo Alto a few years back. I recently discovered that one of my college roommates died a few years ago. It almost seems his death could have (mysteriously) inspired this??
I was sitting at the coffee shop facing the window, watching the people pass on the sidewalk as I waited for my cappuccino, when I saw my college roommate walk past. Three important points: I’ve been out of college for thirty years, my college roommate has a job and family two thousand miles away, and the person who walked past wasn’t a man my age, but rather my roommate as he was thirty years ago. And I don’t mean this person reminded me of my roommate, he was my roommate. When you know someone for years, you know how they move, how they walk – you can recognize them from behind, or from a distance, without seeing their face. This guy was him, right down to clothes that he owned in college. I was stunned. He was already past me when I recovered and knocked on the window to catch his attention. He turned toward the sound without slowing his walk. His eyes briefly met mine but continued past – and then he was out of sight.