Part 2 of 3

BY MICAELA BLITZ

I try to call her back straightaway. She sounds so desperate and panicked, and she would be absolutely heartbroken if she thought her son could ignore a message like that, but all I got was the answerphone. I suppose if she was now at the hospital she would probably not be checking her phone. I left a message:
“Um, hello,” I say, not really knowing quite what to say “I, you, don’t know me, but I am the person whose number you keep calling, when you think you are calling your son. I just wanted you to know, as you sound pretty upset, and don’t want you to think he is ignoring you. He isn’t, and neither am I”.
I really hope that she gets the message, and that she manages to get through to her son finally, rather than me.
I arrive at the café and Daniel is already there with two coffees on the table. “I hope you don’t mind, but I got you a soya latte. That is what you like isn’t it?!”
I smile at him, and am slightly overwhelmed at the fact that he actually remembered from our last date. Obviously, I had made a bigger impression on him than I realised. Maybe I should cut him a bit of slack about not calling me for a week, I think to myself, I guess you never really know what is going on in people’s lives.
We sit down opposite each other in one of the booths. He seems a little more nervous than last time we met. The café is busy, probably because it is quite new, and only recently opened.
“It’s nice in here, isn’t it?” I say realising I am shouting a little to be heard over the noise.
“Seems to be pretty popular”
I hear my phone ring from inside my bag. As I take it out to check the number, I see it is the now familiar mystery message woman calling me again.
“I’m really sorry” I say, “I have to get this”. I step outside the café into the street, and answer the phone. “Hello, um, who is this?” The woman on the other end of the phone sounds confused.
“Hello. I’m Sara, I hope you got my message. I just wanted you to know that you seem to keep calling this number instead of your son, and I wanted you to know that. Is everything ok with your husband? “What? Yes, yes, he is thankfully doing ok. They just want to keep him in overnight. I am so sorry. How embarrassing for a complete stranger to hear all my business. I don’t know why it keeps dialling this number. My son has a new phone number and has just moved to London. I must have put in the wrong details when I added it to my phone. I am just no good with techonology!”
“Don’t worry. I am glad that everything seems alright. Is there any way you can check the number with him some other way? It sounds like you really need to speak to him. Maybe I can help…”.
We chat for a while, and the woman, who tells me her name is Maya, and explains a little more about her son. She is not too sure where he is living as he was planning to stay with friends until he got settled. “He could be homeless for all I know…” She says worriedly.
I realise that Daniel has probably thought I have run off, so I finish the conversation. “I’ll see what I can do, and will let you know. Bye for now”
I walk back in the café to find Daniel fiddling on his phone trying not to look like he is Billy No Mates!
“I am so sorry… I really had to take that call, it was very important!”
“More important than spending time with me?” he smiles. “Shall I get you another coffee, that one is probably cold by now!!”
He calls the waiter over to order and asks for an extra hot soya latte for me, and a cappuccino for himself.
“Do you want some cake or something?” He asks.
Yes, please, I say inside my head. Bring me the biggest bit of carrot cake you can find, is what I really want to say, but I know that I have to be strong and carry on this diet. I turn to the waiter and say disappointedly. “No, I’m fine thanks”.
To make it worse, Daniel decides to choose a piece of chocolate cake.
“So what was the call about? “
“It’s kind of a weird one really. Some random woman kept calling me”.
“Oh I have that a lot”, he jokes.
I roll my eyes. “She called me a few times by accident thinking I was her son. She seemed pretty upset, like they had had a row or something, and she kept calling me leaving these heartfelt messages, when she wanted to speak to him.”
“Poor woman. I think my mum would have a heart attack if she didn’t speak to me about 3 times a day. You wouldn’t believe that I am a 31 year old man, some of the things she calls to say.”
“Daniel it’s raining out, did you take your umbrella. Daniel, don’t forget that you should iron your trousers inside out. Sometimes I wish maybe my mother would dial a wrong number too and nag someone else for a change! Sorry, I am only kidding. Carry on…”
“Well she told me a few more things about her son, and I said that maybe I would try to help her track him down. I know London is a big place, but you never know. Plus he is Jewish, so no doubt he will know a friend of a friend or something, right?!”
“Three degrees of separation, eh? Well if you need any help in tracking him down, let me know…”