Sometimes, things don’t happen the way you plan. Such was the case with Charles. He walked confidently one foot in front of the other, his head always held high, from here to there. He smiled constantly and kept many friends on hand. And he treated them well. He remembered birthdays. He sent cards when family members were ill. He said thank you. Charles was everything you could want in a man of 36. He was well-employed, well-spoken, and well-mannered.

It was a bright day. The sun glowed through the far windows like a halogen light in a dark room. It was a stark sort of light, and in no way beautiful. Charles saw a certain intensity in the sun this day and wondered if there was some reason for it. He switched from CNBC to CNN. His portfolio had lost 0.3% that day, and he wanted to see what the analysts had to say. But it sounded like all the same things. “The market will rebound… The Dow will come back…” Really, he wished the stocks would just start back up, instead of having to listen to everyone say they would.

And then the phone rang. Though Charles had many friends, he rarely received calls on Saturday afternoon. “Hello.”

“Charles, it’s Kristen Fables. Do you remember me?” Kristen had been Charles’ sweetheart in the fourth grade. He knew who she was, but had not talked to her or seen her in at least 20 years. To say he remembered her was one thing. To say he knew her was another.

“Yes, Kristen, of course. How are you?”

“Well, I’m doing great. I’ve actually just moved into town here, and for some reason I called you. I really don’t know why. I just remembered you living here from our reunion a couple years back and looked you up.”

“Oh well, great. How was the move? Where’d you come from again? You liking it here so far?” To be honest, Charles wasn’t very interested in what Kristen had to say or how her stay in Los Angeles had been. He even remembered that she had moved from sleepy Omaha, Nebraska. But it was in his personality to ask questions he already knew the answers to, or didn’t care to know, as it may be.

“Well, I moved from Omaha. I just wanted to get to a real city, you know. LA… well, it’s a little bit overwhelming. Especially when you don’t know anyone.”

“Yes, I can understand that.” There was a pause for a moment. Charles wondered if Kristen took the hint that he really wasn’t interested in talking to a grade school buddy any longer.

“So, if you’re not busy, sometime, maybe we can go out to dinner?” She didn’t get the hint.

“Sure, that would be great.” Charles has a hard time saying no.