Late Night Work

I was supposed to go out to a pub quiz tonight with Zhan, but at the last minute got really caught up with work, and then it started pouring rain, so I thought better of that idea.

As I was e-mailing back and forth with my boss, the Tall South African called, a name I'm always happy to see pop up on my screen.  He was apparently wandering around a series of netball courts, looking for which one his friend was playing on, and having no luck finding them.  So he'd called me for entertainment as he walked and searched, having very little luck as he wasn't wearing his glasses, and so could barely see 5 metres in front of him.  Very hard when you're looking for a friend on the netball courts!

So we ended up talking for over an hour, just about total nonsense, and me figuring out my usual role after asking about his day and realising he had nothing to share, complain, or moan about.  So he was just looking for entertainment, and I did my bit of telling funny stories.

I mentioned to him that I hadn't heard from CBDG in a week, which had me rather nervous as I'm due to go up and stay with this guy in two days' time.  Kind of weird talking to the Tall South African about CBDG, but I find that the more honest I am with the Tall South African, the easier it gets.  Conversation just flows, as we seem to understand each other better.  What's between us is between us, and sharing the other parts of our lives doesn't really impact our own bond.  And he actually listens and remembers and takes an interest, unlike the Young Dutchman who doesn't seem to have much time for my personal life.  I've said before that the Young Dutchman is my Dean Moriarty to my Jack Kerouac, that blazing ball of energy who is almost too much to be controlled, but who makes everything around him more interesting.  As the famous quote goes, Kerouac talking about Dean:


"...and I shambled after as I've been doing all my life after people who interest me, because the only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones that never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars and in the middle you see the blue centerlight pop and everybody goes "Awww!"


The Tall South African, by contrast, has the quieter sense about him, that isn't quite as witty or as funny or as entertaining, but somehow just seems that much more true.


And so, quite amusingly, after an hour on the phone with me the Tall South African had to hang up for a bit, and almost immediately CBDG popped up.  Apologising for having been out of touch, as he'd been swamped with work, but wanted to confirm my train times.  


To my surprise, true to his promise the Tall South African actually did call me back later (he sometimes forgets).  And he was lying in bed, falling asleep with exhaustion, but still chatting to me and laughing as I told him he had been right about CBDG being busy.  He chuckled, and reminded me that boys really aren't all that complex.  


He was yawning so much, I finally had to let him go, as much as I wanted to keep talking to him, knowing that he would never hang up with me first.  At the end of the day, he's always the boy who I want to talk with most...