I Was Queueing to Pay

It's very seldom that I don't recognise people I should know - but today it happened: I met a man who clearly recognised me, but I had no idea who he was. It felt very, very uncomfortable.

Then I realised he sounded familiar, but still, I didn't get who he was. He had to say his name, and still again, it took me some time to finally see who he was.

There was a natural explaination why I couldn't recognise him: he was recovering from a serious illness. I apologized many times for not knowing him - it was so untypical of me - but he told me it didn't mind and that he had gotten used to people wondering who he was. He claimed it hadn't felt bad even at the first time it happened.

As I continued ahead, after meeting the man, I passed a turf field. There was a father and a toddler; the child was running on a football line painted on the grass.

I had to stay and see whether the child was just enjoying the open space. But no, the toddler followed the lines carefully. It felt like a significant remark after my strange encounter with the man.