airport phone

there i was. unable to think straight. in a crowded airport in hong kong. my mobile phone had just died and i didn't have my charger with me. i simply forgot to pack that darn thing.

it was a busy afternoon. tourists from around the world crowded both gates of the airport. there was a group of middle-aged men and women from the mainland wearing similar red jackets and carrying flags. their luggage spread on the sparkling white floor. there was a group of football players, all of them tall and muscular, some in shorts, others in sweat pants, talking in a strange european language. from where i was standing, a few feet away from them, i could smell their manly scent -- a combination of perfume, sweat and cigarettes.

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i was there to meet my friend who was arriving from kuala lumpur that afternoon.  he was my passport for an overnight stay in the former british colony, which i left nearly a year ago. he agreed to let me stay for a night in his flat. but the thing was, he would be coming from kuala lumpur, while i would be arriving from shenzhen after a three-day tour of the headquarters of a big chinese telecommunications company with ambitions of becoming the leading smartphone maker in the world.

we agreed to meet at the airport. anyway, that was where the group of journalists from shenzhen got off to catch their flights to manila, bangkok, ho chi minh, jakarta, kuala lumpur, singapore and other parts of asia. all of us were invited by the chinese firm for a tour of their sprawling headquarters that boasts of a swimming pool, basketball court, football field and a high-tech research and development center.

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because i thought i could call him once i reached the airport, i did not bother to take down the exact time of his arrival, his flight, the gate where he would exit. i was so wrong. now i regretted being complacent. just when i should have been more paranoid, i was complacent.

but there was no more time for self-examination. it was nearly two in the afternoon and i was famished. i woke up late that morning and i missed breakfast at the hotel in shenzhen. trying to remain calm, i searched over my bag for the tiny notebook where i have written the mobile phone numbers of all my friends living in hong kong. those whom i used to go out for a drink, a meal, a movie. amid the jungle that was my bag, i found the notebook and luckily, i still had the page where i wrote their numbers ages ago. it did not even occur to me at that moment that their numbers may have changed. after all, this is hong kong, where it's so easy to get a new phone and a new number.

then i remembered that my phone was not working. i wanted to curse myself, but it was useless. i have always been like this when traveling. dizzy. uncollected. always forgetting something important. one time, i forgot my keys to my flat in hong kong at my sister's apartment in manila. good thing she found them on top of her flat screen teevee and immediately called me up on my phone. she caught me hours before boarding my flight.

unfortunately, this time, there was no such luck. while there were some people i could call for help, there was simply no way to reach them.

at that moment, i did the only thing that i could do. i prayed. luckily, i didn't have to pack a prayer inside my luggage. otherwise, i may have forgotten it as well.

"please, god above, send an angel to help me. i just need a mobile phone."

i knew it was futile. i had very few friends in hong kong, and i doubted if they would be lounging around the airport at this time of the day.

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thirty minutes passed. i was losing hope. i was seated quietly at a corner of the airport near starbucks when someone called me. a familiar voice. a familiar name.

"hey wanker."

i turned around. i saw him, my dear old friend, who was now working for a modeling agency booking talents for shows in hong kong and shenzhen. my face must have lightened up as though a hundred megawatt generator had been plugged in to my pursed lips.

"how are you? i have not seen you for a long time."

but i didn't bother for the pleasantries. for the small talk. i went straight to business.

"can i borrow your mobile phone please?"

confused, my friend handed me his samsung mobile phone. the latest model. white. i was scared to hold it because it might slip off my delicate hands. i also didn't know how to use the darn thing. i have been using an old sony ericsson phone that did not have a touch screen feature. a gift from him six years ago.

"i don't know how to use this," i said, returning the phone. then i retrieved the notebook that contained the numbers of my friends from my bag. "can you just dial this number."

my friend, in a black long sleeve round-neck shirt with elite model printed at the front, tight-fitting black jeans and white adidas rubber shoes, did as i told him.

after several rings, i was able to talk to one of my friends, an editor from a news wire agency working the weekend shift at her office in wan chai. i asked her to please text my friend who would be arriving from kuala lumpur to meet me at starbucks. i gave her his number.

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it was only after i returned the phone to him that i relaxed. i managed to smile. sensing my relief, my friend also smiled back, his asian eyes disappearing in the process.

then i took a good look at him. i haven't seen him for nearly two years. he still looked the same. trim. tall. smooth white complexion. only this time, he was wearing eyeglasses. i didn't know if he really needed them or they were just props. if he had turned into a nerd or just being modelisque.

small talks. promises to call each other. to meet up even briefly for coffee.

he was at the airpot to meet models from around the world who would be competing at a modeling tilt. it would be held on the twenty-fourth in shenzhen, he said.

"if you are still here, you can join us. we have an extra room at the hotel."

i declined the offer.

"i am only here for a night," i said, suddenly self-conscious. i looked disheveled. i was wearing yesterday's shirt and jeans, both ill-fitting. i didn't even bother to tuck the shirt inside my pants thinking that i wouldn't run into someone i know other than my friend who was flying in from kuala lumpur.

^^^^^^^^^^^^

after a few minutes, as the models started arriving, i said goodbye.

"keep in touch. call me," was all he said, as he rushed towards the gate along with his four other companions, all wearing black elite model team tee-shirts.

i nodded my head and watched him disappear into a crowd.

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an hour later, my friend arrived.

this time, i was already out of the airport and into the beaches where i and my elite modeling agent used to hang out on weekends, at bars where we  used to get drunk on friday nights, at my flat where we used to watch cartoons, his favourites, on week nights while munching on pizza, fried chicken, noodles or burgers that were delivered from a next door restaurant.

those were the days. the summer of our lives.

six months, two weeks and three hours condensed in a few minutes of a painful chance encounter at a crowded airport full of people smiling, crying, hugging, kissing, taking photos. it was strange, we didn't do any of these. we used to do them a lot, but not in the airport.

this is now. the winter solstice.

absentmindedly, i rose from my seat and met my friend who was in full winter regalia, regretting the fact that i forgot to pack a jacket and a scarf. i was starting to hate this selective amnesia. i wish my mind could wipe out all the memories of him too.

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