While puttering around his apartment on Saturday morning, John heard an unfamiliar ring tone and was momentarily confused. This had been happening a lot during the past week and, as always, the feeling only lasted a split second before he remembered the new smartphone. He’d had to replace his old phone after accidentally dropping it in the toilet the previous week. All of the ringtones he had created with that easy-to-use ringtone app were lost when the phone hit the water. Now the snippets of songs that he’d associated with his friends were replaced with the bland, omnipresent default ringtones he heard emanating from the phones of the general public.
He reached down into his pocket and pulled out the new smartphone; it was the size of a small, very thin paperback book. It was a little bit larger than his previous phone, with a bigger display. He looked at the screen but did not recognize the number displayed on it, which was also not unusual lately. He had never done a proper backup of any of the data on his phone, and had lost all of the contact information for pretty much everyone he knew. The only phone numbers he knew by heart were his own, and the number of his parents’ house. He had a little black book of phone numbers stored away somewhere, and maybe half of the contact information in it was current, but he hadn’t gotten around to finding the book to transcribe the information into the new phone yet. So far he had only bothered to enter the contact names for the people who phoned him during the past week.
The number had a 310 area code, which did not narrow the list of possible callers down much; the area code encompasses a large section of Los Angeles. The area code didn’t necessarily have to correspond with the phone caller’s area these days, too. John himself bought his first cell phone when he was living in West Los Angeles, and his own phone number included a 310 area code even though he had relocated to the San Fernando Valley years ago, and was currently (and perhaps permanently) nestled snugly in the 818 area code.
He pressed the green ‘Answer’ square on the touch screen, and brought the smartphone up to his ear. “Hello?”
“Hey John, how’s it going?” It was his buddy Matt’s voice.
“Oh, it’s going okay. I got a new phone. Still getting used to it. How about you? What are you up to?” asked John.
“Not much. Bored. Wanna go see a movie?”
John considered the option. The last movie he’d seen with Matt was the Avengers in 3-D. That seemed like a very long time ago now, so he thought it might be a nice treat to go see another one. On the other hand, Matt always insisted on seeing movies in 3-D, but the 3-D experience tended to annoy John – the backgrounds looked blurry to him and the 3-D effects seemed distracting and unconvincing. It took him out of the experience of the movie, and John always thought the movie experience should be immersive.
Also, movies were such a hassle, and so expensive. To drive to the cinema, park, get in line, pay a small fortune for the movie and then double that amount with snacks… it didn’t seem worth it for the payoff of a large screen and a quality sound system. And to be tied to the cinema’s schedule… and the people around you in the theater talking and texting and coughing –
“You there John? I asked do you want to go see a movie?”
John shook his head to re-orient himself. Despite the merits of his complaints about the modern movie-going experience, he felt those types of sentiments edged him closer and closer to agoraphobia and chronic curmudgeonry. He made a conscious effort to rebel against that pull.
“Sounds good,” said John, hoping the insincerity did not find its way into his voice. “What’s playing? Anything good?”
“I don’t know, I guess I hadn’t thought that hard ahead. You interested in the Lego movie?”
“Not really. I’m kind of burned out on animated stuff,” said John, meaning it. He scanned his brain for recent movie commercials and billboards. “American Hustle got good reviews.”
“Yeah, but I don’t really need to see that on the big screen, you know?”
“I know what you mean, good point,” agreed John.
“How about Gravity?”
John thought about it. “You know, that has gotten a lot of good buzz and everything, but I’m not sure I want to feel what I assume will be panic and hopelessness for two hours. Even if it has a happy ending. You know what I mean?”
“Yeah, I get it.”
“Also, and I know this is stupid but I’m going to say it anyway: I don’t like watching Sandra Bullock movies,” said John, adding, “She reminds me too much of Lisa.”
“Lisa?”
“Yes, of course. Lisa,” said John.
“Really?... Really?” he sounded genuinely surprised.
“Well yeah,” John confirmed. “Really.”
“I’m a little stunned. I mean that was so long ago.”
John considered it. It didn’t seem like so long ago to him, but the breakup had been at least three big Sandra Bullock releases ago. That may have been as long as five years.
“Yeah, well, I guess so. But I was hurt. It’s not like I think about it every day or anything. But, well, you know.” John wasn’t sure that Matt did know.
“I’m stunned,” he repeated. “Lisa doesn’t look anything like Sandra Bullock. And you two weren’t together that long. I never thought that hit you very hard.”
“She looks a little like Sandra Bullock,” John countered. “You know, around the eyes.”
“You clearly saw something in her that the rest of humanity didn’t.”
He was obviously trying to be humorous, but John wasn’t feeling it. But John also didn’t want to be a downer or a spoilsport. “Okay, yeah, well, let’s just drop it.”
“Fine, fair enough. No Gravity.”
For a fraction of a second it seemed to John like an odd comment on his past relationship with Lisa, but then he realized Matt was talking about the movie again.
“No Gravity,” agreed John.
“You know what I was always surprised about? Why didn’t you and Amy ever get together? You two got along so well, and you always seemed like a perfect match. Why didn’t that happen?”
John hadn’t thought about Amy for years. She was peripherally associated with his general group of friends and acquaintances in college, but it seemed like they had never gotten solid opportunities to interact for any significant amount of time.
“Amy? I guess I never thought about it,” said John.
“You two both have the same sense of humor, you listen to the same music, and she seems like your… type. You two always seemed like a perfect pairing to me, and I could never figure out why you two didn’t hook up.”
“I don’t know what to say,” said John.
“Hey, I know: I could facilitate this. I could help make this happen.”
“Wait, what?” asked John.
“How about I set up like a double date or something, and pair you with Amy?”
“Huh. I guess I could do that. Do people still go on double dates?” asked John.
“Oh, we don’t have to think about it that way. We’ll all just go out to dinner, and you’ll be there, and she’ll be there… and we’ll see what happens. What do you say?”
John was dubious, but it had been a while since he’d made any efforts towards meeting or dating anyone, so he cautiously sounded out, “I’d say… I guess I’d say I’m in?”
“Awesome. Gimme some time and I’ll make some calls and let you know.”
“Okay. Great,” said John, still a little dumbfounded by the turn the phone call took.
“But for now, how about this movie idea?”
“Oh yeah,” said John.
“How about I, Frankenstein?”
“Not interested. I don’t know, it just looks bad. You know – recycled Underworld slash Blade slash Legion et cetera,” said John.
“Yeah, I guess so.”
“Do you want to see Walter Mitty?” asked John.
“What?”
“The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. You know, with what’s-his-name… Ben Stiller. Do you want to see that one?” asked John.
“You’re kidding, right?”
John was puzzled. “I… didn’t think I was kidding. Why do you ask?”
“Because we saw The Secret Life of Walter Mitty the weekend before last.”
“What? No we didn’t,” said John.
“Yes, we did. We caught it at the Cineplex.”
“Ummm, no we didn’t. Two weekends ago I stayed in. I only went out to do a little shopping and get an oil change for the Camry,” said John.
“Since when do you have a Camry?”
There were a couple of moments of silence.
“John Lowell?” asked the voice on the line.
“No,” said John. “John Stafford. Matt Heller?”
“NO,” said the voice on the line. “Daniel Cole.”
John did not know anyone by that name.
A few seconds of silence went by.
Both men said, “Really?” into their phones simultaneously.
“Really,” said Daniel Cole, sounding disappointed.
“I’m sorry, I think you have the wrong number,” said John Stafford. He immediately regretted sayin it – it sounded uncomfortably formal and embarrassingly obvious.
“Sorry about that,” said Daniel Cole.
“No problem,” said John, but Daniel had already hung up.
John stood there for a few moments, astounded by the coincidence. Then, after thinking about if for a few more seconds, he became less astounded and more disappointed and disillusioned. Perhaps it was not unusual that these common names – John, Lisa, Amy – might repeat themselves within a certain range of interpersonal connections over and over, dozens, maybe hundreds of times in an area as populous as Los Angeles. He was disheartened over how ordinary his situation was, that it might fit so well into any number of random circles of friends and acquaintances.
But he recalled the conversation with Daniel as engaging and exciting, first with the prospect of a fun evening at the movies with a friend, and second with the possibility of a romantic encounter with a girl from his past. But it was not his past…
He found himself tapping the screen of his smartphone and looking at Daniel’s 310 number in his phone’s list of recently received calls. He debated with himself, dared himself to call this Daniel, this Matt from a parallel universe. The thought seemed ridiculous, but still he toyed with it. It was tempting. He tried to think of what he would say to Daniel: to meet him for a movie? To ask to be introduced to this parallel universe Amy? Or maybe even the parallel universe Lisa?
His concentration was broken when the smartphone in his hand rang. Daniel’s number showed up on the caller ID again. John hesitated, still unsure what he would say after picking up.
It only chimed that single tone before stopping and showing one missed call. John stood still, looking at the smartphone in his hand for a full three minutes, wondering if Daniel would try to call again, and wondering if he should call Daniel.