I spent the holiday weekend at a friend’s house. She called me a few days prior to tell me she was fired from her job, unceremoniously and unexpectedly. I felt her pain like it was my own. This was her future and now it’s gone –  abruptly snatched away. “Let’s hang out.”

We’re old friends, she and I. We talk endlessly. She loves how I babble endlessly, even more, she loves how I listen – to what’s said and what’s not. This time, she needs to vent and I’m hear (sic) to lend my ears and my shoulders.  “I understand being laid off, but he was so cold about it.  He wouldn’t even look me in the eye!” Been there. We’ve all been there.

Friday night we go to dinner, attend a theater production (bizarre), and later talk in hushed voices past midnight.  The next day I run to the cliffs overlooking the ocean vast and blue while she goes to dance class.

Later, we head to P-town. It’s a holiday weekend and the town is packed with laughing, carousing revelers. The two of us crawl from one end of the strip to the other shopping in the boutiques or gazing at art in the galleries.

A thought occurs to me; Will I see my old boss here?  What would I say to him if I did?  Should I pretend I don’t even see him?  Would he do the same?  We knew each other for eight years and for most of that time we were pretty friendly. My companion admits she has the same fear – to see her former employer. “If I see Jeffrey, I’m gonna walk right up and tell him he’s a fucking pussy and a coward!”  

Thankfully, we never did bump into Mike or Jeffrey. Just as well. It gets me thinking though – about people we know that we pretend not to, people we used to love we now avoid or who avoid us.  People who meant the world to us who are now no better than strangers.  Isn’t it sad?