Frequency-dependent behaviour

enerally, summer in this region of the country is a most anticipated time of the year. And when it arrives, one wishes it would last as long as possible. Not so in the summer of 2005. I had now spent more than 6 months attending to the death of a company I'd spent nearly a decade with. The absence of human contact during the days, and even quieter nights was unbearable, and the prospect of entering another autumn and then winter with no contact from the outside world, frightening. Yet I was longing for summer to rush past, so that I could contact Doug.

August 2005, a good month after Doug's anticipated return from the West Coast, the few emails I'd sent to his Yahoo email address had gone completely unanswered and it was frustrating, to say the least. I knew it called for a more direct approach. I so needed answers to some crucial questions. Not relating to the manner in which his attraction had waned. That was obviously related to his marital status, and I accepted that. But I needed to gain the necessary answers to why my friend had masqueraded in the first place, and up and vanished despite his assurance that he would never do that. I'd lost all hope in people, and needed to find out if this was premeditated or simply an accident.

I began to watch the frequency of his visits to the various immigration boards of which he was a member, under the various alternate monikers to see if there was a pattern to his activity. By this time, I had already secured a home address and phone number, and his office address and telephone number from his personal website. I would try to gauge what days he appeared to be in his office and call there. Since it was now summer term, and didn't have any knowledge of his schedule, I wasn't sure he'd even go into the office. As suspected, a number of calls made during August proved unsuccessful. I would only receive a voice mail message and I certainly felt leaving a message was appropriate.

Yes, indeed, after all of this waiting, there'd be more waiting ahead until the fall semester would be underway in September.