The Last Analects of Jasper James Kaufmann

4. Another Meeting

The week progressed as most weeks did. Jasper biked to his classes, did his homework, interacted with Abelard, and thought about the people he passed. It became November.

The difference this week was that he had Petra on his mind. When at home, he constantly had the idea that she might call, but there was nothing he could do, as he still didn't have her number. On Wednesday the phone rang. His heart skipped a beat as he ran to the phone.

"Hello, Jasper speaking," he blurted out.

"Hi, is Abelard there?" came a man's voice. Jasper's heart sank.

"No, he's at the university. Can I take a message?"

"Yes, please. Just tell him that Friedrich called."

"Of course. Yes, take care too." He breathed out deeply as he put the phone back on the hook.

The next day, the phone rang right before he was about to go to bed. This time he tried to control his breathing, telling himself it was probably another contact of Abelard's.

"Hello, Jasper speaking," he said as calmly as he could.

"Hello indeed." It was her.

"Hi! How are you?" he asked excitedly. "I knew you'd call."

"I'm well," she said. "What are you doing tomorrow evening? When do you get out of classes?"

"Five o'clock. You?"

"Four thirty. Want to meet up in the cafeteria? I'll wait for you."

"Uh, sure," he said.

"Okay. See you soon." The line went dead.

He hung the phone up, and then creaked open Abelard's door a bit.

"Hey, so I'm seeing Petra again tomorrow after class," he called.

"She's got you hook, line and sinker," came the reply lazily.

Jasper had to admit that this woman had a strange power over him. It was true: he would do almost anything she said. His entire train of thought was stained with the idea of seeing her.

The next day, Friday, Jasper walked from the university building where he was studying down the street and to the cafeteria, leaving his bike locked where it was. It was a pleasant evening, unseasonably warm. In place of the trench coat, he was wearing a blue denim jacket covered in patches he had found here and there. He approached the building, and recognized Petra standing outside.

"Hi," he said.

"Hi! How are you? What class are you coming from?"

She was wearing a darker shade of lipstick than she had been in their previous encounter. It contrasted sharply with her orange bangs.

"Differential Equations. Laplace transforms and all that. You?"

"Introduction to Linguistics."

"So what are you studying here, anyway? You said something about... Asian religions, was it?"

"South Asian Religion. Yes. I'm majoring in Language and Culture."

"Oh. Any particular language?"

"Yes, Russian."

"Oh, that's awesome! I like a lot of Russian authors. Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy, you know. Are you planning to read any of those in the original?"

"I'm not so interested in the classics. I'm more interested in modern things, like the contemporary literature of the Soviet Union. Samizdat. Do you know about that?"