Certain Friendships Don't Last Forever (2)

Sometimes when you're sleep deprived, you start imagining things and seeing stars before your eyes. That's what I thought the first time I saw them.

On the way back to Indonesia I stopped over in Singapore to see my best friend from high school, who's heavily pregnant and ready to explode any day now. I landed in Singapore at 6 AM and headed for shower room on the second floor in attempt of keeping myself awake. I couldn't sleep on the plane: the first 4 hours a passenger seating next to me was talking nonstop of being a Jewish and Jewish tradition (my fault, I asked. I should've known better about old people, they're chatty!), and the next 8 hours were spent on watching movies. I was thinking about sleeping for a few hours until the shops open at 11 AM but the transit hotel at Changi was fully booked, and another place offers non-private napping rooms, and the thought of sharing a room with other 7 strangers immediately put me off, so after early check-in for Jakarta and left my hand luggage, I went for Starbucks instead. By 4 PM when heading back to airport after sushi overdose and another cup of coffee, I realized that I had been up for 31 hours and couldn't wait to go home. I went to boarding room the minute the gate was open, so I could sit down and doze off. But just before I decided which song in my ipod I would use to help me sleep, a lady in red walked toward me and I realize it was Monika, my ex-colleague.

And she's not alone. There were at least 5-6 of my ex colleagues and bosses who were on the same flight as me (I have a theory that half of Singapore is occupied by Indonesian, and this is the proof) and we exchanged some words before boarding. I was ready to sleep (it had been 33 hours by then), but I must wait for other passengers to seat next to me (a downside of choosing aisle seat), so I spent time by looking around, and there, right across the room, seating on the same row as me, I saw.... them.

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My blog is updated today, Tuesday 17 June 2008. Click Finally Woken to read the complete story.