a birthday story

the clock read 7:57 in the morning as his waking eyes saw the time on the clock.  "still early," he whispered to himself as he faced the opposite direction and tried to nod back to sleep.  or at least tried to.  his mind was already up and about, going through how the second saturday of the month would be for him.  he had a company basketball game to play early in the afternoon and a volleyball game to watch after.  then it's off to dinner and a couple of bottles with colleagues.  that was pretty much how the second part of his day will turn out, as he tried to think of something to do during the first half.

the familiar sound of a calendar alert on his mobile phone sounded three short minutes later.  he reached over on his other side, got the phone, and opened his eyes as he saw what the reminder was.  it was her birthday.  his drowsiness started to wear off at the thought of what to do next.  should he greet her?  how?  call?  text?  email?  a friendster message?  these questions ran through his half-asleep mind as he turned off the alarm.  she still meant that much to him, even though they no longer communicate with each other… or at least she doesn't communicate with him anymore, not after the last time she called him on a stormy saturday night, asking if he could pick her up from the office; a request which he refused for the first time due to potentially him being late for his work that night as well; a decision he somehow regretted, yet made him realize how she really changed towards him.  but even after all that, he still held her in his frail and otherwise shattered image of a heart, with the smallest degree of hope that someday, somehow she will explain everything to him, even if that thought itself is nowhere near the possibility of ever happening.

"i guess a text message would do," he said to himself.  after all, he wasn't expecting anything else from her.  he had become accustomed to her non-replies even before.  he pulled up the saved birthday message he always sends out to friends celebrating their birthdays on the message screen and after hesitating a bit, pressed the send button.  he then placed his phone down, and, still lying down, again tried to sleep some more as he knew she wouldn't even bother to send a thank you message.  a message alert sounded as he was in the midst of trying to reach unconsciousness.  he didn't pick up the phone at first, thinking it was just one of those forwarded good morning and have a nice day sms messages he was receiving right around that time on a daily basis.  yet somehow, at the back of his mind, something was telling him to read the message, for it may be something he wouldn't expect.

"what the hell," he sighed as he grabbed his phone and opened the message.  it read, "hi, thanks for the greeting.  who is this please?"  it was from her.  he wasn't surprised as he assumed that she would've deleted his number after that fateful night.  he thought for a while if he should reply, and came up with something.  he then hit the reply button and started to type, "it doesn't really matter who i am, what's important is that you have a wonderful…"

then suddenly, the screen changed to an incoming call.  it was her calling.  initially, he thought it was going to just be a missed call, a reminder of some sorts that she texted back and is waiting for a reply.  he waited for the ringing to end, but as it continued, he realized that she may be actually, really, absolutely calling him.  bracing himself, he then pressed the answer button.  "hello?" he said with a slightly sleepy voice.

"hi there.  may i ask who is this?"  she said, having the same sleepy voice, sounding as if the message he sent her woke her up.  "do you really need to know who i am?"  he asked back.

"i appreciate the greeting, but who is this?"  she insisted.  "look, it's not important who i am, ok?  i'm just someone wishing you a happy birthday."  he answered in reply.

"hmmm… i'm starting to recognize your voice," she continued.  "oh, it's you," saying his name afterward.  "thank you.." she followed with a somber, gentle voice showing her appreciation for his gesture.  "how have you been?"  she continued.

"well, still the same old me," he said.  "you really had to ask me who i was, huh?"  he asked back.

"i'm sorry, my phone got snatched from me a couple of weeks ago and i still don't have all of the numbers on my phonebook restored," she answered.  "ok," was all he could answer.

what followed was a conversation that lasted for three minutes.  in that span of time, they were able to talk about minor stuff, such as she asking how his mom, sister and brother were, and him asking her why she sounded like she just woke up, and some stuff about work.

towards the end of the conversation, she said, "hey, i gotta go.  i'm still kinda sleepy because of the party i went to last night.  and besides, the battery on my phone is running low and it might just shut down."  "ok, happy birthday again," he answered.

"thanks," she said, followed by the familiar line, "let's talk later, ok?"

"sure," he said as they ended their conversation.  she never did call again that day, and he wasn't at all surprised.  at least he did the one small thing he can to make her day a little bit more special.  he still did care, and despite how she was to him, it didn't seem to matter to him anymore.  what was important to him was, at least he let her know that he was still around.