When spheres unexpectedly collide

So I just called a friend of mine who I hadn't spoken to in a few months. She's been living in a remote part of New Mexico taking care of her ailing father for a couple years now, and I wanted to check in. Over the winter, they'd moved to town, so I wasn't even sure if anyone would be at the number I had.

When a guy answered the phone, I thought it might be her brother or her boyfriend. "May I ask who's calling?" he asked.

"Claire."

I heard some talking in the background, and it seemed that I'd just missed her.

The guy said, "Is this Claire -----?"

I was a little thrown that he knew my full name. "Yeah."

"This is Ray ----," he said.

I was floored. It was my old boss. I had met him through the friend I was calling, so I shouldn't have been that surprised, but last I knew he was still in San Francisco. He gave me a brief rundown of what had transpired since his last newsletter and said it was just the tip of the iceberg. As he reeled off all these big changes in his life, I was mostly glad that the conversation didn't turn back to me because I don't have much if anything of consequence to say about my last year and half.

He's even made a book deal for his life's story. Which he said I'd be in a bit. I find this hilarious because just a couple days ago, I was getting the low-down on one's right to write about other people in memoirs--you don't need releases or permission from them-- and never once did I think that I might end up on the flip side of that equation.

He said he'd send me a copy, and I really hope he does. Several of his incredible and unusual stories I already know, but he's the type of person to always have ten things going at once, so if the book gets into his head at all, I'm sure it'll make a compelling read. It probably will be even if it's just more crazy stories.

tags: anecdote, coincidences, writing, story+rights