The Guessing Game

The weather was perfect - 72F on a mid-november saturday afternoon, clear skies and plenty of sunshine. I soaked in the warm weather along with a caramel latte, as I sat scribbling on my laptop outside the nearby Starbucks store. Occassionally, I glanced at the cute girl sitting on the adjacent table. The face seemed a tad familiar, but I was unable to connect it to anybody I knew. But my surreptitious glances were soon met with a pretty smile, as she became aware of my leering activities.

Feigning ignorance, I buried myself into my laptop as I started hitting the keys randomly. I was shaken from this act of pretense by a tap on my shoulder and a request "Can I join you for coffee ?". As I looked up at the girl, I fumbled for words, but recovered just in time to blurt, "Sure. It would be a pleasure to have your company". As the girl carefully pulled the wooden chair out and esconced herself in it, she asked, "So Arun, How do you do ?".
" I am doing good, how about you ?"....."Wait a minute, how did you know my name was Arun"
"Well I know a lot of things about you.", she chuckled.

This gave me the creeps. I never recollect meeting this beautiful girl before, and here she is telling me that she knows me very well. I was stunned, and I queried her further, "So what else do you know about me ?"

"Well I know that you write for a leading sports magazine. It might be Sports Illustrated, but I am not sure. I am also guessing that you are a specialist who covers all Monday Night Football games....." and she stopped in time to save me from suffering a minor stroke. In my career as a sports journalist, my photo has never appeared on any of the periodicals that I write. I am a mediocre writer who barely makes ends meet by coughing up one decent article a week. In short there was no way some stranger would have recognised me, and I was left speechless by the accurate biography this beautiful stranger was painting. My only comeback was, " So what would you like to drink"

As I floundered for words, she went on "I read your first draft of Cowboys Vs Eagles game. I think it was better than your final draft". I was clueless. I thought she was probably some staff at Sports Illustrated. But she denied any connections with the Fourth Estate. She continued, " I hope you get some action to write about Vikings Vs Packers game this week. I know both team suck, but I can rely on you to conjure up a nice article."

By this time I was growing frustrated and fast losing the guessing game. I tried connecting her to people of various professions that I encounter. But she rubbished all my suggestions. And just when I pleaded her to end the game, she replied "Actually I am the girl who collects trash at Greivella Apartments. Next time shred your drafts or I would end up reading all of them."

ps: This story is based on a dream I had on Saturday night.