Arnold

Every once in a while I go through the contacts on my cellphone to see which numbers I can delete. You know, some people you meet once or twice, get their numbers, and then you never actually see them again. At the first delete cycle you hesitate to delete them. It's like cleaning out your clothing cupboard. There's always a chance that you might wear that top again (when you loose that extra weight - which you have been planning to do for years). By the second delete cycle you are more sure that you actually want them gone, since you haven't been in contact with them again. But it's only by the 3rd delete cycle that you are really certain that you will not need their number again. And so they disappear.

In some delete cycles you come across names that mean nothing to you. Like Arnold (as I discovered last night). I know an Arnold? Arnold Arnold... I turn the name over and over in my mind, but just can't place it. At all. I ask my husband, but he also doesn't know. Do we know him from church, work, our parents? Perhaps he is really important - a policeman who helped with the hijacking case, or someone from the insurance? He could be a stalker, or a pleasant grandfather-like old man.

Arnold will stay with me for at least another 3 delete cycles. Just in case he is important.