An old friend of mine; to protect the innocent, we’ll call him Jake. Saw him in town today. I yelled out his name; he was good twenty yards away. He looked in my general direction, dropped the the soft drink he was drinking, and begin backing away. “Jake, I said, it’s me…Guinn…” He kept backing up, and then he turned around and broke out into a dash. There are certain areas of the brain, psychologists say, where our primitive instincts rest, and at a moment’s notice, they take control of our thoughts and actions. Needless to say, when Jake ran, I started chasing him.

Don’t know why I was chasing Jake. But I was. I kept saying to myself, “If he doesn’t want to talk to you, go find something better to do with your time.” Still, I ran. After a good half-minute, hours in running standard time, and a turning around several corners; we were still running. I began to wonder why I haven’t seen Jake for awhile; we used to hang out some, but all of sudden it seemed like I didn’t hear from or speak to him anymore. I was determined to figure out why he was running. Surely he knew who I was; there was a reason.

Fate threw a curveball. As I was running, out of the corner of my eye I saw another friend of mine; again for the innocents, we’ll call him Machiavelli. Machiavelli, like Jake, is someone I haven’t seen in a long time, and couldn’t trace back to the cause of that. He shouted out my name and announced himself. I would have stopped to say hello, but I was busy chasing Jake. So I muttered out a hello, which I doubt he heard, but I felt my conscience was clear of appearing rude to Machiavelli. So the chase ensued.

It was getting to the point of ridiculous. How good of shape was Jake in? I knew if it wasn’t for the adrenaline rush, I would have gassed out minutes ago. But I pressed on, and as I did, I heard breathing behind me. I looked and it was Machiavelli! Chasing me! What? Then it quickly occurred to me that he was doing to me what I was doing to Jake. What an absurd deal! Then it dawned on me that I had to run harder, for if Machiavelli caught me, than I would never find out why Jake was running. I ran harder.

This extra exertion of energy was what I needed. I overtook Jake minutes afterwards and tackled him to the ground. He struggled for a moment, than gave up. As we were sitting up, Machiavelli slowed and joined us. We breathed heavily. Finally, I broke the breathing, “Jake, what are you doing?! It’s me!”

Jake replied, “Sorry, man, I just didn’t know.”

“What do you mean you didn’t know? I said my name at least three times!”

“No, I knew who you were. I just didn’t know what you would say.”

“About what?”

“The money I owe you for your spaceship watch.”

Then I suddenly remembered that Jake owed me $20 dollars for a watch of mine that he broke. A space shuttle was drawn on the face of the watch. The hands were rocket boosters.

“But, Jake, that was in third grade.”

“I know, but with inflation, and rising costs of living, what was $20 dollars then is around $175 now.”

This was true.

“Well, Jake, I don’t think I’m gonna hold you to that…” Although I could use $175.

Jake pulled out his wallet, and proceeded to hand $175 dollars in hard cash.

“I figured if I didn’t ever face you, I wouldn’t have to pay. I’m such a crook. Well, my hat’s off to your persistence.”

I was dumbfounded; I certainly was not expecting this type of good fortune.

“I don’t know what to say, Jake…”

“Nothing, right now.” Jake was upset. He began to walk away. “It was good seeing you, Guinn. Really it was.”

“Can’t I buy you lunch or something?”

“Not now. Call me sometime, when you find it in your heart to forgive me.” With that he left.

“But there’s nothing to forgive.”

Jake just kept walking. He’ll get over it, I thought, and I wasn’t about to chase him again. Maybe my persistence really did pay off for me today; I was learning something from all this. But I wasn’t the only one.

“Guinn…” Machiavelli chimed in. Talking to Jake, I had almost forgotten about Machiavelli.

“How’s it going, Mach? Sorry about running from you earlier.”

“No problem. Couldn’t help but notice that guy fork over $175 to you.”

“Yeah, how about that?”

“Remarkable, I call it. Considering that’s the exact same amount you owe me.”

“What?”

“The spaceship watch, Guinn.”

It all came rushing back to me; the watch that Jake broke was actually Machiavelli’s watch. Machiavelli and Jake were both friends of mine, but they didn’t know each other, if that makes sense. Machiavelli continued.

“You know, I never did quite buy that story that your uncle needed my watch for a NASA experiment, or that your uncle was even an astronaut.”

He called my bluff. My uncle didn’t work for NASA; he owned and managed a convenience store in Yazoo County, Mississippi; and he certainly has never been to space.

“So, Guinn, cough it up.”

I proceeded to give Machiavelli his money. Fair is fair, I guess.

“Well, that’s enough ironies for me in one day. See you around, Guinn.” And with that, Machiavelli walked away and his take-what-you-can-at-any-cost attitude went with him.

One thing was certain after today. The consequences of lies and deceit will catch up to you eventually; that or people who just want to say ‘hello’ will.