Cheered along, I pull the door closed behind me. The ladies are awake, but their schedule is a bit more relaxed than mine.

Laura will have to be on the train by eight thirty, armed with my netbook to do her homework on the train home. No, I’ve not been left emptyhanded, but we struck a win-win deal: her desktop machine now burdens my desk with the weight of itself and its 22 inch flatscreen. So Moorelife will be done in comfort tonight…

The bicycle path invites me too keep up the pace, its wetness betraying the presence of an early autumn shower just moments ago. I habitually listen for the birds, but it is like they’re sleeping in today, not a whistle or tjirp to be heard.

A billboard across the road delivers me the smile of Jaleeza, a young lady who proposes to identify terminally ill kids like her by their names instead of by the diseases they happen to have. I’m glad not all advertizing is aimed at making more money, or is it? No doubt there will be a name of a charity connected to it, along with a number….

Still no birds as I zoom past the pond. Dark out there, but overhead a UFO slowly makes its way across the cloudy night sky. Nope, missed again: the blinking pattern does no longer hold up its extraterrestrial illusion, but becomes just another jet airliner travelling north, carrying passengers to the arctic circle and the midnight sun.

The dog guy on the next stretch is again absent, so maybe he found them a dog sitter and was on that plane I just spotted. I briefly wonder about the high pitched wheezing, but then realize it is me, having cranked up the tempo a bit too high. Slowing down, I greet the shopkeeper on the next corner, who is just about to unlock his door. I wonder if there will be a case of missing time again, now I’m so focused on the Now…

The tiny lights that illuminate the church clock at the end of the street allow me another slow down: wouldn’t want it to become a case of mysteriously appearing time now would we?

With some reassurance I notice my synchronisation to the 3D world is still intact: when I pass parked cars, the perigee of my cycling feet almost continuously coincides with the point where the wheels of the cars are. It’s no total match, but the indifference is way too obviously frequent to discard it as mere coincidence.

Spotting not a single bird for the rest of the trip, I arrive at the station around 5:55AM again. Oh no, wait: busted still…..

Entering the train, I joke to Leo that he is spoiling me: he has the newspaper folded open to a scantily clad beauty, who I would definitely not have left out in the cold, had she rung my doorbell dressed like that!

He smiles, and asks me if my ladies like apple pie. As soon as I confirm that, he conjures one up from the seat behind him, and tells me that since it was his birthday yesterday, this one is for us….

So now he’s gotten out at his destination, and has been properly thanked and congratulated, I sit here and have a riddle for you. It might be a bit difficult to make the apple pie your prize, since most of you are far away, but here is my riddle:

Where did I deviate most from "being in the Now" during this whole article?

Love your mysteries…

Dré