We met on the internet, through a series of contacts. Only after writing each other a few emails we found out we both lived in Berlin.
So we decided to meet.
Ah, a little detail. She is blind.
I am almost blind.
A true blind date.
The meeting place was a restaurant in the nearby since we both lived in the same neighborhood.
I arrived on time, as always.
At 19:00 I was at the restaurant.
Since I was on time I did not even think to look if she had already entered. I assumed that women always arrive a few minutes late.
I started waiting.
It was cold so I was jumping on the spot or doing small steps back and forth trying to hear if among the people passing by I could hear the sound of someone with a stick.
At a certain point I saw someone approaching with a torch. He or she was walking slowly and had that odd old smell. You never know who you might meet on a blind date.
I still tried call her by name.
And this must have sounded like saying “What the fuck”. But in the darkness I did not see her face.
I tried to identify her steps, if quick or uncertain, typical of a blind walking.
Anything at all.
God damn cold.
I could not take it anymore so I decided to get in, find a table and order a beer.
Every five minutes I used to get up and go to check if she had arrived.
Meanwhile, I called three times. I sent a text message and an email.
On the one hand I wanted to show that I had a little ‘patience’, on the other I did not know if she was possibly walking and could not answer, maybe using the screen reader for messages, so she could not read it in the street.
I did not know.
It was my first blind date with a blind.
While having those thoughts I got up and went to the door. I went out a couple of times.
Nothing.
I ordered to eat, a bibimbap with egg, as I was at a Korean restaurant.
As soon as it appeared on my table, the phone rang, it was her.
‘Hi, how are you?’
‘Ok… but… where are you?’
‘I’m here, at the restaurant, for over an hour’
‘ I just came out of the restaurant and I could not find you’
‘Of course I was there, I was out in the cold’
‘I was inside’
‘Why did not you not get in?’
‘I usually do not go in alone’
‘And I did not want to wait in the cold’
Next time we will agree not only the hour and the place, but also inside or outside.We had a laugh and we talked about something else for a few minutes before we said goodbye.
‘See you next time’
‘Hopefully’
