It had been two months since Ian and Steve had their big fight that supposedly broke them up but Ian felt ready to patch things up and continue their friendship as if nothing happened. One morning he walked into the grocery store where Steve worked but Ian saw him nowhere in sight. He wasn’t outside or anywhere near the cash registers so Ian walked up to Mr. Grode, the store manager who was supervising the front end.
“Ian!” Mr. Grode greeted. “I haven’t seen you in a while.”
“Yeah,” Ian smiled, “I know.”
“So what brings you here?”
“Is Steve working today?”
Mr. Grode paused in disbelief before letting out a soft chuckle. “You’re kidding, right?”
“Huh?” Ian was confused.
“You know Steve doesn’t work here anymore, right?” Mr. Grode asked.
Then followed a moment of uncomfortable silence.
“I don’t believe you,” Ian finally sighed.
“You don’t?” Mr. Grode said. “Follow me then.”
Mr. Grode led Ian to the customer service desk and took down a postcard from the bulletin board on the wall. “What’s this, then?” he asked as he handed it to Ian.
Ian studied the postcard. It was from Steve from his new hometown of Dusseldorf, Germany. There was a short note from Steve along with his new address which Ian silently memorized before handing back the postcard.
“Steve left for Germany with his parents 2 months ago,” Mr. Grode explained.
“And he never told me,” Ian sighed as he slowly walked towards the exit. “I thought we were best friends. How it hurts to be wrong.”
On his way home Ian stopped by the travel agency where his friend Terry worked.
“Hey, Terry,” Ian greeted as he entered the office, “Are you ready to return my favor?”
“I was waiting for you to ask,” Terry smiled, “What can I do for you?”
“Book me a flight to Germany.”
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