Friday

On Tuesday, the service center gave me an appointment for Friday.

This seemed clear.

On Friday, I took the car there.

The man at the desk looked at the schedule, then at me, and explained the problem.

“Today is Friday. Tomorrow is Saturday. We cannot finish it today. Better bring it on Monday.”

I waited.

There are sentences that contain information and sentences that create new problems. His sentence had managed both.

“Yes,” I said. “Today is Friday.”

He nodded.

“That is why I am here.”

Another nod.

“You gave me an appointment for today.”

“Yes.”

I began to admire the stability of his position.

The service center had known on Tuesday that Friday would eventually be followed by Saturday. This information had not arrived suddenly during the night. The calendar had behaved exactly as expected.

“You could have called me,” I said. “Then I would not have come.”

He considered this.

“Hayırlısı,” he said.

The phrase can mean many things: let us hope for the best, perhaps things will work out, maybe fate knows better. In this case, it meant that the conversation had reached a place where logic was no longer necessary.

I stood there with the car, the Friday appointment, and the knowledge that Saturday existed.

He stood behind the desk with Monday.

The situation was complete.

I took the car and left.

Nothing serious had happened. I had only lost time. But small failures of coordination have a special ability to become memorable because they are too unnecessary to forgive easily.

The car could wait until Monday.

Apparently, Friday had only been a suggestion.