TOGETHER

There was Truck coming out of Superdrug, Broadmead.
We walked towards each other on mutual recognition. Unsure he'd want a word. The last time I wrote about him, which wasn't about him at all, it occasioned my exclusion by a mutual friend. I learned anything can be used to fulfill any agenda if you look and think hard enough.
'What you up to?' he said after we'd shook hands.
'I'm off to a cafe for coffee, do some work,' I said. 'I've got my notebook with me,' tapping my bag. 'What about you?'
'Lam Rim,' he said.
'I know it.'
'There's a group meditation, keep my practice together,' he said. 'Mostly I do it on my own but it's easy to do less than I want.'
'It can help being in a group,' I said, knowing what I was saying.
We talked computers. I told him about my NC-10 and he said he'd got the Asus, though he hadn't got online yet.
'You use a router?'
'There's so many in the flats I piggyback one of those so I don't need one,' I said. 'That's why I got this, well, one of the reasons. I wanted to be portable because I like to work in cafes and this is so light, unlike a full laptop, and it's top of the range, I couldn't resist it.'
'I know,' he said, 'and the Asus is the next one down.'
'You got the EEE?'
'That's the Acer,' he said. 'The Asus's better than that. And I know what you mean about the weight. I've carried the bags of visitors up to my flat and they've had a laptop in the bag and, well, never again.'
We laughed.
'Anyway,' I said, and we moved towards his bike. 'I'm off for that coffee.'
'Where you going?'
'Soho.'
'Where's that?'
'The Circus.'
'The Devil's Hole,' he said.
'Yes,' I said. 'Next time we meet you got time, let's go together.'