From: f0l8973@rigel.tamu.edu
Subject: Where is Jason?
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.41    
Organization: Texas A&M University, Academic Computing Services
Date: Mon, 9 Nov 1992 06:02:00 GMT

                        Where is Jason?

        Penny rushed into our apartment, caught Suzi and I in an 
embarrassing moment.  She flushed a little, but then calmed down 
quickly.  Obviously there were more important things on her mind.

        "Have you seen Jay?"  She was still a little breathless.

        "No."  Suzi gave her a cup of water.  "What happened?"

        "He didn't come home."  Penny sat down, took the cup.

        Jay and Penny are our friends.  Jay always boasts how able 
he is and laughs at his wife about how lazy she is, though neither 
was ever proven to be true.  Penny is petite, beautiful and lovely.  
She is very shy around strangers, so much that she never talked with 
any of her professors.  But in home, his ears were always hers.  I 
knew the couple argued sometimes (who doesn't?), but never thought 
it could be that serious.

        "Calm down.  Now slowly, what happened."

        "This morning, I was still in bed when he left to school.  I 
got up at eleven.  He did not come back to lunch, which is normal.  
I came back from school at five, made dinner, and waited until 
seven, he still didn't come back.  I ate my dinner and went to 
study.  When I came back at eleven, every thing was still exactly 
the same way I left.  He did not even come back to eat!"

        I started to feel a little tense now.

        "I called all his Mahjongg friends and no one had seen him 
today."  She was almost in tears.

        I tried to be polite, "Sorry to ask, but is there anything 
happened between you two last night?"

        "No, nothing.  We didn't even argue.  We went to bed around 
three in the morning and everything was normal."

        "Did anything big happen to you guys recently."

        "No.  Except Jay got a ticket."  Penny continued.  "I went 
back to school and found his car still parked in the parking lot.  
But I checked his office and all his office mates hadn't seen him 
today."

        I feel a sudden relief.  "His car is still in the parking 
lot!  Maybe there's an accident or something.  Maybe he was suddenly 
sick and was sent to the hospital."

        I gave her a couple of numbers of the students in our 
department.  She called one by one.  While talking to one of them, 
her face suddenly turned pale.  She hung up the phone and started to 
dial another number furiously.  She held the receiver close to her 
ear and was apparently a little shaking.  The room was really quiet.

        "Jay, is that you? ...Are you Jay?  ...Hello, Hello?"  She 
threw the receiver back to the phone with tremendous force, cause my 
heart shriek.  Then she ran out our apartment in tears.

        I suddenly understood what happened.  I told the totally 
confused Suzi that I got to go to school for a while and left.  I 
headed directly to the computer room.  Sure enough, Jay was there 
reading soc.culture.china.  

        I walked to him, "Jay, Mrs. was looking for you."

        "Hi, how do you know I am here."

        "Don't you fell hungry?"

        "I forgot.  I should've called."  He was not completely out of 
his mind yet.  "I forgot the time."

        "Penny was really worried.  She now might be very mad."

        "I know.  She probably wouldn't talk to me for two days."  
He sighed a little.  "Do you know there are many nasty posts in 
social dot culture dot china?"

        "Really? I didn't notice."

        "You must have hell of a kill file."

        "No, I don't have any kill files.  But on the other hand, I 
don't read every post either."
Newsgroups: soc.culture.china