Free Love In The Time Of Apps by Jay Begler Page A

the air already had the stench of fire and I guess of death. Where were you?”
    “In a way I was lucky. I was in Australia at the time. From that vantage point and seeing it on television the whole thing seemed surreal. The realty hit later that day when I learned that several members of my country club lost sons and daughters. I was stuck in Sydney and didn’t get back for 10 days.”
    “So, you missed the weather right after 9/11.”
    “The weather?”
    “Yes. I had always felt that there was an irony with the weather in the days that followed in that it was lovely every day. It was a rare stretch of weather for which New Yorkers yearn. But, few of us noticed. I walked around like a lost soul and spent many hours sitting on a bench in Central Park either staring into space or weeping. In different times, people might have taken notice of my behavior, but that week a person crying in public was pretty common. Life, as they say,goes on and two weeks later the firm re-opened. I just couldn’t go back down there. I could not bring myself to return to that area. Frankly, at that point I had no desire to really work. I quit. The partners tried for a time to get me to come back, but my decision was irrevocable.”
    “After about a year of being in a total funk, more than likely being clinically depressed, I took a job with this pro bono law firm. And I guess helping other people has helped me a lot. So, that’s my story.”
    Her eyes were slightly moist. Goodwin didn’t quite know what to make of the overwhelming emotion that he was experiencing at that moment. It was so strong that it had a physical presence within him. Empathy? Sadness? Love? All three? Whatever it was, the emotion was powerful enough to cause him do something totally uncharacteristic. He leaned over and kissed Sophie gently on the cheek, as if to comfort her and said, “I’m so sorry.” She kissed him back, on the lips, not sexually, but more as a gesture of thanks. He was surprised at his behavior, but delighted by her parry back. And, he noticed that her mood lightened considerably.
    Hoping to bring the mood up further he asked, “Husband? Boyfriend? Significant other?”
    “None of the above. I had a few relationships, but nothing serious.”
    “Why’s that? You are a beautiful, intelligent, and actually, a very funny woman. You have an amazing sense of humor.”
    She smiled slightly and said with a strong tone of sarcasm, “So true. There are so few of us left. It’s what I call Sophie’s law. It’s like Murphy’s Law, but for relationships for people over 40. When you meet someone who is single and over 40, the odds are that he or she has as much baggage as a loaded 747 or is a functioning psychotic. The odds have simply been against me until now I think.”
    “You’re a good judge of character, Sophie. So do I have to worry about your baggage?”
    “Just a couple of small purses.”
    “Well, now that our lips have met, maybe I should introduce myself. I’m Philip Goodwin.”
    With the speed of a typing champion, Sophie entered his name into the PPR App on her iPhone and instantly linked into Pragat, butinstead of being impressed, she appeared a bit crestfallen: “Oh, I see you’re married.”
    “Separated, trending towards divorce.”
    “Good…I mean good for me, hopefully not to painful for you. So…” she said smiling, “I see you are Pragat Rated and a 28. I’m a mere 20, just an average Jane.”
    “You’re anything but average Sophie.”
    She turned serious, “You know this PPR thing seems to be taking root and it’s a bit scary. Can you imagine if this becomes the actual standard for judging people?”
    “Ah, that will never happen.”
    “That’s what they said in Nazi Germany.”
    “So what do you think the criteria should be?”
    “There shouldn’t be any. People are so totally different from each other. Poor homely people can in essence be better than rich attractive people, but that will never be