Accorded Something Strange

A couple weeks ago, I was up in Paris taking care of some last minute business. I stayed at my cousin's the first night. We went out to a pretty up-scale club called the Pacha. I had never been to a club like this before. I won't get into the details but I will say that not much of anything is taboo there. It was a relatively calm night for us in terms of alcohol consumption but it was quite the experience. We got home around 5 a.m. and my cousin went straight to work. I plugged my phone into my computer to charge, and crashed.

I woke up around noon. My cousin got home at about the same time. We made a last minute decision to go visit some girls that we had met at the Pacha. I had a train to catch at 10 p.m. and we had nothing better planned for the afternoon and evening. 9 o'clock rolled around and we were about an hour away from the station. We booked it. I got to the station with 2 minutes to spare. As I was running to catch my train, the zipper on my backpack gave out and my laptop fell out along with a few other things. I put my bag down and stuffed everything back in. The zipper needed some serious attention that I didn't have time for so I picked up the jumbled mess and ran to my train. No dice. I think I heard it laughing at me as it faded away into the night. I cursed at my backpack for a little then parked my ass on the nearest bench to put it all back together.

Once I was back in business I went to the ticket counter to get a ticket for the next train. The guy behind the counter smiled regrettably and told me that I had just missed the last one. So I did what I had to and bought a ticket for the 7:30 train the next morning. I started to walk aimlessly as I contemplated my next move. It was too late to call anyone that otherwise would have been happy to help me out. I seriously considered sleeping at the station but decided that I was too tired and needed a bed. I was in no mood to search for a hotel, much less pay for one, so I called my cousin. He told me I was welcome to stay at their place. Despite the hour and a half it would take me to get there using public transportation, I agreed.

It took me until I got there to be truly happy with my decision. There's nothing quite like a bed in a familiar place when you've been traveling for two months, even if it's only for a few hours. Before hitting the hay, I got out my computer so that I could charge my phone. Problem: my USB cord was missing. I had very little battery and I needed the alarm. I took everything out of my bag, shook it all around and looked in every little crevice. No luck. It must have fallen out of my bag at the train station. There wasn't a whole lot I could do but hope that my phone would last through the night. I put everything back in my bag, set the alarm on my phone for 5:15, and fell asleep.

About four hours later I slowly woke up on my own. I lazily tilted my head to look up at the wall clock. It was 5:10. I was lying on my back. I reached for my phone on the bedside table with my left hand. It was dead. As I put it back down I realized that there was something in my right hand. I slowly lifted it up in disbelief. I paused for a moment and stared blankly up at my USB cord.