"Anyone interesting?" he asked, noticing the puzzled look on Keitu's face.
"No, no one at all," she answered.
"Oh, disappointed, then?" he queried.
"No.... More like, weirded out," Keitu confessed.
Bob looked intrigued. "What's weird about no messages?" he asked.
"It's not that," Keitu stammered, clearly perplexed. "It's just... Why did I need to check for messages? I was here the entire time. I'd have heard if anyone called or texted!"
"So then?" asked Bob. "Were you expecting someone, or...?"
"No," shrugged Keitu. "It's... Well, I forgot that I was actually here. It seemed that I was somewhere... else."
"Where would that be?" Bob looked very puzzled.
"Well, we were having this online conversation - but a live one, with voice and everything, at e/merge... and it really was like I was there, with everyone else, not here in my office. And so, when I left the meeting room and returned to my office, I checked my cell for messages - but I was actually here all the time!"
"Ah!" cried Bob. "An Out Of Body Experience - an OOBE! Most people have to do drugs to get that effect!"
Keitu paused. It certainly did feel like she was coming down from something, some kind of high...
"Maybe I really am e/merging," she said tentatively. "Maybe the body I was emerging from is my old pupa, and my new wings will soon be dry and ready to fly me off somewhere else entirely?"
Bob chuckled. "Just be careful with those wings," he cautioned. "You don't want to cause any tornados in Brazil..."
cross-posted from e/merge2008 blog