Gladys Hankerson had disconnected the phone after hearing the voice of a stranger, when she dialled a wrong number. The 40-year-old man from Rhode Island, holding a bouquet of flowers in his hand, appeared at the door of Gladys’ Florida residence two decades later! As she opened the door, he introduced himself to Gladys, saying: “I am Mike Moffitt… your old friend.” An ecstatic Gladys greeted Mike, as the two friends spent valuable times together. Later, both Gladys and Mike claimed that their first meeting in 20 years cemented their friendship.

The incident took place in the US a couple of weeks ago. Gladys is now 60, while Mike is just 40. When Gladys had heard Mike’s voice for the first time, she was 40. However, the age difference did not have any impact on their friendship. Still, they share similar emotions. The wrong call played an important role in their lives, as the two have been talking to each other for the last 20 years. They did not get an opportunity or feel the need to meet in those years. However, they have had regular calls for the past two decades, and finally met in person on November 24 at Gladys’ residence in Delray Beach.

Gladys recalled that she had mistakenly called up Mike, while trying to reach her sister in Somerset County. A small change in the area code resulted in a lucky connection between the two. The area code of her sister was 410; however, she dialled 401. This code was for Rhode Island, the native town of Mike. Gladys disconnected the phone immediately after hearing a male voice. Interestingly, she kept making the same mistake! One day, Mike told her: “Let’s talk, as you often make the same mistake.” That was the beginning of their friendship.

Meanwhile, Mike has said that Gladys was going through a difficult phase at that period of time, as she separated from her husband and lost her only son. Mike, who used to work at a call centre, used to talk to her, pacify her, and thus helped her overcome the crisis. He preferred to talk to Gladys, apart from receiving the usual phone calls as a part of his job. As he also lost his grandparents 20 years ago, hour-long telephonic conversation with Gladys worked as a stress-buster for Mike. Both of them started emotionally depending on each other. According to Gladys, this mutual dependency formed the base of their friendship.

Gladys could not have imagined that the long-distance friendship would take a new turn, and Mike would suddenly appear at her doorstep. According to Mike, he arrived in Florida to visit his sister. Ahead of Christmas, he applied for leaves on the occasion of Thanksgiving, celebrated on November 25, 2021. On his way to Florida, he got stuck near a bridge. To know the exact location, he called Gladys, who told him that her residence was just a mile away. Then, Mike decided to meet Gladys, as he reached Florida. He, carrying with him a bunch of flowers that he got for her, rang the doorbell of Gladys.

Although Gladys could not recognise him initially, she, later, greeted Mike with a warm hug, giving the 20-year-old friendship a new dimension!

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Published by Koushik Das

Koushik Das (born on May 16, 1976 in Kolkata) is a career journalist. Based in the Indian capital of New Delhi, Koushik writes mainly about foreign policies and current geopolitical issues, and rarely about other topics. His own political ideas are highly influenced by Antonio Gramsci, Louis Althusser, Michel Foucault, Michael Oakeshott and others. English philosopher and political theorist Oakeshott (Dec 11, 1901-Dec 19, 1990) says that “in political activity, men sail a boundless and bottomless sea. There is neither harbour for shelter nor floor for anchorage, neither starting-place, nor appointed destination. But we have to keep afloat”. (Rationalism in Politics, 1962) As a student of Political Science, Koushik loves to share his views on issues, which have great impacts on his thought process (and also on India, South Asia and of course on the global community), with his readers through his website – Boundless Ocean of Politics. By doing so, he tries to keep himself afloat. You will find some of his articles in https://inserbia.info/today/ (https://inserbia.info/today/author/kou_das13_i/), as he has been trying to assess the global geopolitics since 2003. You can also mail him at kousdas@gmail.com View all posts by Koushik Das