Linda removed herself from the picture this afternoon.

We had made plans to see one another two days in advance. But last night, Linda sent me a message saying that she forgot she had planned to go to a birthday party being thrown for her friend’s boyfriend. It was an intimate affair and somewhere deep in the San Fernando Valley (a.k.a. B.F.E.), but I was invited to attend with her if I was interested.

I was once again miffed by Linda’s frenetic mis-scheduling. It came across more as absentmindedness than spontaneity, more as careless impulsiveness than friendly social opportunism. My plans to spend a night on an exclusive date with her were again deferred. So I politely delayed discussing it further until we could talk by phone.

It didn’t go particularly well. When I suggested we postpone our date until Sunday to accommodate her party, she assumed I was avoiding her friend’s event because I was anti-social. The phone call was cordial but cold, and hurried. But we agreed to meet the next day for dinner. Then, ten minutes after the call, I received a text message that read:

Just came to a realization; we’re probably too different. And maybe we shouldn’t hang out anymore.

She “broke-up” with me. By short message.

I’d never received a dismissal by text before. And I couldn’t understand why it was happening now, and from someone well beyond her adolescence. Was this yet another confirmation of her youthful propensity for whimsy, seizing the momentary satisfaction of the text message over the more committed phone or in-person chat? Or was this simply another transaction, a businessperson’s short-sell on a relationship whose deficits have proven too inconvenient to further manage? Or was she just a little nuts?

Unfortunately, the events of the next 24 hours seemed to confirm the latter. This included a barrage of phone calls, voice mails, and text messages that would put to shame the most zealous of telemarketers. Each communication carried a different theme, from apology to optimism to impatience to anger. And with every communication, my distance from Linda grew. It was like an epidemic had taken her over and soiled her reason, steering her to sabotage everything we’d enjoyed over the past few weeks. I counted my blessings that she was infected so early in our time together. But I was disappointed to lose her all the same.

– TOH