It is a small, small world

The beauty of living in a place of a small population is that it is so easy to meet again.  

On the day of the accident, among the six guys who first came to our rescue is a bloke called Ian and he was responsible for contacting Mark (my husband) and keeping him up to date. By the time my husband had settled every one and planned to call those who had called him to say thank you, Ian’s number dropped out of the phone memory list.

The van was sitting in a car yard in Smithton, all damaged except the engine which still fires right away. Mark phoned a wrecker 廢車行 in Launceston to see if they were interested in salvaging 回收、撿破爛 it. He told the staff there that it was a green Mitsubishi Delica and was parked in Smithton.   

“It is a green Mitsubishi Delica in Smithton. … Hang on, my boss wants to talk to you,” the staff said.

Mark personally knows the boss of the wrecker and that boss asked: “How is the wife?”

“She is fine, much better now,” Mark replied, puzzled why he knew that I had an accident. However, Launceston is small and he might have heard about the accident from other friends. Indeed, Mark got phone calls in the first week from various people who heard about the accident on the grapevine 道聽途說.

“This is the Ian who called you from the scene,”   Ian said.

“Oh! Thank you very much! I meant to call to say thank you in the first place ...” It did not occur to Mark that the two Ians are one.