It was an ordinary day at the online marketing firm which I have worked at for the past eight years.
In the morning I made a Take-Out order at one of my favorite restaurants.
At noon, when all the orders usually come in, I began my rounds to check if my order had arrived.
As usual, I checked our dining area after which I also went up to the fifth floor to see if my order hadn’t arrived there by mistake.
At some point I went downstairs to the ground floor for a breather.
After a few minutes I decided to go back to the fifth floor in the hope that some delivery boy sneaked passed me.
When I went up in the elevator, a delivery guy went up with me. It was not the delivery guy from the place from which I had ordered but he looked very familiar.
I took a good look at his face and stared at his blue eyes. I knew him well.
After checking the fifth floor I went down in the elevator again with the same delivery guy.
I took another look at his blue eyes and his thin and frail body. It was certainly him no doubt.
“Excuse me, are you Shlomi?” I asked him.
“Yes” he replied “Do we know each other?”
“Tennis class… Were you in tennis class when you were little?” I asked.
“Yes, I was in tennis class.” he answered.
“You beat me up” I told him “You had a friend named Zohar. You guys beat me up”
“Are you the guy to whom I smacked a tennis ball in the back?” he asked.
“No, you guys jumped me after class” I replied.
“I’m really sorry, I took after Zohar, I’m not the same person anymore, I’m really sorry.” he said.
We both exited the building together.
He asked me a question about the company business to which I replied with a generalized answer along with a half smile.
At that moment I knew I had to do something because an opportunity like this might not ever come again. I reached out to Shlomi’s hand and shook it.
As we were shaking hands, I stared once more deep into his blue eyes and spoke those three words, the same three words which I had thought of a few minutes before when I ran into him in the elevator, “I forgive you”.