Her memories began to blur a little, and then slowly she heard the sound of the sieve again, began to sense the lights, the chair as its tilted backrest pressed against her spine. The past flashed back. Géb was pleased to see how accurately he had managed to relive his first encounter with the Old Man. Hm. I didn't remember him saying so many interesting things and being so incredibly good at sensing what I was thinking and answering my questions before I even asked them.

  Strange, very strange. A week ago Igor sent me a message saying that he would be looking for me today, 20 June 2015 at 24:00 and that I should watch for signs. After five years, the Old Beggar reappeared out of nowhere on the same Saturday 13 June, exactly when Igor sent me the message. He was picking out yoghurt at the refrigerated counter of the hypermarket, wearing the same clothes, hat and trench coat, with a stubble and slightly frizzy long hair as five years earlier. He was still wearing the emerald green ring with the strange symbol engraved on the ring finger of his right hand, and his watch with the pitch black dial on his wrist. He continued his strange speech as if he had just stopped, not half a decade ago. And he hadn't aged a bit. He looked exactly the same as before.

  He was reaching for two natural yoghurts on the middle shelf of the fridge when he found himself with a hand holding the exact same yoghurt - a memory of his encounter with the Old Man a week earlier came flooding back. By six, he was heroic and without looking up, that was all he said.

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  - A thousand apologies - he let go of the yoghurt and smiled, looking into the eyes of the wrinkled hand. He glanced at an old, homeless-looking man. He was about to reach for the other yoghurt at the front of the queue, letting the old man have the ones that fell closer to him, when he whispered from behind his beard, smiling suggestively:

  - Son, this is synchronicity.

  He didn't know what to make of it, so he glanced at the old man again with a searching look. Then was shocked to realise that it was him, the mysterious stranger from the past.

  - Beware my son, terrible things are afoot. Only with an open heart and mind can you tell illusion from reality.

  He said only two sentences in total, and by the time I turned to shout from the direction of the cashier, he was gone. I walked down the aisles, setting fire to the entire hypermarket, but to no avail. 'He's gone,' recalled Géb, staring stiffly into the air, stroking his chin like a goat's scalpel. But he had never worn a beard, except once, and then only for a few weeks, for a girl who turned out not to be his partner in life.

  - Did we meet again by chance? The Old Man had obviously recognised me, even seemed to be looking for me, he mused to himself.