'Switching Lenses: The Journey of James Stewart'

"What do you mean I have no phone? How will we ever find each other?" Jane stomped her foot for emphasis.

"I'm sorry, it was a mistake." The phone company representative shrugged her shoulders. "We make mistakes sometimes."

"You've got to be kidding me. We've been trying to get together for weeks and now you tell me that I can't call James; he won't be able to call me either. It's not fair!" Jane was fuming, but she tried not to raise her voice. She didn't want the entire bus stop watching her fight with this woman who seemed just as annoyed at their situation as she was.

Jane turned away from the attendant and walked to the far end of the waiting area. All she wanted was a few minutes of peace and quiet before she met up with James in three hours. Their plan had been for her to travel from Singapore to Bangkok, then meet up with him and they'd continue on to Ho Chi Minh City together. In lieu of calling him from Singapore airport, they'd agreed that she would continue on to Bangkok and try to catch him there. After all, what could go wrong? They'd done this before, so why worry? But now...now there was no way for them to communicate with each other until they met up in Vietnam!

She sighed heavily and leaned against the wall behind her. She took a few deep breaths, trying to calm herself down a bit by focusing on her breathing rather than the situation at hand. If only this were a normal day and they could call or text each other like they usually did.

If only...she thought back on how this whole thing had started when James had told her about a new job opportunity in Singapore last year. He'd been working as an assistant professor at RIT in Rochester, New York, but he'd decided he'd had enough of the cold weather and exciting things were happening in Asia. With the job offer, he'd decided that this was his opportunity to make a change in his life and try something new. One year later, Jane had moved across the world from Philadelphia after accepting a position at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore. Despite everything being so different, she was excited about all of the possibilities that awaited them in Asia. She couldn't imagine life without him -- his quirky sense of humor and odd taste in music made it impossible for her not to love him -- so this job opportunity seemed like a dream come true for them both!

But now...she felt like everything was falling apart around her. Between the long flights from Singapore to Bangkok and then from Bangkok to Ho Chi Minh City, Jane hadn't slept much at all these past two days, which didn't help things at all. Not only that but now James wasn't even here! And how would they manage when they finally did meet up again? Would they stay connected via email? Maybe send each other photos every few weeks or so? No way!! That wouldn't work at all! "We're supposed to be partners," she said out loud as if someone might hear her and help make sense of everything that was going wrong. "Right?" She had always believed that nothing could tear them apart...but now...what if something happened? What if they lost track of each other? Suddenly feeling very alone, she cried quietly into her hands while leaning against the wall behind her...

James sat back down on his hotel bed after checking his email one more time for any messages from Jane. None were there so he closed his laptop and tossed it aside onto the floor beside him where it slid under the desk on which his computer sat. He pulled off his glasses and rubbed his eyes with his hands while yawning loudly several times in quick succession before lying down on top of the bedspread which was already covered with clothes shorn off haphazardly moments earlier when he'd first arrived at his room thirty minutes ago after getting off the plane from Singapore at Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok. He put his glasses down next to him on top of one of his shirts that lay on top of a pile of clothes near the footboard of his bed before collapsing into an uncomfortable position that reminded him of being laid out after finishing running a marathon rather than simply taking a nap before heading out for dinner with Jane at Aqua tonight where he knew he needed to look good even though he felt terrible after such a long day traveling everywhere between Singapore and Bangkok followed by another long flight today between Bangkok and Ho Chi Minh City en route back home to HCMC where he knew Jane would arrive later today after flying out of Singapore this morning bound for Bangkok where they would finally meet up again after not seeing each other since August when their last vacation together ended abruptly when James returned home early due to illness while Jane stayed behind in Thailand enjoying one last week roaming around southeast Asia by herself before returning home too....

Jane sighed heavily as she looked down at her watch: 5:45 pm already! It would take another half hour before James would show up at Aqua eating house here in District 1 looking fresh-faced and rested like nothing had gone wrong between them like nothing had happened since August when he left unexpectedly early during their last vacation so many months ago because he wasn't well enough to travel any further down south with her after visiting Angkor Wat ruins near Siem Reap town...and now nothing has changed except instead of being tightly bonded together holding hands while walking around Angkor Wat ruins smiling broadly while making silly jokes about how ridiculous it was that people actually built those gigantic temple structures hundreds or thousands years ago as well as marveling over how incredible it must have been for those little people who lived so many years ago without modern conveniences like electricity or cars or airplanes or computers or iPhones or internet connections...they were now separated by thousands upon thousands miles having no idea what might happen next or even if anything would happen next..because what if neither one managed to find each other again?!

When James left Jane alone in Thailand nearly five months ago, there had been no indication whatsoever that anything serious could happen between them especially not something bad enough that could cause them both harm because surely neither one would ever intentionally hurt one another right? Despite all their disagreements throughout their relationship -- which were mostly minor misunderstandings anyway -- they were supposed to be best friends forever right? So how could something bad enough happen between them that might cause one or both of them harm right now? After all, they were supposed [to be] happily married with children together living somewhere warm within walking distance from some kind beach somewhere sunny enjoying perfect weather 365 days out of every year right? So what could possibly ruin their perfect life together causing one or both of them harm right now considering how perfectly happy everything seemed right before everything went wrong?!

When Jane left James alone back in Singapore nearly five months ago (a lifetime ago), there hadn't been any indication whatsoever that anything serious might happen between them especially not something bad enough that could cause them both harm because surely neither one would ever intentionally hurt one another right? Despite all their disagreements throughout their relationship -- which were mostly minor misunderstandings anyway -- they were supposed [to be] happily married with children together living somewhere warm within walking distance from some kind beach somewhere sunny enjoying perfect weather 365 days out of every year right? So what could possibly ruin their perfect life together causing one or both of them harm right now considering how perfectly happy everything seemed just before everything went wrong?!