one morning

one morning – and everyday waking up is a really difficult undertaking – so, one morning i forgot the name of an old, in many ways close, indeed a dear friend of mine, i got frightened and by using the method of reciting the alphabet i tried to recall his name to mind. it was in vain. naturally, it was bound to happen that my friend called me soon after. we recognized each other’s voices, it  was impossible to respond by saying his name. he told me, in a strange tone, as if wanting to be distanced from himself, that he had to tell me something curious. he had received an anonymous telephone call very early that morning – now he very obviously gulped, that his name had been cancelled, it had been cast out of all documents, and that he was forbidden to use his name in any situation. the caller had spoken so resolutely that one could not just rule it out as a silly joke; he had spoken in a dead serious manner and with authority. my friend – i still could not recall his name – intended to comply with it asking me at the same time not to address him by his name ever again.