" I know you're out there somewhere,
Somewhere you can hear my voice,
I know I'll find you somehow,
And somehow I'll return again to you…" *
Justin cannot stop thinking about her.
Seeing Janet again was like a miracle. He thought she was gone forever, the one he had always loved. He thought he had lost her completely in the past. . He saw that she had become a beautiful lady, she took his breath away when he saw her standing there. To have seen again, if only for awhile, her lovely brown hair and those soft brown eyes that he adored. He remembered her shy smile, how she smelled of sweet honeysuckle as a little girl. How he loved her.
Since he saw her, whenever he was alone or when he closed his eyes, images of Janet would flash in his mind … an endearing shy child who would paint pretty pictures beside him, he loved to put wild flowers on her sun-kissed brown hair, he loved to sing to her while she read her books… then she grew up right before his eyes to become a lovely intelligent young girl, someone he was content to follow, as long as she will be with him wherever he goes… and then the child-girl whom he had loved fully bloomed into the radiant beautiful lady that he saw backstage, smiling at him…
He realized that his feelings for Janet were as brilliant and alive as it was yesterday. He thought that perhaps, deep inside him, he had been wishing and waiting for her all this time. And that night, she was just there within his reach …and he failed to meet with her when he had the chance. His crazy kind of life kept him from meeting with her.
The following day, in the post-concert party they had in town, he kept on imagining that she was among the guests, he searched for her in every brown haired girl he saw, only to be disappointed time and again. Maybe he was just hoping in vain that she would be there… He couldn't get Janet out of his mind, even if he tried. She resided in his heart and he was going to be searching forever, now that he knew that she is real and not just a dream from his past. It was driving him up the wall to think that she was just out there somewhere, in the very same city where he was at. He vowed to find her.
When The Band and their entourage prepared to leave for London, he told them he will go on a week's leave and stay behind. They were surprised at his decision, they thought he was being sentimental about his old town. But they thought it was all good and left Justin alone with his peculiar sojourns.
He drove back to his hometown and began to ask about Janet. She was not listed in the phone book, he knew well enough she would not be, since she always treasured her privacy. His own folks did not know her whereabouts, and it seems her old family have moved town. He took a chance and tried to look for her in their old school where he saw her, maybe they knew something. When he called, he had to pretend he was someone else, a distant cousin, in order not to call anyone's attention. He was the lucky one! He found out that she was working in their other campus and they gave him her number.
With his heart thundering in his chest, he called her up. A silken voice answered him on the other end of the line, it was her voice, he would know her voice anywhere. But she did not recognize him, when he told her who he was, she hesitated. He imagined a light frown forming on her beautiful brow, the way it did when she found something awry when she was a small girl. She won't believe it was him, she told him he must be mistaken and was about to put down the phone when he said, "Janie, It's me."
She froze. Justin was the only one who ever called her Janie, it was a nickname he gave her when they were children. It was him. She responded to him the way she always had in the past, "Hello, David Justin." His heart melted when when she called him by his complete name, for no one called him that except her, his Janet. With that, the bygone doors of the special world they had created between them opened once again.
For a long moment, they did not find it necessary to say anything. As if they could read each other's thoughts from beyond the lines. Then Justin told her that he searched for her after seeing her backstage at the end of their show. He apologized for not being able to talk to her that night. He said he wanted to meet with her if she will allow. She told Justin that she would be happy to see him again, she gave him her home number and address. Justin smiled from his heart as he put down the phone. He had found her and he is never going to let her go again.
_* "I Know You're Out There Somewhere"