So I was in Nevada last week, and you have to hear this story.

I wasn't in one of the big towns like Vegas or Reno. This was a speck on the map on a highway that nobody went on anymore. I was going to meet a friend who had run off to live in the desert. You know how it is with some people. He said he was doing well, but I could tell that he was having problems. He used to wear a suit to work every day and then woke up one morning and decided that he couldn't do that anymore. You know the kind of person that I'm talking about.

In any event, I'm in this town and I can't even remember the name of it anymore. Or, rather, I didn't even know the same to begin with. You know how it is when you're driving in the middle of nowhere and they have these signs along the road telling you that you're in this or that place? Except you look around and there's nothing there. And you pass by maybe a dozen of these things and you can't keep track of what place you're even supposed to be in because there's nothing around you but trees or rocks or what have you.

Except in this place, whatever it was called, there was a gas station and a diner and a little hotel across the street. I wanted to keep on driving so I didn't think of getting a room. Not that I ever would in a place like that. You know, you hear stories.

Anyway, I did need to get a meal in me, so I stopped by the diner. Now here maybe you're thinking that it's one of these quaint little places that you see in the movies that looks like it hasn't changed in fifty years. But there was nothing at all quaint about this place. It was a dirty old place with linoleum floors and parts of the ceiling were missing so you could see up into the roof. And there were chairs and little round tables scattered around here and there and the walls were bare. You know, maybe you were expecting a place with lots of old photographs everywhere and music playing on the jukebox. There wasn't any jukebox, either. There wasn't even a counter.

But there were people inside this place. A waitress met my gaze when I walked in and pointed towards the tables. "Anywhere you'd like, " she told me. She was an older woman, though I could not quite tell how old.

Anyway, I picked a table with a local newspaper on it so I could catch up on things. On the front page there was election talk. You know, you have Harry Reid there running against that new person. Sharron Angle (I had to go look it up just now, I admit). There was a poll in the middle of the front page and columns down either with each writer telling us why we should vote for one or the other candidate. You know, one took one side and the other took the other side. Newspapers like to do that sometimes.

The waitress dropped a menu on my table and then noticed me reading. "You from around here?" she said.

"I'm visiting a friend, " I told her.

"They bring those papers in every day, but I don't even think we pay for them, " she told me. "You know, I don't own this place, but I've seen the books. And I think we stopped paying for our subscription nearly a year ago. But they keep on giving them to us."

"Maybe they could use the business, " I said. "Tell their advertisers that they have you on as a client."

"I don't think anyone would be too impressed by that, " she said. "Having this place as one of their customers."

"It's all about numbers for the papers right now, " I said. "Times are tough."

"Well, they might as well go under if that's what's going to happen, " she said. "Don't drag us into their mess."

I ordered a club sandwich with potato chips. It took about ten minutes for them to fix up everything, and then the waitress was at my table again. "Here you go, " she said, setting the food in front of me.

"Big election here this year, " I said, tapping front of the newspaper.

"Are you still reading that thing?" she said. "I can get through it in thirty seconds if I read everything worth reading."

"Still, people are watching this one, " I told her.

"I haven't decided who to vote for yet, " she said. "We have a lot of commercials running, though. If we had a television in here I could show you. They're on all the time."

"Are you leaning one way or the other?" I asked her.

"I wouldn't tell you if I was, " she said. "You'd probably give me a big speech about why I should go for the other person."

"It makes no difference to me either way, " I said.

"I thought you said everyone was paying attention, " the waitress said. "By that logic, you should have an opinion on the issue. You were the one who brought it up in the first place."

I put the paper down across from me. "Do you know why I'm here?" I asked her.

"A friend of yours is from around here, " she sad. "You told me."

"He's not from around here, " I said. "He moved here nearly a year ago. For the first four or five months after he left, I didn't hear from him at all. I thought maybe something had happened to him, you know? Someone runs off just like that, without putting too much thought into it, and you don't know what's going to happen. I'm even thinking about trying to contact his family. I think I have his mother's information somewhere. But I don't know what to do. But then I get a call, right about at the point where I'm about ready to act, you know?"

"So your friend was fine, I take it, " the waitress said.

"He's not doing well, " I told her. "He says he's fine, but I know him well. I've known him for years. We've worked in the same office for a long time. You know, we'd go golfing together when it was nice on the weekend. He looked about the same as anyone else you'd meet on the street. But now I know that something is really wrong with him. In fact, I predict that this will be the last time I ever see him."

"That's kind of mean to think like that, " she said. "Or at least you should do something."

"I've been trying to do something ever since he phoned me, " I said. "I even told him that our employer was ready to hire him back, if he decided to come back. That wasn't true, of course. Probably he knew that. But I've been pleading with him. You have to understand that. Pleading with him."

"You should have come here sooner if he's in such bad shape, " he told me.

"He told me where he was living yesterday, " I said. "You know, he was calling me from a cell phone. I tried to get a service to track it down, but they couldn't give me a precise address. He doesn't even have an address. That's the problem. But I finally convinced him to tell me where he was, as well as he could describe it."

"So now you know where you're going?" she said. "We have maps around here if you need one."

"I'll be fine, " I said. "He gave me incredibly precise directions. I know exactly where I have to turn off, and how far I have to go. You know, that's the thing. He wouldn't tell me anything about where he was living for so long, and then he tells me his location in such precise detail. So that's why I think I'm never going to see him again after this."

The waitress thought about this for a moment. "So he want to say goodbye, " she then said.

"I don't think it's like that, " I said. "He's not like that. He's pretty unemotional, to tell you the truth. I suppose that's one thing that makes him different from the average person. He keeps his emotions to himself. But something was obviously bothering him since he got up and left, you know?"

"You don't know what anyone is thinking, " she said.

"I think he wants someone here just to confirm that he was here in the first place, " I said. "I mean, that he was here, alive and kicking. At least for a while."

"So this is a legal kind of thing, then, " the waitress said.

"That's not what I mean, " I sad. "Though perhaps there's something to that as well. But what I'm talking about is that he's living alone out here. And yesterday, right before he told me where was living, he said something. You know what he said? He said, 'I want you to come down here and then go back to where you came from.'"

"That's what he said, " the waitress asked.

"Word for word, " I told her.

"Not too friendly, " she said.

"Friendly for him, I think, " I said. "I'm taking it as a compliment."

"I guess maybe that's the best approach, " the waitress said.

"Maybe it's not the best approach, " I told her. "But it's the one I'm taking."