Do you believe in the supernatural?

I’m not talking about black magic but manifestations of our dearly beloved who passed on to the after life. That these souls visit us once in a while in different forms (the most common I know are butterflies) to remind us they are just around us?

My uncle died last September.

He’s my father’s younger brother and he was only 62. He had two children, my Cousin A who is here in the UAE and her brother, my Cousin B, works in a ship that travels around the world. Cousin B was currently in South America when he learned of the death of his father. Cousin A immediately flew home. Cousin B on the other hand found it difficult to fly as soon as we wanted. They were at sea and they won’t see land, not in a few more days. The time they docked in Panama a few days later, he boarded a cab to take him to the airport, slumped, feeling really sad at the backseat.

The taxi driver asked him, in heavily Spanish accented English,

“Are you ok señor?” Cousin B only nodded. He wasn’t in the mood to talk about why he is going back home. The cab driver saw his bag tag with his name.

“Señor, your family name is Gomez?”

“Yes.”

“We have the same family name, señor!”, the cab driver excitedly exclaimed.

Cousin B eased up and carried on a brief conversation with the driver but never shared the sad news that the reason he’s going home is because his father died. Cousin B asked how old is the driver. The driver said he is 62 and worried of his recent heart troubles.

A stabbing pain in Cousin B’s heart. His father was 62 too, and now he’s gone. He looked and looked at the driver thinking, “my father could have the same lines, the same warmth of this aged man”. The last time they were together was about a year ago already.

Then it was time to get off. They’ve reached the airport so Cousin B grabbed his things, paid his due and asked one last question before saying Adios.

“Thank you for the ride. What is your name, by the way?”

“Thank you too, señor. My name is Miguel.”

MIGUEL GOMEZ.

Cousin B froze and almost dropped his bags. That is his dead father’s name. The exact same name, the exact same age. And my uncle died of heart attack.

What are the odds?