Chocolate Umbrella

Chapter 14 - Chocolate Umbrella

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CHAPTER 14

Glancing at the time shown on the computer, Emile quickly opened up his Instant Message, hoping to get a hold of Conrad.  It was mid-morning in Vancouver and Conrad should be up by now.  Emile could not wipe the smile off his face, not that he wanted to.  He was so excited that his fingers were trembling when he typed on the keyboard. 

Emile: Hey Conrad!  R u there?

Conrad: Yup!  Got my email?

Emile: Sure did.

Conrad: What do u think?

Emile: GMTA :-)

Conrad: Huh?

Emile: Great Minds Think Alike.

Conrad: What u mean?

Emile: I am working on the same thing!

Conrad: No way!

Emile: I will send u my prototype.

Conrad: love to see it.

Emile: Can I call u now?

Conrad: Sure can.

Emile composed an email on his computer and sent Conrad his prototype.  He then picked up the phone and called him. 

“Hi Conrad!”  Emile’s excitement was very obvious in his voice.

“Hey Emile.”  Conrad’s smile was also detectable over the phone line.

“You got my prototype?  I sent it to your gmail.”   Emile casually tapped his fingers on the desk.

“­Yup.  Just got it.  Let me get my cable and put it on my phone.  Hold on a sec.” 

Taking advantage of this moment of silence, Emile continued to play with Conrad’s java app on his phone and the webpage being served up from Conrad’s computer. 

“This is brilliant.”  He murmured and his smile just grew wider by each second.      

“What did you say?”  Conrad returned to the line and Emile didn’t even notice.

“I said your app is just brilliant.”

“You think so?  Okay, let me see yours.”   Conrad pressed a few keys on the phone and with each beeping sound it emitted, Emile mentally mapped out what Conrad was doing.  He knew exactly the moment when his app was successfully loaded on Conrad’s phone.

“Wow!  I cannot believe this!”  Conrad’s excitement definitely raised a notch when he saw Emile’s app.

“Tell me about it.”  Emile chuckled, “you should have seen my reaction when I saw yours.”

For a few minutes, there was only the sound of “beep, beep, beep” and “click, click, click” over the phones, not that anyone noticed as the two men were busily pressing the keypads and typing on the keyboards, trying out each other’s prototype.  After spending a few more moments with the prototypes, it was obvious to them that while both applications shared the same idea of mobile e-reading, the one created by Conrad was far more complete and well developed.

“Well, looks like we are on the same path.  How long have your worked on this?”  Conrad was certainly intrigued by this coincidence as his amusement was so obvious in his voice. 

“A few months.  It was just a pet project that I do at night. What are you up to these days anyway?”  Emile relaxed in his chair as he put down the device on his desk.  Seeing Conrad’s prototype, he suddenly felt that he was not alone after all.  At least there was Conrad on the other side of the continent, sharing the same dream he had.  The relief was so enthralling.