There are also a lot of coincidences in the idea that Dylan's phone must have stopped working, that he could find no way to contact R or simply chose not to, that he blew off keeping to their arrangements in order to sleep in, and that he finally dressed, ate cereal and took off with his things only to be abducted by a roaming pervert, all without leaving a note or calling anyone, but a lot of people are leaning that way too.
That's why I said there were too many coincidences...
If you were just picked up from the airport while visiting relatives, and your phone went dead on the way to their home within an hour of them picking you up, would you consider that an amazing coincidence? How about if you had been up almost all night the night before, and fell asleep shortly after getting to the home? Would it then be an unbelievable coincidence?
Okay, so you get up in the morning and the person you're staying with is gone. Nobody stops by for the entire time the person is away; still acceptable coincidences? How about if the person had actually woke you half way up and said he/she would be back in a few hours, would it be impossible to believe that as tired as you had been that you might not even remember the conversation, especially after the coincidences from the night before?
If you plugged in your cell phone and watched some tv you wouldn't normally watch while eating breakfast and waiting for the phone to charge, would that be too much to believe after the other things? How about if you try to use the phone after 30+ minutes and find that the battery won't charge (either the battery or the charger is shot), would that make all of the other things totally impossible?
Ok, we let all of that slide, but what if you went outside to cool off because you're upset about the phone, and don't even think about the fact that there's a land line inside because you've never had to use it and it isn't in an obvious place. Too much coincidence? What if you brought out your bag/backpack with you to see if you may have remembered to pack a spare battery or a pen and paper (which may or may not have been available inside).
No? Well, how about if someone you knew from the area stopped to chat for a few minutes while you were sitting out there? How about if you told the person you were waiting for the relative to get home to take you somewhere, and he/she offered you a ride? If you knew the friend had a phone you could use to contact the relative and say where you were, would it be totally unheard of to not leave a note?
Now after all of that, if you got to your destination, called the relative to say where you were and you were picked up later and brought back to the house, would anyone doubt the truth about any of those other "coincidences"?
Sorry I'm so long-winded, but I'm just trying to make it clearer why I don't think things are necessarily coincidences. One may have nothing to do with the other under other circumstances. MOO
