Beeping: A Moroccan Mystery

I like to consider myself to be pretty with-it when it comes to techy stuff, but I must admit that I cannot wrap my mind around the idea of beeping.

Beeping, for those that don't know, is pretty much the Moroccan equivalent to the text message. Texting is popular here, as well as in the States, but beeping is free. And in the pre-pay world, free is good.

Wait -- sorry, let me back up farther.

The large majority of cell phones in Morocco are pre-paid, meaning that both calls and texts cost money. Incoming anything is free, but outgoing is not. There are no minutes included, or free nights and weekends, or any of that jazz. There is also no unlimited texting, which breaks my heart (and occasionally, my bank). However, when you make a phone call and the other person doesn't pick up, that phone call is free (as there was no connection).

This -- calling somone and hanging up before the other party picks up -- is called beeping. It's quite popular here in both the Moroccan and PCV community, but I cannot get the hang of it. A beep can mean a number of things, I'm told, like the following:

-"I'm thinking of you and wanted to say hello."
-"Call me, I have to talk to you but I can't afford it."
-"I'm here/there/where we agreed to meet."
-"Are you coming?"
-"I'm waiting for you."

While I am a fan of options, I am a bigger fan of clear styles of communication. And for me, the beep isn't sufficient. I will now provide you two examples, along with my thoughts on the situation, to show you how your phone ringing once and hanging up can actually mean a number of things.

1. I was standing by my taxi tree this morning, waiting for a taxi into my souq town (what else would one be waiting for, next to the taxi tree?) where I was going to meet Hinde and Fadma, from way back in CBT, for a weekend of fun in my site. I was then beeped by Hinde.

Does this beep mean that they've arrived in my souqtown?
Or that they're just leaving their souq town?
Or that Hinde wants me to call her back because she can't come out this weekend but is low on minutes?

Maybe I have an overactive imagination? Let me give another example:

2. Approximately five days ago, I had a short text conversation with a Moroccan friend of mine. We volleyed back and forth about three times each, and very obviously ended the conversation. Then, this friend beeps me.

Have a good night?
I'm still thinking about you, even though we just said good night five minutes ago?
I have something more to say but it to be a surprise?!

I confessed my ignorance of the beep to a fellow PCV after situation number 2 happened, and to my relief, I found another confused party.

That makes two of us.