He stood there dumb-founded, the words not really registering upon him. She was leaving and he stood rooted to the spot. His mind was filled with a thousand questions all of which wanted an answer at once. His mind was filled with an impenetrable mist. He was lost in the fog. He was searching desperately for some kind of an answer. And by the time the mists cleared, she was gone. He stood there, looking at the ring in his hand.

***

She strode up rapidly toward the exit, dabbing her kerchief at her eyes attempting to remove the last traces of tears. But the harder she tried, the faster they came and then they didn’t stop.

His denial had been his undoing. The fact that he so vehemently denied proved that there was indeed someone else in his life. And he had been shocked when she first threw the accusation at him, hadn’t he? If he was telling the truth he needn’t have looked so shocked, right?

Oh why? Why me? Why does it have to be me? Didn’t I love him enough? Why did he have to go to someone else? What did the bitch have that she didn’t? She was definitely a hundred, thousand times more beautiful than her. Even he had said so. And even he admitted that she had a more beautiful smile than the bitch. She also had a better figure than her. Then why?

The strains of a latest movie song filled the air. She faintly recognized it as her cell phone ring-tone. She wiped her tears as best as she could, cleaned her nose and answered the phone. It was Sam.

“Hey, sorry I couldn’t call earlier. I was a little stuck in a meeting here. What’s wrong with your mobile?”

“Nothing. Why?”

“He was trying the whole of evening, but it seemed your mobile was ‘out of coverage area.’ Even I keep getting the same response. Where have you been?”

“Nowhere in particular. Why, what happened?”

“What happened? Haven’t you heard? He’s been promoted to Project Manager!! He wanted you to have the news first. But your cell phone must have conked off. So he called me. They forced him to host a small party and he said he would be late. So he asked me to call you and inform. I was stuck in a meeting with my boss so I couldn’t call earlier. You there?”

“Uh? Yes…”

“He’s slogged mighty hard for it, you know. The boss was impressed. Now he can easily book that flat he’s been looking at the whole of last month.”

“Flat? What flat?”

“You mean he hasn’t told you yet? Uh oh, big mistake! I was supposed to keep it a secret until he told it to you. Damn, me and my big mouth!! Listen, don’t tell him I told you. He’ll kill me. Come to think of it, he should have been there by now. Hasn’t he come yet? Hello… hello…”

She heard nothing more. Clutching the phone in her hand she ran. She knew he wouldn’t be there. Nobody would stomach such an insult and stay. But in her heart she hoped he would stay. She already knew what she had to do.

She reached the park bench. He was nowhere to be seen. Her heart sank. And then she noticed a lone figure sitting on the grass. It was he. He was sitting desolately, plucking the petals off the bunch of roses. She walked up to him. He saw her and immediately stood up, the joy on his face evident, but masked by caution.

She bade him sit on the grass. He obeyed.

He was still clutching the ring. She took his hand in hers and slipped on the ring. He looked at her and smiled. Everything was forgiven. The moment of madness had passed, faded. She leant upon his shoulder and rested her head upon it. He moved his fingers through her long hair. She attempted to speak.

“I…”

“Shhh… Don’t say a word. The new girl at the office is on the phone. I thought since you had left, I might as well flirt a little…”

Well, life was full of surprises.

—–

Author’s note:
That’s all that I have for the moment. I intend to continue it later, from this point, but don’t see where to go… Maybe I need one of those flashes-of-inspiration things that people keep talking about…

They had been engaged for six months now.

As she sat waiting on the park bench, she was reminded of the day in the coffee shop. The entire café had witnessed a wonderful once-in-a-lifetime event. Many of the girls (especially, the PYT) had gone home with a twinkle in their eyes.

Now the only thing that remained was to inform her parents. He was an orphan by birth and lived with his old Aunt who clearly approved of her. Her parents had a vague idea of him as he had been to her home on two occasions: once during Christmas and second when the computer had conked off. They had seemed to accept him fairly well back then, or were they just being courteous to a guest and a friend?

As she pondered these questions over, she became aware that he was looking intently at her. Her reverie was broken and she looked at him. His gaze seemed to reassure her that everything would be alright. She smiled wanly and held his arm. They had walked to her house. He kissed her on the forehead and said, “Good night.” He turned to leave and stopped. He looked at her and said, “Don’t worry, it’ll be alright. They like me, you know. They can’t refuse.”

She had broken the news to her mom, haltingly and trying to judge her reaction at every statement. Her mom took it quite coolly and responded, “We knew.”

“You knew? What do you mean, you knew?”

“He spoke to us yesterday. He asked us for our permission. And we were only too happy to give it to him. You are a very bad liar.” And she had broken into peals of laughter while her daughter stood there stunned. He never failed to surprise.

As the reminiscences came back she chuckled to herself. She gave a cursory glance to the watch more out of habit than the need to know the time. And she realized she had been waiting for him for the last three quarters of the hour. She looked up at the gate. This was getting to be a regular occurrence now.

Third time this week that he was late. Was he…

No, he couldn’t. He is too much in love with me to do that…

That’s what I think. Maybe that’s what he wants me to think. Maybe he’s trying to avoid me. Maybe he’s grown bored of the entire thing. Maybe he doesn’t love me anymore…

No, it cannot be!!

Why not? He’s been an hour late, twice already! He wasn’t like this before! In fact, he was the one who used to wait for me…

That was then. This is now.

Maybe he’s exacting revenge on me, making me wait.

Or maybe he’s really found someone…

Why would he do that? He doesn’t look like the kind…

Men are all the same. They soon get bored and look out for greener pastures.

But I would have caught him somehow or the other!!

He could be seeing her on the sly…

If there is a ‘her’. And if there is, then God help her, because I am gonna claw her face to shreds!!

What else could explain his regular delays? It had to be… another… woman…

She found herself loathing the very mention of it. She decided to confront him with an ultimatum. Men always feared ultimatums, her mom had told her.

The scent of the roses drifted down to where she was sitting and soon enough a bunch of roses found their way into her hands and another found its way into her hair. He came around to her, tie loosened and shirt uncuffed and plopped down in the grass beside her. He laid his head on her lap and closed his eyes. She tousled his hair absentmindedly. He immediately sensed something was amiss.

He got up and looked at her. Her eyes were brimming with tears. He took her face into his hands and she embraced him tightly. He was surprised at this sudden surge of emotions and staggered for a moment before responding to her embrace. And breaking the unwritten code of silence, he spoke.

“What happened? Something wrong?”

“No, nothing,” she replied through her tears.

“Come on, tell me. What happened? Did Mom say something to you? Dad?”

“Nobody said anything to me,” she almost yelled, her tears now unstoppable.

He couldn’t understand what had driven her to shedding tears. For the first time in his life he was confused and bewildered. He had no clue what to do. Clearly, he had never faced a crying woman before. He never had to. After all, he was renowned for being humorous.

It seemed like an eternity before she spoke through her tears.

“Tell me the truth, you are bored with me right? You have found someone new and now you want to leave me, right?”

He was speechless. The words came to him as a shock. Everything seemed hunky-dory the previous day when he had left her… He was still trying to figure out what had happened when she spoke.

“I know you have fallen for someone else. You don’t love me anymore.”

“But…but…”

“What else would explain the fact that you have been an hour late on three occasions now this week?”

“I had work…”

“Don’t give me any excuses. I know the truth. It’s that new girl in the office, right?”

“No… listen…”

“I don’t want to listen to anything. And I don’t want to talk to you anymore.”

“No, you are getting it all wrong…”

“Don’t touch me!! I don’t want to listen and I don’t want to see your face anymore. Here’s your ring. You can give it to that bitch if you like. I don’t care. Don’t ever show me your disgusting face again…”

He stood there dumb-founded, the words not really registering upon him. She was leaving and he stood rooted to the spot. His mind was filled with a thousand questions all of which wanted an answer at once. His mind was filled with an impenetrable mist. He was lost in the fog. He was searching desperately for some kind of an answer. And by the time the mists cleared, she was gone. He stood there, looking at the ring in his hand.

***
Update!!
To be continued…

Continued here at Them - Part 4

She sat sipping the coffee, her eyes riveted to the entrance.

As she took a third sip of the warm liquid, she began to think of the days that had passed and smiled.

After the incident in the theater, life had never been the same. It was now a roller-coaster of fun and enjoyment. He had the talent of surprising her every time she thought he had exhausted his stock. Somehow he managed to come up with something new each time. She wondered how long it would last.

She had been doing that often lately. She never knew she could become so involved in a man. But then he was different. Yeah, right! Nice way of saying, I am madly in love with him. Was he equally serious about her? There was no way of knowing. They had been seeing each other for almost 2 months now. Should they move on to a further level? Or is it too early? What will he think? Is he ready? Or was she just a passing fancy? STOP!!

She held her hand to steady herself. Her eyes were shut tight. She tried to calm her frayed nerves and slowly opened her eyes. He was sitting in front of her.

“They are calling for you,” he said, simply.

“What?”

It hadn’t registered to her that the café speakers had been calling out her name for the past thirty seconds or so.

“I said they are calling for you,” he said it again.

“Calling for me? What for?” she managed to blurt out.

“Beats me! Why don’t you ask them?” he said without so much of a flicker of interest on his face.

She rose in a daze and started to walk towards the counter. A couple of steps later she paused and looked back. He had calmly picked up a newspaper and was nonchalantly sipping away at her coffee. She chuckled to herself and proceeded towards the counter.

The pretty young thing at the counter with her plastic smile chirped, “Yes ma’am! What can I do for you?”

“A lot of things… But for starters you can give me a good reason for calling me here.”

“Oh! So you are she!! Let me tell you ma’am that you are a very lucky woman… Just a moment, ma’am,” and the PYT threw a quick glance at her table, gave another sly grin and went into the innards of the kitchen/pantry before she could say anything.

The wheels of reason began to grind and she turned to look at him and saw a newspaper being hurriedly raised. ‘Oh well! He’s never gonna get tired of doing it, I guess,’ she said to herself and braced for the new surprise that was coming and turned towards the counter. She did not try to guess what it could be. She had learned that doing so was an exercise in futility. He always managed to go beyond her guessing capabilities. So she soon learned to resign and enjoy the surprises as they came.

The PYT soon came back with a small gift wrapped box. She handed over the box to her and said in a furtive tone, “There’s more,” and gestured towards her table.

This bewildered her even more and she turned to go back to her seat and stopped dead in her tracks.

On the table on which they were sitting, was kept a beautiful cake shaped in the form of a rose-bud with words in sugary icing:

“Happy Anniversary!!”

“There are still 10 months to go before we celebrate an ‘anniversary’!” She said without emphasis.

“Who says this is for our first anniversary of being together? This is for our ‘minus first’ marriage anniversary,” he said matter-of-factly.

“Our what?”

“Our ‘minus first’ marriage anniversary. I have decided we are gonna get married exactly a year from now. And I am not asking any questions, I am merely stating facts.”

She sat down in front of him with tears streaming down her face. He simply smiled and produced a knife to cut the cake with.

She smiled through her tears and took the knife. She was about to cut the cake when suddenly she remembered the box. She placed the knife aside and said, “And this is the engagement ring, I suppose?”

“Why don’t you see it for yourself?” he smiled that impish smile again.

She removed the layers of wrapping and found a box. She opened the box and found…

“An eraser?”

“You have been looking for it for almost a week, remember? I found it under my desk and thought you would like it gift-wrapped. So here it is!!”

“Is this your idea of a joke? If it is, I am not laughing! And what is this cake for then? Where’s the engagement ring?” She was almost yelling. She had no idea of what was happening and no idea of what she was saying. All she knew was that she was the happiest person in the world and did not care for anything else now.

She looked at him to find him grinning broadly, almost laughing. He stood up, took the knife, put it in her hand, held her hands and proceeded to cut the cake. As they did so, the knife hit something.

He gave a mock gasp. “What do we have here?” he said in mock surprise.

She had already given up speculating and was smiling and crying at the same time – something that only a woman can do. She watched him fish out another gift-wrapped package this one smaller that the box. In fact, it looked more like a toffee than anything else. He offered the toffee to her and faked it a soon as she tried to take it.

He unwrapped the toffee and produced a ring with a gleaming stone. He went down on his right knee and said in clear, precise words –

“Is this yours?”

“What?” she yelled.

“Oh sorry! Wrong dialogue… I meant to say, ‘Will you marry me?’ ”

She let it all go and nodded a yes as well as she could and when he got up embraced him as hard as she could. Her tears were no longer alien. In fact, they seemed friendlier than ever. She had found her one true love.

She came over to him. His heart was doing a thousand already. When she spoke, it went out of control. He could barely hear her words with his heart booming. For a brief instant he wondered whether she could hear it.

She was saying something, but the words wouldn’t register. He was so engrossed in looking at her that he forgot that he was supposed to hear and answer – as is wont in a conversation.

” … you coming?”, he snapped back to reality just in time to catch the last few words.

“Sorry? I wasn’t listening…”

“I said, we – that is I, Sam and Anita – are going for a movie in the evening, and I was wondering, if you aren’t doing anything, then maybe you would like to join us…”

He couldn’t believe it! Neither his ears nor his luck! She was asking him out? But …

“Now, wait a minute. Isn’t this supposed to happen the other way round? I mean, I think you stole my line!!”

She laughed. It was a simple laugh with no strings attached. A laugh, that seemed to have originated in the deep recesses of her heart. A laugh that had frolicked all the way to her lips where it had played for quite some time, maddening him all the more.

“I had heard you were humorous, but this really takes the cake!”

“Oh!” he said, mocking sarcasm, “So you want an entertainer for the intermission?”

“Now, that’s downright offensive! Usually, I would take offense at such a remark and never ever talk to such a snooty person again…”

“Usually,” he said simply.

She blushed and replied matter-of-factly, “Yes. Usually.”

His cell phone beeped indicating he’d received a message…

He smiled and took out his cell phone. He opened the menu option for text messages and began composing a message. At the same time he turned to her and said, “I don’t mean to disappoint you, but I don’t think I can make it. The boss has me nailed for the evening. You’ll have to look for another clown for the evening.”

He could see she was disappointed. But she tried her best not to show it. She said, instead, “Oh! Hard luck, I must say. The critics have labeled this as one of the best romances shown on the Indian screen. Too bad you’re gonna miss it.”

“Guess I’ll have to catch it sometime later then,” he replied coolly.

“Hope you enjoy watching the movie alone,” she said.

She was fuming and making an attempt not to show it. It was really funny. She looked even prettier when she did that. He suppressed a laugh and continued with his work, satisfied with the result.

She (almost) stomped off to her desk and was in a pretty bad mood the rest of the day. She spoke to no one and didn’t even look at him for the rest of the day. He, on the other hand, was enjoying the day thoroughly, each and every moment of it.

***

Her anger had turned to sorrow and by evening she was pretty much in tears. She wouldn’t talk to anyone or tell anyone about it, but it was evident from her overall behavior that she was hurt. Deeply. Why did he have to reject her so outright? Couldn’t he have used some tact at least? She remembered the time her mother had told her, ‘Men are tactless. They don’t understand that a woman’s heart is fragile and needs to be handled with care.’

They met at the movie hall a good ten minutes prior to the show. It turned out that the tickets were nearly sold out, so Sam had to buy them in black and naturally there was a problem with the seat numbers. Two of the seats were in the last row and the third was in the last-but-third row. She looked at the two of them who were looking at her eagerly, hoping she would make a judicious choice, and she did.

As she sat in the bucket seat in the aisle of the last-but-third row, she wondered for a brief moment who her immediate partner would be. Hers was an aisle seat which meant there would be only one immediate partner. The mention of the word partner caused her to look back at the duo of Sam and Anita, the latter of who was busy feeding popcorn to the former. She sighed and turned to look at the screen. The lights began to dim, signaling the beginning of the movie. The last of the late-comers had begun to rush in…

“Excuse me!”

A voice in the dark. A familiar voice in the dark. For a moment she could not believe it. The voice continued.

“Would you mind shifting to the next seat? I have a thing for aisle seats, you see!”

She looked up and keeping her face as straight as she could replied, “I am sorry, that is not my seat. The ticket says this is my seat.”

“Wouldn’t you change your seat even if I requested you to? Or, what if I told you, that there’s something on the seat that you gotta see…”

She looked at him in disbelief. And then she slowly turned and pushed the seat down and gasped. Lying there on the seat, was a single red rose. She looked at him and saw him grinning. She didn’t have to look back, she knew they would be grinning too… She blushed and shifted to the next seat.

A few hours back, the text message to a bewildered Sam had read:

‘I’m joinin’. Don’t tell her. I’ll arrange 4 d tkts. Pik dem up wen u rch ‘

Yeah, a Wednesday, but not just any wednesday, Today also happens to be the International Quirkyalone Day!

Erm, ohh, and yes, also St. Valentine’s day…

Sasha Cagen the author of “Quirkyalone: A Manifesto for Uncompromising Romantics” conceptualised a personality type termed a Quirkyalone. In Sasha’s words:

Quirkyalones are people who resist the tyranny of coupledom. Oddly enough, we quirkyalones also tend to be romantics.

Odd, eh? Well, read on, there’s more!!

Quirkyalones (QAs, henceforth) are not anti-love or anti dating, they are basically normal people who ‘resist the tyranny of coupledom.’ A QA generally enjoys solitude and sometimes even craves it. But that does NOT mean a QA is a loner. In fact, its just the opposite. Having spent so much time in social company, QAs need time to ingest, introspect and recharge for the next round of interactions.

If you think this thing is a one-off occurence, think again. This is a movement that has spawned an entire breed of Quirkyalones, and what do you know, it will be four years strong this year. The IQD (International Quirkyalone Day) has been celebrated with much fan-fare across different parts of the world.

Head over to Quirkyalone, for more details. Some of you might even want to try this quiz:

How Quirkyalone are you?

Here’s what I got:

Your score was 117. Very quirkyalone:
Relatives may give you quizzical looks, and so may friends, but you know in your heart of hearts that you are following your inner voice. Though you may not be romancing a single person, you are romancing the world. Celebrate your freedom on National Quirkyalone Day, February 14th!

w00t!! I am lovin’ it!! [:D]

Do let me know how yours turns out. Post your score in the comments section. Happy Quirkyalone Day!!

powered by performancing firefox

The coffees at Pete’s had never tasted so good. That’s strange, he thought, I have never had any coffees at Pete’s before. A full minute had passed since the last sentence muttered by either of them. Is that what you call, he mused, an uncomfortable silence? Or is this a comfortable one? Well at least I am comfortable. Wait a second! Why aren’t my feet touching the ground? Oh! I am floating already? Shame on me!! I am supposed to exercise control on my thoughts…

And with that he returned back to terra firma.

She had been looking at him all this while. He thought he saw something in her eyes. Was that love? Or was he over-exaggerating? Or was it? Oh well, too early to guess and too late to see it clearly…

She watched, amused at the struggle happening in his mind. She finally decided that he had been given enough time. She brought her hand to his face and waved as if wiping a Television Screen.

That seemed to do the job. He came to, and sheepishly looked at her.

She held a shining coin in her hands, “A penny for your thoughts, mister?”

He stared hard at the coin and soon his features hardened with the stare.

She took one look at his face and fearing the worst, popped the question, “Something… uh… wrong?”

“Yes.” He replied solemnly.

“Dare I ask what?”

“You sure you wanna hear it?”

“Uh… Yes.. I guess…”

“Then listen carefully. I ‘ll nead at least a million more of these thoughts if I ever were to buy you a decent ring. From what I can see,” he paused, dramatically looking at the penny, “it seems the exchange rate isn’t much!!”

His stern features relaxed into the barest hint of a smile. She realized that she had been had.

Relief washed over her like the rains of spring and before she knew it she was crying. These, of course, were tears of joy.

*****

Why, then, did things go wrong? He stood on the platform and looked at the vast hordes of people moving about like ants. Scurrying away to destinations known only to them, carrying their work known, again, only to them, working for a queen called Fate and bound to a king called Time.

He crossed the station and found his way to the exit and started looking for a cab. A yellow and black machine sidled up to him and a head popped out with a question,”Where to buddy?”

“Ward number 42,” he replied off-handedly.

The taxi trundled along. The cab-driver tried to make some small talk.

“Been here for long, guv?”

“No.”

“Planning on being here for long?”

“Dunno. No, I guess.”

The taxi-driver chuckled. “Everybody says that, mate, everybody says that,” he said in a sing-song voice.

“Here you are. Ward number forty-two.”

Without waiting for the cabbie to recite the fare, he held out a hundred rupee note and said, “Keep the change.”

“Thanks, guv. You’re a pal!”

He closed the door after him and disappeared within the confines of the room.

The cabbie turned to a nurse standing beside him. “He is so nice, I can’t believe he is not normal. If only, it were not for his super-hero shit, I’d say, he is hundred percent okay! Makes you wonder why such things happen to good people like these.” He said pointing his thumb to the closed door.

The nurse giggled and the duo moved on along the corridor their footsteps making an eerie hoof-beat noise on the linoleum as they marched. Far down the corridor, a distant click was heard.

The Lunatic Asylum had been secured. Not that anybody was about to escape. After all, where would… no… WHY would anybody go?

At the other end of the corridor, stood a figure cloaked in black. With a soft movement of the hand, the figure slipped back its cloak. A pair of hazel-green eyes looked at a door that had closed, but a few moments earlier. Had someone been able to look into those eyes, he would have very easily described them as misty.

“Soon, my dear, very soon….”

And the figure in black vanished, leaving no trace that it had even existed in that spot, a couple of moments earlier.

“If you are a figment of my imagination, and I, a figment of yours, then why do we fall in love?”
–Born Stinger

The waiter who had been a mute spectator all along, hurried led them to a table overlooking, well, nothing actually. Or to be really truthful, overlooking a wall. His expression was pitiable. And he was pitied. At least, this time.

“More Coffee, Madam?” The waiter blurted.

The Avenger looked bewildered. And then it dawned on him.

“I am really sorry, I didn’t mean to be late. Actually, my watch stopped working and I thought that if I enetered early, you would realise that I have fallen hopelessly in love with you. And I am blabbering again. But I can’t help it. Will you marry me?”

But it was too late. She could not control herself. She was in stitches. He looked at her helplessly, with the face of an injured puppy. He turned to the waiter.

“A strong black coffee. The strongest you’ve got. And a vegetable sandwich. The lady will order shortly. As you can see, she is quite indisposed currently.”

With these words, the barrage of laugh, that seemed to be subsiding, burst forth again with renewed vigour. He simply looked at her and smiled.

“Tell me when you are done laughing. I wanna tell you something.”

“Wh… wha…. what?” She said between chuckles.

“I said, when you are done laughing.”

“Ok, Ok. Go Ahead.” She raised her hands in a mock defensive pose.”Hit me with all you got!”

“I was not kidding when I said I want to marry you. I really want to.”

“Oh my God, you haven’t realised yet? Don’t you know who I am?”

“Why, you are a nurse, at the Academy. No, please don’t start laughing again. I would really prefer it, if you said it in simple words instead of ridiculing me.”

“Ok. I’ll say it really simply. I am the Temptress. Or rather I used to be the Temptress. Until I joined the Academy, that is.”

The Temptress looked at him with an eager eye. She wanted to see how he would take it. All the others before him had broken down, convinceed that they were merely enchanted by her and that they were not really in love with her. She wanted to see how he would react. Of all the come-on lines she had heard, his had been the best. And the fastest too.

“I know. Is that supposed to make any difference?”

“It is. After all I can enchant anyone who crosses my path. And so I have done with you.”

He thought about this for a while. Then he slowly shook his head.

“Not possible. I was smitten by you even before you looked at me. So it does not wash with the rest of the evidence. Moreover, the effects of your enchantment do not last for more than an hour, by which time you usually made good your escape. This time, I was dying to meet you.”

“Sure didn’t seem like it. You made me wait half-an-hour. I thought you were gonna stand me up.”

“Uh-huh,” he shook his head, “I repeat, my watch stopped working.”

“Well, if that’s the truth, then that settles it.”

“Settles what?”

“Settles the answer to the question.”

“And the answer is…”

“Ummm…”

He held his breath.

“I’ll have to think about it.”

He was dissapointed.

“How long?”

“How long does it take to buy a wedding ring?”

A smile appeared on his face and widened into a grin and then broke into a laughter. When the tide had subsided, he found enough breath to ask, “Are you sure you don’t race cars in a Grand Prix?”

“As a matter of fact, I used to.”

*****

The stryofoam cup in his hands was empty. He threw it out of the window. Painful memories. He hated those kind.

The train was slowing down and it came to a halt. He alighted and was soon engulfed by the huge tidal wave of people. The indicators announced in a clipped-mechanical voice, “Train arrived on Platform number Seven is running on time. Passengers are requested to kindly check their belongings before they alight the train.”

Sigh. The train was on time. He was on time. The passengers were on time. And on that fateful day, someone else had been on time too.

To be continued…

He hated that, not the crowd, but the feeling of being insignificant. He had always thought of himself as the saviour. He prided himself in being the avenger, a name he had given himself. He liked it. The Avenger. He had once heard it while sitting in a coffee shop. Then it had not mattered much to him. But as he grew and realized his true potential and his hidden powers, it all came back to him…

His thoughts were rudely interrupted by the fog horn, which he considered to be too loud. He thought of delivering a powerful zee-ray beam and reduce it to ashes but decided otherwise, after all he had to reach home. His family was waiting for dinner. He pushed and elbowed his way in and found a suitable seat. He checked his bag and threw it over on the luggage rack and returned to his seat.

It was already taken.

He smiled at the man, his smile conveying too many emotions all at once. The man sitting on the seat smiled back, as if to say ‘Sorry buddy, but you know the rule here: finders keepers, losers weepers.’ He understood, but what he couldn’t understand was the extent to which his tolerance had gone in the past couple of years. Ever since he had joined the S.H.A. (The Super Heroes Anonymous) to escape from the glitterati, things had slowly changed…

The initial days at the SHA were very good. They mainly consisted of discussing his prowess with his fellow mates at the office. The regular medical check-ups and the therapies that he had undergone to keep his super-human powers under control had been exhaustive. They had drained him of his energy. But he took it all bravely, like true super-human that he was. Pretty soon he had his powers in control and the nurse too.

He had fallen for her the very first day. He remembered it vividly.He had walked through those large wooden doors taking in the enormity of the place, and at the same time feeling intimidated by it. He was caught unawares by the nurse carrying a tray of medicines. It was bound to happen. They crashed and the instant he looked into those large hazel eyes, he knew that they were made for each other. It seemed like an eternity before he could finally muster up courage to say,

“Sorry, I was not looking. Can we go out for a coffee?”

“That was the fastest pick-up I have ever seen. What do you do, race cars in a grand prix?”

He realised his mistake and immediately sought out to rectify it, hoping over and over again that it wasn’t too late…

“No, I mean… I wanted to make up for my clumsiness and I thought I owed you one. And, er…, You are quite beautiful, I couldn’t take my eyes off you for one second. WHAT AM I SAYING?”

She just laughed and moved ahead. Probably, she was accustomed to people becoming tongue-tied by her beauty. Probably, she thought of him as another addition to a long list. And him? He was still cursing himself for having lost a glorious opportunity. She stopped and turned and said:

“My duty ends at six. If you are still around, meet me at Pete’s, I think I’d like that coffee.”

He was so happy, he flew. He flew all around the place and finally came to a stop when, out of the blue, someone yelled, “All right, all right, you can come down now.” He realised that he had been the very thing he wanted to control and evidently, this was not the place to do it. He near-damned ordered his mind to stop and came down on to terra firma. He looked at his watch. It was four. He still had an hour to finish his work and meet her at Pete’s. He rushed up things and by the time he was finished, the sun was on his way down…

He looked at his watch. The passenger in (his) seat was reluctant to move. Or may be he had super-glue stuck to his behind. His legs were not aching, they never could. A superhero’s legs never ached. He just wanted to sit and think in peace. It was difficult to exercise control on one’s thoughts standing in a moving train and the person in front leaning on him. He just wanted to sit so that nobody could interrupt his thoughts… He just wanted to relax - his mind more than his body.

To be continued…

It couldn’t be…I said to myself…It just couldn’t be… her.

While I was standing there, contemplating which of the two results - me going and speaking with her or me ignoring her after having seen her - would be more disastrous, I saw her walking towards me. So the decision was made. The next step was to think about things we had in common so that I could start up a chat and, if lucky enough,sustain it… And it was then that I rememberd our first conversation…

*******

Everyone in the school had the hots for her. I was merely a number in a long line of aspirants for her courtesy… That was when it has happened. As I was coming out of the maths class contemplating on an integral problem, that I thought the professor got all wrong, I saw her standing in front of me.Actually I noticed it seconds before we collided. The collision being averted only because she screamed…. “HI!!!”

Puzzled I looked first straight into her eyes, and then behind me and then started to walk on, afraid I would reveal my weakness if I stood there any longer. She immediately turned and said…”Hey, That’s no way to treat a woman! Where your courtesy?”

I stopped dead in my tracks.

“That’s no way a woman, who expects to be treated well, must behave. Don’t you think so?”

I cursed myself. She smiled. Good, so she hadn’t taken offence. I’d have to be more careful next time. And we stood just like that. There was a moment of awkward silence between us. She chose to break it before I could venture to do the same.

“So, aren’t you gonna ask me out for coffee or something?”

“Is it a part of the bargain?”

“If you meant the privilege of speaking to me, I’d say yes to that!” and she laughed. It was a carefree laugh. So we want to play the intellectual tug-o-war, do we? Well I am game…

“No,what I actually meant was the privilege of getting totalktome. I don’t talk to strangers. Especially not to ones, who think they are a privilege. Thank you and have a nice day.” I started to move toward the cafeteria,where I had to solve other (less) important problems over a cup of coffee…I managed to sneak a glance at the goddess, She was…well…dumb-struck…

*******

I sat poring over the integral-snakes that my professor had assigned me. It couln’t be. I could not go wrong with the problem. The solutions had to match. Either the printed solutions were wrong or… NO it had to be the printed solutions.

“It’s the third step in your problem.Change the minus to a plus. The rest of it looks pretty okay…”

So she still hadn’t given up. Hmmm. I was dealing with a perseverant phenomenon here.

“Thank you,” I said politely.

“You’re welcome, you now officially owe me a coffee.”

I had to admire her persistence. My long buried skills were returning. Good.

“So do you always charge for your unwanted assistance?”

“No,most of the timepeople get it for free…”

“And, Something tells me I ain’t getting this for free, right?”

“I charge only those who can pay me back.”

“Let me tell you I don’t pay for unwanted assistance. I accept it as complementary.”

“I never said I was gonna charge you…”

“What, then, was the coffee for?”

“To start this conversation…”

Game One. Round One. Goddess.

“OK.So you won. What is it that you want of me?”

“Hey, Was that easy or what!! Fromwhat I was told about you, I think you oughtta have done better that that…”

“And what were you ‘told’,pray?”

“Nothing, I had to sustain the conversation, somehow…”

“And why did you want to do that?”

“Because I like having sensible talks.”

‘I am afraid you have chosen the wrong person to do so. I am neither sensible nor do I talk.”

“You know, It is so difficult to find someone who can talk sensible?”

“I know. And I have been disappointed many times.I donot wish to be disappointed again.”

“Ahhh…Ze competitive streak eez returning M’sieur?”

Game two. Round One. Goddess.

Man, does she know how to deflate or what!!

“Ok,back to the point. Why do you want to sustain a conversation with me?”

“I hate having conversations that last for less than five seconds after which you are in a tearing hurry to rip off - either your clothes or your feet - from the spot. Those are for sluts and their customers. I believe you are not from the same class of people…”

“And how do you assume that?”

“Because I am not…”

“Is that a public statement or a personal belief?”

“What do you think?”

“Why does it matter to you what I think of it?”

“It should, shouldn’t it, I mean a mirror must reflect the feelings of the person looking into it?”

“What makes you think I am your mirror?”

“Because you are asking me exactly the same question I am asking myself this moment…”

I stood there looking at a person I had always believed existed somewhere on the face of this earth and who, secretly, I hoped I would never meet. But I had met that person and that was that. She seemed to have read the thoughts in my mind as she gave out a tinkling laugh.

*******

My thoughts were yanked back to the present by the tinkling laugh. I smiled at her and asked.

“Do you still play those games?”

“I still do play games. Not the same ones,although. I have grown up now. Haven’t you?”

Somethings never change, do they?

“If you were to live different lives everyday,you would love to be Humphrey Bogart one day and Arnold Schwarzenegger the next, and that would be definitely great.The only problem is you wouldn’t have a day to live by yourself.”
- Born Stinger.

I knew that statement was gonna lead us into uncharted territory. I alksoknew that I had to think up of something really fast… Or I would have to face the barrage of questions again…

“Oh? Uncle I just remembered! What happened to that stamp collection of yours? You never showed me your latest additions!”

BINGO!! Ask an uncle about his hobby or his passion and he himself deviates from the topic, Life lesson #117823!!

“Ohh!Yeah!! Good thing you remembered! Infact I was gonna askyou tobring some new first-day covers for me, myself…”

From the frying pan into the fire. Me and my big mouth.

“You can’t escape this topic that easily, Stinger. You have been evading it for alooong time.The time has come for you to tell us the truth.” - My aunt. The ever observant woman.

“Alright, Alright. I give up. Look I met a girl today at the bus stop while I was waiting for a bus. I think I have kinda fallen for her.I thought Nisha was the same girl that I saw at the bus stop and that is the reason and purpose of my yelling…”

I looked up to see them gaping with their mouths opened.

“See? I knew you wouldn’t believe me! Go ahead, tell me I am a very filmy person, etc, etc…”

At this point, it seemed to me that I had committed a big, no the BIGGEST blunder of my life… Be cause when I looked up again,I saw my Uncle and Aunt laughing away like crazy. They laughed so hard that they clutched their stomachs. I couldn’t understand what was happening.

“Hey! Wha…? Why are you guys laughing? Is this what I get for telling you guys the truth? I mean, I trusted you guys and revealed my secret, my innermost feelings… And this is how you guys answer it? By making fun of me? By laughing on my faces? All right,fine!! I am leaving…”

“Nooo…. No.. Wait son… don’t take us in the wrong sense… We didn’t mean to ridicule you or your feeling in any way. It’s just that… this is all very funny. Ok here’s the fact….”

They both looked at each other before finally looking at me. Probably it was one of those do-we-tell-this-clown-the-truth-or-do-we-let-him-wallop-in-grief-looks. Anyways they turned to me and said -

“The truth is, the person you met at the bus-stop was not Nisha, but it was our daughter, ________.”

I stared at them in amazement, not wanting to believe them but actually realising that I did believe them!! And as a matter of fact it did explain why I smelt the floral perfume time and again as I walked along their corridor. Dammit!! It had to be her room!!

As I sat there absolutely shocked, contemplating the effects of this… well..disastrous outing of mine, my aunt spoke up…

“She told us about you. You entered only as we just replaced the phone on the hook. Only we had no I dea it would or even could, be you. I mean, who would have imagined - you of all people!! No, that doesn’t mean that you are not trustworthy…”

“And even if you were, you have proved otherwise!!” - my uncle.

“So what does that mean? You finally have my marriage plans chalked up, don’t you? See Aunt, I told you, you would have your way in these matters!!”

What happened afterwards is a different story, maybe I’ll tell that some other time. But, for now, I think it’s enough if I told you that the marriage never happened. I later found out that my uncle’s daughter was already engaged to someone whom she believed she loved. Heck, It always happens with me. Well, anyway, I have a positive view point to it. I am still single and enjoying!!!

Wot say??

“Not all people are fools, some stay bachelors…”
–Source Unknown.

Disclaimer: The story narrated above is as told to me by a friend of mine who happened to meet me on his way to Venus from Pluto. All characters are of his narrative and any resemblance to any person living or dead is purely coincidental. Born Stinger holds explicit copyright to this material and any reproduction of this work without prior permission of the author is illegeal and shall be taken as a moral offence and a promising step to progressive insaity. Filchers of this work, Beware!! If you have any ounce of sanity left, STAY AWAY!!!