Old Man's Glasses (Short Story)

"I shouldn't have shouted at him in the morning. Can't forget that look on his face when he walked into his room without a word. Can't say I regret it now but..."

I was thinking about what happened at home just a few minutes ago. I was in a rush to catch the bus to my office and I saw my old uncle sitting and reading the morning daily at the dining table. He is past his 80s and came to live with us about a year back. I took him home after his wife's funeral because he had no living children to take care of him, and also because it was a chance for me to pay him back for the love and affection that the couple showered on me when I stayed with them all through my graduating years. I did this against my wife's will. The middle class family that we are, we were not in a position to feed one more person and yet I succumbed to my moral duty.

As I was slipping my feet into the shoes I heard that sound for the fourth time since he came to stay with us - the sound of his reading glasses hitting the floor. I turned around and saw him picking up the pieces of his broken glasses. I do not know what got into me but I started shouting at him. Maybe it was because I was listening to the constant complaints by my wife about him. The complaints about how the old man has become an extra burden for a family of four living in a two-bedroom apartment had become more frequent in the past few weeks and I was beginning to see my wits end at defending my old uncle.

He didn't respond. He looked at me. There was a strange fear writ in his eyes and for a moment it took me years back to the day when he caught me smoking in my room. He walked in without a warning and I was sitting near the window with a cigarette between my lips. I tried to spit the cigarette out through the window but in vain. It landed on my shorts and burned a hole on it. But my predicament didn't end there. He looked at me with blood shot eyes and growled...

Is history repeating here but with the roles reversed? Is it pay back time? No. My reaction was more impulsive than anything intentional. I felt sorry as I saw him walk into his room without a word.

But... The vehicle loan, the house loan, school fees for our two kids and the other monthly expenses and I'm the only earning member. How can the old man be so careless? Is this his way of showing his gratitude for my benevolence towards him? My mind became a mess.

I was sitting at a seat near the window of the bus. The cool breeze on my face made me doze off a bit. I woke up with the jolt of the bus coming to a halt. I had four more stops to go. I stretched in my seat and found an old man take the seat near me. He must have been in his late 70s and he gave me one of those naive toothless smiles. Soon as he settled in his seat, he opened the news daily in his hands and started to flip through its pages. He stopped at every obituary notifications and scrutinised the picture in detail. I wondered what the old man was doing. I observed him with curiosity.

He smiled again when he looked at me and as if he read it all in my eyes, he said, "Just checking whether there were any familiar faces. Maybe an old friend..." and he added with a deep sigh after a few seconds, "Wouldn't be too long when I too would become a framed picture on the wall of my home."

For the first time, I felt a lingering pain in his smile. Did I have words to console him? The inevitable fate of all living things irrespective of whether he's rich or poor, whether he is a success or a failure - death. That's where all our journey ends no matter how many turns we take on the way and there're no exceptions. The picture of my old uncle walking into his room flashed across my mind again.

How long is he going to be with us?

My heart felt heavy. The bus stopped where I had to get down and I took a second look at the old man sitting near me. His was dozing with his chin dug into his chest and his frail frame heaved with every breath he took.

I had a new pair of reading glasses for my old uncle when I returned home. I found him in the living room watching T.V with my two kids. My seven-year old daughter was sleeping on his lap and he was stroking her frizzy hair. My son who was the elder of the both had his eyes glued on the T.V and my wife was busy preparing dinner.

I took the glasses out of my bag and placed it in his hands. He smiled like a kid who just got gifted a rose candy when he looked at me and I said the one word that I saved for him the whole day - Sorry.

The Encounter (Short story)

The sky was clear and blue about half hour back. Never has the Sunday sky been so blue since the rain started. Perhaps, it was my instincts that asked me to carry along my umbrella when I went out shopping for my fiancée. She was bed ridden with a badly sprained left knee and said she’s in need of some good books to pass her idling hours.

And, there I was, buying books and DVDs for my dear lady, when it started pouring heavily without a warning. The sudden down pour caused quite a commotion in the streets. People ran helter-skelter for a shelter. Within no time the streets started flooding and nevertheless to say, the street where I stood had the poorest drainage system (or so it seemed), for we had water up to the door steps of the shop within minutes since it started raining. Feeling a bit gay, I wrapped the purchase neatly in a plastic bag and tucked it under my arm, opened my umbrella and stood at the side street, enjoying the rain and the cool drizzle that the wind brought on to my face.

Seconds ticked by and I stood there humming a favourite tune. I noticed a black sedan that came to a halt across the street and a few seconds later, the driver started honking like mad. He pulled down the window, put his hand outside and stated shaking it like he was calling someone. Before I could turn around and look for who he was calling, a lady just stepped into my umbrella and said, “Can you please help me cross the street. I’m in a hurry”. Without waiting for a reply, she put her arm around my waist and pulled me along with her. Now, this was something I least expected and I had no choice than to succumb.

Within seconds we were near the car and she opened the door and got in. I stood there shocked and so thoroughly numb trying hard to figure out what had just happened!

“Thank you and hope we never meet again”, she said and pulled up the window. And before I could respond the car moved away.

But that touch, that sound, the smell of that perfume… Seemed so familiar! But… But who?

And in a flash it all dawned on me.

Yes. It was her. My first love who left me all soul-shattered and heart-broken when she ran away with another guy after being with me for nearly five years. Those were the worst days of my life, trying to recover from a most unexpected blow. It was never easy until I met Eve.

It was a chance meeting in a book store that I had with Evelyn and before I realized anything, I was engaged to this most wonderful woman I’ve ever come across in my life. Soon I began to reconcile with my past and promised myself never to dwell in the hurts of yester years. I started dreaming again, being hopeful about things… I started living again.

And now… Meeting her again and that too in such an unexpected situation was thoroughly an unnerving experience. My emotions were all mixed up when I walked back to Eve’s apartment. Those past hurts, the anger, the rage, the deep-deep sorrow and all that had just sprang back like a dragon with claws from nowhere.

“What happened? Something wrong?”, Eve asked me when I sat on the chair that I pulled near her bed.

“Ah! Nothing…”, I said in a weak tone.

“Come on. That’s not true. I can read it on your face. Tell me na…”

“Eve …” and that’s all I could say. The next moment I had my arms around her and our lips were locked in a most blissful kiss ever.

The kiss, it seemed, lasted for, I don’t know how long? But when it was over, I had tears in my eyes and Eve was looking deep into it.

“It was her, wasn’t it?”, Eve asked without taking her eyes off mine.

“Yes. But… Eve…”

“That’s ok. I can understand. First love is always the best or the worst experience in anyone’s life. It’s ok, dear”, she said and spread her arms wide open.

Being held close to her chest I knew that there could never be a better place for me in this whole wide world.