Succinct

Weren't your messages to me supposed to be cryptic? Do you have to flash those to all and sundry and malign me?

Go check out 3WW...

What if-----

This time I offer a short story, I wrote three years back. I have not edited anything. Feel free to critique it. Maybe this is a sign that I should try to venture into prose writing. Please let me know..

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After a long harried day at office, I was negotiating the traffic with impatience. I had worked so hard on that particular presentation to pitch our sales, which had been sliding downhill. Despite my best efforts, the buyers were not convinced. There had been series of meetings throughout the day to discuss the ways and means to save our company. We tried negotiating with the bank. But for no avail. If this continued we would go bankrupt. Not a nice prospect. Finally we decided to call it a day at 9.30 p.m. It was a long drive home for me. I was not looking forward to it.

Here I was waiting for the lights to change, tapping at the steering wheel, the day’s event passing through my mind like a bad movie. Lost in my thoughts, I did not notice the lights changing. The car behind me honked. I moved, slowly turning towards the left. A yellow Chevrolet, followed behind.

It started to rain yet again. It had been raining intermittently for 3 days and had stopped for a while. The dark clouds made my mood even bleaker. Barely glancing behind, I kept on my lane. Rains make it so difficult to drive. I felt my car lurching. The yellow car was still behind me. I kept driving straight ahead. The car behind me turned right and disappeared from sight. But after some time, I noticed it following me. May be it had taken a wrong turn before.

But it was uncanny; the Chevrolet followed me closely wherever I turned. I too noticed the driver of that car making wild gestures. It was unnerving. I accelerated, so did he. I slowed down to let him pass but he too slowed down, waving at me to stop.

Without warning I swerved to the middle lane, but so did he, waving menacingly at me. I shook my fist at him and accelerated away. But there he was, faithfully following me, shaking his head and pointing towards me.

I again felt my car wobbling but as it was raining I did not give it much thought. Now my mind was on the car following me. I kept changing lanes, without notice. The car followed me wherever I turned. I speeded up and took another detour. But there it was behind me. I was getting scared by this time. It was pouring. Not another vehicle in sight. Occasionally, a car passed by. No one had any time to glance what was going on. I tried calling the police but no network on my phone.

Suddenly I felt my car shaking. I must have drove over a pothole. Before I could react, the Chevrolet speeded up and stopped in front of my car. I had to brake suddenly to avoid hitting him. The driver got down. He looked so forbidding. He came towards my side of the window. I kept it close, stared ahead resolutely, avoiding looking at him. He tapped and said something, pointing towards the rear end. I could not hear him in all that rain. I saw another car stopping behind. A woman got down. Came and tapped. But I did not want to open the window for her either. They looked at each other, shook their heads and then kept looking at the rear of my car. Throwing caution to winds, I opened my window and asked what was wrong. She said my left rear wheel was on the verge of coming out. Then she drove away. Getting alarmed, I got down with a jerk and checked it. It would have come out in a few more minutes if I had been driving. And if I had not stopped when I did…………!!

I kept staring at the wheel like moron, my mind blank… Without asking, he got down to the business of fixing up the wheel. That made me break away from my stupor. We both worked at it, without exchanging a single word. I was grateful for his help. I wanted to thank him but he brushed aside and drove away, taking a U-turn, without glancing at me.

I started the car, changed the gear, and progressed slowly. My grim mood had disappeared. I was lucky to be in one piece. Switched on the radio. Suddenly interrupting the song, there was an important announcement……….. I braked, went numb and sat there for a long time, my head on the steering wheel, thinking, thanking my stars and that man in the yellow Chevrolet. The announcement was still ringing in my ears when I saw security personnel ahead, stopping everyone. The old bridge ahead had partly washed away some time back taking a few vehicles with it……...

What if ?

Twice……….

Bundle of joy----3WW

Burning
Quietly
Taxi

She wakes up with a start and checks on her infant son. His skin is no longer burning. Fever has come down. She falls to her knees, still holding him and sobs quietly so as not wake her husband in the other room. She rains his face with kisses and holds him tight. Tired, she falls asleep again holding him to her heart right on the floor of the nursery.

Next morning, her husband finds her thus sleeping peacefully with almost a child like expression. Without reacting, he turns and talks to someone on his cell phone.

“It can’t go on like this much longer. I will bring her today,” he says and calls for a taxi.

He gets ready, wakes her up, and looks with grimace at the bundle on her chest. Gently lifting it, he puts it on the cradle. Holding her close, he says, “It is time to let go, my love. Today onwards, we will both undergo counselling until you get better. Our son has been dead for four years and we both need to deal with it.”

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It is a true account. She recovered and has two children now.

Short Story---Normal---3WW

Cope
Revealed
Stick

"Shit!" He thought. Jason was ever so bored with such crowds. He seldom attended parties. Paul, his business partner had insisted and he could not refuse. Now, Jason stood there holding a drink. He looked around and stopped short. She was so breathtakingly beautiful with long silky black hair, dark eyes, and full kissable lips. He felt something stirring inside him. It astonished him.

She was laughing at something Paul was saying. Jason walked towards he, looking deep into her mysterious eyes, said, "I am Jason. And you?" "Olivia," she answered. Though her expression had revealed nothing of the strong attraction, she had felt for him, she too had been watching him all along and was very pleased when he reached her.

"Dance?" He asked.
"Yes. Paul, will you excuse us, please?" She asked turning back towards Paul. He gave a strange look towards Jason and said, "Be my guest."

After that, there was no looking back. Jason forgot his boredom. They were inseparable dancing into the wee hours. He had a gut feeling it was a start of something new in his life. He was confused by his own reactions. However, he wanted to savour the moment. He knew people were talking about him and Olivia. His lifestyle was not exactly a closed book. He had not really cared much before. Now he thought, with her on his side, he could cope with anything.

When the party ended, Jason was reluctant to let her go. He wanted both of them to stick to each other forever. He felt he had found his soul mate. Finally asked, "Would you like to come with me tonight?" Olivia was silent for a moment. Her thoughts somehow echoed his. In the washroom, she had heard enough gossip. That did not bother her at all. "Yes," she answered finally.

In the lift up to his apartment, they could not keep their hands off each other. He was pleasantly surprised. In addition, very pleased with her body's responses to his. Next morning, Jason woke up and stretched, smiling to himself. It had never been so good before this. Most important, he was normal. He could not have asked for more. Olivia was after all, Oliver.

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Please don't forget to read my review of John Steinbeck's The Moon is Down. You won't be disappointed. Another must read book. I recommend it strongly.