Saturday, March 10, 2007

A Night to Remember

Based on a true story - Mine!
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1


I have never believed in love at first sight.

Two people look into each other's eyes and suddenly you hear violins! That's a riot! People looking at each other's eyes itself is a rarity. Isn't that the reason the cellphone was invented? I believe that Cupid had nothing to do with to do love and affection. He's just a cute guy who likes to prance around in his nothing-wear and shoot people in their rear sides.

I don't believe in love. I thought I was right. I was wrong. She came along.

I had just returned from a hard day's work last night. The warm weather was getting to me. I threw open the windows and kept the door open as well. I opened my laptop to play some soft music. I went into the shower and felt the warm water cleanse me of all my tension. I wrapped a towel around me and stepped out into the hall.

There she was.

She had entered silently, propped herself up on my couch and was sitting and staring at me with a level gaze. I couldn't take my eyes off her. Somewhere in the distant background, I could hear a faint music.

Violins! And my butt had this funny sore feeling to it as well!

I wanted to ask her what she was doing here. I wanted to know how she had the audacity to enter my apartment, sit on my couch and stare at me. I opened my mouth to speak but the words were lost as the memories came rushing by.

Every morning, when I would get ready for work, I would see her face. I had never seen anything more beautiful in my life. I knew there was never a chance we would meet. From the looks of her, I assumed she must be from a big family. The pining was there, I'll admit. But I had never disclosed this to anyone, much less - her. Our interactions to date were only glances and glimpses with averted eyes.

And yet, she had come. She had come and here she was.

"What .. er .. do you want?", I asked her, not knowing what kind of an answer I could expect. I got none. She merely looked the other way and then looked straight back at me.

"This is my house. Please tell me what you want", I could feel some confidence creeping into my voice, thought I didn't sound convincing even to myself.

This time she did answer me. Not in words. But in action. She stood up as if to leave. She touched the door and then started to walk around the house. I stood transfixed , cold and dripping. Slowly, I went to the door and closed it shut.

I thought for a second, then I bolted it.

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2

She walked around the house tantalisingly. I couldn't take my eyes off her. She walked everywhere, and took in the place as if she was considering moving in here for good. Meanwhile, I fixed drinks for both of us, both neat by the way. By the time she had returned from her tour, I was sitting on the ground in the hall. She came sat in front of me, looking straight into my eye as if she was trying to read something there, and then abruptly turned her attention to her drink and began sipping her drink slowly. I watched her. There was no more than 4 feet between us, but the tension was so thick, you could cut it and put it between bread and serve it as cheap burgers. I wolfed down my drink, poured myself another glass and finished that one as well.

I looked at the time. It was 11:30 p.m. We had kept up this drama for almost an hour and a half now. Who was she? I knew nothing about her. What her name was, where she came from, what she wanted, how she was spending an evening with a total stranger ... nothing. But then I thought, maybe I shouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. Maybe my prayers were being answered. That is why they constructed places of worship, didn't they? Maybe it was God giving me back something for all my years of ...

She stood up. Her eyes looked different now. They had a purpose. She walked gracefully away from me. I found myself lost in total rapture... and then shock.

She had walked straight into my bedroom.

Nervously, I got up and walked in. She had 'gotten comfortable' and settled nicely on the other side of the bed. Not knowing what to do, I put the AC on full blast and cautiously crept in beside her. I lay my head on the pillow and looked away. I was a scaredy cat when it came to females. I waited for her to make the first move. She made none, at first, and then I felt something tingling up my spine. She was teasing me. I turned to look at her. I could see nothing, it was pitch dark. She snuggled up under my arms and lay her head to rest on my chest. That was it. It felt nice.

It had come a long way from seeing her on the street to finding her cuddled up with me in my bed. This had not gone so bad after all. This could be a new beginning. Maybe, I could hint at her moving in soon. But she had other plans...

An hour later, she got up and walked out of the door. She was going to sleep outside. And that was that. I felt an admiration for her. I was not sure why. But it felt nice that she had acted so maturely. I drifted off to sleep.


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3

My alarm clock screamed to life at 7:00 a.m. I woke with a start. Had I dreamed the entire thing? That question was quickly put to rest. The entire bedroom smelt of her presence from yesterday. I slowly opened the door so as not to startle her.

There was no one there. She had left me. I searched all the rooms for her. Not a trace. Had she gone to the terrace for an early morning walk? I screamed up the stairs. The shining terrace stared blankly back at me. I came back to my house, miserable and dejected. I felt used, there was no two ways about it. She had come, used me and gone away. She didn't even leave a note.

"Thank you. Last night was wonderful!"

"See you again tomorrow night!"

"Haha! Sucker!!"

I cooked tea and toasted some bread. I did everything in slow motion. I wanted to give her as much as time as I could to come back. I realised that I was in over my head!

I finally got ready, locked the doors and walked heavily to my car.

Then I saw her. But something different happened.

She walked towards me. I didn't know what to do. It was broad daylight. This was unprecedented. When she came closer, she touched me with her paw, meowed a few times and went back to sleep under one of the other cars in the lot.

I opened my car door and as I turned on the ignition, I tried to interpret what she had told me.

A voice in my head told me it was "See you at 8:00!"

I smiled and drove away.

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Author's Note:
This is a true story. I had named her Phoebe .. for a good reason! This story is not inspired by Jeffrey Archer. Though it is very similar to one of his short stories, this has been written from a diametrically opposite perspective. This happened to me yesterday night. At least two people know about it. Tell me what you think. Hit Comments below. Come fall in love!
This is my second short story. You can read the first one here.

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

hmm interesting...well written, similar to your short story in terms of style of writing, although not as elaborate...a little predictable, the ending...but you should work on your writing! doing a good job!

Anonymous said...

good one again...know what! when we were talking about this femmefatale in your flat, I did get a gut feeling that this will be on your blog and here it is ! btw, why didn't you mention about the candlelight dinner you two had with tiger biscuits on the menu ;)

Fuzzy, the Ducky said...

@anon1:
thanks for the appreciation and the gentle push forward .. I'll try to live up to your expectations. May I know whose expectations these are?

Fuzzy, the Ducky said...

@ sonal
Well a guy's got to do what a blogger's got to do!
Okay there were tiger biscuits .. but candlelight dinner. Now I think [i]you[/i] should start writing stories!

Anonymous said...

Fantastic...!!!
The suspense & drama was built up well..
Ever considered a career in writing, buddy?

Fuzzy, the Ducky said...

@ yet another anon:
Thanks Nemo! Sweet of you to say that! Must say that you words are most flattering. Even more flattering is that this is the first time a cat has commented on me!

Meowing right back to you!

Gaurav said...

Hmmmm....wen am I seeing her....
cudnt meet her last time ard...
You didnt describe how she moved ard in ur house...how she walked.... :D

Anonymous said...

You definitely have a talent. I have always wanted to write, but never could come up with anything impressive. Perhaps I should read more of ur stuff to get some kind of inspiration. Keep it up!

Chandu said...

Nice to know you got some pussy finally!

It just didn't have any suspense in it for me! Maybe because I know you too well. BTW, the usual ploy to make such suspense really work is to bring in more 'action', because there isn't any conversation happening.