Walks To Remember-7

I am not good at goodbyes. Often, they carry a lot of awkwardness along. I didn't know what this one was gonna  be like.

The night was unusually cold and we were out on a walk. Our last. Though nothing about it made it feel like a last walk, it was just another day, though colder, rain in the skies had been waiting for long. We weren't clingy or anything, rather effortlessly impersonal, I was my obvious self and he was letting me be. It was way past midnight, must have been. I didn't care to check, wanted to lose track of time, wanted not to keep record. Memory is bad luggage. Old trees flanked the road from both sides, there was not a soul anywhere. Like the night was lost in sleep, pretty much.

Just to remind him that we were still together, I screamed..

'Icecream!'
'What??'
'Let's have icecream!'
'Now?'
'Yeah'.

There was a store at the other end, needed a lot of walking.

'Can you go back all the way..?', he paused
'I could walk till the world's end tonite.'

For the icecream I meant. I din't know what he understood.

We would walk on the right side of the road, normally you walk on the left, don't you? But he wouldn't understand. He'd say, only if you walk on the right side would you see vehicles approaching. If you're on the left, how're you even supposed to know what's behind you. And hence I would surrender and we would walk opposing the whole world. Whenever an occasional car passed us, headlights would zoom right on my eyes and he would place his hand on them, like the light was hurting me or something. There were a lot of other things though, inside and hurting, the ones that he couldn't see and I wouldn't show.

At the store, I jumped at the sight of chocolate. While he was paying I broke the silence again.

'You won't have one?
'Nope, I'm good.'
'Ah what? There is no flavor manly enough? C'mon men too eat icecream!'

He stood there, smiling, letting me pull his legs, letting me be, before picking up a cone for himself. And then we began the walk back. It had gotten colder. I was shivering and licking the icecream, and he was staring, amazed. I wanted to take a screenshot.

'How can you do that?', he said trying to look shocked.
'Do what? I'm absolutely loving this. Cold beats cold.'
'Sorry, I can't finish this, would help you beat it better!', he gave his to me.

And so we began walking again. He lit a cigarette. I had devised this strategy to make him quit. I would ask for a puff whenever he smoked. And he obviously would throw it away. But that one time, he didn't. May be, he was trying to get used to noone stopping him henceforth. He immediately placed the cigarette between my lips and said, take it in.

And there we stood. Me, both hands full of icecream, lungs full of smoke, shocked, feeling really stupid. He was laughing like we'd actually reached the world's end.

Just then the waiting rain couldn't wait anymore. It gave in.

WTR-6

22 comments:

Cassiopeia Rises said...

Very nicely written. A strong story and woven images are clear. Well done.

Melanie

D2 said...

There's a great sadness to this one. Very vivid too.
Wonder when the next one's coming. :)

Blasphemous Aesthete said...

All I could think of this narration was this song,
10 miles from town
and I just broke down
spitting out smoke on the side of the road
I'm out here alone
just tryin' to get home
to tell you I was wrong but you already know
believe me you won't stop for nothing
see you so I’ve started running

All that I'm after, is a life full of laughter,
as long as I'm laughing with you, (I think that..),
All that still matters, is love ever after,
after the live we've been through,
'cause I know there’s no life after you.


The two wanted the other to be happy afterwards, they were mutually parting, and not wanting to part at the same time I think. They wanted it to seem so easy...
Well,
at least someone was there (rains) who could take it no more.

Regards,
Blasphemous Aesthete

$uch! said...

Silly :)

The Sage said...

like the character of the guy!!!

Soumya said...

Now, this cannot be fiction :)

wildflower said...

Melanie
Thanks!

D2
Not anytime soon.. :)

BA
Wow!

S
Shut up! Let love happen at least in my stories now :P

Sage
Good that you don't find him hen-pecked or anything :D He's a nice guy though!

Soumya
Parts of it were not..hmm..now why did I say that :D

Surya Prakash V said...

If only my knowing the possibilities ended them, my quest to know more and more would pay for my sins and I would prance along the deserted moor, looking, recognizing the possibilities I found, lost and am looking for - life wouldnt then be captured in those nights with two drops of rain.

Look deeper kid, the ocean rings hollow both ways.

Zave said...

Even this one seems incomplete, and hence leaves the heart aching.
On entirely different note, ice cream and smokes do go along well, don't they.

Zave said...

By the way, you have been tagged in Shuffled. Care to take it up?

wildflower said...

Zave
Icecream is for happy nights, smoke is for sad ones..both of them together is something else altogether!

V
It reads good, but you'll have to explain ..

Surya Prakash V said...

I can explain everything - but not the kid. A kid has a world of his own. Alice in the wonderland is perhaps a constant in every world she enters :)

If the mere discovery of a possibility destroys the possibility, my quest would have some meaning - but as I live my possibility, all possibilities just before an instant seem equally true. Its a fascinating process and yet I am stuck in one possibility I lived on a moon lit terrace one night.

Its hold is too strong.

D2 said...

You have been tagged.
See Tag for details.
:)

aria said...

don;t know what to say - *terribly moved* ..

Killer Drama said...

reality fictionalised? i loved it. sad.. like someone mentioned here. the girl's so cute :)

wildflower said...

Zave & D2
Having a killer week! Will take care of the tag when I done with it.. :)

aria
This is how I seek refuge in fiction

Jeweliot
Bad things happen to cute gals! .. Nice to see you here.. :)

buckingfastard said...

as there is no tag identifying it as fiction or otherwise...i m assuming it to be a fiction

and i m yet to read the previous WTR...but nevertheless loved the simplicity of the conversations...made it feel natural...

the non-mushiness was warm and practical and damn i walk on right side of road for same reason

arvind said...

There were a lot of other things though, inside and hurting..

but me try to practice laugh.. the last and lost laugh..

the flow taking us very near to you.. so near.. and me try to save ur eyes with the hand from the beams of the passing cars..

just loved this..

Amrita Sabat said...

where's WTR-8??! der's a frank disconnect from hostel 2 this city....i wish u could again create the strong images dat WTR 1 & 2 created in my mind.....hope fr dat in WTR 8.......:)

wildflower said...

That happened because I have moved out of that hostel into a big city, it's hard not to steal your stories from your life..

Anonymous said...

I fool be familiar with a scarcely any of the articles on your website in the present circumstances, and I unqualifiedly like your tastefulness of blogging. I added it to my favorites entanglement page list and will be checking stand behind soon. Please repress into public notice my orientation as approvingly and vindicate me be familiar with what you think. Thanks.

wildflower said...

Is there a problem? I do not understand Latin.