THE (not just A) walk to remember- 1

I wonder why i've been thinking up stories when i have one to tell from my second pu year. This is a story from my days at Base, crazy to say the least. Although i've jumbled the events a lil bit, and not all of it happened on the very same day, but they all did at some point of time, most of it on one amazing day. No fabrications, no fantasy. Based on our true story, right down to what we spoke about on that day, atleast to the best of my memory...

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‘When something warm and soft just passed through here,

It took the precious things that I hold dear…’

I hummed along with the lyrics of Porcupine Tree’s ‘Deadwing’ as I parked my scooter at the entrance to Base, my coaching centre for one of the innumerable exams we wrote in our 12^th grade. Though the classes were depressing to say the least, I looked forward to meeting my friends every day. With them, there was always something to laugh about, something to like about the class, and something to DO; a welcome change from the rest of the day. Evening 5.30 to 8.30 could be torture or bliss; it just depended on who you sat with in class.

I entered the class, my eyes immediately seeking out my friends. There they were; Keshav aka Mama, Ashwin aka Midget, and Rahul aka Thangi. The story behind the name Mama is too long to write, but Thangi was because Rahul always whined a lot, and his moniker means ‘little sister’ in kannada. Midget of course was short. Another of them, Nikhil was absent today, but he did that a lot. We have other bunk stories with him, but this one is just us four. Technically I never got a real nickname, but you could call me Kengeri, a reminder of an embarrassing experience I once had.

So back to the story. ‘What’s up guys?’ I asked as I settled myself beside them in the bench. It was to be a long evening, and we were preparing ourselves for the gloom that was soon to follow. ‘AVS and SMH’s classes today right? Integration and carbocations, great.’

‘Yeah at least we don’t have GKR calling us all losers again’ Mama laughed.

So did we all, remembering the class when someone had whistled in GKR sir’s class. He got really ticked, and proclaimed that our lives were over, we weren’t serious and that we were all losers who wouldn’t do anything in life. Although we weren’t the perpetrators, we laughed at his manner of speech, funnier when he was angry. Yes, focus and dedication had become just words in the dictionary for us by now. There was still ten minutes for the teacher to come, so were just goofing around.

Thangi piped up, recalling a funny story he’d just heard. It’s always funny to see him start talking. He lazes around silently most of the while, and then his body just uncoils all of a sudden and he begins speaking urgently in this really funny manner. Though he tries hard, everything he says is really…sloooowww. Rest assured, we’ve made more than enough jokes on that.

‘Dude…that Arun guy jumped to the other building again to bunk and meet his girl! And he’s got 39^th rank in this month’s IIT test man!!’

The Arun guy (I forget his last name) had become legendary in Base for this story. Though he was a brilliant guy, topper-type and all, many a times he’d climb over the wall to the right of our building, over to the parapet of the adjoining building and jump onto the street, from where he would go on to meet his girlfriend. The story never ceased to amaze us.

‘He bunked again…hmmm…guys, what the hell are we doing here?! What are we doing here??’ Midget spoke rarely, a contrast to me and Mama, but whenever he spoke, he’d mostly either utter some deep, enigmatic but unnecessary dialogue or give wise suggestions, like this one. He was a good laugher, but you wouldn’t bet a dime on him cracking a joke. We’ve been keeping count for the last few months, and last I remember, it was 14 good jokes.

‘No dude! Not today, I just want to study today man.’ We all laughed at Mama’s protests; he had spent one too many Base evenings playing football at Madhavan Park for us to take him seriously.

I was confused, so I decided to blabber until we reached a decision. ‘Okay, let’s rationalize. What do we achieve by sitting here? We can bunk and roam around till 8.30, out in the open. On the other hand, we might learn something important today, assuming we concentrate…what the heck, let’s go.’

I took my bag and got up. Something about the last word just got me.

‘Dude, we haven’t concentrated for months now. What you’ll start now?’ Midget laughed. ‘Come, let’s leave before AVS comes.’

‘Hey, we go with our bags, the attendant will notice man. What about that?’ Thangi asked. That we were bunking was a foregone conclusion by now, no one was debating that. ‘How about we leave it here and come back at 8.30 to get it?’

‘Bullshit, let’s just try to hide it with our hands, keep it to the left, and walk straight, walk quick. Before we know it, we’ll be out and free’ I said.

With a look to each other, we quickly took our bags and went to the class door. We peered out to find an empty corridor, an encouraging sign. We stuffed our bags under our left arm and prepared to take the brisk walk to the exit.

‘Remember no eye contact with the attendant or the guard’ Mama warned us before we started.

And we started walking. That was when I committed my first fatal mistake of the evening. Just as we were walking past the staff room on the way to the exit, my eyes flickered to the people sitting inside and I found AVS looking at me. Now let me describe to you the monster, the calculus fiend the world knows as A.V. Shivshankar.

He’s a short, very rotund man, with a bald head that catches the light rather brightly. He has a genial smile, but he is the archetypal example of the maxim, ‘looks can be deceiving’. He has a thick, loud voice that can be irritating in the confines of the classroom, especially when he is hurrying along with his endless problems. He expects a lot from his students, some would say too much, and we had absolutely nothing to offer him. And his seniority, his experience and his enviable record meant that when he questioned you or scolded you in class, being numb with terror was a common phenomenon. It was all his eyes actually, if you ask me.

And now it was those eyes staring at me as I hurriedly tore my gaze away before the panic attack set in. But in those milliseconds, he’d seen something in my wide eyes that told him something was afoot. Just as I passed the room and he disappeared from my view I heard him shout to the attendant.

‘Hey, stop those guys!!’

Oh by the way, I’m digressing, but there’s a story attached to that attendant as well. He was just as short and fat as AVS and just as uptight. The circulating joke was that he was AVS’s illegitimate son, and indeed we referred to him as AVS’s love child.

And so it was love child’s heavy tread that I heard behind us and I started panicking. Just as we reached the steps that led to the footpath, I couldn’t contain myself anymore and dashed down the steps, in an obvious attempt to escape.

‘Dude, don’t run its okay…’ Midget started to say, when he heard love child shout at us, telling us to stop. ‘Oh shit run!!’

And the dam finally broke.

There we were, right on the Bull Temple main road. Running helter-skelter, from love child, who was now chasing us onto the road. We took the first side-road to our left, and ran into different lanes. After about fifty meters I stopped and turned to look behind me, to find that I wasn’t being chased anymore. Love child had given up. In about five minutes, we all regrouped at the bajji shop. By unspoken consent, we somehow knew to meet there. It was where we always met if we bunked, starting the bunk with some hot bajjis. Not kidding, the guy probably sent his kids to school on the money the four of us spent on his bajjis.

‘Guys, we actually got chased by the base attendant!! We ran out of base like fugitives man!!’ I was thrilled and terrified at the same time.

‘I swear man! Surreal no? Okay, let’s have bajjis now’ Mama said. Food was always on top of his mind. ALWAYS.

Dissatisfied by his response, I turned to Midget.

‘Yeah man…love child probably lost some weight back there you know? Chuck man, don’t think too much. So now where?’ I grinned at him, fully aware that he had made a reference to ‘Fear of a blank planet’ one of our favorite songs from Porcupine Tree. One of the things we guys had in common was that we even loved the same band.

‘Flyover?’ I suggested.

All of us agreed unanimously, and dug into our bajjis with renewed vigor.

Little was I to know that the next three hours were going to be the craziest, funniest, weirdest and most aimless but awesome hours of my life so far. Once we were finished, we started on the long walk. A collective voice rang amongst us as we said together.

‘To the flyover then’…

Last page last time- 3

If you guys have been following this story, you might have differing opinions on the ending. Some of you might feel it's anti-climatic...but it was always the ending i had in mind n i don intend to change it...hope u like it...back to Sachin n Radhika now...

Part-3

Cut to two weeks after that. Our phone messages started getting more intense, we started talking for longer hours, and my mind was invaded by her thoughts like never before. The only thing was we flung about the ‘L word’ a bit too much for my liking, and pretty soon it got flippant and actually pretty irritating. Not that my feelings for her had changed, it’s just that I didn’t want to be reminded of it every waking second. An attempt at explaining this to her resulted in a row and she felt I wanted out. So to prove to her that it wasn’t the case, I went ahead and got myself a tattoo of her name on my right arm (of course that’s what I told her; it was actually one of those temporary ones that faded away after six months), which seemed to settle matters. She squeaked and hugged me and everything was fine and dandy. And thus, with everything back to normal, we decided to go for a movie the next week. After much deliberation, I convinced her to come for White Noise-2, a movie about ghosts ‘reaching out from the beyond’ (ha, corny phrase!). My suggestion was based upon the age-old hope that she would get scared in the movie and hold me tightly.

And of course that’s what happened, she practically wouldn’t let go throughout the whole movie, her delicate hands gripping my arm tightly and her head resting on my shoulder. I swear man, although the movie’s story, horror, acting and background score sucked, it was the best movie I’d ever watched! By the time we were out, it was dark and I thought it would be spooky to talk about the movie then. Once again as we were walking down tree-road (get used to it), I brought up the topic.

‘So what did you think of those three malicious ghosts in the movie? Were they jobless or what??’

‘Yeah, I mean their depiction of the whole ghost phenomenon is wrong. The only reason these spirits stay back on earth is to complete an unfulfilled desire. Whether their desire is harmonious to all, or is in conflict with someone else’s interest, decides whether these ghosts are labeled good or bad. From their point of view, they are not purposefully doing someone wrong. They are just doing what they have always desired.’

A gave her an odd glance. ‘You seem to know a lot about the, ‘paranormal phenomena’, so to speak.’

When she didn’t reply, I laughed and said, ‘So what, are you now going to tell me that you’re a ghost with your own mission? Those three were probably your chums eh?’

‘You know you’ve really changed my opinion about guys. Other guys have only caused me agony, but you have given me what I was always looking for.’

She turned around to look at me slowly. And then she did something we had not yet got around to doing. She leaned forward and planted a long, delicate kiss on my lips. My entire body was electrified by her delightful touch, and although in a detached corner of my mind I was wondering how this had any relevance to our discussion, the rest of me wasn’t really complaining. When we parted, she spoke with a low, even voice.

‘Thank you Sachin, for fulfilling my wish of finding true love on this plane. I will never forget you; you have given me true peace. I will always love you, now and forever.’ Saying so, she vanished into a pulsating portal that had conjured itself up behind her, jet black one second, blinding white in another. Convinced that I was onto some sort of drug that had been mixed in my coke in the theatre, I collapsed in the street, confusing the pulsating pod with the stars that were now exploding in the insides of my eyes. The last sight I saw was of Radhika vanishing into that ether, anguish writ clean upon her face, waving me goodbye. Then, fade to black…

‘..and he’s saying that Sachin has been suffering from hallucinations. He claims that he checked out the history of the Radhika that Sachin was raving about in his fits. She died two years ago after she had been gang-raped by a group of her college mates while she was waiting for her brother near the main Jayanagar Boulevard at night. Radhika was a sweet and innocent girl, and her brother still blames himself for her hideous death. What he does not understand is how our Sachin is connected to it. What do you…?’

The words drifted down to my ears, like they were spoken from far away, getting clearer as I slowly got a grip over my consciousness. I coughed suddenly and my parents spun around to look at me. They rushed to my side.

‘How are you feeling Sachin?’ my mom asked.

‘I’m fine. What’s been happening? How long have I been asleep for? What were you talking about?’

My father took a deep breath, and sat down beside me before answering.

‘Listen son, I want you to listen to what I have to say to you with calm and open mind okay? You have been out cold for the past three days. And for those three days, you have been moaning, shouting, and pleading in your sleep. About someone named Radhika. Do you know anyone by that name? Answer me honestly.’

‘Of course not’ I lied, not really wanting to risk it.

He looked at a loss for words. ‘I don’t know then. It must have been sheer coincidence that there actually was a Radhika like you mentioned, but the only problem is she is long dead.’ He was unaware that I had overheard exactly how this Radhika had died. But I was hoping it wasn’t the same one.

‘Son you have been mentally ill for a while now, according to our psychologist. Did you have a source of stress or sorrow, for something like this to happen?’ my mom asked, anguished concern etched in the lines of her face. ‘He says you have been hallucinating about some girl, that for the past three days you have been cooking up fabricated details of this imaginary person, and have been ranting and raving about it.’

‘Oh my god, so all that was happening was just a nightmare?’ I asked, breathing a sigh of relief.

‘You remember what happened??’

‘Well, I just remember an entity, and an overwhelming fear, helplessness…oh it’s just too much! Don’t remind me.’ I cried. They did not pursue the topic.

‘Yes, whatever has been happening to you all this while was an illusion. You haven’t been anywhere but here this whole while.’

I collapsed into my bed with relief. Bad nightmares I could handle, but bad reality was something else. ‘You just rest for now son. We’ll just drop see the doctor out and come back.’ They left my room.

I sat there marveling at the power of the human brain to conjure up such a sustained and convincing illusion. It was indeed something else. Switching to a more pertinent topic, I smelt the shirt I had spent the last three days in, and obviously, it was reeking. I took it off and reached for a tee lying nearby. That’s when my entire body went numb, my blood ran cold, and my brain once again stopped making sense of my surroundings. Because right there, on my right arm, was that name, tattooed in red and black.

‘Radhika’

That was when one singular thought blazed its way through my tumultuous head and clanged into my consciousness with crushing ferocity. A thought that brought back all the misgivings, and made life a bigger illusion than the last three days apparently had been. One thought.

It had all been true…

Last page last time- 2

Tomorrow finally came. I was at the Café before time, a first for me. She came, looking really nice in blue jeans, a white t-shirt, with a light blue pullover on top. She waved at me from far, and I suddenly felt like the luckiest guy in all Bangalore. We got ourselves a table and started talking. I don’t really remember what we ordered, nor do I care. I just remember that we talked a lot.

She was my age and was starting college too (still the luckiest guy, yes). It was actually her brother who had taken the physics second-hand book three years ago and somehow her number had found its way there. She told me all her likes and dislikes and miraculously, we had a lot in common. See, the thing with me is, compatibility and me have never really had a very easy relation. So whenever someone relates with me, I generally do not believe it myself. This is how it went.

‘So, what kinds of music do you listen to?’ I was pretty sure this is where it’d all break down.

‘Well mostly rock music; there’s this kind of really unknown band called Porcupine Tree. Ever heard of it?’ She looked more than ready to believe that I hadn’t. I, on the other hand could not believe what I’d just heard.

‘Did you say Porcupine Tree? God, I worship them! Wow, there’s actually someone else who’s heard of and loved them! I only have like a handful of such friends.’ And then of course, the next half an hour was spent on the nuances of Porcupine Tree’s discography. Then we talked about sports; here again I was surprised. She had played basketball for state a while ago, while I’d played for college. Her views on most issues matched mine, and on the matters where they didn’t, her fervor in the defense of her opinions was identical to mine. Even her sense of humor was like mine, sarcastic and cynical. Something special was going on here. At the end of two hours we decided to end our meet, thoroughly having enjoyed ourselves and promising to meet after two days, just one day before college started.

And so we met, and kept meeting over the next two months. And one fine day, we were in Fire Station, near the ‘tree-road’. It was basically a boulevard lined on either side with huge, green trees. Even its many by-lanes and surrounding parks had a tranquil, fresh atmosphere. It was a haven for both of us. Digging into our ice-creams, we were busy poking fun at the stupid looking people who were walking outside. I’d ditched my friends and she’d told her parents she was going for extra classes in college. That’s when I got a call from Rishabh, own of my childhood buddies, and a rare good friend.

‘Where are you dude? You coming or not?’ he demanded, with an arrogance that could only have come from years of friendship.

‘I’m sorry to have lied to you man. But I’m with Radhika right now. Haven’t met her in a while.’

‘Well, none of us have ever met her you know. I’m still in shock that a cynic jackass like you is actually with someone.’ He laughed. ‘Sure you’re not imagining it all? Maybe she’s a ghost??’

‘Hey, my friend Rishabh thinks you’re probably a ghost, because he’s never really seen you’ I sniggered as I told Radhika.

‘Well you can tell him to shove off. If that’s the best thing he can say about me, it’s probably for the best that we haven’t met’ she snapped.

‘Dude, I’ll talk to you later…’ I cut off, puzzled by her sudden outburst. ‘What’s wrong? Why are you so angry?’

‘No...It’s just that I don’t like people saying things about me. I don’t know, I just have this insecurity, chuck it, it’s just one of those quirks I have’ she said demurely, in a way that made me ignore the outburst for the time being. After a quiet minute I asked her playfully, ‘Seriously, why would you have cappuccino flavored ice-cream? It’s like insulting coffee and ice-cream at the same time!’

‘Oh come on, it’s really nice! You’ve got to try it. Here’ she passed me her cup and upon my refusal, forced a spoonful into my mouth.

‘It’s not bad, but forgive me for being a loyal member of the ‘Chocolate for life’ community’ I laughed.

She looked at me ruefully. ‘You’re just not adventurous enough. Staid, that’s what you are. If you never try anything different in life, how would you learn anything new?’

‘You’re there for that right? Experience the world on my behalf, and then come home and tell me what you learnt. I’ll see the world through your eyes.’ I said softly, in what I thought was a good impression of sounding romantic. Either my words were not perfect, or she just knew me too well by now, but she didn’t buy it.

‘Go dump your dialogues on someone else. Come on, finish up, and let’s go for a walk.’ We almost always met in the vicinity of the tree-road, as it was a ritual for us to take a walk in the lanes once we were done with whatever it was that we’d meet up to do. We walked, hand in hand, and I was the object of many guys’ envious glances. We were talking about our favorite books, and in one respect she was totally predictable. She was a fan of the Twilight series. I guess all girls are hard-wired to like it. We sat down on one of the park benches, and she started telling me the whole story, despite my vehement protests. Initially I refused to pay attention to what she was saying and did want to know how the vampire dude swept the dumb human girl off her feet. But pretty soon I found myself transfixed at the way Radhika was explaining the story. The way she moved her hands, how she suddenly smiled when she recalled a particularly favorite part, and her innocent and absorbent way of explaining the nuances in the plot. Suddenly I was overwhelmed by this alien feeling and got struck by a thought of crystal clarity. And before I knew it, the words made their way from my brain to my lips.

‘I love you…’ I said, and caught myself before I said anything else. Every guy knows, that there’s a difference between ‘like’ and ‘love’, and the transition takes its time. Once you’ve said the word, you’ve taken the leap; there’s no looking back. Things could get a lot more complicated. Did I do it too soon?

Her eyes widened, and she looked at me, silently for a whole ten seconds. ‘Really?’

‘Yeah well, we’ve been together for a couple of months now and all, and while you were telling me that story, I don’t know something just made me say it...’ I muttered, trying to get over with the moment soon. I wasn’t good with this sort of emotion, and I doubt if most guys are.

She just hugged me tightly and I reciprocated, wondering if there was anything else that I was supposed to do. ‘I love you too’ she whispered, and something told me this wasn’t a customary reply from her side, but genuine emotion. Was she waiting for me to say it? When I saw her face there was upon it a shining happiness, mirrored by myself. We just sat there like that for a few minutes, the only sound being the rustle of the trees, enjoying each other’s silent company.

And so it reinforced my opinion that I was indeed the luckiest guy in all Bangalore!!

Last page last time- part 1

Almost all my stories or poems are to do with characters not too similar with me. But in this one, i decided to do one on myself :P...of course the cynicism is a bit over-the-top, else i'd end up a loner...also i devour books, unlike Sachin here, n not a great of the tube, but besides that, its a little similar...n the premise of the story too is imaginary of course :P...

Last page last time

I was pissed. Yes pissed. After four months of vacations, college was starting again. No, I’m not one of those ‘oh-we-thought-vacations-would-be-fun-but-we’re-glad-college-is-starting’ types. I liked my joblessness, my numb hours in front of the TV, and my hours on the terrace with my I-pod way more than anything college could offer me. Sure I had friends, but I found in solace in solitude, and I didn’t think there was anything wrong with that. We’d played basketball, gone for road trips, crashed weddings and god knows whatnot, but well, that wasn’t what I’d miss doing.

So when dad told me go all the way to Avenue road to get my books for degree course, suffice to say that even the ghost of a smile on my face was rarer than winter in the Sahara. Plus there was this deal wherein I got all my books real cheap as I bought them second-hand and sold them back or something like that. Anyways, bottom line; I hated study books and especially second-hand ones. So when I finally did get them one day I just threw them disinterestedly onto the bed, not sparing a second glance at the fact that they were all slipping and falling out of the bag. Anyways the physics book looked like it was crying out for help, with the prodigious chemistry book lording over it. So I just took it out of the pile, and for formality if nothing else, flipped through the pages.

Now here’s the thing with second-hand books. The people who own them before you have this obnoxious habit of writing their stuff in the pages, apparently unaware of the fact that these very same pages shall be read someone else who might not appreciate your divine discourse. Names, explanations, equations (most of them wrong) and most commonly, phone numbers. Of course, the last page was where most of the action happened. Needless to say, there were around five phone numbers on this book’s page. As I was about to chuck the book away however, an idea struck me. Why don’t I just try some of these numbers? Mess around a little with them. My time was pointless enough for me to indulge in such activities, so I reasoned, why not?

I sat down beside the phone and looked at the numbers. I selected one at random and dialed. After about four rings, a deep male voice answered the phone. I started.

‘Hello. Eh Naveen, you jackass. Where the hell were you an hour ago? I was waiting for you there!’

‘I’m sorry you’ve reached the wrong number. I’m not Naveen, but Rajeev…’

‘You *peep* *peep* (yes I can’t write them here, get the point?), stop playing around with me.’ And then I started off a tirade of vernacular slang and I assure you none of it was parliamentary language. The guy on the other end finally put the phone down huffily, and I had a hearty laugh over it. I decided to try another number. Yes, in case you did not notice (my god you’re slow), I’m a cynic; and a big one at that.

It rang, and then a female voice answered the phone. Frankly, I was speechless. The voice sounded so sweet and mellifluous, it was like flutes were playing in my ears. The accent was educated, cultured and yet it sounded like someone my age, someone Bangalorean, just like me. I wondered that if her voice was like this, how she would look. I had to know; and so thought of a plan.

‘Hello? Hello?’

‘Hello. Yes may I know who I’m speaking to?’

‘It’s Radhika here. Who’s this?’

‘Hey Radhika, remember your friend Vinay?’ (With like a million Vinays in Bangalore, everyone has a Vinay for a friend)

‘Oh yeah! What happened?’

‘Well, I’m his friend Sachin. I think you’d lent him one of your books that’s ended up with me. I was wondering if I could drop it off at your place or meet you someplace and give it. You might need it.’ I tried convincing her.

‘Sure, I live in Shanti Park, Jayanagar 9^th block. Call me on this number whenever you’re around in the evenings. See you.’

‘Bye.’ God, I really wanted to meet this girl. So the next day, I took my copy of Angels and Demons with me. This was the book I was going to claim was hers. Almost everyone had an Angels and Demons copy, so I figured it was a good bet. I made my way to Shanti Park and called her.

‘Oh you’re here already? Great; I’ll come to the gate, just wait there.’

And then she came. To put it in a single sentence, she was beautiful. Five feet eight, fair, she had real cute features, especially her eyes. And when she smiled, she got those dimples in her cheeks, and those eyes lit up. Deep brown orbs that could easily swallow you, that commanded you to look at nothing else but them. She moved with an artistic grace, like she was treading on air. She walked up to me, and extended a slender hand to shake.

‘Hey Sachin. How are you?’

I took a second to answer and immediately berated myself for it. She probably thought I was slow now.

‘Hey. Here’s the book that Vinay gave me.’ I handed her the copy and prayed that she would buy my story. She looked at the book for a whole minute, and then looked at me. Somehow a noticed a thread of suspicion winding its way through her gaze. I felt naked under her compelling scrutiny, caught red-handed.

‘So what’s the deal here Sachin? My Angels and Demons book is in my house, I’m sure of that. What sort of joke is this? Who are you really? How did you get my number?’

I wanted to scream and tell her that her beauty was already clouding my mind enough and making it difficult to co-ordinate my faculties to answer her endless questions. But instead I poured out a stream of truth, telling her exactly what had happened and what I’d done. The determined expression on her face didn’t leave me much of a choice anyways. Somehow she managed to look even more beautiful that way. At the end of it, she just laughed out loud, and my hair stood on end. It sounded like a chorus of angels.

‘So you did all of this just because you were curious to see me? So what do you think now?’ She posed and turned as if auditioning for a modeling contract. She seemed to be okay with it; looked like outright honesty did have its benefits. And fact is, much as a pretty girl will deny knowledge of, she knows if she looks good or not, so you’re not exactly giving them an epiphany.

‘It’s one of the smartest things I’ve probably done in a long time.’ I blurted sheepishly, grinning.

She smiled back. ‘So is there anything else you want to ask me?’ she added suggestively.

‘Sure…would you like to sometime, you know, whenever you say, sometime come…’ I’d never done this before and was finding it exceedingly hard.

‘Ok. Tomorrow at ten, Café Coffee Day, near the I-store?’

‘I’ll see you there.’ I said, and ran out of there, afraid that some passerby would pinch me and I’d find myself in my bed. I glanced backwards, to once again see her glide back to her house. That’s when I realized, shit, this girl was turning me into a poet!