The Surprise!

“You wear this on your hands when you feel cold” Zach read the clue and smiled. “Gloves” he wrote down in the white spaces of the crossword. ‘Come on Kathy, I didn’t think it would be that simple!’ Zach muttered almost to himself. He looked at the clock which told him it was only 8 o’clock and it would be another 2 hours before any store opened. So he decided to take his time and finish his crossword in the Panorama, his preferred newspaper, before he went around looking for more clues that his girlfriend had planted. 'Working as a journalist sure has its perks!' Zach smiled amusedly.

Kathy and Zach had been dating for almost 2 years now. One would never have seen a couple more in love. They were as perfect as Mistletoe and Christmas!

One day Kathy told Zach, “I have something really very important to tell you. But I will tell you that only if you can find me!” Zach pulled her in close and said, “There, I found you.. Now tell me.” Kathy wriggled out of his grasp and stood facing him. Holding his hands, so he does not try any more stunts like that, Kathy said,” Zach! I’m serious.. Listen to me carefully or you won’t get your gift!”

“Ah, it involves gifts ehh? You got my attention now sweety. Tell me about this chase that you’re leading me on”

“Ok listen then, like you already know, there is going to be a gift at the end of the trail. BUT, you will get it only if you can reach me. Exactly a week from now, when you open the paper to solve your crossword, you will find your first clue. All you have to do is keep following the clues, find me and you get that special something meant just for you!” Kathy beamed.

Zach smiled at her. She was such a romantic. And so very spontaneous. But with this spontaneity she had the grit to follow her ideas through. He knew that the chase that Kathy had designed for him would definitely be good and something they would never forget.

Come Friday and he opened his crossword, he instinctively knew the clue would be in the words that went across and not down. Kathy was not the sort of person who would let herself be pulled down. When she was emotionally disturbed, she threw herself even more in her work, never letting herself feel low. So Zach was pretty confident he would find his first clue in the across section. The other clues in the crossword included, ” an island nation of the Greater Antilles, situated in the Caribbean Sea”. And though she had said she wants them to go to Jamaica for a vacation, that wouldn’t be where he was required to go right now. She had kept mentioning how she wanted just those black gloves from her favourite store, ‘My Wardrobe’ and so that is where he would go first.

At 10, he was standing in front of the ‘My Wardrobe’ store, and he was the first customer in. Taking a little help from the sales staff, he found the black gloves that Kathy had wanted and went to the counter to bill for them. As the cashier was calculating his bill, Zach asked, “Excuse me sir, I am Zachary Smith, do you have anything for me?” “You mean besides the bill? No I’m afraid I do not sir. Is there anything specific that you were looking for?” Zach shook his head, paid the amount mentioned in the bill and thanked the cashier. “Mr.Smith, I hope you find what you are looking for.” The cashier said. “Sometimes we tend to miss things that are right in front of us. Have a nice day Mr.Smith”

“Hmm…right in front of us…had the cashier just given him his next clue?” Zach wondered. Right in front of the shop was a bus stand. Puzzled, Zach went across nonetheless. “Excuse me sir” he asked a man standing at the stop. “Could you please tell me where do the buses that leave from here go?” “All of them?” asked the man and on getting a nod from Zach, gave him the necessary information. All the destinations having no particular specialty to Kathy and him together, Zach concluded that must not be what the clue is.

Zach went and sat in his car, keeping the bag with the gloves in it on the seat next to him. A corner of the bill stuck out, and as Zach was putting the bill in properly, he glimpsed ‘Café Mondeu’ written on it. He pulled the bill out. It mentioned that anyone who possesses that particular bill was given a discount to any purchase worth up to 10dollars. “Café Mondeu huh Kathy?” Zach smiled. That had been the place they had gone for their first date.

Café Mondeu was only a couple of blocks away from ‘My Wardrobe’ and Zach reached there in less than 15mins. Making his way to the booth, Zach sat down and looked through the menu card. He spotted his favourite, cappuccino with white sugar and whipped cream, the price of which was 10 dollars exact! “How sweet of you Kathy to think about me so much!” having ordered his coffee, Zach sat sipping it slowly, wondering what the next clue could be. As this was a complimentary coffee, he did not get any bill with it. Thus wondering what to do next, Zach kept playing with/rotating the coffee cup in his hand. After almost the third time that Zach rotated that cup, he looked down at it. Splashed across it in bright colours was an advertisement of a Radio channel. They were having an entire show for those who wanted to dedicate songs to their loved ones. And it was supposed to start at 11 o’clock exactly. Zach looked at his watch; it was already ten past 11.

He hurried out to his car and switched on the radio. ‘ Nothing’s gonna change my love for you’ was already on air. Zach hoped he hadn’t missed the dedication from Kathy. When the Rj came back on air after the song saying, “And that was our first dedicated song of the show. Ricky man, your one lucky guy!” “Next up on Master Sounds FM we have Kathy dedicating the Graduation song to all her friends” Zach turned the volume up as Kathy’s voice came on air. “ Guys I love you sooo much. I do hope we stay in touch always!” turning down the volume, Zach shook his head. This was not his Kathy. This was some high-school graduating kid, judging from her over enthusiastic voice. Zach enjoyed the song while finishing his coffee. The song descended into advertisements broadcasting the various sponsors and their products, and then there was a jingle about how the Master Sounds FM Radio Station was the best in town and how this totally different show had callers dedicating songs from 3 days prior to the actual show! By the time the Rj came back on air, Zach was getting a little impatient at having nothing to do. With his usual exuberance the Rj introduced their next caller, another Kathy! Zach turned the volume up again as the first strings of ‘All You Need Is Love’ started playing. The Rj asked Kathy who she was dedicating this song to and what her message was. “This song is for my boyfriend Zach. As for the message, he’ll know after hearing the song!”

Zach remembered how Kathy had wanted the Beatles cd and how it was out of stock in most shops that they frequented. Both of them had gone to all the music stores looking for that cd, as she had just wanted it so very desperately. Kathy had been like an inconsolable child that day, Zach recalled as he made his way to the store where they finally found the cd, ‘Melody’s melodies’. He wasn’t sure what he was looking for, but he knew he would figure it out when he reached there.....

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(to be continued..)

Faltering Hopes...

“Click”….. The phone line went dead. She put the receiver back into its cradle. Sitting on her chair she closed her eyes, trying desperately to control the tears that had formed in her eyes and were threatening to pour out. She couldn’t cry. She was strong, and strong girls don’t cry. Her hands were on her knees and a faraway look in the eyes which had been twinkling just a few moments back.

She felt a complete and utter sense of loss. But how could it be described as a loss, something that was never really her’s. Her dreams had been shattered, her hopes dead. What all she had imagined and what had actually happened! She closed her eyes again wanting desperately to melt into the floor and just vanish away. But it wasn’t possible, she knew. Though she tried to be discreet, a lot of people around her were aware of her feelings for him. The same teasing which she once secretly enjoyed was something she was dreading to face. Her friends, she could talk to, but what about the others who would be oblivious to this turn of events and continue to tease her? She did not have the strength to see all the pitiful faces; those sympathetic smiles. She wanted to disappear, just be a nobody. Her life was empty if he could not share it with her. The incident a few minutes back had completely clogged her mind, made her numb, incapable of forming any rational thought.

Wanting to distract herself, she decided to meet up with her friends. All through the evening, the conversation replayed itself in her mind, bringing a fresh flow of tears in her eyes. Those tears, which she knew she must control. It was hard, but not impossible. She couldn’t burden others with her own problems. They had their own. She had to keep all the thoughts, the feelings and pain inside her. She had to have the guts to face the world. But mostly she had to accept what had happened before she could tell it, even to her best friends.

The thoughts, those hurtful moments, she recorded them in her diary. But his wonderful face; soft, chocolate brown eyes and his cute grin kept presenting itself in front of her and she had to live with it. As a hard as she tried, she couldn’t get rid of those eyes of his which kept popping in her mind and making her want to shout. Her head started swooning; and when she closed her eyes to stop from spinning, she recalled the phone conversation which they had had. “No. I just don’t feel the same way” was the sentence that was torturing her. She had just told him her most important secret, had opened up her heart to him, had called, wishing and wishing deeply for him to accept her. She had even weaved a beautiful dreamland just for the two of them. But her dreamland got crushed under the force of just one word, “No.” her heart ached when she heard it. “What’s the reason?” she asked him, trying desperately for the last time to make him realize how much he meant to her. But he broke her heart anyway.

They had a lot of common friends and she was bound to run into him sooner or later. The thought that once brought happiness was something she wanted to avoid now. She didn’t want to see him again, because she knew that her heart would pine for his love again- something that she would have to contend living without. He was never going to be hers anymore. Maybe his heart belonged to someone else already!

She kept thinking of the times when they had been together and how she mistook his friendliness to be his love for her. Did her own feelings blind her so much that she could not see the reality as it was? “Didn’t his eyes twinkle just for me? Was that smile not really special?” she felt, as she closed the diary into which she had just filled in this new entry. It was late night when she crept upstairs and entered her bed. Now in the darkness of the room and the comfort of being alone, her heart opened again, wider than ever, and she didn’t try to stop the tears from finally pouring out...