To tread the sharp edge of a sword,
To run on smooth-frozen ice,
One needs no footsteps to follow.

Walk over the cliffs with hands free.

Simply Beautiful !

As fate would have it, it was a ice-cream shop which he had entered in that freezy winter afternoon. The place was moderately crowded and someone from behind the counter asked about what flavor he wanted. He managed to thwart that person by saying that he would need some time to think. But he did not have to think much as the burly figure of Aunt Martha entered the shop.

“There you are”, she said.

“Were you trying to hide from me, you little piece of cake?” , she added.

Pip didn’t know what to say. He decided to go for the truth.

“Yes, I was”, he said and managed a rueful smile.

She laughed. She laughed heartily. He had never seen her laugh so hard. He thought it was strange as he expected a rather sullen reaction. If sky would have fallen down at that very moment, Pip wouldn’t have been surprised. However, Aunt Martha’s reaction was surprising. It amused him. *It killed him*

“So, what was your final result of the third grade? Did you pass?” , she questioned.

This was the part Pip was trying to avoid. He had flunked in one subject and would have to take a re-exam next week. He knew Aunt Martha would greatly enjoy that news. He decided not to let her have that pleasure.

“Yes, I did. I passed in all subjects and was amongst the top ranked in the class”, he said with twinkling eyes.

Her jaw dropped. She appeared visibly ruffled.

“Really”, she said with a hint of disappointment.

“Congratulations! Let me buy you an ice-cream then” , she put on a smile and said.

A few moments later, Aunt Martha was gone and Pip stood there with a cup of his favorite ice-cream , hot-chocolate fudge. He was enjoying it thoroughly while at the same time, thinking about his lie and the consequences when Aunt Martha would eventually find it out. Though at that moment, it didn’t matter to him. He somehow felt he didn’t care. He was learning the ways of the world. He was growing up fast.

From the opposite side of the ice-cream shop, some passerby clicked his camera. A smiling face of a happy boy licking his ice-cream got captured onto the frame.

He looked at her squinting his eyes. He had never cared about money all along his life. A piece of paper without any feelings or emotions – an inanimate object -disinteresting and boring.

“Maybe when you are responsible, you will understand its importance”, she said sensing his cynical look.

Responsibility!

“Am I responsible?”, he thought. A moment of satisfaction dawned over him as he realized he was. He felt it was always better knowing inside of oneself rather than claiming words without actually knowing whether they were true or not. He smiled.

She brushed her hair back. Sunlight entering from the side window gleaned from her face giving it a bright radiance – a halo like appearance. A thin film of hair on her forehead moved a little in a tiny flutter of breeze.Her mouth was closed tight, quivering a little at the corners – a sign of disagreement he could easily make out from years of knowing her.

“That was the blemish”, he thought, “the contempt tainting the moment”.

“Lets go”, he said, not wishing to speak further as he himself was not clear about what was wrong but he had an idea. It was related to the heart, to both their hearts.

He always believed that ‘mind’ was simply over rated above the heart of human beings. ‘An expression of the heart’ is what manifests itself outside while ‘An expression of the mind’ is lost in the vast realms of mind itself. Certainly, the mind was more powerful as it could control the heart if needed but the heart was the center of truth. And according to him, truth was important, more than money.

They stood up, staring at each other in silent disagreement. Somewhere, a master – a God – called ‘Time’ was looking down, smiling at them. He knew the answers to their questions.

They left the restaurant and went their ways, uncertain of what the future held for them.

“I have the answers but I won’t give it to them, not yet”, Time said. And then he chuckled.

She was staring in his direction.

“Hi”, she said as she passed by with a small smile which enlarged slowly across her face.

Surprise!

His next step failed to find the ground as he stumbled with his footing. Managing to balance himself somehow, he stood firm for a moment and whispered a word in a very weak tone.

“Hi”, he replied, barely managing to hear his own voice.

Her frame walked off in the opposite direction, with that large smile still spread across the face.

“Nevermind! She was too tall” , he said to himself and continued walking.

I viewed it from the top and the scene appeared magical. It was symbolic of something deep that could be felt inside and not so easily expressed in words. The emotions were there, rising and falling, like splashes of waves, coming with full vigor towards the shore and then receding away the next moment.

Its difficult to express down in words what you can feel but are not aware of.

And then in a minute, everything felt dead.

The breeze that was flowing freely stopped. The emotions vaporised with any traces of light that were left. An abrupt change!

It was dark.

And calm.

And peaceful.

And I wanted to smile then.

B: “Hey, how are you doing?” [Smile]

A: “!!!!” [What!!!]

B: “How are you?” [Surprise]

A: “Ok” [Straight faced]

B: “Ok buddy. Catch you later”

A: “!!!!” [What was that!!!]

Act I Scene II

B: “Hey, how are you doing?” [Smile]

A: “Ok” [!!!] [Pause] ”How are you?” [!!!]

B: “Good. Thanks for asking. Catch you later. Bye”

A: “Hmm”

Act I Scene III

B: “Hey, how are you doing?” [Smile]

A: “Good” [All smiles] … [Without any pause] ”How are you?” [!!!]

B: “Pretty Good. Thanks for asking. Gotcha go. Catch you later. Bye”

A: “Damn! I finally nailed it!” [:D]

a flash of smile,

the longest mile,

a short-lived joy,

Christmas morning toy,

dreams forsaken,

roads not taken,

hopes that are no more,

wounds that are still sore,

moments that stop-by,

painful goodbye,

sights not seen,

and things that could have been!

He smiled.

Coming to the side of his younger brother’s bed, he decided its time his younger brother learnt about a few realities.

“Listen, there are no ghosts. Its just your imagination, there is no such thing as ghosts”

“Really”, said his younger brother looking assuringly at his brother out of his large blue eyes.

“Yes, its all made up to scare people. Now go to sleep, its too late at night.”

Comforted by his elder brother and his presence, the younger kid closed his eyes and went to sleep.

“Its time I get to my bed too” , he thought, looking down at the calm face of his younger brother who was already asleep.

As he raised his head, his gaze went to the window where his brother was staring a few moments before. A pang of shiver went down his spine as he saw a smiling white figure with fiery red eyes floating outside the window looking at them. And then it flew away.

His body froze. He looked down at his brother who was steady asleep with the belief that there are no such thing as ghosts.

“No. Enough chocolates for you already” , she said and started pulling him by his arm , trying to drag him out of the store.

Then it happened.

“Excuse me! ” , a voice echoed from behind.

She turned behind to stare into the smiling face of an elderly gentleman holding a large chocolate in his hand.

“Here you go” , said the elderly man offering the chocolate to the little boy, who immediately took it with a big happy smile on his face.

Her first impulse was to politely refuse the offering made by the elderly man and walk away. Their was a brief pause in the moment wherein out of the corner of her eye, she caught the smiling face of her little boy happy on getting the chocolate and admiring it with a dreamy innocence like quality.

“Thank you!” , she said to the elderly gentleman and walked away dragging her little boy.