Note : 27 - A fairytayle within a fairytayle

…late on a real lazy Friday night … the clock said 2 am.. I hopped off my work-office-home desk...bidding adieu to the open work machine..”see you tomoro love”  machines too need their love – just a little bit.. we spend days – and on occasions such as these – even nights - with them – I give them the love they deserve, just for hanging around – helping me work..

I walk back to the door – peek through – I see two lovely ladies – peacefully – carelessly – safely, sleeping and probably dreaming away..a sight for sore eyes – I smile as I walk towards the kitchen door – fill a glass full of milk – gulp it down and walk back to dear sleep.

My minds playing a silent song in the head – maybe its Clapton – Running on Faith..

The rooms pretty ordinary - for my own sake – except for flashes where the girls have redecorated - the curtains..the bed sheet – the only color in an otherwise grey existence.

I hear some movement from next door and then I see Agnes come down to my room –

“what happened sugar? Bad dream ?”

“no daddy, sleep wont come – can u tell me a story  - dad cooked”

“dad – cooked” I smile – she`s got her wit at 2 am -  “!!Ok honey ” I lift her in my arms –
“Boy, she`s growing”, I wonder

“ which one today – I ask –

The one with the gummy bear?? “ she shakes her head – Reject..

“the one with the little boy who could sing to stars as they went to bed” – head-shake again – Reject

“the one with the mermaid – fishes – crabs and the bird?”

After a deep thought – she says “hmm – ok” – I had expected a yes – but women/little girls J

She rested her head on my shoulder – arms wrapped around – I paced in the moonlit balcony and I begin – a fairytayle within a fairytayle –

“Not so long ago – it was a wild wild summer – the trees went brown and withered, the skies –cloudless and burning – like the heavens were on fire – earth was bone dry and the warmth – disappeared from the human heart and entered the brain like a lava – people became shrewd and forgot how to love. There still lived among such men – one other – who still believed in standing up for what was good – who still believed the motor of the world was not be stopped but rekindled with joy and passion.”

“he never said it – he played around like others – trying to always do the right thing – spread happiness – nurturing the human within. Always walking – in search for things to search… On one such day when the unrelenting sun – bathed the ground below – with light – a mermaid walked those lands – she was one who would survive both on land and water - under the seas where no human ever went – she belonged to a different place – one of her kind – she was.

The man and the mermaid happened to meet – just like that – on a busy road – when he looked at her – he realized she too was searching – searching for something she did not know she had lost.

They spoke.

Quietly at first – as strangers, with interest a while later – like acquaintances, with a new found cheerfulness some more time later – as friends and then they spoke like the clouds to the sun – engulfing one another – like the winds talking to the trees – like 2 people who were sure they were-not meeting for the first time – as though they had travelled through lives together – journeyed through ages and it was time in this life to walk together – hand in hand.

When they were done – on the 7^th day – the sun relented – clouds formed and seemed like rain.

“The water`s calling you dear woman” – the man said

“But i`ve never been there”

“let me take u there and then you`ll find you home – because that is where you belong” – coz there are times when a shining candle to forgets its own significance in the dark around – it has to be reminded – that all the light there is – is because it shines.

He took her to the seas – took her hand and they took dip – the thirst quenched.

She swam – swam like the first time a child draws breath – the gratification – for the lands were not her – the sea`s were. Her gills breathed life into her and the gills fluttered like a happy child. The fishes greeted her – the crabs played music – with their claws – the dolphins sang – the weeds danced –seas horses galloped -  father ocean was throwing a party his daughter had returned -   

The clouds now dense – the sun was to be sent on a holiday.

It rained. Flowers grew.

The mermaid swam away.

The man walked from where he had left off – “I`ll always be around” the mermaid last said – he only wished she would – for the oceans were vast and her dreams were many.

The oceans were vast and her dreams were many”

The moon still shone bright – Agnes – had slept off – while the mermaid swam – I put her to bed and covered her with her Pooh bear blanket.

The next day morning – she told Lily the exact same story.

“Was that man you daddy” – Lil asked.

 

-          hdk