Sunday 8 November 2009

Alien -2

Read part 1 here
She was shocked and for a few seconds, held the bag tightly as if it is a life jacket and she is in a drowning boat. Suddenly she realised someone was staring at her and to add to her already shocked state, she realised it was the ticket checker.
"oh, my, I am dead" she thought as she realised both the tickets were with the hubby who had got down at the previous stop.
She saw the "T.C." advancing towards her, But had a wave of relief pass on her as he kindly said" I saw what happened, Don't worry,Get down at the next station and take a train back."
Smiling gratefully at him, she got ready to get off at the next station, when her phone rang.
"How dumb of me" she thought as she heard her husband's voice from the other end.
"Hi dear, where are you"
"still in the train, don't worry, I ll get off the next stop and take a train back"
"poor you, I am so sorry, dint realise you had that bag with you"
"come one, as if you knew I am a slow coach, I am getting off now, will try to get the next train, looks like there is one at the station now" so saying she jumped off the train but unfortunately the other train was only waiting for the signal and left as soon as her train reached the station.
Sadly, she called her husband again, who informed her that the next train is going to be 20 minutes from then.
She gave a sigh and for the first time looked around.
It was a deserted station and quite small. Pretending to be brave, she went and sat on a bench again clutching the bag tightly. She heard a few voices, not too far away and she swallowed hard to get rid of the heavy lump that was hurting her throat.
" No, I should be brave, there's nothing to be scared" she told herself as the phone rang again.
"Hi, what s up? scared"
"noooooooo"
" come on, be brave, Anyway lets talk till the train arrives"
"sure, as though we never talk at home " she smiled for the first time in the last half an hour.
" no, we don't, Not like we used to, remember . We were very far from each other then, so this tiny instrument was the only means to feel closest to each other " so saying he smiled too.
Soon they started to talk and she found herself telling him all those things she felt after she reached this alien land , her fears which she had never mentioned about, home-sickness which she was proud enough not to mention about and her insecurity about what the future holds for them. He listened very patiently , re-assuring her like he used to always and soon she heard the train slowing down at the station.
She hung up the phone and minutes later jumped into the arms of her dear husband who said " so, how was your train adventure ?"
" pretty good, comforting and most importantly very encouraging. Thank you" she said.
"hey, Don't thank me. Thank the train"
" no, no, I should thank you for jumping out the train like a monkey leaving me alone" she said and they laughed together, a laugh of hope and lots of dreams about a wonderful life together.

Even to this day, the biggest way of displaying feelings , sharing thoughts and clearing clouds of confusion are obviously over phone and the phone companies are having a great profit on our expense. :) :)

3 comments:

Swaram said...

Ha ha ha! So its the phone company which is still reaping the benefits ;)

itsyvitsy said...

How so very romantic. I loved this piece. But tell me how could you travel back again on the other train? Did you have money enough to buy yourself a ticket or does it not work like that?

Swathy said...

@ swaram: hmmm, yes, we had chosen a phone company giving free talk times to keep our 'loooooove' growing!;)

@ vittal: ticket bought is has time validity and is not based on distance you travel.In any case, ticket checker's come in as a suprise,and you have to have a ticket to get in /come out of station.Since I dint walk out, in my case, I dint buy a ticket.Anyway, aj had both ours, so I was not worried.
It was around 8.00 at night. :) so there wont be too many tc s around anyway.