365 DAYS 365 TALES

The Locket

THE PAST

'I am sorry!'

He fingered the locket in his hands...There were so many occasions where she had repeatedly shown her love for him. A sudden act, a gesture, a wink, a smile......

'I knew that you liked the book, I picked it up on the way home....' a knowing smile, a sudden wink, making him feel....complete.

'We cannot have it this way...We will change it!' the sudden glint of steel in the eyes with a stubborn chin,telling him that she would not give up this matter, because it was the right thing to do.

'Do it! Because that is what your heart tells you to do!' an almost absurd dimple in the cheeks which made her features soft...almost like a child...

The man tried to stop thinking about the images. They hurt, right now. Hurt him real bad. Because all that he had known after his marriage was brought to a sudden end. By just three words. I am sorry...

The man could not bear to look at the shriveled face which was losing a fighting battle against cancer and was still trying to look mischievous.

'Don't go, please!' The man begged his wife, trying to hold her hands to prevent his own hands from shaking.

There was no reply. The man was startled to realize that she never would reply. Ever again.

He wept.

From somewhere deep within himself he heard her words. 'Life goes on! My work here is done! Apparently, yours is not! I will see you, when your work is over!'

His hands hurt as he clutched the locket real hard, the steel scratching his skin. He turned the locket over again. Why did she wear this locket? It had an oval piece in the centre, completely blank....

He closed his eyes as another memory washed through him. 'There is reason, that locket is blank! And you will know it when the time is right!'

********

THE PRESENT

He was in the hotel, watching the woman before him. Her eyes....they were looking at him with a very strange expression. He wondered why the expression was so familiar. She was different. Not like her..But still being with this woman was slightly comforting. She seemed to understand.

'After he was gone....' the woman told him with an almost dead expression. 'There were weeks when I would just sit in the hall...doing nothing!' the woman swallowed painfully.

He said nothing...There was nothing to be said. He knew that feeling too well. Where absolutely nothing was bright in the world and the days just seemed filled with nothing but....loneliness...and sadness so deep that it seemed impossible to get out of....

The woman spoke for some time and then shook her head tiredly. 'Why don't you tell me something about yourself?'

The man watched the woman as his sadness dissipated a little.

'What sort of a locket is that?' the woman asked pointing at man's neck.

The man smiled as he subconsciously reached out for the locket.

*********

THE FUTURE

'Grandpa!' the young child came running towards him, shaking out of his day dream.

It was his youngest daughter's son, his favourite.

'I know all about your locket!' he said with twinkling eyes.

The man's hands went to his locket. The man was beyond eighty, but then every single person in the room – his sons, daughter, grandchildren and even great-grandchild, all of them respected him. The man had a quiet intelligence, a plain common sense which had made him one of the best businessmen in his times. The man had built a powerful empire and now was enjoying his old age in partial retirement.

With all this, the man had still not figured out the one mystery which he still had.

'What would that be?' the man asked, a little eagerly...probably a little too eagerly.

'It means that life is a clean slate, grandpa!' the grandson said, a strange twinkle in his eyes. 'And every time you think that something really bad happens, it means your past is gone and it is time to start something new!'

The grandfather was stunned and completely lost for words.

The boy looked at the grandfather exceptionally proud of himself, not realizing even remotely the effect that he had had on the older man.

And for the first time in many years the old man found himself thinking about his first....love. Her smile, her mischievous eyes.....

The old man took a deep breath trying to calm himself. The older man's second marriage had also been very successful. Both of them had been on their second chance and both of them were willing to forgive each other. It had worked.

And now after so many years, he found himself thinking about his first wife.

What was it that she had said....I will see you when your work is done...

The grandfather smiled as he took the locket and gave it to his young child. 'Because you know what it means, this should belong to you.'.....

******

(19/05)

SAKrishnan