(A short story)
Five minutes in the real world amount to two days in Meron’s world in that gap of two days, events come and go frequently, especially their car’s somersault from the highway to the pit of the earth. Her husband and her son’s last-minute ordeal, expressed by their knee-jerk screams, echoed in her head again and again.
“People take time to entertain, but the tyrant time snatches away my whole and lonesome delight,” Meron said inaudibly for herself. “It is correct” her wristwatch responded strangely. She unexpectedly jumped to her feet, jolted by the watch’s response. She looked suspiciously.
“What did you say?” She wanted to get the watch off from her hand. The watch continued, “Your family members are no more following their reckless driving. They were carelessly driving, I love such kind of moments” Meron is still subject to some sort of illusion that cannot be clearly defined.
“Are you the murderer of my family?” she frowned. The strange sound mockingly laughed, “People compel me to cut brief their ephemeral existence by the misuse of their precious gifts,” uttered the watch in a computer-generated voice. “What is that gift?” Meron asked. “Time is the invaluable gift of this world. Everything is born and perishes by the clockwise movement of time and that is me.” The strange voice responded.
Meron sat suspiciously on a table. No one was insight on the roads for the last few days. This didn’t disturb her living mechanics. “Nice to meet you! I have a lot of things to ask you?” she said, -“Continue,” a coarse voice responded. “What did you do on my life? Why are you taking two souls in one minute?” Meron strengthened her left hand, angrily looking the strange wristwatch.
The voice continued, “People are full of mistakes, and nature is full of pitfalls, and I am the one, who can marshall everything in the universe. You know, I am the only thing that causes the wear and tear of things, Nothing can escape from me, even you” Meron began entertaining fear, “So what are you doing here?” she began to cautiously watch things.
“To tell you the truth” the sound said. “Actually most people are not well-trained on how to effectively use their own time. The real world doesn’t know the real one— that is me.” The sound added, “So where are you going now?” Meron became fascinated. The strange sound takes a few second to respond.
“Oh gosh you didn’t know me yet, there was nothing before me; there could be nothing after me, look big woman, I am the owner of everything and I am everywhere. I am the heartbeat of everything. Don’t ask foolish things.”
“Oh my God, so what things do you fear?” she said nervously. “Fears nothing, feels nothing” the strange sound said. “Eventually you are mine, I am mine and at the end everything is mine, “
Meron is on the mood of fearsome amazement. She was listening the sound carefully. She never let the sound out of her ears. She pondered about time for a few seconds and decided to live as she were before. Just feel nothing and fear nothing, she decided to take off her watch from her hand and to throw it away, but the voice prohibited her from taking the watch off.
“By the way I want to tell you what I love from people,” the sound added, “Tell me what it is?” Meron became over eager.
“Like you, some people sleep their half age from their life,”
“What?” Meron shouted.
“If you may live 80 years, you could be asleep 30 years from your life, then from the remaining 50 years you may be engaged in work for 20 years. The rest 30 years could be gone by talking, the valuable time from your age is not more than 20 years. But you big woman has slept 20 years from your 50 years. From your idle 30 years you had spent only the five years at work,” he laughed strangely for a while.
A knock on the door nudges her out of her nightmares. Abel approached her with a mouthwatering breakfast that greeted her nose with a sweet aroma. He has been a friendly neighbor showing sympathy for her for the last days. He demonstrated a rare sympathy to her in her bereavement. He was the only one who was by her in her forty fogy days. Her sister and parents were had dispersed after seven days. Without Abel there is no body that could stand by her side. Preparing food and washing her clothes he was serving her like a man servant.
Awakening from her sleep, she looked at him from his back. He was very gentle with her for the last 41 grief casted days. He was single, handsome, muscular and tall. Her heart pulsed when he opened the bedroom’s door, sporting the delicious dish. Her heart desired to seek solace in his chest, wrapped with his strong arms. Her hands sought to snake around his waist. When she got off the bed, stretching up a bit, she missed her balance a little. Abel forthwith gripped her waist from the back. She rotated to seek comfort on his chest. She gripped his waist too. He was a good man to her during the last forty gloomy days. While her husband was alive as a faithful wife, she had never focused on this good-treating man.
She looked him up. Their eyes got glued for a while. He is a handsomely, charming and caring man as her heart told her.
“I had a terrific dream before you came here. I was subject to a nightmare. I suffered alone. No one is around me. All have shunned me. I feel the village and the city to be hallow. Pity to lonely me her tears trickled down her red cheeks. Abel embraced her tightly. He wiped her tears dry with his palm when she sensed his soothing palms again, she developed a new joy, a new hope, and a strange feelings.
Unintentionally their mouths drew closer. She shut her eyes for lip locking. Both wanted to prolong the kiss. When it is the first time, the fear and stamina always fights each other. At long-lost the stamina takes the upper hand.
It was the best kiss she experienced after a long time. It served her a panacea. A 15 years gap was evident between them. She tried every method to sustain the kiss A call from his phone interrupted them. He took out the phone from his pocket licking his upper lip. Both looked the phone simultaneously .The caller’s name was saved by the word lovely”.
BY DESALEGN DAGNEW
THE ETHIOPIAN HERALD FRIDAY 27 OCTOBER 2023
