Thursday, October 15

Memories of a Dream

Melvin gazed out of the window of his office as he sipped his coffee. Well, actually it was not his office. He had a desk and a chair like all the others working there. He went there six days a week, worked on his laptop ten hours a day with a coffee break every now and then. The view outside was of a concrete jungle with a few green spots left here and there like in an imperfect painting. The roads were busy and there was an urgency about everything even in the way people drank coffee.



"No, it need not be a palace. It even doesn't have to be big. A bedroom and a kitchen." said Tia.

"We would need a drawing room. And a dining room too because we can't ask guests to eat in the kitchen." Observed Melvin.

"We will have a table in the garden. We will eat there."

"Hmmm. Smaller the house, easier for you to keep it neat. What if we have a guest who wants to stay over for a day?"

"In that case, well, we will let him or her sleep in our bedroom and we will sleep outside. Switzerland is a very cold place. You will make a campfire near the stream to keep me warm."

"Hehehe. I don't need a campfire to keep you warm. We will open a bottle of whiskey and... Hey, that reminds me, we should have a bar..."




Having finished his coffee, Melvin turned back with a sigh and walked back to his table. One of his colleagues had pinged him in gtalk. The Boss wants a report on the progress of the project. Companies are looking for a reason to lay off people after the financial crisis. Melvin’s stint in the company hadn’t been extraordinary. So this project was important to him to stay employed. He checked the list of online friends in gtalk. Tia was online. After a little deliberation with himself, he typed 'hi. long time'. He waited for a minute before closing the chat window and continuing with his work



'honey, i'm really really sorry. pick up the fone plz.' typed Melvin on his mobile phone. A couple more calls and messages went unanswered before Tia's unhappy voice said "Hello" at the other end.

"Dear, I'm sorry" said Melvin. "We were having this badminton match and I forgot to keep track of the time. I'm so sorry."

"I waited for you more than an hour. It was you who asked me to be there at 5 pm. Am I not even as important as a stupid badminton match for you? I can't believe you stood me up."




Melvin's phone rang. It was his Project Manager. He wanted to see him. Now. Melvin got up and saw the Project manager looking at him through the glass door of his room. He reached to close his laptop but was stopped by the sound of a gtalk chat window opening.


'yeah :) wer r u now?' Tia had replied.


There was a flash storm of memories. Melvin didn't do anything for the next few seconds. Then he turned around and walked to his Project Managers room as fast as he could. Tia waited anxiously for a minute before logging out of gtalk.