Reprieve

It has been so long I had this conversation that I am sore tempted to come up with an introduction of sorts, my excuse for the rather long hiatus is that God has answered a lot of my prayers and I have been left so much to do that I have little time to blog, you know what they say, careful what you wish for ‘cos you might get it.
This past year has been a blessing, I have at times slipped into my moments of gloom, but after a juxtaposition of my situation with what might have been, I realise that I am extremely blessed.
I have tried to develop my short story writing with this blog, and would continue to do so, so here goes nothing.

You would think by now he would notice how eerily deserted his street is, or the over gesticulating traffic warden at the junction, but he never notices any of these things. All that keeps him occupied is his obsession, the monkey on his back, his zahir. Zahir, some word he picked up from one of those numerous books he reads to impress the girls, smart is the new sexy they say.

This time around he has picked up some useful knowledge although it is very unlikely that knowledge would be of any help, like been diagnosed with a terminal illness, all you can do is wait for the inevitable. He has pored through various texts, it is of no use, He knows what is coming, the end would surely be ugly, but he doesn’t shorten his strides, determinedly he puts one step after another to certain excruciating pain.

He ponders on the events that have brought him to this fate, the parties with the decadently good food, the skipped morning rituals, doctors appointments he put off indefinitely, ignoring mother’s sound advice.
He prays to all the gods he knows and pleads that this cup passes over him, It is a new year, time to make whole scale lifestyle changes he vows,

He takes a deep breath and knocks on the pale gray door, she calls out in her cheery voice, “come in”, that voice causes him to swallow spittle, pain shoots through the left side of his face. He enters she is dressed in a white flowing robe, she has a glow to her, he notices none of these, she looks at him smiles and says Mr Jimi so you have finally come to get those teeth extracted.