Paper Boats

Oye fit! Barish" he exclaimed. She responded with a confused smile; clearly failing to keep up with his enthusiasm as it began to rain. He narrowed his eyes.

" Don't tell me you don't like the rain," he said, "I mean yeah, the city is a mess but one can't hate rain."

" I don't hate the rain," she clarified and smiled, " let's say i have mixed feelings about it."

"Can we just not? I mean, for right now can we just overlook the messy-roads and just adore the rain?"

He was out to have his way.

" Oh sure! Especially since you've got to drop me home and I'm not the one driving on the messy-roads"

   He pursed his lips and narrowed his eyes with both amusement and disapproval. She laughed and then nudged him.

"Acha na! Well, its not the roads. The rain.. Well the rain would ruin my .. My paper boats"

"Your paper boats?"

"Yup, when I was a kid I'd make paper boats," she sighed, "And I would let them float on puddles in the rain."

"Sounds nice," he added, slightly confused."so?"

"Well, the rain. It would give me puddles to put my paper boats on but it wouldn't let my paper boats float. So after a while, a short while, they'd topple, they'd get drenched and then they were no more."

He could sense the pain in her voice but had no idea what to say, so he half-smiled and let silence prevail. Some moments passed. He watched her looking at her tea cup intensely and then the surrounding colourful array of truck-art adorned tea tables, lost in thought. There was something beautiful about her recollection. Her childlike innocence that cared for something so seemingly  insignificant and yet the matter-fact-tone of a grown woman. Before he could lose himself to his thoughts, he cleared his throat and spoke more slowly.

" So did you think about umm.. About," he struggled to string the words together, "about us.. What I spoke of the last time"

She raised her head and looked in his eyes and spoke with hesitance.

" I did" she said and dropped her gaze back to the tea-cup

"And? "

She looked in his eyes again. She was not sure what entirely held her at that moment but it felt familiar .. She was suddenly scared. In the depths of those black dots were her toppled paper boats. 

~ H.M.