Episode 8 (The Moves)

“Nice perfume, Ma’m!!”

It’s hard to ignore a lady’s perfume; especially, when it’s hot; the weather that is. The sun was beating down heavily with an enlightened intensity as the smoke came out of the chimneys nearby. The aura was neither intensively invigorating nor fresh. Everyone was waiting for the rains. Rains have this enchanting and romantic aura around them of cleansing every soul that they pour upon. The notion was borrowed across nations and continents but it never occurred to him before that incident. His wait for rains was limited to gaze at her as she walked in the room ‘soaked’! The word does little justice to the sight as it belittles the joy and I am very angry at the word. This sight, pertaining to the so solemnly referred ‘soaked joy’; he would thereby enjoy from hidden corners of the dimly lit room. This however was in store for the future as the rains hadn’t come and he hadn’t met her either until today. I can understand the misleading presumption that might creep into the reader’s mind taking the lady with the perfume as the lady we have so frequently talked about. However it might or might not leave the reader at the mercy of a surprise or shock. Who knows?

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They sat silently in the balcony of a coffee shop. He hated the bills at these shops. It seemed rationally irradical to pay such an amount for something so meager. It was absolutely insensible to go by what Karuna liked to use in defense of such kiosks. She used to add with an air of expressed chivalry that these places ‘Make memories!!’ He remembered the CCD at Infocom and the incident that took place there a couple of years ago and enjoyed the sweetness for some time as the waiter made his way towards the table. His thoughts kept oscillating between the tender kiss and the pink top she wore right now as he looked over at an aged family sitting silently over her shoulder. He liked the pink top and the black shorts. She had recently met his friends and they had a wonderful outing apart from a mishap which we will definitely discuss in some other episode for it has less to do with the present and more to do with the future. But do keep it in mind, for it’s an important incident that would make the ‘Train journey’ viable and justify the ‘hit by a train….’!!!

The waiter had made the distance. It is difficult for waiters to decide the right time to intrude a date. When a couple has voluntarily chosen silence, it could mean either of the two things. One, that they are enjoying the silence and would thereby not like to be disturbed and any action to disrupt the same might cut the waiter’s tip in half. Two, that they fought on the way over and when the sun went too hot for their brawl they moved into the coffee shop without any proper inclination for coffee and thereby asking about the same would lead to a tip less transaction. So, our hero (it’s the waiter in a white shirt under a black apron, who surprisingly is not Prashant for the episode) announced his presence to our sidekicks Prashant and Karuna who sat opposite to each other. He chose his words very carefully. He began with a small welcome and left it at it. Their lack of response did not deter his determination to take an order at the earliest. He left the ‘Menu’ at the table and exited saying “Whenever you feel comfortable sir! I will be in that corner!” Now, the words ‘that corner’ were tactfully chosen. We must compliment our hero for the same as these words forced Prashant to lift his eyes and to look into the ‘desired corner’. Our hero exited seeing that he had to play the game silently. He gave them some time as he watched from the corner their hands fighting over the ‘Menu’. At this moment exactly, he made his second move. Idly, passing near them he dropped a small piece of cutlery on the floor near their table and bent down to pick it up glancing at her waxed legs and keeping the spoon on their table. It was smooth. The act of glancing was impregnated with a multitude of motives but the primary idea preserved the sanctity of the act. He had broken ice twice where Prashant was struggling to hit the right spot!!

“Any developments on the order? Sir….!!!” Said the waiter as he moved close to their conversation about the night before last and they went hush to cover up the agony best left in the dimly lit room.

“Well! We are still looking..!!! I think that ‘Paneer Croissant’ looks delicious” Prashant took to the charge of answering the waiter. Ahh! That moron!! Little did he know what was about to happen…!!!

“I want dessert!” Karuna suddenly announced. Suddenly, nothing made sense. The dinner had just begun, or was it an impromptu way to end the date?
The waiter seemed non-perplexed. He retorted with an equal amazement.
“You might want to look on the 7th page under ‘Sweet Treat’ section to quench your anachronic requirement!!” Nothing beats sarcasm when it’s wrapped in the translucent sheath of respect.

“Well there is nothing that I find lucrative here!!”

“Well!! What according to your gourmet taste will suffice as a ‘lucrative’ dessert Ma’m?” The waiter’s seemingly pretentious respect had now turned sour and he was jumping at every opportunity to be satirical.

“Well!! Truthfully, it has to be different with every bite!! That would be an ideal dessert. Something that tastes different every time I bite into it!!” Karuna was trying to fight him off..!!

“And what according to you is ‘Different’ Madam??”

“The way her tongue works and the way her lips do when she kisses me..!! That’s different!! You dumb witted moron!! Now get back to your fucking den and get me a fork!! And while you are at it try getting some etiquette as well, you son of a bitch!” Prashant jumped in to save his lady love. He had enough of the dumb waiter. She was blushing. The ‘you dumb witted moron’ and ‘son of a bitch’ had not unruffled her one bit. She found it utterly captivating, the way he had jumped in to her service.

The waiter was gone, the dessert was served and the dinner enjoyed. The boundaries had been set and territories had been protected. Ladies (read lady) won and conversations conversed. The sun was setting somewhere in the skies of Ahmednagar as he was getting dressed to take her out. They were trying some new ‘kiosks’ tonight, let’s say some new flavors lay on the table to be enjoyed!!

What he did not know however, was that someone else was making a move tonight too..!! I wish he were ready for it, just like he was ready for the ‘train’…!!!