LOST MINDS

THE CAFE

It was the lunch hours and Kitty’s café had the usual buzz of weekend customers. College groups and young couples thronged this place. The place would echo from the countless chatters and birthday celebrations. And then there was Mark, sitting quietly on a corner table, wearing a hideous hoodie, lost in his own world.

Mr. Mark, Mr. Mark, your espresso is ready, please receive your order at the counter, the man at the counter yelled.  

Mark was nowhere receiving the call, pretending to look at his phone as his ears fixated on a conversation going on at the next table. It was a young couple, seemingly in their early twenties, the girl seemingly nervous, his boyfriend looking at her as if he is waiting for something dreadful news his girlfriend would bring to him. Mark’s eyes were constantly rolling back and forth between his phone and the couple, to stay discreet. He was about to dive into the details of the conversation, when he and the couple were both interrupted by the P.A, which announced his name and asked him to pick up the order. Mark quickly turned his face to avoid the suspecting eyes of the couple and half jogged towards the counter to grab his espresso. He had a nagging headache since morning and wanted that shot of espresso badly and also hoped to return to his seat so he does not miss out on the important details of the chat.

Do you want me to warm up the espresso, asked the man at the counter.

No, thank you, said Mark.

Mark returned to his seat ,oblivious of what was about to happen next.

I’m sorry, I have to go, said the girl, looking distraught, holding the hand of the boy.

Please, we can still work this out, just hear me out once, said the guy.

The girl, with a peck of a tear in her eyes, freed her hands and left the café without saying a bye. The boy looked in a bit of shock, as he was expecting something entirely else to come out of this conversation. He paid the bill and stormed out of the café.

Mark wandered what exactly happened in the space of the thirty seconds he was not present. The obvious event of a breakup came to his mind. He had no experience of being in a relationship before, but he had seen enough movies and TV shows to figure out the unhappy scene. Sipping his espresso, his eyes glued to an Instapost chat, waiting for a reply. His friend, Amaia , had left Mark’s message at seen three hours ago and was yet to give a reply.

MARK AND AMAIA

Mark and Amaia were classmates, doing their bachelors in Computer Science at the city’s Central College. It was not until four months ago that they had become good friends, thanks to a chance meeting at a comic convention. Till then they had barely spoken a word to each other, apart from the random Hi and Hellos at the college. Apparently both are comic book nerds and binge on a number of movies and TV shows, and of course, like their fellow undergrads and the school teenagers, spent a lot of time on social media sites like Instapost.

At the comic con, Mark and Amaia bonded over their shared love of comic superheroes pop culture in general. The vibe was immediately there for Mark and he felt a sense of comfort with her, felt absolutely no need to wander what should be the next sentences he should speak as to ensure the conversation does not veer off into a dead end. He did not feel the need to give any effort to be friends with Amaia.

Mark was, it can be said, a introvert who was occasionally outgoing just for the sake of fitting in with the group. It’s not like he did not have any friends, he had a few best mates, with who he used to hangout whenever he can. It’s just their interests and hobbies were not much aligned with Mark’s and did not revolve anywhere around his world. In fact there were times when Mark zoned out and returned back to his world ,  like someone from outside quietly watching these college kids having cheap banter. He was just a young man who loved his computer stuff, his comic books , the movies and felt it would be awesome to be friends with someone who was into the same stuff as him.

The stories shown in the pop culture, affected his thinking more often than not. He would often jump to conclusions and made up a story, as to why something happened. His assumptions have also landed him in hilarious situations. Once he had a huge fight with his younger brother, Dean. Being super upset, he stormed out of the house to a neighborhood park to cool down. He returned home after a hour, only to find his brother missing, his brother’s closet open with some clothes, some old toys and a family photo missing. His parents were out of town and his brother’s was missing too. Mark assumed the worst, blaming himself for his brother leaving the house.

He called his brother, who did not answer the call .He gave a call to his dad, no answer. His eyes gazed at nothingness and this was when he heard an engine roaring, the sound of wheels spinning too fast through gravel and music thudding inside a car, his brother’s car.

Mark was agitated, questioned Dean on how he can leave home because of a stupid fight. Dean laughed so hard hearing this.

Dude, I had gone to donate my clothes and the toys to a orphanage and besides I needed some space so I went for a drive, said Dean.

What about the family frame? asked Mark.

Dean handed him the frame, told that his arm struck the frame and broke it during the fight.

You over think a lot, just chill down, said Dean.

Mark covered his face in embarrassment. At least he never would be this embarrassed with Amaia, he thought.

After the comic convention , Mark and Amaia would often text each other on Instapost about movies, shows, upcoming movies , upcoming shows, besides the usual memes and funny videos. Both of them had a subscription of Binger, a streaming service which was the rage among the young folks across the nation, thanks to its audience oriented quality content and the content just never died. There was this show which had become a overnight sensation called The legend of thieves, a show on a group of robbers who want to overrule the unfair banking system and decide to take a bank in hostage and plan a heist in order to print money that would serve them for generations

Three months after the convention, Amaia told Mark about this show and how she was obsessed with its female protagonist. Mark had already seen the first season of this show, and loved it, became attached to all the characters and their robber alias names, but then the second season came and something about this season did not excite Mark, and as a viewer he left the show, mid season. Amaia would tell him everyday about which episode she is currently on, the fan theories of the show, how she wished her favourite characters to live on the show forever.

The chats with Amaia also gave Mark a new amusement, cats. Amaia had adopted a stray cat. For a month , she would post heavy dosage of her unnamed cat, videos and photos on Instapost. She would click selfies, make videos with her cat and send it to him. Mark would enjoy this videos, so much that he began to look up Cat videos on the internet, something he had never done before and would pass his time with random giggles and expressions of amusement. Mark understood the love that Amaia had for the cat, what it meant to her. Amaia was never allowed to have a pet by her parents as they thought it would be a lot of work and days of disinfections and feeding and the occasional irritating meows of the cat. The least that they did was to allow her to pet a stray cat, who would come at the porch and Amaia fed her and petted her. Mark could feel that love for the cat through her countless videos and posts.

THE ETERNAL BLISS OF THE CARELESS MINDS

Back at Kitty’s café, Mark tried calling Amaia again, no answer. He had been calling her since after he received the message, she had rejected the call twice and left another call unanswered. Mark was not able to comprehend the situation. Just last night only , Amaia had sent him a pcture where her cat was taking a peaceful nap, with cute emojis underlined in the text. He could not believe when the message read-

Tina died, with crying cat emojis.

what?? Your cat. How?. I can’t believe it, Mark’s text exclaimed.

Amaia saw the message but did not reply. The same message Mark’s eyes kept looking at time to time.

Mark felt he should pay a visit to Amaia and share her grief and join her in the mourning. He knew what that cat meant to her and he himself had formed a close bond with the cute animal through the virtual world. He was regretting the fact that he could not see and pet the cat when there was time and felt he owed to Amaia to at least see her now. It was a ninety minutes journey from Mark’s place and it was a weekend late morning. Usually Mark would do his household chores and water the garden at this time of the day, but today he started the engine of his brother’s car, and drove off the garage lane, onto the main road, towards Amaia’s place. But he had to do something about that nagging headache On the way he stopped at Kitty’s café and ordered his espresso.

Mark paid the bill, feeling much better after sipping the hot, piping espresso and left the café. He thought of buying a flower , not that it would make any difference, but it would at least cheer up the usually bubbly, the good vibes Amaia. He found a bouquet and stopped to buy one, to his surprise he found the café couple.

The couple was hugging and giggling and both of them were a lot happier than this morning at the café. Mark had no idea what was going on. Just less than an hour ago, they broke up, he thought to himself. It was like the anti-climax scenes of a movie. He did not expect this. And he did not like cliffhangers too. He had to know what exactly happened next. Absolutely in no way he was going to approach a random couple and ask them about their situation. But then he had to know the end.

Being a introvert allowed him to stay inconspicuous and notice free amongst a crowd. He rushed near the couple and in a subtle way , held up his phone as if he was calling someone. Luckily he overheard the chat , again.

They had selected the wrong job application. Just a few minutes after I left the café, they mailed me the the selection news and the offer. Had they emailed this to me a hour later, all my savings would have been lost on that accountant course for nothing. I’m so sorry for the way I reacted before. I was worried about my savings and lamented at a chance of missing out on the dream job. I was just not in the right headspace to listen to anything or anyone, you know i can never get mad at you, said the Girl.

Its fine.Look,I told you, right, just be patient and wait for any other vacancy. But here we are, you got your job and also saved your money. I’m so happy for you, said the Boy.

Mark was shocked to hear this. His assumptions had again made a fool out of him. Jumping to assumptions instead of figuring out the context , something he has seen in many stories, has made him look stupid on many occasions, including here. Breakups, love stories, happily ever after, the theme of so many movies, yet Mark did not care to think of the details and the idea of possible scenarios, the notions which make the movie entertaining the way they are.

He shrugged off the mild embarrassment he was feeling, went up to hi car and drove away. Amaia’s place was only ten minutes now. He spent those minutes laughing at himself.

Finally he reached her place. At the first look, he saw a pile of soil dugged up and buried in the garden, looking like a burial spot. He assumed what it was, and went up to there and stood there for a couple of minutes, until he heard a tap on his shoulders. It was Amaia.

Mark, what are you doing here, asked Amaia.

Mark handed him the flowers and said-

I’m sorry for your cat, I mean Tina. I think she was buried not long ago, the soil looks fresh.

Amaia’ eyes lit up in amusement before she burst out laughing.

What are you saying Mark, first of all her name is not Tina, her name is Kitty. Wait, said Amaia.

She called Kitty, and the cat came, purring , wagging its tail , her eyes fixated at this stranger called Mark, before she moved her face and rubbed her face along Amaia’s legs, wanting to be pet.

Mark did not know what was happening. He just gazed at Kitty for a long ten seconds, before he quipped to Amaia.

But you said texted that Tina died, said Mark.

Oh God, Tina as in the show, The legend of the thieves, in the second season finale, she got shot and died. I was really unhappy, but, um..did you just come all the way here for Kitty, because you thought she died, said Amaia.

But you did not pick up my call and you also saw my message and and did not reply to it, said Mark.

Amaia checked her phone and told Mark that yes she was about to reply but then Kitty somehow entered the house kitchen and had to get her out of there.

My mom got really annoyed at this and I had to calm her down. Then I went off to fed Kitty and in the midst of all of these I did not take any calls. And this soil , I was just to plant some lemon saplings here, its not a burial spot, laughed Amaia.

Amaia. Can I pet Kitty, it has been a weird day for me, said Mark.

Kitty’s café, Kitty the cat and the weird story of contexts, it would be a nice movie title, Mark thought to himself as he petted the cat softly.

                                                                                         THE END.