After Eight

AFTER EIGHT

SANTHOSH GANGADHARAN

She stood by the window looking at the street sipping Horlicks. A healthy drink right after a nap in the afternoon on a holiday was her passion. That gave her time to reminisce the week that had gone by.

        The street was as busy as ever. The single storey long building had rows of shops. All were busy except the one at the far end – ‘After Eight’. As the name suggests it would open only after eight. Then it would be a maze of crowd in there. It was a restaurant with a bar and a dance floor. More than the food people liked the bar and of course the dance floor. She used to wonder why it was so. But right or wrong it was always like that.

        She loved the name of the restaurant – ‘After Eight’. That was the chocolate she liked the best. The taste of mint mixed with chocolate was lovely!

        Her flat was on the first floor of another long but two-storied building on the opposite side of the street. The ground floor rooms were shops and the first-floor housed studio flats like hers.

        Beyond the building, in front she could see the serene blue sky touching the greenish blueness of the sea. Sea had always held a fascination for her. Now looking at the waves lashing the beach she knew she had something strange nagging her mind. Was it a dream she had during the nap? Probably yes! But what was it?

        She knew it was something that disturbed her mind. She had to think hard to bring out the scene that had flashed through her subconscious mind during the short nap.

        The restaurant had opened. The usual rush started. Then she saw a girl being chased by a couple of youngsters. She was calling out for help. Nobody seemed to be interested in what was happening around them. The girl kept running to escape from the clutches of the men behind her.

Then it came to her…

        She saw the sea with large waves breaking. The waves appeared in rapid succession so as to overcrowd the waters. Was she in deep sea or just a few steps from the beach? She was not sure. But she was in water up to her neck. She moved her feet desperately to get a footing on the sea bed. But no foot hold was forthcoming. It was just loose sand and she could not stand firm.

        Then there was the hand that came to her – somebody had stretched a helping hand. She waded with her left hand to keep herself floating. Meanwhile she tried to hold on to the hand that was in front of her with her right hand. She was not getting a grip on to that hand. Instead of holding her hand that person, whoever it was, was snatching her handbag that hung on her arm.

        How dare he do that? She had her life inside the bag – everything that she had lived for and now she was being deprived of it. She had to fight. But she couldn’t.

        Who was this person? The face was not clear. A man or a woman? But definitely not a good Samaritan.

        She couldn’t remember what happened after. She would have got up from her sleep.

Was the dream she had, a premonition to the scene being enacted in front of her?

        In front of her, there was this girl running, calling for help. Would somebody help her? There were so many of the pedestrians around. None were even looking at that girl in distress. What were these people made of?

        Then a handsome man came out from the restaurant. The wailing girl looked at him and pleaded for help. He stepped in between the girl and her pursuers. The youngsters stopped in their track as they saw the heavily built man.

        In a swoop he picked up the girl on his shoulders and darted back into, from where he came – the ‘After Eight’. The girl kept flailing her hands and feet in protest.

        She was perplexed seeing the drama that was unfolding in front of her. What could have happened to that girl? Suddenly she was worried. It could have been herself over there or some other hapless girl known to her. The people around were merely selfish and indulged in matters of their own concern.

        Determined she walked out of her flat and climbed down the stairs to the open street. She moved towards ‘After Eight’.

        As she neared the restaurant, she wondered what she could probably do to rescue that girl. The guy who carried away the girl was physically sturdy and she could never be a match to him. What could she do when she confronted that man? Demand not to harm the girl and release her immediately? Why should he listen to her?

        She stepped into ‘After Eight’ still confused at what to do. She had never been inside this bar. Coming from the bright street lights, the inside of the bar looked utterly dark. She stood still to get her eyes familiar with the surroundings.

        Then she saw him. Oh My God!

        The rest of the dream came back to her.

She was in the sea neck-deep in water. She looked at the owner of the hand that was snatching her bag. She was about to shout, “What the hell …”, but stopped short.

It was a handsome looking man who had her bag. He put the bag on his shoulder and then held on to her hand to pull her out of water. His strong arm easily pulled her up and the next moment his left hand caught her around her body pulling her close to him. She closed her eyes inhaling the masculine smell of mint.

Now in front of her she saw the girl who was in distress on the street. The man who picked her up had her close to him in an embracing grip. The girl had her eyes closed and was enjoying the dancing steps to the increasing tempo of the music.

Indeed, her dream was a premonition to a sweet romance after eight!

She turned back to open the door and stepped on to the street. The cool sea breeze brushed softly across her face. The smell and taste of mint hung in the air!