Short story : The park by the cemetery

I first saw her at the local church during a Sunday mass. She was wearing a red dress. Her big beautiful eyes stood out. I just kept stealing glances at her from the corner of my eyes as father Mascarenhas recited the Bible. And as the mass neared the end, I closed my eyes and made a wish.

The wish came true a month later during the Christmas dance party. The ‘Macarena’ song slowly faded out as the DJ cued in ‘Truly Madly Deeply’ changing the mood on the dance floor from fun to romantic.

“May I ask you for a dance?” I said, offering my hand across to her.

She looked at me for a moment, stared at her friends and said “Yes” holding my hand.

As we swayed to the music, I asked her “Would you have said yes if it was any other guy in this room asking you”.

“Would you have asked any other girl in this room?” she replied.

“I am Neil.”, I said.

“I am Anna”, she said with a smile.

We hit it off immediately slow dancing and talking about Jane Austen, Casablanca and Shah Rukh Khan. We discovered that we were both hopeless romantics. We exchanged our telephone numbers.

We bunked college and met frequently. Soon, we were a committed couple. Almost a year passed and we both still felt the same excitement we felt for each other at the Christmas dance party. We were clearly very happy together.

I had just finished my bachelor’s degree in English Literature and was jobless. I wanted to be a writer. I was applying for teaching jobs on the side. I earned a couple of thousand rupees by teaching English to my neighborhood students. It paid for my cigarettes and took care of the weekly outings with Anna. She was completing her nursing course.

That year, the most romantic thing for a couple to do together was to watch the newly released movie Titanic in the theaters. It was playing at the Empire theater. New years of 1998 was in a couple of weeks and I had saved up a few months to celebrate the day. I bought a heart shaped sapphire locket for Anna. I could only afford the least expensive locket at the jewelers but I knew it didn’t matter. It would look a million bucks on Anna.

I stood in the line at the Empire theatre in advance and bought two matinees show tickets. After that I dropped by at my friend Kumar’s place. Kumar was an old school buddy. A great guy but more importantly his dad was loaded. He had just gifted Kumar a red Ford Escort. In 1997 that was the sleekest car you could drive on Indian roads. I was borrowing his car for the evening. Surely this was going to be quite a memorable evening.

Anna cried a lot. I got a bit teary eyed as well but controlled myself. This was the best movie we both had ever watched. After the show, we were hungry and had Mutton Biriyani. I still hadn’t given her the gold sapphire locket. We went to Princep Ghat next. A public garden by the bank of the Hooghly river. We sat at one of the benches. The Majhis were rowing their boats on the river. With the sun beginning to set over the horizon, the sky was colored a magnificent crimson. I handed the gift to Anna.

She unwrapped the gift and opened the box. The sapphire of the locket glowed. I was looking at her face to make out if she liked it. She was overjoyed.

“Wear it”, I said.

She took the locket out and wore it on her neck. She looked the most precious. I fought hard not to kiss her.

“It’s sunset, Neil. I should get back by 7PM. Mom and Dad will be angry otherwise.”, She worried.

“Don’t worry, I have the car. I should be able to drop you at your place on time if we take the bypass road”, I said confidently.

Bypass is an arterial road in Kolkata which has a lot less traffic. It is ideal if you are in a hurry and wish to reduce your travel time.

The bypass was unusually empty that day with even lesser traffic. I was driving at a safe 60 kmph and enjoying the cool breeze hitting my face coming in through the windows. Unlike me, Anna had her side of the windows pulled up because she didn’t want to ruin her hair.

“This was my best New Years, Neil. 1998 is going to be great.” She leaned over and gave me a kiss on the cheeks.

I looked at her and smiled. That’s when the Mercedes hit us from the side. It was the most deafening noise I had heard.

The only thing I remember after that is the siren of the Ambulance in the background, people clamoring to help. I could slightly turn my head to gaze at Anna. Her eyes were closed. The gold sapphire locket still on her neck but it was red now. A thin stream of blood rolled down her head. Anna was gone forever.

I remember waking up at my place and feeling like a dead man. It was impossible to forget Anna and accept that I would never ever see her again. I was devastated. I couldn’t talk to anyone, didn’t feel like doing anything. It felt like someone had sucked the life out of me.

The only place I could go to find solace was the park by the cemetery. I felt as if Anna was there with me.

Few months passed since then.

Turns out, that a park next to a cemetery is full of broken folks like yours truly. I met Uncle Francis there and was surprised to know that he lived in the same neighborhood as me. Uncle Francis was the happiest seventy year old that I had ever met. Always wearing a huge smile on his face, he loved to talk about his wife. How they had met, how her Punjabi parents didn’t approve of Uncle Francis. And finally, how he made everything right, convinced them and married her. Uncle Francis always wore a suit and sported a shaved head. His chemotherapy definitely helped with the look.

“Hey Neil. Look at that young lady”, said Uncle Francis pointing at this girl sitting on a park bench on the other side. “She is a pretty girl. Go talk to her.”,

She was pretty indeed but, I couldn’t make the effort to talk to her. It felt wrong to even think about anyone else other than Anna.

I would visit the park every evening and see her sitting on the bench. Her eyes were beautiful. A lot like Anna. But she looked sad. This park was usually for people who were broken and something in me wanted to know her story.

One evening I was a little late to reach the park and found that there were no empty benches left. She was sitting alone in one. This felt like a good reason to go and sit next to her without coming across as creepy. So, I did.

After a few minutes of silence, I said, “I have seen you in the park only in the recent few days”. I don’t know why I chose something stupid like that to say to her.

“Yes, I moved in the neighborhood recently” , she replied.

Turned out that she was in the same neighborhood as me and Uncle Francis.

“Liking the new place?”, I asked.

“I am trying to settle in. It’s been a little difficult”, she said.

“Don’t worry. I know it’s a unique neighborhood but, you will start liking it.” I said assuring her.

“Thanks”, she said.

“I am Neil and I am a writer”, I said extending a hand shake.

“I am Sarah and I don’t do anything”, she said “But I like to read. If that counts.”

“Would you read unpublished stuff written by a wannabe writer who is depressed and spends his evenings in a park next to a Cemetery?”, I asked her smiling.

“Wow, that sounds very up-lifting. I would love to.” She said.

She finally smiled.

So, our friendship began. We would meet in the park regularly. Every now and then I would give her my stories to read. She loved them. At-least she said she did.

Few more months passed. I didn’t think I would ever fall in love again. I know that everyone says that after a heartbreak, but the difference is that I’m not heartbroken. I’m not cynical, or pessimistic, or sad. I’m just someone who once felt something bigger than anything else I’d ever felt and when I lost it, I honestly believed I would never have that again. But… I was 22 then and life is long. And I’m feeling things right now that I haven’t in a long, long time.

Sarah is the reason for that. She has brought joy in my otherwise lifeless world. And Sarah seemed much happier as well. Her eyes didn’t have the sadness they had when I first saw her. We both had done something to fix each other.

I was going to ask her the question. I felt it was a little early but I was just going to go for it.

We met at the park the next day and talked about Christmas. It was in a week’s time.

I had to ask the question to her that I wanted to but couldn’t find a good opening. Finally, I just went for it.

“Hey Sarah, I need to ask you something. You don’t have to answer it if you don’t want to.”, I said.

“What is it Neil?”, she said with a shy smile as if she knew what I was going to ask her.

“How did you die, Sarah?”, I asked.

She looked stunned. The smile and glow on her face had vanished suddenly. I couldn’t look at her and was staring down. There was a long silence.

“I am sorry. I should have not asked this. But, if this relationship…”, I was saying but, she cut me off mid-sentence.

“I had a car accident”, she said.

I looked at her. Drops of tear were rolling down her eyes.

“Why?”, I asked, holding her hands softly. She paused and then explained.

“It was new years of 1998. I broke up with my long term boyfriend that evening. Not the kind of start you would expect for your new year. I was driving back home in the night and had a bit much to drink. The Bypass road was quite empty and I didn’t realize how fast I was driving. I lost control of the Mercedes and I hit a red Ford Escort. A young couple in their twenties was in it. The girl had a head injury but survived. The guy died on the spot. I was rushed to the hospital and made it through.”, Sarah said crying. “I have never been able to forgive myself after that incident. I became suicidal after that and attempted to kill myself multiple times. Two months back, the blade on the wrist finally did it for me. And here we are!”

I didn’t know what to say. We both sat there silent. She was holding on to my hand. Her grip was firmer now as if she was drawing support. Finally, she spoke.

“What’s your story? How did you come here?”

I stared at her moist eyes for a few seconds.

I couldn’t tell her the truth and made up “I died of Cancer.”