Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivs 2.5 License.

Wednesday, September 27, 2006

Moments.


Life is not the amount of breaths you take, it's the moments that take your breath away.

Wait a second, does drowning count? Cos' that’s the only moment I lost my breath, and that too for a very short time. The swimming instructor pulled me out.

Josh was never good with humor. Much like the one above, his anecdotes were untimely and unnecessary. Always trying to win friends and blend into groups. But he never really succeeded. Most of the time ended up making a fool of himself in front of others. But Marie wasn't like the others. She was different. Josh never had to make an effort to strike a conversation with her. They just happened. Well, most of the time they ended up arguing and quarrelling. But you know kids.

Marie was eight. She was in the same class as Josh. They had been neighbors and classmates right since kindergarten. Marie was the quintessential tomboy. All she was good at was climbing walls and trees, beating Josh everyday in the race back home from school, and swearing. In fact, it was Marie who taught Josh his first swearword. So all in all, Marie was better in everything that Josh liked to do. And boy! did Josh hate that.

But there was this one thing that Josh was particularly jealous about. Marie rode the bicycle since 2nd grade and Josh was yet to set his foot on the paddle. Not that any of his other friends could ride the bicycle. But the fact that Marie could, was all that mattered to him.

Every evening Marie used to breeze past Josh on her green bike (She even had a name for it 'Green Queen'. Why do girls do that?). Josh pretended that he didn't give a dime. But then, he was never good at pretending. It was a routine, after getting back from the playground every evening Josh would sit on his porch and watch Marie ride. Of course he would pretend he was admiring the sunset!

One day it happened. The threshold was breached. Josh couldn't take it anymore. Much against his willingness, he approached Marie and popped the question, "Will you...... Never mind!". Marie was like "Huh!". Josh continued, "Ok....Ok...I want to ride your cycle. I mean first I want to learn to ride it, and then I would be able to ride it. It’s not like I can't ride a bike, its just that I can't ride it that well. And don’t think I cant get....". Before Josh could utter any more nonsensical gibberish, Marie intervened, "Josh STOP!". With her jolly smile she continued, "I will teach you." Our hesitant champ made a quick survey of the neighborhood and confirmed that not a soul below 15 was in sight. With a little push from Marie and some awkward efforts, Josh was on the seat, with Marie holding to keep the balance.

"Step on it, you fool!" shouted Marie. Josh was spellbound by the sheer feeling of sitting on a bicycle. After a few shaky starts, couple of falls, small bruises, lots of heated arguments, Josh finally rode a couple of yards before calling it a day. There was however no 'Thank You' in store for Marie. Josh had this obscure smile all night accompanied by the unusual humming. A few bandages and he was ready for bed. Sleep did elude him for quite some time. He was too mesmerized after riding the bicycle for the first time.


New day, new challenges; asking Marie for the bike again. And that was not the end of it. The fear of Marie letting out 'the secret' made things worse. All through the day he was restless, but there was this sense of delight that if everything goes well, he would be riding his dream machine again. Evening on the playground was Josh's favorite time of the day, but not today. After returning home, he was sitting on the porch waiting for Marie to show-up. But she was nowhere to be seen. Every passing second was taking its toll on Josh. He was cursing himself for not asking Marie about the evening ride, in school. Finally she showed up. Somehow Josh controlled his anger and put up the biggest fake smile on is face, which was scary in a way coming from 'The Bully' himself. Josh was never good with the pleasantries or the casual chit-chat. But he had rehearsed a mock-conversation so that Marie wouldn't refuse for the bike. But before he could say a word, Marie offered him the bicycle. Maybe it was the fake smile that he put up before, that did the trick.

Josh was picking up fast. But it was mostly because of the fact that he knew Marie was holding the cycle at the back. But how could she keep up with his growing pace. His first look behind, and Marie wasn’t there. 'O My Goshhhhhhh....' and down he went. Marie came running, laughing her gut out. There was no consoling Josh. Shouting was accompanied with few abuses and some tears too. How could she break his trust and leave him to ride all alone, Marie is mean, I am never going to talk to her again; some of the thoughts that were going through his mind that night. But the fact that he rode the bicycle all by himself was a very good soothing factor. That too just on the second day. He felt like Superman.

Next day in school, Marie came to apologize. Our pretentious Superman did forgive the poor girl, but after much persuasion and a promise that she wouldn't let go of the bike when Josh is riding it. That evening Josh seemed to have an innate confidence. He started paddling slowly and picked up speed. Marie was shouting for Josh to slow down but he was just too engrossed to listen. In spite of Marie's best attempts she couldn't keep up with the bike's pace and eventually had to let go. Josh realized that he was riding all alone, but he wasn't scared this time. He reached the end of the road and stopped. He couldn't believe that he had just ridden the bike this far, all by himself. Marie came running and Josh was like "Did you see that? Did you? I rode all by myself". Marie had never seen such a big smile on his face before, and it wasn't a fake one this time. She too felt as if she had accomplished something, having helped Josh learn to ride. This was a very awkward moment for both of them. For the first time they were not fighting, but were smiling at each other.

Next day was a cakewalk for Josh. But he did need Marie's help for sitting on the bike and a little push to get him started. Josh went from fast to faster, shouting 'Yuhooooo....' at the top of his voice, which made the whole neighborhood realize his achievement. He turned at the end of the road and sped towards Marie. As he approached her, he applied the brakes. But unfortunately he was too fast and headed straight for crashing into Marie. Marie tried to move aside but the cycle went over her left foot and the handle slammed into her jaw. Josh lost balance and crashed into the nearby wall. But he got right up and ran towards Marie. She was moaning in pain. There was blood coming out of her mouth, she had broken a tooth. Not to mention the broken foot. Josh was terrified, couldn't utter a single word. He helped Marie stand up, but she couldn't walk with the pain in her foot. Josh put her left arm around his shoulder and they both started walking towards her home. Josh was still speechless and surprisingly so was Marie. Suddenly Josh realized that he is supposed to apologize.

Josh: "Marie, I am so sorry, I was so stupid to ride so fast. But I did press the brakes. I swear I did. But the stupid thing just wouldn't stop. I would never ride that fast ever again. I promise!"
He was a compulsive talker when he was nervous.

Marie smiled and replied, "Did you notice that your knee is bleeding".

Josh: "What! Oh My God! I am bleeding. C'mon, walk faster. We need to apply something on my knee. Its gonna burn like hell wouldn't it. When did this happen though. How did I start bleeding?"

Marie: "Duh! When you crashed into the wall."

Josh: "Oh yeah! I crashed into the wall, didn't I? It was pretty kool wasn't it. I mean I have never crashed into a wall with that kinda speed before. Did you see when I crashed. It was kool rite?"

Marie: "Kool.... It was stupid! You made the stupidest face when you were about to crash."

Josh: "Oh really! I should have taken a snap of your stupid face when you were lying on the ground....moaning."

Marie: "Hey! You have no idea how much pain I was in. You broke my jaw."

Josh: "Oh C'mon! The handle just brushed your jaw. Stop making a fuss over it"

Marie: "Brushed???"
She showed him the tooth that came out.
Josh was taken aback seeing the blood covered tooth. But he soon got a grip of himself.

Josh: "It’s the molar tooth. It was time that it came off. Don’t worry."

Marie: "Stupid fool! The molar falls at 18, not 8."

Josh: "Stupid...... Do you want me to drop you right here and leave. I swear I will."

Marie: "You threatening me? Just leave me and go. I don’t need your help. And yeah, don’t come begging for my cycle".

They both paused and thought for a moment and in chorus they yelled, "THE CYCLE!"

Marie: "Josh run, go get the cycle".

Josh: "But I can’t leave you like this".

Marie: "Just a moment ago you said you were ready to drop me".

Josh: "I was kidding, stupid. I'll take you home and then come back and get the cycle."

Marie: "What if someone robs it by then".

Josh: "Don’t worry, no one is going to steal that piece of junk".

Marie: "That’s it! You are never again to touch my cycle".

Josh: "You know, your home is still too far for you to crawl from here".

The war of words continued, and so did their friendship. But during this whole cycling experience, there were moments which neither of them would forget easily. Moments that neither of them talked about, but cherished for a long time. Moments that forged their friendship.