SHORT-FICTION AND A CHALLENGE

Violin, Puppet, And Firefly

Three Lives And Three Stories

The Old Man :

Both of his wrinkled veins-laden hands helped in thrusting him forward as he tried to get up from his sofa. Sending the ages-old springs in it into action followed by a twang sound. And there he was, looking out to the horizon. An orangish hue welcomed his tired eyes. A slight commotion of light entered his dilapidated room caressed by specks of dust spiraling the borders. His eyes circumnavigated the perimeter starting from the gramophone which played a melancholic tune since eternity: that clay puppet dressed as a ballet dancer, that piano accumulating tons of cosmic dust, and his violin perched over. There was this strange tune that kept playing on his mind, that tune that stayed buried inside of him as it needed both the violin and the piano. They last played ten years back. What is all this tomfoolery? Why is his mind playing tricks and convincing him to play that tune? This unsurmountable urge drove him mad as he stood his ground fighting within himself to prevent his soul from reaching for the violin as he knew it won’t be possible to stop himself after that. Beads of sweat started to form on his forehead and he gave in! His hands reached for the gramophone turning it off and out went to the violin. Slowly picking it up and then tingling the strings carefully assuring himself that they are in tune. After a moment or two, his eyes towards the horizon dotted with some migratory birds that waited for the sun to set and the moon to take its place in the cyclic order of the day he started to play. The first sounds of the bow touching the strings sent goosebumps all around his body and as he kept getting engulfed in the melody, he entered a different universe. Their universe. That universe where the violin and the piano played together, happily ever after. Ever afters are a farce! There’s nothing called Ever afters! It all ends and becomes a part of the cosmos from where it took birth! His half-closed eyes looked towards the piano stool where she used to sit and play along, her eyes on him, a smile laced across her face, throughout! How he missed that. How he missed her! His companion for fifty years. His hands trembled for a second and there was this ball of uneasiness spiraling near his throat, his vision blurred by those eager teardrops and then he heard something. A sound on the piano. Is that really her? Or is he hallucinating? He didn’t want to know. He really never cared as his hands, with this sudden energy found a direction and continued with the tune. His ears seemed to not believe what it heard. The sounds of his violin punctuated at correct notes with the piano. It had to be her, it had to her, his heart danced with joy! His focus improved and improved as the tune reached that crescendo and with a giant thud he fell to the ground! The violin spiraled away breaking into a few pieces as the dusty Kashmiri mattress sent out a couple of sleeping flies to the air along with globules of dust suddenly shocked with this event. The clay puppet kept looking on.

The Clay Puppet:

The Clay Puppet sat there dumbstruck with the events that unfolded in front of him on the chair. His brain still trying to make sense of what just happened, playing the last five minutes in repeat mode. And in that particular moment, a thought hit his heart. What would happen to him? What would be his significance now? His life has been a tumultuous journey, his mind being tampered with for so long in so many ways that rational thinking has left him for good! It all started from that cube of clay. He never knew what is to be done with him. Where it would start to where he would journey through, and where it would end. Or would it end? Do clays really decay? The only thing he had to believe was that whatever is to happen with him would be for his good. It's a necessity, both for him and the maker. And soon he lost himself. Machines drilling into his feet, shapes of his eyes, his nose, his ear, all disfigured continuously as his identity shifted from Pinocchio to Hansel and Gretel to Cinderella to the ballet dancer and whatnot. He always did whatever was wanted of him; never complaining and keeping on adjusting! Stuck in a forever black hole! But he wanted an escape. An escape out of this somehow, where he’ll have his own identity far away from this land. But is there a remote possibility for that to happen? He breathed a sigh of sadness and kept watching that firefly that danced across the window. How he wished to be one and just fly away!

The Firefly:

The Firefly smirked as it flew across this newly found room filled with lots of old stuff that needed repairing. On the ground lay this old man, a thin line of bloodstream flowed across to the corner where a piano watched over the room. And this hollow-eyed clay puppet sat on one of the chairs staring towards it. Those eyes touched him, it was filled with grief and pain that needed a helping hand to pull itself up. But alas, he was just a firefly with lots of stuff going on in mind. As he saw a group of young men break through the door and pick the old man up into an ambulance, his lips uttered a short prayer and started its journey back to the sea beach. And one of them even took that clay puppet away. Who knows where. Thinking of the sea beach made his light sparkle a bit more, with a bit more intensity. His memories could not ascertain what he saw sometime back. As he was taking his daily fly across the sea beach, his eyes caught hold of something that came in with the waves. Small dots of light perched on the beach, so many of them. Blue and green. He thought it was some of his friends flying too low but no, they were something else which seemed like some fireflies of the sea. He never ever thought there would be fireflies living in the seabed. He instantly took a dive down towards the sea and keeping a safe distance noticed them. Some living organisms for sure. He was awestruck and was on the verge of colliding with one of them and he realized as he crossed that particular organism that there’s something in it that instantly attracted him. His heart knew no bounds as he kept bouncing in the air taking dives up-down, left-right, and thinking. A small home perched somewhere near the beach which would be accessible both by him and that Firefly of the sea. When he’d fly with his lights on his partner would glorify the sea beach with its light. Together they’d form a lovely couple and live happily forever! All these thoughts increased his heartbeats threefold as he flew towards the beach ready to tell that firefly of the sea about his love. He cannot waste a single second now before his friends jump in. As he zoomed into the seashore his eyes couldn’t believe what it saw. The beach was silent and dark with only the waves hitting the sands. His eyes frantically searched for those lights everywhere, but it had vanished. Vanished in thin air. He cursed himself for leaving that place in the first place. As dollops of tear formed on his eyes, his sparkling light dimmed and dimmed and slowly just went off! He sat by the beach perched on the nearby tree looking to the infinitely dark horizon. To the sky with so many twinkling dotted stars perched millions of light-years away. Probably somewhere in a milky way or maybe already gobbled by a black hole looking over him like a speck of dust in the grand scheme of things. His heart hoped that the group would be soon back for him, someday. He’d wait, he’d wait for their arrival sitting atop this branch and keep counting days, watching over the sea waves that continued to lash on and on and on.

A Fun Challenge: I never thought I could write poems and I still think I am nowhere near to many of my favourite poets on Medium. My prime interest was and still is, in writing short fiction.

As I was editing this piece, an idea came to me. Why not request some of the best on Medium, who are extremely, extremely talented poetry writers, to give short-fiction a try. Something, probably, a bit out of their comfort zones. Something that would definitely turn out to be amazing!

Whenever you feel and get the time, scribble a short fiction on any theme of your choice, and tag me in when you publish it on Medium. I really think this would be something new for many of you and turn out to be a very interesting journey. The below list is not in any particular order, and apologies if I have missed anyone. Please do feel free to join in. Looking forward to reading all the wonders with words that you are going to create.

If you like this, do give the below few fiction pieces a read as well:

The Starry Night-

The Starry Night

A Kid and his Mother, searching for their loved ones

medium.com

Random Ramblings Of The Mind-

I’ll Meet You There

Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and rightdoing

medium.com

The Radio-

The Radio

Ears, waiting for news that can change everything

medium.com