Tuesday | 14 January 2025 | Reg No- 06
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Tuesday | 14 January 2025 | Epaper

Short Story

Broken pearls and a pause

Published : Saturday, 11 November, 2017 at 12:00 AM  Count : 658
Towhid Islam Khan
The sound of a broken glass, filled with champagne, drew the attention of everyone and brought pin drop silence to a mix symphony of music, laughter, loudness, light argument, and ballet for almost thirty seconds. It wasn't the waiter's fault, entirely. Anthony Davis, a man with black hair was silly to drink too much for one night; that man was blessed with physical strength and uncontrollable anger, especially when he was drunk. He was ready to jump on the poor waiter and at the very moment was caught by Alvin who told "Don't embarrass yourself, friend. These things happen to great parties. Please, don't make it a big deal. Come with me…Look, someone is staring at you for quite a long time. I know who she is…Alinora, her name…" She had an instant smile on her pretty cheeks after looking at the tallest and wide-shouldered man. Her smile calmed his blood and he stepped forward to ask her for a dance.
Their first meeting was so fascinating that soon after they had to miss each other's breath, smile, smell, and few more uncontrollable desires. These facts were enough to conclude that if the almighty God does not bring any unusual change to the mother earth, they remain inseparable. So, the practical parents had to decide something favorable for the kids on a sunny winter morning. The parents along with their reasonable relatives made all the arrangements for the marriage of this love birds. It took a whole month to prepare a good ceremony. Finally, they were blessed by the relatives, relatives of the relatives, friends, neighbors, and the priest.
The next most important thing in Davis and Alinora's life was that they got a newly made large house with a big cellar, a parking lot at the front, and a suitable space for gardening inthe backyard which was a gift from the generous parents from both sides. The place was surrounded by large trees of several kinds. They could have a clear view of a little mountain that was half covered by snows and another half by clouds which was just twenty-twenty five minutes distance from the house.
The place was not so far from Davis's office where he works as a senior sales consultant. During the day, Alinora spent most of her time by reading different sort of books, listening to soft music, collecting various kinds of rose-plant for the backyard, and wandering around the house. In some afternoon, she used to take a walk on a road that was less frequently walked by peoplewhich followed two other roads of the similar kind. She used to enjoy the views and found tranquility in nature at the first few months. Later, she felt little disgust, especially when she felt lonely.
On one evening, when Davis came home from work, Alinora said: "can't we visit a new place, dear?" "Where to darling?"was his question with an enthusiastic tone.
"Any place where you won't be busy with work and I won't have to wait for you all day long. You know, I sometimes feel suffocating."
"Oh darling, don't say like this. You know my work…however, I'll take a leave for five days and we surely will be vanished from here. What about a sea beach, the one in Thailand?"
"That's a wonderful plan." She almost cried out of happiness.
They really had an outstanding time out there where they tasted different kinds of food and met new people from different cultural dimensions. Those days passed so quickly, within a blink of eyes. After that amazing trip, they had to return to their old lifestyle in which the husband was busy with work and the wife was bored at home. For Alinora, few weeks just passed by the fresh memories of the recent tour. Every time she remembered the seashore, deep blue water, boat, she was there, her mind was there and she felt extreme pleasure. One more week was passed. Those memories of her were almost faded and she was lonely again. She had a lot to say to her husband when he usually arrived home at night, but she couldn't. She could see her husband was exhausted who used to go to bed early because of the hard work, even on some weekends he sat at the corner table-working.
One night (the same date of another night, they first met), Alinora was waiting for her husband all afternoon, and then, evening. She was hoping that he would remember, but he didn't appear. When he arrived, it was late at night than the usual. He didn't even notice the blue gown that she wore or said anything about how she looked, not a single compliment. He was busy with changing clothes. It broke her entirely inside and she uttered "If you have lost interest in me, why don't you tell? Why do you keep pretending?"
"What are you saying, darling? I don't understand a word…"
"Of course you do. You are a fake. You just want me to wait for you, and look nice and talk nicely to you. You never care for me. You never care about how I live each day. You never ask how I pass my morning and afternoon and evening. You just show up at night to sleep."
"You know that's not true…every word you have just uttered is not true. You know that I care for you, and I do everything for your happiness, don't you?"
"No, you don't. You care for nobody, but yourself. You don't know what makes me happy. You don't even know what today is!"
"Surely I do. Look I have bought you a present." He hurried to open a colorful box; a white tiara made of ivory pearl shone which he tried to put upon her forehead, but she snatched it from his hand and threw to the farthest corner of the room with might. The sound of broken pearls made him numb for few seconds and when he came to feel, he felt extreme anger. He slapped her face and she had to fall on the ground because of the suddenness. This happened so quickly that they both had to remain silent for a moment.Then the silence broke with her last sentence "So, that's how women are treated in your family." She immediately left for her parents' place.
Next morning, when he woke up from sleep, all the memories of last night came as a flashback and his mind filled with depression. He thought to take the day off. He wasn't feeling well. He tried to take rest which he couldn't. He made his own breakfast. He listened to some of his favorite songs from his age-old Jazz collections. In the afternoon, he walked around the house and noticed some rose plants filled with roses of different color and size in the backyard. Someone took great effort and care to them and he could guess who. He wanted to walk more, but an abominable distaste filled his mind and he went inside the house. Three days passed like this. He didn't go to the office and spent most of his time at home by doing almost nothing. All the time he missed his wife and grieved. He could realize how tough it was for his wife to pass timeand how lonely she felt when he was outside. In mind, he promised to spend more time with her soon afterward he gets her back.
On the fourth day, in the morning, he drove all the way to see Alinora, his dearest wife. When he saw her, he couldn't speak at all. He felt like his tongue became heavy. She wasn't less surprised to see her husband, but concealed her feelings and smiled a bit, that old familiar smile…  

The writer is a student of Department of English, East West University






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